Today

It snowed a lot here this weekend. I have been shoveling a lot. Here's what I've accomplished:


Photo on the left is the large pile that is next to my drive way - literally, I can no longer get snow up to the top and have to walk the snow around. The photo on the right is the view from the bottom of my front steps. Remember when you were young and you made paths and tunnels in the snow and how cool it was. It's not cool anymore.

In addition, I also baked these:

Which contain:

Lt to right and around the plate from the top: pumpkin cranberry bread (smells heavenly), ginger snaps (yes, they do that broken top thing all by themselves), Russian tea cakes (or Mexican wedding cakes), and these delicious broken top double chocolate with ginger cookies that are new this year. I made cookies to take to the staff at work tomorrow and for my students. We started this tradition of taking cookies to the staff as a thank you during grad school. Everyone brought one type of cookie and we walked around like elves around the holidays delivering them to everyone who made our work run as smoothly as it did. It was a big thank you. It was great because we only had to make one type of cookie and everyone got a random assortment. I made the variety today because I was seriously avoiding work! I also did 3 loads of laundry, shoveled for about 1.5 hrs, wrote about 1/2 of my holiday cards, put away a bunch of things. I'm exhausted and sore. No more snow, please.

1 foot, 2 feet, and more?

How much have you shoveled recently? I believe I'm at a total of about 2 hours for the weekend. And I believe we have more than 2 feet on the ground. It's still coming down. I just shoveled out my car and walkways even though I'm not going anywhere. I'm hoping this will cut down on my time tomorrow morning... or I might take the bus.

Now it's time to make some more cookies.

Uninformed

It turns out I was very uninformed about how bad the ice storm was in my area. All schools were closed today. And of the faculty in my department, only about half have power, and I think I was the first to have my power return. Lucky, I guess. Now if that luck would just turn into some funding for my research, that'd be great.

Icy!

In case you are wondering, I am fine. My area was spared the worst of the ice storm. I had power all last night and woke up this morning at 5 am - and had my tea and oatmeal and sent some urgent emails. Just after I sent the last email, the power went out. I'm not exactly sure when it came back on because I went out with a friend around noon. We needed to check on equipment at the U. But then, because the main roads were fine and had been cleared of most branches, we went on an adventure in search of places with power. I'm sad for the loss of my long planned day in the lab, but the day just seemed decadent since I really didn't work much. I won't be able to get back in the lab - probably - until next Thursday because of days at the beginning of the week that are at least half full of meeting. Yuck! I now hate meetings - it always seems like we are just going around in circles. Back to work now.

Not much to say

I am exhausted. So I have not had much to say recently. Sorry. More in the new year hopefully - or maybe before?

What does it mean?

TLDR is Too Long Didn't Read. This is what my TAs came up with when students revert back to their freshman ways of writing things in lists or describing with completely unnecessary detail what they did in lab. No need for the detail and they are told not to include it. But yet so still do.

It has been a very long week. I have gotten a good bit done. My list was much reduced, but then I realized I needed to get on with many things I'd been neglecting. I plan to work all day next Friday in the lab and am looking forward to it. But until then there are meetings and various things that need to be done.

TLDR

Sometimes when students turn in pages of nonsense, they get TLDR written on their papers. I like this one. Try to guess what it means... I'll let you know later in the week. My dad had a better one - TMBS.

Turkey-Day Recap

I had a family filled Thanksgiving. Including meeting some additions to the extended family for the first time - my cousin's young children look like they walked off the pages of a magazine. When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was a big deal as we always traveled East (and/or North) to visit Grum and family. I don't know how my parents survived these trips with two kids in tow. I was with this portion of my extended family, but without my immediate family. The day started off well - with a long car ride. There were several interesting discussions including one that made me never want to go to a retail store again. See, the two cousins in the car have worked retail and had some pretty horrific stories. Eww... gross... germy stories. I won't elaborate here. Then there was the main event. We enjoyed appetizers, wine and lots of chatting once we arrived. It was fun to catch up with folks. Highlights included a tour of the very cool remodeled basement complete with radiant heat in the floor of the greenhouse area and a sauna, art projects with the kids (including color me), discussions of the tur-duk-in we were going to eat, learning about French bull dogs (one of the breeds of dog present), watching a bit of pool, hearing a bit of school of rock music recorded by the host cousin's kids (very talented musicians). Dinner was served around 4 pm and traditional grace was said. We missed Grum. But still, we ate, and ate. It was all delicious including the Texas beets. Apple pie for dessert an hour or so later.

Misconceptions about professors

I think there is a general belief among people outside academia that the life of a professor is easy. We all sit around all day pondering big ideas and being fed big, fat grapes. Well, this just isn't true. I've worked many 12 hour days since I got this job and I work most weekends - at least most of one day.

One of the academic blogs I read mentioned that people might get this idea because academics can to a certain degree create their own schedules. Meaning, you might find a professor mowing his lawn on any given Thursday at 2 in the afternoon. But what this blog also said is that you don't see the same professor in their home office at 2 in the morning working on a grant or paper, but they probably are (at least some of the time). I don't tend to take advantage of this policy - you will find me most days between 8 am and 6 pm on campus, mostly in my office or lab. I also take work home a lot.

Also, the other big misconception is that we get the whole month of January and three months in the summer off to do what we like with. If I did this, I'd never get any research done and surely wouldn't get tenure. I don't always get paid in the summer, but you can be sure I work. I worked on July 4th last year. And over the summer I took a long weekend Th-M off plus one day while my mom was visiting. I did take 2.5 days off after the end of the semester. So all told, I took just over a week off. Otherwise, I was working my normal long hours.

Today

I get frustrated when my students don't think and copy things of wikipedia. Ugh! No points for them!

Today, I got up and crossed the review of files of potential colleagues off of my list. Again! Ugh! These people can't read. This is the only thing I've crossed off my list for this weekend so far. I still need to:
finish grading (currently 1/2 done, will finish now with my glass of wine)
read paper to discuss with grad student
redo calculations of other grad student
check into equipment for third grad student and undergraduate
prepare lecture for Monday (including working the problems I'll present)
work on abandoned proposal to get abstract ready to send to another agency
and probably about 50 other things that I'm forgetting
But instead of crossing more things off the list today. I went for a 6 mile run at the gym (watching the food network and Today show). Then after the 1/2 grading I did, I went to see Australia with some friends. It took trying two theaters, but we made it. I really liked it. It was long, but was well paced and I really, really liked the Wizard of Oz references. I've always liked that movie and the references were well done - interwoven throughout. That is all for now. More on Thanksgiving adventures tomorrow.

Obama's first misstep

So I know there is about zero chance that I would agree with everything that Obama does, but this is a big deal and it seems too soon for such a big misstep. He had selected Lawrence Summers as the Director of our National Economic Council. Does this name sounds familiar to you? If you are a woman in science it should. Larry Summers is a former president of Harvard who was booted because of his comments about women in science which boiled down to they aren't smart enough to succeed in the field. (A little more information on the subject is here )

Blooms in the cold

Here's a plant update. The top is the violet that just opened it's blooms. I didn't know what the color was going to be, but this is a very rich, jewel toned redish purple. It's beautiful, and I'm sure the photo doesn't do it justice. Next is the mixed cactus. These are some of the most recent coral color blooms. There are also white and vibrant pink blooms on this plant. And finally, the giant cactus that is very heavy with blossoms has just begun blooming. I have a cool photo for a bit later of a double blossom at the end of one of the pieces. It's so nice to have some color in the cold, cold weather.

Sunshine and the Dell guy

Today, two happy things happened. The sun was shining when I drove to work too early this morning. The sun was shining most of the day and the sky was blue. This hasn’t happened much recently so it was particularly nice. Sunshine makes me happy.

Then, the repair guy from Dell (I highly recommend getting the at home warranty for 3 years, as I’m just shy of 2 years now) came to my office and replaced the LCD screen in 30 minutes! It is so awesome to be able to see what I am typing now.

Of course, with the good has to come some bad. I’ve been told that the grant I’ve been working on for the last few weeks (for long hours) will almost certainly not be funded based on the spin I’ve put on my work and on the fact that there is no money. This makes me not want to finish it because there are likely two more long days involved and I have zero motivation to make it happen. My chair disagrees and says a submission in the Dean’s eyes is better than no submission. Ugh! I’ll get some more advice and continue working, but might find that by the deadline, it’s just not worth it. I mean, why make the program officer mad, right?

tomatoes

I moved my tomato plant with it's green tomatoes inside when it got cold, so I'm still enjoying the fruits of my summer planting. Here's a photo of this tomato when it was green, on the plant and outside. And what it looked like just before I ate it this past week. Delicious. It's a lovely yellow color and is a heirloom variety. I'm glad I put them in pots because it was nice to enjoy on the door step of winter!

Curious

I just read (in some random bit of junk mail, while I was eating dinner) that Christmas cacti give off oxygen at night - unlike other plants that give off oxygen during the day. This is very curious indeed. And perhaps I am not deserving of the title - scientist (which by they way they don't like you to say at the boarder when crossing back into the US from Canada, even if you are flashing a US passport, they want to know what kind of scientist and what you study). My understanding is that plants take in carbon dioxide and emit oxygen during photosynthesis. They do this only during the day because it requires sunlight. Chlorophyll needs light to do its thing - and that thing is the first step in the process. I can't remember the details, but I know it's the first step and I think it has to do with ATP. I suppose there could be a delay between steps... does any one know?

Otherwise, today, make that this week, was very long. I am working on a big project that might mean some money to pay my students so they don't have to teach (forever). I rewarded myself with nachos for dinner and I am going to have some coffee frozen yogurt - maybe even with some caramel sauce ooooh and maybe chocolate sauce, too for dessert. Yum! Then I'm going to watch Grey's Anatomy that was on in the middle of the night last night due to football. This sounds lovely.

I wish...

I never thought I would wish for snow, but I'm wishing for it now. I don't like cold rain. It chills you all the way through. And it means it is grey outside. I like it less than snow. Right now, I would rather have the snow already. But I think we're stuck with rain for the time being.

Hmmm...

I got gas tonight and paid just over $20 for a full tank. Prices are now below $2 here. I have an approach avoidance about this. I would love for gas prices to stay high so that people would drive less, but because everything else is getting so expensive, it makes sense that something should be dropping in price. Especially because most raises are not currently matching cost of living increases. I have certainly noticed that my grocery bill has increased by about a 1/4 of the total.

A Cake!

Now that's a cake!

My friend is headed off to be a volcanologist and several friends of mine figured this would be a fitting send off. It was revealed at a fun surprise going away party!

Jumping the line

I just finished a great book. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. It jumped the line of all the other books on my night stand because I wanted something entertaining for the plane a few weeks ago. It was excellent - I highly recommend it to those of you who didn't recommend it to me. It was a brilliant look inside the head of someone who has autism. Plus the message at the end - you can do anything if you put your mind to it - is one of my mantras. I liked that the boy in the book, Christopher. He does math to calm himself down when he's in a difficult or new situation. I do math when I run. I know it's strange. And it's really not for the comfort or anything but usually it's just fractions of how far I've gone, how far there is left to go, or how much time it will take me to get there. The time thing used to be really easy to figure out when I ran 10 min miles, but I do more speed work these days, and it's usually not whole number divisions.

Plant Update

The plants are doing lovely. Cactus one is blooming with 5 fully opened blooms and 2 that are just about ready plus many in the waiting. The other cactus might have at least one bloom by the end of the week. And in case you thought it was a fluke, another violet is getting ready to bloom. Yipee!

Another Election Year Memory

I wanted to go to the gym tonight before I go to have dinner at a friend's house and watch the election results, but I'm too late leaving work, so I'll go tomorrow morning instead. To take up that time, I have another story for you all. I don't think many people have heard this story, so here goes. In 2000, I was living in a house with two guys and one gal. I would say they are (or rather were, in one case) my friends. The gal and I used to go swing dancing at a local place. This was in the time when people would judge your "swing coolness" by asking if you began dancing before or after the Gap ads. Only cool if before the ads. I don't think I was particularly cool by that metric. I had fun doing it and it was great because the guys would really ask the women to dance. I found this refreshing. I met two guys one night - and corresponded with both for at least a short time. (Don't worry, we will get around to the election connection.) So one of these guys had the initials WAF. I can still remember exactly what it stood for because the game when we parted ways the first night we met, was that I would try to guess his middle name - purely from his initial A - in 50 guesses or less. If I didn't guess it, I would have to cook him dinner at my place - and if I did guess it he would take me out to dinner. Now you've heard the background that I had many roomates, and knew that I could get at least one of the guys to stick around some evening if I was cooking dinner for this guy (especially if I shared what I cooked). The only sketchy thing about WAF was that he rode a motorcycle, but that sort of intrigued me. You'd think this would be easy, but there are a large number of A names (or things that could possibly be names, like, oh say, Apple). So off I go guessing. I had long lists of possible names and I would guess by email every few days and he would reply, no, no, no, no, no. Turns out I got to 50 and was told, nope, I hadn't gotten it. But he wouldn't tell me what it was until dinner. So I prepared a special feast on election night 2000. We had some sort of chicken parm and apple pie. Sort of the all-American flavor in honor of the election. It was a pretty good meal. And at the end of the night (I kicked him out long before the election was decided - in fact, it wasn't really decided for some time after that night, if I recall correctly) he told me that he had lied. I did guess his middle name in my last batch. It was either the last or second to last name I guessed. It was Aloysius. In any case, I didn't see him again.

Get out there and vote!

I voted this morning first thing. I went with my friend who lives in the same town as I do. She picked me up just before 7 am. We got to the polling place and found a parking spot (or rather made a parking spot like many other people had done). It was clear that it was going to be crowded. But that made me even prouder to be in America! We waited for about 1/2 hour. And we were lucky because our line (for our section of the alphabet) was short - in fact it was the shortest line there. I walked over to the booth with my ballot. Closed the very patriotic screen (if you've seen the photo of the guy in Cambridge, MA walking out of the booth - it's all over the internet, that's what our booths look like). And marked the scan-tron like boxes. Carefully checked everything. And deposited my ballot in the scan box. I've done my duty. So all of you out there... get out and vote. Especially since I know many of you live in places where it really counts!

Also, just a quick memory. I've voted in nearly every election since I was able to vote, even many of the small elections. I've voted in many ways. I've used an electronic machine (in a polling location where there were only 4 machines), I've voted in a "hanging chad" type of booth where you can vote the party line by pulling a lever, I've voted in a mail in election (but I had to drop off my ballot because I missed the post marked by date), and I've voted on paper, like I did today. It's interesting to me how many ways there are to vote! But I'm glad we get to.

To Don't List

While talking to my dad over the weekend, the topic of a "to don't list" came up. This is not a new idea, but it is an interesting one. I had not followed my unofficial/just in my head "to don't list" recently and it had gotten me into a bit of a pickle. Basically the idea is that most folks have a "to do list" but rarely have a list of things that they shouldn't do. I think the "don't" is perhaps more important than the "do" list. It can really help you from getting into trouble and can perhaps help you stay on task when you are distracted by other things.

Thanks!

I just wanted to give a shout out to all of you who have been reading my blog and commenting. It's been a fun month and it has gotten me writing more (and also has pointed out that sometimes I am not as clear as I could be in my writing). Overall a good time!

Halloween!

Okay, I'm a bit late to the party, but I had a great Halloween. And I promised to share photos of a local house that was all decked out. I wasn't able to get the nighttime shots that I really wanted, but here are some from this morning. They have a bunch of lights on the fence constructed just for the occasion. In addition to noticing some excellent decorations, I was lucky enough to catch a local parade. Everyone loves a parade! And I'm a fan of Halloween parades - I think in part because I was introduced to the idea several years ago with the over the top parade in the village in NYC. That was the year of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, so many of the costumes consisted of a blue dress. The best costume - if I had to vote - would have been for this group of people (office workers?) who had made dinosaur costumes out of those cone cups you get at a water cooler. They were over the top. The parade on Friday night was just as creative. There were stilt walkers, excellent large puppet costumes and a few bands to boot. Plus it was fun to hang out with a few friends - even if the time/parade was short.

Childhood Memory

On Monday night, I was flipping through the channels looking for something mindless to watch. I ended up on Jon and Kate plus 8. It was a Valentine's Day episode. I'm not a huge fan - I much prefer the holiday this week - Halloween. In fact, it's pretty clear that some of my neighbors agree. I need to go take a picture of this house that is totally decked out. I'll try to post it tomorrow. So you are wondering why I mentioned this. Well, Kate had set up a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their gift (with clues that took them throughout the house). We used to do that as kids - my sister and I. But our hunt was for Easter. The Easter bunny would always leave clues for us and at the end was our candy filled Easter basket. We always had real baskets. None of this plastic stuff from the grocery store; though there was a time in my life I was jealous of that "junk," I'm now really glad we had real baskets. They had ribbons woven through the holes of the basket and were just overall pretty cool. But I think the best thing about Easter was the scavenger hunt. Definitely a tradition that I remember very well - and not just because there are photos of it, but because it made a lasting impression. I was glad to see that the kids on the show also thought it was pretty darn cool, too. I highly recommend this as a fun way to give a gift.

Almost 50:50

Typically when I go to conferences, I am one of only a handful of women in the room. And often there is only one or two female speakers (sometimes for the whole week)! I was in a session earlier this year (at a different conference) where there was only 1 female speaker and probably only 5 women in the room of at least 30 people total. (This is not a good ratio!) This is the danger of being a woman in the physical sciences. There are many ideas of why this happens, but I'm not sure I believe any of them! In any case, I made an interesting observation at this meeting that even prompted me to do a quick count in one of the sessions I was attending. I counted 33 women in a room of 70 people. That's almost 50%, folks! That means it absolutely can be done. And not only that, we had at least one of the "big" talks given by a woman. Plus when discussing who we wanted to nominate for next year, at least one woman's name came up. I can't tell you how rare this is. It was very exciting for me to notice. Overall, the folks at this conference were awesome - both the men and the women. They seem to work together more and don't seem scared to be trumped by someone stealing ideas. It was a welcome change of pace.

Travel Karma

I am having a string of good travel karma, however I really shouldn't say this because I might just jinx myself. However this is well deserved as it is following up a bunch of bad karma that included getting stuck in a snowstorm of several (read 3) days a couple of years ago, having my luggage arrive late when trying to string two trips together and having some serious luggage damage (to the tune of several hundred dollars). My good karma this time allowed another conference attendee to be able to retrieve checked luggage and catch the "early" bus on Friday night. We were supposed to land at 8:45 - which only gave ~30 minutes to deplane, get luggage and get to the curb. Instead we landed at 8:10 and made the bus no problem. Folks from the plane even tried to make the earlier bus.

Also, can I just commend JetBlue on their on time record. I have not yet had a late JetBlue flight - though I have not yet taken JetBlue through JFK.

Conferences make me tired

I'm exhausted. It's been a long week and it's not over yet. But it's been a good week... lots of great ideas floating around. A few things that people mentioned that will either improve my work or tie my work to what they are doing. I consider both of these great. It's also been fun to catch up with people I haven't seen in a while, though I haven't done as much networking as I should. I've sometimes gone to conferences in the past with a list of "big-wigs" I wanted to meet. But I didn't do that this time. One of the reasons I had done this in the past is partly because you must be known in your field to get tenure. Departments "go out for letters." Meaning they ask people in your field to write basically a letter of recommendation on your behalf. It's all kind of weird, especially when you are in a field that cuts across lots of different sciences. I don't know who they would have write at this point, but that's still a long way off.

The hotel is very swanky. I must note that I am a big klutz. I was so looking forward to enjoying the pool at my hotel, but I now have very bruised legs. I nearly fell down the stairs yesterday. I caught myself on the way down, but I still knocked my shins on the hard stone steps pretty good. I have a scraped knee and some nice big bruises (that I'm certain aren't done forming yet). So no skirts today (though this is one of the things I look forward to about conferences since I don't have a chance of being in the lab, where I won't where skirts).

Also, a strange observation about the hotel I made today. The shower looks like it is stone. Well, it's a stone design on regular tile. I think it's pretty strange.

Mr. Plant 2

Some of you know my friend from grad school's story about Mr. Plant. For those of you who do not, she received a plant (of, then, unknown variety) during grad school. It sat on her desk for weeks and soon she (and the rest of us, too) realized it had the potential to grow very tall. She decided that once it reached the ceiling, she would be ready to defend. Sure enough, the summer that she finished up, the Mr. Plant reached the ceiling - as I recall within days of her defense. Since then, Mr. Plant has had some grand adventures. And it's been discovered that Mr. Plant blooms with beautiful pink blossoms. Mr. Plant is a begonia, but not one of the varieties on wikipedia. Instead, Mr. Plant is exactly like the plant I got from my grandma.
Does this mean that I will only get tenure, if Mr. Plant 2 reaches the ceiling? BTW, yes, Mr. Plant 2 is cheating, he has a stake! But currently Mr. Plant 2 is not very tall; he only reaches the top of my IKEA Poang chair. In fact, the shoot growing on the floor is longer than he is high.

Colin Powell Rocks!

I watched Meet the Press today (for the first time since Tim Russert's untimely and much too early death earlier this year). I'm not huge into politics. However, I have a fascination with the three most recent people to hold the post of Secretary of State. Why, you ask, I have no idea. Maybe it's because I know people who work for the State Department. But really, I think it's probably just because they are fascinating people. Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. So, my title isn't because Powell endorsed my candidate, it's rather because of something very thoughtful that he said. (I'd like to remind you that I'm no historian, first.) But this country was built up because people desired religious freedom. Powell called out the folks within the McCain campaign who are causing fear to swirl around Obama by saying that he is a Muslim (and in some cases a terrorist, but that's less what I'm talking about here). Powell confirmed what we all should know (espcially after the whole thing earlier this year with Obama's Christian Pastor), that Obama is Christian - always has been. But what he said after was why I think Colin Powell Rocks! He said that he thought it was crazy for us to be scared of someone because they are Muslim. Don't we have the right in this country to believe what we want! Each of us! And haven't Muslims been part of the military and died defending this country so we can all be free? Shouldn't Muslim (or Budhist or Hindi) children be able to believe that they can grow up and do what they want - to be president, if that's their dream? (If you didn't hear his touching story, I recommend that you at least try to find a podcast or read the transcript.) What he said was brilliant!

I also think this gets to the point of why I'm sometimes frustrated by the kids I teach. I feel like if they don't want to put forth the effort in my class, how are they going to be able to work towards their dreams. One thing I know, it takes a lot of effort (blood, sweat and tears - and this is absolutely true for me) to acheive dreams! Anyone can do it in this country, but you have to want it badly. Some of my students don't want it very badly (even though mine is a required course for 99% of their majors - so you'd think they would realized it was important).

Breaking the rules...

I have to go to a conference next week and will be flying. I am trying to decide how much I can break the rules. I will only be gone for a few days and so can easily carry on all of my stuff (I'm an expert at this and even can get my toiletries through security easily). BUT the big problem is that I have to bring a poster tube. This is about a meter long (~3 feet), and clearly does not fit in the little box they tell you your stuff has to fit in. I wouldn't mind checking it, but I have a sneaking sense that it would get "lost" in the baggage hold. And I need it the morning after I arrive, so if it did get lost, it might not arrive in time and I don't want to have to do a last minute Kinkos run that will likely involve renting a car (which I wasn't going to do).

This is even slightly more complicated because I either can leave my place at 5:30 am to get to the airport about 50 minutes (though it could be ~1 hr if the traffic cooperates) before my morning flight or at 4:30 am to get there and wait for nearly 2 hrs. I wouldn't worry if I was taking a "shuttle" as I've always cleared this check point in 5 minutes. But, I have waited at security at the terminal I'll use this week for nearly 40 minutes before (although during that time they had people calling out flight number that were about to depart and fast tracking folks on those flights). But if I get stopped because of the poster tube, and the line is long, I'll likely miss my flight.

Also, if it helps at all, I will have printed my boarding pass ahead of time.

So, the question for you dear readers, is do you think I can get it through? And further, does it matter if I have two small bags + poster tube, or one bag + poster tube?

Annoying fit

I went shopping today at the recommendation of a friend who mentioned a sale. So, there I was at Ann Taylor Loft finding this really beautiful red shirt that wasn't on sale, but that I would have purchased if it had fit. It was super cute. But... Arg... I really hate wrap shirts. My figure is not well suited to them at all! At least I wasn't feeling like it didn't fit because I had gained weight (even though I have), since my friendly aesthetician who I saw earlier in the week said she was jealous of how skinny I was. It was nice, but I wonder if that's just to get a bigger tip.

Running Loudly

So, during the race I ran a few weeks ago, my friend said to me that I run quietly. We were running at my "couch pace," so my effort was not great. This friend defined "couch pace" as that pace where you are most comfortable. I sometimes wonder how far I could run at my "couch pace." Could I be an ultra-marathon runner? Maybe. But the point here is that he said I run quietly. I didn't really know what my friend meant by that, so he told me that my foot strikes hardly made any noise. I didn't notice that- what sound his were making or that mine were soft - but it was an interesting observation. (I think it helps that he's a scientist.) I didn't really think about this again until I was at the gym this week running on a treadmill (I know, I know, this is a waste of energy, especially when there is perfectly good road out there, but the road would have been very dark, and somewhat dangerous.). The person nearby was really super loud when he was running. I couldn't quite tell if that was just how he always ran or if it was that he was doing speed work and therefore might be a bit louder than normal. Oh, and speaking of treadmill running... I sometimes wonder why people will choose the treadmill right next to you even if there are about 10 vacant treadmills down the line? I always try to observe the every other rule unless there's a lot of people and this is not possible. Fortunately at my new gym, there is almost always room for an every other motif - unlike the gym I used to go to where I'd often have to wait in line for a treadmill.

These are...

So in my Sunday post, I asked if anyone knew what my newly found veg/fruit is. No one commented and I'm sure you all are waiting in anticipation, checking my blog every few minutes. But they are ground cherries or gooseberries. They are all gone now and are fairly hard to find. A trip to the farmers market might be in order for the weekend.

Two household cleaning tips...

So I have two crazy household cleaning tips that I just recently figured out. In my current place, the walls were not all freshly painted before I moved in. There were several scuffs and annoying marks on some of the walls, including what looked like a soda had exploded on walls in the kitchen above the counters. Turns out, using a magic eraser on the walls worked wonders! All the marks are gone! Amazing!

My other tip has to do with the annoying mildew that gathers around the tub that you use as a shower, too. This mildew seems to shows up no matter how much you clean. Clorox is now selling a bleach pen. It is great for getting stains out of white shirts (which is why I originally purchased it). But turns out, if you put it on dry grout and wash it off about 12 hours later, everything is sparkling white! And seems to stay that way. I don't guarantee this yet (so if you own your house, think twice before you use this yet). The great part is that it doesn't stink like bleach and you can leave it on for quite a while. I'm not sure of the environmental impact of this product, but it's just bleach, I think.

Can they read?

This year I have begun to wonder if my students can read? I had a most annoying exchange with a student today. The students were turning in their first labs today. They are to turn in a cover page with them. This tells them what they will earn points for and it make them easier to grade. One of my students showed up early today and said, "Do I have to hand in my notebook pages?" I said something about if he had a cover sheet; the cover page says you earn points for your notebook pages, so yes, if you want to earn the points, you need to hand in the notebook pages. He said, "No it's not on the webpage!" (In a somewhat hostile manner, in fact.) I had someone (no this same student, thank goodness) email me on Sunday night saying they couldn't find the cover sheets. So I double, triple checked to see that it was there and gave them specific directions for what they need to click. Students think they are web savy, but our class webpage isn't complicated, so I beg to differ. It was there - I'm super careful making the webpage to make sure that everything is there and is accessible. I was so frustrated because he was so sure that it wasn't. Once I opened the lab (after taking a walk around the building to cool off). I pulled up the webpage right away and opened the folder and tada there is was. He said, "Oh there it is..." Like it hadn't been there before. My frustration about all of this was that he was blaming me instead of admiting that he couldn't find it. I'm happy to help if you don't understand or can't find some bit of information. But I give them most of the tools they need to find things.

I've had some issues with another student recently who took two weeks to report to me that he couldn't find any information about the topics I had asked him about. We check in each week, but he had requested an extension last week, which was convenient for me too. No longer. I've decided we will meet every week no matter how inconvenient it might be for me.

What are these?

Having finished 70% of a science related task I've been putting off for months just now, I thought I'd update everyone as to what I did this weekend. Yesterday I went to the local farmers market. There, I saw this lovely, red tree. It is clearly fall here. The leaves are beautiful. The sky is blue. And we are being treated to natures beauty because we all know what comes next. (In case you don't, the answer is feet of snow.)

The farmers market had lots of apples (including kinds I've never heard of before like Baldwins) and squash (in all varieties including butternut, acorn and delicata). All those great hearty things. In addition, several farmers had something that I only just tried last year. Do you know what these are?
I'll tell you later in the week. They are not tomatilio. Too small for that. I will also tell you that they taste like a cross between a tomato and pineapple. Strange indeed. But delicious in a salad. I will have fresh greens, these beauties, a chocolate pepper and a lemon cucumber in a salad for dinner. Nothing like foods that sound/look like they should be something different than they are.

In addition to delicious food, the farmers market also has local artisans. My favorite potter was there yesterday. Erin does beautiful work. I have a mug (minus a handle) that I drink my tea out of every day. She uses really vibrant colors and mixes them so a different color is on the inside from what shows on the outside. My mug is lime on the inside and a periwinkle color on the outside. The mug is formed from a ball of clay, so it fits neatly in my hand with it's lovely indentations where it was molded into a cup shape. I also have a wonderful, large serving bowl in colors similar to those of another cup I have. See below. I call them my inside out cups.

Strangeness...

I went to breakfast at a local sugar shack with a friend this morning. When we pulled into our parking space and were just about to get out of the car, my friend started laughing. I said, so what am I missing? I turned my head to the right and in the pickup truck next to her car sat a goat. A goat!?! Seriously, a goat. A goat with horns and a long white beard. Wearing a very patriotic looking visor. None of this is a lie. I swear. So we go in and sit down. Once we were ready to order, I said to my friend, who do you think the goat belongs to? Perhaps someone who works here? Probably not, because that's a prime parking space. The big party of 6 next to us? They would have had to come in two cars. The couple who looked like they are in town for homecoming? Probably not. The couple who are strategically positioned so the man can look out the window with an almost perfect view of the goat. Turns out the last guess was right. The man came up to our table as he was leaving and said, see my goat there. Yes, of course we had. He said the goat was part of his family. He lives in the house and sleeps in the man's bed. He's either 12 or 16... I can't remember now. And that's how his whole life has been. Strange, but I suppose it's not much different than a dog. But it was certainly a moment that I wished I'd had my camera. Sorry no photos.

The bear in the room...

So, I lost a bunch of money this week. I was convinced by a financial planner that I should invest some of the money I was saving for a down payment - and in a fairly aggressive manner. Basically everything I saved this summer is gone - and perhaps more. Bummer. But instead of dwelling, I'd like to tell you what's on my list of things I'd like to have in my new place.

• E/S facing window(s) in my bedroom
• Lots of light (for the plants of course)
• A garage
• A nice kitchen (room for 5 or more people to move around comfortably, a large oven - currently only small cookie sheets fit in my oven, nice counter tops, enough storage space)
• Open floor plan
  
• 2 bedrooms
• I'd love a least a bath and a half, but it's not necessary
• I waver back and forth between wanting to be in the center of things (at least walking distance to city/town) or wanted to be in the middle of nowhere. The quiet is appealing, but I would love to be near the action.
  

I have some pretty specific ideas and have contemplated trying to build something. I think if I went that direction, it might take me longer to become a home owner. Though there is a beautiful piece of land for sale nearby with water views, and it is significantly reduced, it would still take me a long time to be able to afford.

In the meanwhile, I'm enjoying watching HGTV and gathering ideas.

Science and politics

I am very certain of who I will vote for in just under a month. A lot of my decision rests with my position in life. Currently as an assistant professor, I am fighting what I feel is an up hill battle - and possibly one that I can't win. There is only so much money out there for scientific research. And there is little room for the new fighters. Currently, a researcher receives their first NIH grant around age 40. If you are 30 when you become an asst professor (or even 35), this won't happen before you have to submit your tenure portfolio (which is basically just a list of your accomplishments as an independent researcher that your peers and superiors use to decide if you are worthy of tenure). I would really like to get tenure. Thus, it's critically important that the next president increase funding for science. And in fact, one of the candidates would like to support the new and budding researchers out there, like me. If you are curious about the candidates opinions on science issues, take a look at Science Debate 2008.

Organic Soup

This summer I volunteered at a local organic farm. In exchange for my help doing everything from putting up a greenhouse to picking lots of cherry tomatoes, I got a bunch of fresh, organic produce. I received things I wouldn't often have bought and some of it required me to search for recipes. One of the recipes I found was for a creamy potato leek soup. Whenever anything says creamy, I think dairy, something like milk, cream or yogurt. This one uses tofu instead. I found it quite good and it's the season of soup here.

Plum goodness

My sister and I had a discussion about plum pie the other day. I was not surprised when the following npr story about plum treats appeared today. She's usually ahead of the trends!

Buds

One of the Christmas Cacti from Grum has lovely little buds on it! I'm very excited. I don't think it will bloom at Christmas, but before is quite alright with me. This time of year when buds are in short supply, this is a welcome surprise!

Running Log

So you might ask how many miles do I run in an average year? This year my total so far has been 620 miles. Last year, my total for the year was only 500 miles. The significant increase all started in May when I was feeling a little sad the weekend after my grandmother went to heaven. I decided to take my uncle's challenge up again. I had conquered this 8.5 mile loop near my house that includes some significant hills along with some nice water views last November. So I decided to do it again. This meant increasing my long runs from 5 to 8.5 miles. This is not something I recommend. But it turned out fine and it meant that I was consistently running over 20 miles a week this summer. Now that my race is over, mileage is going to go down hill. There is a conference to prepare for, students to get on track, and a grant to write. Too much to do to take the time to run so much. Plus it is getting dark so early now and I really hate running long distances in the gym. So instead my winter pattern is more speed work with shorter distances.

Brrrrr...

It's cold here. I pulled the down jacket out of the closet this morning when I went off to I meet my friend for breakfast. I thought it might be overkill, but turns out she was wearing a hat and gloves. Plus, I was cold even with the jacket on. Now, I'm in my office with my jacket still on.

It's a good thing...

I recently purchased a set of bamboo/cotton sheets from Target. They are in a lovely greenish blue color. They are very soft and seem to wash well, so far.

First race in about 2 years

Today I ran a race with a reward of apple pie at the end. I was running with a friend and at about mile 10, we started randomly exclaiming "Pie!" to each other. I don't know if it made the last few miles go faster or not, but it was entertaining.

The Crazy Plants

My grandmother passed away in May. All of us grandchildren always called her Grum. I didn't know her very well. We always lived far away so visits were rare. I got to see her at Thanksgiving last year, which was very lucky. I made lasagna for my visiting family; the lasagna is a great recipe with lots of mushrooms and a parmesan cheese sauce. Grum actually got to see where I live, which hasn't happened in all of my adult life. I've found out over the last few months that I share several traits with her. We both save notes that people send to us. And we both love plants. I have acquired a bunch of her plants. They are doing amazingly well. Even the violets that I have not had much luck with in the past seem to like it here.