Lazy blogger post

Holy Catfish! I just got slapped with a wet salmon - really - I have not updated this since you last visited... You would not believe how heavy that rock really is.
Stupid Global Warming!
I am absorbed with learning to play lawn bowls**, waiting for the onshore winds, just generally being the life of the party to anyone unfortunate to cross my path. My day drifts aimlessly from the first cockadoodledoo from the rooster till I run out of alcohol. I am looking at rectifying this but this damned rock is heavy. I totally promise that when the weather turns bad, I will blog more often. Well, I'll try. Unless, of course, the pool with the cocktail bar is heated!


Courtesy of the Lazy Bloggers Post Generator, as seen at MonkeyGirl.

**But to tell the truth, I have played a lot of Bocce Ball lately and I think it is like lawn bowls.

Things I've done this month that are stupid

• Tried to take a 90 pound dog to the fireworks. He did ok with the fireworks themselves but the crowds had him trying to jump over a 3 ft high concrete wall.


• Fell off my bike....but really, I didn't fall OFF of it so much. My new clipless pedals kept me securely attached to the bike as I rolled to a stop and promptly fell over. The bike landing on me was worse than me hitting the ground. Luckily, I was stopped. Had this happened when I was going downhill (at a reckless speed, according to V), I would be in bad shape.


• Baked cupcakes when our kitchen was 97 degrees.


• Tried to make chocolate milk with only cocoa powder and milk. I swear I saw Alton Brown do it once, but there must've been more steps involved. I keep reading that milk/chocolate milk is the best post-workout recovery drink. Must buy some chocolate sauce though...

Hmmmm, I wonder what I am forgetting. It seemed like there were a lot more of these...

writing in public

My labmate and I are at writing date. Working on our laptops. There are 2 other young women also working on laptops. There is also a group behind us ranting on and on and on about people using computers all the time. Forget computer viruses- "Computers ARE the virus."
Sometimes, working in public is not so good because you have to deal with the public and the public is pretty annoying as a whole.


In better news, I voted! Yay me!

Back to writing date....

Another reason to work from home

I lost my watch. Technically, I did not lose it though. Actually, I put it somewhere and the cat knocked it around and now I can't find it. Luckily, it beeps on the hour so once and hour I have a chance at locating it. I go to a different room and just sit quietly for 5 minutes in hopes of hearing that little 'beep, beep.' So far- no luck. The fear of its batteries going out or of the tiny speaker being muffled against something is starting to set in. Seriously, I need my watch. Practicing a 12 minutes talk is difficult with no timer. Luckily, I have about 36 more 'beep,beeps' to find it before I head south.

Red dress

I went shopping yesterday. The goal was to buy a pair of black, everyday shoes, that can easily be worn with jeans or a skirt. These elusive shoes would replace the $4 clearance, Target loafers I bought 3 years ago. Armed with a credit-gift-card from house sitting and a department store credit from a returned Xmas present, I was determined. I bought no such shoes. I almost bought some black, 2 inch heeled, peep-toe, T-straps. Naturalizer is a good brand* and they were 75% off. In the end, I passed then up for being too narrow.
I am giving talks at two conferences in the next two months. With no new shoes, I went along my way looking for a new top for these conferences. I didn't find any. Everything was too summery already.

Which brings us to the red dress.
I found a knee-length, faux-wrap dress with a collar and a tie at the waist. It is a heavier cotton that reminds me of stain-resistant khakis. Bright red.

So, the question is this- Is it too much to wear a bright red dress for a conference presentation? The conference is small and runs the gamut from jeans to suits. I plan on toning it down with a black cardigan. I would have no problem wearing this dress to teach in, but still....red dress? Appropriate?




*Right?

Are you serious?

I love the undergrads here. They wear the stupidest things.

Seen today during my exam on a female student...

Absolutely hideous and rather unnecessary.

5 better ways to spend that $130:

1) Dinner for 2 somewhere swanky

2) Booze

3) Merrells (if you are buying boots, buy BOOTS)

4) 2 pairs of jeans to wear instead of those leggings you've got on

5) Donate it to an animal charity to make up for the fur trimmed coat you've got on

I'm so wild

As seen all over the place. Love the fact that it is a ho-fro-elly-butterfly!
http://www.buildyourwildself.com/
ETA: Thanks for the correction on the link!

But I didn't want a donut...

I stopped at my favorite quick stop place for coffee this morning. The general manager was checking me out and asked if I was hungry. I wasn't and said so. He tried to make sure I didn't really want a donut. I didn't and said so.
He goes on to explain to me that if I buy a donut, my coffee will be cheaper. Not in terms of the coffee being less expensive but the total purchase being more- the coffee itself actually costs more when bought alone than with a donut. I SAVED MONEY by buying a donut. Only about 12 cents but STILL.
While I was appalled at the shoving of donuts at me and the fact that I have trying to be good about eating healthy and really didn't want a donut (it was chocolate and very yummy) I didn't have much of a choice.

BUYING DONUTS IS FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE.

Can you believe it?

Phone Went West

We got a call from our phone company yesterday. They are breaking up with us.
V just signed a 2 year contract and bought a new fancy phone in June. They will be terminating that contract at the end of this billing cycle. Usually it is impossible to get OUT of service contracts! Of course we have the problem where they ban us from ever being customers again. Can they even really do that?

Apparently, when I went to NM I was in roaming. For, like, the entire 8 months. But we have the free roaming plan so THEY had to pay for it and I guess if you cost them enough money, they will enforce that fine print on your contract. (I know plenty of people who are out of their area for years at a time. Do they just let it slide unless your 'out of area' is more expensive than usual?)
No matter what or why- they don't care that I am back now or anything. It is just over. We can choose a different carrier and keep our numbers or well, nothing. That is our only option. Our address is flagged so I can't even go all stealth and open a new account in my name when the last one was in V's.

I've decided the bright side to your cell company dumping you is that you get a new phone! I want a green one!
Does anyone recommend any great new phones out there (besides the iPhone- can't afford it)?

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It is once again, me maties, that ol' time of year when we thrown cation to the wind (along with any folks who try to mutiny) and talk like pirates!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Arrrrrr!

Other options

There have been a number of people this week thinking (and blogging) about other career options. I have started checking out postdoc and job listings just to start to gauge what types of things are out there. Plus it is great procrastination for writing lectures! At least it is science related!

Well, all these things have got me thinking about the extreme lack of jobs I've ever had and what would really be other career options for me. There aren't that many and there are particularly few that I could actually do. Rockette? I'm too tall (really). As if that is the only thing keeping me from being a Rockette right? Anyways, here are my lists...

Jobs I've had:

Hardware store checkout girl

Dance teacher

Photo lab tech

Cowgirl at a theme park

College student tutor

Marine science camp educator

RA

TA

Jobs I've never want (Really way to many to name) :

Vet

Anything to do with cleaning

Anything where I have to be on the phone to people a lot

High school teacher (despite 3 years of being an ed major in undergrad)

Plumber

Military

Jobs I wouldn't mind:

Rockette

Choreographer

Photographer

Copy editor

Education department in a zoo or aquarium

Yoga/pilates instructor

Naturalist/outdoor guide

Beekeeper

Genetic counselor

Translator

Scuba instructor/divemaster

Academic/professor (I assume this should be on here since it is what I am working towards!)

Love the cute!

I love it when the CO goes all non-furry!

Plus, inverts are seriously awesome.

Glamour Moose and a FO

A few thoughts I had last night as I was doing my mind-numbingly tedious work stuff…

That Fergie song ‘Glamorous’? I like to sing it in my head as Glamour Moose.
I haven’t watched it in a while (months?) but it still bothers me that ‘What Not to Wear’ makes me seriously consider doing things like…..get bangs. Such a bad idea, yet they make it seem like such a viable option.
I wish I had less work to do so I could Photoshop together what I really mean by Glamour Moose.
I thought there was a really bad storm moving through because it was so dark outside the lab. Turns out, it was just nighttime.
I am a horrible knit blogger. I apologize. Here is the Pinwheel blanket v2. In purple. I have ends to weave in and no address to send it to! And bad pics due to it, again, being nighttime. Only 1 more week of experiments left...
I should say something about how I have been reading lots of blogs but not commenting too much. I’m still reading though and will be back to commenting soon!