Two ways to kill 10 seconds

1. As if our state weren't awesome enough - broke, expensive, on fire - we've decided to try to bring in revenue by having a State Garage Sale apparently you can buy all kinds of shit - like jewelry, pianos and cars. They're even trying to make the stuff more valuable by having the Governator sign it - like a 2002 Ford Focus started at about 2K. I'm tempted to head up to Sac town in a pair of cut off jeans, a wife beater, lawn chair and ice cooler full of bud light, just to add to the ambiance of this event.

2. The Public v. "For-profit" heath care debate explained in plain old English over at The Far Left Side. Once you read this it all makes sense.

Hiking and climbing this weekend - hope everyone in SC takes advantage of a few days of beautifully warm summer weather.

Bum, bum, bum, another one bites the dust

One more decade down! I finished entering ballad info and analyzing relevant material for the 1670s today. What i've learned so far: cuckolds are funny, about 25% of illustrated ballads show bare breasts of some sort, and a whole lot of other stuff I'm not going to bore you with.

Last night L and I got a big group of assorted nerds, grad students, and GGG participants to have a sort of Magic the Gathering boot camp. We were able to do this at a friend's large house with their large kitchen. L introduced the mechanics of the game while I got to rolling and pre-baking personal pizza doughs. Much beer ad wine was drunk, pizza was crested and eaten, and fun was had. I have never had to much fun playing Magic than with a group of other fun rowdy people my own age. And I'm not hung over, so double bonus.

Tonight we are going to watch what may be the last night of the last season of Shakespeare under the redwoods. Tonight's show is Midsummer Night's Dream and we have gen admission tix to sit on the ground with our bread cheese and wine. I love me some live theater and it'll be a nice way to spend our first warm day in a while.

Now to type up book notes. The fun never stops does it ?

Adventures in pet ownership

Our cat is awesome and, like most cats, totally crazy. She loves to cuddle on our laps, actually plays with cat toys, and purrs constantly (well, when she's not whining for food, which is the vast majority of the time). She also thinks we're starving her to death and should be feeding her every instant of every day. In the course of her cruel treatment from us (we feed her more than the vet recommends and can tell she's already put on some weight, the cat is not in any danger of starving), she's decided to supplement her diet with anything she can get ahold of. Today I present you with a list of Oona's taste in food (mainly stolen when we were out of the house or left a bowl/plate unguarded for 2 seconds):
Oona's favorites
-meat of any kind
-cereal, esp Joe's Os and Wheatabix
-raw pasta
-cooked pasta with tomato sauce
-cooked onions
-olive oil
-my basil plant (aka Oona's salad bar)
-tortillas
-salsa
-tortilla chips
-spinach stuffed ravioli
-peanut butter sandwiches
-whole wheat sandwich bread and the bag it came it
-chocolate zucchini bread fresh from the oven (I left it on the stove and came home to a kitty sized crater eaten into it)
-sour cream, ice cream, yogurt
-green beans
-zucchini
-lettuce
-tomatoes
-apples
-Lemon Zest Luna bars
-all-purpose flour
-tea bags

Things she doesn't like
-raw onions
-coffee grounds
-coffee, tea
-raw broccoli ( girl after my own heart...)

Fortunately she doesn't get into the non-food stuff (unlike another kitty I knew who had a deep love with the bathroom trash), but man can she be a pain when you're trying to eat/cook/sleep in past her 8 am feeding time/walk into the kitchen for any reason. A cute fuzzy pain, but a pain. (

When things you love betray you

If you read this blog you know I love coffee. It's not just the caffeine, it's the smell, the taste, the warmth*.. I could (and have) go on and on. But like all good things (cookies, beer, sex), too much can be bad, or at least painful. It's been a caffeine fueled summer for L and I and he's overdone it just a wee bit (to the tune of 50+ oz a day) and was vacillating between coffee high and coffee low. So he decided to detox and go cold turkey for a week and then to start limiting his intake to two cups/20-24 oz a day. As a good partner I'm standing in solidarity with him (mostly).** I've often said i don't need coffee in the am and I'm actually happy to find out that I don't need coffee to get up. I really do like the taste and would actually switch to decaf if for some reason we decided to cut caffeine from out diet - and I certainly couldn't say that for non-alcoholic beer if for some reason we decided to quit drinking. But what I have noticed is that I really miss the taste and texture of coffee, and that I use it as a way to get through my "I'm hungry all the time" problem. We've decided this isn't a permanent thing - we both like coffee too much - but to go on loving it we have to love it a bit less frequently. So for the next while it's:
for me in the mornings. (you can see the tea strainer - sorry bout the crappy picture, our camera battery is dead and we've misplaced the recharger).

* key in SC considering it doesn't seem to get much above 75 as a high temp these days...
** this means I don't make coffee in the am but will probably have my 16 oz 1/2 regular 1/2 decaf in the afternoon.

Dancin' in the streets

My friend and former colleague H is getting married this weekend. According to her, both she and her fiance have 2 left feet and she wanted some help with the ultimate wedding spotlight; the first dance. I promised to help, she sent me the song, and then we (mainly I) kept forgetting about it. She leaves in about an hour and a half so after our morning walk we decided to work on a simple step or two they can do. Fortunately the song is a 6:8 (obviously I do not use musical notation) so we figured a simple waltz would be good.

There we are, outside the 10 min lot near Hum I waltzing our way through the parking lot. I'm showing in very exaggerated fashion how to extend the steps and use more floor space when one of our faculty members (the Sith Lord for those who remember), shuffles on over with an overjoyed expression on his face. We chat for a while, I introduce the two, which is awk b/c H has 2 degrees from our dept, and laugh for even longer. Of all my grad school memories, this will be one of my best: waltzing with H in the parking lot.

So, I'll probably post again, but congratulations H&J! May the nerdcore force be with you and I hope the giant porcupine does a good job of guarding the gift table.

Coffee is always the right answer

L came home with some conference swag yesterday and promptly won the award for "best husband ever" when he gave me the super cool, shiny blue, thermos travel mug. It served me well this morning and I intend to take it with me to London this fall. Speaking of London and coffee, I have decided to use the 6K mile distance between me and my beloved Mr. Coffee to experiment with a French Press. I'll get an electric tea kettle in my studio, but no coffee maker. Although I'm actually ok in the mornings w/o coffee - why should I go without when I don't have to? Coffee is one of those glorious stimulants that provides warmth, comfort, fullness, and a social lubricant. It makes you better, faster, shaper, and better looking - really, is there anything coffee can't do? (I guess get you drunk but that's why you switch to wine or beer.)

After some research and being honest with myself re: glass things, I think I'm going to go with this one from Planetary Design (I'm thinking of ordering the green one). I have an Amazon gift certificate to use and it's described as durable and unbreakable: two elements I look for in something I intend to pack to London and later to take camping.

Rip it, rip it good

Despite all my whining and malaise I have actually become quite and accomplished knitter in the last year or so. I made my last garment in August of 2008, and despite still trying to work out sizing issue ( I am consistently small than I think I am, and even than some of designers think I am based on my measurements - I blame yarn ease), I feel confident starting, trying and finishing new projects. With my increased confidence has come a new thinking about errors I make when I knit and running instances when I have to rip/tink/undo something I spent hours working on. A year ago, I was still in the mindset of making it perfect on the first go - now I realize that if I get 75% done and it's not right, it's OK to undo and redo. It's not a failure in my knitting skills per se, but a regular part of the design and make process, and with every re-do I learn something and get a little bit better. In the case of my current project, I knit up to the bodice before trying it on and realized (again) that it was too big and decreased in the wrong place. Where I year ago I would have sworn a blue streak and shoved the knitting under the bed for a while (yeah, I'm mature like that), this time it didn't even phase me. The kitty and I happily ripped out the yarn and I started over on small needles. I was able to shave unnecessary several inches off the circumference- making the top less maternity and more sexy- and as an extra bonus I will be able to make my tank with the 4 skeins I bought and not have to run all over ebay looking for 2 extra in the dye lot I need. Hurray!

Speaking of said kitty, she happily, merrily, purringly ate one of my stitch markers (see picture to learn what a stitch marker is). After freaking out for about a min, I called the vet, was reassured she'll probably pass it ('check her stool and look for straining' - sigh...). Yeah, so not ready for a human child

In other knitting related news, 2 of the most fabulous short haired ladies I know, E and B, E's adorable 5 year old, and I are going to make forays into the world of dying our own wool. Later this summer we will set up shop in E's backyard with koolaid, yarn, and prepare for good times. It's like tyedying but I'll actually want to wear the result! After some deep thinking I realized that buying and dying yarn for an entire sweater on the first dying go around would probably be disastrous (every skein would come out differently), but - inspired by my SIL - I could dye a couple of skeins and forge into the world of socks! Now, I'm not that excited about socks, but damned if I need another scarf and socks always come in handy. I'm planning to dye at least 3 skeins and make socks for me, a "lucky" second person, and maybe some Ninja socks for my youngest BIL so he doesn't have to cram his regular tube socks into his flip flops in the winter.

Inner Demons

Meet my inner demon, his name is Bob. Grad school makes me angry. I'm not exactly sure why - probably the combination of fear and anxiety about success and the future, feelings of inadequacies and that your best won't be enough, frustration at events completely out of your control, I mean, really, I could go on and on. But add to it the precarious economic situation of the UC, anger at the Regents and similarly minded administrators, the idiocy of the nation that can't see we need a single payer health care system (socialized medicine? yes, thank you) combined with the Dems being too scared to actually push the country in that direction, again, I could go on and on. Now, I've never been a calm and mellow person, nor have I really tried to be. I've always had a fire in my belly (Irish slow-build temper, "east coast personality" from my father, just who I am), but it's generally been at a low simmer. Recently, and this happened the last time I felt similarly overwhelmed and frustrated, I've been lashing out and ranting and raving. From time to time this is good for comic value, but my tongue and my words have gotten control of me.* As if bob runs screaming from my mouth, ax and all, to hack away not at the cause of my anger but whatever focus point I can find at the moment. To only further dig myself into a dork hole,** my goblin's been permanently enchanted with:
But I don't like it. It's getting in the way of my work and unless I can lead a team of fellow demons, goblins, and amazons into battle some time soon (seriously, is there a profession where I can be a rager-for-hire? I will come and fight your fights? Sadly, i think that's called being a lobbyist or lawyer...), I need to find a way to get him back under control.
My usual regimen of exercise, sleep, eating well, and having fun isn't working. Although my first thought is to take up something like boxing where I get to hit something, I'm afraid that would actually only feed, rather than deal with, the rage. So I'm looking for something to help me calm, center, and try to come to some peace so I don't hack everyone to bits sometime in the near future. If you've got suggestions, I'd be happy to read them.

*I don't even want to think of the psychological implications of a woman studying the punishment of scolds who increasingly feels that her own unruly tongue has gotten out control and will get her in trouble.
**I think I lost all ground in turning my nose up at my nearest and dearest's RPGs.

Pulling out of a Funk

I've been in one of the downhill swings on the emotional roller coaster ride that seems to be my graduate career. It's not b/c I have it tougher than anyone else - I'm actually in a really advantageous position right now (on fellowship, only doing my research) - but it's lonely and I miss having comrades to talk to on a somewhat regular basis. Between my own feelings of being overwhelmed with how I'm going to get through my material (slowly and with lots of coffee and run breaks), and what feels like the pending collapse of the University system in CA (UC, CSA, CC), it hit my confidence and motivation much harder than I ever anticipated.* Fortunately I think I've turned a corner with my work at least and I'll try not to be so doom and gloom about "I cant' do it... is it even worth it..." I can do it, and I already know that for the world at large it's not "worth it", but that for me it is. Now let's hope this spark of motivation is still going strong at 2pm...

To keep things interesting I've been baking. Are we surprised? I tried out these two recipes: Triple Chocolate Brownies and Kona Coffee Cookies. The Triple Chocolate Brownies are very rich and fudgy, almost more like a thick fondant or a more solid Chocolate Lava Cake. I made them with chunks instead of chips and they were wonderful. The Kona Coffee Cookies were part of an attempt to expand my cookie repertoire. They didn't taste overwhelmingly like peanut butter or coffee (and I added at least 1 extra Tablespoon), but an interesting combination of the two. I definitely recommend them with coffee, and if you make them, under bake by a min or two. If they're too dry they're hard to eat.

*If you're following the privitization of the UC system, and if your a grad student you probably are whilst clutching your tattered security blanket or perhaps security under grad degree in computer science, you've probably seen these. For every one else, here's your summer reading list to get you up to date: Remaking the University (UC specific, but important for most other large state "public" universities), Tenured Radical (if you're not yet reading her, you should be), How the University Works, and Chris's Blog. I'm sure there are more good ones out there, and if you leave them in the comments I'll be sure to add them to my reader list of "scary reality shit".