Lucky L

L turns 30 this year, on xmas. Since we started dating I've always tried to make a distinction between xmas and birthday presents and to acknowledge each event separately. Although I would love to throw him a giant party, we're at my inlaws for xmas and I figured that strippers and booze probably wouldn't go over so well. While I can't throw him fiesta to end all fiestas, I could get him a kick ass 30th birthday gift. Thanks to a lot of help from friends, brother-in laws, sister, dad, mom, female-best-man, I was able to pull off this:

Yup. That would be a brand new 24" diagonal monitor and a wii. Sandychile and I surprised L last Sat when we decided to do a "small" gift exchange.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible :)

Side Note: Tomorrow we leave for Phoenix to visit my mom and then NJ to stay with my in-laws. I will get to see the QuiltinFool in person and perhaps share a few tasty beverages while crafting together. On a Craft note, my second Cherie Amour (all in the same color yarn this time), is on the needles. I'm aiming to finish the whole things during my travels. I've also gifted many knitted items this year so I will post pics of the recipients.

Betty's final Bow

In honor of the beautiful Betty Page. Shake it baby, shake it. This is proof positive that you don't have to be coordinated to be one of the hottest women in the world. I know people are all over Marilyn as the pop-sanitized bombshell, but I think Betty has her beat any way. SFW

I want tassels on my silver sequined panties.

Another sign of aging...

When you have to pass on a type of alcohol and it's not because of a binge-trip on tequila. I mentioned a few months ago that I thought beer might be giving me headaches, and it looks like there's a clear connection. I cut down on my beer drinking about a year ago and now only really drink it as special occasion. Every time I've had beer in the last quarter (probably 5 or 6 times since Sept), I've developed pounding in my temple the night of and the morning/day after. Dark beers are definitely worse than light beers, but any beer can set it off.

Now, I like beer a whole lot, and I'll probably still drink it from time to time, but it's not going to be the end of the world to pull back even more. It'll save me $$, calories, and further me down the path to a certified wino. What I'm scared of is that doctors think that whatever it is in beer that gives people headaches is also in wine, and red wine more than white. I'm ok giving up beer, I would be a very sad IrishRed if this meant I was also becoming sensitive to wine

"Watch my butt!"

I love this crazy little man. The energy, the bald head, collection of bright nipple bearing unitards (men, never, ever, wear unitards.....please). I am a closet Tae Bo fan. I started the year it came out and I've been jumping around in my dorm/living room, kicking invisible ninjas for 10 years now. Especially now that dance is over for the quarter I have to find some way to resist the gravitational pull of the couch and counteract the latkes and holiday cookies. Gym is ok, but I can only be on a hamster machine for so long until I want to start throwing things at people. Which is why I Tae Bo. I sweat, Billy yells at me that I can kick hard higher, "every body action has a reaction", and "tighten your buns! watch my butt!" An hour later, I'm sweaty, haven't left my house, and can go right back to grading on the couch. For me, Tae Bo (and exercise videos in general) fit into the category of "my partner can never see me doing this". Mom or sister - no problem. L? No freakin' way. I'm happy to dance in front of hundreds, but I'm loathe to let L catch me flailing around to Billy and his unitard.

Another One BItes the Dust

If I believed in a deity/Higher Power or any sort, I'd think they were trying to tell me to put down the knitting and find another hobby. Prior to Thanksgiving I finished my Cherie Amour sweater and only had the seaming and blocking to finish: a perfect project for the 2.5 hour drive to SLO. Brining out my knitting in the car I got my first good long look at the fabric in the light of day (I normally knit at night in artificial light):


For those non-craft types, you may notice that the yarn changes from a brownish hued red to a purple-hued burgundy. Yeah, it's all supposed to be the brownish-red color. I ordered 5 balls of yarn and 2 were shipped in the wrong color. Thankfully, handpaintedyarns has been incredibly generous and understanding and are replacing all 5 skeins - but it's of another dye lot, so I cant just take out the purple stuff and add to the red I already have, I have to reknit the whole thing. At least I don't have to worry about what I'm going to knit over winter break. On the up side, I now have 5 balls of yarn I didn't expect to. I'm going to try to turn them into a shrug and a hat.

Hmm

There is something funky going on with my blog. The person hosting my template exceeded their bandwidth, sending my template into a chaos of "photobucket bandwidth exceeded" images. I've gone back to a basic blogger template but I still can't get rid of some of the bandwidth exceeded images (suggestions anyone?).

Nothing else right now, just busy and came home with a post-Thanksgiving cold. I'll work on the blog image issue when I feel better.

New Song Obsession

I like you so much better when you're naked.

Breakfast

I am one of those people who cannot skip breakfast. Every morning I look forward to warm coffee and my morning meal (in part to soften the blow of the coffee and in part b/c I'm always hungry when I wake up). Usually it's a variety of higher protein/fiber cereal, switched up during the winter with oatmeal (quick and steel cut, made with milk, nutmeg, vanilla and brown sugar,), or breakfast quinoa. My favorite breakfast however is:

When we first moved here, we were able to find generic Safeway Toaster Waffles for $3.00 for a box of 16. Of course the syrup was more expensive, but we also found Grade B maple syrup at TJ's for $8/bottle (you really couldn't taste the difference). My sugar loaded breakfast of 2 waffles, a ration sized portion of syrup (to stretch it out), and coffee fueled my first 2 quarters of graduate school. When we went away for winter break L thought I would go into withdrawl w/o my crispy, warm toaster waffles.

Like all food cravings of mine I cycled through the waffles after about 9 months and moved on to Kashi Go Lean, overall a much better choice for my health and glycemic levels. Two days ago, however, I found these on sale in the freezer section. Whole wheat, whole grain, 5 g Protein, 4 g dietary fiber, warm, crispy waffle goodness. Hell, they have more fiber and protein than Cheerios! I'm not on the same unstoppable waffle-crave I had 3 years ago, but I'm very happy to be waffle powered this morning.

Goats

California falls are usually warm, but this week we've had summer-like conditions. Over the weekend L and I traveled 30 miles up the coast to the Harley Goat Cheese Farm in Pescadero. They have tours where for $20 you get to meet and milk the goats. We opted for the cheese tasting and buying. You can tell I grew up in suburbia/urban areas because I get giddy around farm animals. If you are ever up in this area, I highly recommend stopping by downtown Pescadero for a loaf of unbeatable artichoke bread, stop by Harley for some goat cheese, and enjoy a wonderful artisan meal.

Happy/Sad

It's a few days after the election and I think my calves are no longer sore from all the jumping up and down in glee. Obama is our president-elect, Prop 4 (restricting abortion rights for minors in CA) was voted down, but unfortunately Prop 8 passed. From what I can tell there are some uncounted absentee ballots (mine? I voted no on 8) that have yet to be counted. Somewhere around 1-2 million, which could make a difference considering that prop 8 only won by less than half a million votes. In some ways I'm horrified this happened, but in others I'm not (any Californian's remember prop 20 or prop 13?) Although our legislature tends to be liberal, the propositions we pass can be incredibly discriminatory. I understand and admire the idea behind the proposition system (get the vote to the people, aim for something populist), but I think the system has failed. At this point, the propositions serve to allow special interest groups to "put to the voters" those acts of legislation they can't get passed in the legislature. They buy pass the legislative branch and then point to their "mandate". The problem is that voters, myself included, are idiots and not prepared in any way to make some of these decisions. Voters decide on the most persuasive commercial? We, as the busy working public, don't get all the information regarding the measures, how they will work with the system (and money) we have, and what things are projected to look like in the future. There are people with that knowledge, they are called my elected officials, who I, as a tax payer, pay a full time salary to so that they can spend their time getting themselves informed and making decisions. This is one of the reasons for a representative republic with an independent judiciary, to be more future-thinking than the unwashed masses who have a difficult time looking beyond their own insulated bubble and worries regarding whether to eat chicken or pasta for dinner (and how to afford that chicken or pasta). And, as I said, I completely include myself in this. I am working on a PhD and I am certainly not trained or informed enough to make some of these decisions; especially discriminatory decisions that undermine our independent judiciary and legislate unequal rights, or sell billions of dollars in bonds, or try to re-work the criminal justice system in a way that removes an individuals right to an independent and fair trial (prop 9). As much as I'd like to rule the world in a benign dictatorship, I don't. Running the state is not my job: I pay my representatives to do that. The propositions have the potential to allow for some really progressive legislation that the state government can't/won't pass to get through, but increasingly is seems like a venue for special interests groups (the prison industry, the religious right, energy companies hoping to make a $$ off of a pseudo-green revolution, environmentalists) to be able to push through laws. I'm not sure I'm willing to say it needs to go, but I'm close.

end rant.

In good news, I'm 1/2 done with my last Cherie Amour sweater and while L is living it up at a CfAO conference at Lake Arrowhead, my mom will be visiting for a few days.

holy tap dancing Christ on a pogo stick

WE WON!!!

Ok, we won the presidential race, but Props 8 and 4 are still up in the air (currently, 8 passing - boo!- and 4 is going down -yay!)

More tomorrow.

Go VOTE

That's pretty much it.

Vote for Obama, not because he rocks (which he does), and not because he will do everything he's promised, heal the world, and lead us all to hold hands round the world and sing kumbaya, but because he is the best hope we've had in my lifetime.

And if your in CA:
-Vote no on 8! Every consenting adult in this country should have to right to marry the consenting adult of their choice. It's not just a matter of equal rights, which of course it also is, but a matter of human decency. My love and commitment is no different from that of my friends in same-sex relationships. My ability to parent and raise a family is no different. My civil marriage license should also not be different. Besides, like Margaret Cho said, it's a crime against humanity to withhold from 2 gay men the right to register at Bed Bath and Beyond. And as far as the fear-mongerning regarding teaching gay marriage to the children: teaching that two people who love each other can decide to spend a life together and maybe raise a family does not equal showing gay porno in class.

-Vote no on 4: Prop 4 is an attempt to limit minor women's rights to obtain an abortion. This prop would require women under the age of 18 to get parental permission prior to being able to terminate a pregnancy. I firmly believe that a woman alone should have authority over her body and any decisions she may make regarding completing or terminating a pregnancy.

And if you're in Seattle or NYC, even more incentive: Babeland is giving away free penis sleeves or vibrating eggs with a I voted sticker! In one day you can collect your free krispy kreme, free starbucks, and free sex toys! I love democracy in action.

Oh boy, oh boy

Just when you think things can't get crazier and you're trying to finish grant drafts to send to your recommenders, you find out that the logicboard on you little-engine-that-could G4 ibook is kaput. Which means the ibook is kaput, unless I want to spend several hundred dollars for a new logicboard in an old laptop. And I don't, at least not when this is the final sign in a number of events that is telling me it was time to upgrade. Fortunately, our campus bookstore was closing out their white Macbooks and I was able to get a good deal on a new one.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this blog post is being typed on the keys of my new 2.1 GHz macbook. Luckily for me, the hard drive of my old computer was fine and I was able to transfer all of my files from my old system to my new one. I'm new to Leopard and having fun playing with the new features. This model (ok, like most these days) has a built in camera, so you bay be able to expect more photos of yours truly (at least more knitting stuff for the craftier readers of this blog).

The one thing that was lost was my totally legal (cough) version of MS Office 2004. I'm going to try the trial of iWork and NeoOffice over the next month of so and let you guys know how it goes. My complaints with each program so far: IWork requires exporting files to be Office compatible and that sounds like a pain in the ass. I've tried NeoOffice twice now and not been happy with it. In fact, disliked it so much I went back to Office (at the time it was slow, bulky and didn't have the features). For you Mac readers I'll post a review of the two products and you PC readers can return to your regularly scheduled program.

Also, if you have input, feel free to leave it in the comments.

It's been a good week.

In the last two days I found out that I:

1. will receive my TA sabbatical in Summer 2009 - this will pay me as if I was TAing but w/o the teaching duties. More importantly, it will allow me to pay my expenses here while I try to hop off on a research trip.

2. I have just been accepted into the UC Davis Tasting Histories Conference to give a talk about the World History Through Food class that I co-taught this summer. The World History seminar was brutal, but World History has give back to me in a way I never expected and will always be grateful for.

3. I managed to do 3 consecutive turns in ballet on each side (this has taken me 3 years to be able to do).

Wow, suddenly, life feels really, really good.

Huh

This is a pretty accurate representation of a student I met with today during office hours. They are taking their first "big university" classes after transferring here from a not so local community college. In addition to living a few towns down the 1 and not having a car, they're working 4 days a week to pay their bills and make ends meet. New place, new job, new school, first upper div take home midterm. The student actually came to me to talk about reading strategies because they were so overwhelmed with the reading (about 200 pgs a week, some easy, some of the I-spent-6-years-in-the-archive-and-I'm-going-to-recount-every-single-detail difficult), they felt lost. Tears welled up in their eyes as they told me they just couldn't keep track of the argument and kept falling asleep and I felt the total terrible frustration I see in grad students making the undergrad-grad transition in this jc-univ student's eyes. I reassured them that history is simultaneously fascinating and mind numbing, and that if you try to read 200 pages on the English Reformations in one sitting, you'll pass out by page 15, wake up 3 hours later, and feel more frustrated than before. We talked through some reading strategies, writing strategies, and some "get outside and find something you look forward to, even once a week" strategies (I showed them the rec center and the recreation catalog). I also told them to keep in touch with me (I'll have my eye on them), and that b/c this is their first big assignment, I'd be happy to go through their paper with them after I hand it back.

What struck me about this encounter is the realization that I really love helping my students - especially those who are willing to work with me. This student contributes to section, comes faithfully to lecture, and is really motivated to work - not necessarily to "get an A" but to do the best work they can. What has really struck me is the realization of how much I care about my students - I want to see them bright eyed, well-fed, and with a decent night's sleep. Despite my ranting and raving, it's more frustration and disappointment when they're lazy than outright dislike. I relish in the performance aspect of teaching, but the mentoring really drives me. I especially enjoy working with my first generation college and jr college transfer students. I've been thinking a lot about this in the last few months, and it is completely clear now that I am meant to be at a teaching institution. I enjoy the research and I'm looking forward to writing my diss (man, did I just write that?), but it's the pedagogy that really gets me fired up.

What's really given me a sense of calm is how much more clear it is to me that I am on the right path. Despite my complaining, I really made the right decision in coming to graduate school. And that's sort of comforting to realize.

Now that I'm comfortable having come here, let's see if I can get the grant money to do the research, write the diss, and leave...

Frankenbra trial and the colors of fall

Frankenbra trial- general success!
I tried out my creation in class and it supported well, looked decent, and didn't fly off my body in the middle of a double pirouette - so i consider it to be a success. I do, however, need to take up the strap lengths a little bit more.

I actually had to write that last post about 3 times, each time toning down the urge to write freely about my boobs. I consider it a sign of maturity, an act of self restraint, and the realization that people who are friends but also colleagues and potential future employers, have access to this and actually may not want to Sad.

Related to the sports running around bit however (it's early, I'm trying...) is that I'm playing, for the third fall season, on the Astronomy Softball Team, "The Big Bangers". I never played in high school, I'm not particularly good, but you need to have a minimum of girls on the field to be allowed to play, so L signed me up. And then I signed up a chunk of the history department, most notably our all-star slugger, A.

In fairness to myself, I'm a lot better than I was. I hit reasonably well, I've finally figured out what I'm supposed to be doing on most of the plays I encounter in a game, and I catch the ball the majority of the time. Sometimes, however, I catch it with my shoulder instead of my glove:

Ah, the changing colors of fall....

Frankenbra

If you know me in person, you’ve no doubt heard me complain about the problem I face between being active and busty. Leotards are difficult to fit, the “built-in bra” for most “sports wear” is a laugh, and when I run I’m often compressed by 2-3 sports bras. Finding a high tech over the shoulder boulder holder that actually holds the boulders in place and prevents a landslide, is an on-going challenge. Fortunately, (and all the other ladies out there may also want to take a look), Champion is currently running their all sports bras $20 sale.

Although I’ve taken advantage of this, I’m a crafty grad student and cheap, and the thought of throwing out decent equipment, even if not working in its present form, makes me cringe. And as necessity is the mother of invention, I present my
Frankenbra:

Original (black unaltered version):


Alteration:


I cut out a substantial amount, so I decided to try twisting the straps to give a little more support.

Detail:

My hand sewing kind of sucks, but it's good practice.

Comparison between unaltered and altered:



This is more of a mock-up than the "real thing", which I will try to make a little more finished looking. I hand sewed all of the alterations b/c I wasn’t sure my sewing machine could handle the fabric. The plan is to see how it works and pay attention to weaknesses in my alterations. Once I figure that out, I’m going to change the black one as well. Already it fits better than it did even new. It took me about 1-2 hours to do all the sewing and I save myself some $$.

Houston, we have a problem

Ok, so the image may be overkill... What I actually have is one problem and one annoyance. If there are any computer-geeky types reading this blog, please leave help in the comments if you have suggestions. Problem: My ibook, which I only used plugged in b/c the battery is old and I'm too cheap to buy a new one, flashes every couple of minutes/seconds between the "charging" and battery icon (sometimes the light on the power cable also flashed orange to green and back again). I've tried a new power adaptor and the problem is persisting. After consulting the boards, I think I need a new DC-inboard (as does our IT guy here). Are these babies hard to install? Should I try it myself (at risk of breaking the darn thing), pay someone to do it, or make steak-and-a-blow job day arrive a little early this year and beg L to give me a hand? I haven't done anything hardware related on my laptop other then replace the RAM... Either way, somethings got to be done b/c I laptop is now on permanent sleep, and as anyone else in the history business knows, not being able to access you computer is like being stuck in you own special corner of hell. Fortunately my docs are backed up on the Univ's server and I had just emailed off the two big documents I was working on so I can reclaim them through gmail.

And now, the annoyance: I bought an older Belkin Ergoboard at our Surplus store, got the PCI:USB adapter, and my ibook, before it went to eternal slumber, can't/won't recognize the damn thing. Surprisingly, the internets have failed me and Belkin doesn't have anything resembling drivers. Suggestions?

Food for an Economic Meltdown

Between the Presidential debates, the start of the quarter and the melt down of our current banking/credit system - it's been a busy few weeks. I apologize for the delay in boot week, we'll be back to that attempt at regularly scheduled programming in a bit. I've got to say, I'm glad to be in grad school, I'm glad to not have had any money to lose in the stock market - or the housing market. Yeah, my IRA is looking a little sad, but I'm not even sure I ever thought retirement was a viable option anyway. After realizing that Social Security will be kaput by the time I'm of retirement age, and not trusting the stock market to be the magical "invisible hand" that solves all my future money problems, I just sort of accepted that L & I will work until we die. Maybe it's time to take a radical step backwards and start popping out babies - then we can revolve around and mooch off of our offspring until they get sick of us and kick us onto the next.

This crash is going to change things, but not enough. We're going to try to rehabilitate our clunking capitalist vision because we're too scared to try something different. Assuming the frozen credit markets loosen up in the next week or so, we'll recover to some level resembling stability (even a recessed/depressed stability). As long as we can keep people in jobs, we'll be ok. I just hop the voters in this country realize that it's the big-deficit, big-Defense, big-government Republican administrations that have gotten us into this mess.

Enough of the rants, onto the food...

This is a tasty, comforting, healthy recipe that is perfect for the crisp fall days we've been having around here. This recipe uses 1/3 whole wheat and 2/3 all purpose flour. If you use white whole wheat, you could easily do 1/2 of each. The sugar is much lover than other Pumpkin breads (I saw one recipe with the same proportions and 3 cups of sugar), and the bananas replace the oil and add some extra sweetness. The spice combination is a little different than your standard breads, but really good. This could easily be converted to a vegan recipe.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar (packed)
2-4 mashed ripe bananas or 3/4 c. apple sauce (i prefer the bananas)
1/4 c. olive oil
2 eggs, 2 egg whites
2 c. pumpkin puree
2 c. all-purpose white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2.5 tsp cinnamon
3/4-1 tsp cloves
3/4 tsp coriander
(can also add 1-2 tsp ginger)
3/4 tsp salt (can be reduced to 1/4 tsp)
optional: 1 c. raisins, or dark chocolate chips, or nuts

1. In a large bowl beat together sugar, oil, pumpkin and eggs
2. In a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Mix will with a wire whisk. Fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just moistened (do this by hand(. Stir in any additions (raisins, nuts, chocolate).
3. Pour batter into 2, 9x5 greased loaf pans. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 350 F for 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Welcome Fall

Fall is my favorite season. I know there are non-Californians who will hotly contest my claims that we even have a fall - but this isn't their blog, it's mine and we do and I love it. The air does get crisper. The trees do turn colors (not like MA, but we're 3K miles away, so give me a break), and the light has a diffused beauty that you don't get at any other time in the year.

However, there's another reason why I love fall: it's boot season. Even since go-go boots made a comeback when I was in high school I haven't had less than 2 pairs in my closet. I love the way they can dress up a long skit, rock the school-girl short skirt, keep the wind off your legs, and be used as a more comfortable alternative to heels as a way of dressing up professional or going out wear. In honor of boot season, I'm doing boot week on the blog.

First, the all-purpose doc marten.
You can tell I'm a teenager of the 1990s because of my loyalty and love of the brand. They fit beautifully, last forever, and give a funky edgy I really like. My first pair were a 8-eye boots covered in flowers, the next pair were purple. I out grew my wingtip/saddle style shoes a year or so ago and this is my only pair left. That being said, I love them and if/when they die they'll be replaced immediately. The 1.5 inch heel means I can wear these with all of pants and not have hems dragging on the ground, and they're sturdy enough to hold up to our bouts of rain.