For the Moms out there

The Meanest Mom
This is my favorite blog out there, and I'm not even a mother. And right now she has this amazing contest going on. Check it out.

Week Two Update

I started the great weight loss/fitness challenge last Wednesday and I can say I am doing really well. I lost 4 pounds in the first week due to some minor calories counting errors. Now I am actually eating enough in the day to lose weight and still feel energized, which is good cause I am have spend every day exercising at least 30 minutes. I have been rotating between pilates, cardio, and weight training. On days I stay home I switch between pilates and cardio, and days I go to campus I switch between riding the stationary bike for at least 30 minutes or doing an intensive weight training with my classmate who used to be a personal trainer. Our first session was yesterday, and it lasted two hours because there are three of us that rotate on the machines. Each time I push myself in any of the exercises I get pretty sore, but it is a good sore and I can still function.
Although I don't see the pounds instantly melting away like I magically want them to, I can tell a difference because I actually HAD to wear a belt today. If I can keep up this pace though (the healthy one not the 4 pounds a week) I should easily make my goals by the end of April. I can also reach my toes on the V stretch the first time, so that is getting better too.

One of my goals in life is to visit this place. Look at that amazing starscape.

Weight Loss/Fitness Goals

Remember when you were a freshman in college and you gained the "Freshman 15?" Well in grad school that happens again, each and every semester it feels like. The constant reading and writing leaves little time for exercise for most of us. Plus the food choices on our side of campus are not the greatest unless you want everything with mayo or dressings. (Which I like, but not this much.)
I came up with the idea of having a competition of grad students against the department faculty to try to lose weight or get in shape. Today was the weigh in. I must say that my BMI was higher than I expected. Within the healthy range, but just barely. My measurements were also higher than I thought.
So I have to come up with my goals and I figured if I write them down for my family and friends to see it will add more pressure. By April 27 I want to:
1. Lose 10 pounds or drop two pant sizes which ever comes first.
2. I want to have a tone body, or at least be on my way.
3. I want to be flexible again. I can still touch my toes, but not on the first try. I used to be able to lay my palms on the floor. I want that again.
4. I want to routinely exercise at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes or more. Both cardio and strength will be my focus.
5. I want to be able to run again without needing my inhaler.

I will periodically give updates on my progress.

Bahamas

Santa brought us a cruise to the Bahamas for this weekend. First we drove up to Charlotte and had no problems with our flight to Miami. Our taxi driver was a very talkative fellow who spent the whole time talking about being book smart vs common sense smart. He was from Jamaica or some other island nation, and so sometimes he was difficult to understand, but he was funny.
We got on the cruise ship with no difficulties. They have that process pretty streamlined. (Wish I could say the say for the departure.) As soon as we got on board we headed for the buffets for lunch. The food was pretty good and there was plenty of it. We wandered around the ship for awhile until we had to do the safety drill. Let me just say that if it had been a real emergency, we all would have died. We managed to entertain ourselves though by pretending to be Sumo wrestlers with the lifevests.
We booked the main seating dinner since we are used to eating at about that time. We had two other couples with at the table. One was an older couple from Charlotte, North Carolina and the other was a young couple from Miami. The older couple were very friendly and we had a good time talking to them the entire trip. The younger couple were not as talkative, mainly because the man was very seasick. (I was lucky that my pills from the flight were still working.) Once we had pulled completely out of the dock we noticed the ship was rocking pretty good because the winds were strong. I went to get myself and my fellow seasick dinner buddy some pills at the deck, and the line to get them was all around the lobby.
After dinner we went to grab our coats, because it was that cold, and went on deck. The winds were so strong you had to lean into them to make it to the front of the ship. We headed to bed pretty early but fell asleep to the Dark Knight movie. The next morning we arrived at Coco Cay, the private island of Royal Caribbean cruises. The winds were still very strong and so it was too dangerous for them to take us to shore. We had purchased the all day package to go snorkeling, so we were bummed we couldn't do that, but after watching them try to deliver supplies to the shore and have to come back, we understood.
Instead we spent the entire day in the jacuzzi or on deck. We met a family of twenty-two celebrating the birthday of the grandmother. She had bought tickets for all the members of her family to come along. (Which I think is a fantastic idea and would completely support my in-laws if they decided to do the same.) They were mostly from the NY area and were very funny. One aunt in particular kept saying, "Make you wet, make you sweat, hot tub!" So whenever she saw us the rest of the vacation she kept calling us Mr. and Mrs. Hot Tub.
We went to the fancy dinner that night and the couple from Charlotte was with us. I must say the food was amazing on this cruise. The only thing I didn't like was some empanadas I got from the buffet. Everything else was great and I ate a ton of it. We went to the Captain's reception and then to the comedy show which featured a hypnotist. It was completely unfunny, but what do you expect for free.
We arrived at Nassau in the early evening, which made dinner that much more enjoyable without the rocking. We got up early that morning, ate some breakfast, and headed to the Pirate Museum. It was more along the lines of Disney's pirate ride in the beginning, but they did have some historical facts and exhibits set up. I loved it though despite the cheesiness. We took lots of funny pictures and I got a pirate shirt (not a puffy sleeve one though) and a new rubber pirate ducky.
We went walking around to find a free beach, and found a great one not far from the ship. We went to the Straw market and picked up a few gifts. The whole area from the ship to the market is filled with people trying to sell you something, which is annoying, but they didn't keep pushing so it was bearable. Back on the ship we got some lunch and our suits and headed back to the beach.
The water was amazing, but a tad cold at first. We swam around for about an hour and then decided to try to make it to the barrier rope about 100 feet out. The water was calm and fairly shallow so I wasn't afraid despite not being a strong swimmer. We made it to the rope and I managed to wrap my leg around it to hold me up and give my arms a rest. That was a huge mistake. As we started to swim back to shore my leg felt like it was on fire. (A feeling I was very familiar with after my rash last week.) I swam all the way to shore and got out to check what was going on. The entire back of my leg was starting to turn red and swell with hives. Unfortunately I had to get T out of the water and we headed back to the boat. I was in so much pain I went straight to the medical center. There was no one there, so we had to page someone. When they arrived they could only give me a plastic bag to put ice in (they didn't even have ice) and they wanted to charge me for hydrocortozone. Luckily I had brought my tube with me fearing that I might have a relapse. I took a cold shower, some benadryl, put on the cream, and sat with ice on my legs. I am still not sure if I had a reaction to the seaweed growing on the rope or if there was critters on the rope that got me.
After a while I got tired of being in the cabin so we went on deck to read and watch the ship pull out at sunset. It was much warmer and less windy then it had been other evenings, so it was pleasant to be on deck until dinner. The couple from Miami were celebrating the girl's 21st birthday that evening, so there was singing and a cake along with our dinner.
We went to bed early because we had to wake up early to leave the ship. They had an express depart that only ran from 7-8 and we didn't want to stay until our departure time of 10 because we were going to try to catch an earlier flight. Well the express departure was chaotic due to the massive amount of people trying to do what we were doing. See the cruise tells you that you need to book your flight no earlier than 6 hours after we were scheduled to port just in case of weather delays or customs delays. (Which we had for about an hour while they searched someone's room.) So our flight was for 4pm, but we were at the airport by 9. We got on standby, but the flight was full, so we waited in the airport till our 4pm flight.
On our flight home we were making such good time that when we arrived they didn't have a gate for us yet. We sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes and then pulled forward. Then it turned out that they had too many planes trying to leave and arrive, so we along with about a dozen other planes were lined up just outside of the terminals for another 15 minutes. It looked like a parking lot for planes. We were very happy to get off that flight.
On our way home it started to rain and the weather reports were calling for 1-3 inches of snow in our area. It wasn't that much, but when we woke up this morning there was at least half an inch on the grass and it kept coming (and melting) in big fat flakes all day. It wasn't enough for work to be canceled though for T or for my dentist appointment. (But that ended up being good fortune because the internet went down right before the inauguration and I was able to watch it at the dentists while getting cavities filled.)

That's a relief

Yesterday two things happened that gave me a sense of relief. First, I have been suffering from a horrible allergic reaction to something since last Wednesday. I would get a horrible rash that was hot to the touch and painfully itchy. I went to the doctor on Monday after being kept up two nights in a row and he gave me a course of steroids but he couldn't figure out what was giving me such a widespread but intermittent reaction. The medication made me feel better for the most part, but I would still get reactions on my feet that kept me awake. Yesterday, after a nap I finally made the connection that the new sheets I got for Christmas were the culprit despite having been washed and rinsed several times already. So I switched back to the old ones and had my first full nights sleep without waking up with red itchy feet. I am bummed that the sheets were the culprit cause they were really nice and I threw away the packaging, but I am relieved to finally be feeling better.
The other thing that happened was related to my assistantship. All last semester I was having problems with my partner doing his work and other related issues. We had several meetings with my mentor to try to work it out, but nothing seemed to get through to my partner. Well my partner left for Christmas break with no definitive answer as to when he would be coming back so that we could plan a trip to do some GIS observations before the semester started. And then he missed the deadline for turning in stuff and I never heard back the entire break. Yesterday I got an email from my mentor and my partner's friends wondering if I had heard from him because he hadn't shown up to classes yet and they were concerned. I hadn't heard from him, so one of the friends went to his apartment and found it abandoned. It is a bummer to see him fail and drop out of school and out of the project because it is huge, but it is a relief to finally have a resolution to the problem. I must also admit, and this is horrible, but it is a relief to know that my inclination about him turned out to be true.

Decluttering

School is about to start, but before it does I decided to spend a few days decluttering the house and thoroughly cleaning it as I go along. In just two short days I have already managed quite a few tasks. I love the feeling of getting rid of stuff. I never notice how cluttered things look until I have gotten rid of something. This of course has been a struggle for others in my family, so I am always proud of myself when I can get rid of stuff, and the more the better.

And let the waiting begin

I turned in the rest of my PhD application today. I also made sure that all the elements outside of my responsibility were accounted for as well. I won't hear until sometime around March whether I got in or not. This process would be far less nerve racking if I applied to more programs. See, whereas most people worry about getting into their top school, they are least have a few runners up that they are bound to get into. I, on the other hand, only have one option right now and so everything banks on this application. Lots of people are sure I am going to get in, but I fear with the HUGE amount of applications we received it is anyone's game. So lets just say I am cautiously optimistic.

Unwanted Visitor

The other day I was looking out the window when I saw this in our backyard. This would explain why the bird feeder was still full when we got back home from our trip. I also noticed that one of the dove pairs that practically lives in our backyard is missing his (or her) mate. Being that this hawk, a Cooper's hawk to be exact, loves to eat doves I am fairly certain I know what happened even though there is no feather evidence. I know it is in their nature to be preyed on, but I don't like it when hawks, cats, or other things manage to get a hold of one of the birds for dinner. I guess I feel like I set them up to be eaten since I attract them to my yard with food and water.

End of the Semester

I hate the last week of the winter semester. First, it is such a tease to have us get almost a week off for Thanksgiving and then make us come back to what is inevitably the worst two weeks of the semester. Second, with the holidays occurring at the same time, it makes it so difficult to get into the season with deadlines and meetings hanging over our heads instead of dreams of sugar plums. Luckily this semester my schedule hasn't been as hectic as it normally is, but I am still very eager for it to be completed, and yet I am not. My pre-thesis is due this week, and honestly I have so much more that will be included in my thesis but is not ready as of yet. I can't wait for a break to do some extra research. My biggest fear though is that I will get done and not want to do anything school related for the entire break, which wouldn't be the end of the world, but it wouldn't be the greatest either.
I am looking forward to going home for the holidays though to see family and friends. I wish all our family members were going to be there, but we understand. I hope it snows back home at least because it has been years now since I have seen the white fluffy stuff and I am going through withdrawals.

Armchair Auto Executive

So, once again, there's talk about the American auto manufacturing business being in dire straits, and needing a big cash injection from Dr. Government to survive. After all, if they were willing to give Wall Street $700 billion, why not throwing a few measly billion at GM, Chrysler, and Ford?

I'm going to avoid the political socialism nightmare that I think this whole situation is devolving into, and instead postulate on what I think I'd like to see happen here.

Before I do that, though, I think it's necessary to point out that, for the most part, I think I know quite a bit more about the auto manufacturing business than I knew about the Wall Street stuff. Frankly, I felt that I didn't know enough about the ins and outs of that world to really make an informed snap decision, and the media coverage didn't really shed enough light on things for my liking. But I am more familiar with the car guys and their world.

To me, the whole problem with the American guys can be summed up in one word: unions. Or, hey, even more simply--it can be summed up in three letters: UAW. If the government ends up writing a big twelve-figure check to fix everything at GM, I would really like to see it happen only with the stipulation that the UAW is forevermore banished forthwith. There are lots of sectors of the auto business that are doing well--even here in America. Even in manufacturing! Specifically, though, it's all the foreign guys, who have non-union plants, mostly in the south. BMW, Hyundai, Honda, Mercedes, Nissan, and Toyota all have plants down here, and they're all non-union (at least I am pretty sure they are; let's keep this thing unencumbered by messy research and just assume I'm right).

There have been lots of things written about the anchor the UAW is around the necks of the Big Three. I saw something recently that said union costs, including health insurance premiums, inefficiencies, corruption, and pensions, run to close to $8000 for every single vehicle GM produces. Today, I saw an article (can't find it now, though) where some high-up UAW clown states that he'd rather surf GM into the ground a la Slim Pickens' character riding the nuke in Dr. Strangelove than make any sort of concession to the EEeee-vil GM management.

Look, I've seen all of the Big Three try to compete the last few years. The management at all three firms has been pretty good about raising quality levels, trying to develop new hybrid and other fuel efficiency technology, and generally, y'know, trying to stay alive. But how can they manage to stay alive with a workforce that would rather kill the golden goose than make cutbacks to survive?

Sorry, unions, your time is up. And, yes, I believe they have, at one time or another, had a valid reason for existence. But, hey, if you don't like your job, or how you're treated, you have other options. You can pick up and move somewhere else! Yes, it's true! I have!

8 Things

The 8 Things Tag...

8 TV shows I love to watch:
1. The Office
2. Top Gear
3. Lost
4. Gilmore Girls (just started to Netflix)
5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
6. Firefly
7. Freaks and Geeks
8. Peep Show

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. The Melting Pot
2. Solstice
3. Miyo's
4. San Jose
5. Gervais and Devine
6. Red Robin
7. Five Guys
8. Bombay House (but it is so far away)

8 Things that happened today
1. Woke up on an island
2. Conducted an interview with two elderly black gentleman
3. Drove around said island a lot
4. Sat in a car for hours to get home
5. Got a headache
6. Watched Cheers
7. Surfed the internet
8. Typed this blog

8 things that I look forward to:
1. Finishing my thesis
2. Finishing grad school
3. Getting accepted to PhD program (Crossing fingers)
4. Finishing doctorate
5. Having children (someday)
6. Coming home to T after traveling
7. Getting a job in my field
8. Traveling to the Dubai, European continent, India, Australia, South America and Asia someday

8 Things on my wish list:
1. A house in a more kid friendly neighborhood with a better yard/parks
2. Time to take belly dancing classes
3. An acceptance letter to PhD program
4. A publishable article
5. A super awesome digital camera (Nikon D38 if you would like to get one for me)
6. To see my family more often
7. Children
8. Social justice

If you are reading this, then consider yourself tagged. :) And you can do it in the comments without registering if you would like.

Poor dog

My mom's poor little dog Malcolm had to be put down last night. He was around 12 years old and his health had been failing for quite some time. After a couple of horrible days as all his systems shut down, they took him to the after-hours, emergency vet service and had him put out of his misery.

Sorry, Mom and Caitie. I know he had a happy life, right up to the end, and that's the greatest gift you can give a pet. At least he's no longer in pain.

The "Veronica Mars" post

We just this morning finished watching the last two episodes of Veronica Mars, the short-lived show about the teenage girl who moonlights as a P.I. and solves crimes. (In case you've never heard of it, it's one of these cult shows with a dedicated fanbase that complains about its unjust demise at the hands of the television network heads.)

Anyway, I see that the show aired for two seasons on one network before it spent its last year on the CW, whatever that is. Actually, I know what it is, it's the network that apparently gets fussy if there's even a single show in its lineup that isn't about pretty young people and their uninteresting love lives. Seriously, the show was great in its first two seasons, but the CW morans really tried hard to make it boring and dumb when it moved to their network.

Okay, I liked the fact that they changed the one-big-mystery-per-season thing for that last year. She had a couple of big mysteries during that last year, and that allowed for a little more excitement during the year, as well as making the show appear a little less like a big tribute to Buffy (not a bad thing). But every single episode during that last season had at least one scene where we were "treated" to her and Logan whining about their relationship. Gaaahhh, enough already.

The last disc of the set has a look at what they wanted to do in the event that the series was renewed for a 4th season: Veronica at the FBI. Hey, that has potential. I guess the network clods passed because they wouldn't be able to shoehorn a bunch of crap about pretty-boy college students in there.

It's too bad, too, because the show was really excellent without the network meddling in it. Even the third season wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as the first two were. I guess you can always depend on the suits to fix what ain't broke.

Moving On

My buddy quit his job yesterday. He used to work with me, and he's decided to go back to his former job in DC. When he told me he had turned in his two weeks' notice and was heading back north, I was disappointed, but not terribly surprised. He's one of these guys who changes jobs every year (sometimes twice a year), and while I thought he was generally happy with things down here, I guess he wasn't. Apparently The Itch was too much for him to ignore and he switched jobs yet again.

Bummer. I hope he's happy going back to a job he already quit once. I tend to stick around and have a harder time moving on than most people my age, I guess. I've been at the same job for the last five years with no intent to move; before that I was at one job for almost four. (And that job sucked!) Most people my age move every, what, two or three years? I guess I could look it up.

I wonder how much of that has to do with how I was raised. My dad has held exactly one job since I was born, and it's all I've ever known him to do. I lived in the same house from birth until I was, I think, 17. On the one hand, maybe I'm getting the shaft by not moving around all the time and getting more and more money...on the other hand, maybe the roots I'm putting down will one day allow me to move into a better position for me and my family.

Well, right now I feel like I've got a good thing going. Until that changes, I don't plan to go anywhere.

Nostalgia

I had, and still have, grand visions of writing much more on this thing than I do. Unfortunately, I think of lots of good stuff to write about, but I rarely take the time to write it. I don't think that's going to change any time soon, but I'll try to be a little more proactive about it.

In the meantime, they recently made a brand new Mega Man game. Remember those? They had about a zillion of them on the old NES, and I had a couple of them, which I played over and over again. You had two buttons on those old controllers, and that gave you two options: jump and shoot. As a result of the technical limitations of the day, the game designers had to rely on creative and interesting level design to make the games fun, and they WERE fun. Simple, and occasionally frustrating, but fun.

Well, Mega Man 9 just came out on the 360, and it's a brand new game that looks, sounds, feels, and plays just like the old ones. They even made it so that if you get too many sprites on the screen at one time, they flicker. And you know what? It's still fun! It's really, really hard, but all the gameplay elements are just like they were--the running, the jumping, the shooting guys with your little arm cannon that looks like it's shooting eggs. They didn't update it at all and I'm really glad.

What they need to do is put all those old games on one disc, add some speed run objectives, online leaderboard features, and achievements, but don't update anything about the games themselves(!) and I'd definitely pay, like, $20-$30 for it. Someone let me know if they decide to do this.

Weekends Update

In the last two weeks I have been to New Orleans and Denver, bought a fridge, and had my paper accepted for a conference in the spring. Well that is the thirty second version of the story for those short on time.
Now for the longer story:
I went to New Orleans for a conference two weekends ago. The conference focuses on Southern history, but also encompasses all historians who work in the South supposedly. I didn't really see this as true though since almost every session was related to the Civil War or Civil Rights. It was a good conference all the same. I enjoyed my time there because the food was amazing. I ate alligator, crawfish, frog legs, Jambalaya, Gumbo, and beignets (french donuts covered in powdered sugar.) By the time I got home I was sure I had gained 5 pounds, but I lucked out and only ended up with one extra pound. The day after I returned I went to the State Fair for more fried foods, but now I am done for at least a month.
This weekend I went to Denver to see family I have not seen in a very long time. My mother is not very close with her side of the family with the exception of her father and step-mother. I haven't seen my uncles in over 15 years, or longer for some, or met their children. My real grandmother has only seen me two times since she divorced my grandfather when I was two. So when I got invited to attend a wedding for one (of six) uncles, I jumped at the chance to get to see them all again. I am glad I did too. T got to meet that side of my family he has never met, and they got to meet my nephew for the first time. Now I have all their contact information and I refuse to lose contact with them again.
This morning we woke up to the noise of our fridge, which is quite old. I paid attention to it here and there during the day and it never shut off. The food is still cool, but the fridge is obviously on its way out. T and I decided that we should just go and get another one before it does die. I researched a few fridges, but then it turned out they were all too big for the cabinet space. (Thanks to the previous owners who tiled the floor after the cabinets and raised the floor level.) We went to one of the big hardware stores and found one that worked. The salesman was actually very nice and helpful, which is not like that particular store typically. The fridge could take up to nine days to get here, but hopefully it comes sooner or the current one survives that long.
This evening I was reading my emails and received a notice that my paper was accepted for THE conference in my field. I submitted it a few months ago as a stand alone paper, which makes it more difficult to get accepted. Luckily an alumni of my program was on the review board and saw that another stand alone paper matched my topic and put it forward as a complete panel instead. And now it has been accepted and I get to present on segregated state parks. (Which also means a free trip to Providence thanks to my department.)
So I am having a pretty good month, which I hope extends into next month as I start the rough draft of my thesis. Actually, it can keep extending for the rest of the school year since I have to apply to the PhD program and defend my thesis.

The only feasible option

So here's what I think. Everyone knows who Warren Buffett is, right? He's the wealthiest man in America, and he made all his money by more or less consistently outperforming the stock market. (Okay, NOW everyone knows who he is.)

He has managed to do something that people generally assume is impossible. But it's not...if future Warren Buffett traveled back in time to visit young Warren Buffett and give him stock tips...is it? I know, this is the exact plot to Back to the Future 2, but it worked for Biff, and I think it's probably the explanation for Buffett's extremely good luck.

Think about it. You know I'm right. If I "go missing" any time soon, and this website goes offline, it's because Buffett's squad of time-goons got to me.

I got tagged to post the fourth picture from the fourth album from iPhoto. (I use Picasa from Google instead but same difference.)
This photo was taken this summer in Dublin the day I arrived for my 7 week journey for school. I took the picture because the store had the same last name as one of my friends who has family ties to Ireland, as you can imagine with that last name, and so I took pictures of every instance I found.
Now I tag Carie and Alida.

I Think It Is Getting Colder

I made this for the Lolcats website, hence the caption.