Lightning Round!

A while ago several of us started going to trivia night at Sky Bar, pretty much the nerdiest bar in town. There's a periodic table hung on the wall, they occasionally show the live feed off one of the telescopes in the area, and it's not unusual to walk in and find a group of people sitting around playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Generally speaking, we're really not good at trivia. A couple weeks we've done quite respectably, but definitely no where near winning. Most of the time our goal is just to beat the math department because honestly, it's just embarrassing to lose to them.

While we're not good at trivia in general, what we are AWESOME at is the Lightning Round! It's a separate round, with a separate prize, and your score doesn't count towards your overall score for the night. They give you a category, and you have to list as many items as you can in that category in 1 minute.

Almost a month ago was the first time won the Lightning Round! The category was elements of the periodic table. I'd say 90% of the people that regularly play on our team are chemists. It would have been mortifying to lose this question - and as it was we only beat the geologists by a few. The prize is the killer part of this story. Each player on the team won a free ticket to a charity cocktails/h'oer d'oeuvres followed by a fashion show where the models were the contestants of the Mrs. America pageant. We were super psyched because it's just too ridiculous sounding not to be awesome, and we knew it would be a fun chance to dress up (something that doesn't happen very often in Tucson, the most casual "city" on the planet). And it was being held at a super swanky resort in the foothills. The next morning I googled this event just to see what I could find out about it, only to discover that the tickets were being sold for $125 each. That means we won $1000 "worth" of tickets for listing the most elements of the periodic table. Who says this stuff doesn't pay off??

The second time we won, the category was countries who have placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the world cup since some random (as far as we could tell) year a long time ago. The prize that time was an admit 2 pass to the classic film series at the Fox Theater downtown - certainly not so valuable, but still cool and something I'll definitely use. And then this past Monday we won for the third time, the category being European countries. We listed 30, and we forgot Ukraine and Romania. The this time the prize was completely and utterly lame. :( $1 off coupons for a smoothie. Seriously? We go from $125/head fashion show tickets to $1 off smoothie coupons? WTF. Lame, trivia night, lame.

Anyways, the Mrs. America fashion show was every bit as through-the-roof ridiculous as we'd hoped. The free food could have been more extensive (just veggies and cheese and crackers, although much nicer cheeses than normally fall within a graduate student budget), but there was more than enough free alcohol. The pageant was emcee'd by one of the local weathermen (hilarious, but even funnier was his inability to pronounce the word "bodice"), and there was an auction in the middle and at the end. The last auctioned "item", was the opportunity to be a judge for the costume portion of the actual Mrs. America pageant! Priceless! We were totally out of our element, surrounded by super rich people who could afford to spend $125 for this thing, not to mention bid thousands (literally!!!) on some of the auction items. When the resort donated the tickets for the Lightning Round! prize I'm sure they were just looking to get bodies in seats to make the event seem more successful, and not looking for poor graduate students who would make fun of everything they saw that night. During the auction our jaws kept dropping further as we calculated what percentage of our annual salary people were bidding!

I'll finish this post with some of the more amazing costumes from the night. The first 25 contestants walked in evening gowns, while the second half walked in their "state costumes."

Mrs. Maine - the only contestant I really couldn't make fun of - she's a doctor and a mother of 4, and she made her own dress in the color of her favorite charity, the American Heart Association...


Mrs. WOW-Could-That-Leg-Be-Any-Higher-Cut?

Oh, say can you see Mrs. Maryland?

Mrs. I-Have-No-Idea-But-WOW-Her-Bra-Cups-Are-Bigger-Than-Her-Head


Mrs. Oklahoma


Mrs. Your-Costume-Reminds-Me-of-Romy-and-Michelle's-High-School-Reunion













Mrs. Colorado

The Dress

By the way, this is the dress I'm working so hard to fit into for Wedding #5. (It still fits! Just under 3 weeks to go! Not that I want to gain those 5 lbs back...) I got it in Scotland, or rather, a very, very nice friend mailed it to me from Scotland.

Fall of my 2nd year, I went to Edinburgh for nearly 3 weeks to work in a lab at the university there. One of the many times that Pete (the grad student I mainly worked with) and I were waiting for the instrument to pump down, we went downtown to wander around and do some shopping. Pete needed jeans, so while he found jeans I tried on some random fun things, including a really hilariously ridiculous bright pink dress (one that I only could have worn on Halloween or some similar joke-occasion) and the blue dress above. As soon as I came out of the dressing room in it Pete could see that I loved it. Considering the price tag (not absurdly ridiculous, but certainly enough) and the fact that I didn't really need to be dress shopping then, I talked myself out of it. A couple days later when I still really wanted the dress, we went back to the shop only to discover that they were completely sold out of my size! :(

This is where Pete played knight-in-shining-armor, because he was kind enough to go back yet again when they did have the dress in stock, get it for me (I left him money for it, I'm not that mean!), and mail it all the way to Tucson for me. Thanks again, Pete! I still love the dress!

More Adventures in Plumbing

The week before last I was in St Louis for my college roommate's wedding, and after the wedding I was staying at my grandfather's house. He's been in a nursing home for almost a year now, so I was there by myself.

Sunday morning that terrible cold was at its worst and I got up earlyish (since I couldn't breathe well enough to actually sleep) looking forward to a very long, hot shower. So I get undressed, and pull the knob to turn the water on, when the ENTIRE fixture comes off in my hand, and water is jetting across the entire bathtub.

I'm grabbing my phone and wrapping a towel around myself (I have no idea why exactly, it's not like there was anybody there) and calling my dad as I run to the basement.

Dad: Hello
Me: Dad! QUICK! Where's the water shut off for Grandpa's house???? (I can hear the water gushing from the basement.)
Dad: Try the front corner on the [neighbor's] side.

Here's were I have to give my dad A LOT of credit. He gave me an answer quickly without asking what the hell was going on (he waited until I got the water shut off to ask that haha). And he was right about where the valve was (which is impressive for a house he's never actually lived in), and I managed to get the water shut off before there was any flooding. Anyways, so then I shut off the water valves just to the bathroom in question, and then reopen the house line. I go back upstairs to look at the broken bathtub fixture to see if I have any idea what failed and if it's something I can fix. I'm sitting on the edge of the tub (still in a towel), talking to my dad and looking at the pipe coming out of the wall and the shower knob (now on the counter).

Dad: Try taking the faceplate off the wall to see if you can spot the problem.
Me: Um, Dad? Can I put some clothes on and call you back in a couple minutes?
Dad: Oh, um, ok. (Listen to that awkwardness! Isn't it great??)

So I get dressed, find a screwdriver and take apart pretty much everything I can see to take apart, and call Dad back. I tell him the faceplate is caulked onto the wall, and we agree that removing it is unlikely to reveal anything helpful. He suggested emailing him pictures, which I did. I had both my big-girl camera and my point-and-shoot in StL, but of course I only had the transfer cable for the big-girl camera, so they were very nice photos of the shower fixture. And to make this more fun, emailing pictures meant dragging my sick self to the nearest cafe to get WiFi.














Unfortunately, after sitting in (what seemed like) a very loud cafe looking over these pictures with Dad on the phone, going back to the house and further disassembling the plastic knob, I now know how the faucet works - how it lets water come out and how it changes the ratio of the hot/cold water to change the temperature, but I had no idea what was actually broken.

Plumbing fail.

The Upside of Being Sick

Over the weekend in StL I somehow managed to catch a pretty miserable cold. I couldn't breathe well enough to sleep, and I had pretty much no appetite whatsoever. Saturday morning Tony's mom sent me home with enough food for oh, about 2 meals. It lasted me through Sunday night and I even gave some of it to my little brother before I flew back to Tucson Monday morning.

The upside of being sick is that I lost a good 8 lbs in no time flat! While I realize it's totally not healthy, I'll take weight loss any way I can get it. :P

Wedding #5 is in 3 weeks (I got back from Wedding #4 - Angie & Tony's on Monday morning to find the invitation to #5 on my desk!) - and I'd really, really love to not gain those 8 lbs back. Because without those 8 lbs, my blue dress (one of my favorite dresses) fits perfectly after not zipping for the past several months. Not to mention I'm certain there will be lots of photos posted on Facebook...

I'm mostly better now, as in I'm working a "normal" day rather than spending the day on the couch. I'm still hacking quite a bit (yay for a big new bag of cough drops this morning!), but let the effort to keep those 8 lbs off commence!

Ugh.

I hate when I come to work on the weekend and wind up spending the day troubleshooting or worse, cleaning. When I work on the weekends (ok, so that's most weekends) I've either got a looming deadline (like today), or I'm hoping to get lots done while nobody is around to pester me. It's way less annoying to deal with instrument issues during the week. I also hate when instrument software settings "magically" uncheck themselves, especially when I realize that's probably the problem AFTER I've already vented. Time to reassemble the instrument...

9-11

I was just starting my junior year of high school on September 11, 2001. While I don't remember what class I was in when the towers were struck, or when they collapsed, I do remember that I was in American History when we found out. It was still morning, but after both towers had collapsed.

I can't quite explain why, but somehow it strikes me as funny (not ha-ha funny certainly) that I was in American History when I found out about 9-11. I also remember thinking it was really strange that by the end of the school year, the events of 9-11 had already been included in the latest edition of history books that my teacher was sampling for the following year.

9-11 was the second "world event" or terrible tragedy to actually strike home for me (the first was the shootings at Columbine when I was in 8th grade - I remember watching the news coverage thinking holy cow, that was in a high school, I'm going to high school in a few months). The planes the struck the towers originated in Boston, only half a hour from where I grew up, the airport I did and still regularly use. One of the pilots was from the town my parents moved to last summer. I was lucky enough not to know anybody who died, but I knew lots of people who did, making it eerily "real".

Please pray for all of the families affected by 9-11, especially the children who lost parents. Please pray for all of the troops overseas, and that some day sooner rather than later, there may be peace in the Middle East and understanding and tolerance between Christians and Muslims world wide.

I should really start a label for this.

This is the latest creature I've noticed in the menagerie that is my front porch. I suppose it's a good thing I'm getting less grossed out by my visitors, but I'm still kinda hoping my porch becomes less populated with the cooler weather. Not that that's coming any time soon.

Acid on Base, 0-1

One of the post-docs in the department organized a softball team and signed us up for the city's fall league. While we had several practices before the season started last night, let's go ahead and admit that we're (mostly) chemists. Not athletes.

Honestly we really didn't do too terribly. We lost 18-12...supposedly. We definitely lost, that's not the question, but we could have sworn the other team at 16 runs going in to our last at-bat...but anyways. It's not like it would have changed the outcome. Aside from a really rough first inning where everybody was still getting their feet under them, we didn't have a bad game. If the other team hadn't batted around and then some in that first inning, it would have been a really close game. And we made (and almost made haha) some really great plays.

This is the first time I've played in a city, slow-pitch, rec league like this. So far I actually find it somewhat annoying in how complicated it is! The university rec league has some funny rules, but not nearly as many as the city league. In the campus league, as long as you have 3 women on the field, it doesn't matter what positions they play. In this league, the outfielders have to be 2 men/2 women, infielders also 2 men/2 women, and pitcher/catcher has to be one of each gender. And if the pitcher walks a man, it's 2 bases rather than 1! In theory the idea is to prevent people from walking men to get to the female batters. Aside from being sexist is just annoying. Nobody's deliberately walking anybody. They also use 11" balls when men bat and 10" balls when women bat. Yes, yes, the men are mostly stronger than the women, and I can hit the 10" ball farther than the 11" ball. But sheesh. It means you have to swap the ball after EVERY batter! It's ridiculous!

For such a high-strung league, the umpiring was certainly less than stellar. There were at least 2 blatantly terrible calls, and one point when the umpire told me (I was catching) the wrong number of outs before the play, leading to quite the confusion following the play. Hopefully that was a one-night thing and next week will have better officiating, and we'll play more mediocre-ly and less terribly. :)

Mt Lemmon & Labor Day "Labor"

Yesterday afternoon a whole bunch of us hiked the Aspen Loop trail up to the top of Mt Lemmon, the highest peak in the Catalinas (the range just north of Tucson). Since the top of Mt Lemmon is around 9000 ft, a solid 6000 ft higher than Tucson, it's much, much cooler up there (yesterday about 75-80 vs 100-105). Thank goodness. After 4 or so months of 100 degree and up weather every day, I'm certainly ready for a break. I'm growing increasingly jealous of facebook statuses from home referring to beautiful autumn mornings... I just have to remember that they will all be shoveling snow in a couple months while I'll be walking to school in a sweater...

Yesterday's hiking group was the largest I've ever gone with, about 12. It wasn't as bad as I thought that big a group might be, but I was definitely peeved at the lack of preparation on the part of most of the people going. Even if higher elevation means cooler temperatures, it doesn't mean it's ok to set out on a 5+ mile hike with a liter or less of water. Never, ever ok. I was shocked at the number of people who set out carrying only a single nalgene. No food, no sunscreen, no first aid supplies, no knife, no map, nada. I usually don't carry a first aid kit or map, because I know Dallas has those, but it's just irresponsible not to carry enough food and water for yourself. I think a couple people learned their lesson about the water at least, but I'm pretty sure at least a couple of people are going to be stubborn and insist they're fine with only a liter (even though they were completely out of water by time we reached the summit). Not sure I'll be hiking with that many people or all of those people again.

A few years before I moved to Tucson, there was quite the wildfire that destroyed a lot of forest and homes on Mt Lemmon. That's why all these trees look burnt out. The first 3/4 of the hike or so was shaded forest (also a relief compared to Tucson). While the fire was sad, the aftermath is quite beautiful.

Looking up towards the top

Looking out towards Tucson

Itty bitty lizard type thing

I've been pretty lazy/successful at avoiding schoolwork so far this weekend. Saturday I spent most of the day doing laundry and running errands, and yesterday was the hiking outing, so today I'm trying to cross a couple of things off my school to-do list.

I just emailed my advisor and a collaborating professor another draft of the paper we've been going back and forth on for a few months now. Well, I've been going back and forth on. It's been painful getting them to just read the stupid thing. I really, really want it submitted and off my desk before I go to StL for Angie & Tony's wedding next week. Unlikely, but I'm being pushy at this point, so we'll see.

The goal for this afternoon is to hit the gym and knock out a big piece of reading I haven't been able to finish off for a couple weeks now. If only I had a pool to do that reading by...

Happy labor day!