6 months

It's scheduled.  I'm still half expecting somebody to say never mind, that's a bad time, and back out, but as of this afternoon my 6 month committee meeting will be in 2 weeks - December 14th.  I've gotten a decent amount of work done since Thanksgiving while I've been in PA, but it's a good thing my labmate and I have another figure-making date planned for Thursday night.  Her committee meeting is actually tomorrow, but there's obviously more work to be done after this meeting.  It'll be nice to get some more insider-scoop before my own meeting. :)

Eep!

Retraction

Ugh.  I just ran into one of my committee members (and E's advisor) in the hall, and he asked when I was trying to have my 6 month meeting.  And then said he probably couldn't make it (keep in mind I told him a FOUR DAY window, and the exact time of this ONE HOUR meeting has yet to be determined, and no, he isn't going to be out of town).  And then he asked if I had a job yet.  No.  And then he asked if I had a post-doc yet.  No, and I don't think I want one anymore.  And then he asked why I was having my 6 month meeting already if I didn't have a job or a post-doc lined up.

Because I CAN be done in the spring, so I WANT to be done in the spring, so I WILL be done in the spring.  Get me out of here now please!!!

Miscellaneous Graduation-Related Good News and a Cupcake

I had a meeting yesterday with The Queen, and she gave me the green light to schedule my 6 month meeting!  Woohoo!  My outline is done, and I have a list of all the figures I think I need, so it's time to get going on those figures.  She also ok'd the rearrangements I wanted for my committee - including replacing one of my originals, and keeping another of my originals even though she's moved to another university.

The new committee member I wanted agreed to do it, and should be available the week my out-of-town committee member will conveniently be in town.  So it's looking like this meeting will be sometime the week of December 12th.

A while back I asked my advisor if she minded if I did some of my dissertation writing remotely.  Remotely as in at Boyfriend's place in Pennsylvania.  She was pretty busy at the time, but her response was really quite snippy and non-positive, despite saying that was fine.  She instantly drew comparisons to a completely and utterly different situation that really weren't fair, and frankly a bit insulting.  Other labmates in far more similar situations have done what I have in mind with success and complete approval.  But whatever, I made plans to write from PA after both Thanksgiving and Christmas anyways (may as well combine trips east).  Yesterday during our meeting The Queen said (much more kindly and politely) that she really is ok with me writing from Pennsylvania, she's just feeling rather empty-nest-ish about my leaving.  For real, her term, not mine.  Funny, no?  I can certainly understand the sentiment though - there aren't exactly a plethora of capable and competent junior students.  She also said that another analytical faculty member, completely unsolicited, asked her what she was going to do when I left.  Surprising, but also pretty darn nice.

Several weeks ago E and I baked cookies for a friend's second year seminar (the first good one of the year! but that's a story for another time).  As Dallas' advisor was taking cookies, she asked, "What are we going to eat when you two leave??"  Another analytical prof said, "What?!  They're leaving?!"  I told Dallas' advisor not to worry, that it would be an opportunity for a division-wide diet.

Speaking of baked goods, yesterday was my labmate/officemate's birthday, so for the occasion I made these Toffee Crunch Cupcakes from Annie's Eats.  They're divine.

I'm off!  Headed to the east coast tomorrow for the next week!  Woohoo!  Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Seminar Snoozer

So I went to a seminar earlier this afternoon, and it was actually a really excellent seminar.  The speaker was good, the data was good, her approach to science is good.  I was all great.

There's the one professor in my department who is notorious for falling asleep during seminars.  Seriously, it happens ALL THE TIME.  I'm pretty sure nobody's ever called him out on it because he's faculty emeritus at this point.  I'll admit that I sometimes doze off during seminars, however, when I do, I don't have the audacity to ask a question at the end.  This man ALWAYS asks a question, and it always falls into one of 4 categories.

• A reasonable question that very obviously refers to the first 5, maybe 10 minutes of the talk, which is generally concerning the broader implications or motivations for the research
• A completely irrelevant, off-the-wall question
• A question that was most definitely clearly and thoroughly addressed during the talk
• And rarest of all, a question that is actually totally relevant and insightful

Today's embarrassment fell into the 3rd category.  He asked a question that she must have spent at least 10 minutes discussing and explaining how they addressed the problem to validate their results.  GAH.  I really wish somebody would start their reply to him with, "Well, I've already discussed that, but briefly..."

It would be SO satisfying.

Cafe Reviews for the Dissertation Writer, Volume 1

So my friend/labmate/classmate and I met the other night for a dissertation-figure-making date at a cafe near campus.  We're both hoping to defend next spring, so we're looking to have our 6 month meetings in the next few weeks.  The 6 month meeting is meant to be a chance to assemble your committee a few to several months before you intend to defend, to update them on your research progress and make sure they think your plan and timeline are feasible.  It's pretty standard to have an outline of your dissertation, and tell your committee members what work you have left to do, but the Queen also expects us to have more or less all of our figures done, too.

Working by myself I can find plenty of things to distract me (the only time I'll gladly do ALL the dishes!), so working with somebody some of the time is probably a good idea.  Getting out of the house also gets me away from those tempting dishes and other distractions, and getting away from the office gets me away from the temptation to chat with people all day and from all the random people asking me to do stuff.

Since I'm pretty sure I'll be testing out every cafe (and maybe some bars? I could write with a beer just as well as with a cup of tea right? maybe?) in the area, I thought it could be fun to do little mini reviews.

We had our first figure-making date at Cafe Luce, right by campus, on a Tuesday evening.

Pros of Cafe Luce:

• Reasonably quiet, most other people were working too
• Tables were big enough for 2 people to work (or lots of space for me to spread out by myself!)
• Background music wasn't stuff I know, so it wasn't distracting
• Cozy
• Within walking distance of home and office
• Real dishes!
• Local business
• Free wifi

Cons (and there weren't many, other places have a lot of live up to):

• Not very big, I could see having trouble getting a table (There only 1 available indoors when I got there.  There were a bunch of tables outside, but it's getting pretty chilly to be sitting outside after dark now.)
• Pretty much zero food after the morning rush, just a handful of croissants wrapped up from the morning.  This wasn't a problem this time, though I could certainly see it being a problem in the future.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Cafe Reviews for the Dissertation Writer!

Meet Maurice

This is Maurice.  Everybody say, "Hi Maurice!"  He's still dressed.

He weights 19.94 pounds.  He did not actually cost $27.72.  He actually cost $11.76.

I swiped some gloves from lab.  I do not like raw meat.  Especially raw meat with wings and legs that tend to flap around.

Even the turkey-juice covered plastic is pretty gross.

Maurice!  You're indecent!

Bathtime begins.  Gross.  E's version of "helping" me with the turkey is to take lots of photos while laughing a lot.

So gross.

J will find this funny.

Still grossed out.

Do you know how awkward it is to manipulate a heavy, slimy, squishy, flappy bird in a very small sink?

Feathers.  Ick.  Seriously Jennie-O.  Do better.

The neck flap is soooooooo gross.  New profile picture?  Super flattering, right?

Finally got Maurice clean and into the brine bag.

Adding brine.  This is like spa treatment for a turkey.  Seriously, humans pay hundreds of dollars for almost the same thing.

Soaking.

Where Maurice will spend his last 24 hours before being dismembered.

27

Last week I turned 27.  Eep.  To make me feel better about it, E and I made this delicious Neapolitan Cake from Annie's Eats.  Ours wasn't quite as pretty, or, uh...level...as hers, but it was still tasty. :)

Squash Attack

This is a cushaw squash.  A.k.a. cushaw, a.k.a. cushaw pumpkin.  I had never seen, nor even heard of one of these things before we got one from our CSA share a couple weeks ago.  They're HUGE.  This was one of the smaller ones in the pile.  That wine bottle is for scale.

It is apparently very similar to pumpkin, and in fact commonly substituted in canned pumpkin, and used throughout the south to as if it were pumpkin to make pies and such.  The edible part is in fact quite like pumpkin, however the skin is MUCH tougher, and much more difficult to cut.

So I completely dropped the ball and didn't take pictures of the next couple steps.

• I removed the squash's guts and cut it into several big pieces (several inches by several inches) for roasting.  
• We lined a couple cookie sheets with tinfoil, loaded them up with squash pieces and roasted them at 375 degrees (400 would probably work too, but we had other stuff to do at 375 and 350), for probably a good hour.  You don't want to burn them, but the more cooked it is the easier it is to puree.  
• Once the roasted squash has cooled enough to handle, cut the actual fruit away from the outer rind.  The rind on the cushaw is much harder and more distinct from the inside than on a pumpkin - so this part was actually way easier than with pumpkin.
• Puree the squash a few pieces at a time until it's nice and smooth.  Cushaw is a little stringier than pumpkin (think spaghetti squash-esque, but not that bad), but it will puree down to a smooth consistency.  Eventually you wind up with a bowl full of orange stuff like this.

The puree can be frozen for many months (we've used frozen pumpkin puree almost a year later) and used whenever you want it for all sorts of yummy things.  We usually freeze it in 1 cup aliquots in sandwich sized ziplocks, which we then put into a gallon sized freezer ziplock.

 You can clean off the seeds to roast.  Toss them in a bit of olive oil and whatever seasoning you want (salt & pepper, cumin & cayenne, cinnamon & sugar, etc) before spreading on a cookie sheet to roast (400 degrees, just a few minutes, probably less than 10).  Cushaw squash have pretty seeds.  Much prettier than pumpkin. :)

The same goes for unicorns.

So, little sister gets an awful lot of press on this blog, to the point where you might not realize that I also have two brothers.  One brother, R, is three years younger than me (almost exactly - Mom was still in the hospital with him on my 3rd birthday).  He majored in philosophy, and fittingly, will argue with you over just about anything no matter how absurd.  The other brother is 6 1/2 years younger than me (Mom went into labor with him the night of my kindergarten graduation, shortly after I'd puked because I was just so excited about graduating from kindergarten), and is still in college, majoring in theater.

Yes, all four of us are REALLY different.

Anyways, a while back I had the following conversation (via text messages of course) with R a while back.  Keep in mind, we don't talk very often (like one year when I called to say happy birthday he replied with, "yeah, you too," and that was about the extent of the conversation), and this came totally out of nowhere.

R: What's your address? If i die you get everything.
Me: Huh?
R: I'm filling out insurance. [He just started a new (real!) job.] If i die you're in charge of burying me.  Just throw me in a dumpster and pocket the cash.  Funerals are an overrated and a rip off.
Me: Why not list mom and dad?  And can I donate your body to science instead?
R: You're secondary so if you want anything you have to bury them first.  And keep your witch doctors away from me.  I want to be burned on a pyre intact like achilles.
Me: So no organ donation then?
R: Who am I to interfere with god's plan?

[Sidenote.  My freshman year of college, my mother calls me up and starts the conversation with, "Your brother has broken my heart."  I'm thinking he did something really stupid, like get caught drinking, knock a girl up, etc.  Nope.  What did he do?  He decided not to be confirmed...]

Me: Since when do you believe in God?
R: I'm a reasonable person.  Billions believe in god. Could i then believe that god is nothing? The same goes for unicorns.

Conversations with Little Sister

Yesterday, via text message:

Little Sister (out of nowhere): I think we should match at xmas again this year...lets work on that
Me: Hahaha but it was funnier bc it was totally accidental last year.  i bought a gray dress the other day, but i have no idea if i'll wear it for christmas or not
Little Sister: It feels like xmas break right now...minus snow on the ground which is ironic bc a snow storm is the reason i'm out of school for a week
Me: Haha well what are you wearing for christmas?
Little Sister: Idk i'll let you know christmas eve eve bc thats usually when i decide
Me: Uh, yeah, matching is only gonna happen again by totally coincidence then
Little Sister: That's the best way to match!

Sooo...I'm supposed to read her mind when I'm packing to go home for Christmas...when she hasn't even made up her mind yet?


Later yesterday, again via text message:

Little Sister: Today i asked mom to get my phone out of my purse bc i was driving...she proceeded to take my wallet out and open it. is it too late to trade her in?
Me: On purpose or bc she's an idiot?
Little Sister: Hahahaha who would do that on purpose?
Me: A snoop?  Some parents would
Little Sister: Ohh haha well theres nothing important in my wallet...just my current school id in which i look like a cancer patient
Me: Uh, why do you look like a cancer patient? btw my bday package from [Boyfriend] weighs 2.1 lbs.  SO curiousssss
Little Sister: He weighed it? weell bc i was like i dont care its not in the yearbook so i had a messy [high school she attends] bun with a bandana tied on top...those pics r displayed on the bulletin board for student of the month, distinguished senior etc so hopefully i dont get recognized for those
Little Sister: When is his bday?
Me: I bet you will. [Really, she probably will.]  I have a tracking number and it says it weighs 2.1 lbs. his bday is sept 24. we were in the grand canyon.
Little Sister: Oh ok so he gets you a nice 2.1 lb mystery present and you get him a throwing up girlfriend whose feet he has to rub. i know whose present i'd pick.
Me: Well i also got him 3 space prints and framed them for his apt
Little Sister: Whats a space print? sounds nerdy
Me: Photos from apollo missions
Little Sister: Ohh thats cool. is he into that space stuff? thats a pretty classy apt decor
Me: Yeah, he really likes space stuff and his apt walls were super bare
Little Sister: Soo he likes space...and he works for john deere [not quite true]...id be willing to bet he has experimented with crop circles
Me (after a few minutes, during which I asked Boyfriend about this accusation): So apparently he sorta has.  he and his dad wrote [LAST NAME] into a rice field one year. [Boyfriend's dad farms rice & soybeans.]
Little Sister: Knew it!

Today, via Facebook chat:

Little Sister: Hey, you wanna know something?
Me (hesitantly): Sure
Little Sister: [Friend's] fish died Sunday
and came back to life Wednesday
right as they were about to flush it.
Me: Hahahahahahaha why'd they wait 3 days to flush it?
Little Sister: Well they had to wait til the power came back on bc they have well water
and also
it was just really hard for them
i mean it was their fish
garfunkel was family
Me: Is this the fish she got at the same time as you?
Little Sister: yesss
Me: whose name i can't remember...
Little Sister: Leopold
Me: Right. I was going to say leonard, but that's big bang theory.
how is leopold?
Little Sister: Still kickin
bc we put him in front of the fire
during the power outage
so he'd stay warm
Me: Hahaha that would be bad if his water froze
Little Sister: Yeah
dad was smarttt thinkin there
i gotta go i'm meeting [Friend] at the 99
bc mom and dad are out partying tonight
and we have no food bc of the storm
Me: out partying?
Little Sister: at a dinner for church's 50th
at a golf club
or something
idk
something like that

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Totally delicious.  Like "marriage-and-babies-worthy" kind of delicious according to the weird scale some of the guys in my department use to evaluate baked goods.

These cupcakes are from Baked Perfection - an apple cupcake with a caramel Swiss buttercream.  I was soooo psyched to finally conquer the Swiss buttercream.  It's an egg white and butter based frosting, and it can be really tricky to keep the egg white and the butter from separating into this nasty looking chunky stuff.  The key seems to be to have a negligible difference in temperature between the two - they both really need to be at room temp.  But this time it worked, and came together beautifully.  I'm thinking a stand mixer really is key here - my arm would die LONG before I'd ever get this to come together with a hand mixer.

We used Halloween as an excuse to make these (as well as these ridiculously adorable candy corn shaped sugar cookies), and went reverse trick or treating around the department this afternoon.  It's pretty funny how excited junior faculty get for cupcakes. :P

A strawberry version of this frosting is going to be attempted for my birthday cake in a couple weeks... :)