Advantages of Living in a Western Time Zone

Election and sporting event results at a reasonable hour of the night.

Disadvantages of living in a western time zone?

My mother accidentally (and unwittingly) calling me at 5 am because she doesn't know how to use her phone properly.

Dear Dissertation,

Go write yourself.

Anne

Why Dissertation Writing is SO MUCH BETTER than Paper Writing

Let me count the ways!

1. There's no word, space, character, or figure limit!!  I can take up as much space as I need or want to prove my point.
2. Figures can be as big as I want them to be!  A full page if that's what makes it easily viewed!  There's no cramming what works best as 6 figures into Figure 1a-c.  No squishing what I'd normally fill an entire power point slide with into 2 inches by 3 inches.
3. No selectively referencing or citing the review articles in order not to take up precious space on references.  I can include as many references as I see fit!
4. Similarly, there are no reviewers to be offended that I didn't include their obscure, only sorta related paper!  My dissertation will be read by my advisor and a handful of other faculty from my department - not other scientists who also work in my field, very narrowly defined.  I'm sure my committee will have comments, some of which will be things to add, but they're unlikely to be references, and they're not going to be put out by the omission.  (Sidenote, "put out" is a great expression.)
5. I am the sole author.  No waiting for a collaborator to write something, no trying to merge pieces written by multiple people into a fluid document, no trying to figure out how to tell one coherent story with data from like 5 different people!
6. When I finish a chapter, rather than being particularly excited to go celebrate (remember, just about everything is worthy of a beer in grad school!), I'm super motivated to open a new Word document and crank out another chapter RIGHT NOW.  This may sound really weird, but one of my former labmates actually assured me this was quite normal.  And I'm sure that when I finish the last chapter draft and/or the whole thing that there will be much celebrating.  When I finish a draft of a paper (not to mention throughout the entire process) I just want to shoot myself.
7. The margins and formatting requirements set forth by the graduate college (1.5" margins on 2 of 4 sides, double spaced, 12 pt font) are so ridiculously spacious that you can feel like you've got a ton done in no time flat!  Seriously, I just opened a new document to start another chapter, set up the formatting, inserted the section headings, figures, and captions (that I had to have done for my 6 month meeting), and BOOM!  I've got seven pages already!  (Sidenote, no wonder these things wind up being 300+ pages so often.)

Yeah, there are days when dissertation writing is painfully boring and tedious.  And there are definitely days I don't want to do it.  But yeah, you're going to have a hard time convincing me that dissertation writing isn't WAY better than paper writing.

Cafe Reviews for the Dissertation Writer, Volume 6

Last night Tiff and I tried Ike's for a dissertation date - unlike everything else we've tried, it isn't particularly close to either school or home for either of us, but while I like being able to walk places, this wasn't really a downside.

Pros

• They had a big menu - lots of different kinds of drinks, AND actual food.  Since I didn't have a chance to get dinner beforehand this was much appreciated.  They didn't have much for sweets or pastries by that time of day, but that's probably better for me anyways.
• Reasonably priced.  I got soup for $3-something that was plenty of food for dinner.
• Free wifi
• It was quiet and not too crowded, and there were plenty of tables.  I think being a couple miles from campus had a lot to do with this.
• Open til 12.  I can rarely make it past midnight, but I can make it to at least 10 or 11 and I want a place that will be open at least as long as I can keep getting stuff done.

Cons

• It was kinda cold.  I eventually adjusted, but I considered keeping my coat on after I got there.
• Not walking distance of campus or home for either of us, though that alone wouldn't deter me from going back.
• The music kind of all over the place - on/off/loud/soft/changing in the middle of songs...It could be distracting.
• You have to go outside and around the corner to the bathroom!  There's no bathroom actually IN the cafe!  wtf!?

Despite the pros, and probably a lot to do with the distracting music and the weird bathroom situation my take-home impression of Ike's was pretty meh.

In not-so-meh news, I finished a chapter today!  Woohoo!  And in kind-of-meh news, only 6 more to go!

I applied for a job!

My very first grown-up job!  And actually only my second real job "application" ever.  The only other job that I specifically applied for was the cashier position I had at the grocery store through most of high school.  Of the three jobs I had in college, one was offered to me unsolicited (summer research position with a faculty member in the department), and the other two I just talked to the prospective boss (gen chem TA and mass choir pianist).

The job I applied for yesterday is based in Pennsylvania (according to the posting at least...the same company had another posting that said Pennsylvania on the front, but then said Buffalo when you opened it...) with an instrument company.  Having one applications in puts the pressure on to get at least a few more submitted.  I have a short list so far of other positions in the mid-Atlantic area that look like good possibilities.  If I am so lucky as to get somewhere with this application, I'd really like to have something else in the works so I can 1. use it to my advantage for salary negotiations etc and 2. not be cornered into saying yes or no without having any idea if there's something else that sounds better or not!

Fingers crossed!

Shoot me. Please.

To the poor bastard who found my blog this week by Googling "grad school sucks the life out of you."  You're right.  You're 100% @!#*%(^ right.

It's Sunday.  I've been at work for 10 hours already.  About an hour and a half ago I went to start the second half of my experiment, but all of a sudden my protein looked like crap.  No sign of my protein anymore.  I prepped another aliquot of that protein, only to discover that one looks the same.  I tried a different protein, and it looks fine, so it's not the instrument.  WTF.  If I can't do this second half of the experiment TODAY, EVERYTHING I've done so far today will be a waste.  The entire experiment has to be done in a day.  I am so f@#&ing ready for grad school to be over.  I'm pretty sure there will be tears before the night's over.

Cafe Reviews for the Dissertation Writer, Volume 5

Last week Tiff and I tried Coffee XChange, the cafe we wanted to try the night we wound up at the terrible Cartel instead.  Here's the break down:

Pros:

• Open 24 hours.  The late night options in Tucson are pretty few.  So far I think I've only found Epic Cafe that's open til midnight, though I think Caffe Luce might be too.  I appreciate the late night hours, even though I probably would only very, very rarely (or with a very, very tight deadline) make it past midnight.
• The place is big - by far the biggest place we've worked, with lots of tables.
• They've got a pretty big menu, with several actual food options, not just sweets and pastries.
• Free wifi
• It's a local business, and was actually started by a U of A alum.

Cons:

• By far the biggest downside of this place is that it's almost always PACKED, which is why we wound up at Cafe Disaster last time.  I'm quite sure the only reason we got a table tonight is because the semester hadn't started yet.  Any time during the semester it's over flowing with undergrads.
• Tiff was looking for a caffeine free, non-coffee items since she's been having trouble sleeping lately, but the only options were hot chocolate and a weird blended drink that turned out to be a blend of ice, water, milk, and vanilla powder that doesn't completely dissolve.  Ick.

Even thought the "con" list is pretty short, my reaction to Coffee XChange was pretty blah.  The place really doesn't have any personality or charm.  The low probability of finding a table to work at is a huge deterrent, and even the few undergrads that were there that night were pretty annoying.  While sitting at the next table over from a couple on a very awkward first date is highly entertaining, it's not particularly conducive to working.  Maybe we'll go back over spring break, but otherwise I probably won't be back.  Hopefully our next dissertation date is better.

I hope it never stops.

The other day, via Facebook:

 

Me: Hi

Little Sister: hey

today is the one day all year I wish I lived in New Hampshire

I want to vote!

I want to be 18!

ps - does gravity cause wrinkles?

[Friend] voted for the first time ever today

big big big day

Me: I saw that [Friend announced this on Facebook earlier.]

no, you get wrinkles when your skin loses its elasticity

Little Sister: oh

ok

I was doing french with Mlle today and I wondered that

Me: Poor Duf

that's what you think of during French?

Little Sister: well only for like 2 seconds

and she was talking about a poem about aging

and roses

so I thought it

and she didn't say anything to me

even though I haven't gone to see her in like 2 weeks [she's taking French as an independent study since she's the only student for French 5]

I think she thinks I was out sick

I didn't confirm or deny this theory

 

Goals & Kitchen Goals

I haven't made any official New Year's resolutions, but in the spirit of things, I do have a couple of goals for the year/first half of the year:

• Write my dissertation/defend/graduate
• Find a job
• Actually use the giant bottle of daily multivitamin that is just sitting on my shelf...

Separate from the whole escape-from-grad-school-and-get-a-real-job thing, I have goal to cut back the spice inventory in my kitchen.  Living with roommates I've acquired a TON of spices.  It seems every time somebody has moved out in the past 4 years a ton of stuff gets left behind, and spices are so expensive that I just can't bear to throw them out.  Hence I find myself with stuff I don't know how to use (coriander?) and absurd quantities of things.  Like a pint-size volume of bay leaves? 3 containers of curry powder? 4 containers of cloves?  I love clove, but that's a ton!  So for each month, I'm going to pick a few things that I want to focus on using more.  I don't particularly expect to finish anything within a month (though if I could eliminate some of the multiples I'd be thrilled...), but it'd be nice to make a dent in the massive stockpile.  This month's targets:

• Curry powder - like I just mentioned, I have multiple bottles of curry powder.  For something I generally use about 3 times per year that's crazy.  E and I made this curried spaghetti squash soup this past weekend.  It's pretty good, though we discussed using a higher proportion of lentils and/or adding chick peas to up the protein.
• Rosemary - since discovering that all the shrubbery behind my building is rosemary, I haven't touched the dry stuff in my cupboard.  Time to use it up.  Hopefully we'll get some potatoes from the CSA soon.  And I'll have to get myself a rosemary plant wherever I move, because I'm afraid there's no turning back now that I've had access to as much free, fresh rosemary as I could ever want.
• Frozen cranberries - A while ago I bought bags of frozen cranberries, since they're hard to find outside of the holiday season, but mostly they've just been sitting in my freezer.  Time to make some baked oatmeals and muffins.  Or maybe cookies to bring to group meeting?  Both the cookies and muffins would be perfect because it's citrus season at the CSA!
• Saffron - I swiped saffron from Grandpa's cupboard ages ago, because let's face it, it's not like he has any idea what to do with it (and he's more than happily let me take anything I wanted in terms of kitchen stuff since Grandma died).  Paella is what I immediately think of when it comes to using saffron, but paella is expensive and time-consuming to make, so it doesn't happen often.  But E just got a new cookbook for Christmas that not only looks awesome, but has a handful of saffron-containing recipes.  So we've decided to make one saffron recipe per month for as long as the saffron lasts.  No point in hanging onto the stuff!

P.S. I found a company that sells kits to make your own cookie cutters!  Looks like a means to more weird mascot cookies!

Weird Mascot Cookies

For Christmas, Boyfriend's mom gave me a lovely cookbook, piping tips, and an Arkansas razorback cookie cutter!  By Friday afternoon I was pretty tired of writing, so I made some razorback cookies for the Cotton Bowl that night.

I'm most impressed that in the photo they actually look like razorbacks!  In person...well...not so much.  Maybe if you stand a bit further away and squint they do.

Now I feel the need to find wildcat and billiken cookie cutters.  You know, to have cookie cutters mascots for the schools I've actually attended.  Sadly neither of these cookie cutters seem to exist (the girl at the bookstore this morning giggled awkwardly and looked at me like I was nuts when I asked).  Fortunately Google tells me that custom made cookie cutters shouldn't be all that hard to get!  As my college roommate said, "Weird mascot cookies all around!"

Furthering My Education

After Christmas I flew down to Arkansas to visit Boyfriend and his family.  He grew up on a rice farm in a rural area.  Needless to say this is VERY different from my upbringing in suburbs outside of major cities.  I'd been to Arkansas a couple times with my college roommate (aka Boyfriend's sister...), and it's always been a very enlightening and amusing experience (for me and them).  The first time I went to Arkansas I had to ask what grain bins were.  Another time in college, my midwestern/southern roommates collectively decided to refuse to explain chicken fried steak to me.

Itty bitty plane like the one I took to Arkansas.  Apparently not many people fly to Arkansas.

We spent a day driving around the farm, where Boyfriend had a great time getting his truck super muddy.  (He found this more entertaining than I did, especially when I had to watch him scrub it clean the next day.)  I had a lot of fun with the rusted out ancient equipment on the side of a field.  I also got to drive a tractor, only to be laughed at because I was so excited about it.  Boyfriend also "made" me climb to the top of the grain elevator.  Heights don't really bother me, but climbing up the ladder was scary.  Good thing the view from the top was pretty nice...  Then we took his dad's dog (who couldn't quite make up her mind whether she liked me or not) out on a tramp through some pastures and around the rock quarry.  I'm calling it a tramp because it was more than a walk given the terrain and mud, but not really a hike because it was mostly flat.

Eagle's nest

Beaver dam

Fourche River (Pronounced "Fo-shee."  My French teachers would die.)

 

 

Check out my beautiful donut!

We ate a couple meals at his grandparents' house, where I worried about offending his grandmother with my ability to clear the 3 lb plate of spaghetti and meatballs she put in front of me.  I love his grandparents - they're great, but I have never even tried to eat so much spaghetti before, nor followed it with a piece of super rich (and delicious) pina colada cake (complete with lots of rum!).

On New Year's Eve we drove up to St. Louis, where we paid a quick visit to G-Pa before hanging out with my other college roommate and going out to First Night for New Year's.  Once we could drag ourselves out of bed we spent the rest of the very long day driving back to Pennsylvania (with a pit stop in Columbus, OH to say hi to my old labmates!).  Later today I'll head back to Tucson, via both Chicago and Dallas...ugh.  But hey, the ticket only cost me 12,500 frequent flyer miles and $5, and Boyfriend doesn't have to drive three hours round trip to get me to the airport.  Looking forward to the warm weather!

Little Sister Holiday Edition

The day after I got home for break I made Little Sister watch White Christmas with me because 1. it's my favorite Christmas movie and 2. she'd never seen it before which is a tragedy that had to be fixed immediately. (Apparently this is the year in which I make all the people in my life who haven't seen White Christmas watch it. Before going home I made E watch it and I would have made Boyfriend watch it last week if I hadn't accidentally left it at my parents.  Sad.) Little Sister actually really liked the movie, which surprised Mom a bit. In reply to Mom's surprise Little Sister said, "Men look better in black and white." Never mind that the movie was definitely in color...

When I was looking at Leopold, her fish, we had the following conversation:

Little Sister: I hate that fish.
Me: How can you say that about my fish-nephew?!
Little Sister: Every time I clean his water it's dirty like 5 minutes later.
Me: But what about when you have kids and you change their diaper and it's dirty again 5 minutes later?
Little Sister: That's what a nanny is for.
Me: Oh, with your sugar daddy's money?
Little Sister: I can't have a sugar daddy.
Me: Why not? I thought your plan was to marry rich? Why can't you have a sugar daddy?
Little Sister: Anne. Have you seen my nose?? 

Reluctantly taking care of Leopold

Later when I was telling Mom about that conversation, Mom said something or other about supporting herself and somehow (I really wish I could remember how) she got around to saying that she could be a nun:

Little Sister: I'd rather be a hooker.
Mom: (dropped jaw and stunned/horrified silence) 

After Christmas eve mass we were getting Dad to take our photo in front of the Christmas tree like last year. At some point I asked Dad to check that I wasn't blinking in all the photos, since we both (me and Little Sister) have the Chinese eyes going on when we smile. Little Sister said no way, that was just her, and I said nope, mine can be just as bad. At this point she says, "Let's have a squint off!"

Not twins.

 Later on Christmas Eve, Little Sister curled up on the floor in front of the (fake) fireplace. 

Somebody's waiting for Santa...

Pay Day!

My stipend for the semester showed up in my account this morning.  When you only get paid 3 times per year (before each semester, and a smaller amount at the beginning of summer), pay day takes on a whole new level of excitement.  Even though I'll stand to make nearly 3 times my current salary when I get a real job after graduation, it's a little weird and sad to think that these are probably the biggest paychecks I'll ever have!