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March 31, 2004
wanna feel the sun shine, shining down on me and you.
Yesterday I went out to lunch with a boy people call noopie. Yep. One of those random nicknames that come from a story that only involves some girl mistaking him for a guy she calls noopie. And the name stuck…as all random nicknames do.
I had to look up his e-mail address yesterday, which is kinda hard since I wasn’t sure of his real name. my hazy memory of a previous e-mail from a barrett causes me to search for that name in the nu directoy.
The result -
nickname: Noopie Newpy Noopy Knoopy Knoopie Newpie Nupi: -- Pick your favorite spelling –
I was amused.
Anyways, we walked all the way down town for yummy thai. He had flip flops with a winter coat and hat. (it was cold).
Speaking of flip flop, my new ones arrived. I got a call from my management office that they were here. Yay!
To spend $20 for a pair of flip flops seems excessive, but once you step into them, it is totally worth it. Mush.
Ben is on spring break. He cooked for parker and I the other night. It was good. I kept telling him I liked this homemaker ben as I came straight from work and he had dinner almost ready.
the strange changes in weather have sent my ears in a tailspin. i feel like i am getting ear sick. uck.
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Posted by christina at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2004
A nanometer is a billionth
A nanometer is a billionth of a meter - tens of thousands of times thinner than a human hair.
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Posted by christina at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)
when people run in circles its a very very / mad world
This American Life (click link stories) this week had a really interesting show on marriage - specifically gay marriage. You should listen to it when they post it. One of the stories was on the government push to try to lower the divorce rate. They pointed out that the studies that have shown that these marriage classes lower the divorce rate are done on small groups. This in itself discredits the applicability to the general population. I also believe that the people that enter into these classes and/or studies have some sort of desire to stay in the marriage anyways. A lot of divorces - especially amoung the poor (who the bush admin is targeting), involve a party that just wants out. They don't want to work on it. They want out. Therefore no class is going to help them.
Anyways, one of the interviewees made a interesting point that divorce rate will probably never go below 10-20%. He pointed out that 10-20% of marriages should never have happened in the first place. The couples never had the rapport needed - that it is easy for them to spend time together, that conversation flows naturally. It is interesting, you know. I read a lot. And a lot of books involve really unhappy couples and/or divorce. it make me v. scared for my future. It is probably part of my commitmentphobia. but then i remind mself that i am smart and won't marry just anyone.
still. rarely do people get married thinking that they are going to get divorced.
anyways, i'm running friction test this morning. yummy.
i do love my glovebox.
my $4000 glovebox.
anyways. fabulous weekend, as usual. I saw enternal sunshine for the spotless mind. i highly recommend it. i went to lindsey's green party where i got to talk about the movie to a cute actor guy, but not as cute as my b/f. saturday i worked and ran and my cute b/f cooked dinner. we watched usual suspects. we laid around sunday until i went to work to find that my chamber didn't pump down correctly the night before, therefore i got the afternoon off. i ran in the 75 degree strange humid afternoon. it was a great run.
The weather here is crazy as it is suppose to snow a little later this week.
strange weather.
life is good.
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Posted by christina at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2004
Give me love, love is what I need to help me know my name
Wow. Somehow I missed the day where I officially survived another winter in chicago. It is amazing how fast this winter flew. It feels like summer today for some many reasons.
- the weather is warm and balmy and rainy – ie summer in chicago.
- the air conditioner is on in our building (therefore I am freezing and drinking hot tea).
- it is still spring break, therefore I have no classes or classes to worry about.
- I am not totally stressed out. I am back to managing my time – instead of my time managing me.
Yes. Back at work. Feeling sooooo good. Vacation was so amazing. Spring in Palo Alto is so amazing. Sara and Chris (yes, chris) are so amazing. Ben is so amazing. Life is so amazing.
Now if only my research would be so amazing.
My tummy and back are sunburned. I strangely enjoy it as it reminds me of the glorious hours spent laying in the sun letting time wash over me.
I have slept an insane amount. I did get up and run at 8 (CA time) yesterday, but that was 10 chicago time. And I slept on the plane. And I was in bed asleep with my boy by 10:30. Up at 6:30. Insane amount of sleep.
Traveling out there and back actually wasn’t that bad. I flew ATA, which was a really nice experience. They were all so friendly. And the plane was newish, and had those headrests the flip up on the side. And music videos.
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Posted by christina at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2004
you're so vain.
salad days. here i am in california. it is exactly what i needed.
for the past month i have been going going going. i have been stressed out about work. i haven't been sleeping a lot. i haven't been able to quiet my mind for any length of time. i haven't relaxed in a million moments.
vacation. (yay!) it is beautiful out here in palo alto. the weather is amazing. i've run around the stanford campus twice - once with chris the other evening. and then this morning. the first was during a beautiful sunset. this morning under beautiful blue skies with the california sun kissing my shouldars.
i am back to a better shade of the person i am. i have not at all liked the shade of myself that i have been the past couple of weeks. i hear the joy in ben's voice as he hears me laugh on the phone. he is happy that i am back to being joyful.
though, of course, i miss him. i'm having an amazing time here. sara and chris are two of my favorite people on earth. we have laughed so much. i forget what it is like to just laugh at nothing with people. sara and i have that amazing bond where we just laugh together. and chris is an excellent third as we just all make fun of each other and laugh so hard we fall out of chairs. we lay around in the sun and read. we lay on the couch and read. we drive to the beach and read. it is the perfect vacation for all of us. throw in some yummy food and we are in heaven.
i have done a pretty good job about quieting my voices - especially about work. i really hate work, but i think it is just becuase i feel insecure about work. so it goes. soon, soon, soon, it will be over and i will be glad that i tried, at least. ; )
i've also sorted some other stuff out in my head, and that has been excellent also. i am intrigued how my new found awareness will effect my life, if at all.
must run to go lay by the pool and read.
though, am remembering sunscreen today.
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http://www.misleader.org/daily_mislead/Read.asp?fn=df03202004.html
i don't know what horrifies me more - the face that this is true or that i am not surprised.
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Posted by christina at 1:01 PM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2004
i wish that every kiss was neverending
Funny story.
Rachel, my little sister, has been planning on coming up for part of her spring break. When she originally asked me, I asked her the dates and discovered it was the same as mine, which I will be in san fran for. (yay!) I told her that she and her friends were welcome to come up and stay in my apartment anyways. It has been the thing the past month as it is debated whether she should come or not or whatever cuz I would be gone and she’d never been to chicago.
Thrusday night I was returning a message from my dad. He had called to harass me about the cubs loss that day. Actually, he had called to harass my boyfriend through me about the cubs loss that day. I first am chatting with my mom, who had answered the phone. She asked, so, when are you leaving on Saturday. I said for what? California, she replied. I said next Saturday. She was v. confused and it dawned on me. Is Rachel coming tomorrow? I asked. Yep. And all sorts of things started to make sense. I had been surprised by the daily phones calls that week from her about stuff. I just thought she was majorly on the ball. As many times I thought it, I never did say, that is the deal? You still have more than a week before you come.
So Rachel is town. Though I was worried about juggling another ball, it has worked amazingly well. Mainly cuz I was just honest, and said, I’m going to be spending most night with ben. I have so much work to do that it is the only time I get to see him, and it is important to my sanity. Of course, I think my parents would kill me if they knew, but then again, rachel and amber are 18, and I am just a phone call away. And I was suppose to be out of town. I spent both Friday and Saturday evening hanging out with them. We saw 50 first dates. It was really good. I really enjoyed it. I then tucked amber and rachel in to my apartment and met ben et al out for some green beer. Green beer! It was the “official” chicago st patricks day weekend (when both the north and south side parades are) and so everyone was celebrating it. The bar we were at (the blarney stone) also had, randomly, at 1 am, a corn beef sandwich bar. But really, the coolest thing was the green beer. And I managed to work and run both days this weekend. Crazy. Crazy. Today is nice cuz classes are over and I don’t have the giant waste of my time lab, that has been taking up Monday afternoons all quarter. Yeah, it is finals week, which means that Saturday I do fly out to san fran for some quality time with chris and sara. I am soooo excited. There are few things that make me get on an airplane, much less spend multiple nights away from ben, but chris and sara are definitely it. Yay!
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Posted by christina at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2004
I just got the strangest
I just got the strangest (the strangest!) thing in my mailbox here are work…a paper to review for my conference next month. The letter says…”you have been recommended to be a referee by the program committee for the enclosed paper because of your expertise in this field”.
Random. I don’t feel like an expert in anything, much less “Friction and wear behavior of PVD Chromium Nitride Supported Carbon Coatings”. Okay, maybe more than your average joe, but reviewing papers is something my advisor does, NOT ME! Well, I guess me.
Random.
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Posted by christina at 1:49 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2004
your touch is electric / i felt it the first time you held me
So I should take a moment and update. Really, for the first time in a week, I have a moment. Actually, I really don’t, but my class is canceled for this afternoon, so I am stealing a moment from it.
So my final lab project in my ME lab class is a dieletrophoresis project. DEP is using electric fields of a certain frequency to separate small objects of different sizes. We are just looking at the effects with 500 nm diameter latex beads and carbon nanotubes. I had no hope of it workings, but everything worked. It was amazing! Simply. I wish my research could be like that. : ) it was quite funny as ned and I this morning were quite dumbfounded as the carbon nanotube solution visibly bridge the electrode. (or course we could see the CNTs, but we could see all the soot and stuff in the solution collect on the bridges.) it was pretty damn cool. I suspected that that project was going to be a giant pain in my butt this week, but thankfully, it has not been. Dude. That rocks.
So yeah, maybe I’ll post a picture.
Um, yeah, so I have now started feeling guilty. I should go afm something.
i have an intensely interesting life...at least to me.
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Posted by christina at 1:07 PM | Comments (0)
March 5, 2004
i am your angel of music
the has been times when i thought i was busy. but this week has been busier than any of those time.
phantom was amazing.
more than amazing.
it is perspective weekend here in the nu mat sci world. i spent 3.5 hrs last night at the airport waiting for delayed flights. it was raining in chicago and everything at o'hare went pear shaped. i think becuase of fog, they didn't let anyone land for like 2 hours therefore weren't letting planes leave from other places. anyways, the visiting students spent more time in airports and on airplanes than me, so i shall not complain anymore. i just was really glad to (1) finally eat dinner at 10:30 and (2) crawl into my soft bed (i got new sheets that rock) around 12:30. Then up again today to help more with perpective weekend and try to do some reasearch related stuff between events. i am having a target problem. i'm not sure what to do about this.
i am v. much looking forward to leaving here this evening, and going to my couch and movie date with the b/f. i'm not doing the friday activities as i am doing tomorrow downtown and would like to see my boy at some point. plus, all the activities are fairly draining (though the feed us a lot). i need to just relax.
off to go talk about apartment, etc.
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Posted by christina at 3:41 PM | Comments (0)
March 1, 2004
i believe in a thing called love
I just spent 4 hours in a lab where I basically took over. It was afm, which I know. one of my grp members had to leave (on time) to go to madame butterfly…I would be jealous except that I am going to phantom of the opera on Wednesday (yay)! my birthday gift from my boy. I am so excited. I’ve wanted to see it for FOREVER^2.
I heard this song this weekend with that said something like everything is perfect, something must now go wrong. I tried to find the song, but failed. Hopefully I’ll hear it is again. It was on one of the “alternative” rock stations.
This weekend was beautiful – weather wise and life wise. The weather is crazy right now. Saturday it was in the mid 50s, Sunday it got up to 60! Of course, it made us want to do everything outside.
Friday night we saw Osma. It was really good, in that reaffirms my belief that power is the ultimate human desire and left unchecked all sorts of people are oppressed so a few can feel powerful. The movie was about a family of 3 women in Taliban society in Afghanistan. They are not allowed to be seen in public without a man. A good portion of the men have been killed in wars, so there are a lot of widows that cannot work. The family is starving and so they dress the daughter up as a boy so that she can work and that they can move about under “his” escort. So many things made me want to riot. Like how a taliban man reprimand a man because his wife spoke and because her ankles are showing. “Make your wife cover herself…men will become aroused!” Of course, how women can’t work or be seen in public without a male escort. How women are held hostage as wives so that men can feel power.
Power. The ultimate human weakness. In this country, it is most often expressed (or represented) by money. Money is Power here. But in other parts of the world, power is manifested in much more barbaric ways.
Though, speaking of power, it also reminds me of how this whole gay marriage debate is about power. There is no reasonable reason that same sex marriage should not be allowed. As I’ve raged about here before – two people marrying does not effect my marriage. How does it effect all these people who care. For the people who care, it is about judging…about feeling better than someone else. For example, sven thinks that being gay is wrong (okay, this is stupid, cuz I still don’t understand how you think being gay is wrong, like it is a choice...and even if it was a choice - who are you to judge? it isn't like it is a choice to kill someone or beat your children.) anyways, it is a point to believe that you are better than “the gays”. And therefore you feel power over them because you are better than them. I believe that most judgement pronounce by people are about feeling better than, feeling power over.
Anyways, so after the movie I hung out with leta and neil. We watch bill mar’s show on HBO. It was seriously funny. It had a lot on gay marriage. He is so liberal I love it.
Saturday day – leta and I got breakfast at this place I’ve been waiting to forever. Then took advantage of the beautiful weather and walked up to best buy (I love that neightborhood) to get her a radio like mine to run with. In addition to that she got a new cell phone. Turns out if it has been more than 18 months since you renewed your plan with sprint, you can a cool new little silver color screen phone for $30. I am so jealous. I am annoyed because the only reason I resigned with them last year was to change my stinking phone number.
Anyways, it was good quality time with leta and the sprint guy gave her his phone number, which amused the hell out of me.
I had an excellent run both Saturday and Sunday afternnons – enjoying the sunshine and the warmness.
Saturday night ben took me out to dinner and we watched contact – it was about time that he saw one of my favortie movies.
Sunday I worked, and ran, and talked on the phone. Oh, and went to church, which was really nice.
And here I am. And another month starts.
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Posted by christina at 5:10 PM | Comments (0)