« July 2005 | Main | September 2005 »
August 30, 2005
mmmm beauty
Posted by christina at 9:00 PM | Comments (1)
you're in my thoughts
I read and listen to the new about the areas hit by Katrina. I feel like I am watching something I never thought would happen in the united states – the formation of refugee camps. I’m not sure what they are planning to do with the 10 of thousands of people who couldn’t leave N.O., and are now having to be evacuated by National Guard from the Superdome.
I have images in my head of the back of army trucks full of people and of refugee camps.
I have been most surprised today. I was prepared for the worst yesterday, but what I read make it seem like it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Then the levee broken (sure wasn’t dry). I am amazed at report that 80% of the city is under water. I am addicted to looking at pictures of the devesation.
I think it is the first place I actually know to get hit by natural disaster. Natural distasters happen all over the world, but not to places where I have spent time, where people I know live. I spent parts of summers on the Alabama/Florida coasts. I played in N.O. with my favorite people. I have an acquaintance from college who just moved there to start her first job. She started maybe 2 weeks ago. She had just moved into her brand new condo. I wonder how she made it out. (I know she did, as those with cars did. It was the poor and sick that were stuck to brave the weather.) I wonder how that oil rig she visited last weeks is. I wonder how long her job is going to be on hold. I wonder if her condo is okay.
It makes me wonder how my life would survive something like that. Of course, I would survive. I have crazy great family and porch boy, izzy, and I will always have a place with one of them.
I worry for the poor, the sick, the people who were just making it by. People who couldn’t get out because the storm happened at the end of the month instead of at the beginning (fixed income people). I can’t help but cringe for those people I hear on NPR in Mississippi whose house is gone, whose job is gone (because the casino is gone).
Posted by christina at 5:00 PM | Comments (1)
August 29, 2005
'Cause you need to be back in the arms of a good friend
It is so beautiful in Chicago – blue skies, 80 degree temps, cool breezes, one could not ask for better weather than this. Of course, Friday we’ll be leaving it all for hot hot hot Arkansas. Though, it is probably more rainy there and cloudy due to Katrina.
I cannot believe hurricane Katrina. I was glued to the tv last night. I cannot believe they evacuated New Orleans. It makes total sense, but still blows my mind.
Well, the highlight of porch boy’s weekend was the Ryne Sandburg retirement ceremony before the game on Sunday. There were trumpets. Not any trumpets, but those long one with banners hanging from them that one thought went out with kings and queens and such. Though porch boy enjoyed it, I thought it was a bit much. And I’m not that nice of a person to not straight up tell him that later. We are past me pretending to like things for him. Of course I didn’t say anything during, but after the game, as to not ruin the moment. I just rolled my eyes and read the program.
The highlight of my weekend was making farfel from scratch. It was quite yummy. We have a lot of farfel left over, so come on by if you are in the neighborhood.
Posted by christina at 5:02 PM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2005
Pouring over photographs. /I'm living in your letters.
One of the amusing things about staying in porch boy's childhood bedroom is getting to look at his childhood stuff. I love looking at pictures of all the kiddies when they were younger. They were so cute (still are). his sister was so cute (still is). Last night I was looking through ben’s old photoalbum and found a picture of cosmo as a puppy. I must get a puppy. It is so cute that I want to take the photo of the puppy in the sandbox. He was so small is a amazing to see how big he is now.
Last night I took cosmo the great for a walk around the block cuz I’m just that good of a dog sitter. Ha ha. I really misinterpreted his reminder for his treat as his wanting a walk. He was extremely happy with the walk though.
I only had my tennis shoes up there. I did not want to put them back on, so decided just to walk barefoot. The sidewalks are clean and cool. We go walking, stopping every so many feet to pee on things. Things are going well. I spot a potential situation coming toward us – a woman with her stroller. I’m not sure how cosmo deals with things on his walk, so I sit him in the grass. I stand between him and the approaching stroller. Turns out that it was a dog in the stroller instead of a baby! It was quite a sight. I was flustered and didn’t know what to saw when she asked if my dog wanted to saw hi. I just said no, he’s very cute. Yes, it made no sense, but neither did the scene in front of me. The real reason is that I wasn’t sure how cosmo reacts to other dogs.
We continue out walk, come upon my favorite house. This evening, it has a dog in its yard. Cosmo and the dog went crazy – lots of barking. I had to basically sit on cosmo to get him to stop. In the process, his nails scratched my feet. Not badly though.
Posted by christina at 2:38 PM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2005
the sophomore slump is an uphill battle / and someone said that ain’t my scene
Kitty toes
Today, someone compared my graduate journey with the road trip to Vegas in the movie Swingers. At the beginning they are VEGAS BABY, then just after the half way point the are much more vegas baby. That is how I feel right now. I am too far in to turn around (a.k.a. get out with a masters) and too far from the end. Graduate school is like a long road trip.
I know that the ability to hang in there and show up every day and work work work even though you feel like you are going nowhere is what makes ph.d. grads so valuable. I know that the completion of this program is more than the data points in my thesis. It is says more about my gumption then about about anything else. At least that is what I tell myself as I come in every day and work hard, sometimes it seems for naught.
My friend does podcast. WTFBBQ. I am all about the podcast right now. They make for good running background as I listen to them instead of stress about work. Anyways, a couple months ago, this friend who is also in a phd engineering program (not here though) did a podcast on getting a thesis grad degree. I wasn’t that big of help, since I had not reached this point, which he had been for a bit.
I listened to it again yesterday and was struck my how much more I identified with what the other interviewees said (in addition to him). I remember, in May, being doubtful that I would ever reach that place, the place that you just wonder why you are here and that you just want the letters. Now I completely understand.
It was all the laying around on vacation that did it. I use to define myself as a workaholic, saying that I couldn’t go so many days without being productive. Now I find that I was SO happy doing that. I hear that with perfectionist (which I am in relation to my work), it is either all or nothing. It is hard to work in the middle, though it is my goal, to find more balance. I cannot work the next 18 months like the last, I’ll go insane.
Posted by christina at 3:25 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2005
eyes wide open
due to the bestness of Thomas, who rocks my world, we now have a picture of the famous cosmo (and lots of other one of my plants, kitty, and b/f).
I'm housesitting for the puppies. i love cosmo. i also love having a short commute. Porch boy and fam are off moving his little sis into college in Ohio. Last night, once again, i was surprised by the location of Ohio. It turns out that is Ohio is on the lattitude as illinios. Who knew! I am still recovering from finding out that ohio is east of the mississippi and called the midwest!!!
lots of new pics in the gallary.
tom rocks!
Posted by christina at 7:57 PM | Comments (1)
August 21, 2005
few things are better than fresh tomatoes from the framers market with fresh basil you just picked off your plant.
Posted by christina at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2005
you're wasting your time / if you're fishing round here
First the portapotties showed up. This was Monday. Empty white tents followed. Friday, the running path was dotted with trashcans every 10 feet. It was quite a site. I deduced that something much be going on the lakefront that weekend. My question was answered not too much later as I listened to NPR and the local announcer mentioned that the air and water show will be this weekend.
Mystery solved. According to Tom’s source, “they” expect 2 million people on North Beach today. I have doubts that 2 million people can fit on north beach. But I would think that an estimation of 2 million people watching from different site would be logical.
I when running before it started this morning as to hopefully avoid the crowd. It was amazing the number of people already set up for the event. It was more amazing the tents, grills, chairs, and other miscellaneous things they had with them. This one family looked like they had moved in for the weekend.
I finally made it to the Evanston farmer’s market this morning. It is totally worth it, but never do I come up here on the weekend. I got fresh mushrooms! So cool. I also got pretty flowers, tomatoes, corns, edamama, and green and red peppers. It was awesome. I am up in Evanston for what else but work. Plod on. It is hard to be motivated when things are standing still, but I know they are going to forward unless I work. At least I’m not stumped. The worst thing about things at a standstill is not knowing what is going one. I’m not sure what is going on, but I still have ideas and plans of what to change to try to get us moving again.
Tom and I saw Broken Flowers last night. It was good. Very much what I expect from Bill Murray nowdays.
Posted by christina at 1:25 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2005
rain, rain, don't go away / we need you this dry and dusty day
In the first two days of this week back to normal life and by normal life I mean life that does not involving lying in the sun all day reading and going down the water slide, two people walked right out in front of my car and some dude backed into porch boy in the middle of the street. I didn’t hit either person, though came too close for comfort as the dude step out from between parked cars as he looked to the right. Did he think he was in England? The following day, in the middle of a busy intersection, some dude backed up to get out of the way of a turning truck. He didn’t look nor pay attention to ben’s honks, and backed right up into his car. The dent is in the hood and looks minor, and by minor i mean $700-1000 to fix it. Crazy. I'm sure back-up dude is going to be quite surprised.
Porch boy is going to vegas today to marry a stripper, at least that is what I told my parents. I was thinking, this morning, that vegas represents everything I despise about “civilized society”. The buildings, concrete, and lights remind me of how we destroy natural habitats. The strippers, topless dancers, and hookers remind me of how poverty (greed?) drives people to sell their bodies. The gambling is false hope to those without an understanding of odds. The people who lose the most usually are the one who can afford to the least. Desperation (or greed) leads one to not stop in effort to “win it all back”.
On a personal level I don’t understand gambling at all. People defend it as being entertainment. They equate it with spending a lot of money on a show or a nice dinner. I just don’t agree. With a show or a nice dinner, you know what you are getting when you pay for it. With gambling, you have no idea what the reward will be. Gambling, I read once, is the most addicting type of situation – random response, random reward.
Of course, one might infere that I would like to do away with gambling. On the contrary, I have libertarian streaks in me. People should be allowed to do what they want to do, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. What I do want is to live in a society where a large section of the population does not struggle to earn a living everyday. I want a society that is more equal on a socioeconomic field. I want a society that takes care of the poor and the sick, so people don’t find themselves in such desperate situations in which they must sell their bodies or gamble with the rent money to buy food for the next week or pay for healthcare.
Posted by christina at 5:53 PM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2005
americano got the sleepy eye
Shel got a puppy. I want a puppy.
The hotel on Kauai had a waterslide. It was 150 feet. One got going fast! We rode it a couple times a day. Okay, maybe more than a couple times. The thing was that the stairs up to the waterslide were painful, so they limited the consecutive visits to the top of the waterslide.
The slide was awesome.
Here I am back to watching my partial pressure of oxygen signal. It is hard to remember that 4 days ago I was lying in the sun with a book. Well, it is not that hard to remember when I glance at my arms. Steve just came to say high, commented on my tan, and then really commented on it when he compared it to his own arm. It is really amazing, the golden color I am. I’m sure it has already started to fade, but a little color will stick around until winter.
I am amused that my advisor just came in and asked me how things are going, after welcoming me back. Ha ha, like I have anything to report. It has been a super slow day as I have nothing to test. Usually I spend a good chunk of the day testing the previous day’s samples before making new samples. Today I have been more getting things in order and making new samples. It took me a while to get the oxygen up and I had the wrong controller plugged in. I had to unplug it for the contractors.
The lab is quite shiny. They resealed the floors, and they almost blinded me when I got in.
In addition to being slow, it is hard to get back into the work things. Though, I’ve now scheduled the heck out of the next 5 days (included Saturday, which I’m already planning on working). So work really isn’t that bad. I’m just not use to slow. Slow is good as I did a bunch of little things that have been on my to do list for a while.
Posted by christina at 4:28 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2005
what a wonderful world
Rain falls outside my window.
I love the rain. The number one thing I miss about southern weather is summer thunderstorms. I love chilling to the rain.
I had more than 125 e-mail messages from the past 7 days. Nothing too exciting. Only one annoying thing. I’m glad I didn’t get a chance to check my e-mail again on vacation. Who bothers someone with stupid questions while they are on vacation? Inconsiderate people, that is who.
The rain is falling steadier and harder than it had since the spring. We’ve been in a terrible drought. The rain is quite welcome.
Porch boy is still asleep in bed, which is where I really want to be. I have to think more about my sleep schedule than done for a month boy does. We got back this morning at 8 am. Hawi’i is five (six?) hours behind central time. Our first flight yesterday, from Kawi’i to Honolulu was at 1:50 local time. We left Honolulu at 5. A 7-8 hours flight east has us leaving the sun and then meeting it again. That was the strangest aspect to the flight. Also strange – I have lost any ability to sanely fly. They tell me is normal to become more scared of things one can’t control after a life like mine, but I understand flight. I understand the physics. I also understand failure and betting the odds. And so the flight up and down off the islands were scary was you come and go out at angles to avoid mountains.
I slept just this morning, as to get back on a Chicago sleep schedule.
I am so tan. I have not been this tan since I was young. My hair is blonder. I look like a different person. I am actually embarrassed to go back to work as it is quite apparent that I just spent 10 days laying in the sun. Intersperse some pampering and a lot of amazing food, you now can picture my vacation. After Tuesday, we should have pictures up.
The rain has let up a bit. I shall take this opportunity to commence my afternoon errands, which involve going up to work to start pumps and heaters so I can get back to the grind Monday. I am not looking forward to it, but tell myself every day that I work is one day closer to the end.
Posted by christina at 1:16 PM | Comments (0)
August 5, 2005
The sun’s so hot I forgot to go home
So yes, I'm on vacation. Life was so busy before departure, I didn't have time for a farewell post.
We've (the future in-laws and I) have been in Hawaii (currently the big island) since tuesday. The flight was long, but not bad. The islands amazing. The resort quite nice. We've swam with dolphins (quite cool), got amazing massages, read in the sun, and have ate amazing food (fish mainly).
Life is quite amazing. I love being here with porch boy and his family. we laugh, we chat, we exist. Both of us are quite lucky to have such amazing families and that we get along so well.
and as i lay in the sun surrounded by beautiful water, assure myself that i still have many days left (until the 11th or 12th) until i have to face my real life again.
after a day or so of having to settle into vacation life, i am thriving quite well.
Posted by christina at 10:31 PM | Comments (2)