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October 31, 2005
i get a little lonely / when i see only me
Nikko, Japan. (thanks justin again)
The week starts with me in Boston. I am staying in this great little bed and breakfast. (It was quite a bit less (like $150 a night) than any hotel around the conference center. And with the T, it is quite easy to get to the convention center about a mile away.) I’ve never stayed in a bread and breakfast before. It is interesting, just as it is small. There is no one on my floor, so it is quite quiet. It was especially quiet this morning as I got up ran, came back, and left again before the “host” got there. It is quite like being a guest in someone’s house. The best thing is the free internet…and the grocery store right down the street…and the beautiful neighborhood (brookline to be exact)….and the T station right outside.
I’ve never been to Boston, and am leaving Tuesday night, so I am trying to figure out the “must sees” in my short amount of free time. I think Wednesday, post presentation, I’m going to walk to the Freedom Trail. Or maybe tomorrow. I should at some point pratice my presentation. It has a bunch of new stuff, so I can’t just wing it like the past couple of times I’ve presented. I am so happy to have new data, but did not take it all myself, so I’ve been learning a lot about thermal desorption these past couple of days. Interesting, I must say. I’m happy, though, that I believe this is my last conference to talk about this project. The abstracts I submitted for the spring conference are on my other projects, which I rather talk about at this point.
Anyways, I’m taking suggestions for must sees in Boston.
Tomorrow, from the map I got this morning, I’ll have a much cooler running route (though my route was good, just a lot of lights) as it looks like I’ll be able to easily run to Cambridge (which I believe is the run that Joey was running in the opening credits of Daw-son’s Creek.) Tonight, I’m checking out Coplay, a big mall thing close to the covention center.
Boston is nice; I’m enjoying it a lot most than Baltimore and Anihem as cities. (of course Baltimore was nicer cuz I had friends there to play with.) Especially now that I have subway tokens, which was the challenge this morning. The T is a street car by my b&b. Therefore you have to give the drive 1.25 when you get one. I had 1.25, but not in quarters which is what it requires, according to the sign. I just walked it up to the subway station (it goes to subway very near where I tried to catch it) and got a token from the machine there. So it all worked out.
Posted by christina at 3:21 PM | Comments (1)
October 28, 2005
driving slow on Sunday morning / and I never want to leave
Richard Smalley died today after a lengthy battle with cancer. Internationally renowned for his work in nanotechnology, Smalley was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1996 for co-discovering buckminster fullerenes, a new form of carbon.
Smalley was a professor at Rice University and a founder of Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc., a Texas-based company that produces carbon nanotubes.
More on Richard Smalley’s achievements can be found on SmallTimes.com.
I’ve been quite busy this week trying to get ready for my conference next week. I only have 3 days as today and yesterday I’ve been in the Golden Jubilee Symposia of my Mat Sci & Eng department. It has been was more interesting that I expected. That have been some really amazing speakers over a wide wide wide range of topics. One forgets how much mat sci and eng covers. We’ll just say there is nothing you touch that doesn’t involve a materials scientist. Some talks have also given be a good bunch of information for a personal statement that is on my plate to write.
Crazy day in a crazy week for the news as Libby got indicted. The cover-up is always the problem. I am undecided if the reveling of “Flame”’s name was a crime. I am glad, though, to see that the Bush Administration is being held accountable for thinking they are above the law. I can respect a difference in politics of mine and the Bush administration; what has always bothered me was the moral superiority of the Bush administration. They have routinely acted like they are accountable to no one. I am glad that someone is finally holding them accountable.
And yesterday, as I got ready, Meirs was a nominee, as I got in my car, no long a nominee.
Ah, this symposia makes me want to stay in research, but only in the romantic sense. I love the feel of discovery, but hate the lack of it. I know that my skills will be best used in my current plan (the funding/management side). I say that I just don’t have the heart for research, but I do, or I wouldn’t have gotten this far. I just want to do more than just research. I want to enable other people to do valuable research. I sit here and thing, ooooohhhh, the is cool. I want to do that. I forgot that these people are showing years of data. Thesis of data. It is the in between times that are tough.
Posted by christina at 4:49 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2005
wisemen say / only fools rush in
Me. in Nikko. Doing what I did the WHOLE trip, reading the guide to toyko/japan to try to get us where we were going. From Justin.
While I was away fall arrived. The trees that line both my jogging route and my drive to work at all shades of red, orange, and brown. Before I left, fall wasn’t even in the air. Now I have pulled out my winter jacket and am running in gloves.
I am in full fledge research gear as I try to gather some last minute results for my conference appearance next week. Yeah, I should have done some of this stuff way earlier, but they have just been a footnote. They are some basic tests that my advisor has never been interested in, but that I get a lot of question about at conferences. Isn’t how you always look back and say, why haven’t I been doing this all along? Such is research.
In another chapter of such is research, one of my synthesis chamber totally broke. Broke in I can’t fix it. Broke in the manufacturer can’t tell me what is wrong. I figured out that major problem, isolated it to one wire, but can’t get to the problem. I wonder if they can get to the problem. I packed it up all nicely and have sent it along. I’m hope hope hoping that it will be back when I return from Boston next week. Though I doubt it. It is more of a frustration than a crisis. The bulk of the work left for my thesis (!) and for the spring conference is on my other chamber, which is not perfect, but at least power is going where power should be going. Whether my magnets are strong enough or no is a whole other story. And is I have a small leak somewhere, this also puzzles me. I can’t find it, but I think it is there.
It has become quite difficult to return to work after being gone. Being gone use to entergize me. I would return all about returning to the lab. Now it is the opposite. I think that I am close enough that it seems real, but far enough that it seems unreachable.
I’m tired. I want to go home, but stuff must be done.
Posted by christina at 3:37 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
i would walk five thousand miles
I’ve made it back safe and sound. I’m enjoying (I guess) the longest technical day of my life. I was up at 5:00 this morning (in Tokyo time, 3 pm, Thrusday, Chicago time) to go to the fish markets. It was crazy full of fish. You can’t see where the fish come in and go to auction, but you can wander through the external market (middle men) and see all the fish and sea food and everything in between, including pottery. We found a great little pottery stand and got a couple things. We made it back for an 8 am breakfast. We left for the train station at 9:30, caught the 10 am train to the airport. 11:15 am found us checking in. They have a weird system in which your checked bag goes through the x-ray before you check it. They put stickers across the zippers, but one could easily slip something into their bag after screening. Though they are probably looking for bombs, which would be hard to slip in unnoticed (and without breaking the stickers) in the check in line.
After a final lunch of udon, at 1:30 we boarded the 777. It is a beautiful plane. We have an on time departure at 2:34 pm. I slept a good bit in the middle of the flight, in hopes of returning easily to us time. I watched bewitched (I love the 777s with their personal screen systems). Turns out that the trip back is much quicker as one catches the jet stream. The trip was like 2-3 hours quicker. This combined with o’hare being empty made for a quick journey through immigration and customs. I was standing outside being picked up by porch boy at 12 pm Chicago time (2 am, Saturday, Tokyo time).
Here I am, enjoying life on the couch with porch boy and the izzerator. I debated a nap earlier, but I’m really not that tired yet. I am punchy and emotional as I cried at the end of Grey’s Anatomy (I love dvr). At this point I’m just going to stay up until at least 10. So really on my agenda for this evening – a shower and food that does not involve fish in anyways.
I must mention our beautiful trip to Nikko on Thursday. We enjoyed the mountains from both the train out and the bus up the mountain to the waterfall. We had lunch on the mountain, where we ordered by pointing to the plastic food in the front window (most restaurants have plastic food in the windows). Another guest at the restaurant, a Japanese man, took our picture. I get the feeling that Nikko gets a lot of westerners because of the temples and shines (which we saw later), the waterfall at the top of the mountain gets very few.
All in all, Japan was an very interesting experience. The first three days we met with people from different universities and research centers. Monday we went to Tokyo Institute of Technology. Tuesday we went to a national lab type research center. Wednesday, we went the University of Tokyo. At each place we met with different research groups and talked about their research. It was quite interesting and much like the US. The major exception is that there are way more Masters students than Ph.D students. At Northwestern it is the complete opposite. We don’t have Masters student. We have people that leave with a masters, but no one in admitted just for a masters.
All of the people we interacted with Mon-Wed spoke English very well. It was not until we were on our one that (1) we started to use a couple words and (2) started to figure out that Toyko subway fare system. It took until this morning to figure out that there are two different subway lines and when you transfer between them, you have to get a new ticket. Now I know. It makes sense that when you transfer to the elevated/surface trains you have to get a new ticket, but for the subways, it was confusing.
The food was good. There were things I loved (including the most expensive meal I’ve ever eaten, though I did not pay, our hosts did, who included the science advisor to the prime minster, who had been at northwestern for a while) and things I was not a huge fan of. All in all, I tried everything and enjoyed just being in Japan.
I am glad, though, to return to porch boy and izzy.
Posted by christina at 5:29 PM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2005
filled so porch boy won't be bothered
again i was up at 5 am this morning wide awake, though i am still tired becuase we walk a lot tokyo yesterday. this city is CONFUSING. of course we decided to walk things instead of taking the subway, but we have no maps with street names, just subway stations and the street are not on a grid and therefore we spent a lot of time wandering around.
today we are off to the country by train to see shrines, temples, and waterfalls.
Posted by christina at 3:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2005
you are far far away
and cant find the ' key. though obviously just found it.
the flight over was long, but fine. the flight was 3 hours delayed on the tarmac because the loaded the plane wrong and not one noticed until we were about the take off that we were lopsided. other than that, it was good. they showed 6 movies. 6! i was on the plane for 6 movies! i only watched two of them. they also fed us a lot.
so this hotel is cool enough to have internet access ona a computer in the lobby. downside is that i have to stand at it, but it is 5:23 in the morning and i have been up since 3:30. stupid jet lag. yesterday morning was better, as i woke up at 5:30. but i was dead asleep by 9*30 last night. oh well, i really do not want to get too use to the time change, as we leave in a couple days.
anyways, so here i am checking my e-mail on this crazy keyboard. japan is good, tokyo is basically like any major city, research is similar in any city. 'im enjoying the three other guys i am travelling with and the food. so good. and the people are so nice.
Thursday we are planning a day trip to see some temples and leaves. I am quite excited about that.
Posted by christina at 3:29 PM | Comments (2)
October 14, 2005
one is the loneliest number
dude. kitty's favorite place. she loves loves loves cardboard boxes and plastic bags, and yes i mean in the i want to make out with them all the time way.
Posted by christina at 12:40 PM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2005
close my eyes I'm moving still / magazines and dollar bills
When we were in Hawai'i, the best place ever, with breakfast came these little jars of jam. It was really good jam. I kept wanting to take them home, which I did to the extent they could fit in my suitcase.
I really never knew what I was going to do with the little jars of jam, as I don’t eat jam that often. I have found the perfect use since I’ve been taking bread with me to work for a snack. Mmmm, homemade bread (I made bread!) + pacific mountain strawberry preserves is really good.
There is a really interesting article in the times today about hospital bills. It is true, the paperwork involved with hospital bills is amazing. I cannot even imagine what my paperwork was like or what would have happen if I wasn’t on my parents insurance. My insurance confuses me now for routine care. I cannot imagine for something catastrophic. Tom with his shouldar surgery and I talk a lot about health care.
While crossing between buildings today, I looked around, and it felt quiet. Of course, there were still like 4 people around, but usually that area is full of noisey trucks and undergrads. It was nice for a minute, then I realized that the “quiet” I was enjoying consisted of a lot of traffic and HVAC units. I yearned for a trip to the woods where the quiet would consist of nature – birds and such. Of course, I want this as I am about to get on a big plane stuffed full of people. It will stop in a city stuffed full of people. Though my wrist and arms will enjoy the week off from work. Lately I’ve been getting small stab of pain in my thumb/wrist and my shoulder. My body is just not a fan of graduate school, which is just another reason why I need to hurry up and gradate.
speaking of tom, i must do another shout out to him, as the emergence of pictures on my blog are all due to his extended loan of his ditigal camera. he rocks.
Posted by christina at 4:12 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2005
don't hold on too tight
Fall has arrived and so have the geese. In the fall, Chicago is full of Canadian geese. Well, I’m not sure if they are Canadian, but they are geese and they are all over the lake front. They are quite beautiful (and large enough to take me down). I have been enjoying watching them during my runs(jogs).
The morning everything was damp due to morning rain and the mist it left. I kept noticing green lumps of stuff I assumed came from the grass. You know how they dig holes in the grass and leave clumps of it everywhere. I thought these were just wet dirt/grass clumps. After more than half my run, it occurred to me that it was geese poop and I was not longer a fan.
Yuck.
During the weekends when the trail is full, I’ve noticed parents on bikes with little trailers on the back that contain their children. Are they not afraid that the bubble riding so close to the ground is going to get run over accidentally? I would never. Even if I rode bikes, I would never.
In case you are wondering, I got my ‘script worked out. They even waived my co-pay (while refunding the one on the returned pills). So, I’m happy, though the manager did take 15 minutes to get back to the pharmacy to process the refund. I’m also happy because I finally accomplished my goal, which was to get this ‘script set up at ‘greens so I could set it up on their website so they came mail it to me. Oh the convenience (+$2) of it showing up in the mail. Though the true test is going to be balancing the insurance. I’m not sure how early you can get a refill for the next month in the insurance world.
oh, yesterday was also cd day in the izzy household. We (finally) got pete and j’s cd (and you should too if only to laugh at the funny e-mails cd baby sends you), and two other cds from this new music service that allows me to buy cds for 6 bucks. It is awesome. Of course there is a catch being that you have the buy a cd every month (well, they send you something from you queue every month), but you can cancel anytime. It is kinda like netflicks, except you get to keep the cd. I love so much music and I really like this new cd every month. My queue already contains 12 cds. You can choose to buy as many as you want for 6 bucks, so you don’t have to wait. Therefore this month (my inaugural month) I got the Maroon 5 cd for running to for my queue selection and then bought porch boy a cd he wanted. – total 12 bucks, just about or less than what you would pay on amazon or itunes for just one of the cds. Anyways, e-mail me if you want to know and I’ll send you the link.
my bread is still sooooo good.
Posted by christina at 10:18 AM | Comments (2)
October 11, 2005
now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday
Last night I got a prescription filled at Wal-greens, and for not the first time in my life was given the wrong thing. The first time was back when I was visiting the doctor a lot and got a ‘script for ibprophen cream for my hip (yes, it is strange, and no it didn’t work). Anyways, the dr. said that I probably would have to get it at a real pharmacy (i.e. the one in the hospital) and not a chain one as it was a specialty item. I tried Wal-greens first as it was on the insurance (and the hospital wasn’t). I showed ‘greens the script and they assured me they had it. I came back to pick it up only to get fugal cream. (mmmm, fugal cream).
Anyways, moral of last night’s story is to know what you should expect. I had gotten the generic, so didn’t notice that the store I had been given the wrong thing. Upon arrival at home, I opened it up and found pills that didn’t look like what I expected. I called to make sure it was their error and not my doctors (though I had look at the script a million times and knew what it was written for). I was correct, the wal-green tech had entered it into the computer wrong. I had suspected as much when a quick internet search revealed the given pills to be the generics for a name brand with an extra three letters. I don’t think most would have noticed, as most of the time I have no idea what the pills are suppose to look like.
Anyways, I have to go back by tonight, which annoys me a tad, but not really, as mistakes get made. I’m just glad I didn’t die. Though they really should, in addition to the generic name, put the name brand it replaces on the label, then I would have noticed at the store.
Posted by christina at 2:42 PM | Comments (0)
October 9, 2005
wrapped in rhythm soul space and rock and roll
Why I didn’t run today –
For my usual running route – to the lake – I would have to course to course twice there and twice back. I’m actually sure it is probably fine now, but it is my day off. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I must take days off or my run just aren't efficient. I run 6 days of 7 and that is plenty.
La la la. I am currently waiting for my bread to rise. This is my first attempt at making break from scratch (or really making bread in general). We’ll see. I’m quite excited. I made us get out of bed this morning so I could start. I am making sunflower oat wheat bread. Bread is something I’ve been waiting to make for a while and so here I am. I am all about the challenges, that is for sure (cough, grad school, cough). Though i must ask where i am suppose to find Oat Groat if i can't find it at Trader Joe's, Jewel, or Whole Food. People, if Whole Foods does not have it, it does not exist (in the whole natural foods category). Whole Foods did have the elusive rice crackers (mmm, so good), so it was totally worth the trip. Now i don't have to depend on porch boy's mom to supply my addiction.
It has gotten chilly up here. The weather has fluctuated so much, and I was definitely cold in just my long sleeve shirt last night.
....time has past....
After 4-5 hours, my bread has finally come out of the oven and is great! (See above) I am so excited. It is so good!
It took a long time (all the rising), but it wasn't hard. I worked during rising.
really, the sports, it is ridiculous.
Posted by christina at 5:18 PM | Comments (0)
October 7, 2005
wrap time around my finger
Well, I finally have found a hair person in Chicago. See, I love the person I have in Hot Springs, so every Christmas I would get my hair cut. I think once, here in Chicago, I got my hair cut once. I’ve been meaning to find someone, but it is a daunting task. There are so many choices, and I don’t just want to pick someone random. Everyone I know, basically, (including porch boy) goes to the same lady in Evanston. I refuse to go to the same person as porch boy. God knows I already go to his dentist and car mechanic.
I polled my friends and in good tradition, got a recommendation from Leta. She’d already given me a great recommendation for a doctor, so I knew she wouldn’t let me down. So I finally put my whining into action and made a hair appointment. Finally, my hair has some shape. It is still relatively long, but now has layers and such.
Anyways, somewhat randomly, hair chick (who is awesome, btw) and I got on the subject of universal health care. We are both agasp that this country doesn’t have it. Sickness is no one’s fault. One doesn’t get cancer because on doesn’t work hard enough at their job or didn’t go to college. Why do we punished people (in many ways, but mostly financially) for getting sick?
The couple on the first floor got a puppy. It is so cute. I thought I saw the wife with it a couple days ago. This morning on my way to my run, the husband was coming in from walking it. It was so cute and happy and friendly. I want a puppy so bad. But now, with the snow coming, is a bad time. (Yes, I know I always have an excuse. Really, the reason is for the sake of my job. When I got izzy, all I wanted to do is be home with her and she was not half as needy (or playful) as a puppy would be.) Some day, I will have a dog and it will be awesome in that annoying must go out at 7 am in snow kind of way.
Mmm, tgif. Yay! And for the first time in a couple weeks dinner and movie with tom. I miss dinner and a movie.
Posted by christina at 4:12 PM | Comments (0)
October 6, 2005
and days / thought endless / lose more / light and heat
Many times I have remarked that I wish I was back in undergrad. Undergrad seems like a paradise of sleeping in and just going to class.
As I watched a classmate of mine nod off during colloquium Tuesday, I realized how much better my life in terms of being tired during the day. I remember routinely fighting sleep in classes in undergrad. I wasn’t getting enough sleep (who does in undergrad), but I had no incentive to change because you only have to last for the couple of classes before you could take a nap.
I recognized Thursday how different my days are then in undergrad. I work pretty much continuously while I am at school. Yeah, I check my e-mail, blogs, and write, but as I do other things. I have to watch my oxygen signal for on eof my synthesis, so I am a pro at typing while alternative looking at the other computer screen. I have a lot of 5 min snippets as I wait for something to pump down or start up or stabilize so I can be off to the next place. Most days I like the continual motion – the past couple of days have all fell into that category. Today was a welcome relief with my calendar clear until 6.45, I was able to do a bunch of data analysis that has been on my to do list. I had a peaceful afternoon watching a deposition (another one that doesn’t need constant attention, just every once in a while. I listened to past episodes of this American life (which I adore and might be coming to showtime) as I analysis corrosion data. Mmmm, corrosion. Corrosion is the number one topic I get asked about from people in my life, btw.
Once again, I ask why Bush nominated someone who has never been a Judge.
Lately, I’ve been wondering intensely how the health care topic is going to work itself out in my lifetime. I just to not worry about it as I always thought I would have a job that would cover me. Lately, though, I become acutely aware that as much as you plan, health care is one of those things that you have no control over. You can have savings in case you don’t have a job, but if I don’t have a job (or am married to someone who does) I would not be covered by anyone. Because of the whole broken neck thing, I will never be approved for bridge (independent) coverage. I will always have to be part of a group plan. That means if I lose my job and am not married, than I am out of luck. I will have no health coverage. If something happened to me, then I will be paying it off for the rest of my life.
So, those who are against government (socialized) health care, really look at what you are against. Some things cannot be planned for. No matter how hard I work, I will never be free from this worry. (Okay, actually, I don’t worry cuz once I marry porch boy then there are two of us that can work, but what if I didn’t have a husband.) Countries with socialized health care spend less per person than our privatized system and there standard of care is the same (if not better compared to some parts of this country). It is better in terms of the health of poor – lower middle class people.
Posted by christina at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)
October 3, 2005
she's the name you'll find / written on my heart
There are few things better than picking an apple right off the tree and eating it. This is especially true when the skies are blue, the breeze is warm, and you are with good friends.
We spent another beautiful Saturday picking apples in northern Illinois. Along with us was another couple whose apple-loving rivals ours (if not exceeds). We went to a little mom-and-pop operation. The apples were amazing. Porch boy and I got 2 pecks of empires, 1 almost peck of macintosh’s (for the pie) and another almost peck of jonathans. Who knew there were some many types of apples! The four of us got almost 8 pecks of apples. Our car spent almost $100 on apples (at $1.25 per pound, I’ll leave it to you to figure out home many apples rode back to the city in my trunk).
I made another pie, and yet again am not happy with the crust. The first pie I ever made was last fall and it came out perfect. Ever since then I have had all sorts of unhappiness. Tom made a good analogy is that it is like research – it works well once, never to be reproduced.
One reason we got so many apples is porch boy’s hankering for homemade apple sauce. It is amazing how many apple it take for apple sauce, and hence we got a lot of apples.
Posted by christina at 4:52 PM | Comments (3)