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April 30, 2006
rain rain / don't go away
Ah, O’Hare, how you cannot not handle weather delays.
My flight out of San Diego was 2 hours late. So it goes. It actually isn’t that bad because the time change is in my favor. We’ll get in and it will still be early evening by San Diego time. Of course, to my body it will be close to bed time. I much prefer navigating taxis, etc when it is light.
This is a long flight, so forced downtime is rarely bad. I’ve read a good bit of an excellent book (Prep), and written a couple paragraphs on my thesis. I am having trouble figuring out how much to put in the background. Some people’s backgrounds have paragraph summary for every paper they have on the subject. I like to just talking about my specfic project and incorporate references in it. I just don’t think that long windedness is really necessary. According to my advisor, the background should be like 20% of the thesis. That is um, 30 pages, since I have two topic, 30 pages double paged with figures is no problem. In fact, way too short if I followed the summarized every paper I’ve ever read model.
I really want my last to respond committee member to respond to my e-mail or have been in his office the couple times I went by. Isn’t it one’s job to respond to e-mails from students whose committees you sit on?
The Rockies are beautiful. Though I’ll probably never be able to do it again, I am really glad that I drove cross country (Atlanta to Washington state). The rockies are amazing. Maybe I’ll live in the rockies someday. There is just something majestic about driving through the flat plains of Kansas and western Colorado and coming up after days of flat land to the rockies in the distance.
I am not a good flier. Seriously. No matter how many times my advisor the pilot assures me that commercial air travel is so computerized that it is like bus driving, I am always sure that my plane is going to be that one with issue. I frequently just assure myself by believing in the computer and science. I repeat over and over trubelance is what keeps the plane up. On Cnn in the morning during the week, they have a travel forcast during which they show the radar with all the plans in the sky. There are an INSANE amount of planes in the sky at 7:30 on Friday…or Wednesday.
Watching CNN while I work out is melting my brain. Though I do read the new Yorker or time or newsweek in addition to the tv. Staying on the eliticap machine for an hour requires a lot of distraction.
Though I know that they turn the plane back and forth to avoid turbulance, I still don’t like it!
Posted by christina at 10:34 PM | Comments (2)
April 28, 2006
my mind is soaked in words / i've come to terms with all my insecurities
Coz
I watched cnn the other morning while I worked out. I watched it for an hour plus (as that is how long I elliptical). The anchor women made the same joke to the weather man at the same minutes past the hour right before the same story about the bull dog pageant.
Morning tv is awful.
John Snow, according the other morning tv quotes and the times, has said some disparaging remarks about the President. I was quite surprised to hear on NPR (a fair superior news source than morning cable) that the administration named him Press Secertary.
I leave for San Diego Sunday to start up travel season. It is an interesting conference, and I am looking forward to it. The conference is at an amazingly beautiful resort. This year I will bring the camera so you can see all the roses I rave about. The roses are amazing.
Posted by christina at 3:04 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2006
different names for the same things
Winter came back. Hopefully the cold will not damage project sod.
I’ve had a rental car since last Monday as my car has been in the shop getting repainted from when that lady clipped me in the parking lot. I have been annoyed that it has taken so long. I feel like they are not taking the most efficient route (totally replacing the body panels). It has taken them longer to repair less damage than when the bus hit me.
Sigh.
I hate driving rentals. The current intensity comes from driving one last summer right after the bus incident. Someone caught the edge of the back bumper while it was parked. After some freaking out as I didn’t want to report another thing to my insurance company, we got all the paint off. Good as new.
The incident made me swear I would from then on I buy the optional body insurance with the rental car. It is $10/day for my peace of mind. It is totally worth it. Where I park, obviously, it quite messy. People clipping cars is not rare. And from the incident of people running into the back of me (and into me in general), I worry. Rental companies don’t blow off those little nicks and bumps like people do.
The worst thing about the car is the placement of the pedals. The brake is on another plane then the gas. It take a lot of movement to go between. This movement is killing my SI joint. Stupid car.
But my car is ready, yay! I’m off soon to retrieve it.
Posted by christina at 3:31 PM | Comments (1)
April 21, 2006
one way or the other / i'm gonna find you
Today was an exciting day at work...and proves currently that i'm a little insane (ooo the alarm
just went off. excellent.).
11 am: start my daily x-ray experiment.
11:10: x-ray lab kinda smells. not too bad, i'll live.
11:15: fellow grad student comes by and asks if i smell gas. actually, it is exactly what i smell.
he tells me it is much stronger next door and even smells outside. he says they've already called the police.
11:16: think - please don't let them evacuate the building
11:17: other student in the lab asks if it is okay to use the equipment with the natural gas smell.
i say, sure, it is diffuse and the equipment is already on. we just start the x-ray. anyway, i
see the fire extinguisher, so we'll be okay.
11:25: the alarm. is goes off. stupid women's voice - "there has been a fire emergency reported in
the building. please leave..." loud beeping. i grab my lab book and papers and head out to my office
which is in another building not directly connected to the x-ray one. I'll wait it out in my office.
11:27: damn, they've also evacuated my building. in fact, they evacuated all the research buildings.
11:29: after failing to find my labmates at our rally point, i settle in on a bench in
Shakespeare’s garden, in the sun, to read paper. thank goodness i had a stack with me. the weather is also breathtakingly beautiful with every approaching siren, i give up a little more on the idea that this will be a quick break. i curse not
being in my office and therefore I do not have my jacket, my phone, my computer, my wallet, my bag, my
car keys. i begin to wonder if this will be an all day affair. if it is a natural gas leak bad
enough to evacuate all the research buildings, than this day is spent. of course, i couldn't
actually leave as i was in the middle of an x-ray run and a sample synthesis. plus...a whole
afternoon from work? a missed sample making day? was i crazy? stupid leaking gas smell.
12:30: return to area in front of building to figure out what is going on. run into two professors I know,
the first tells me that it was a giant spill of a chemical in the nanotechonology building that
contained sulfur, hence the natural gas smell. The second tells me that they are letting people
back in. I return to my office to check on my synthesis and to drink some soda. i was thirsty.
12:40; i look outside to see everyone still milling around. i don't want to leave to go to the
x-ray lab in case i get stuck outside again.
12:24: i call ben, who is trying to get a tiller into the back of his car for project sod. he is
off of school today because, well, for kinda the same reason i almost had the day off.
12:45 i check the people.
12:55: again.
1:05: finally they seem to be going back into the building. i set off for the x-ray lab to find
the alarm going off. it is stuck on. i go in. must do work. already wasted 1.5 hours. so beautiful
outside.
1:10: audible alarm goes off
now, 1:25 - alarm light still flashing.
2:17: rumor now has it that it was a big natural gas leak in one of the building and a spill in the other. who knows.
4:00: official rumor has it that it was a 1 cup chemical spill of a "Beta Thiol". Of course, Thiol means sulfur, therefore the sulfur smell, hence the natural gas smell. 1 cup was all it took to evacuate 5 buildings. crazy! the smell was so strong, i cannot believe it was only one cup. though, with sulfur, a little goes a long way. i believe humans are really sensitive to sulfur smells. it could be to keep us away from rotten eggs.
Posted by christina at 2:17 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2006
To fruits to no absolutes
This past week we went to see Ben’s old roommate, parker, in a play. Contray to the pic on the website, no one is naked in the play. It was excellent. It took play in a coffee shop (a real coffee shop). There were some “theatre seats” but there were also seats in the shop, where we sat. The premise of the play was that you were eavesdropping on people around you in the coffee shop. The play’s dialogue came from improvisial sessions based on a script outline. It was interesting to see how much of parker was in his character, especially his video game and relationship habits.
Mostly it is interesting to know him. He is fascinating to me for many reasons; one being that he is making it in an industry that I perceive it impossible to make it.
Posted by christina at 4:38 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2006
I love the color green / because it reminds me of you
What’s the deal with social security numbers? Everyone gets a number. There are XXX,XXX,XXX numbers possible. 999 million. According to google, there are 295,734,134 people in the US. Hmmm, that is enough numbers to for repetition to be really far in the future. Did someone get 000-00-0001? I doubt it. I seem to believe that SS #s are assigned geographically. I believe that my dad (having been born in the same state I and my sister were) has the same first 3 digits…or at least close. My sister and I have sequeical SS #s. Though I am older, she has XXX-XX-XX00 and I have XXX-XX-XX01. Crazy. We are 16 months apart. Obviously my parents were slackers about registering my identity…or efficient and decided to just wait to do it together.
Ha ha.
We are laying sod out in front of the building. We have a smallish strip of land. It has been full of dead and half dead plants since the building was built in 1997. One of our neighbors decided to do something about it. I pushed for sod, just because our dog population is growing and grass is better to pick up poop from than wood chips (I think, not that I know). Sod, it turns out, it pretty easy to lay…and not that expensive for our little piece of land.
Every time I think about sod, I cannot escape a childhood memory. My parents laid sod in our backyard when I was really really young. During the process, someone found a snake in the sod pile. It was quite the excitement. I seem to remember a shovel causing the end of the snake excitement.
Posted by christina at 5:09 PM | Comments (2)
April 17, 2006
let's take a picture now / i do not want to forget
The view from my office, last friday.
Posted by christina at 6:24 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2006
create in my a new heart / and renew a right spirit in me
The Chapel Garden. This one seems quite appropriate with the bare trees and blooming flowers. Tech is in the background.
The weather has been amazing this week. So warm for april! Spring has definitely come. The flowers and trees are blooming.
I brought the camera with me to school today. I wanted to take a couple pictures. Right outside my window is the chapel and chapel garden for Garrett Seminary (which is right next door). Next to it is Shakespeare’s Garden. Listed on the national historic registry, the women of Evanston keep up the plants. The garden is supposed to be representative of a garden in Shakespeare’s Stat on Avon. It was so beautiful this morning as I walked through it (it lies between my office and preferred parking lot).
Posted by christina at 4:54 PM | Comments (0)
April 13, 2006
gotta dance till your diva is through
Pete and Ben from last June. Ben with long hair (it is now shorter). Peter with short hair (it is now long).
In my running podcast this morning was an interview from Fresh Air. Michael Pollan talked about where food comes from. The part I’ve heard so far was on corn production in this country. Corn has become very cheap. Like gas, the true cost is not included in the price of purchase.
Corn has become very cheap because the yield per acre has risen drastically. This rise is due to technology. Fertilizers are the main reason. Farmers over fertilize their fields; the fertilizer runs off in the spring rains to the rivers. The nitrates kill fish. The nitrates end up in drinking water and can cause blue baby syndrome where the nitrites prevent babies from getting enough oxygen.
The environmental cost (of health and clean-up) is the cost that is not reflected in the cost of corn (or other industrial farm products). The environmental and national security cost of gas is not reflected at the pump. The cost of cheap help (at the fast food place, as janitors, as gardeners) is not reflected in how much we pay at the restaurant or in wages. The hidden cost of their lack of health insurance leads them to use the ER, which is high cost. They can’t pay for it, so the debt is written off. Our fees to use hospitals is subsidizing this bad debt. If people are given health insurance, they could use cheaper care at doctor’s offices.
Hidden costs.
People in the policy arena like to take the easy way out. It is easier to say – you should work so you can get your own health insurance – than to fully understand the situation. Providing all people health insurance is good for everyone. I believe that companies (and hence the republicans) are going to push nationalized health care. According to the story I heard on the Mass. plan, it was business leaders that pushed for the health insurance reform. It is not a partisan issues, it is a national issue. Hidden costs are what pushed it over the edge.
Posted by christina at 3:31 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2006
clouds in my coffee / clouds in my coffee
Springs has arrived. At this point in the year, I am conditioned so I think I must enjoy today as tomorrow it will snow! After the winters here, I forget that it get warm.
It is april, i tell myself. Spring! is! here! It was so so so so cold at the cubs game this weekend. It reenforced my conditioning that it is always going to be cold cold cold.
Then Monday was in the 70s. It was beautiful.
Posted by christina at 5:49 PM | Comments (2)
April 10, 2006
glints in the night / commas and ampersands
I’ve officially made my decision regarding the next year (probably two) of my life. I mailed in the form and the deposit this weekend after visitation Friday. The policy program gave us way better swag than any engineering program. I received a shoulder bag with a long sleeve t-shirt, garret’s caramel corn, a pen, a coffee mug, and a random tool thingy.
The policy program is bigger than I expected (I’m a product of a small major). There are 250 people in the master’s program (125 per year). This is actually a good thing as there are more class choices (unlike small materials departments). The other “accepted students” were surprisingly old. I expected most of the people to be undergrads, but all but 4 or so were at least 3 years out of college. The vast majority are working in the non-profit sector. I was the only strange person in a Ph.D. program. (I had to say, yes, I like school, multiple times.) It was a really interesting group.
I have to admit that I did not do much researching of policy school. I knew I wanted to stay in Chicago. U of C is an amazing school. They had a program that would enable me to get a masters in a year (because of my phd). So I applied. Turns out, it is a perfect match. The program is heavy on quantitative analysis. It was interesting to see how many people were afraid of the math component of the degree. Math is not scary I told people. A quantitative analysis of anything is perfect for me (hence my aforementioned obsession with data). I am quite excited.
Turns out that it is also the perfect match as it gives me choices. I can either do the 9 class option and have a degree in 3 quarters (by May) or stay another year and do the “regular” two-year masters. I was, of course, leaning toward the 3 quarter, but turns out that your second year is ALL electives that can be taken from any school at the U of C. I am not sure that I could pass that up. There are so many interesting electives in the public policy school alone. Plus there is an internship in the summer between the two years. It is just all so interesting. The amazing thing is that I don’t ever have to decide until I petition for my degree. If in May I am tired of school, I can be done. But who am I kidding? Of course I am going to stick around and take advantage of the amazing opportunity I have to learn and study and be. I am lucky that I don’t need to be earning money to eat (ah, an advantage of being married), so I can learn.
As much as people joke about me being a professional student (and BOY have I been hearing that one a lot), learning is what I love to do.
Posted by christina at 4:05 PM | Comments (5)
April 6, 2006
with eight seconds left in overtime / she's on your mind
Chipper and I.
Sometimes I get all offended by people who rail against affirmative action. I am not for affirmative action – I firmly believe that the best person for the job should get the job. I am offended by the lack of acknowledgement in the speech. I want people to acknowledge that women and minorties still lag behind in surprising ways (see Becca’s link to the sciguy).
Acknowledgement.
I want people to say, yes, we have very few women and minorities in high positions (especially ellected) in the government, and this is a problem. By acknowleding the problem, I would hope we could continue on to the future. One burden, I believe, to women’s advancment is the lack of flexible hours and on-site child care. Unlike affirmative action, which penalizes those in the majority, providing support to women for their children does not penalize anyone. Instead of getting caught up in the debate over affirmative action, why does we focus on helping women and minorites in other parts of their lifes?
People (political parties) get fixated on who is right, they do not focus on what can really help.
For example, the immigration bill that passed the house is really harsh. It is focused on telling immigrants – you are wrong. The bill is not going to actually help people. I’m not sure what could really help. It is a complex issue. Turning a large percentage of this country’s population into felons is not helping.
“Pro-lifers” are focused on you are wrong, instead of helping. If people were really anti-abortion, would it not make the most sense to prevent girls from becoming pregnant in the first place? Most “pro-lifers” are against contrecption being taught or handed out in school. Helping is teaching about condoms, protesting outside a clinic is telling someone they are wrong.
Posted by christina at 8:39 PM | Comments (1)
April 4, 2006
like the april showers on the slick cement
Beautiful purple potted flowers Ben got for me.
Someday I'll admit that I have allergies. Until then, I'll just blame it on the change weather.
We've spent that last two night with Ben's sister at their parents house. I love all the random things she tells me. For example, how ben had dawson's creek parties in high school. And the random things that go with going to a small school. Her college is quite small. Neither GT or NU are small. They aren't huge, but not small. Cosmo, of course, still awesome. Though I never do remember his pencil fetish and always lose one to his night time chewings.
It took me until yesterday to see that northwestern turns out to be a highly ranked undergraduate institution. Yeah, my department in highly ranked, which is why I came here, but turns out the whole school, it is quite good. The discovery made from a GT alumni e-mail in which it touted it's ranks. I visited the US News ranking site and ta da, rankings! I don't put much stock in rankings. (As I tell people who visit here, your advisor matters so much more. If you don't get along with your advisor or department and end up dropping out of school, what did that ranking do for you?)
During my run, the podcast was stories from April 1 and there was a really really funny april fool's story on. It sounded like a real story, but i knew it couldn't be true. I'm sure duped some people, as it was about a biotechnology contraption. Some people have more awe than understanding of biotech that they will believe anything. Wilmette has some amazing houses. Next time we stay, I should take some pictures.
Posted by christina at 1:11 PM | Comments (0)
April 3, 2006
I hear the bells / they are like emeralds
parker and chipper, who, I'm sure, is telling a gross medical story.
Turns out, trying to find a time to defend in the summer time when all four of one's committee member's can come is impossible.
Ah, must not worry. It isn't like I'm not going to graduate. I'll be finished writing at the same point.
Ben and I went to the BEST fondue restaurant. It was better than the melting pot and $20 cheaper for the fondue extravaganza. For the chocolate fondue course, they pour alcohol on top of the chocolate and then light it on fire. They give you marshmallows to roast. The fire goes out and the chocolate is ready for the yummy yummy bits of yumminess.
We went to this restaurant on a fluke. I was looking for someplace new to go on our weekly saturday night date. I stumbled across a fondue restaurant which inspired me to find one closer. They did not take reservations. According to their website, it could be a long wait. We decided just to go expecting a wait, hoping that the final four would keep it under an hour. We get there and they say 30 mins to an hour. Awesome. We run across the street for some pills that will prevent the cheese course from making ben sick sick sick. We walking back in the door to the restaurant and they seat us immediately. It was awesome. They have lots of two people tables, so that helps with the shorten wait also.
It was awesome.
Posted by christina at 4:36 PM | Comments (0)