christina: January 2008 Archives

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January 31, 2008

kiss me once, kiss me twice

i don't know how mothers whose husbands work all the time do it. Ben has had to work late today and yesterday and by 7 i was so.excited for bed time. It doesn't help that Aiden has been whiney due to whatever reason. Though we did sleep until 9.30 this morning which is a big help. I do like to get up by 8 as I like to be working out by 9 as the tv is much better than later in the day. But getting up at 7.30 leaves a lot of the day until ben get home.

And the dog has been quite sick. Last night Aiden was sleeping well (thank you tynelnol), but instead of enjoying the sleeping time at 4 am, i was cleaning up some real nastiness from the dog (thank you dog who eats everything). I have gotten to continue that job today, so it has been real fun. The whining. the liquid poo. the throw-up on the couch. this describes both my loves today.

We are getting so much snow this winter. THANK YOU JESUS i decided to not go back to school this quarter. Driving in the snow is exactly what i wanted to avoid. Plus, to be honest, i would have put it off once i found out the cost of child care.

I am totally in love with scrabble on facebook.

Posted by christina at 7:58 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2008

i will always reach too high

so. i have a problem. it starts with a Z and ends with an elda. Yes, we have the classic Zelda game for our ds. and i have become obsessed. Currently I am only posting because i just CANNOT beat the dragon in the 4 level.

It was quite warm this morning. We jogged. it was great. Chicago smells like chocolate. It smells like chocolate on the halstead street bridge; it smells like chocolate by my old building downtown; it smells like chocolate on the north ave beach jogging trail. i promise.

ben's fam has been going to this dr for forever. I might have mentioned this before. and how i don't think he is a good dr after he got "huffy" when one of the family members wanted to get a second opinion, and how i've been advocating them to change for a while now. and how ben did. WELL, i don't think i mentioned the WEIRDEST why-heck-do-people-put-up-with-this fact that i just recently found out about and today GOT A BILL FOR:

He charges a $175 per year retainer.

YES. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!!?!?! and people actually PAY IT. it doesn't include any services. they bill for visit separately.

i wonder why people pay this. do they think that other drs charge this. Just let me say THEY DO NOT.

Just say that this dr has 1,000 patients. (I think he has more b/c how often does one really go to the dr? 1,000 is four patients a day 5 days a week for 50 weeks)

anyways for 1,000 people he has conned he makes $175,000. THAT IS QUITE THE SCAM. Seriously. this guy should be in jail for fraud. All those old people I've seen in his waiting room, he has conned them out of their money.

Posted by christina at 4:13 PM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2008

taken by rachel

My comment on Jen's entry:

I hate how pregnancy has become some sort of no-no list. Salon had a good article debunking the caffeine/miscarriage article.

Spending last year learning all about studies and correlation resulted in me viewing ANY study with a grain of salt. Correlation does NOT mean causality. I wouldn't believe this causality until a scientist could tell me caffeine does this which does this which causes miscarriage.

In my case, my ob said I could have a cup of coffee a day and a glass of wine a day after the first trimester. She pointed out that all the fetal alcohol poisoning studies were done with a TON of alcohol.

Pregnant women have been drinking coffee and alcohol for many years. Miscarriages occur because of chromosomal or body issues, NOT because of anything a women did. If it was as easy as drinking a two+ cups of coffee a day to end a pregnancy, than why do do we have abortions?

I find studies like this demeaning toward women - that "they" have to tell us what to do.

The only "no-no" i put any stock is seafood/mercury as mercury has increased in our environment and has shown to bad in a scientific way. All the lunch meat/soft cheese stuff is crap too. It is to avoid listera. Listera is RARE. So rare that if anyone gets it IT MAKES THE NEWS!

Posted by christina at 8:34 AM | Comments (1)

January 21, 2008

sometimes i wonder if i am the only one who realizes that our government rarely gets anything done. though, still I write my congressional people self-composed letters and send them long-distance fax from my computer. I know that letters might work, but i have doubts in my vote.

i stay out of politics b/c it is tiring, but more because science shouldn't be political. I've avoiding aligning myself (or volunteering for anyone) for that reason. i also stay out of politics because i know what a cluster-f*ck the federal government is. I know the theory behind the govn't and how it basically assured us that nothing gets done. I know that reality as the thing i spend the spring/summer working on is just now in conference committee, almost a year after i started and more that after the org started working on them.

i know that the nuances of candidate's policy position do not matter. Those nuances will be scratched out by the compromise that is required by our constitution. Their general positions are really the same as their party. Even within parties, people must compromise as as ademocrat from chicago is not the same as a democrat from arkansas.

For me, this election, I am much more excited to see a women or a black man rise to the highest office, even though on nuances alone i would vote for the white man who is for universal health care. In the end, because I am a women who lives in a world (science and policy academia) where few women rise to the top I would like to see a women rise to the top. The lack of black men in the same fields also make me see how good it would be for a black man to rise to the top.

Posted by christina at 2:59 PM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2008

with the cold weather, the weekend are the only time i can run due to not want to take the kid out in anything below 30.

this morning i sit here trying to decided if it is too cold to run for me. i check weather.com
Snapshot 2008-01-19 08-40-45.tiff

yep. too cold. thank god i'm not in charge of taking the dog out...

Posted by christina at 8:44 AM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2008

all is full of love

yay! i have finished my revisions/response to the reviewers and sent them off to my co-author. good times. it was actually kinda hard to get them done as aiden has been teething and is whiny mcwhiny. and some of the points were quite ridiculous. one reviewer cited 4 papers she wanted to know why we didn't reference. two of them were single author papers. it wasn't hard to figure out who the reviewer is.

though we went to another ped at the office on monday b/c it had been a week of whining. i liked her a lot. she said, yep, probably teething. (directly contrary to the other dr who said in response to my "i think he is teething" with it is too early.) anyways, so yay. teething. oh well, i like co-sleeping. it is much easier to just have him in bed then getting up and rocking and putting him down 4 times before he'd stay. so easy! and he is big enough that i don't worry about people squashing him. usually get sleeps in his crib until 2 or 3. so that works out.

also at the end of his morning nap (which is always in the crib) he flipped over!

i got a latte maker for christmas and have been enjoying it immensely. i totally recommend it. it is a pain to clean, but totally worth saving the $5 per drink. and i don't have to leave the house, which will come in handy 7 on sunday. oh winter. you have come with your cold.

Posted by christina at 5:26 PM | Comments (0)

January 6, 2008

And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold.

all the girls at christmas (grandma, me, my mom, rachel, & jenny. plus our respective dogs.)

i made chicken soup from scratch today. I am so happy with the results. Since i got sick, I've been getting chicken noodle soup from place around here. Though i feel a ton better, I still got the stuff to make it today at the store. It was quite easy. I finally used my stock pot for stock! A whole chicken + carrots + onion + garlic + water to cover. Simmer for 3 hours. Strain. Presto - chicken stock. It needs some salt to not taste bland. I removed all the chicken, added some of it back along with noodles. presto, chicken noodle soup. Plus stock leftover for my cooking this week.

I had a dream last night that i was going back to school. i must admit, i do kinda wish that i was going back to school. I think these feelings are a result of the past couple of weeks consisting of hanging out and eating. Ben starts back tomorrow, and I am planning on returning some schedule to my life. We are having a warm snap, so aiden and I will be out on the lake tomorrow running. I need to work on revisions for this paper o' science that I just got back from the editor for the second round of reviewers.

we had a major disagreement with one of the first reviewers, so it went back out for another round of reviews. everything is fine. we were right, but now i have three more list of questions to address. reviewers have to have questions in a review. I am now chill enough to know that these lists are opportunities to make the paper better. They are are small points, nothing major. Some of them are annoying. For example, one of the question is why i did not include 3 specific references they named. These reference came out in 2007. i wrote this paper in 2006 for the most part. that is why. i'll add them, but i can do without the snarky comments of this particular reviewer.

Anyways, I am also going to start on a science policy research paper i want to publish in the uchi student journal.

This is my overreaching list for the next month. Starting on these will make me feel better. Plus Emily had her baby so their will be visiting her. And dinners with Tom. These things make me feel like a person that does more besides hang out and watch time go by.

On tap for tomorrow - pay my parking ticket for expired plates because I AM AN IDIOT and forgot to put my sticker on. that is what happens when you don't drive your car for 2.5 weeks. you forget to put the sticker on. both ben and i do this every year. EVERY YEAR. you think i would learn. I actually got two tickets, but i am going to contest the second. one can be punished twice for the same crime, right?

Posted by christina at 7:52 PM | Comments (1)

January 5, 2008

i have added the running ahead widget to my sidebar. i love it. i really wish i had started running head in 06 when i started keeping track of my runs. i have a little notebook with the record of years of 6 days a week running. so many miles. i really wish i had that in the running ahead. that would be awesome. maybe someday i'll be able to import it.

but i am enjoying the heck out of it now.

my head cold is getting better. i can breath through my nose with no chemical help. i went for a run today for the first time in weeks. i couldn't pass up the combo of ben being home, the weather is in the upper 30s, and my knee feeling better. it went well. though we'll see if tomorrow brings the now familiar swelling.

Posted by christina at 2:42 PM | Comments (0)

January 3, 2008

i am sick. i am a wuss when it comes from not being able to breath out my nose. i miss the ability to take whatever drugs. the common decongestant messes with the milk supply, so last night i tried hot showers and the humidifier in my face. i've been taking advil for the pressure in my face and ears. it has help both those symptoms and my knee. oh advil i love you. but advil couldn't help me breath, so from my trusty nursing mother's companion i found that i could take afrin for nose. i had issues with the spraying of things in my nose, but ben ~~forced me~~ helped. And proof. breathing. it is nice, but the warning on the side of the bottle make me nervous. so i think it will just be a night time thing.

Posted by christina at 2:43 PM | Comments (0)

January 1, 2008

happy new year!!

i really need to upload some new pictures.

Last night we actually stayed up until midnight to welcome the new year. we almost missed it due to a tennis game. we had jenny and rachel over to play some Wii. We played a lot of wii. it was great. one of my better new years. definitely better than last new year's eve when i was pretty sure i was pregnant and therefore did not drink. and i found out that random parties with talking to random people is really painful without alcohol. i usually spend a good chunk of these random parties talking to ben's friends chicks, who i never see again.

i've learned since then (1) avoid random parties and (2) it would have been fine if i got blazing drunk as at that point the zygote is getting no nutrition from the body.

last year was a great one. this year promises to be less exciting, but i am sure it will be rewarding. i hope to get my knee better so i can return to running from the elliptical. i hope to get to ar a couple of times. i hope to get over this head cold i've picked up. i am sure that this is a result of two days getting up at 5.30 last week which means little sleep for me, as usually the 5.30-9 block is my best block of sleep due to me bringing the child to bed.

since we returned from arkansas we've got to see a bunch of people. ben's family. leta. ben's friend nick. jenny and rachel. emma today again before she goes back to italy tomorrow. it has been great.

Posted by christina at 8:48 PM | Comments (0)

happy new year!!

i really need to upload some new pictures.

Posted by christina at 7:43 PM | Comments (0)