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| 08.12.04 (6:16 pm) [edit] |
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This week has been interesting... Once Dr. Tilstra got back, we had a two and a half hour meeting with her, and she gave me lots of things that needed to get done. Silly me, I was so excited, and went out and got them done in two days. Whoops. And now we can't do anything else in the Myers lab until we get the fiber optics stuff in that we couldn't get made at Rose. Therefore, no work for me until next week at the earliest. Grr...
So I just bummed around today, feeling very useless, and very tired. I don't know why I've felt so tired, but oh well. I'm going home this weekend, so it won't be TOO bad. My dad has already teased me with his ideas for meals... stuffed portabella mushrooms... god help me, friday can't come fast enough!
OH,OH,OH! Fondue last night was wonderful! I made a cheese fondue with gruyere and sharp cheddar (per Lissa's request) cheeses, which didn't turn out as badly as I was afraid it would. Either that, or everyone was super nice about hiding their distaste. Although, anything with that wonderful sourdough bread that Mae made would taste heavenly. Mmmm... That bread was my breakfast and part of my lunch today too. Back at the fondue though, the chocolate fondue was amazing. It was a dark chocolate fondue, and the warm sweet chocolate with the chilled, slightly tart blueberries and strawberries was amazing. The bananas were also a huge hit- great mixing of textures there, and bananas are wonderful no matter what. Marshmallows were funny, since that was a heck of a lot of sugar, but it was two different kinds, so it tasted great too. Wow! I've used a lot of superlatives in this paragraph! My oh my...
Okay, since I have to get up at 5:15ish tomorrow morning to help Mae out with scans, I think I'm done.
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| 08.09.04 (10:50 am) [edit] |
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Weekend was wonderful. Ran 8+ miles on saturday, which felt great. It was the first time in a looooong time that I had really felt the runner's high. Unfortunately, it was quickly followed by the runner's low, where all I wanted to do was sleep. Going to bloomington with mae and lissa averted that, and made the day that much more productive. 8)
Yesterday, didn't do much, just hung out until jenn and I went over to the house to get our deltas finished up using c-line's sewing machine. Heidi ended up having to close at work that night, so we didn't end up doing that. We did, however, get some java haute, which is always a good thing. Unfortunately, I hadn't had caffeine in a long time, so I didn't get tons of sleep last night. The run today should be interesting.
Dr. Tilstra comes back tomorrow, so I'll actually have something to do besides post during work. :) I'm really looking forward to it. Really sad when you look forward to actually having work to do at work. Even worse, I'm really looking forward to school starting again. I want to learn new things!
The only bad thing about the beginning of the school year is the meetings. I have to help the freshmen move in on Friday, help everyone else move in on Sunday, go to a 10 HOUR pre recruitment workshop ( :roll: ) on Tuesday, and have 6 straight hours of "retreats" on Wednesday for officers, chapter, and learning center people. Then, of course, school starts. Ugh. I really would like to enjoy the few days I have off from work before school starts. Instead, I have meetings. Luckily, cross country might give me a reason to miss out on some of the stuff- that's what happened last year at least. Oh well, only three more weeks before people start moving in. THANK GOD!!!! :D
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| 08.06.04 (9:24 am) [edit] |
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Okay, this has become a disturbing trend. I went to bed last night, with my alarm set for 7:00. I was planning on running then so that it would be nice and cool and not too sunny (the sun bothers me the most, actually. it's so bright that I can't even keep my eyes open wide enough to look around while I'm running.) It took me forever to fall asleep, probably because I took a half hour nap yesterday. I woke up this morning on my own, thinking that I felt incredibly awake and refreshed for waking up before my alarm. Lo and behold, the clock read 7:48. Damn. Yes, I had again gotten up, turned off my alarm, and gotten back in bed without waking up enough to have it register. Grr. So I got up, got ready, and went on my run. It was really nice, because I ran through Hawthorne Park, which is completely deserted and full of trees. Nice rolling terrain too (for Indiana, of course!). I only had to run three miles, so that was nice too. I felt lazy though, so I went into the SRC and lifted weights for a while, even though I'm still sore from lifting yesterday. My muscles were really tight (which might explain the bad runs all week- I haven't been stretching very religiously) so I decided to run back to the apartment, grab my swimming stuff, and water run for a while. Did that, which felt WONDERFUL! I love pools.
Onto the whole eating thing (which I haven't been doing very well lately, as those around me can attest). I was exceedingly hungry, so I decided to go all out and make a real breakfast. Scrambled eggs with mushrooms and swiss, sausage links, mmm... It was wonderful, even though it was so much more than I usually eat, so I had trouble finishing it.
Hopefully this day will be happy- I like happy days. You know what would make today happy? Lissa and Jenn using the word nubile in a sentence pertaining to lab while talking to Dr. Miller. You know what else would? All four of us chem girls scaring the living daylights out of Ian by telling him what we had decided (unanimously and without discussion, mind you!) last night at Coffee Grounds. That would be an exceedingly happy day.
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| 08.05.04 (6:19 pm) [edit] |
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So, I have been killed at least four or five times this afternoon/tonight. Bad Lissa! :lol: Although it does provide a lot of stress relief. I feel much more willing to go running now. Actually, if I wasn't still stuffed from dinner, I probably would go running... oh wait, maybe it's a bit too late for that. Damn. Well, boy's online, therefore this will be a short post. :P
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| 08.05.04 (6:12 am) [edit] |
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Running is getting so painful. Not as in I have injuries or anything, just that whenever I run, I'm tired before I even start. So I never feel that really good healthy tiredness that comes from a good run. Instead, I struggle through the run, and just try to get all my miles in. And it's really just this week. Last week was wonderful, nice and easy long runs with some faster workouts in between. This week, it's just been pointless to even get out and run. Monday: supposed to do 6 miles, did 5, not too bad. Tuesday: supposed to do 5 miles, did 3.5 in weather with a heat index of 97 (bad idea), which wiped me out completely. Wednesday: didn't even try to run, water ran/swam for 60 minutes, equivalent of the 6 miles I was supposed to do. Today: supposed to do 6 miles, did 3 instead, then weightlifted. I'm hoping that I can motivate myself to swim for a half hour tonight because that would put me only 2.5 miles behind what I'm supposed to do this week. Then again, I still have that 8 mile run on Saturday looming over me. I really need to have someone to run with. I just can't motivate myself to run well when it's just me out there. Maybe all I need is a change in scenery when I run. I should try to run down Wabash on my saturday run, since not many people will be up/driving then. I'll figure it out. Luckily, I'll get to run my long run next saturday with my dad, as well as the run that monday. only two more weeks of running by myself- I've made it through 7, but yuck! Never want to run by myself ever again. Unfortunately, it looks like that's what's going to happen every summer before cross country. Very, very unpleasant.
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| 08.03.04 (7:03 am) [edit] |
Yup, at work again. I'm getting in the terrible habit of posting while at work. Bad Caitlin. :) Yesterday was interesting- got the morning off, so I slept in until 8 and ran. God was it hot! Also, I hate the colts. There was no possible way for me to get on the path that I normally run on because every single entrance was blocked because it was being used by the colts. Grr... :x I eventually just ducked under a rope when no one was looking. Since it was so hot, I was not moving exceedingly quickly, and only managed to get in 5 miles before I decided to escape back to the air conditioning of our apartment. I had breakfast, read a while, lunch, and took a 45 minute nap before we had to go into work to take some scans and get some errands accomplished.
Unfortunately, the fumes from G306 were being conveniently funnelled into G304- where we were doing our scans. I could only manage being in there for about 30 minutes at a time, leaving Mae to do most of the work since the fumes made me nauseous and headachey. :( We finally made it out of the lab, and I promptly took a three hour nap to recuperate. Luckily when that was done, I felt much better and was actually able to eat. I still think that if I come down with cancer when I'm older, it's rose's fault for all the fumes. I'm going to sue them for lots and lots of money. Hehe...
Yeah, and tilstra isn't here all week, so not very much work to do... erg. So very boring. Oh well, dr. miller's here, so I better sign out.
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| 08.02.04 (7:56 am) [edit] |
Okay, so that last post was exceedingly random. I blame it on being really hyper all day saturday.
Oh, and mommy caroline would be so proud! I made three sets of letters yesterday! And I only messed up a few times, none of them consisting of burning myself with an iron! Woohoo!
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| 07.31.04 (8:25 pm) [edit] |
God has a learning curve.
That's one of the things that has stuck through the long hours of talking to jenn today. Yes, many long, fun, happy hours talking to jenn.
This weekend so far has been sort of funny. I stayed up hella late friday night talking to justin about religion and politics even though he had come over only to get some torte that I had promised him. Then I was going to get up really early on saturday morning to run so that I'd have time to eat/shower/relax before jenn came by. Unfortunately, I now can get up, walk across the room, turn off my alarm, go back to bed, and not remember a thing. Enter, getting up two hours later than I was planning. Oh well, I got my run in, it was a good 7 miler. Then I helped these random people find their nephew who was a catapulter before he flew off to alaska today. Sort of random. Got back, showered, didn't have time to eat, jenn came by.
We went hobby lobbying for a little bit, got some really cheap solid colored fabric and a shirt or two so that we could make deltas that we actually wanted to wear. Went to big apple bagels for lunch (very good) and went krogering for my fresh produce, because it's better than walmart's. Went to walmart, found tie-dyed fabric for jenn's letters, and an iron for me to make letters with. Came back to the apartment, and I was just going to give her a stencil for deltas, but of course, it's me and jenn. Enter two hour conversation. But she had to go home so that she could recharge her phone in case bridget had called (they were going out to dinner tonight). I relaxed, watched some tv, ate, went on a walk. Talked to russell via AIM, decided that I would call him, but my cell had no batteries, so I told him I'd call him in, say, an hour. Enter jenn again. Enter an hour and a half of conversation before I went- shit, I was supposed to call russell, he has to be so confused! Checked AIM, he had left multiple very cute/confused messages basically wondering when I was going to call. I talked to him on IM, explained the situation, he said we could talk tomorrow. I still felt bad, since I was supposed to (and really, really wanted to!) talk to him tonight. He assured me (wonderful person that he is) that it was not a problem. Enter another hour and a half of talking to jenn about randomness including the hot european guys that she manages to pick up. I went, oh, I was going to go to bed a while ago, so I picked my stuff up, she did the same, and we got ready to go our respective ways. Enter interesting comment (don't know who said it, whoever it was, it was all their fault) and another 45 minutes of talking while in the kitchen. Damn. Wanted to go to bed a long time ago. Finally had to stop all conversation topics with brute force, and I finally was able to stop talking to her.
It's just so hard! It's so interesting to just have random discussions with jenn- we go off on some of the weirdest tangents, and they're all really really fun. I don't think we'd get a single thing done if we were on the same project this summer. Nope, not a thing. But we did get hit on (mostly just jenn, since she is the one with the figure that is hit on-able) by walmart workers, who were actually IMPRESSED that we went to rose and not state. Very odd, usually we get the cold shoulder once they know we're from rose, because it means we're geeks. Very odd. Okay, I want to go to bed now, but I'm quite hyped by some of the ideas jenn and I have come up with, so I might need to just sit and relax for a while. Okay, I'm going now. damnit! Just hanging out with her means I buy more and I talk more. Yeah right I'm girlifying her- I think it's mutual. But it's better that way. Shit. Must stop typing. done. No, really I'm done.
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| 07.30.04 (12:19 pm) [edit] |
Well, taking time away from my oh-so-interesting work day to post. :roll: Making a new capillary is soooo interesting. Swear to god.
I feel bad for mae though- tilstra wasn't sure that we hadn't switched some of our cuvettes, so she has to prep buffer, insulin, etc. (btw, she just got wind that I was blogging, and she said "I despise thee!" Ah, the love! :P Not only does she have to do that, it has to be done today. grr...
Oh well, didn't have time today for lunch, so instead I picked up some pringles while cashing a check in the bookstore- uber healthy.
whatever, I have to help mae now. byebye
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| 07.29.04 (5:38 pm) [edit] |
So, to start out, I definitely had one of the best times every with a tridelt- yay for dinner with Jenn! So much fun to see that I'm not the odd one out, that there are others with my exact same concerns. Looking forward to more good conversations with her, and delta crafting a little bit (holy shit, mommy caroline will be so proud! :lol: )
I just hope that I don't run through my money- this is the first real job I've ever had, and I'm just so amazed that I can actually make this much money that I want to spend it and get cool stuff. No, not like clothes, more like an espresso maker so I can make the only kind of coffee that I really like- a caramel mocha- mmm! Granted, it's not like I'm buying the most expensive thing out there, I found a $100 one that was pretty decent that I think I'll get before the end of the summer.
And the countdown has begun- two more weeks, and the hair's gone. I guess I'm not the only one hacking the long hair off, carmen mentioned that she had cut hers all of, and missed it already! That's okay, I think I'll be much happier running without that extra five pounds.
Toth's coming down to visit on his way to his co-op to have coffee. Oh wait, he's here. byebye
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| 07.28.04 (5:31 am) [edit] |
This guy could be big in the near future. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPO...
Makes you wonder where the hell he popped up from. Who else had even heard of him before this?
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| 07.27.04 (9:28 am) [edit] |
This is a comment that I found especially interesting- don't hit me if some of it isn't true, I wasn't the one who wrote it! The point is that if even half IS true, you have a few more reasons not to like dubya:
Bush has misled about everything he has ever done in office. What comes out of his mouth is the opposite of his policy.
He says that his #1 priority is to get Bin Laden, and then goes after Iraq and forgets all about Bin Laden ("I don't spend much time thinking about him to be honest.").
He says that by far the vast majority of his tax cuts go to people at the bottom, which was a total lie.
He says that he wants to repeal "the death tax" to protect family farms, when family farms were already protected under existing law. It was merely a nice gift to the wealthiest 1 percent.
He said that the international community should withold aid to Russia in 1999 due to its policy in Chechnya. He said, "youc an deal with terrorism however you want at home, but you cross the line when you start bombing innocent women and children."
He criticized the leaders at Enron for bailing on a sinking ship, when he did the exact same thing at Harken.
He pushed through his Clear Skies act, when it was all about scaling back environental regulations.
He tried to push something called the Healthy Forests act, which was all about deregulating the logging industry.
He said that his initial tax cut would create 5 million jobs, and it lost 2 million.
He said that his initial tax cut wouldn't eliminate the budget surplus, it was gone in the first six months of his presidency.
He took a photo op at a jobs center in Portland Oregon, praised the work they do, then passed a bill to gut their funding only weeks later.
He took credit for passing the Patients Bill of Rights in Texas and would do so for America, when in fact he had vetoed that bill, then sent it to law without his signature after it became veto-proof.
He said he never lived in Washington during the 2000 campaign, when he lived there for a year and a half.
He told Americans that they would need to do their part to support the war in Iraq, then passed the first wartime tax cut in the history of civilation, geared towards the wealthiest few (oh -- and that $300 check everyone got was a Democratic initiative after it became clear the tax cut was inevitable).
He passed the No Child Left Behind Act, then gutted its funding. Oh, and the Houston Miracle was a fraud.
He took credit for environmental initiatives as governor in Texas, even though it was the worst environmental state in the nation, and Houston somehow passed L.A. as the smoggiest city in the country.
He said that Ken Lay supported Ann Richards in 1994, when Lay in fact gave four times the money to the Bush campaign.
He told a reporter that he's been to war and raised twins, and raising twins is harder. Of course, since his war experience was visiting a dentist.
He claimed that he saw the first plane hit the WTC and thought, "What a bad pilot", when he couldn't possibly have seen that video until afterwards.
This is from "The Official Kerry-Edwards Blog" http://blog.johnkerry.com/blo...
And here's another link, which I am posting only for the picture under the things you won't see at the Republican National Convention- very funny http://www.liberaloasis.com/a...
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| 07.26.04 (1:55 pm) [edit] |
Quite the productive day at work today- got all the programs in Matlab to work, which was cool. I found out that I'm going to be playing with parameters to see what they do for the next week, and then writing a program that will display the results in histogram format the following week. At least I know what I'm going to be doing, which is an improvement from last week! :x
Just as an FYI to those with only an hour lunch break like me: You cannot fit a 40 minute run, a shower, and lunch into an hour. It just doesn't work. Well, it does, as I proved today, but... don't try it. Especially if you want more than 32 oz of gatorade and 4 crackers with peanut butter for your lunch! 8)
Oh, and the chocolate torte souffle is done, and smells wonderful. I've only had the tiniest sliver, but it was sooo good! I really wish that I had real whipped cream to go with it, but that would be a bit over the top for a college student, don't you think? :lol:
I want there to be more MY time. MINE! :P
Just five more weeks of work... just 23 more days... thank god I'm finally doing something that actually interests me- it might make the weeks go a bit faster- like today!
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| 07.25.04 (8:26 am) [edit] |
This has to be the biggest span of time since a posting in quite a while- all this despite not having much to do in the haute.
I'm really excited today, and have been for a few days, because I'm planning on making a chocolate torte souffle- no flour, just sugar, eggs, butter, and chocolate! I even got an electric mixer so that I could make it (12 bucks!), and a springform pan (5 bucks!). It was a very exciting trip to the store to get my supplies. I also, I'm sure, have impressed my dad to no end on the resourcefulness of his daughters. Obviously, I'm not 21, and therefore can't get liquor. When told by my dad that I would have to substitute something non-alcoholic for the grand marnier in the recipe, I just told him that I could probably borrow some off someone else in skinner. Lo and behold, I walk into biggers' apartment yesterday, asked for grand marnier or some other orange flavored liqueur, and he promptly handed me some triple sec, explaining that they had run out of grand marnier last night. Beautiful. Thank god for knowing who basically has an entire bar on top of their refrigerator! Once I'm done with this post, I shall be off to start making my wonderful creation.
Oh, and the other exciting thing that I got at the store: mushrooms! Okay, that may sound like an odd thing, but I have been craving mushrooms ever since they had a special on them on the food network. I'm terribly obsessed about the food network now... that's going to be a problem during the school year, since I won't have time to watch it. Sadness. But the upshot of having the mushrooms is that I could making scrambled eggs with mushrooms and swiss cheese for brunch today- mmm!
And I've decided that while I find my job exceedingly interesting, there is very little about it that would even catch other people's interest. Okay, so russell thought it was damn cool that I got to play with microscopic latex beads, but come on! Not that exciting unless you can see the big picture, and I wouldn't subject anyone I liked to the stuff I've had to read to get the big picture!
I also got my laundry done- the first time I've had to do laundry in the five weeks I've been here- thanks to going home after three weeks and bringing all the laundry back there where I could do it for free! Woohoo! Halfway done with the summer, and I've only had to pay 1.25 for laundry! Rock on!
Okay, off to making the chocolate torte souffle! Oh, and if anyone wants the recipe for a really decadent cake, let me know, and I'll post it! It's to die for!
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| 07.22.04 (3:22 pm) [edit] |
Courtesy of Sara
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/0 8/upenn/index.html" title="http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/0 8/upenn/index.html" target="_blank"http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPO...
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| 07.22.04 (11:07 am) [edit] |
Sooo... trying not to do the whole rollercoaster thing like steve called it...
It's wonderful here in the haute- heat index of 100 degrees F and no wind. Running is not going to be pretty. I tried to run last night at about 8:30, thinking that it would have cooled off by then... not at all- I got a mile in before it started thundering and lightning, came back to skinner and was sweating like a pig. Yuck.
New Res 2 next year- how awesome is that going to be?!? :D Can't wait until everybody comes back- I miss everybody!
Okay, and this is one freaking weird winking face :wink:
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| 07.20.04 (5:14 pm) [edit] |
Why is it that you can have a really good day, and one thing can ruin it? I mean, when you're having a bad day, one good thing happens, and it's just a coincidence, not really making your day [i]that[/i] much better. Is it that I'm a pessimist at heart, or what? It's just so depressing here. I wish there was a way of getting out of the dull routine that I've adopted. Get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go to work, eat lunch, go back to work, go on a run, take a shower, eat dinner, blah, blah, blah. I guess a lot of people need that sort of structure, but I would much rather have something out of the ordinary happen. I guess it's up to me to make it happen. I've just gotten in such a rut tonight that food doesn't sound good. I mean, I had a small lunch, worked, swam for an hour, and I've been sitting and reading for an hour and I just can't make myself get up and get something to eat. Depressing.
Now, don't go feeling sorry for me- not that anyone really tries that, the way that I can act when they try to express it- I probably just deserve it. There are just some times when it feels like some people were meant to have eternally boring, depressing lives, and I seem to be one of them. Well shit. Sucks to be me.
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| 07.19.04 (3:25 pm) [edit] |
Thank god for de-stressing time. Talking to Audra and then going on a five mile run made the day much much better. Audra assured me that tilstra is generally indecisive like we've seen her- doing things for no good reason other than that they seemed like they would be interesting. Not always good. Thus, we have a signal conditioning unit from NI that really does us no good, since the old one worked just fine and this one instead has tons more bleedover between channels and only manages to get a signal from one of the channels. Grr... Poor ben for having to put up with silly little ChE trying to learn/fix electronics :( Oh well, I've been given free rein by audra (sort of) to bring a book to read whenever tilstra's not there, or doesn't have anything for me to do. Woohoo!
Running helped a lot too- nothing like just being outside, exercising, to make the day better. The only bad thing was that it was so hot that I didn't want to run in anything but shorts and a sports bra, but my hair's so long it gets stuck to my back :x The only way to rectify this, as I saw it, was to double it up in a ponytail holder, then double it up again. With my hair thusly bound up, I went on my run. Unfortunately, after about three miles of me bouncing, my hair had bounced its way down to the base of my neck, and was bouncing, bouncing, bouncing against my head. :evil: grr... I restrained myself until I had gotten to the SRC, and then in my haste, ripped at the hair tie, getting it tangled in my hair. I finally got it fixed, to the bemusement of those passing by, and ran the final half mile in a much better mood. :)
Okay, and anyone who got through that excruciatingly meaningless story about me running should give themselves a pat on the back. And a comment to me telling me that you made it, as my respect for you will increase thousandfold. :lol:
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| 07.19.04 (8:58 am) [edit] |
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what does it take?
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| 07.18.04 (7:46 am) [edit] |
Caution: I don't normally delve into anything intellectual-ish or politics-ish, but this is a slight delving. If you would rather have a more organized discussion of what I'm talking about, let me know. Talk to me, so that I can at least know what you're thinking. I do not offend just to offend.
A dilemma:
Everyone who knows me, knows I am opinionated. I have strong opinions, and for every strong opinion, there are quite a few reasons why I hold that opinion. And every time an issue gets brought up, I will state my opinion. Very forcefully, most of the time. I expect that people will listen to my opinion and my reasoning, and will educate themselves so that they either offer corroboration, or explain why they hold an opinion different from mine. I do not expect people to sit and be offended by my opinions without saying anything. To me, if no one says that they are offended, no one is offended. At least, no one is too offended. However, if someone is uncomfortable with the topic, as they haven't decided yet what stance they believe in, or they haven't gotten enough information to hold a particular stance, etc, etc, I expect them to say so. As is often the case in political discussion, things people say will tend to offend or make someone uncomfortable. It's just the way that most discussions are held. Therefore, it seems logical (to me, and only to me) that if someone is not comfortable with the way a topic is being discussed, they would move to make themselves more comfortable and tell the people involved to kindly stop talking about the particular subject. Either that, or explain why a certain argument is offensive and ask me or the person in question to back up the stance with a somewhat less offensive argument.
This is not to say that every discussion will be inoffensive. Many times, when social issues such as abortion or homosexuality are being talked about, the reasoning of those on one side of the fence will without fail offend those others. The trick is being able to look at that and find a way to combat their argument. If you are not educated enough on the topic, ask that the topic be tabled until further research can be done. Easy as that. Anyone who is respectful of you will stop talking about the subject and will move on. All that needs to be done is to state that you are uncomfortable. Those of us with very firm opinions will expect to be confronted on them, or at least be around people who would rather not have our opinions shoved in their face. Makes sense, although I try not to be too obnoxious when stating my stance. If I am, tell me to shut up. Kindly, of course, but it can be necessary if I get carried away. I can be subtle (I promise, others have told me I can be subtle) and will be if necessary. Unfortunately for you who are uncomfortable around me when I air my opinions, I have decided that I like and trust you enough to let myself relax and actually talk about those things that interest me and spark my attention. I apologize if you would rather not be liked/respected so that I would just keep my mouth shut, but alas, 'tis not so. Luckily for you, I will shut up if you tell me to. Just not until then.
Okay, so that was not really to a very large portion of people, but it did have to be said after a discussion I had with someone this morning. If it seems repetitive, it probably is, this just came to my head and I started writing. If it's repeated though, it's probably because I strongly believe it.
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| 07.17.04 (2:16 pm) [edit] |
So I had a really good Friday and Saturday this week. My birthday was on Thursday, so my parents came up yesterday to give me my presents, etc. I had been having a shitty week before, since all I had done was read instruction manuals. Not to mention that it tired me out so that running was not fun. But back to the really good two days.
I had wondered if there was even a single good restaurant in Terre Haute, and I had an epiphany- why not just ask someone who's lived there for a long time?!? :shock: So I asked Tilstra, and she pointed me to Stables Steakhouse (it's in a renovated barn and you eat in the stalls- it was meant for me! :D ) So I went ahead, got reservations, and crocheted for a while until my parents came. Then, of course, I got to open my presents- lime green shoes, a fondue pot, running socks (yes, I asked for them) and a really nice shirt from Gap. Okay, so I was most excited by the fondue pot, because I had wanted one for a really long time. I mean, bread and melted cheese or fruit and melted chocolate... what better? The most exciting thing I got though was from my grandma- a signed first edition of a book by Neal Stephenson, who is fast becoming one of my favorite authors- way cool!
After opening presents we went to stables, and had exceedingly good food. A smoked salmon appetizer was sooo fresh, and the vinaigrette on the spinach salad was wonderfully sweet. Then I got my steak with a wild mushroom sauce and truffle oil (I never would have thought food like this would be in Terre Haute) and it was literally the best steak I had ever had. Wow. It was that good. Luckily I have a good bit of it left in my fridge now :) The creme brulee for dessert was slightly over the top for me, so my mom had to finish it, but wow.
Now for today. I got up at 8ish to go running with my dad- got two and a half to three miles in before he came running up- he had run from his hotel in downtown (about 9 miles). We ran a really slow first two miles together but when we turned around we kept speeding up, so that we had a respectable pace going the last mile or so. Really tiring, but the closest thing to a 7 mile run that I've done so far! Went to breakfast with my parents and then had to beat my mom off as we went to krogers- she kept on trying to get more food into the cart. I have waaay too much food already, as Mae can attest. I've take over more than half the food storage space in the kitchen!
Then, taking a note from C-line, I took a three hour nap. I feel soo much better now. Therefore, I'm going to dive into one of my new books. Yay for birthdays! Yay for parents!
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| 07.14.04 (6:16 pm) [edit] |
What's the most exciting thing to do all day long?
Yup, that's right! Reading instruction manuals for all the stupid little pieces of hardware and software devoted to our instrument!!! woohoo!! :x
So that's exactly what I've been doing all week... makes me want to either cry or fall asleep. I actually did something that I'd never, ever done before: I fell asleep while reading. Granted, it was the Labview Student Edition User's Guide, but still!
The spaghetti dinner at our apartment was incredibly fun- Jenn, Lissa, Mae, Bridget, Ted, Ian, Justin, Phillip all were there, which made it a fun-filled evening. Pics of Ian's wall were extremely amusing, and Mae's spaghetti sauce and tiramisu were wonderful.
Running is... well... going. I'm having a hard time motivating after having such a good time running with the group at home on Saturday morning. Nothing seems like fun anymore. I mean, I put in an uptempo workout today just to do something other than run for 45 minutes. ugh. Maybe I should just find people that I can run with- perhaps take Ashley up on her offer of running after work. Yeah, that would definitely be much better. Okay, enough musing.
You know, I never thought I would say this, not being all spirited and stuff like Caroline and Kimberly, but I sort of miss my deltas. The MNDs, delta crafting with everyone... sigh... instead, I shall now go and crochet. It's the closest thing right now. :(
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| 07.12.04 (4:02 pm) [edit] |
Sooo... it was an altogether good and relaxing weekend. I went home, and got to go on a long run with my dad- so much better than running alone! Good amounts of food- fresh veggies and fruits taste so much better than canned! I got to bring back fresh bread that my mom had made on Sunday.
We found out when we got back (Mae and I) that our former roommate had left us four lbs of spaghetti, leading us to think of inviting over a couple of people to at least start making a dent in it. Well, as the day went on, we acquired a grand total of 9 people, including ourselves, and decided on doing the dinner tonight. Given that we didn't have canned tomatoes just sitting around, we ended up making a trip to Kroger to get necessities, and are at the moment making the dinner for everyone. It smells wonderful!
Well, off to eat! :D
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| 07.08.04 (9:32 am) [edit] |
Going home this weekend- should be fun. I get to see my family in its entirety, since my sister is making the trek from Iowa to be home for the weekend. I will have to do my 6 mile run at home, which hopefully means that I can join the 6:30 group on Saturday and just run a little bit of their 16 mile run. Might be interesting...
Feeling completely lost at my job- I'm supposed to work on getting a background so that I can help Tilstra with the instrument, but I don't even know what to focus on, read, consider important, etc. I guess I'll figure it out soon.
Runs are going well. I did one of them in the pool this week, and the poor lifeguard had to sit there for 45 minutes while I slowly water ran from one end of the pool to the other. Poor lifeguard. :(
Slowly, slowly making progress on reading. I'll get there sometime...
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