Home

So I've been home for about 5 days now. There's snow and it's cold and nothing has changed. mean that in the best possible way. It's almost like I never left. I suppose it's only been 6 months, but still. I've already done a lot of the things I wanted to do while back home - eat at Z'Mariks, catch up with some old friends, lay around and spend time with my family. You may have noticed from the pictures above that I've also had a haircut. What do you think? I love before and after pictures.

I hope all of you had a great Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate.) Mine was awesome. I'm really happy to be home with my family. Santa was especially good to me this year - I got a new camera. You guys will benefit from this as it is better quality than my old camera and small enough to go everywhere with me. I hope this will lead to nicer pictures and more frequent posts.

Finally finished

Remember that post long ago of the woodblock I was working on?  Here is the finished print.  Pretty spiffy, I must say.  Yeah, I hung them on my Christmas lights to dry - I kind of like the way that looks.  I thought about hanging some drawings or prints  permanently but I don't think I will, tall people wouldn't be able to walk underneath them.  

Anyways, I am heading home tomorrow morning and am very excited!  I really hope I don't get stuck in O'Hare and that everything goes smoothly.  I heard it's very cold in Iowa so I hope my Mom brings me a blankie for the car ride home.  I'll haven't forgotten what cold feels like, but that doesn't mean I won't still whine and complain about it.  I will try to post something while I'm home, but no guarantees.  

PS.  The cats suspect nothing.  They have seen the suitcase out, but they don't seem to understand what is going on.  Poor kitties!  They will miss me.  

Sorry!

Ok, I know it's been over a week since my last post, and for that I am sorry.  I have not been busy with school, but I am working full time.  I have been socializing a lot too, I must admit.  The picture is of the door me and my co-worker decorated for a contest at work.  Can you believe that we didn't win!!??  Yes, it's made of paper.  

I picked up another job shelving books at the main library.  They really run you ragged over there!  I forgot about how much of a workout shelving gives you - especially in the thighs and back.  Maybe I'm just getting old.  

I am very excited to come home to Iowa on Monday!  I plan to eat as much as I can, watch movies, spend lots and lots of time with my family, eat, visit old co-workers, play games, eat more - oh, and go to my friend's wedding reception.  It's going to be a nice, relaxing two weeks.  Then I'll be back to work.  

Annoyance

I did some laundry today and had to use the dryer on top.  Now, I guess it's just a law of physics, but something has to fall out of the top dryer every time you open it.  My question is: why does it have to be underwear?  It's always underwear.  Why can't it be a sock - I mean, they're going to touch the ground anyway, but underwear?  There is nothing I would want to touch the dirty, sticky laundry room floor (that I often go barefoot on) less than a pair of underwear.  

Ok, my rant is over.  Yeah, I can talk about my underwear.  It's my blog.

Other news:  I'm going to bake some cake mix cookies today and drink tea.  Yesterday I spent approximately six hours shopping with my friend.  My family had better get ready for some awesome Christmas presents!  Seriously.  Plus I got some presents for myself.  Anthropologie was having a sale and I got the cute bowl pictured above.  It was just begging for some after-dinner mints.  If my sister is reading this - yes, I did get you something from Anthropologie.  Are you excited?  I also watched "Bande a parte" with my neighbor.  Weird movie, but good.  Maybe my friend Phil will write about it in his new blog!  He writes movie reviews, you should read it:  http://www.filmreviewsbyphil.blogspot.com/

That's it for now.  I hope everyone had a good weekend.  I know I did!

I'm sick

Things of note that have happened recently:

1.  We had a holiday lunch thing at work - it was a super fancy buffet and I stuffed myself to maximum capacity.

2.  I finished my first semester of graduate school.  Yay!

3.  I got my first cold in Austin.  

4.  I had a burst of creative energy which included a short video idea.  More on that later, perhaps.  

Which looks more pathetic?  The first is me sick today, the second was me sick 5 or 6 years ago.  I think I look more pathetic now.  Don't worry, it's either a mini cold or some kind of crazy Austin allergies, but I'm fully functional.  I'm glad it didn't happening while I was in the midst of projects and papers.  That old picture was taken when my parents were away for a week.  I was either a freshman or sophomore in college and it was supposed to be a party week with no parents in the house.  It was one of the worst weeks of my life.  I got sick, rained on, my boyfriend broke up with me and I didn't get into any of the classes I wanted to.  Now which do you think is more pathetic?  

Screw homework, I'm just going to draw

Yet another self portrait.

Ugh...

Sorry I haven't been posting as much as people would like (people being my parents) but I've been a little busy with school.  I hate writing papers and am in a really bad mood right now.  One week left, which means all my projects are due in mere days.  The picture above is what my Thanksgiving weekend consists of.  Homework, mini pies and some TV thrown in for good measure.  My back hurts from hunching over my computer.  I hope I emerge on Monday with a well-written paper (at least a C, please,) an entertaining PowerPoint, enough knowledge for a two hour essay test and a bunch of other little assignments finished.  So, sorry I'm busy.  I hope I can take some good pictures and tell some funny stories to you guys after the semester is over.  Hopefully I will get to let loose and party at least a little bit next weekend.  See you then.  

Santa, baby!

Isn't he cute?  My friend bought him for me as an early Christmas present.  I know it's a little soon, but I've put up my lights and decorations already.  I love Christmas!  Thanksgiving is another story.  Don't get me wrong, I like it.  My favorite part is the eating followed closely by games with the family.  I can't have the family this year, so I plan to eat my weight in turkey and apple pie.  I'm very excited about the food I plan to make.  It will all be half portions as I don't want to eat the leftovers for the rest of my life.  The menu is:  

Baked turkey legs (not sure what I'm going to do with them yet)

Green bean casserole

Stove-top stuffing

Mini apple pie 

I wanted to have cranberries too, but I couldn't find them at the store.  I went to the HEB on Red River to get everything today (it's ALWAYS crowded - even on a Friday night) and almost had a freak-out.  I realized it would be crowded, but I thought what the hell, I only need a couple things.  Big mistake.  There were so many people and little children and carts, my God, the carts!  I was lucky to get one.  Around every corner there were at least five people and most of them were women looking like they were on the brink of suicide or children screaming and hanging off the cart.  I almost plowed a few down by the end of it.  Saying "excuse me" in the most annoyed voice possible just didn't cut it after a while.  When I finally got to the wine section, I was at my wits end and decided to get two bottles of Lambic instead of one.  I need it. 

What kind of sound is he making?

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in almost a week.  I haven't taken any pictures and have been working hard on school projects.  I also had a dentist appointment today - two down, two to go.  It was so quick, but my face is half rubber right now.  It's nice that I live alone so that nobody snickers when I spill water on myself every time I try to drink it.  Next time they're doing my front teeth.  I wonder what will happen when I drink water then... 

It's Office night!  I'm so excited.  Not just from the show but it's become more of a social thing.  At first it was just my friend and I, then her neighbor joined us, then pina coladas were added to the mix and tonight I heard there will possibly be six people and dinner!  I'm making lemon bars.  Here in Texas, on my own, I've discovered not only my love of cooking but my love of cooking things for other people to eat.  I really should have kids eventually.  As much as it scares me right now, I think it's my destiny.  

Anywho, here's a picture of my cat on my new mattress set.  He's just as excited about it as I am.  

The Museum of Ephemerata

This place ruled.  It was a cluttered house with two "guides" and a cat.  Really, though, the displays were nice.  Some creepy, some funny but all had that Victorian, yellowed, cabinet of curiosities feel to them.  It was dark out, there was a fire going outside and the wind was whipping around which set the mood nicely.  Bonus, I got to meet some more iSchoolers.  Oh, and that's a cat x-ray.  

I also bought a mattress set today and had it delivered.  I'm so glad I have a real bed and I didn't have to carry it up three flights of twisty, rickety stairs all by myself.  I also got to rearrange my furniture, which I love.  Now I'm going to watch TV in my new bed and snuggle with my kitties.  All in all today was a pretty good day.  

Happiness is...

No, it's not a warm gun (shoot shoot bang bang.)  Happiness is a new purse!  Isn't it lovely?  Thanks to my friend, I discovered Ross this weekend.  Department store clothes that nobody would buy at ridiculously low prices.  Happiness.  I also bought an uncomfortable pair of shiny black boots and a skirt.  I probably shouldn't go back there until next year.  

I noticed I haven't mentioned school here in a while.  Here you go:  I have recently joined a student group associated with the iSchool called ArTex.  There are no formal classes on art or music or theater librarianship, so interested students formed this group.  Apparently they take trips to museums, go behind the scenes at special collections and of course drink beer and talk about art and library science.  This Friday we are supposed to go to the Museum of Ephemerata.  Their website is www.mnae.org/  It looks pretty cool - and by pretty cool I mean totally awesome!  

Stuffed bell peppers

Another new food creation!  These were really good.  They were bell peppers stuffed with couscous, feta, grape tomatoes, zucchini and onion.  It felt like it took forever to make, but it really wasn't that hard.  I love food!  

While I was making them, I dropped a little of the mixture on the floor (I pretty much drop everything I cook on the floor at some point during the process) and my cat ran over and ate it.  I couldn't stop her because I was in the middle of everything, but I figured she's helping me clean.  Well, five minutes later she puked it all up.  I would much rather clean up food right after it hits the floor than food half digested from my cats stomach.  Now you really want to eat it, don't you?  

Back to basics

Emergency Update:  my apartment building has no hot water.  I found this out by turning on my hot water and seeing that nothing came out.  Then I used my impressive powers of investigation and asked a few of my neighbors, and they too did not have hot water.  Then I was elected to called the emergency line (though I know it is not an emergency) and they told me that they were having problems with the boiler and we would not have hot water until tomorrow.  It would have been nice if they had told us or at least stuck a flier on our doors.  How hard is that?  Regardless, I now have to live semi-primitively for who knows how long.  It could be twelve hours or even more.  It's going to be really difficult, but I think I'm up to the challenge.  I went camping as a child, I remember what it's like.  I just hope the cats will survive.  

Was that too much?  I was trying to exaggerate in a humorous way.  It actually won't be all that bad though I am glad I did my dishes this morning.  My shower will be interesting...

Looking good so far

Here's my grackle woodcut so far.  I'll post a picture of the print when I'm finished.  I'm having trouble deciding how to do the background and what to have him standing on.  I'll surprise you.  

I had a dentist appointment and I'm home in the morning for the first time since I got here.  That means I got to watch the Price is Right!  I love that show, but am sad that Bob Barker is not the host anymore.  It's OK, though, he was probably sick of everyone kissing him - plus he's like 112.  I like being home in the morning.  I got the dishes done, ate some brunch and am considering going to the grocery store.  I am totally a morning person now, but not at work.  Is that weird?  

Halloween

Against my better judgment, I am posting this picture.  Isn't my costume awesome though?  I made it myself.  This picture was taken at the end of the night and I am impressed how well it held up.  My friend and I were supposed to go to that iffy party, but it fell through.  We decided to go to sixth street and meet some of her friends from work.  It was insane.  There were people filling the streets, literally elbow to elbow and in some places even more crowded.  I took us practically half an hour to walk four blocks to my new favorite bar, The Library.  How cool is that name?  It even has fake books on the walls.  People loved my costume, they would randomly come up to me and want to take my picture.  I only saw one other wonder woman costume and it was not as good as mine.  It was store bought, ugh.  My friend and I counted the number of "jokers" and got up to 14 or 15.  There were a lot.  My favorite costumes (besides my own, of course) were a team of Ghostbusters.  They ruled.  It was a good night.  

I voted!

I wish that I got a sticker when I payed my rent or fed the cats.  It takes me back to elementary school when stickers were a very cool reward.  Now they're just stickers.  But I do value this one.  It gives me that old elementary feeling of accomplishment and self worth.  Oh, and don't you just love the cat hair?  Stupid white cat...

I will not tell you who I voted for, but I will tell you that I feel very grown up.  Far too grown up.  I'd better remedy that - I think I'll go to a party dressed in an inappropriate costume, drink and possibly do something I will regret in the morning.  Yay Halloween!

Inspiration

I will admit, this doesn't look very pretty, but it tasted wonderful.  I was having a blah day today.  I walked to the campus art store and got a brayer and some ink after work, but when I got home all I wanted to do was sit around and watch TV.  So that's what I did.  Then I got hungry.  I did not want to eat my three day old leftovers so I looked for a yummy salad recipe on the Internet.  I found Rachel Ray's website and there was this recipe for what you see here - sort of.  So I drove myself to the store and dragged my feet around getting the ingredients, sad that nobody called me so I could say "I'm at the grocery store" like I was out doing something important.  I got the stuff and came home feeling a bit weak from hunger.  

To make this thing, you put some EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil for those of you not familiar with Rachel Ray) in your frying pan and fry up a couple pieces of sourdough bread.  Then you put some feta on top and stick it in the oven.  You are then supposed to fry up some tomato slices with salt and pepper, but it was at this point that my cheap frying pan decided to erupt in smoke.  I turned away to get the tomatoes (and a handful of Craisins) and when I turned around the smoke had already filled the kitchen.  I'm lucky the smoke detector didn't go off, but now my entire apartment smells like burnt EVOO.  Even the cats.  So after that crisis I figured, whatever, and just put the tomatoes on and stuck the whole thing in the oven.  Then I remembered it's supposed to have a sunny side up egg on top.  So I get out a pot (having only one frying pan, of course) and put some eggs in there.  I haven't cooked eggs very much (I used to hate them) so mine turned out scrambled instead.  

When I finally sat down to eat, after the lackluster day, the boring grocery store trip and the frantic fanning of smoke out of my front door (cats escaping every time I turned my back) I was beat.  I took a bite, and it was bliss.  I love the combination of goat cheese, tomato and pepper.  I ate everything even though I had to take breaks and force the last few bites in.  It was totally worth it.  I felt revived and even inspired.  I took a risk making something new but I think it really payed off.  I was inspired to get some work done so I spray-painted my Wonder Woman rope a lovely metallic gold.  I plan to finish touching up the paint on my costume, read for class and if I really feel inspired, start my paper for my preservation class.  Dinner to the rescue!

On a side note (notice how I didn't say "in other news"?) I had a dentist appointment yesterday.  I was worried because my one wisdom tooth is starting to break through the surface.  I really didn't want to have surgery or have to PAY for surgery.  I turns out that I don't have to do either one!  It's straight, in the right place and not crowding any of my other teeth.  Thank the lord!  

Halloween preview

Can you guess who I am?

This is my third wig (and counting.)  I still have a bit of work to do on the costume, touch ups to the paint and some sewing, but I am excited.  Apparently the party my friend and I plan to attend is going to be iffy.  Oh well, any excuse to dress up, right?  

In other news (do I use that phrase too much?) I finished reading "Blindness" this afternoon.  Wow.  The ending was sort of what I expected, but not what I wanted.  I won't give it away.  All in all a pretty awesome book though.  I've heard the movie doesn't do it justice, so I won't waste theater money on it.  We'll see if "The Road" does any better.  

Finished

Remember how I said that construction guys were doing stuff in my parking lot?  Here's what they were doing.  The driveway is super smooth now, there are more parking spaces and shiny new paint.  People can't just park willy-nilly now, they have to go between the lines.  The only  negative to this face lift is the dumpster is now even further away - which I suppose is not all that bad.  It's just scarier at night.  

Ok, my bad

I know that you people have had some trouble commenting on here because you have to have a Google account.  Apparently that is a setting I can turn off.  Sorry guys!  As of now, you should be able to leave a comment without having to log in or sign up for any accounts.  Let me know if it still doesn't work.  I love comments!

Winter is coming!

It was sunny and warm when I went to class today and when I came out... (cue "dun dun dunnnnnn" music) it was windy and about to rain!  I could actually keep my sweater on the entire walk home.  Apparently this means winter is on it's way.  Or the mildly cold, rainy weather Texans consider "winter."  The cold fronts are coming as is the much needed and overdue rain.  I am excited, I was beginning to think there were no seasons down here!    

Here is a lovely picture of the storm clouds from the stairs of my apartment building.  

Things I learned about Texas

I learned two things about Texas yesterday.  

One:  hard liquor is only sold at liquor stores.  You cannot get anything over 15.5% ABV at "regular" stores like HEB or gas stations.  You also cannot buy any sort of alcohol after midnight, and on Sunday liquor stores must be closed.  

Two:  there is a McDonalds IN the Walmart near my neighborhood.  Right inside it.  How tempting is that?  It's like combining the two biggest American evils under one irresistible roof.  

My friend and I were supposed to play poker last night with some friends but that fell through.  The only other option was playing this charade type game with two couples that already knew each-other and played that game all the time.  Though I enjoy charades, I was disappointed about the poker and did not feel like being the only outsider in a cliquey game, so my new BFF/replacement sister and I decided to go to Walmart.  On a Friday night.  To our surprise, it was hopping.  Apparently Walmart is the place to go - it sure was in Arkansas!  We bought some things we didn't need, ate McDonalds and then went home to watch The Office on my computer.  All in all a pretty good night despite the initial disappointment.  Sorry I did not take any pictures.  

Rapture

The Magnetic Fields concert was last night.  It was worth every penny.  I laughed, I cried, I was just blown away.  They played songs from almost every album and the songs from the new album, "Distortion" were played acoustic so they sounded much better.  Like they are supposed to sound.  I've decided they are better in concert than on the CD's.  From my balcony seat I couldn't really make out the faces of the band members, but my view was not obstructed.  It was a highly entertaining show with much witty banter and the horribly depressing songs that are somehow funny that they do so well.  They did not play all of my favorites, but the highlights were "The Book of Love," any song I had never heard before, "Courtesans" and "I Wish I Had an Evil Twin."  Oh, and "Yeah!  Oh Yeah!"  I mean, they were all good, but those were especially good.  Best concert ever, I'm so glad I went.  I can't even describe further what I felt and how it was to experience.  It was just rapture.  

In other news, today was the first real rainy day I've experienced since moving here.  It rained off and on last night and all day today.  I walked home in the rain.  It was wonderful.  Everyone was happy because we definitely needed rain.  In other, other news, I ate a frozen Three Musketeers bar while writing this.  Yep, I'm living the good life.  

The evolution of my dinner

Ever since my parents were talking about eating it a week or so ago, I have been obsessed with beef stroganoff.  Mmm, beefy goodness.  I may have put a little too much sour cream in it, and I think egg noodles would have been better than the penne I made, but otherwise my dinner was delicious.  The only bad part was doing the dishes afterwards.  

I'm having fun making meals I have never made before.  Some new, some that my parents used to make when I was a kid.  It's so different when you're only cooking for yourself.  More leftovers, which gets tiresome, but I also don't have to deal with anyone being picky.  I can eat whatever I want whenever I feel like it.  Life is good.  I think as it gets cooler I will start baking more.  My neighbor bakes all the time - pies, muffins etc.  If I make anything big, I'll have to bring it to work so that I won't eat it all myself.  I am already planning to make a big batch of cake mix cookies closer to Christmas.  I love those cookies!  

Yes, my stove is quite small.  Yes, I painted the fish on that plate.  

Dude...

I'm in graduate school.  Whoa.  

This is what happens

I guess this is what happens if you Zen-ify your desk.  All that empty space is just too tempting.  I will admit, this new keyboard is much easier for a cat to lay on than my last one.  I'll just have to keep my eye on him.  

Amendment:  I guess I failed to say that the black keyboard I bought initially did not work out.  Every time my computer went to sleep, after it woke up I had to unplug the keyboard and then plug it back in.  That was really annoying.  I took it back and got the keyboard I really wanted.  

Zen desk top

Oh Apple, how I love your minimal designs in this world of excess.  No matter how much more you cost than the other brands, I shall always love you the most.  Don't even get me started on your simple yet stunning commercials with beautiful white backgrounds.  My new favorite is this iPod commercial:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9vqOajE45Y&feature=related  How does Apple find these perfect songs?  There is only one problem on my desk, the cords!  I have taped a few down, but there are just too many.  Going cordless is quite expensive, however, and I am poor.  

So my new keyboard has inspired me to organize not only my desk area but my closet as well.  After getting a lot of clothes out of it because of my new dresser, I was able to reorganize it so that it is more spacious.  I also managed to get my big sheets of paper to lay flat up near the ceiling so that they are out of the way.  Magic!  I love to organize.  

Doing stuff

Some guys are doing stuff in my parking lot.  I noticed yesterday that the area behind the dumpster was taped off with orange cones.  Today they are moving dirt and gravel around and subsequently freaking my cats out.  I wonder what they're doing.  

Also, here's a self portrait from after lunch today.  I guess it's picture explosion week for me - enjoy it while it lasts!  

Also, you may remember an experiment I started several weeks ago.  I was going to do a before and after comparison of my teeth whitening adventure.  Well, they have improved, but my camera refuses to take a good picture of them.  You'll just have to take my word for it.  I'm sure I'll take a smiling picture of myself at some point, and then you can judge away.  

New things

I finally bought a dresser off of the magical Craig's List.  It's pretty fabulous.  Notice how perfectly my TV fits on top of it.  It will still rotate so that I can view it from every room.  It's from Ikea originally and it looks (and smells) brand new.  The guy said he'd only had it for a few months.  It matches the desk I bought from Ikea perfectly.  My favorite part was arranging all of my clothes inside it, of course.  My least favorite part was carrying it up the three flights of stairs - one handed no less.  Yeah, I'm totally ripped.  

I also had to get a new keyboard.  I spilled water on my cute apple keyboard.  Though my friend claims that you can put those things through the dishwasher, mine crapped out at the first drop.  At first I noticed that the bottom three numbers on my keypad weren't working, which would be no problem for me, but a little later the space bar stopped working.  That key is a little more crucial.  As I have a big paper due next week, I decided I needed to replace it right away.  The new one is so ugly, isn't it?  It was the cheapest Best Buy had.  At least it kind of blends into the desk.  It also has nice key action.  It'll do until I get a laptop.  

I just bought a ticket for...

I'm so excited!  They are playing at the Paramount theater downtown, which is apparently super cool and old.  I figure I should go to some concerts while I'm here in Austin because who knows if I'll get another chance?   I know I can't really afford it, but I got a cheap seat way up in the middle of the balcony against the wall.  I hope I will be able to see from there.  They wouldn't have seats where you can't see, would they?  Regardless, I am excited.  I absolutely love the Magnetic Fields.  They are definitely in contention for being my favorite band of all time.  My friend and her boyfriend have tickets (in the center orchestra, row 8 - jealous!) so we're going to make it an evening together.  If I can sneak in my camera, I will post some pictures here.  It's not until October 14th, but I will be excited every day until then!  I just wish that Dan could go with me...

My poor feets!

I hate this stupid humid Texas weather!  It makes you blister like none other.  I wore the sandals I always wear and did a bit more walking/spending time outside than usual and now they have blisters and are sore on the bottoms.  What the heck?  There's no way I can wear socks and sneakers in this hot weather, though.  If I wore socks and shoes, I would have to wear pants - I mean, I'm not a guy.  That's just too much heat and sweating for me.  So you must suffer with me by looking at my skanky feet.  

In other news, I am SUPER excited about the season premiere of The Office this Thursday!  My new best friend and I are going to watch it and freak out.  I may have to cut a meeting short with a group from one of my classes, but they can just deal with it.  I have my priorities.  

PS - Informal Poll:  Which is better - an English accent or an Australian accent?

Almost dinner #1

Is it bad that a lot of my posts have something to do with food?  It's not like that is all I think about.  It is a big part of my life - Americans spend an average of 67 minutes eating and drinking as a "primary" activity according to the American Time Use Survey of 2006.  It doesn't seem like a lot - but if you factor in food preparation, going to the grocery store, making grocery lists and fantasizing about McDonald's, that's a lot of time.  

Regardless, I really enjoyed my dinner tonight.  Mostly because making, consuming and cleaning up gave me a big break from homework.  I have a ridiculous amount of work to do this weekend.  Most of that work involves my first real paper for graduate school.  I'm kind of freaking out because it's math-based and I haven't taken a math class in 6 years.  I did make some pretty cool graphs and tables, though.  I think the hard part is over and the rest is just analytical, but I won't know if I did OK until I get it back.  While freaking out initially I kept thinking that if this was what all the grad school papers will be like, then maybe I'm not really ready for it.  I don't think they will all be this difficult.  The biggest problem was that he only gave us one weeks notice and expected us to already know how to run the programs and do the math.  Which of course I did not.  Also, it was "partner optional" and of course I did not want a partner.  Oh well, I'll get through it.  

As for the photo and post title, dinner number one in my family consisted of baked chicken, baked potato and "shapes" (those frozen mixed veggies where carrots are in cubes, peas and corn in spheres and green beans in cylinders.)  It was called dinner #1 because we had it once a week and it was the general favorite.  My dinner tonight was pan-fried chicken, mashed potatoes and just plain old peas.  It kind of felt like dinner #1 though, and it was delicious.  

A good day

It was a beautiful day today.  I think the sun has too much power here.  When it shines on you, it feels like it's going to melt your skin.  In Iowa it's just sunlight - you can feel it on you, it's warm, but it's just the sun.  The sun was not shining today, it was cool, breezy and lovely.  I even opened the windows.  It's very refreshing - and my electric bill will be a bit slimmer.  It also makes me quite happy.  My coworkers said that this is a freak of weather for this time of year, but I have hope.   

Yes, that picture is of a half-gallon of organic milk from Central Market.  I have never had organic milk before.  I can see my parents making "ew" faces right now.  It actually tasted pretty much the same as regular milk.  In fact, I couldn't tell the difference at all - except the 50 cents more I spent on it.  I just thought I'd give it a try.  I mean, I'm living in Austin surrounded by health nuts, I may as well try it out for myself.  

Two things, both kind of disappointing

There was big talk of a hurricane.  I did not see one drop of rain today - though there were winds and threatening looking clouds.  It was hyped up so much, even the football game was postponed, and then did not deliver.  Now, I don't want to sound like a horrible person - I know there was tons of damage in Houston and Galveston and the like.  I am not glad about that.  I was just hoping for some rain or an exciting thunderstorm or something.  I've only witnessed it raining three times since I've been here, and only one of those was a thunderstorm.  I miss them.  In Iowa it seemed to thunderstorm every other week during the summer.  Oh well.  

I also worked on a book today.  I am in need of some plain colored paper.  All the bookbinding cover and end paper I have has some sort of pattern and most of them are quite bold.  Mixing them is difficult.  I'll post a picture of it when I am done.  The cover boards are gluing.  It's going to take them a while to dry, so I may not finish tomorrow.  Don't worry, it will be soon.  For now, here's a picture of me in my "bookmaking apron."  

Crisis

Would life be any fun without a daily crisis?  I came home from class today as usual and sat down at my computer with a snack and a glass of water.  I was minding my business, checking my email when my cat jumped in my lap.  He meowed a few times and kept staring up at the corner of the ceiling.  I looked up and to my horror saw a gynormous cockroach.  

After my initial freak out, I made a few calls for moral support - and took some pictures, of course.  After about 20 minutes of attempting to kill it (which involved moving some furniture and high pitched squealing noises) I realized what a wuss I am.  I am a big fat baby.  I can't believe that I am unable to kill a bug.  Though the bug happened to be a two inch long cockroach.  It looks like one of those fake joke cockroaches, doesn't it?  Regardless, I am a grown woman, I should have the balls to take my shoe and squish it.  So I did.  I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight, but by god I can kill a cockroach.  

On a side note, Hatshepsut (the gray cat) was totally obsessed with it.  She wanted it.  She sat on my desk looking up at it making little kitty war noises.  I'm pretty sure she was the one who got it up there in the first place.  My closet was a mess - the cats had knocked a bunch of stuff over.  Besides, why else would a cockroach that big be up in the corner of the bedroom in the middle of the day?  She had that thing on the run!  

Do you remember?

Do you remember when pictures were actual pictures?  When they weren't digital?  It was an easier time then.  You only took twelve to thirty-six at a time and they had to be "good" or it was a waste of film.  Now you can shoot willy-nilly and take as many pictures of your cat or your baby as you want to.  What does that give you?  A thousand OK pictures of your cat and ten good ones.  Can you find those good ones after you've uploaded them onto your computer?  Not easily.  Can't you just delete the bad ones while they are still on your camera?  Sure, if you want to go through each of the thousand pictures and press "delete" and "confirm" for each bad one.  Besides, why delete them?  Aren't they perfectly good pictures?  It's a crisis.  

Don't get me wrong, I really like digital pictures.  You can edit them to make them look better and, I'll admit, taking a thousand pictures will give you a better chance of getting a good one.  I'm just disgruntled because I've been reading "Everything is Miscellaneous" by David Weinberger.  His solution to too much information is more information.  It's pretty genius.  If you want to organize the thousands of photos in your album, you have to add metadata (information about information) to them.  Add descriptive terms to your photos so you can search them easier.  That way, if I'm looking for that picture of the Chicago skyline that I took when my boyfriend and I went there last April I can type in "Chicago" or "Chicago" and "April 2008" and there it is.  Easy.  At least, it seems easy until I realize I have to add two to five words to all of my thousand pictures.  

I want my film camera back.  

Experiment

I'm sorry to subject you guys to this image, but there is a purpose.  I've decided I need to whiten my teeth.  I've wanted to for a while - I had a friend in dental school who was supposed to hook me up with something cheap, but it fell through.  Instead, I bought myself two weeks of Listerine Quick Dissolving Strips.  You put these little plastic-ish things on your top and bottom teeth twice a day and they dissolve in your mouth.  It's more of a foam/melt than a dissolve - and you get to swallow it the entire 5 to 10 minutes.  It's a bit gross, but minty.  

In two weeks when I'm done, I will take another picture in the same lighting and we will judge the effectiveness.  I hope they work!  

PS - Is it just me, or do I look a lot like my Mom when I make this face?  

A visit to the Harry Ransom Center

I met a friend from iSchool for lunch at Veggie Heaven today.  For those of you who don't know, it's a popular vegan restaurant right across from campus that serves cheap, mostly Asian food.  I had the "Open Sesame" which was noodles and veggies in a "brown sauce."  It was quite good.  After lunch we walked over to the Harry Ransom center to see the drawing exhibit - and the Gutenberg (pictured above) of course.  It was pretty magical.  The drawing exhibit was quite large, it was all we could take today.  I would like to visit their library and maybe hint at an internship for the summer.  There were some very cool drawings on display.  I liked one in particular that Salvador Dali did on the title page of a book.  It was a self portrait with his eye as a drawer opening out of his head.  There was an entire display of travel sketchbooks, which immediately made me think of my parents.  They always take a "trip book" to write and draw in when they go on vacation.  One of the books on display had full page watercolors on most of the pages.  On the whole I thought it was pretty cool.  I will have to explore that place a lot more.  

On a side note, I found Media Services on campus and checked out "Gone with the Wind" on DVD.  I feel like that's one of the movies I should watch.  Two of the drawings on display were costume designs for the movie.  Did you know that after the Bible, "Gone with the Wind" is the best selling book in the world?  It is followed closely by "The Little Prince."  

Guess what I got in the mail today...

The Office Season 4!  I have been waiting for this for so long.  I prepared by watching the three previous seasons in a row.  I'm going to try to limit myself to three episodes per day - saving the last disk for this weekend.  After that I have to mail it to my boyfriend, who is also pretty obsessed with that show.  I think he's less obsessed than me though.  I can get pretty freaky about TV shows.  

In other news, I had another new class today.  This one is about the organization of information.  Reading the syllabus online was a little intimidating - and kind of made the professor seem like a douche.  But, after meeting him and getting a better idea of the class I think it will be fine.  It's going to be challenging but worth it.  That's kind of how I feel about the other classes I've had.  I guess that is what graduate school is all about.  You work hard but the payoff is worth it.  Do I sound too PBS special?  I guess not when I use the word "douche."  

Self portrait in front of the mirror

Not a good sign

Yesterday was my first day of graduate school.  Yay!  I had two classes, one on research and one was a general intro to information science class.  I had also signed up for a management class and an organization class (a.k.a. cataloging.)  All required courses for the degree.  After experiencing six hours of the required courses, I decided I needed to drop one and add something different.  It was just a little too much for me.  I dropped management and added an intro to preservation class.  I'm very excited about it.  I think this whole graduate school thing is going to work out just fine.  It's only two years!  

On a less positive note, I bought my books today.  It was a painful $250 - and I still have to get whatever preservation books they require.  I had some time after I got home, so I thought I'd give the textbook for the intro class a whirl.  Two chapters in and I was out cold.  (see picture above)  Now, maybe it was because I stayed up a little late last night, or got hot and tired walking around campus or the fact that I was reading in bed, but I thought it was kind of a bad sign.  I was warned about the dry and boring qualities that some library books have.  It wasn't THAT bad though I haven't read a textbook in over two years.  I'll get back into the swing of things.  Next time I'll have some caffeine.  

Yay food!

I was trying to hold out as long as possible, but I broke down and went to the grocery store yesterday.  I love having food!  It makes me happy whenever I go into the kitchen.  This may not look like much, but I assure you there is more than twice as much food in that fridge than there was before.  You know, you try to be frugal (one of my mother's favorite words) but you can only eat ramen and mac'n'cheese for so long.  I need real food.  I think I made the right choice.  

So much for my budget.  

Orientation

Orientation for the School of Information was yesterday.  I had a bit of a "What am I doing here!?" moment at first.  I guess I didn't know what to expect, or didn't care.  Hearing the faculty members talk about the areas they are interested in and the classes they were teaching didn't really get me excited.  

After orientation and some pretty good sandwiches, another girl and I decided to go check out the Kilgarlin center.  We stumbled upon their secret orientation and decided to sit in.  I would really like to take some conservation classes, so it was neat to see the lab and tour the building.  What was even better was talking to the current conservation students later at the Dog and Duck.  Besides being a little like the first day of school in the cafeteria at lunch (Who do I sit by?  Are these the cool kids?) hanging out with the newbies, second years and faculty was pretty fun.  I met some interesting people and my spirits were lifted.  Maybe it was just the booze, but I am really excited to start classes and get this degree.  

Part of me just wants to get on with real life, though.  I've been thinking about this program as a step forward in my career.  I want to get as much for my money as possible and I don't want to waste any time or effort.  If I feel I am not getting what I want out of my classes, I will find a way to make it happen.  I know this sounds kind of corporate ladder-ish, but I am a grown up now.  Sort of.  I want to have a good job that pays well and that I really enjoy doing.  Right now I am investing in that.  When I am done with this program, I will be able to get that dream job.  Maybe not right away, I'm no fool, but eventually.  I was never one to enjoy just dicking around, wasting time drinking and partying.  I like getting things done.  

Classes start next Wednesday.  I'll let you know how it goes.  

A trip to the vet

I took the cats to the vet today so that they won't get rabies.  I gave no hints to tip them off ahead of time, but as soon as I got the carrier out, Ragnar dove under the bed.  I managed to toss them both in and it was a silent car ride over.  Deadly silent.  The vet assistant heard Hatshepsut growl a little as he was opening the carrier, and so he asked me what she is typically like at the vets.  She has never bitten anyone that I know of - but I remembered that the last time Dan took them, there was some clawing involved.  I told him it was a possibility and I think that may have put him on guard a little.  We decided to do Ragnar first, then Hatshepsut.  Ragnar is a little wuss and he submitted without a peep to everything they did.  Here's what happened with Hatshepsut:

He was getting ready to weigh her and take her temperature and she was hissing of course.  He obviously feared a bite, so he snapped his fingers on one side of her head to get her to look while he grabbed at her scruff with the other.  Now, finger snapping is something I do when the cats are being bad, so it's an immediate negative association for Hatshepsut.  She lashed out.  The assistant decided to go get help, and came back with a young woman.  He was attempting to grab her again - so I stepped in and just did it.  She didn't bite me, of course, because I had no fear and she knows I will kick her ass.  I handed her over.  The guy held her while the girl inserted the thermometer.  That's when she flipped.  There were exorcist screams coming out of her and she flailed.  It was scary.  The assistant then thought that it would be better if they took her to a room away from me.  They did.  I heard her raging growls through what I am assuming is at least one door and one wall.  I was embarrassed, but kind of impressed too.  She sounded like a tiger!  A few moments later, the veterinarian herself comes in and calmly, soothingly says "She's not exactly cooperating, so I think we may have to try another method."  I replied "Yeah, sounds like you'll have to knock her out."  

They had to sedate my cat because she was acting like a wild street cat.  I couldn't believe it.  This has never happened to any of the cats I or my parents have had.  She's the devil.  Plus it cost me an additional $85.  She is currently under the bed with Ragnar, sulking.  The picture is of her cleaning off the gas residue after we got home.  She looks so harmless... sweet even.  Now we know the truth.  

Just for fun

I turned a Calvin Klein model into a pirate.  Or is she a warrior?  An elf?  The boots were what she was actually wearing.  They look like total pirate boots.  Anyways, yeah, this is my Friday night.  

Trip to the museum

I made my way to the Blanton Art Museum today.  I was really impressed with the number of prints they had.  Usually museums are big on European painting (which they had, of course) but it wasn't an overload.  There were two different print exhibitions going on, but there were even more prints upstairs in the main collection.  One of my favorite parts was the western room!  They had an enormous Frederick Remington, the "Cavalry Charge."  He is one of my favorite artists of all time.  It was free and it only took me an hour to see everything.  All in all I was happy with my museum experience.  

Forgive the bad quality of the first picture, it was taken with my cell phone.  This is a sculpture piece outside the museum where people are encouraged to walk in it among the medical tubes.  It was freaky.  I stole the second picture from the Blanton website.  It is one of the Japanese prints by Hokusai.  

On a side note, on my way home I stopped in the shady area by where I work.  It was very hot out and I needed to sit down and have a drink.  I happened to notice two sweaty, ripped guys working out nearby.  They were hopping up and doing lunges backwards down a hill in the sun.  They were quite sweaty, and one of them was wearing very short shorts.  It was definitely a high point to my day - but also a low.  They were working out tirelessly in the hot sun while I was taking a break from WALKING while eating candy.