oh, if only I had received this for Christmas instead... (hehe)
btw, I'm back in Phoenix and already back to work. *sigh* lots to do. big big meeting on the 10th that we need to prepare for. also, training for the half-marathon which is in two weeks (yikes!). oh, and I need to work on my thesis. right.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
merry christmas!
I hope everyone had a nice holiday. mine was surprisingly pleasant and pain-free. which is good. I got a bunch of books (one Vonnegut and some others on physics), some music, some jewelry, an audio recording device (for the interviews and other stuff I will have to do for my dissertation research), and lots of gift cards. oh, and an iPod shuffle (which is awesome - thanks Jody!). I also had lots of good food and spent some quality time with the family. the one down-side was the weather: it was quite warm - like almost 80. another typical southern california christmas and kind of hilarious when I think of other parts of the country that are snowed in. while it is nice, it also makes it hard to believe that it's winter.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
something to think about
I ran across this interesting article yesterday from marketwatch.com about the wealth gap in the world. I think especially at this time of year when we're seemingly ready to just buy buy buy whatever we feel we "need", it puts up a bit of perspective at just lucky we are to be where we are.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
some Christmas spirit
(and an excuse to procrastinate a little bit instead of writing a paper.)
I am starting to get into the Christmas spirit. the semester is winding down (I am currently working on my final paper for one class) and everyone is starting to talk about plans for the break. Hwi and I put up some Christmas lights in our apartment the other day, I watched Miracle on 34th street last night (the second half in color and then the first half in black and white), and I keep getting phone calls and emails asking what I want for Christmas (for the record, peace on earth and good will towards ALL people would be nice). also, today's New York Times had an article about the house that was featured in one of my favorite Christmas movies, A Christmas Story. also, for another laugh, check this parody out.
I am starting to get into the Christmas spirit. the semester is winding down (I am currently working on my final paper for one class) and everyone is starting to talk about plans for the break. Hwi and I put up some Christmas lights in our apartment the other day, I watched Miracle on 34th street last night (the second half in color and then the first half in black and white), and I keep getting phone calls and emails asking what I want for Christmas (for the record, peace on earth and good will towards ALL people would be nice). also, today's New York Times had an article about the house that was featured in one of my favorite Christmas movies, A Christmas Story. also, for another laugh, check this parody out.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
almost there...
so it's December already. how did that happen? and why did it take so long? anyway, I have about a week or so left of the semester (my one and only paper is due on Wednesday, but I have other stuff to do until probably the 15th). I am really looking forward to getting some work done on my thesis over the break. I have a presentation to do the week before classes begin again and then there's a big conference in San Diego that I'm going to towards the end of February. so that will be good. I have a lot of work still to do, but I am making tons of progress and it is going really well I think.
Thanksgiving was pretty nice last week. I drove to LA to see the fam. the driving part was not exactly the most painless it has been (going there, I ran into a ridiculous amount of traffic once I hit LA - of course). but it was good to see everybody and dinner was great. I came back just in time to go out for Lynn's birthday last week.
in other news, I really like this "new" Beatles cd, LOVE. it is from the Cirque du Soleil show and although I was hesitant at first, I am really digging it. it is a new and interesting take on some of my favorite songs. they mostly fooled around with transitions between songs and didn't screw with the actual songs too much in most cases, which I think was wise.
Thanksgiving was pretty nice last week. I drove to LA to see the fam. the driving part was not exactly the most painless it has been (going there, I ran into a ridiculous amount of traffic once I hit LA - of course). but it was good to see everybody and dinner was great. I came back just in time to go out for Lynn's birthday last week.
in other news, I really like this "new" Beatles cd, LOVE. it is from the Cirque du Soleil show and although I was hesitant at first, I am really digging it. it is a new and interesting take on some of my favorite songs. they mostly fooled around with transitions between songs and didn't screw with the actual songs too much in most cases, which I think was wise.
Friday, November 17, 2006
ucla student tasered
ok this is making me really angry. and disturbed. and worried. it's not good.
here is the link to the story from the Daily Bruin after it happened (the incident was this past tuesday). there weren't a lot of details at that time, but it still pissed me off. then I saw that someone had actually posted the video from their cellphone that they took while it was happening. after watching that, I felt kind of sick. it is a very disturbing video. you can hear him screaming and the officers yelling at him. it is not good. the students that were around were trying to get information (like their badge numbers and names) from the officers, but they threatened them with the taser instead of giving them the information.
today's LA Times had another article; the student is going to sue. there are more details in this article, especially the student's side of the story. I just hope that something good comes out of this. this is totally insane. what is going on with our country? (and the world?)
here is the link to the story from the Daily Bruin after it happened (the incident was this past tuesday). there weren't a lot of details at that time, but it still pissed me off. then I saw that someone had actually posted the video from their cellphone that they took while it was happening. after watching that, I felt kind of sick. it is a very disturbing video. you can hear him screaming and the officers yelling at him. it is not good. the students that were around were trying to get information (like their badge numbers and names) from the officers, but they threatened them with the taser instead of giving them the information.
today's LA Times had another article; the student is going to sue. there are more details in this article, especially the student's side of the story. I just hope that something good comes out of this. this is totally insane. what is going on with our country? (and the world?)
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
life + research = research
today's PhD Comic seemed especially relevant to how I feel about my research right now. *sigh*. for reals.
at least I like what I'm doing. and I seem to be able to get an OK amount of sleep this semester. but still. yeah.
at least I like what I'm doing. and I seem to be able to get an OK amount of sleep this semester. but still. yeah.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Bill Clinton!
well I had a bit of a fun surprise today. in the middle of a meeting I get an IM from Angel saying that Bill Clinton is coming to campus today and do I want to go? well, of course, yes, I do. so we walked over to the library lawn where it was all set up. and waited. and waited. finally some of the other democrat local candidates spoke and it was nice. and then we waited some more. (I would like to mention that Angel remembered the wrong time, so that made it even longer, but oh well.) finally, Bill Clinton showed up (along with Harry Mitchell and Jim Pederson) and gave a great speech. it was great to see all of us young college-aged (or post-college-aged) students out there cheering on the democrats. only five days until the election. don't forget to vote! this is the most important thing you can do as a citizen in a democratic country - don't take it for granted.
here's a couple pictures I got from my phone. they're not too great, but here they are anyway (if you click on them to make them bigger it is easier to see him).
here's a couple pictures I got from my phone. they're not too great, but here they are anyway (if you click on them to make them bigger it is easier to see him).
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
happy halloween!
so it's Tuesday. and it's Halloween. and I don't really feel like it's today. everyone had parties over the weekend, so that was more of the holiday for me. it was lots of fun. for my costume, I made a dress out of those blue bags from IKEA. I thought it was pretty clever, because I am obsessed with IKEA and love it to pieces, so it is sort of a crazy IKEA fan costume in some respects. everyone really liked it, which was cool. it was sort of born out of a need to do something creative and Project Runway no longer being on that drove me last wednesday night to go out and buy a sewing machine so I could construct the dress. it took a bit longer than I was expecting, but that is mostly because I got a really crappy cheap sewing machine. it works relatively well for what I paid for it, so I'm not actually complaining.
Jody dressed up as a Gumby from Monty Python's Flying Circus TV series. not many people actually knew what that meant, so he didn't get as good of a reaction as we were hoping, but I will say that he looked awesome and had the voice down and everything. for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, here's a link to a compilation of some of the finer Gumby moments from the Flying Circus.
here are pictures from the party at Katie, Angel, and Rosa's house on saturday (via my Google photo page):
if you prefer Flickr, you can check out the pictures there as well: http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrogirl720/sets/
Jody dressed up as a Gumby from Monty Python's Flying Circus TV series. not many people actually knew what that meant, so he didn't get as good of a reaction as we were hoping, but I will say that he looked awesome and had the voice down and everything. for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, here's a link to a compilation of some of the finer Gumby moments from the Flying Circus.
here are pictures from the party at Katie, Angel, and Rosa's house on saturday (via my Google photo page):
if you prefer Flickr, you can check out the pictures there as well: http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrogirl720/sets/
Monday, October 23, 2006
I had a weekend
well, last week was fairly crazy. not as bad as the previous week, but they are definitely keeping me busy here. at least the weather is beautiful now. sooo nice. really makes up for the insane summer.
friday evening we ended up going bowling. it was lots of fun. I hadn't been in a really long time, but somehow still managed to do well. Angel and Rosa didn't fare as well and Jody had to bowl left handed due to his shoulder injury, but he still did pretty good. anyway, it was fun. we should go again soon.
saturday, Jody taught me how to drive a manual transmission. so that was fun. I think I got the hang of it, driving around the parking lot. I think after another practice session I'll be ready for the harsh streets of Tempe. heh. I'm glad I finally learned. I had been trying for such a long time. people kept telling me they would teach me (ahem, jpg) but I never got around to it. so yay for that. it wasn't so hard.
saturday night angel tried to arrange a group outing to see tim burton's nightmare before christmas in 3D. without going into all the gory details, let's just say that the planning didn't go over so well as one person got left at home (due to some miscommunication) and we got into the movie late (angel had everyone's tickets and he was late), had to go find the 3D glasses from some clueless movie theatre employee and had to sit in the second row. ugh. but, the movie was good, so I guess that mostly makes up for it. well, that and the glasses were seriously hilarious. they made everyone look like either a bug or elton john.
sunday I slept in a bit, then got some work done. at our soccer game last night, I scored the one and only goal. so hooray for that. it felt good to win for a change. our team has a bunch of new players this season and we're trying to get used to all the new playing styles and positions and everything. I think it's starting to come together so hopefullly the rest of the season goes as well as last night's game. everyone did a great job, with the passing and defense and all that. go brilliant fc!
and in other news, here's a shout out to Jeremy Cogan, who was quoted in today's New York Times article on a fantasy Congress game. hehe.
friday evening we ended up going bowling. it was lots of fun. I hadn't been in a really long time, but somehow still managed to do well. Angel and Rosa didn't fare as well and Jody had to bowl left handed due to his shoulder injury, but he still did pretty good. anyway, it was fun. we should go again soon.
saturday, Jody taught me how to drive a manual transmission. so that was fun. I think I got the hang of it, driving around the parking lot. I think after another practice session I'll be ready for the harsh streets of Tempe. heh. I'm glad I finally learned. I had been trying for such a long time. people kept telling me they would teach me (ahem, jpg) but I never got around to it. so yay for that. it wasn't so hard.
saturday night angel tried to arrange a group outing to see tim burton's nightmare before christmas in 3D. without going into all the gory details, let's just say that the planning didn't go over so well as one person got left at home (due to some miscommunication) and we got into the movie late (angel had everyone's tickets and he was late), had to go find the 3D glasses from some clueless movie theatre employee and had to sit in the second row. ugh. but, the movie was good, so I guess that mostly makes up for it. well, that and the glasses were seriously hilarious. they made everyone look like either a bug or elton john.
sunday I slept in a bit, then got some work done. at our soccer game last night, I scored the one and only goal. so hooray for that. it felt good to win for a change. our team has a bunch of new players this season and we're trying to get used to all the new playing styles and positions and everything. I think it's starting to come together so hopefullly the rest of the season goes as well as last night's game. everyone did a great job, with the passing and defense and all that. go brilliant fc!
and in other news, here's a shout out to Jeremy Cogan, who was quoted in today's New York Times article on a fantasy Congress game. hehe.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Jesus, etc. indeed
one of my favorite blogs posted a love letter to Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot last week and I just had to share.
I am currently writing my second proposal of the week (although I'm not actually finished with the first one - final version isn't due until Friday). it's going to be a fun week! lol.
I am currently writing my second proposal of the week (although I'm not actually finished with the first one - final version isn't due until Friday). it's going to be a fun week! lol.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
welcome to the Grand Canyon state (officially)
so, as of today I am officially no longer a Californian (as far as I am concerned). I finally went in and got my Arizona drivers license. it was ridiculously easy and didn't take very long (although I am glad I had my book to read). the thing is good until I'm like 65 years old or something crazy like that. so yeah. I'm a "zonie" or whatever. at least I won't have people looking at my CA drivers license all funny now (not only does it look fake because of all of the hologram stuff on it, but the picture I had on there was from when I first got my license when I was sixteen. so times have changed).
in other news, our soccer team is doing ok. we are trying to adjust to all of our new players and I think considering all of that, we are doing really well. we are fighting hard, but still playing fair (unlike some of the other teams in our league), and in general it is going well. we will keep getting better. :)
in other news, our soccer team is doing ok. we are trying to adjust to all of our new players and I think considering all of that, we are doing really well. we are fighting hard, but still playing fair (unlike some of the other teams in our league), and in general it is going well. we will keep getting better. :)
Thursday, September 28, 2006
"but I am le tired..."
yeah I'm exhausted. I need to sleep. yesterday I had one of those all day meetings (9:30am to 5pm). luckily they gave us lunch and coffee throughout the day as needed. which I definitely needed because I only got about 3 hours of sleep the night before. totally couldn't fall asleep. soo annoying. so I figured that I would be able to sleep just fine last night. but, no, of course not. I probably got about four hours. ugh. somehow I did make it through today, though. but now it is time to sleep.
sorry about the sleep talk. it's one of the most important things in grad school, so really there's not much else to talk about. heh.
and for those of you not cool enough (or weren't around two years ago when we were quoting it everyday) to understand the title reference, here you go: http://www.endofworld.net/. enjoy!
sorry about the sleep talk. it's one of the most important things in grad school, so really there's not much else to talk about. heh.
and for those of you not cool enough (or weren't around two years ago when we were quoting it everyday) to understand the title reference, here you go: http://www.endofworld.net/. enjoy!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
picnic in the park
yesterday was such a nice day and some of us decided to have a little picnic in the Tempe Town Lake Beach Park (that's actually what it's called - don't look at me). it's a little grassy park by the fake lake here in Tempe. anyway, we had a good time. natalie brought her adorable dog and we ate lovely sandwiches and other things. katie and angel screamed like little girls every time the bees came by to smell our lemonade so that kept us amused for a while. :)
later that afternoon, katie and rosa came by and we had a grey's anatomy season 2 marathon until we all fell asleep.
later that afternoon, katie and rosa came by and we had a grey's anatomy season 2 marathon until we all fell asleep.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
harry potter and nclb
I heard about this article the other day and I just had to post a link to it. it was written by one of the professors in the college of education here at asu. it is nominally a book review of the most recent Harry Potter book (this came out a while ago ), but is actually more about current education reforms and no child left behind (nclb). it's very interesting, especially if you are more familiar with the book itself and some of problems with nclb. happy reading!
http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev246.htm
http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev246.htm
Sunday, August 27, 2006
party pics!
So Saturday night Angel, Katie, and Rosa had a party at their new house for Angel's birthday and a housewarming sort of thing. most of the physics and astronomy grad students showed up (and some of our non-phy/ast friends) and everyone had a really good time. here are some pictures from the evening:
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
more pics
I re-uploaded some of the 4th of July pictures to my other photo site (which I will probably be using instead of Flickr). it's a lot easier (integrated with iPhoto) and much more free space (250mb).
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
happy birthday Angel!
today was Angel's (23rd) birthday. I made him some yummy cupcakes and we surprised him at school after he finished teaching his last class (at 10pm). he was super excited to see us and it was lots of fun.
click below to check out the pictures. (some of them are of Katie just being silly since we had some time to kill while we were waiting for Angel to finish).
click below to check out the pictures. (some of them are of Katie just being silly since we had some time to kill while we were waiting for Angel to finish).
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