- History of and analysis of unions in the U.S. Either with a neutral author or one who fairly represents the pros and cons.
- Germany! Being there with someone who knows a lot of history gave me a new perspective on war and history. The U.S. is young and we do not have much evidence in our own land of modern wars, save places like Pearl Harbor. There, you see an old church with half of it gone and you know it was damaged by a bomb in WWII. (The destroyed part is to the right of where the photo ends.)
So probably a book with a quick summary of pre-1700/1800 and more detailed of modern history would be good. - What the heck I should be doing with my finances. I found this and it looks pretty good. I am mostly able to keep up with life, but what with the price of airplane tickets, a foreign BF's family to visit and being a LONG drive or a plane trip from my family and any weddings I have or will need to travel to, I still am way past the age when I should be building my savings.This article also reminded me that I need to have a plan and savings. It is actually a good article for anyone to read, as it brings up important issues such as salaries freezing and possibly decreasing thanks to our wonderful economy and what people have had to accept as job prospects after being laid off and out of work for a long time. Plus I know the reporter personally, so that is cool. :-)
31 January 2011
General knowledge
Things I think I should know more about. If you know of a book, let me know!
30 January 2011
Personality quiz
I saw this over at Ron's. Who doesn't like a good quiz full of random questions that tells you all about you? Some is true; some is not. :-)
Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality test by similarminds.com
Stability results were medium which suggests you are moderately relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.
Orderliness results were high which suggests you are overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense too often of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.
Extraversion results were moderately low which suggests you are reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and secretive.
trait snapshot:
Advanced Global Personality Test Results
|
personality test by similarminds.com
Stability results were medium which suggests you are moderately relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.
Orderliness results were high which suggests you are overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense too often of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.
Extraversion results were moderately low which suggests you are reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and secretive.
trait snapshot:
| clean, secretive, does not make friends easily, observer, hates large parties, risk averse, perfectionist, reclusive, solitude loving, more practical than abstract, does not like to stand out, high self control, intellectual, mind over heart, very cautious, takes precautions, respects authority, irritable, emotionally sensitive |
Understanding?
I am one of two post-docs in my current lab, but I am the only native English speaker. Sometimes, I think the second post-doc (PD2) would be better off if she tried to understand more that is going on around her. There have been a couple of instances in the past couple of weeks that exemplify this assertion.
Two weeks ago, a department email went out saying that the water to the entire building needed to be turned off for two hours early on Saturday morning, and that as a result, the water may run dirty for a while afterward. I went in to lab that Saturday and PD2 was there. She turned on the water and was surprised at the brown water and did not know what to do. I tried to explain the email that had come out that week, and she said she had not read it. I do not know what she would have done if someone was not there to explain just to run the water until it was clean.
Just a couple of days ago, the undergrad I have been supervising entered the lab wearing two lab gloves. You may not think this is a problem - he was protecting himself from his experiment and his experiment from contamination as gloves are meant to do. However, he opened two doors with a gloved hand. Call me the lab police if you want to, but I have a big problem with this and constantly remind him NOT to do this. There is also a University policy and signs up in our hallway with pictures of what not to do and what to do. So I told him, yet again, to take a glove off when he is walking outside of the lab. (As an aside, even if you want to argue that all of the scientists in the lab know the risks involved with what we work with, the custodial staff and any visitors do not.)
I wiped down all of the door knobs for our various lab rooms and made sure that all of the lab members were reminded to NOT use a gloved hand to open the doors. This included PD2. She confirmed twice that she understood what I was saying and seemed surprised. The signs have been up for a few months and there was a building email that was sent out about it.
I understand that building emails may be boring to read. We do not get excessive emails and they are always information like I described above. The grad student I supervised last semester admitted he did not read them, so PD2 is not the only one. For someone who is not a native speaker, you would think she would try to keep apprised of what is going on at work as best she can though. Oh, well.
Two weeks ago, a department email went out saying that the water to the entire building needed to be turned off for two hours early on Saturday morning, and that as a result, the water may run dirty for a while afterward. I went in to lab that Saturday and PD2 was there. She turned on the water and was surprised at the brown water and did not know what to do. I tried to explain the email that had come out that week, and she said she had not read it. I do not know what she would have done if someone was not there to explain just to run the water until it was clean.
Just a couple of days ago, the undergrad I have been supervising entered the lab wearing two lab gloves. You may not think this is a problem - he was protecting himself from his experiment and his experiment from contamination as gloves are meant to do. However, he opened two doors with a gloved hand. Call me the lab police if you want to, but I have a big problem with this and constantly remind him NOT to do this. There is also a University policy and signs up in our hallway with pictures of what not to do and what to do. So I told him, yet again, to take a glove off when he is walking outside of the lab. (As an aside, even if you want to argue that all of the scientists in the lab know the risks involved with what we work with, the custodial staff and any visitors do not.)
I wiped down all of the door knobs for our various lab rooms and made sure that all of the lab members were reminded to NOT use a gloved hand to open the doors. This included PD2. She confirmed twice that she understood what I was saying and seemed surprised. The signs have been up for a few months and there was a building email that was sent out about it.
I understand that building emails may be boring to read. We do not get excessive emails and they are always information like I described above. The grad student I supervised last semester admitted he did not read them, so PD2 is not the only one. For someone who is not a native speaker, you would think she would try to keep apprised of what is going on at work as best she can though. Oh, well.
28 January 2011
The best time?
Who knew that I would be almost 32 and unmarried and without children? If you had asked me 10 years, I certainly would not have thought so?! CF posted on the FB that I got credit for the flowers he sent (with our names on them) to his Mom for her birthday. (For the record, I emailed her on her birthday, and she said thank you then. He did not email or call her on her birthday, and it is not like she specifically thought to email me about the flowers.) One of his friends commented that there are three rings in any marriage: the engagement ring, the wedding ring, and then suffer ring. (Get it? Suffering...suffer ring...) Anyway, I am getting antsy.
That said, I think a lot about how being an academic and a mom will work out for me. Academics will argue that any given stage of an academic life is 'The Best' for any given reason they have at that time. I find that most commonly, the post-doc years are hailed as the most ideal though. It is getting a little late for that for me...
[For anyone who needs/wants clarification about what a post-doc position is, I usually explain it as having a similar purpose as a medical doctor's residency. (Plus this helps perpetuate the "I'm a doctor", Ross Geller style.) While being a post-doc, I am supposed to gain training in areas in which I need more training (grant writing, paper writing, designing experiments, mentoring students, etc.). People who look fondly upon their post-doc years say that they loved it because They could do all the fun experiments without being responsible for a while lab.]
That said, I think a lot about how being an academic and a mom will work out for me. Academics will argue that any given stage of an academic life is 'The Best' for any given reason they have at that time. I find that most commonly, the post-doc years are hailed as the most ideal though. It is getting a little late for that for me...
[For anyone who needs/wants clarification about what a post-doc position is, I usually explain it as having a similar purpose as a medical doctor's residency. (Plus this helps perpetuate the "I'm a doctor", Ross Geller style.) While being a post-doc, I am supposed to gain training in areas in which I need more training (grant writing, paper writing, designing experiments, mentoring students, etc.). People who look fondly upon their post-doc years say that they loved it because They could do all the fun experiments without being responsible for a while lab.]
27 January 2011
Letter to a neighbor
Dear Neighbors,
The night you moved in and one of you belched as loud as you could in the hall at 10:30 on a work night, I knew I was in for it. You left a 'sorry for the noise, we should have dinner!' note though, so I thought it would work itself out. We have never had dinner, but I did try to give you Christmas cookies. I think whoever was "home" was not one of you and said person did not answer the door. Your loss.
Anyway, I think there is just too much I do not understand about you (and your guests). Over the summer, you clearly did not pay your electric bill (as there was a shut-off notice on the front door), and you had an extension cord coming out of your apartment plugged in in the laundry room. Yet somehow you now can afford a GINORMOUS TV and to leave lights on ALL THE TIME when you are not home? (Lest you all think I am a creeper, I have to walk by their open living room window on the way to the front door.) I think it is odd that people in really nice cars, and sometimes not so nice white vans, stop by for 10 minutes and are then gone. Sometimes they stop by when you are not there and they do not even smile. How rude. I think it is odd that one of you did not have a driver's side window for MONTHS in rain and snow. I think that your friends need to not come out in the hallway and loudly talk about boogey men at night when you all have been drinking (or something). I think it is interesting that I no longer smell cigarette (or other) smoke (but do appreciate not having a stinky house). Maybe it is just the alcohol that makes you all loud and crazy now? I think it is odd that you use your back door. Actually, I think it is odd that you do not shovel the snow and get your feet cold and wet to use your back door instead of just coming in the front where I shovel.
Maybe this is the first time you have had your own place? Just try to keep the place a little cleaner and quieter...at least until my lease is up at the end of May.
Thanks,
Jenski
P.S. Be glad I do not have children with an early bedtime or I would be knocking on your door regularly.
The night you moved in and one of you belched as loud as you could in the hall at 10:30 on a work night, I knew I was in for it. You left a 'sorry for the noise, we should have dinner!' note though, so I thought it would work itself out. We have never had dinner, but I did try to give you Christmas cookies. I think whoever was "home" was not one of you and said person did not answer the door. Your loss.
Anyway, I think there is just too much I do not understand about you (and your guests). Over the summer, you clearly did not pay your electric bill (as there was a shut-off notice on the front door), and you had an extension cord coming out of your apartment plugged in in the laundry room. Yet somehow you now can afford a GINORMOUS TV and to leave lights on ALL THE TIME when you are not home? (Lest you all think I am a creeper, I have to walk by their open living room window on the way to the front door.) I think it is odd that people in really nice cars, and sometimes not so nice white vans, stop by for 10 minutes and are then gone. Sometimes they stop by when you are not there and they do not even smile. How rude. I think it is odd that one of you did not have a driver's side window for MONTHS in rain and snow. I think that your friends need to not come out in the hallway and loudly talk about boogey men at night when you all have been drinking (or something). I think it is interesting that I no longer smell cigarette (or other) smoke (but do appreciate not having a stinky house). Maybe it is just the alcohol that makes you all loud and crazy now? I think it is odd that you use your back door. Actually, I think it is odd that you do not shovel the snow and get your feet cold and wet to use your back door instead of just coming in the front where I shovel.
Maybe this is the first time you have had your own place? Just try to keep the place a little cleaner and quieter...at least until my lease is up at the end of May.
Thanks,
Jenski
P.S. Be glad I do not have children with an early bedtime or I would be knocking on your door regularly.
24 January 2011
23 January 2011
Brrrr....
It was super cold today. This is the frost at the seam of my back door. Clearly I have not insulated it well.
CF is also out of town, and I feel like I have not caught up with regular stuff since before Christmas. Today I did my taxes; I had to because with my fellowship, taxes were not withheld and I chose to do my taxes early instead of paying the fourth quarter taxes. I soaked beans overnight and baked (4 pounds of) beans all day, used up some chicken bones in the freezer and some from a new pre-cooked chicken from the grocery store to make 14 cups of chicken broth. I took my Christmas tree down and did all my laundry. I cleaned up needles from the tree - that took a while - and put all my stuff back where it is pre-Christmas. Busy, busy! Now if only I had time to outline that paper...
I think I have enough beans for a family of 10. Boy are they delicious though. Baked beans before:
I froze a couple of smaller quantities of broth I can use in recipes (I got a wok and rice cooker for Christmas and lots of Asian recipes you need some broth), then rest I split into two bags with chicken and froze so I can make homemade chicken soup super fast over the next couple of months.
I think I have enough beans for a family of 10. Boy are they delicious though. Baked beans before:
Baked beans after:
Boiling veggies and chicken for broth:
I froze a couple of smaller quantities of broth I can use in recipes (I got a wok and rice cooker for Christmas and lots of Asian recipes you need some broth), then rest I split into two bags with chicken and froze so I can make homemade chicken soup super fast over the next couple of months.
Therapy
The past couple of months I have been thinking about starting a more anonymous don't-tell-people-about-just-let-it-be-found blog. This is because there are things I would blog about, but, since moving to the Midwest, have found out that a lot of friends read this (although y'all read through your readers/feeds so I have no idea how many people read because my counter does not count reader downloads, but whatever;-) ). It is not that I would not share or discuss these things with my friends and family, but it just seems strange to do it in this format...and I am really bad about picking up the phone.
Some things I think about are old things which do not affect me anymore; only I still think about them so clearly something about them gets to me. Pre-internet I would keep a journal in spurts. If you go back and look at some of it, I always wrote when I was trying to figure something out. Along the way, my blog was a way for me to put something in writing (for the entire world to read if they would like, ironically), and let it go. I guess writing things down lets me move on to thinking about other things, and I know if I want to revisit something, it is there waiting for me. Everyone has their own ways of dealing with things, right?
Only once in grad school did I actually go to a therapist a few times to work through something that I could not get myself to go to family or friends about. I know people whose therapists are very important, and can only extrapolate that other friends likely see therapists but I do not know about it. It was a strange experience for me though. I do not expect a journal to talk back, but the woman I saw did not seem very involved in the sessions. Maybe I just needed a different therapist?
My old roommate (Hi SLK, like the car) told me once that if I was being really quiet around the apartment, she knew I was thinking about something, and I would talk to her when I was ready. It is true. And I think that when I am thinking about something, I am usually figuring out how to articulate whatever it is, much like I would have to do to write it down in a journal. Now, I find myself composing blog posts about things in my head. Sad, huh? Maybe after I "write" one, I should just write it down and move on to the next thing.
Some things I think about are old things which do not affect me anymore; only I still think about them so clearly something about them gets to me. Pre-internet I would keep a journal in spurts. If you go back and look at some of it, I always wrote when I was trying to figure something out. Along the way, my blog was a way for me to put something in writing (for the entire world to read if they would like, ironically), and let it go. I guess writing things down lets me move on to thinking about other things, and I know if I want to revisit something, it is there waiting for me. Everyone has their own ways of dealing with things, right?
Only once in grad school did I actually go to a therapist a few times to work through something that I could not get myself to go to family or friends about. I know people whose therapists are very important, and can only extrapolate that other friends likely see therapists but I do not know about it. It was a strange experience for me though. I do not expect a journal to talk back, but the woman I saw did not seem very involved in the sessions. Maybe I just needed a different therapist?
My old roommate (Hi SLK, like the car) told me once that if I was being really quiet around the apartment, she knew I was thinking about something, and I would talk to her when I was ready. It is true. And I think that when I am thinking about something, I am usually figuring out how to articulate whatever it is, much like I would have to do to write it down in a journal. Now, I find myself composing blog posts about things in my head. Sad, huh? Maybe after I "write" one, I should just write it down and move on to the next thing.
18 January 2011
Great story
I got Netflix a while back and certainly do not watch as many movies as I am paying for. I had "The Blind Side" for almost two weeks, but CF and I watched football, not football movies, last weekend, so I watched it tonight. You know going into the movie that it is an unbelievable story. When you are watching it though, you have (actors') faces to go with the story. It makes me want to know everything about Michael Oher. What an amazing feel-good story about people who were meant to be family. I do not know how to write a movie review, but if you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend that you do.
I only hope that Netflix can get "Twilight: Eclipse" to me by the weekend when CF heads off to some interviews.
I only hope that Netflix can get "Twilight: Eclipse" to me by the weekend when CF heads off to some interviews.
Prettier
I always thought that this was a song I did not like, unless I happened to tune in when it was on the refrain. I recently realized the beginning of the song...
Well I’ve been saved by the grace of Southern charm...and the refrain...
I got a mouth like a sailor and yours is more like a Hallmark card
So let’s shake hands and reach across those party lines...were one and the same. It makes me laugh. Mostly because I find politicians and politics rather childish really. When did people forget how to compromise and stop looking out for one another and stop doing what they felt was the right thing instead of what would get them ahead?
You’ve got your friends just like I’ve got mine
We might think a little differently
But we got a lot in common you will see
We’re just like you
Only prettier
17 January 2011
So proud
My cat is around 6 and has quite the fixed-indoor-kitty-belly. Half the time I think she is being lazy when she pulls her way onto the bed instead of just jumping though. When I was packing for my conference, I left a drawer open, so she took advantage of the opportunity to get up higher than her regular lazy self would allow.
16 January 2011
Catch up
Whew. I am ready for regular life again. From Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's to a conference last week, I am pretty sure my waist line has increased. I can still fit into my clothes and breath alright, but that gym membership card that has not been working for four months? Yeah, I really need the gym manager to get back to me about that.
That said, the conference I went to afforded me some pretty nice views along with some snowshoeing, hiking, walking, and wine tasting. Yes, I also attended every single seminar. The setting alone would have made it worth the trip (as you'll see below), but I also made some great connections that will hopefully be useful down the road!
Now that all that travel and eating (and as of tonight Patriot's games) are over, I can start exercising again, email people from the meeting, file my taxes, get lots of research done, write a paper, look for jobs, cross my fingers CF gets a job in a location that is desirable to me...Oh, and take down my Christmas tree next weekend.
That said, the conference I went to afforded me some pretty nice views along with some snowshoeing, hiking, walking, and wine tasting. Yes, I also attended every single seminar. The setting alone would have made it worth the trip (as you'll see below), but I also made some great connections that will hopefully be useful down the road!
Now that all that travel and eating (and as of tonight Patriot's games) are over, I can start exercising again, email people from the meeting, file my taxes, get lots of research done, write a paper, look for jobs, cross my fingers CF gets a job in a location that is desirable to me...Oh, and take down my Christmas tree next weekend.
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