Cash in the Garage

Last weekend I helped my dad have a garage sale



I manned the cash register and watched over the customers. It was quite fun, as I haven't had a garage sale with dad in over 20 years. We had much fun and we made about $200 bucks total. I was amazed at how much cool vintage stuff dad had, and was happy to take a good amount of stuff that no one else bought.

My favorite find was this space heater. It has two settings: plugged in (on) and not plugged in (off). It was made way before things like "safety" went into the design of small heating appliances, so it could totally burn the house down if left unattended.



But there were also some great items from my past for sale that made me a little nostalgic. This is what I used to type my papers up in high school before I got my first computer. It was so cool to be able to type in a paragraph and preview it on the little screen sentence by sentence before hitting the 'print' button!



And then I found my pac-man phone from when I was a kid! Turns out dad had 3 of these, so I snagged on in the original box, in case I decided to eBay this someday...



I remember thinking this phone was the coolest thing ever, especially since it played a tune when you put someone on hold, I felt so grown up putting people on hold.

I also got this super cute speaker that still works! I won't be taking it to Belgium, but I will keep it for my next apartment in America.



The biggest sellers on the day though, were these little doorstops for ten cents each. Almost everyone that got something usually picked up one or two of these. I suppose that this is the season for home improvement projects.

Finishing Day

Every day I do many, many things, but most of the time at the end of the day, nothing is actually done. Progess is always made, but completion is not always acheived.

Today, however, was a day of getting things done!!

The biggest things were

1. submitting a manuscript (that is one of my dissertation chapters) to a journal for publication! yay!
2. completing analysis of the 4 boxes of slides I have been slogging through on the microscope for, oh, the past year and a half. Double yay!!

On top of that I managed to:

• go to the grocery store
• clean out the fridge (no small feat)
• go over lesson plan for class tomorrow
• do a load of laundry
• change the headlight bulb in my car, FINALLY (the bulb went out about 3 months ago, and the new bulb had been sitting on the coffee table for the last month)
• filled up the wiper fluid in the car as well (it had been beeping at me for
  the last week or so)

All in all a good day. I am happy, and tired.

News from California concerning a post-doc is still looking good, no specifics yet, but still a good place.

And guess what! Even though it took a couple of tries because all the sites promptly crashed when 8 million people tried to access them at the same instant:

the invisible hand of fate

Today, after much fretting and some deep breaths, I emailed the place I interviewed in California to see what the status is with me going there for a post-doc. No word back yet, but I am hopeful I will hear news within the next couple of days.

Also our intramural softball team had a fun practice today, which we probably need since we have not been very successful at winning all of our games. The weather was pretty exciting, with distant peals of thunder and ominous clouds adding to the excitment of slow-pitch softball practice. When it was my turn to bat, I tried the fancy new bat that impressed me with its sleek rubber grip and flames on the sides, I think it was called the Talon. Ultimately, the Talon failed to impress me, so I switched to the trusty black Powercell we got last season. After the switch, the wind kicked up and leaves and small branches started swirling around us, and the several hits I made that barely passed the pitcher made me feel compelled to yell, "FEEL MY WRATH!!! POWERCELL!!!!" The rest of the team was mildly amused, but I found it very satisfying to yell about my wrath. and the POWERCELL!!! I highly recommend it.

In geekier news, the newest version of Firefox is set for official release tomorrow! I am very excited about this because I heart firefox, I heart it good. So, if you also are a fan of easy internet browsing that is much sleeker and uses a hell of alot less memory than clunky, error prone old IE7, download firefox 3 tomorrow with me and help make Mozilla's dream of a Guiness World Record a reality!

Lastly, since I haven't quoted my horoscope lately:

Part of my horoscope this week from astrobarry:

Don't let your pride get the best of you, even if the other person is missing your point or having trouble grasping where you're coming from. The extra aggressiveness one or both of you is feeling could be a red herring—that is, not really as big a deal as it seems at the time. Sure, you may think they 'should' understand your line of thinking by now… but if they don't, just be a sport and (patiently!) explain it to 'em for the third or fourth time, rather than jumping down their throat. Believe it or not, your position is not as self-evident as you're making it out to be. (Furthermore, you might not even be so damned sure of it yourself, if you'd just calm down for a moment and examine the fine print.)

I am going to keep this advice in mind this week when my advisor and I go over the final edit of my most recent manuscript and try to figure out a date for my defense.

travelling shoes

Before Basil's demise, I spent much of last week and last weekend trekking to major metropolitan areas for work and fun.

For fun I went to Philadelphia and saw Eric Hutchinson with Frogweiler. She and I first saw him at the Tin Angel as an opening act. It was just him and his guitar, and we liked what we heard. Now he has a band and we heard one of his songs in a promo before the Sex and the City movie. I talked to him after the show and told him that we had been going to his shows for a while and it has been a good time seeing him grow in his music and success. I am thinking that the next time I see him (in California *fingers crossed*), he'll be too big to hang out at the merch table after the show. Who knows.

I also ventured near the city of brotherly love for work. I was at the Villanova campus, which was quite lovely, even with the crucifixes in the classrooms. Then later I went to Arcadia University (formerly Beaver College, heh, heh, beaver). That university had a gorgeous campus, centered around this castle.
I decided that if I ever build a university, I will definitely have a castle put in. And, as far as castles are concerned, the one at Arcadia is very well designed because I could not get into that place! Every time I turned a corner expecting a door, there was none. I felt a bit like I was disappointing my viking ancestors by not instantly gaining access to that fortress. Perhaps my true talents lie in seafaring.

Frogweiler and I again joined forces to journey into Manhattan to see Sondre Lerche. The drive in was pretty smooth, with the usual hold up at the Holland tunnel because Frogweiler still does not have an EasyPass! The music at the show was great, Sondre Lerche give such a positive energy to the crowd that I always love. What I don't love, however, is lower Manhattan when it is warm and humid on a Sunday. Warm and humid in any place on any day does not make me happy, but this is a special case.

You see, the music Frogwieler and I love is usually played at places in Manhattan below, say 14th St. Oh yeah, we're downtown girls. Also, many of the shows we have seen also happen to fall on Sunday nights. Sunday night also happens to be garbage night in the east village and everywhere between there and the holland tunnel. So, the warm, humid weather kind of, shall we say, accentuates that special 'city smell'.
It makes the stickiness that everyone feels in the humid weather feel extra dirty, so it is not my favorite.

The garbage on the streets is not something that tourists flock to see, so we decided that this weekend we will venture into the city again to take a photographic tour of weird places to see while in New York (this time on Saturday). For example, I think we may start at Canal Rubber because if it's in rubber, they have it! Basically we are trying for off-off-off-the beaten track, but not so off the beaten track that we get mugged.

Plus, I am bringing the zombies, so if you have any suggestions for where we must go, let me know! Dingo, do you have any tips?

Hilarity ensued

On Sunday night, Frogweiler and I went to see the Kids in the Hall doing a live performance in a nearby town. It was so funny, it was good to see the gang together doing comedy. The majority of stuff was brand spankin' new and they mixed in some old classics as well. I was sad when the night came to an end.

I watched the Kids in the Hall way back in the day when they were on HBO, and promptly fell in love with it. It was my favorite show during my teenage years and I loved it so much that I taped every single episode.

Lately I have been thinking about this particular KITH skit because I feel like I have so much I am trying to keep track of in my life. Whenever I start getting overwhelmed I try to narrow down all the things I need to do to the 7 most urgent things, then I repeat to myself, "I have 7 things to do today. 7 things to do". Then, like the guy in the skit, I try to stay focused on those 7 things even when everything around me starts going to shit.



And this evening I had the pleasure of seeing Eddie Izzard's new standup act. I am still smiling from the experience and I am sure that tomorrow my stomach will be sore from the laughter. His stage presence and ability to act out so many different parts of an imaginary conversation at the same time is genius. Even in the cheap, nosebleed seats you could follow everything very well, it was priceless.

For any of you who are not fortunate enough to be familiar with the comedic greatness taht is Eddie Izzard, I offer this humble sample:



In zombie news, I am still a slack-ass when it comes to getting pictures off of my camera so I have no pictures from our Star Wars exhibit adventures. FTL.

But, the post office is raising the price of stamps next week, and as a consequence, all zombie postcards that I have made from some of these pictures must go!! So, if you would like to get a zombie postcard from me this week, simply drop me an email at laszy77 at hotmail dot com with a mailing address and I am happy to send one along! Zombie postcards FTW!!!

Ok, that is all for now, it is time for bed and I am reading Swiss Family Robinson at the moment (yes, I was inspired by the Emerald Nuts commercial). On the whole I am enjoying the book, mostly because of the immense irony of the family being very religious in their island home but every time they come upon a new animal or group of animals they kill as many as possible, more than they need to fulfill the requirements for their survival. A typical chapter begins with one of the family encountering a creature, the father explaining to the children what the creature is, and then the swift killing of the creature and a stew is made from the meat and clothes from the skins. I think their constant drive for building things is just a way to prevent becoming obese from eating everything on the island that isn't human*.

I understand that supporting a family of 5 on a tropical island must be rife with challenges, but seriously, it has become too predictable.

*so far there has been no cannibalism, but I haven't finished the book, so there's still an outside chance that it could happen

busy busy bee

There has been a whirlwind of activity here at the ponderosa, and much of it very good, but I feel like I have been dropping the ball on keeping my blog updated, amongst other things. I have been overextending myself socially and professionally, and I am happy that April is done, the cavalcade of dissertation defenses and meetings and classes is over and I can have more time to devote to my own work. Whew.

Last weekend I was at my friend NV's house anxiously waiting for Battlestar Galactica and as the credits for Doctor Who rolled, we had this conversation

NV: A police box? That is so wierd. Why does he travel around in a police box?
Me: Well, there is a part on the TARDIS that makes it change shape to fit in with whatever place it goes, but on the Doctor's TARDIS it broke in London in the 50s so it got stuck as a police box. He tried to fix it once, but it didn't work out. So that's why it's a police box.
NV: *stares blankly*
Me: That's why he goes around in a police box.
NV: *more staring*
Me: And that's also why I'm a dork. Because I know that.
NV: yeah

I can't help it. Doctor Who is AWESOME. I am proud of my geekiness.

Last weekend was a celebration of geekdom for me. On Saturday I found new episodes of Avatar: the Last Airbender online, yay! I watched them a few times on Saturday, and I would be watching them right now if I didn't have the site blocked on my browser during the week (a couple of work nights spent staying up too late watching it online convinced me to block it).

Then I went to the Franklin Institute (Ben Franklin Kicks Ass!) to see the Star Wars Exhibit. I went with a couple of friends and I also brought the zombies, for oodles of photo fun. As soon as I get the photos from my camera I plan a full post devoted to the day at the Franklin Institute, for now I have this teaser photo taken by one of my friends.

Like a leaf on the wind

I've been taking belly dancing classes for a couple of years now. I love the movements, how it builds my core strength and makes me feel more comfortable with my jiggly bits. I really enjoy it, but I am horrible at it.

The biggest problem I have is the actual dancing. I can move my hips, but to accompany that movement with my arms or some sort of locomotion, and it starts falling apart. This class also uses finger cymbals, so I have to keep track of my hips, arms and legs and also keep track of the timing of the cymbals.

I think it has to do with my stance. When I stand I am like a tree rooted to the earth. Strong, capable of bending with the wind, but still staying firmly in place. I am trying to be light on my feet, but it is not really my nature. It is hard to pick up my feet and/or walk around on the balls of my feet. I tend to put my weight on my heels, keeping me grounded to the earth. This would be ideal if I were trying to learn Earthbending, but for belly dancing, not so much.

I am thinking that the next fitness activity I should try is Hung Gar Kung Fu, I like the idea of the strong steps and powerful movements. Then I could also pretend I was making big rocks come out of the earth and fly through the air.

hectic schedules

It's been a busy busy time around these parts.

Since my last post, I found out that I got the summer teaching job *YES!* I think it will end up taking a good amount of time for me to prepare for my teaching sessions, since there is alot of information, and I want to do the best possible job I can to help these pre-med kids feel as prepared as possible for their test.

Since I need to also devote as much time as possible to finishing my dissertation and graduating, I decided I won't get another part time job or anything. I reckon I can house/dog/cat-sit and sell stuff on ebay to build up some extra cash.

Also in the past week I have seen 3 Ph.D. defenses, 2 in my department, and one in another department. All were successfull, so there are 3 more Dr.'s out in the world now. Yay!

Today I practiced the talk that I plan to give for my post-doc search and perhaps even my own dissertation defense talk. In the past, my talks have been OK, but I havbe never felt like I had a good grasp on my data and its interpretation. Finally, at this talk I felt like I knew exactly what was going on and the audience definitely reacted kindly to that (well, those in the audience that managed to stay awake at least). The professors that had seen this talk in its infancy when not all the data was in and I was struggling with depression remarked on how much it has improved.

It is good to know that my internal feelings of improvement have been translated into how I am perceived by the external world as well.

One of them said that I should have no trouble finding a job if I take this data and put it into manuscripts. From their mouth to God's ears.

I have been thinking/worrying about this talk for the last few weeks, so it is such a relief to have it done. Now it's back to the writing! Woo!

Out there in the world wide web

For the Great Interview Experiment, I was interviewed by Sarah at sensibly sassy. She posted the interview here. It was such a fun time.

Also, the people over at Schmaps decided to use one of my pictures on their Texas parks and gardens page, coolio!

There were 2 Ph.D. defenses this past week in my department. They were both awesome, and I am so proud of them for finishing up. Surprisingly, I found out that neither person had a job lined up for the fall. It made me feel alot better about having something lined up even if it isn't set in stone yet. I just have to keep on writing.

The other perk of the barrage of defenses is the post-talk celebration. I do love the taste of champagne in the afternoon. The sweet, sweet taste of free champagne.

It's April Fool's Day

I think of all of the interesting ideas I have seen for harmless April Fool's pranks, I love these Firefox pranks the most. LOL! I almost installed the addons onto my own computer just to make the day more interesting.

I've been trying to burn candles in my apartment, not only to make it smell nice, but to use up the zillion candles I seem to have collected during my time here in PA. Today I decided to try lighting the 'Boots and Saddles' scented candle that a friend got for me long ago. The unlit candle does not smell very good to me at all, but I thought that perhaps if I lit the candle it would smell better, more like new car leather smell.

But no, I still think it is pretty much the worst candle I have ever smelled.

That being said, I know that everyone's tastes (smells?) are different. So if any of you would like a free, practically unused (I burnt it for only like 15 minutes), leave a note in the comments and I will gladly send it to you.

Just don't invite me over when you're burning it.

Not the site you're looking for *waving hand*

I was checking my visitor stats a second ago, and discovered that in the last 6 hours, 5 people from all over the country have stumbled upon this humble blog by typing the following term into a search engine:

Monkey Bar Champion

The last time I thought about monkey bar champions was back in september. I input the same term into search engines and found nothing but disappointment.

Instead of helping find the answer to the immortal question "Is there a world monkey bar championship?" I have contributed no useful information whatsoever.

Twice.

I wouldn't put up a fight if you'll meet me tonight

If you aren't watching Liam Lynch's podcast, Lynchland, you really should be. It's free on his website and on iTunes, and totally worth the wait between episodes.

Every episode makes me laugh out loud, and there is usually a song or two that sticks in my head and makes me smile whenever I think of it.



The above video is from the most recent episode, which for many reasons is outstanding.

If I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have one video podcast to watch it would be his.

pancakes are delicious

Yes, indeed they are.

Last week I went to the doctor to renew my prescription for anti-depressants. We talked about how things have been going, and she mentioned that she started me on the beginner dosage. Since I have a giant transition coming up (graduating and moving...somewhere), she wanted to bump my dosage up to the next level.

I was hesitant to agree because I felt such an improvement with the beginner dose. I mean I was actually doing real work and was motivated to get out of bed and could think about the future without collapsing into a teary heap. But then I remembered that I would feel good and be super productive for a few days and then completely zone out and sleep all day for the next couple of days. We had the conversation:

Me: Do you think we really need to increase the dose?
Doctor: Well, like I said, you are on the minimum dose, if you want, you can take the slightly higher dose every other day and see how that goes, and if you feel like it you can go back to the lower dose no problem.
Me: Hmmm...well, I have noticed that I'll get alot of stuff done and feel really good for a few days and then do nothing for a day or two.
Doctor: Well, it is important to take breaks, I mean, you can't work all the time. It is normal and OK to take a few hours off a day or a day of here or there to recharge.
Me: Yeah, but I really mean 'nothing'. I mean, I could at least wash the dishes, you know?
Doctor: Oh, you mean you don't do anything, like not even shower?
Me: Not even that
Doctor: Then yeah, we should definitely increase your dose.
Me: Yeah, I think you're right.

So it's been about a week that I have taken the increased dose, and so far it seems to be pretty awesome. It'll take a couple of weeks for my brain chemistry to adjust, but I have noticed that my motivation and productivity has been steadily increasing.

I feel more grounded and have more confidence in myself and my abilities than I did 3 months ago, that's for damn sure.

I have also noticed that my change in mood has also affected my relationships with strangers. I have lately really noticed that people have been saying hi to me as they pass me in the hall or on the street. Like maybe I am walking taller and making eye contact more now? I haven't been making a conscious effort to look people in the eye and smile or anything, but something is different. I am going to chalk it up to the happy pills, the glorious, glorious happy pills.

In other news, my trials and tribulations with my wacked out sleep schedule have been progressing. I have managed to get out of the house at 9:30am, which is an improvement from 2pm. I've also taken some more drastic actions:

• I set the leechblock to block all the websites I like to play around on (this one, my blog reader, my flickr site and it's related fun things, the websites of my favorite podcasts, and even wikipedia) after midnight. So no more staying up until 1:30am making moo cards from my zombie pictures.
• I am going to switch one of my alarms from a beeping noise to the radio, specifically the annoying station that plays the same song every 20 minutes. Snex gave me the idea when she suggested that I am probably habituated to my alarm clocks and that is why I will still snooze a bit even with my crazy alarm prison system

The web trickery has actually worked already. The other night it was about 12:30am and I had just finished watching this week's diggnation while I cleaned up the kitchen. I decided that I wanted to check my email just one more time before going to bed, and I was DENIED by the almightly Leechblock. It was a not-so-gentle reminder to myself to stop futzing around on the web and go to bed so I can get up in the morning.

So yeah, things are pretty good, progress is being made. I am enjoying the journey.

To wrap up I wanted to share a quote from my new favorite show, Avatar: the Last Airbender. It's the most profound animated children's show you will ever love watching.

While it is always best to believe in one's self, a little help from others can be a great blessing. -Uncle Iroh

The dramas of an overeducated, spoiled American and an Aussie dog

Dudes.

My laptop charger died today. Just died. No real warning, no real reason I can think of. It wasn't the socket, it wasn't the plug adapter, it wasn't the cord that goes from the socket to the charger, it was the charger. At least it waited until AFTER I gave a presentation this morning.

My first thought was "my laptop is my life, I cannot get any work done nor can I find any useful information or live in any satisfactory way if I do not have my laptop. I must replace this cord right now and I don't care how much it costs."

My second though was "well, no, I do care how much it costs. Hopefully it won't be that expensive. I mean, it's not like I am replacing a battery or anything. Are any shops even open at this hour?"

Luckily it's Friday, so it's a late night shopping day (most days all shops close at 5pm here, except for Thursday and Friday, when they are open until 9pm), and that I discovered the problem at 8:30pm. A couple of minutes and AU$100 later, and I have power!!! Granted I also now need to get a plug adapter so I can use the cord when I get back to the U.S., but that's like 3 bucks, I think I can manage that.

I am trying to figure out when I became a slave to my technology. Specifically, my laptop and my cell phone. When I got to this country, I didn't have a cell phone for about a week, and it was killing me. I didn't have anyone to call, nor anyone that needed to call me regularly, but I HAD to have a phone.

And, today, the idea of not being able to use my laptop was just unacceptable.

I'd rather live without a car than without my laptop. Isn't that crazy? Isn't it also a little sad?

Luckily, this little lady reminded me that there were far more important issues than my potential power loss. Apparently there was no one in the whole wide world giving her any attention right this second!



What kind of world lets this happen? It's a madhouse!! A MADHOUSE!!!!

I blame the Bush Administration.


I realize that I only have 17 days left of time in Australia, and I have heaps of stories I haven't shared yet. So my goal is to post at least 1 entry per day from now until I leave. I plan on using the hell out of my snazzy new power cord.

WOW!!!!

I can't believe that there is html code for blinking text. I know, I am sure it was probably the thing that put the H into HTML*, but I'm slow sometimes. I'm afraid to fall down the rabbit hole of learning too much about code.

But as I was saying, I CANT BELIEVE that I JUST found** the html code for BLINKING text!!

DUDE!!!!

AWESOME!!!

OK I'm done now.

*Oh my. I know that was a bad pun. But I like it. I like it a lot.
**And by found, I mean that I saw SJ using it on her site, and viewed the source code for the page and found the BLINK!

Further evidence that I am a big geek

So I have FINALLY managed to be a decent friend and do JayAre's interview*. Yes, it's another one of those blog memes, but it is voluntary. The way it works is that I answer these questions, and if you ask me to interview you in the comments, then I ask you 5 brand-spanking-new-unique questions for you to answer in your blog, thus propagating the meme! It's a bit more personal than other memes (e.g. the list 7 strange things about you meme) It's fun, and if you have ever wondered what I wonder about you, then now is your chance to find out!


1. If you weren’t pursuing neuroscience, what would you want to be doing with your life?
I've been thinking about that alot lately, what with the end of graduate school looming on the horizon. I've always been kind of fascinated with computers and technology, I would love to be able to do some computer programming, build my own computers and figure out cool hacks and stuff. Also, I really dig on podcasts, and the whole podcast 'scene', if you will. So computer/internet/podcasting geekdom would be something that I'd do with my life. Plus, geeks are hot.

2. If you could travel around the globe OR visit the International Space Station, which would you chose and why?
I would have to go with the International Space Station. Because dude, it's SPACE! Wieghtlessness, dehydrated food, danger and glory! Besides, I've kind of been around the globe, or at least halfway, already, and so have many many other people. Not many people have been to space. I'm just sayin'.
I would call the computer Hal, so I could say "what are you doing, Hal?" Then when I get back to earth I'd be all "Get your stinkin' paws of me you damn dirty ape!" to the person who is trying to help me readjust to walking in gravity. We'd laugh and laugh. And of course, there would be so many Star Wars, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica references they'd probably want to throw me out an airlock.

Oh! I would be able to say I fell off the surface of the earth for awhile and I would have actually been off the surface of the earth! And yes, I know that technically, getting to the space station is not "falling" and I would actually be constantly falling toward the surface of the earth while I orbit.

OK I'll stop fantasizing about space now.

But SPACE! It's so COOL!

3. What’s the one thing you miss most about Vegas and why? Fort Worth?
The thing I miss most about Las Vegas is the mountains. There is something about looking to the horizon and seeing the purple/brown jagged skyline, it makes me feel at home and protected in my little desert valley.

The thing I miss most about Fort Worth are my friends. Most of them have moved out of the metroplex, but there are a few hard core people that have stayed and make every trip out there fabulous (I'm looking at you, JayAre and Sanestperson)!


4. Explain your alias, Hamster Girl.
Well, it's Hamster_grrl, and it's kind of a secret why I picked that alias. At least, it's something I don't care to share with the entire internet, for the sake of my personal and professional safety. Sorry!


5. What’s the one thing you wish that you could go back and tell yourself in high school? Kiss some boys, have a little sex and stop worrying so much about what you look like! You're young and smart and you'll regret not having any high school boyfriends and not learning how to flirt!!!!

*JayAre was interviewed by kristy, who was interviewed by Stacy, and if you want to back track it even more, you can follow the links yourselves.