David makes me laugh

Fun with the Seattle PI's "Day in Pictures, courtesy of David's humorous nature

L: Dude, did you see the look on that hiker's face?

R: Yeah, you scared the shit out of him!

L: He dropped his pack. Let's see what we can pawn.

R: SWWWWWEEEEEETTTTT.

Cool things

There are two cool things I learned about today (and it is only 10:15 am).

First, staff members can park on campus for only 2.80 per day for occasional parking (an average of 2x per week). I ride the bus most of the time, but occasionally, I need to bring the car to work to go to an appointment or something. Now I can park on campus without spending an arm and a leg. Of course, I don't get a spot close by, but it sure is faster than riding the bus when I need to get somewhere fast, or get somewhere a bus doesn't go to.

Second, my employer offers flexible spending accounts for medical expenses. They take money out of your paycheck pre-tax and then you can file claims to get reimbursed for medical expenses, (including some OTC medications). Open Enrollment ends tomorrow so I've got to get the form in today. Sure seems like a good way to save a little money on medical expenses.

turkey day

Thanksgiving was great. Good turkey, wonderful asparagus, and some great acorn squash. of course we had to have stuffing too, and Mom's famous pumpkin biscuits. The biscuits were heavenly. We went for about an hour and a half walk today while the turkey was cooking, and saw a building that is being built that was designed by Daniel Liebeskind (sp?). It was very cool. And it was great to get out and get some exercise before we ate all that food. Hopefully we'll get some exercise tomorrow too.

Mom's quite sick --food poisoning we think...but that usually goes away within about 48 hours, so hopefully she'll be feeling better tomorrow.

I have to say that I am wonderfully thankful for many things this year. My sweet husband, my family, my back (which is getting better slowly), and my friends, just to name a few things. I feel very lucky.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and some nice days off.

coupon crazy

I've gone coupon crazy. For the past 3 weekends, our neighbor has been out of town, but still receiving the sunday paper. So I've been bringing the paper in and reading it on sunday mornings.

I can give or take reading the paper for the news...I get my news elsewhere...but I've become a sucker for the coupon and sales circulars section. This past week, I saved 22 dollars at the store we usually shop at just by using the coupons I found in the paper. Given, one of them was a coupon for a free turkey if you bought a certain amount of groceries, so that really boosted my average. But I'm pretty sure I saved at least 6 or 7 bucks (otherwise) using coupons. And they were all for things that we use all the time-so I didn't get pulled in the the lure of coupons for things we never use.

It is kind of sad (for someone my age), but fun at the same time. I feel like a discoverer finding new treasures every sunday.

Hogwarts

This weekend Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire comes out. We are going to see it on saturday. I hear it is quite good, and that the acting has become better. I'm looking forward to it. I think book 4 was my favorite, so it should be fun.

Sometimes I think I'm a bit weird for liking the Potter series so much, but then I ask another adult and they gush over it too. It is just a fun series to read. It creates a wonderful and interesting world that the reader becomes more and more curious about, and thus becomes more attached to the books.

As most people are, I'm wondering how they are going to do the next 3 movies before the actors get too big for the ages they are supposed to be playing? And Book 7 isn't even out yet...I'm wondering if they are going to try to hold out and release book 7 and the last movie at the same time? It sure would be a long time to wait for that last book. They would be making a big assumption that people won't lose interest over years.

David made a fire for me last night It was so nice. I was cold and he just went and put some logs in the fireplace. What a sweetie. I'll keep him.
We just got a load of wood from a guy who helped with remodeling our bathroom. He's so nice, he wouldn't let us pay him anything for it.

when it rains it pours

Yesterday I sat and put all of my work deadlines in a central place on my white board. I wasn't feeling stressed until I looked at it and realized that I basically have 3 papers that need to be written by the end of January (and another one needs revision). This is worse than grad school! And, while the end of January is more than 2 months away, much of november and december are shot because of vacation and holidays.

I may have to start working weekends! There is just not enough time in the work day to get it all done. And with a team member leaving, even more work is being given to me.

And can I just say that I can't believe thanksgiving is almost here! One week from now! I'm flabbergasted. When did it get so late in the month? Next I'll be saying I can't believe christmas is already here and I haven't had time to buy any presents. So much for preparedness. I've got to get started on christmas cards soon!

chocolate

Yesterday I made a chocolate cream pie for David. I only made this pie once before and that time it took me almost 3 hours to make. That time, I almost swore off making it ever again except that I know it is David's favorite dessert.

Well, this time it wasn't so bad. All told it took about an hour. I think I learned some lessons from the first time. I still had to concoct a double boiler out of a pan and a metal mixing bowl (which worked surprisingly well), but I think I was using a more appropriate temperature this time, which made the cooking go much more quickly.

Of course, this means that now we have to eat the chocolate pie. I'm going to exercise caution in this area because I know how it can easily settle on my hips. But that doesn't mean I won't enjoy my little slices!

one proposal funded

We just got word at work that one of the small grant proposals we wrote got funded. I'm very happy because I took the lead on the proposal. It isn't a huge amount of money, but enough to help with the budgets. Of course, that means we've got to get a plan of attack for the work we proposed!

David and I finally washed the car this weekend. Ever since the accident and the car got repaired we were told we had to wait awhile to wash it so as not to disrupt the setting of the finish. Well, we waited a bit too long to get it washed. It also didn't help that I drove it to go hiking and did some "off-roading" with it on muddy un-paved roads. But it is finally clean-yea!

going home early

I've got tomorrow off for Veteran's day, and my co-worker suggested I go home early today so I'm going to. It is a quarter till 4. I have to leave by 4 to get the bus by 4:15.

I've been working all day on a data management system for this grant we've got. It has been a real challenge, and I mean that in a good way. Forced my analytical mind to dust off some cobwebs. It was fun. I'm only half way to having the whole system done, but I've definitely done my fair share of coding today. It will be nice to not look at a computer screen for awhile.

So, off I go...Into the great gray yonder! The sun sets at 4:38 today, so it is already getting dark!

giving clothes away

I'm on a giving clothes away kick. In the past week, I've worn 2 things that I've decided would be better worn by someone else. They are the kind of clothes that maybe made me feel cute 6 years ago, but no longer give me that same feeling. Now they make me feel frumpy or just plain un-put-together.

So, I've washed them, and put them in a brown bag that is destined for a goodwill or some such place. In a way, getting rid of these things that I don't have good memories for is freeing and makes me feel better.

I guess the feeling I get is that I deserve to feel good in my clothes. And so I've been giving away the ones that I don't feel good in.

Weekend re-cap

I've now officially had Swedish pancakes! The swedish cultural center near our home has a pancake breakfast the first sunday of every month. We finally decided to go this weekend. It was yummy. The pancakes aren't what you would think of as traditional pancakes. Kind of like crepes, but more spongy. They were thin and not flat on the plate, but rolled into big sausage sizes. They then put a sauce on top of the pancakes. The traditional swedish topping is Lingonberry sauce, but they also had strawberries available for the non-traditionalists. Then they top it with a big dollop of whipped cream (tasted like the real stuff). The lingonberry sauce was good! You also get a piece of ham (if you want it) with your pancakes. And then, if three of these pancakes with ham is not enough food, they give you a ticket to get into the "seconds" line where you can get 2 more pancakes.
Seating is european-style. Find 2 seats at a big table and introduce yourself to those sitting around you.

I also went for a hike with maggie. We did 5.6 miles in Discovery Park. Did the loop twice. I'm kind of regretting it today, as my shins and bum are kind of sore.

Finally Friday

I'm dog-tired. It is finally friday, and I've had such a busy work week, that I can't even think of anything interesting to write about. My brain needs some rest.

We don't really have any plans for this weekend, which may be a very good thing. I need to do some cleaning and straightening etc. I always feel much better after I've done that sort of work.
Actually, I just did that at work. While I was working on the latest proposal (this was actually a pre-proposal), my desk ceased to exist as I once knew it. It was totally full of stacks of paper/articles turned this and that way so I could remember which stack dealt with which topic. They were driving me nuts! Finally today I had the time to organize all the articles I had accumulated over the summer of grant-writing. They are now all in their own expanding file folder based on the main topic of the article. And all 9 folders are now on my shelf for easy access. My desk is completely clear! YEA!

Abstract accepted

I just got notification today that an abstract of a research paper I submitted to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) conference in June was accepted. Now I just have to write the paper and hope that gets accepted as well. Although, I may not be able to go at all, if funding doesn't come through.

I just thought I would share the 2 reviewers comments on the abstract.

# 1 The research study described in this abstract sounds very interesting. I think the findings/results of this study would be benefical/valuable to the engineering field. I recommend that the author(s) be asked to write a complete paper to be reviewed. The paper should include all the sections of a research study paper: Introduction, Problem Statement, Research Questions, Theoretical/Conceptual Framework, Methodology, Results, Discussion/Implications, Recommendations for Further Research.

From reading the abstract I was curious to know if the graduate students advisors (especially the female students) were male or female? It is difficult to evauate the quality of a research study by reading only an abstract. However, this abstract should be developed into a full paperand submitted for review and then the decision can be made if it should be nominated for best paper.

# 2 This paper reports on a statistical study of educational climate for both graduate and undergraduate students, focusing on gender differences. The abstract is quite detailed and discusses methodology as well as results.The paper could be quite interesting and I hope it makes it to the peer reviewed literature.