nano nano nano

As I'm working on a project at work related to nanotechnology, I thought I would put a question out there for all my readers that might help me with my work...(Deb- you know all about this!)

How many popular movies, books, tv shows, etc. can you name that deal with nanotechnology in some way? What are they?

For those of you not "in the know", Nanotechnology deals with things on the nano-scale which is a little larger than the size of individual atoms. A nanometer, one billionth of a meter, is about 10,000 times narrower than a human hair. ps--I wasn't 'in the know' until just a few months ago-so don't feel bad.

Here are a few ideas to start you off:
Prey by Michael Crichton
Spiderman 2
The Stepford Wives (newest release)

c'mon--now use your abundant knowledge of popular culture to help me come up with movies!

Time for taxes!

I think we have finally received everything we need to do our taxes. It seems that every year we do them, some new wrinkle, or complication comes up. Last year it was the first year we really had mortgage interest deductions. This year, we refinanced, and we have to deal with both of our workplace savings programs (last year we only had D's plan).

Call me weird, but I always get energized to do my taxes. I have no desire to wait to the last minute to do them. I want to do them now and get them out of the way so I can hopefully get the refund that is coming to me/us. I suppose as they get more and more complicated my energy might lag a bit. I know Dad always puts them off for awhile b/c they are so cumbersome.

Things I need to do some more research on...the AMT, simple-ira's....and there was something else, but I can't remember now.

Happy 30th Sweetie!

Now that you are an old man...your cake will start to look like this one!

As long as you don't start to look like the old man ;-)

Love you lots sweetie! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and birthday weekend. Because let's face it...when your birthday is on a friday, you get the whole weekend to celebrate.

And celebrate we will! We've got Ellen's Eggs Mornay on the menu for saturday breakfast, and then a fun day to do whatever you want.

Unfortunately, David is feeling under the weather today on his birthday. It may be the flu since his co-worker had it and refused to stay home from work. Here is a quote from David from this morning, "If this is what getting old feels like, I don't want to get old".

Decaf…I said DECAF!!!

What is it with coffeeshops in Seattle acting like decaf does not exist?

This morning I met a prospective RA at a coffee shop at 9 am. I ordered a decaf mocha. I do this all the time. Even with the small amount of caffeine in a decaf and in the chocolate it doesn't usually affect me. They made the mocha. I drank the mocha. It was a good mocha.

About 30 minutes later, I was feeling a little light-headed, and was shaky. But I got a lot done at work. The room started spinning. I was talking extra fast and thinking even faster. I was making lots of mistakes typing. I was doing 5 things at once.

hmmm...it seemed like the symptoms of a caffeine high.

But I said decaf!

I admit it. I'm caffeine sensitive. Most of you know that. Most of you would laugh at me on a caffeine high. But here it is, 3:10 pm and I'm still shaky, still moving a mile a minute, and my stomach is starting to hurt. I don't like the general symptoms of a caffeine high, but I especially don't like the stomach pain symptom. When will this stuff wear off? I had better be able to sleep tonight!

My co-worker suggested that I will probably crash early this evening. With the way I feel right now, I can't imagine crashing ever.

This has happened to me before at a coffeeshop. I asked for decaf, sat down to read some Durkheim, and when I got up to get a refill on my drip decaf coffee, and asked them for a refill on drip decaf, they said " oh- we don't believe in Decaf". What!? You don't BELIEVE in decaf? No wonder my knee was bouncing like there was no tomorrow. You'd think they could have told me that with my first cup- I would have ordered herbal tea!

Seriously- I hate this feeling. While I appreciate the productivity, it is not worth it.

I really don't want to have to give up ordering fun decaf coffee drinks. I live in the city of coffee. Do I really have to repeat myself each time I order decaf. Do I have to act like the baristas are stupid? Do I have to say, "I'd like a tall nonfat decaf mocha please. It is very important that it is decaf"

I will continue to trust the local barista for now. But if this starts to happen more often, you'd better believe I will start repeating myself.

more fun with animals

Here is a new "fun with animals" straight from David's creative mind. Makes me laugh.

Can I get you a napkin?

No, I'm good... thanks.

thanks for advice

Thanks Ann and Mel for the advice on the vacuum situation. I still haven't taken it in to get an estimate, but hopefully they won't tell me it is without hope. I'd rather not spend the money on a new vacuum right now.

And truly, I think if I had an extra 600 bucks lying around (in my dream world), I would look into buying a dyson or miele. The dyson has an "animal" vacuum that I would love to test drive.

In other news, the day of doom is fast approaching. (Day of doom meaning a 30th birthday).
I've heard of many people getting upset and bothered by turning 30. Things like--I thought I'd have 5 kids by now, I thought I would have sailed around the world already, I thought I would have my perfect job, etc. David has been mum about such things. If he is upset by this 30th birthday, he is keeping to to himself.

I'm not sure how my 30th will progress. I don't think I'll feel sad that I haven't gotten very far. In fact, I feel like I have gotten quite far in my life, and I am happy with my situation. I've got a wonderful husband, a sweet, if sometimes too loving dog, we own our home, and I've got a good job that pays me much more than I was making before I got a master's degree. I feel like things are moving along.

However, I reserve the right to be crabby and sad and cranky about turning 30, if that is what I choose to do/be. But right now I just don't think I'll feel that way.

poor craftsmanship?

Last night I was starting to vacuum the carpet when I realized that the brush wasn't turning. Last time this happened (and yes it happened before) David spent practically the whole night taking the vacuum apart, fixing it, and putting it back together again.

It has also been putting out a burning smell occassionally. Combine that with the high pitched scream that sounds when you run it, and I think we may have bought a lemon of a vacuum. I'm going to take it in to a shop to have it fixed (don't I wish grandpa lived in seattle!), but I'm getting fed up with this vacuum. We just bought it about 3 years ago! It isn't that old. Before that I was using an old ugly green vacuum that had been used my my family for years. I probably would have been better off keeping that one.

I have to admit, I didn't get a subscription to consumer reports to do my research on vacuums before we made a decision. But I figured hoover was a good name---so how bad could it be.

Last night I borrowed my neighbor's vac instead. It was so quiet you hardly knew it was working! But it certainly picked up the dirt! It was a Eureka. I really hope it wasn't a bad decision, but instead is just is a little thing that can be fixed easily. I know we put it through a lot of work picking up all that dog hair, but it shouldn't be affected this much from dog hair!

anyway, I'm going to go pay $38 to have it fixed and hope that it doesn't break again for another 3 years. Otherwise, we will seriously have to consider using this one for a coat hanger and getting a new one.

I forgot about the record

I meant to update you all on the rain record...

We didn't make it to day 33. Only 27 consecutive days of rain and then last sunday was dry dry dry. David and I were kind of sad. You don't trudge through 27 days on your way to a record, just to have one day of dryness screw it all up. And wouldn't you know it- monday it rained, tuesday it rained....

Couldn't we have gotten just a little rain on sunday to keep it going?

no more

No more shopping when hungry. Last night we went to the store to get some simple cheeses and crackers. However, when we left that particular store, we had spent about 70 dollars and left with Mochi, salmon, chips, cottage cheese, wine, mineral water, cookies, and other things I can't remember.

Then we went to the second store. Goal: buy mushrooms. that was the only thing we needed from that store. Well, we walked out with 2 bags and a case of soda.

I was so hungry everything looked good, and my willpower went way down. I was saying yes to everything. Triscuits-yum, goldfish crackers-oh they are on sale and david loves them...hot chocolate mix--because we were almost out....two boxes of tea--who doesn't like chamomile?

I even saw a huge chocolate bar, and had a horrible urge to pick it up and take a big bite (before I had even bought it!). Luckily, I was able to stop myself from buying the chocolate bar.

Lesson: eat something before going to the grocery.

today was a rough one

I barely had time to eat, it was so busy. But I got a lot accomplished, including submitting a final draft of my paper to a conference where the abstract was accepted. Now we'll see if they like the paper as much as they liked the abstract.

It is nice that the week is on the down-swing already. Thank goodness for holidays! I'm plotting and planning for David's birthday. His 30th!!!!! is coming up next week. Gotta make it good. However, I don't know how I can top the trip to the San Juans where we stayed in a bed and breakfast that was on a boat.

ah well, at least that was a good one.

I've got to make this one a good one too! (David I know you are reading this...which is why I am not giving away any hints! ---Love ya!)

King Kong and bird flu

A quick update on David: He's doing better. Think it must have been one of those short things, or maybe just a reaction to some bad food. In any case, he has plucked his feathers and is feeling better.

Now on to King Kong: I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. Sure, there were leaps of logic that one had to take to believe the story, but let me tell you this....I cried my eyes out at the end. And I don't mean just tears running down my face, but more like trying to keep myself from making those crying noises you make when you are really bawling. I never thought I would feel so strongly about a computer generated character. I really did believe there was a relationship between Ann Darrow and Kong--a friendship that crossed the boundaries of humanity.

I think Jen has it right with her theory. Any movie with animals as main characters are ones that she will like or feel strongly about. I understood that because I really felt bad for Kong--he was just being an animal and people were killing him for it.

I like the movie on an emotional, suspension of disbelief level. If you have no problem believing stories that don't quite explain some big things-then you'll be fine and will probably enjoy the movie. Probably the biggest break from logic was that they never showed how they got Kong back to New York on their little boat. There would be no way to fit him on the boat! There were lots of other things like this, but I had no problem ignoring them for the 3 hours of the movie.

growing feathers

All of a sudden today David seemed to come down with something. He says he might be growing feathers out of his armpits. We'll keep checking to make sure it isn't the bird flu ;-)
He's feeling nauseous, achey, and just plain tired.

The only problem with getting sick right now is that we have already bought tickets to see King Kong tonight with Jen. I guess if he is feeling bad enough we'll just eat the cost of his ticket.

I'm feeling torn about seeing Kong. I haven't had much of a desire to watch the movie at all, but it has been getting lots of good reviews, and everyone says it should be seen on the big screen. So I guess in a way, I'm giving into peer pressure. Putting a little more of my money into Peter Jackson's pocket. Like I told Mel, I hope it proves me wrong. That way I won't feel bad about spending $9.50 a ticket.

"raindrops are fallin' on my head"

and my feet and my legs and my arms.....

We've made it to Day 25! I've decided that being excited about the possibility of breaking a record is the only thing that makes this much rain seem cool. If we didn't have this countdown of days, there would be every reason to hope that it stops raining. But the countdown almost makes me hope and wish for rain. Yes, this perspective is a little demented, but it helps me copes with the rain.

Maybe it is a conspiracy. The government knows that when there is this much depressing rain in a place that they have to do something to squelch the distress from the population. So they make up these "records" about consecutive days of rain to make people excited about all the rain. Yes...that's it. ;-)

Day 24

Wednesday is the 24th straight day of rain in Seattle, closing in on the record of 33 consecutive days of rain set in 1953.

Can you believe it? I wonder how close we'll get. No wonder I've been feeling gloomy, and wanting to eat comfort foods!

It is causing some flooding and mudslides, but I don't think it is anything compared to the flooding in other parts of the country, like california.

the promised picture

Here is the new haircut. took the picture this morning. Not too bad, but definitely isn't chin length. Don't feel obliged to comment. I'm not fishing for compliments AT ALL.

new hair-do

Last night I went to an appointment at my local salon to get my hair cut. I purposely scheduled with a "New Talent" because they only cost $27 for a haircut, which is great when you consider the scalp massage and wonderful products they use.

I'll call my new talent "M". M was very nice, and kept a good general conversation going. I'm not much of a conversationalist with a hairdresser, so I usually don't try to keep things going. But M made it very easy to talk a little and then be quiet. A good sign.

M asked how I wanted my hair cut. I said it would be pretty much the same except shorter. I also said--it looks really bad when it is shorter than my ears, and it usually looks the best when it is about chin length.

Maybe I needed to be more clear that I wanted a haircut that was about chin length. My new 'do is just barely below my ears. I'll have to post a picture to prove it. It doesn't really look all that bad, but it isn't what I wanted. It is a good haircut, only 2 inches too short.

I think I'll continue trying the "new talent"...this experience won't sour me on this affordable haircut option. However, I think I'll be more explicit next time. And, I'll probably be waiting awhile for this cut to grow out!

new office

I officially moved into my new office today. It is bigger, and is more centrally located so I can be in the "thick" of it. The only problem is, I keep forgetting where I put stuff. I've got a big filing cabinet, but I can't remember what is in the first drawer or the third drawer. Too many drawers!

I really should use this opportunity to do some organizing of my files. But I've got too much to do right now, so I think I'll maybe wait until a weekend or stay late some night to work on it. Did I mention that my boss submitted paperwork to get me a promotion and a raise? I think my title may change too, but I'm not sure what it will change to yet.

That is it for now--more later.

eleven minutes, 21 seconds

That is my new fastest time on an "easy" web sudoku. Hope I can continue to get better with practice!

New Years Eve

Here is a picture of part of our new years eve dinner. We sort of ate in courses over a span of a few hours. First was the veggies and dip (you can see we did a number on them). Next came stuffed mushrooms. And lastly were these dungeness crab and bay shrimp cakes. The recipe is from David's boss, Linda. The sauce is a yogurt-cilantro-green onion combination. The champagne punch in our glasses was also pretty yummy!

After dinner, we watched the 40 year old Virgin, which was really funny. There was a scene in it that made David laugh so hard we had to put the movie on pause and wait a few minutes until the laughing subsided. They did a good job with the movie. We had to stop the movie to watch the countdown until the new year, and then we started it again, after we had done our celebrating.

It was a good year for us (and our friends and family), I think.

We adopted Maggie in March, finished our wall re-model project, I transitioned out of grad-school into a great job, we celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary, saw Will and Sandy get married, I recovered from a sprained ankle, saw Cara and Craig get married, then Lori and Jon get married, I went to Las Vegas TWICE, saw Pearl Jam in Vancouver B.C., Emily and Melissa got engaged, Emily started grad school in architecture, Carolyn celebrated 5 years, Mikie got pregnant, I brought in my first grant, Mom found a wonderful man to spend her time with, Jen successfully defended her dissertation (congrats Dr. Edwards), and we bought a car. I'm sure there are other things that I'm missing.

This new year brings both of our 30th birthdays and who knows what else. We are looking forward to it. A toast:

To a new year full of possibilities and new experiences. May we grow kinder and happier with each new day.

Happy New Year 2006