pulled pork

Yesterday, for 5 hours, I braised a 4 pound hunk of pork shoulder.  It turned out wonderfully, although it wasn't quite as good as the pork that David's co-worker made on the work retreat.  I'll have to do it again, and try something different next time to see if I can get that wonderfully addictive flavor that she got.  Even when I cook stuff in the crockpot it never turns out as good as this did.

So- carnitas tacos are in my future for another day or two.  I don't mind- they were yummy (especially with the cotija cheese and crema).

pizza on the grill?

A friend of ours writes a great cooking blog "the cookbook chronicles" (see link to her blog on the left) and I just saw that she has a post on grilled pizzas.  I have never grilled a pizza, but when it is laid out step by step like this, I can't wait to try!  I think this would be a really fun thing to do with friends and you can all bring your own toppings etc.  I would never have thought to flip the dough over after cooking for 2-3 minutes before adding the toppings--but that ensures it is all cooked, I guess.  Seriously, I can't wait to try this.  If any one else tries it or has tried it and has a better way, let me know.  I figured I would use Em and Mel's famous pizza dough recipe, maybe with whole wheat flour.  The trick will be making decisions about the toppings!

Happy Birthday Grams!

I know grandma's birthday is tomorrow, but I couldn't resist an early birthday shout-out. Happy Happy Birthday Grams! We love you very much. I promise not to tell how young you are. *smile and giggle*

fire and ice

We have had 2 consecutive days of record highs here. While the sweltering heat at home yesterday was suffocating, I think I might prefer it to the icebox that is my office. I am thankful for the air conditioning, don't get me wrong, but I can't really feel my feet they are so cold. I hate to have to wear two outfits- one summery skirt with sandals and the other long sleeved/pants with socks and shoes. Luckily this heat is supposed to abate in a day or two...

Another photo from Denver

This one was taken with my phone on friday night.

bachelorette party!

We had lots of fun at Jodi's Bachelorette party in Denver and Vail.  We had a little soiree at a wine bar for Jodi and Matt on Friday and then took Jodi up for girls' night in Vail on Saturday.  Much fun was had by all.  I've got blisters on my feet to prove it :)

The decorations for the Friday Wine Bar event at Sienna Wine bar

Recipe card favors with "Simply Smitten Sangria" recipe

Upon arrival

Jodi still shocked that Bridget was in Colorado!

King and queen :)

Checking out the gear we made her wear

Great one of Jodi the Bachelorette

On our way to Dinner at Campo de Fiori

All 6 of us!

At the Red Lion

Shot time!  I think she only did 1 the whole night, which was good.

Dancing at Whiskey Jack's

Post lemon (photo out of order)

end of the night after dancing

I believe Bridget calls this Slumping :)

Good friends having a good laugh!

All 6 of us, at the end of the night, waiting for our taxi.

in the paper

A photo published in the Daily Sun newspaper in Florida.  The paper took a little artistic license with my parentage, but how awesome is this!  Credits to Kim for the photo (I think).

bachelorette fun

This weekend I am headed to Denver to party with my sister and her friends for her bachelorette party (one of her bachelorette parties).  I am so excited for Jodi and Matt -- They are a fabulous couple and will be getting married in about six weeks.  It has been fun working on planning fun bachelorette things.  We are planning to go up to Vail, do some hiking, eating, drinking, hanging out, etc.  Should be a great weekend.  I'm trying to figure out how to pack all the different shoes and outfits I am going to need for all the different activities!  A difficult problem to have ;)

It really has been great helping Jodi with wedding stuff.  I want to help however I can, even if it is just putting together a text file with comma delimited email addresses.  Bring it on!   I also picked up my bridesmaid dress on which I had some alterations--it looks great.  I've still got to try it on with the shoes I picked out and see if they go together.  Will post more after the fun and frivolity!

quiet fridays

I love fridays at work.  They are so quiet and I can get so much work done without interruption!  Sometimes I end up putting off a work project, but then friday comes and it seems like the perfect opportunity to work on one whole project for a day.

Of course, once you start the project you wonder why it took you so long to buckle down and do it.  Alas, hindsight....

I have a hypothetical question for you all. I'm not in this situation, but I had a recent conversation that has me thinking a lot about this idea.

Say you are working on a research project and you write a paper on a particular topic.  Before you submit it to a journal you get some colleagues to review it for you.  Everyone agrees that the research is of quality, and well-done. However, some people might not be comfortable with your findings. Maybe they show something that someone doesn't want to believe, or report on things that could cause some social/political issues in certain circles.

Is it more ethical (and I use that word on purpose) to not publish the paper, and thereby not cause political problems or to publish the paper and share the research but deal with whatever politics might come up?

Do you think a more experienced researcher would have a different opinion on this than a newbie?

swim, swim like a fish

Today I got my second day of swimming in for the whole summer. It was good to be in the water, and my arms didn't hurt as much this time as they did the first time.  I only swam 1/4 mile, but I also spent some time in the deep end treading and doing some other exercises.  It felt good.  Nice fluid movements, easy on the joints, etc.  Also, it should make my arms/shoulders look better for Jodi's wedding!

I may have to get into the swimming a bit more since I realized last weekend that I still seem to have a bit of a muscle tear in my calf.  Right after (at the end of) the half-marathon, this sharp pain in my right calf started, and it only seems to come back when I'm running.  I've gone on 2 hour walks without it bothering me, but if I start running (especially uphill or flat), it starts hurting.  So I figure I need to lay off that for awhile. I guess I'll focus on walking and swimming.

warning: prepare for negativity

 If you ever want to talk to me about something you are worried I might have a bad reaction to, please, please, just talk to me about it.  Don't warn me that we have to talk about X and then say let's do it tomorrow.   I'm just going to be frustrated.  I could also be slightly angry if the topic is one that could be cleared up in like 3 minutes.

I was sent an email today saying that we really need to talk about X tomorrow.  This is obviously part of the continual power struggle that has become even more pronounced since I got my degree. I just hate that I got an email and  both of us could have just taken a few minutes to talk about it since neither of us had any meetings, but instead I get an email of warning about tomorrow's conversation. 

I need to stop myself now. Okay- next post will be more positive, I promise.

It is bound!

Wow! I just got the bound copies of my dissertation. What a beautiful thing!

beware-blog design is changing

It has been so long since I've been on Blogger that they now have all these cool new templates that you can use to customize the design of your blog. Don't be surprised if you come to my page and it doesn't look like it used to--I am probably just trying on new templates to see how they feel. Let me know if you see one you especially like!

I know it is hard when you are surprised by changes- but change teaches us flexibility :)

moving to the next stage

Holey Moley! It has been such a long time since I've written here on the blog. I finished my dissertation and graduated with my PhD--after 10 long years in and out of school. Everyone keeps asking me if my life has become simpler, or less stressful or less full. For better or for worse, the answer is no. I think what has happened is that while I was working on my dissertation, certain stressors and tasks took top priority. And the other stressors and tasks, like yearly investment portfolio reviews, went by the way-side. So now that the "Book" is out of the way, I've got all these things on my mental list that are now cluttering my brain space. I used to be able to lock them away pretty easily because they didn't seem as important, but alas, I can no longer ignore the financial reviews, insurance details, car repairs, etc.

I am excited and proud to report that I finally booked my graduation vacation trip to Hawaii. I was able to use a frequent flyer for one flight and got a pretty good deal from Costco on the hotel. I am so excited and I can't wait to do all the fun things on Maui with David. The trip will also double as our anniversary trip--6 nights in paradise!

I hope I'll be able to write more now on the blog and update everyone on the goings-on. Stay posted- I'll try to write twice a week, if I can.

progress!!

I know I am not following my own rules, but I've got to share.

I have to turn in 4 chapters to my advisor tomorrow and I wanted to share my progress.

Check it out! I am at 133 pages! You can see the periods of productivity on the charts-how funny.

an official break

After 611 posts since May of 2005, I've decided to officially take a break from my blog. I plan to come back to it, but right now I just can't find the energy or things to write about when my life is engulfed with the dissertation. I hope you all will understand. I know how annoying it is to keep checking on a blog, hoping for new posts, so I wanted to let you know you can stop checking for the time being.

Keep the address in your favorites, though, because I promise to start up again once I start to have a life outside the ivory tower.

damn outlook

Sometimes I love outlook, which I have at work. It helps me organize and sort things, and keeps a to-do list, and I can color code things, etc. But today, after I've received a dozen email, and 5 of those email still have that checkmark by them that I use to indicate that I still have to do something about the email, I'm feeling defeated. I mean, really? Five checkmarks that I couldn't plow through? Some days I leave one checkmark to take care of the next day or later that week, but I just can't deal with all five checkmarks/emails. Maybe my "outlook" will look brighter after I've had a rest.

6 wonderful years

Today marks six wonderful years being married to david. We have had such fun and exciting adventures and have plans for many more.

Happy anniversary sweetie!
I love you!

family, family

Will and Sandy Litzler were visiting recently and just left yesterday. We had a good time and I got to see some WA state places I had never seen before, like Gig Harbor, Silverdale, Poulsbo. It sure is pretty in western washington!

And today my sister arrives for a work trip. I will get to see her because she was able to add on a day to her trip so we will see each other friday night and saturday until her plane leaves. Enough time for a group workout and some H&M shopping ;-)

I'm planning to do another dissertation day tomorrow because I've got to get some time in for writing. Unfortunately, I've also got an NSF proposal revision that is due in less than 2 weeks now, so that has been taking up quite a bit of my time. Hoping to get some help from others on the revision.

feedback

I'm waiting on feedback from my advisor on Chapter's 3 and 4. I feel a bit like I can't get started with chapter 5 until I get some feedback on 3 and 4. but maybe part of that feeling is that I feel a little lost in what should be in chapter 5, and what the actual analysis should encompass. I have a couple different ideas, but never really got an "okay" on one of them in particular.

It looks like this week will have to be a 2 day dissertation week instead of a 3 day dissertation week. I've got to try to carve out some time.

Unfortunately, I have a proposal revision to NSF that is due in mid September that will be taking up my time. That combined with trying to write a journal article for the PACE study, and preparing for the PACE conference in DC in September, I'm going to be pretty busy at work (and home).