Research Trip

I am heading to Fairfax, VA this evening for two days of data collection, etc. It is like going for a 2 day job interview. I have to be "on" the entire time and I am exhausted thinking about the prospect. I guess I had better get used to this sort of thing. I think consulting will be similar feeling.

Okay, off to try to finish preparing and then packing up and driving.

Pumpkin Carving 2009

M and I hosted about 25 people at our house for pumpkin carving on Sunday. We had a lot of fun! I was a little stressed at first because the house seemed so crowded, but it all worked out fine in the end. Below are some photos of the carving. We used the basement and that worked really nice. It was warm and there was plenty of light and all the mess was kept in the basement. I think this may become an annual party that we host.

Dream Sequence

So, I am having a week or two of crazy vivid dreams. I have not had many dreams for about 6 months. However, with M's father passing away and school responsibilities, I must not be sleeping quite as well. So, the dreams are back. The most amusing to me was a dream about M's father's paintings. In my dream we went to visit a gallery that currently has some of his dad's paintings and the gallery owner had managed to get all of his dad's paintings and had sold them all. M gets very mad and buys a small painting by another artist and then proceeds to rip it up. I see the gallery owner coming toward us and I worry that she is going to be offended by what he has done, so I stuff all the pieces of the painting into my mouth. M and I had discussed earlier in the day the fact that whatever it is that keeps oil paints pliable is toxic. So in my dream my mouth and throat then proceeded to swell up because toxic paints had been used. I woke up soon after that with my mouth dry from my breathing through it. :)

I find dreams so fascinating. I find it interesting that my mind took some of the things I am worried about...ie will we be able to have a few of his dad's paintings for M and for future generations?, how is all of this impacting M?... and turned it into a somewhat of a coherent dream. I am thinking a painting must be quite tiny for me to fit all the pieces into my mouth (no comments from the peanut gallery on this topic), but overall a somewhat reasonable dream. I have many dreams from my past that I still vividly remember. For a while I went through a phase where I dreamt about gun violence on a regular basis. I was very happy when those stopped. I also have many dreams with talking animals. Anyway, anyone else go through periods of vivid dreaming or have reoccurring themes with their dreams?

No, you don't own that, your mother does.

This is part of a conversation I had with myself the other night. I have this conversation quite often with respect to kitchen bakeware. Last night I made homemade pizza. I found a new dough recipe that takes about 15 minutes less than the old one and decided to try it. This recipe has you bake the pizza at 500. Additionally, you heat the baking stone up in the oven so that it is very hot when you place the pizza on it. So, you need something edgeless to make the pizza on and then slide it onto the stone. There is this baking sheet that my mom has that only has a very slightly raised edge around it. I don't own it, I have never owned it or borrowed it or used it outside of my mom's kitchen. However, I always think, "No, problem, I will just use that one baking sheet that has only a slight edge on it". Then, I go to look for it and of course it is not there. It is mostly this one piece of bakeware that I always think I own, but there are others as well. I guess it comes from living with some many different people that I can't keep track of what is mine and what is someone elses. At least now I have acquired Manu's kitchen things so those items are actually there when I go to look. Now I just need my mom's kitchen, Laura's kitchen, Jilian's kitchen, and Maria's blender stick.

Mmmm, fresh bread!

We made homemade pesto from our basil plants and so I made some fresh bread to go with it. For about a year now I have been baking bread. I really enjoy it, but I have found it to be very time intensive. I have thought about getting a bread maker, but I really like the way that handmade bread tastes and so I haven't been convinced about getting a bread maker. Maybe it would work if I used it just to knead the bread and for rising. Anyway, some of the problem has been solved by "no knead bread". This recipe is the same one that was in the NY times several years ago. You start it 12-20 hours before you want to bake it and the only thing you have to do is shape it about 2 hours before baking. That means you can start it the night before, go to bed, go to work, come home, shape it and then bake it. If anyone one wants the link to where I got the recipe, let me know. Below is a picture of the loaf I baked yesterday.

We went to Missouri and Manu caught a big fish.

My dad and Manu as we were getting ready to head back to the house.


Manu's big catch!


Being home is so peaceful.

Be successful! or Good luck!, which would you prefer?

In a case of imperfect translation I think I have found a new saying. A student in my program said this to me as I left for a meeting the other day. He is an international student and has only been speaking English for about a year. I love "be successful" over "good luck". "Be successful" implies I have some control over the situation. I think I am adopting it as my new saying instead of "have a good day" or "good luck". So today, be successful!!

I'm posting several quick thoughts today in an effort to make up for the lack of posting.

Wedding Pics and BO

1. Wedding Pics
I have gotten a few pics from the photographer/friend that shot our wedding and I am itching to share them. I want to put them on facebook, etc. However, I am resisting because it seems that is what everyone does. I can't reconcile my feelings that there is more to me than the fact that I got married, that there is more going on in my life than a wedding with the fact that marriage is a change in ones life and and I am proud that I am married and want to show off the pictures. The showing off the pictures is also confusing because I want to show friends and family, but I don't think everyone needs to seem them because I somehow feel that cheapens them. I know, I am crazy! Thinking this much about wedding pictures and whether or not to post them is most likely a little silly. Did any other brides have these thoughts?

2. Smelly Office Mates and my wanting to keep warm
I work in an office that is for PhD students. It is the usual set up of one large room with random surplused furniture stuck every which way. However, I really like working there. I have a desk, a file cabinet, and a bookshelf. Last year the desk behind me was occupied, but the guy never worked in the office. This year, he is here very regularly and he smells. Not bad, but enough that when he is here and even for a while after he is gone, I can smell his BO. It makes me crazy. I don't know what to do. I love my desk because of the bookshelf and I am right next to the heater, which is very very important during the winter. I could move one desk over, but I lose the bookshelf and the heater. I need one of those perfumed handkerchiefs to tuck into my chest to keep the smell away! :) Ahh, if only I was wearing a corset and I had a bigger chest so that there was someplace to actually stick such a thing. Any other suggestions?

Okay, I have to go so that I can hold my coffee up to my nose.

Empanadas and rain

The picture below is the current weather system above us as I sit here and type. It has rained most of the day, but this evening there have been thunderstorms and a lot more rain.



Today we went and sampled water at wells on the resort. Then i taught a lecture and after that we went to the health clinic in town and visited Norberto. I met him the last time I was here. He is a doctor at the clinic and he gave us a tour of the clinic. We also got to have empanadas and then I had some coconut ice cream. The ice cream was really good, but I think I would take an empanada over the ice cream. tonight we gave a presentation to the local Rotery.

Today is also Manu and I's one month anniversary!