Amazing Accomplishment

Last night around 8 pm I went to do our weekly grocery shopping. I hadn't been able to get it done over the weekend, so I just went after I got home from work and ate some supper (I have found it is a bad idea to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach). Anyway, for the first time EVER, I remembered all 3 of my reusable fabric shopping bags, and all my groceries fit inside (barely, but I managed to make them fit). Which means, NO plastic bags from yesterday's trip! Yep, here I am, saving the planet one plastic grocery bag at a time. Maybe you should watch for me on the news, I may just be sitting in a tree in front of a bulldozer, refusing to come down....

Life as a PhD Student

Life as a PhD student can be tough. I love PhD comics because it takes my life and somehow brings out the humor in it. I love them all, but this has always been my very favorite one:
"Grad student etiquette"
This comic seems so appropriate most of the time, but it rings even more true today because I walked in to some very nasty data when I came in this morning. So please, please, please, don't ask me how my research is going! I'd much rather talk about the weather.



P.S. An old friend I hadn't talked to in years called me last night. It totally made my weekend. Don't you love it when things like that happen?

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my Mom, who is so much fun to hang out with. (Can't you just tell how fun she is from this photo?)

FYI

Adam is in the process of revamping his website yet again. Check out the progress at: clockworkangel

Turkey Day

Are you as excited for Thanksgiving as I am? I am in desperate need of a break, so I am really looking forward to this long weekend. My biggest problem is that sometimes I look too far forward and forget that there is stuff at work I need to get done today!

Ode to Phoenix

Fourteen and 1/2 years ago, my brother John brought a little puppy into our family. He named the dog Phoenix at my suggestion. Phoenix was a yellow lab mix and true to his nature, he was extremely loving and affectionate. Yesterday, my mom and John had to make the sad decision that 14 1/2 years was pretty good for an 85 pound dog, and that the many physical complications Phoenix was experiencing due to his age warranted him being put down. I thought I would be OK, I mean after all he was just a dog. But it turns out that I have actually been quite sad. I know my mother and brother thought long and hard about it and that they made the right decision, but that doesn't mean I won't miss the stinky old thing when I go home to visit my family. I mean, we got the dog when I was 14 1/2 and he has been a part of my family for half of my life.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night and as I lay awake, I imagined what it must have been like for my brother. In my mind's eye I watched John take his childhood companion to the vet and I saw him hold Phoenix as he quietly fell asleep. I watched as he carried Phoenix's lifeless body to the back yard. There he began to dig a deep hole as the rain poured all around, nature openly acknowledging the grief. I could see his strong shoulders and back bearing the physical burden of the situation while his tears dripped down his face and mixed with the rain--a tribute to the love between a boy and his dog.

Phoenix, you will be missed.

Love

I have fallen in love with an asian restaurant down the street from our house. Everything they have there is absolutely wonderful. From hot noodles, to cold sushi, I have never been anything but completely satisfied. This is an affair that will last for years. Hopefully Adam won't get too jealous.