winter lesson #258

windshield washer fluid freezes.

it turns out there are two kinds of windshield washer fluid: the kind that freezes and the kind that doesn't. the former kind is usually put into vehicles driven in places that do not experience severe winter weather like, say, southern california. the latter kind is sold and used in vehicles driven in places like, oh, i don't know, wisconsin. being the responsible person that i am, i had taken my car in for a full inspection, oil change, tire rotation, new wiper blades, mani-pedi, fluid top-off, the works. in southern california. so i learned winter lesson #258 after my washer fluid reservoir was full of frozen washer fluid, one big hunk-a-hunk-a-chunk-a ice.

i also learned that if you leave your car in the airport parking lot for a week, the window-roll-down mechanisms freeze and you have to open your door to pay the attendant (lesson #259). winter is awesome.

let the recovery begin

written yesterday (sunday), posted today: sitting at the airport; waiting for my flight back to milwaukee. my flight is scheduled to depart at 4:28 but as i checked my bag the midwest lady told me the plane wouldn't arrive until 4:30. i told her i shouldn't have to pay the baggage fee since i was being inconvenienced by a late departure but she didn't buy it.

i'm taking advantage of the my wait to begin the recovery process (and drink a delicious, over-priced pumpkin spice latte). i can't even imagine how i would feel right now if i didn't like my family. but i do (like 'em). they're funny and intelligent and talented. my emotional exhaustion is primarily a reflection of my inability to maintain a high level of pleasant, social contact for days on end. very little alone time, constant noise and interaction, crisis resolution, sleep deprivation (playing beatles rock band with my cousins until all hours of the night was a necessary activity), and being confronted with the reality of mortality as i saw the grandparents who raised me, now in their eighties, dealing with all of those things that come with old age. in five days i went through almost an entire bottle of midol, purely for its excessive-emotion-reduction capabilities.

yesterday, grandma and i, and then later, my cousins, cousins' wives, cousins' kids, and i went to the marion mall to check out the day-after-christmas sales. being as fond of shopping as i am, my willingness to go with grandma is a testament to my love for her; my eagerness to go the second time is a testament to my love of books and the going-out-of-business sale at waldenbooks. my suitcase ended up at 49.5 pounds after i shifted two of the i-won't-say-how-many books to my carry-on (one suitcase is $20, one suitcase over 50 lbs is $75!).

last night a fuse blew on one side of the house and one of my cousins and i spent an hour looking at three different fuse boxes to try to locate the culprit (with a flash light, in the freezing cold, in our pajammers). i finally ended up reading out types of and amp levels of every antiquated fuse the house possesses over the phone to my uncle who was shopping with my aunt and another cousin in columbus. how they found replacement fuses in the middle of the night is beyond me (they had to go to three stores i found out today). so the power's back on in that side of the house and now my uncle has to return the space heater that contributed to the power outage in the first place. it was a little like christmas at the oswalds.

this morning we all went to church and then the house of hunan for chinese food. the fortune in my cookie told me to remember the date three months from today because something important would happen. so in case i forget, would someone please mark 27 march in his/her calendar? thanks. my aunt and uncle drove me and one of my cousins to the columbus airport after lunch and here i sit. surrounded by people and blissfully alone.

christmas with the family

oh, the cacophany of noise. ten adults, a four-year old, a two-year old, a toddler, an infant, two dogs, and a partridge in a pear tree. and did i mention my aunt has a collection of easily accessible singing stuffed animals? the four-year old thinks these are immensely entertaining and likes to push the 'push here' buttons on as many as possible at the same time. i think it's equally entertaining to hide as many as possible at the same time.

we started the morning with stockings and then had a lovely breakfast. knowing how well i do with large numbers of people and small children for extended periods of time, i took midol as a pre-emptive strike against grumpiness. worked like a charm and, although no one took me up on my offer, it might have been a good idea for more than just myself. won't mention any names or particular incidents in the kitchen...

gift opening started in somewhat-organized rounds but quickly descended into madness and mayhem as my uncle decided things were taking too long and we should all open at the same time. two cousins playing santa, two cousins' wives trying to keep up with two small children each, four small children who didn't want to be kept up with, two dogs with new plush squirrels to chew on, one sick cousin, two great grandparents, two grandparents, and myself. it was awesome.

the kids were (and are) adorable; super excited about their new toys, more excited about each other's toys. three different sizes of batteries had to be found to begin playing - after scissors, twist ties, and teeth finally got the objects out of the packages. hours later, they're back to playing with the toys grandma and grandpa (my aunt and uncle) keep at their house and that belonged to their parents (my cousins) when they were kids.

we had a big, formal, yummy lunch of paella (rice, shrimp, chicken, olives, beans, clams, other stuff) and three kinds of pie for dessert: crapple (cranberry-apple), pecan, and mincemeat (surprisingly popular around here). i think there's some leftover pecan - sounds like dinner to me!

biostatistics

ode to flavia

she has two children I love to adore,
i'm hoping she'll have at least two more,
ziva is precious and smiley and warm,
blake is rambunctious and like a storm

blake's saying new words, he's a little man,
'daddy home' he says about her husband sam,
she likes volleyball and pizza from costco,
she doesn't like cold, 'specially the snow

she texts me pictures of the cute kids,
and recycles everything, even lids,
she makes me food and brings it to my house,
watches ncis and sneezes like a mouse

i'm glad she's nearby with sam, ziva, and blake,
one night she even made me a steak,
that's true, it's not just a rhyming line,
you should be so luck to have a sister like mine

the ox and lamb kept time

par-rum-bum-bum-bum

someone's making money off of this. genius.

this week in review

let's see...

• tuesday i was riding a bus that almost got into a collision. we had to pull over, disembark and get on the next bus that came by.
  


• tuesday night madison experienced the worst blizzard since, like, 1885. 17+ inches of snow. i was snowed in my apartment until wednesday night around 8:30 when a plow finally came by and cleared the area in front of my garage.
  


• wednesday was my first ever snow day. no work, no school. everything in madison shut down. the university even cancelled classes which hasn't happened in, someone said, 30 years. i think it was a degree that day. i stayed inside.
  


• thursday the roads were horrible because of the storm, traffic was unbelievable, i missed the bus and had to drive to school. on the way, i slid on some ice and ran into a parked car, shattering its bumper. barely a scratch on my car and no injuries. i'm convinced the cold contributed to the utter decimation of the bumper because i barely bumped it.
  


• friday i was terrified to drive anywhere but i did. i went with a couple of friends to see the movie invictus. it was pretty good but morgan freeman's accent was embarrassing. and someone did not do their research on south african culture because people were giving and receiving with one hand all over the place. seriously? a matt damon-morgan freeman budget movie couldn't afford a couple of researchers?
  


• saturday had lunch with flav and the kids. blake said my name!!! he's saying all kinds of things now, the best of which is my name. he hasn't put aunt and penny together but he says penny pretty clearly. he's a genius.
  


• this weekend i'm working on two papers, a biostatistics assignment (the last of the semester, woo-hoo! except the final), and a take-home final for another course. all of that is due this week and my biostatistics final is due the 22nd, thus concluding my first semester.

so overall, it was a pretty eventful week. will be glad when this coming week is over and even more glad when i submit my biostats exam. and now, back to homework.

my first real snow

flurries, my you-know-what. we got a real snow! here is a pic of my car's first real snow (this was pretty early, there was a lot more snow in the morning). the scary part was driving in my first real snow. i did fine until i pulled onto my little street where not too many cars had driven and the snow was a bit icy. i missed my driveway when my tires didn't turn but it all turned out ok. it's s'posed to snow pretty much all week but we'll see.

two more weeks of my first semester! aaahhh!!!

it's snowing!

it's snowing today! my first snow! i'm told these are 'snow flurries' and not real snow but as i see it, perfect little snow flakes are falling from the sky, thus it is snowing. they landed on my car as i drove, on my lapel as i walked, and on the windows of the library as i studied before class. snow!

biostatistics

i have a love-hate relationship with biostatistics. mostly i hate it. just spent forty-five minutes on one question for the current assignment. let me clarify: part a of one question. my instructor likes to divide the questions into parts and sub-parts so although it may look relatively harmless and straight-forward, it's actually a seven-page answer to 'one' question. hate. biostatistics.

so that you don't think i'm always complaining, i would like to point to the love part of my relationship with biostatistics. i love it when i'm done with an assignment or class is over. and i'm truly fascinated with the biostatistical basis of my field. i just don't like having to actually do the calculations. statistical analysis software? love it! give it to me! let me play with data all day long. hand calculations of confidence intervals using the chi-square distribution with a paired two-sample experiment? well, you can just take that and - calculate it yourself.

fun with carbon monoxide

so last night, rally and i enjoyed a lovely fire in our wood-burning fireplace. it was warm and pretty and i turned all the lights off and watched a movie while rally sat in front of the fire and watched the flames dance. a little after ten, the fire was out, i closed the floo, and started picking things up around the apartment. about twenty minutes later, the alarm upstairs started beeping and a voice declared, warning: carbon monoxide detected. rally and i raced up the stairs, found a step ladder, and tried to quiet the alarm by pushing the 'hush' button, which made the fire alarm go off and the voice to yell, at the top of its mechanical voice, 'warning: fire', siren, siren, siren, 'warning: fire'. and not quietly, i might add. did i mention this is one of those new-fangled tamper-proof alarms? so i'm standing on the step ladder, jabbing at the 'hush/fire alarm' button and trying to open the linen closet to pull a fan off the top shelf. i get the fan, plug it in, get back on the step ladder, and hold the fan above my head to blow the odorless, poisonous carbon monoxide gas away from the alarm. i know i need to open windows and re-open the floo, but every time i move, the stupid alarm goes off again. after a few minutes, i put down the fan, race to one room, open the window, race to the other room, open the window, jump back on the ladder to set off the fire alarm again, hold the fan up for a few more minutes, set the fan down, race downstairs to open the floo and open another window (because 30-degree air coming in from two windows isn't enough), race back upstairs, jump back on the ladder, and proceed to set the fire alarm off again in my attempt to shut off the carbon monoxide alarm. i'm. not. kidding. although i did ask the alarm at one point, out loud, 'are you kidding me?' so let's go back to this tamper-proof bunch of boloney. just because there's no battery to remove does not mean it's tamper-proof. all you have to do is wrench the stupid thing off the ceiling and untwist the cap things holding all the wires together.

you think it's over don't you.

i finally get the alarm to shut the hello-dolly up, my arms are about to fall off from holding the stupid fan above my head, my legs are about to give out from standing on a step ladder and running all over the house, i'm fuh-reezing because all of my windows are open and it's eleven o-clock at night and any minute now i'm expecting my doorbell to be rung by a neighbor or the fire department - oh! i forgot to mention that in the midst of the chaos, i was trying to look up the fire department's non-911 phone number in a totally useless phonebook (while standing on the ladder and holding the fan). never found it, btw. and no one rang the bell. i did a self assessment for carbon monoxide poisoning but i wasn't nauseous or sluggish (although the adrenaline could have counter-acted that) so i felt it was safe to close the downstairs windows and call it a night. i decided to risk leaving the floo open; whatever crawled in, crawled in, that's rally's department. apparently, i've never raised (or lowered) the blinds in my living room because i spent the about fifteen minutes trying to get the stupid things down. up, down, up, down, up, up, dow-nope, up. i was pretty sure i was going to rip them off the wall and have to hang up a classy sheet or piece of foil to cover the window, but i finally got them down and added them to my list of things to talk to the property manager about.

around midnight i got into bed, second-floor windows still open, electric blanket on. i woke up successfully this morning so i'm going to assume the carbon monoxide dissipated to the alarm's satisfaction.

looking forward to the fire tonight.

synthetic christmas trees

i would like to invite comments regarding synthetic christmas trees. please include your name.

fun with credit card companies

so after listening to, 'if this is penny d, press 1,' repeated over and over on my voicemail all day, i finally decided to call chase credit card fraud department and find out what was going on. i called the number on my caller id and the mechanical voice on the other end asked for my six-digit verification number. i tried to explain to the robot that i did not have such a number and thus, could not give it to him (it was a male robot), but he kept asking for the number and when i wouldn't give it to him, he hung up on me. so then i had to look up the number on the website where i had the privilege of waiting to speak to a customer service agent who transferred me to the fraud department. there, i got to speak to a woman i could barely understand (and i'm pretty good with accents) and who took several minutes to find the verification questions she needed to prove i was who i said i was. i'm not exaggerating, several minutes. finally, she began asking me questions, most of which i had to ask her to repeat because i couldn't understand her and because she was asking about things like my address from a hundred and fifty years ago. the best part was when she said, 'yes, that's right' to my response regarding when i graduated. i know when i graduated! yay for me! finally, after several excruciating questions and answers, she was satisfied that i was, indeed, penny d black and could get to the real meat of the phone call. she needed to confirm that i had changed my address and phone number but she kept asking if i had received a change of address and then she changed to had i recently changed my address (why, yes, this morning, on-line, in fact). i hadn't wanted to change my phone number but the system wouldn't let me proceed until i changed it so i put in a 555 number. i thought about putting 867-5309 but someone probably has that number and i didn't want to cause even more problems. then she verified a recent purchase, changed my phone number back to what it should be, confirmed i had received my new card last month (that i still haven't activated), and thanked me for calling. so, so painful.

here's the kicker. the only reason i went on-line this morning to change my address with the credit card was because my netflix account is on hold due to my zip code with netflix not matching my zip code with the credit card. geesh!

thanksgiving 2

mmm, i just finished a turkey and cranberry in a biscuit sandwich, all leftovers from yesterday's fabulous meal prepared by flavia and blake. well, technically, i bought and brought the cranberry sauce but flav opened it, stuck a spoon in it, and put it on the table. oh, and i ran to the grocery store for cans of pitted olives after we discovered flav had bought pit-ful olives. how can you eat pit-ful olives off your fingers? (answer: you can't) the five of us (sam, flav, blake, ziva, and i) had a wonderful thanksgiving and i was sent home with lots of leftovers for which i am thankful.

i am also happy to report that i got a 93 on my second epidemiology exam. this is the class in which i failed the first exam so it was really important that i do well on the second exam. and i did. and i am thankful.

you should probably sit down for this next announcement if you're not already. i went shopping today. it's true. i braved the masses and went to target. i needed a couple of things and i thought if i waited until about 10:30 or 11 it wouldn't be so bad. i was wrong (i didn't get a 93 in day-after-thanksgiving-shopping). it actually wasn't horrible but it wasn't fun. at one point i almost abandoned my cart and left just out of panic over the number of people in every row. but i persevered and when i went to check out, there was actually a checker looking for customers! worked out for both of us. i was thankful.

in other news, it didn't snow yesterday. it's a beautiful, clear day today, about 40 degrees, and the sun is shining. i am thankful.

thanksgiving

i am thankful i have no classes until next tuesday. one week of not having to go to school. i have plenty of homework and studying to do, but i don't actually have to go to class.

i am thankful i went to trader joe's today when only half of madison had the same idea rather than tomorrow when the other half and surrounding areas go to get their thanksgiving dinner fixin's.

i am thankful my epidemiology exam is over and that i have no more exams in that class.

i am thankful that in a couple of days, i get to see blake and ziva and eat turkey.

i am thankful noone can see me wearing my snuggie right now.

my rapscalion

until now, i've resisted writing about rally as i am avidly avoiding being known as the crazy cat lady. but i thought i'd write one post, devoted solely to her because there are so many cute things she does. she's a constant source of entertainment. here are the top 8 (i couldn't think of 10. there are, i'm sure, i just couldn't think of 2 more):

1. she likes soda. as i mostly drink diet coke and fresca, that's what she drinks as well. oh, don't freak out, it's not like i pour it in her bowl, i just let her lick the empty glass or can. this is, of course, after defending my drink for however long it takes me to drink it. not so much cute as annoying, but unusual anyway.

2. she plays fetch. she has a fuzzy little ball that she carries in her mouth and keeps in her food bowl when she's not playing with it so she won't lose it. she drops the ball in my lap, i throw it across the room and she tears after it. when she's got it in her mouth again, she comes back to me, drops it in my lap again, and looks up at me expectantly. she will keep doing this until i get bored.

3. she waits at the second-to-the-top stair until she's sure i'm ready to go downstairs. as soon as i take the first step down, she turns around and runs, full speed, down the stairs. sometimes she can't keep up with herself and kind of sprawls at the bottom for a second. it's pretty funny.

4. every morning, as soon as i show the first sign of life and roll to my back, she jumps on my chest and licks my nose. every morning.

5. my shower has a curtain and a liner; the curtain hangs outside the tub and the liner inside. every time i pull aside the curtain/liner after a shower, rally is right there waiting. she meows and then jumps on the ledge of the tub and goes into the tunnel created by the curtain and the liner. she loves it in there! a few times she's slipped because of the moisture, giving me several minutes of amusement.

6. this might be a bit personal, but she's a cat, she'll never read this. every time she's finished in her box, she races out of there like a bat out of h-e-double-hockey-sticks. clean box, slightly dirty box, box in different locations, doesn't matter, she wants out.

7. when i'm on my computer for any length of time, she curls up on my lap (or chest, depending on how i'm sitting) and falls asleep. i don't think it's very comfortable for either of us but she wants to be close.

8. every night when i get home, she's at the top of the stairs (we have two sets, one up to the second floor and one down to the garage - i come in through the garage at night). as soon as she see's me, she meows and runs down the stairs to greet me. or trip me, whichever comes first.

ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh

the great and powerful oz at weather.com is predicting snow on thursday. my first snow!!

free is in the eye of the beholder (experiment results)

so if you figure one roll of tp costs fifty cents then i received three free rolls of tp (in the form of three $0.50 coupons). they're fancy coupons, silver and foily.

i haven't figured out how much a cup of kitty food is worth so i'll just report that i received a coupon for $3.50 off my next purchase of a 3lb or larger bag of kitty food. they also sent me a pamphlet on pet nutrition.

nothing from the third company yet.

the biggest loser

warning: i don't want any over-reactive, concerned e-mails over this post; i'm just typing how i felt today.

i was home with a migraine headache today and couldn't do anything productive, it was not awesome. twelve plus hours after my day started, i felt well enough to pick up the apartment and play some music. 'i'm a loser' by the beatles began playing and i was struck by the poignancy of the lyrics. i think they're using 'loser' like the show, 'the biggest loser', that is, someone who loses something is a loser. my 'someone/her' is my illusion of control over my life.

i’m a loser and i lost someone who’s near to me
i’m a loser and i’m not what i appear to be
although i laugh and i act like a clown
beneath this mask i am wearing a frown
my tears are falling like rain from the sky
is it for her or myself that i cry

i’m a loser and i lost someone who’s near to me
i’m a loser and i’m not what i appear to be
what have i done to deserve such a fate
i realise i have left it too late
and so it’s true pride comes before a fall
i’m telling you so that you won’t lose all

i’m a loser and i lost someone who’s near to me
i’m a loser and i’m not what i appear to be

retraction

everyone should not write a blog.

the writing process

so, i thought some of you, or maybe one of you, might be interested in the process that goes into writing a blog post. not just any blog post, but one of my blog posts. there are times when i don't post for several days, or several weeks as has been pointed out by many of you, and then there are times when i post several posts on the same day. to explain this variability, i thought i would walk you through my very simple procedure.

i don't plan, in advance, what i will write about in the future. when an idea strikes me, i begin drafting the post in my head. these ideas come from everywhere - something someone says, something i see, the dark recesses of my mind, etc. more often than not, i think of a title that tickles me and then develop the supporting text, still, in my head. for every 10 to 85 ideas, one post makes it to the computer. ideas don't make it to the computer for several reasons: i forget them; they're time/context-specific so if i don't post right away, it won't make sense (like about a current event); i forget them; they're too cynical or sarcastic for my diverse readership; i'm too busy to take the time to sit down and compose a post; i can't come up with enough text to support my very clever title; or i forget them. the weather comes to mind a lot here but i realize there's only so much one can read about the weather.

once an idea makes it to the computer, i try to write as much as i can remember from the draft in my head. usually, i'll write something, read it, delete it, re-write it and then edit the heck out of it until it's post-able. right now, my head is resting on the back of my chair, my eyes are closed, and i'm typing as i think. this happens a lot. i usually do it until i run out of thoughts or i get dizzy. it's amazing, upon reflection, how much gets written and deleted. because i type as i think (randomly and unorganized), i write things that seem super funny and clever, but then when i put on my editing cap, i think, really penny? you thought that was funny? other times i make myself laugh - that content usually stays.

when all is said and done (and posted), i usually call my mom to let her know there's a new post.

so, see? simple process. everyone should write a blog.

it's like being in the mountains all the time

my readership, albeit not reflected accurately in the box to the right, has diversified. some are friends and family from southern california for whom i initially developed this blog; some are friends and family from other states and countries who i've met along my lifepath; and some are new friends from madison. so when i say something like, 'it's like being in the mountains all the time', i'm pretty sure the only people who will understand that it's briskly cold everytime i step outside are the people who live or have lived in southern california. the only time we (southern californians) have all-day cold weather is when we're visiting the mountains. visiting. as in one or two days, and then we go back home where it's eighty-five degrees in january. but now i'm in madison and 1) i have to remember that everyone reading this is not from southern california; and 2) i think i'm becoming a little bit midwestern already. i've found myself thinking seven miles is way too far to drive for something and i don't even think about the indoor foodcourt at costco as something abnormal anymore. before you know it, i'll be pronouncing my o's as a's, eating cheese curds, and going apple picking voluntarily.

speaking of cheese curds, wisconsin is america's self-proclaimed dairyland. they make a rediculous number of cheeses and are known for their cheese, beer, and brats (bratwursts). i've tried a brat, don't like beer, and, for the first time this past week, ate a cheese curd. it sounds disgusting (i know, that's what i've been saying for three months), but it's just like fried mozzerella sticks from tgifriday's only with cheddar. they're so popular here, you can get them instead of french fries at many restaraunts. my opinion: fried cheese, good.

experiment underway

so yesterday i was at a meeting where several people were talking about how they had written letters to different companies to say they liked a particular product and had received free products as a result. one gal said she and her father had written to a bottled water company when she was younger and to this day, years later, they still receive coupons for free water. i must say, i loved this idea and decided to conduct an experiment. this morning i went to the websites of three companies who sell products that i purchase on a regular basis. i sent them very complimentary and enthusiastic e-mails about how much i love their product. i provided each of them with my e-mail and mailing addresses. and now i wait. i started with tp, kitty litter, and kitty food. i don't buy these items frequently but i always buy the same brands when i do buy them and i don't buy the cheapest brands (my hiney and rally are worth it). so we'll see what happens. i've identified several possible outcomes: 1. no response; 2. a thank you e-mail with a link back to their website where i can purchase the product of interest; 3. coupons for $0.50 off; 4. free stuff/coupons for free stuff. as to be expected, i'm hoping for #4. if this works, i'm sending letters en masse. if it doesn't, i'm going to have a lot of junk mail. stay tuned.

celebrity guest

two of my classes employ guest speakers regularly to discuss different topics. today, will ferrell spoke in my principles of population health class. ok, it wasn't will ferrell, but it was a professor who could make a living as a celebrity look-a-like. of the two pictures, can you guess which one is the professor and which one is the celebrity? during the entire lecture, i kept expecting him to do or say something crazy but no such luck, he stuck to health economics ad health policy analysis. he's also teaching a course i'm taking next semester so i'll be distracted all semester thinking of my professor as a giant elf (elf), mugatu (zoolander), george w. bush (snl), and countless other inappropriate characters. awesome.

btw, neither picture is used with permission so i'd appreciate it if noone told any regulating agency of my indescretion. thanks.

bought an ice scraper today

and, at the same time, was reminded that all of my christmas decoration disappeared in the move from california to wisconsin. target (and every other store, to be fair) has christmas decorations up, for sale, themed items, etc. everywhere i turned, i was confronted with the memory that i no longer possess the tree my grandparents gave me, the ornaments from my childhood, my stocking to be hung from the mantle. you might think i would have been safe in the trash bag aisle, but no, there are christmas-themed trash bags (with fresh scent). i did, however, manage to find paper towels, tp, and sanitizing hand wipes in non-christmas-themed designs (plain white) so, all in all, it was a successful trip. and, don't forget the ice scraper.

speaking of christmas, i will be enjoying my ohio relatives' decorations and i'm looking forward to seeing my grandparents, uncle, aunt, assorted cousins and their families, pets, etc. i'm sad to not be able to go back to california and be with my parents and sister but airlines barter only in money and i aint got none.

speaking of money, this week i enrolled in a study at the hospital for some extra cash. i 'donated' plasma for money when i was a freshman in college; i was 18 and my friends were doing it. never thought i'd be doing things like this at 32, but life takes funny turns.

the n key and space bar on my keyboard are not working properly so typing all of this is rather painful. were i to not continuously backspace and correct for keyboard (not user) errors, sentences would look like this: the key ad spacebar o my keyboardare ot workig properlyso typig allof this is rather paiful. but i correct because i care.

ice

two mornings ago, i went out to my car and it was covered in ice. not just the windshield, the entire car. the windshield wipers did nothing to remove the ice from windshield, so i had to think creatively. looking around inside my car, i found a piece of cardboard and tried to scrape the ice away. the result was thin scratches of cleared window and wet cardboard. next i found a 3-ring binder with one of those plastic inserts. this did the trick and within a few minutes, I had ice-free windows. twenty minutes later my engine was warm and i was on my way. at work someone told me about an invention called an ice scraper. she said they're available 'everywhere' and that i should definitely get one; apparently my binder insert will be insufficient once winter 'really' hits.

fall is beautiful. a few weeks ago, the leaves on the trees turned all shades of yellow and orange and there is a particular bush that turns bright red. i meant to take pictures but, well, that would have required more effort and energy than i have time for. if i took pictures now, the trees would just be empty branches. the weather is wonderful, if a bit on the cool side. highs in the fifties and sixties, lows in the twenties and thirties. today was an anomyly at 70. not complaining, just reporting.

i'm gettig really nervous about snow. not the falling of so much as the driving in. when i bought my boots awhile back, i also got these metal things you strap to the bottom of your shoes so you don't slip while walking on ice. so here's my next question: you're wearing your jacket, gloves, scarf, ear things, hat, boots, metal-strap-no-slip things because it's freezing outside and then you get inside where they're pumping out the heat to the tune of 80-90 degrees (or so it feels) and you have to take off all of that stuff and put on regular shoes. where do you put all of that stuff? am i going to have to start carrying two bags? one for school stuff and one for winter stuff? how do people do this? so much to learn.

assper-agis

four friends walk into a cafe. a pakistani, an indian, a saudi arabian, and a caucasian. ninety percent of my classes, madison, dane county, and wisconsin are white and my friends are from all over the world. truth be told, ms. pakistan (can't remember her name) was a new addition to our lunch crew this week, but sridavi, sulliman, and i have lunch together every tuesday and thursday. i like the international set. i also have friends from an african country (he's only told me, like, half a dozen times, i just can't remember), italy, and another from india.

so, sridavi, sulliman, ms. pakistan, and i are eating lunch, talking, and i ask sri about her grainy green beverage. she says it has things like assperagis (pronounced like apperatus), broccoli, and other things i don't hear because i'm stuck on assperagis. after asking her to repeat the word several times, mostly for my entertainment, i tell her the correct pronunciation of asparagus. but assperagis is my new favorite word.

in other news, i have/own/possess four blankets and they are all on my bed. my electric blanket has died (a moment of silence please) but it still works as a layer. i'm thinking throws and the snuggie are next. if all else fails, i'm going to pile all of my clothes on top of my bed and burrow. have i mentioned it's cold?

i have a biostatistics mid-term exam this week. my chest constrictions have already begun. i spoke to my academic advisor about my first epidemiology exam (the one i failed) and he showed me his first epidemiology paper on which he received an f. he's a really good academic advisor. i've heard about other advisors from other students and am really greatful. so anyway, this thursday, around 12:30 central, please pray, cross your fingers, do a hula dance, think of me, etc. as i take my biostat exam. ugh.

favorites

so i just realized my blog isn't on my list of internet favorites. how can i expect other people to elevate reading the minutia of my life to a level of importance great enough to warrant a place on their favorites list if i don't even have it on mine? (i mean, of course i have it there now, but when i first signed on, it wasn't there and then i added it and then i started writing this, just so we're clear.) google, university of wisconsin, bejeweled, juno, craigslist, wells fargo, pandora radio - all there. riversofconsciousness? my own internet journal? the place where i pour out my heart and soul and tell fascinating stories about things like my anti-perspirant cap falling behind my dresser this morning? nope.

that all changes now, my friends, that all changes now. (the favorites list, not my fascinating stories)

thirty-eight degrees

i think it's actually colder. how accurate is weather.com anyway? it's fur-eezing and i keep having to delete and re-type thanks to my frozen digits. rally just protested because i moved; she's all cuddled up warm beside me. she's in for a real rude surprise when i shut off the computer in a minute and head upstairs. but right now, the laptop is serving as a source of heat so i'm loathe to give it up.

i know, i know, you're thinking, suck it up, it's only going to get colder. and to that i say, suck it up, my complaining's only going to get worse.

i got a pair of 'winter boots' this weekend. water proof, wind proof, insulated, magical, etc. they're not pretty but i won't have frostbite. i also found a jacket, i mean, coat, i liked but i'm going to look on-line and see if i can find it for less than rei's retail price.

and i know it's cold and not just my southern california imagination because i ran an errand today and there were wisconsin people wearing jackets. if they were cold, i can be cold. the difference, of course, is that they have 'fall jackets' and i have sweatshirts. i also have gloves, scarves, hats, and earmuffs. i think i might wear them all to bed tonight.

i failed my first exam

barcodes

the barcode was invented today. i know it's true, the google told me so. well, not today, but on 7 october in some year. i love barcodes, they let me check out at the grocery store at the self-checkout station - no human interaction. thank you inventor of the barcode.

oh, the midwest

so i called the city this morning to find out what i could do about all of my trashed cardboard boxes that don't fit into my teeny tiny recycle can and the guy told me a) about a drop-off site, and 2) that he would send me a 'recyclapedia'. i'm not kidding.

and just now, i got an e-mail from a second-year student who is organizing an apple-picking expedition this saturday. i'm not kidding!

and finally (and this has nothing to do with the midwest), i just painfully found out that the university finance office only takes checks. there are fees that even 'funded' students have to pay (to the tune of $509) and i was hoping for a breather in the ol' bill department. no such luck. oh, ok, i'll blame that on the midwest too. crazy midwesterners with their recyclapedias and apple-picking and checks only. hmph!

one month progress report

school started a few days over a month ago. it turns out getting your doctorate is hard. the only things i do anymore are go to class, study, go to work (and study there), and if there's any time left over in the day, do more studying. my stuff finally arrived from california and i haven't had time to unpack it all because i can't take the time away from studying (like i'm doing now to post this). i just got internet in my apartment yesterday so i don't have to go to campus on the weekends and i hooked up my wireless printer today (i love, love, love wireless technology!!!). i didn't get cable for the tv - don't have time to watch it! although i will say i indulged and watched the first episodes of the new season of the office online early this morning. oh, so funny.

so that's about it. i'm making friends but don't have time to hang out with them outside of school. they're going through the program with me though so they don't have time to hang out either. at least four of us have already had mental breakdowns over the lack of adequate time in the week to get everything done that is expected of us. rally's fine; she's been getting cuddly as the weather is getting colder. i'm going to have to get a real winter coat soon and a good pair of boots. can't i just wear my snuggie?

the snuggie

say what you will about their lame commercials, but the snuggie is a wonderful invention with convenient pockets (as the package conveniently points out). it's 45 degrees outside and rainy but do i feel the cold? nope, because i've got a snuggie.

93rd percentile

ziva's head. body weight: average. body length: average. cranium: NINETY-THIRD PERCENTILE. it doesn't look huge or anything but apparently, 93 percent of 4-month old babies are hanging around out there with smaller heads than her.

NINETY-THIRD PERCENTILE.

my nanna

no, i'm not sixty years old, but blake calls me nanna, about as close to aunt penny as he's willing to try right now. when he gets mad at flav, he cries for 'my daddy'; when he gets mad at sam, he cries for 'my mommy'; but the best is when he gets mad at both of them and cries for 'my nanna' - tears running down his little sad face, arms outstretched. and do i exploit these bold moments of manipulation? duh. 'my nanna, my nanna' sniff, sniff. you try to resist that.

studying

sucks. haven't done it in awhile. apparently, blake shared not only his runny nose but his attention span as well. every three sentences i find myself doing something other than reading the textbook (like, say, writing a new post for the blog). i've spent the past twelve hours (not exagerating) trying to do homework and i've finished about a fourth of what is due tomorrow. this does not bode well.

two nights ago i went to borders to study and found a great magazine of do-it-yourself decorating projects. yesterday i tried studying in my room but rally kept wanting to play. today i e-mailed professors, ordered gas and electricity for my new condo, and researched car insurance. all of my class paperwork is very-well organized, the dishes are clean, grocery shopping is done, my bedroom is picked up, and i know how i'm getting to school tomorrow (sam, bless his little pea-pickin' heart, is giving me a ride - two less busses to ride). s'pose i should do some more homework...yes flav? you need me to hold ziva for a minute? oh, alright.

treasure sales

they're called yard sales (or jard sales in anaheim), garage sales, estate sales, etc. this is a misnomer, however, because the yards are not for sale, nor are the garages or the estates. what they should be called are treasure sales. blake moved up to a big-boy bed about three nights ago and today flav and i found a car bed at a treasure sale for only twenty usd!! it's awesome and blake is super excited. he also has car sheets and a comforter so he's pretty much set. teddy bear? puh-lease, he's got trucks.

as exciting as that is, i found the real treasure: a vintage 1950's table and chair set, super small, seating for two, table for one - so cute! i've already taken it to my condo which is eagerly awaiting the rest of my stuff's arrival. can we say scheduling nightmare? whatev, it'll all work out. maybe blake will let me borrow his car bed...

keep the forklift away from the baby please

these are the kinds of things i find myself saying on a regular basis. two is a difficult age: you're beginning to realize the world doesn't revolve around you, you're getting too heavy to be carried everywhere, and people don't seem to like when you open the bathroom door. you just can't win.

attack of the influenza

first blake, then flav, then me, then sam. it's been an eventful several days and while sam has the immune system of a...um...horse (?) and has bounced back, flav and i are still recuperating. don't worry, we haven't been kissing any pigs, this was just a regular, horrible strain.

in other news, my nausea didn't hit until the second speaker of the symposium on thursday so i was disappointed to miss the symposium but orientation on wednesday was really great (and not just because i won a bucky-the-badger coffee-travel-mug). uw-m is such a great school, especially for population health. so many famous epidemiologists and other researchers are either on staff or have been at some point.

in other other news, i wore a sweatshirt today (it's still august for weather's sake!); costco's food park (you know, where you get half a pizza for $1.99) is inside; and i don't really care about the brett favre (which should really be spelled farve) thing.

did i mention i won a bucky mug?

old sauk road

it's pronounced 'sock', it's exit 253 off the beltline, and it makes me laugh everytime i see it.

so, turns out i have really curly hair. temperatures have been in the 80s with rain every few days. they call it hew-mih-dih-tee.

much has happened since my last post: my car arrived (with a funky smell, i might add); i found an apartment and signed the lease (but won't move in 'til mid-september); i met with my supervisor for my new job (they're still waiting for my criminal background check to clear - keep your fingers crossed); i met with my advisor for school and registered for classes. i get to take intro to epidemiology for the third time in my academic career and intro to biostatistics for the second time. the only redeeming grace is that i don't have to buy a new textbook for biostats; it's the same book as the one i used at ucla!!!! happy, happy day!!

children and animals update - blake stops crying when you kiss his boo-boos. likewise, he kisses others' boo-boos so sometimes i exagerate my pain to get a kiss. he's adorable. ziva is as mild as mild can be, petite, and pleasant. i took some great pictures of them and their cousin payton (sam's brother's daughter) the other day. can't post 'em per their parents' request, but believe me, they're cute. rally and hayden are bff''s. they kiss and when i get a picture of that, it'll be posted. hayden waits outside my bedroom door for rally to come out so he can follow her around. tyson, when he realizes she's near, barks, so rally stays away from him. but other than that, the eight of us are living together quite well.

next week i have orientation for school and a two-day population health symposium and then school and work start the next week. that's all for now.

i have arrived

hello madison. hello central time zone; 75-degree weather; land of cheese; and a house of chaos. did you know two-year olds are not still and quiet? it's true. especially little boys who like to wear their aunt's sunglasses. add to the two-year old a three-month old baby, two parents, and two dogs and you've got a house of non-stop mayhem and madness. the baby is beautiful and mild-mannered and blake is adorable and not cranky at all when he's tired. flavia and sam are wonderful hosts and one of the dogs has camped outside my bedroom door trying to welcome rally.

today i went on a tour of the city and saw the uw campus, the building where i'll work, and other critical sites like chipotle and target. tomorrow i meet with both my supervisor (for work) and my advisor (for school). i'll probably also check out some apartments tomorrow. (oh the tedium of blogs - at least i didn't tell you about our trip to costco and the grocery store)

and that's it for tonight.

anyone know what an ulcer feels like?

nine days to go and my apartment is a mess. this pile is 'donate', this pile is 'trash', this pile is 'shred', this pile is 'definitely going', this pile is 'dirty dishes' (don't worry, they'll be clean before i pack them). really, i'm just moving things from one room to another and from one pile to another. books, movies, and cds are packed; bookcases are disassembled; and all closets, cupboards, and drawers have been cleaned out. well, and i took out the trash today. that's it; that's all that's done. and i have nine days to go which includes 40 hours of work and at least that many hours of sleep. fortunately, i have very helpful friends - like one who sent me an article detailing the over 600 kinds of cheese made in wisconsin. that's right, over 600. they also make lots of beer. i hear it helps dull the pain of ulcers.

wisconsin bound

two weeks from right now, everything but me, my cat, and two suitcases will be on a truck, heading for madison, wisconsin. two weeks and twelve hours from now, those two suitcases, my cat, and i will board a plane and travel to houston, texas. just kidding, we'll be going to madison, wisconsin too. i've been accepted to the population health phd program at the university of wisconsin, madison, school of medicine and public health. my focus will be epidemiology (the study of epidemics) and i've been offered full funding and a part-time research assistant position.

so the countdown is on. i have seven work days left, nowhere near enough time to finish all of the projects i'd like to wrap up and two weekends left to finish packing and cleaning my apartment as well as visit with friends and family before i leave california. speaking of california, it's 10:00 pm and 80 degrees. i'm sweating in my apartment and rally's rolling around on the cool tile kitchen floor. people keep telling me wisconsin has something called 'winter'?? i have a feeling that won't be the only new experience. for those i haven't shared with, my plan is to stay with my sister and her family until i find an apartment, hopefully rather quickly as orientation is 26 august and classes begin 1 september. i'm looking forward to spending time with blake and ziva, my favorite nephew and niece.

so that's all for now. stay tuned as the adventure unfolds.