It’s in those times of absolute torment and pain when the moments of true understanding seem to strike...
To be Continued.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Go-go-gadget immune system
Last Monday morning I woke up with the familiar yearly allergy feeling. The tingle in the back of my throat, the watery eyes, and the definite sensation that I didn't want to get out of bed. I then realized that I was dehydrated, had just slammed by knee into my bed (hence the watery eyes), and at 6a.m., does anyone really want to get out of bed? Well, Tuesday it turned out the dry throat was allergies -- although I suspected a cold since many people in the program have claimed "allergies" and recently developed into a cold nearly on par with a plague. It's now Saturday, I'm fairly sure if it was "the cold" that everyone else has, that I would have progressed in terms of symptoms instead of just feeling like I was nearly better. The lost voice of course makes my one-mode of communication with anyone not in Houston more difficult. But it's been a quiet day in my head - brace yourselves, this could be quiet a ride of a post.
A lot has happened in just a week. I've had great joys and great disappointments. Both amplified by the feeling of getting sick, and both inspiring me to run away - something that has been difficult with my car in the shop. So in the interim, I of course did my taxes. Pathetically easy when you make as much (or little) as I do. But I took joy in the number of deductions I got to make thanks to my aging body and health care bills; not to mention the "work-related" expenses that add up over time. Oh how I miss having a real job with an income. I, of course, don't miss the 40-50 hour work weeks, but that's an entire post in and of itself.
It's suddenly become a scary thing to not know what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've learned a lot of tools over the years, but really don't have a good question of my own to be asking. In short, that makes me a methods person, constantly borrowing other people's dreams and improving upon them, progressing them to the next step. I would like to be a theory person, someone with a dream, or to use Nikki's really bad joke - to be the guy in the pitch-black room, searching for the black cat. While I'm sure this "issue" will be resolved on its own like so many others have been - I can't help the nagging feeling.
I'm becoming more and more a believer in Déjà vu. There have been numerous times in the past two weeks where things from my dreams happen or I'll be somewhere new with new things happening and know that I've been in that place before. The other explanation is sleep depravation -- which is infinitely more likely than being able to see into the future. Alright - crazy talk away -- back to reading about ANCOVA.
A lot has happened in just a week. I've had great joys and great disappointments. Both amplified by the feeling of getting sick, and both inspiring me to run away - something that has been difficult with my car in the shop. So in the interim, I of course did my taxes. Pathetically easy when you make as much (or little) as I do. But I took joy in the number of deductions I got to make thanks to my aging body and health care bills; not to mention the "work-related" expenses that add up over time. Oh how I miss having a real job with an income. I, of course, don't miss the 40-50 hour work weeks, but that's an entire post in and of itself.
It's suddenly become a scary thing to not know what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've learned a lot of tools over the years, but really don't have a good question of my own to be asking. In short, that makes me a methods person, constantly borrowing other people's dreams and improving upon them, progressing them to the next step. I would like to be a theory person, someone with a dream, or to use Nikki's really bad joke - to be the guy in the pitch-black room, searching for the black cat. While I'm sure this "issue" will be resolved on its own like so many others have been - I can't help the nagging feeling.
I'm becoming more and more a believer in Déjà vu. There have been numerous times in the past two weeks where things from my dreams happen or I'll be somewhere new with new things happening and know that I've been in that place before. The other explanation is sleep depravation -- which is infinitely more likely than being able to see into the future. Alright - crazy talk away -- back to reading about ANCOVA.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
SPD
Today is St. Patrick's Day. If you're not wearing green, it's your responsibility to hit yourself in the head with a semi-hard object. Once you wake up from your concussion, put something green on. Make sure it's something everyone can see or that you're at least willing to show off; that means that green underwear is fine but you should be willing to show it off. If someone else isn't wearing green you have a number of options: you can pinch them as if you're in 2nd grade, you can hit on them if they're attractive, or you can introduce them to one of the local stalkers if they're not.
Spring break is winding down, I've spent several hours working on my take home final for neuroanatomy. It's one of those crazy some questions take hours and others take just a few minutes. I sort of would like a take home question every week instead of the running quizes that we have over any material covered thus far in the course. My workshop in Louisville went by quickly and it was great to see old friends. I'm hoping to see many of them again for Thunder over Louisville, and hopefully lots of other people this summer. I'm fairly sure I'll be in the greater D.C. area for some of the summer as well as some time in the boston area (look out Meggers and Missy -- it's scorpion bowl time!)
It's been one of those opportunity knocks weeks. Lots of potential internships, a couple of sad moments, and a lot of great times with friends. It's pretty much always true that every time I think I know how things are going to work out, something else completely off the wall happens. I've got a number of purchases I need to make in the next few months. I really need to get myself a PS2 and a Nintendo Revolution. If I'm going to be traveling all over the world, I might as well have video games to disrupt some of the lonely nights ahead. Hopefully I'll get to go to Greece for a couple weeks and maybe stop through Italy on the way back and see the family hill.
Spring break is winding down, I've spent several hours working on my take home final for neuroanatomy. It's one of those crazy some questions take hours and others take just a few minutes. I sort of would like a take home question every week instead of the running quizes that we have over any material covered thus far in the course. My workshop in Louisville went by quickly and it was great to see old friends. I'm hoping to see many of them again for Thunder over Louisville, and hopefully lots of other people this summer. I'm fairly sure I'll be in the greater D.C. area for some of the summer as well as some time in the boston area (look out Meggers and Missy -- it's scorpion bowl time!)
It's been one of those opportunity knocks weeks. Lots of potential internships, a couple of sad moments, and a lot of great times with friends. It's pretty much always true that every time I think I know how things are going to work out, something else completely off the wall happens. I've got a number of purchases I need to make in the next few months. I really need to get myself a PS2 and a Nintendo Revolution. If I'm going to be traveling all over the world, I might as well have video games to disrupt some of the lonely nights ahead. Hopefully I'll get to go to Greece for a couple weeks and maybe stop through Italy on the way back and see the family hill.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Afterthoughts...
What's this? A real update! It's officially spring break. It seems like classes just started, but I'm really not going to complain having a week long break. So what are my big plans for this illustrious break? Well, I am actually skipping out of town for a few days and blowing off work for the week. I'm going to teach at a neuroimaging workshop, catching up with old friends, hopefully going to watch kamikaze karaoke, and racking up some frequent flier miles. Oh and of course working on my midterm exams for a couple of classes!
Classes are going well. Some of them are a lot more work than anticipated, but I'm learning more than I expected as well. The rest of the stats semester is focused on a "find your own data, analyze it, and write it up" type project. Which I of course see as the perfect way to put off other assignments. I spent most of yesterday putting my data in SAS, renaming variables, adding labels, and digging into the data.
I've been going swing dancing a lot more recently. Houston has a lot of dance options going on. There's even a Lindyfest next week with 4 days of solid dancing. Not sure how much of that I'll be able to attend since I still have a lot of things to get done -- but hopefully I'll get to go to a dance or two. Also have been cutting down on the running quite a bit due to knee issues - nothing severe but I've been resorting to the old ice bags taped to my legs (I use "cling wrap") so I can ice my knees while being somewhat mobile around the apartment.
At the moment I'm procrastinating my neuroanatomy midterm by formulating some summer plans. It's tricky because I have many great friends in the Houston area that I must admit are quite addictive to be around. And yet, there are many things I would like to do this summer that aren't in Houston. Today I got an offer to go to London for a couple of weeks on a research project. I'm also looking at the possibility of going to Vancouver to work at some learning centers for a short interval. But don't worry, I'll be back for everyone's birthday...
Classes are going well. Some of them are a lot more work than anticipated, but I'm learning more than I expected as well. The rest of the stats semester is focused on a "find your own data, analyze it, and write it up" type project. Which I of course see as the perfect way to put off other assignments. I spent most of yesterday putting my data in SAS, renaming variables, adding labels, and digging into the data.
I've been going swing dancing a lot more recently. Houston has a lot of dance options going on. There's even a Lindyfest next week with 4 days of solid dancing. Not sure how much of that I'll be able to attend since I still have a lot of things to get done -- but hopefully I'll get to go to a dance or two. Also have been cutting down on the running quite a bit due to knee issues - nothing severe but I've been resorting to the old ice bags taped to my legs (I use "cling wrap") so I can ice my knees while being somewhat mobile around the apartment.
At the moment I'm procrastinating my neuroanatomy midterm by formulating some summer plans. It's tricky because I have many great friends in the Houston area that I must admit are quite addictive to be around. And yet, there are many things I would like to do this summer that aren't in Houston. Today I got an offer to go to London for a couple of weeks on a research project. I'm also looking at the possibility of going to Vancouver to work at some learning centers for a short interval. But don't worry, I'll be back for everyone's birthday...
Sunday, March 04, 2007
wow cell phones
Looking at my bill, I feel very connected to the world...
February-March cell phone minutes:
Daytime minutes used: 475
Night/Weekend minutes used: 1176
Spring-to-Sprint minutes used: 706
Text Messages: 51
Actual posts to follow at some point...
February-March cell phone minutes:
Daytime minutes used: 475
Night/Weekend minutes used: 1176
Spring-to-Sprint minutes used: 706
Text Messages: 51
Actual posts to follow at some point...
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