a leap and a bound

Despite taking tons of pictures of the house over the last two weeks I've avoided updating until I had more than two minutes. The second batch of undergrad kids are now officially trained for summer work, I think I've turned the corner on my "conference cold" I acquired two weeks ago, and my sixth wedding anniversary has come & gone (we ate sushi).

Prints from a friend, taken at the house featuring our dog.

The weather has also turned nice, so we've been re-roofing, painting, sanding, installing doors, tearing down, re-grading and harvesting. 

Outside: the metal barn roofing has come off - the first step to total demolition. This little barn addition is in poor shape, and is pulling the larger barn down with it, so it has to go soon. We had family to help with this job.

Inside the barn was an old wooden box with a lid, the perfect size for a new compost heap. I'll need aeration holes, but it's rustic look will be much nicer than the current compost heap, housed in old fencing I clumsily screwed together the very first weekend we moved into the house. 

New compost (tipped over sans hinged cover) versus old compost heap.

We've started to collect the giant stones (natural & carved) littered about the property, and piling them up alongside the wood shelter. The stone from this area was exported all over the world (but mainly to New England) for mill stones, and we can find evidence of that at our little farm.

We've already demolished this section of the barn, now just to improve drainage and recover rocks.

Steadying the heavy stones with each leg before an awkward, two-person moving job.

The gardens aren't planted yet (two hours of frigging with the tiller but we think it's past revival), but we did manage to cut them. We'll probably just rent a tiller for this year to do our three garden plots, sometime in the next week. The perennial herb garden has exploded with bee balm, which is somewhat protecting our chives from chicken grazers. The mint has started to peak through (as a weed, in our untilled gardens) and the rhubarb in the orchard is yielding it's first harvest.

        

  

We also caught a tiny hummingbird that was trapped in our front porch. Beautiful and docile, it let me remove the spider webbing from it's little wings before it got sent back out to the apple blossom tree.

Dwarfed in my husband's hands, the humming bird seemed frazzled but unharmed.

Our last bit of demo and soil restructuring had to do with the path to the (new) wood shelter. Last year we had four chords of wood dumped in our driveway, and had to haul it back 50 m to the shelter before stacking. We have plans to strengthen the culvert and little wooden bridge, clearing a path for future half ton trucks to drive past the barn to dump wood directly in front of the shelter. So the little tiny house (rabbit hutch?) had to go. It was well past it's prime anyway, but clearly someone went to much effort in building it (as was apparent when we went to demolish it - just look at the tiny front door complete with hinges and the stack of bricks used as a substantial foundation). So now that it is gone, we've removed the thick railroad ties and levelled the slope.

                    

 

The sad but still terribly quaint rabbit hutch.

All that work outside requires a bonfire and mediocre beer, non?

The INSIDE of the house has also seen changes: namely the installation of several doors and "refinishing" the floors (I'm going to stencil the plywood). We went to a scratch-and-dent sale on our anniversary weekend, and snagged a set of low-e/argon garden doors for half price as well as a set of super-heavy duty pine doors for our pocket doors (they look like this, but new and only $50 a door). We put the garden doors in our future dining room, where eventually a south-facing deck will exist. But for now, a broken mill stone will have to do for a stoop :) These are installed where an old mouldy pantry used to live that was not only gross, but also blocked any sunlight from reaching the dark dank room. Not anymore!

We've also got some doors for our downstairs hallway closets. These doors were in the house when we moved in and repurposed for the front entry coat & cleaning closets. The still need to be refinished, but tackling the trim (in all it's oil-based, leaded glory) will be my job after the floors are refinished & the kitchen is installed.

Speaking of floors: we really can't afford the cash for hardwood, we can't bring ourselves to compromise with something else, and we can't afford the time it would take to refinish our barnboard. So. Inspired by this lady, I've begun the process of sanding/filing/resanding/refiling the subfloor for paint. I'm doing it with drywall compound and a hand sander. Yes I'm crazy. Here are the results so far:

Belt sander: 60 grit

 Drywall compound in screw holes, two coats & 100 grit hand sander

First layer of floor and porch paint in dark blue (after midnight, unfortunately, so no direct sunshine)

So far I'm happy with how it turned out. There is a clear variation in glossiness where the paint went over unprimed wood versus where it went over the compound, but I'm confident the whole thing will appear glossy after a second coat, a stencil, and water based sealer is applied. I should have cleaned by iPhone screen a bit better for the last picture, as it appears fuzzy in comparison. No surprise since the sanding created more than a little dust...

I'm not sure how I feel about all the sunlight getting sucked out of a room because of the very dark colours, but we knew a light colour would not be practical for our very dirty lifestyle. I'm trying to save judgement until the stencil (a damask pattern in oysterputtytaupe colour) is applied, I think it will lighten considerably. Until then, I'll be over here spackling in the sun...

                       

graybeard.ppt

The benefit of being the audio-visual tech on duty during the "established" investigator session: three speakers instead of six, since they all get to speak for twice as long as the youngins. Chance of technological misfire reduced.

The downside of the being the audio-visual tech on duty during graybeard session?  They feel entitled enough to flout conference rules on loading talks ahead of time/didn't actually save the latest version so need to run back to their room/want to use their own computer. Chance of technological misfire exponentially increased.

I would

All the kids are fantastic and smart

And they will all hum "Little Talks" with me while we are doing our work. I love my job.

Shit Rolls Downhill

That time of year again: science for the masses.  Followed closely by a national (albeit tangentially related) conference being held this week at my university campus.  Busy at work in a fun way.

Scuse Me?

Last night at a coworker's baby shower the new prof asked me whether I had been included in the email volley about creating a new policy on re-keying the building. I had not. He said he would sent it to me.

I just read it this morning, and I'm surprised and upset that including me was an afterthought. Turns out my bosses have suggested no undergrads have access to wet lab space unless there are designated supervisors available (ie me). Further, changes to the university policy and Canadian law makes supervisors personally liable for unsafe work places (as deemed by a lawyer). It seems my bosses have volunteered me to supervise students, regulate the student's working hours, and potentially become liable for accidents. By stating so in an email to the department faculty that I wasn't included on.

Now I'm searching for an appropriate way to vent instead of doing the six other important things on my to-do list today.

Project SlumpBust

SlumpBust is an awful word. Too late to change it now.

Videos guaranteed to make you smile, if you happen to like Mad Men, nerds, Queen and sexy beards.

OysterPuttyTaupe

We went with a pretty neutral for our downstairs walls this time around: Benjamin Moore Stone Hearth on most of the walls & it's slightly darker cousin Ranchwood in a select few areas. As you can see in the pictures, the actual colours depends heavily on the light source: it can look light brown with our compact fluorescent lights on but switch to a light grey with natural light. I'm pretty happy with the colour, given I wanted a grey/beige that would fade into the background. Oysterputtytaupe - a true neutral.

Dark grey like the plaster veneer board from a month ago, same colour as below.

Same corner from a different angle (in different light).

We're back to "prison wall grey"...but only until you open the blinds or turn the lights on.

We prepped with a plaster veneer-compatible primer (Aqualock) and followed it up with a low VOC Beauti-tone product called Natura in Eggshell. They were having a promotion, so the low VOC paint cost as much as the regular stinky stuff. We are very happy with the coverage - we'll have to see how the finish holds up to scrubbing doggy mud/kid prints off. We painted the ceiling with a higher end Benjamin Moore ultra flat ceiling paint in a cloud white (since they'll likely never get repainted until I'm old and grey).  The white colour continued in our closets, pantry and eventually on our trim too.

We've been tackling the barnboard floor idea slowly: first entirely rearranging the barn to allow easy access to the boards.  Once we started pulling them up though, they were splitting and in generally rough shape. The nails are so old and rusted, they are impossible to punch out.  I think I averaged 5 minutes wrangling per nail. The dance would continue thusly: first it would curl up like a young fern leaf, then snap off at the base, then resist my whacks with the nail puncher, no matter how well placed or powerful.

I've also come to appreciate the ease of plywood floors that look like shit. Mind you, we're working in a rough state at the moment but still: walk into the house with an armful of wet wood? Don't worry about the drips! Running inside to put the chicken eggs in the fridge before jetting off to work? Don't bother to take your boots off! Just let a smelly dog covered in mud into the house? Spill wine? Etc.

So maybe we try something else, and we paint out the plywood super cheap.  Like this:

Paisley tutorial here.  Other ideas here and here (fav: oysterputtytaupe room with mirror).

Slump busting - only one thumb up

Unfortunately, the trip was not the rejuvenating escape I had hoped. Alas, I will have to think of something else to get me out of this slump. On the bright side, I heard a great voice on the radio today (a hilarious episode of DNTO live that made me laugh and laugh. A good start to the slump busting).  Her name is Alexa, and she sings in a band called The New Lightweights.



They sang a lovely ditty on DNTO called "sinking feeling". I'm a new fan.

exercises

Beer O'Clock yet?

(I just finished reading a long chapter on the physics of light capture. The most useful thing I learned might just be that the spectra of porphyrins was studied by a physicist names Sam Gamgee. Nerd brain blown.)

In a holding pattern

Everything's on repeat these days and I'm not sleeping well/worrying about money/coveting stuff. It's weird and I don't like it. A trip later this month will hopefully hit the reset button.

(Zoe Keating looks like she might own a few pairs Fluevogs)

It's practically a tradition now

I ate the whole dish of jelly beans despite the blue ones tasting like soap and the pile of work on my desk. Student's qpcr looks good, and so do my multiplex blots. Success with a side of sore stomach.

rusted razor blades on dirty sink counters

Some music for those people who stay late to clean up, despite freakish 25C weather.

Moments in the snow

Blogging took a back seat this week to visiting researchers, student panic, home improvements and family obligations. It was sitting in the final midterm (invigilating again) that I was able to slow down for a minute. Looking about the room, there was one toque for every baseball cap. We are currently experiencing our St.Patrick's Day storm, and it looks like this outside:

Toques not unexpected, really.

The bonus question on the midterm today was: "Today is the Ides of March. Explain the quote [Beware the Ides of March], including as much detail as possible." Despite not having read Julius Caesar in high school, the "Ides of March" has been referenced in our culture enough that I googled it in the past, and am aware of it's significance in the Shakespeare play. Not so the first student to pass in her midterm, who answered the question with a tip-off to St.Patrick himself. She wrote that since it was two days before St.Patrick's Day, one must beware of people rushing around getting liquor before the big day. I'll let you guess how many of the real biochem questions she bothered to answer.

I went looking in my iTunes for an appropriate song, and this is what I found.

His bit at the beginning is a hoot "...whether the dancers needed a break"

Coup

I've been singing Ben Caplan's Conduit in my head all day. He has managed to successfully dislodge David Simard. Check out his fantastic music player on the lower right of his website. When he played Conduit live in the kitchen, we all sang back to him and stomped the floor. I haven't had that much fun at a show in ages. We talked to the violin player later, nice guy who was jealous we were gutting an old farm house :)

Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers - Forty Days And Forty Nights from HEAVYWEATHER on Vimeo.

Underfoot and overhead

So the plaster board is all up (as much as we can do, anyway) and the plaster people have been notified. We're on their schedule to get the veneer done in the next few weeks, and I'm excited to see the transformation from the dark grey walls to a light bright white. It's been extra cosy - since the plastering is easier when there aren't switches or plates in place, we've had no overhead lighting for weeks. The change from grey to white (and from plugged in lamps) to ceiling mounted lights is going to be bright!

Will this be us in a month?

Next step is flooring. Last time I talked about it, we were tottering between snazzy bamboo and rustic barnboards. In the interim, we acquired a sand-blasting tool able to shoot out walnut shells to refinish the wood, a softer alternative to sand blasting. Despite doing quick calculations confirming we have enough wood in the barn to do the first floor, we've run into some problems - the sand blaster requires an air compressor 6 times more powerful than the one we own and 2 times more powerful than the biggest compressor we could rent from the hardware store. Additionally, the wood might end up that bright orange-y gold colour after stripping, it's hard to say in advance.

Rhuh-rhoh...

Pros: wood is free, rustic planks from on-site (5" by 14' in some cases) add to the whimsy and eco-friendliness of reclaimed barnboard floors, we would have enough to do the whole house if we wanted to

Cons: Don't know what we are doing or how the finished product might look (aka this could turn into a four month project), the cost of renting tools to do the job might negate the "free materials" aspect, the colour might be ugly, the softwood would wear down more than a commercial finish

With this in mind, we did a quick tour of commercially available products that aren't outrageously expensive. The bamboo flooring mentioned upthread is $4/sq ft (our first floor is about 900 sq ft) so it doesn't matter how lovely the look, how long the boards or how hard wearing the finish is - it's outside our budget (sigh...up until last week I was still cyber stalking that product...). We did find a replacement product at a discount lumber store nearby: a maple pre-finished hardwood that has a strikingly similar colour range as our beloved bamboo. The catch (of course) is that the $2/sq ft product is basically made up of factory ends. When A-grade maple hardwood is marred by knots, gashes or other "unsightly" blemishes, the manufacturer just cuts off the offending bits into a pile of tiny interesting pieces. Since I'm daft and forgot to bring my phone with me, I don't have an image of the 4 foot x 3 foot panel the retailer had made up, although husband and I both thought it looked much like the varigated bamboo. Here are three pieces of sample together as a sample (top option):

Is it eco-friendly if you install end-pieces?

What's the problem? Buy the available maple product, have a lovely floor that stays within budget, get a kitchen.

My problem is that I'm a wood snob, and I have a paradigm that nice hardwood floors = expansive lengths of wood with few visible seams. I can't break the stigma in my head that installing a bajillion 1 foot long (or less!) off cut pieces of maple in my first floor is going to look super cheap and awful.

It boils down to having expensive tastes and no money (again...). It will take a few weeks and a few failed attempts at refinishing the softwood barn boards to change my mind, I expect. Til then!

Too Cute

I know, this is old and so cliche but this video puts a smile on my face every time. Makes me wish I was a better performer :)

This one too:

Wolfmother - Woman

Oh those funny feminists

I sometimes have difficulty explaining my reaction to what I perceive as stupidly sexist things to my husband, but we did agree that the move in the United States to basically ban access by employees (or even employee dependents) to birth control pills by certain religious schools, universities and hospitals is ridiculous. According to these institutions, doing so would go against their religious freedoms.

In the comments of some of the articles, there are stories about students who attend religiously-affiliated universities having to drive to the next town over to purchase full-priced birth control pills, and a female dependent unable to secure birth control because she is still covered by her father's insurance plan and he works as a principal at a private school with church ties. I think this is profoundly messed up in a country that claims to separate church and state.

This is the first video to mock the Congressional Republicans "experts":

and another one from Funny or Die:

Women's Health Experts Speak Out from Judd Nelson

Snow day

We're chipping away at the rooms that are left for plaster board, admittedly I had a less-than-productive weekend on account of a few parties. Ah well. I woke up with a scratchy throat this morning, potentially a cold coming on. Rose Cousins will help me feel better (her album dropped today - I put my Christmas gift certificate to good use). I've been trying to eat well lately too:

Organic mesclun greens with local goat cheese/bacon/beets and imported walnuts candied with local maple syrup. Green smoothie, kitchen drawings and The Scientist during my lunch break.

We visited a kitchen cabinet place on the weekend, who offered to draw up some plans for our space. I'm curious to see whether they look anything like what we have already done up in our heads. I'm sending the drawings of the space to her this afternoon, hopefully the turnaround is short.

A window I pass by at work on occasion. You wouldn't guess there's a foot of new snow on campus by the bright blue skies.

Weekend Warriors (my hands are blistered and sore)

With generous help from friends and family, we managed to put up 2/3 of the 12 foot boards of sheetrock this weekend - finishing the entry, front parlour, back parlour and most of the current kitchen. These are some of the photos of the work (for my brother-in-law, who is apparently sick of the number of fashion posts), there are LOTS of them.

Prior to the boards going up, I ran around like a squirrel taking pictures of exposed wiring. I figured with the spray foam insulation, any wiring done after the walls are closed will be much harder so we should have an idea of where things are running:

The front entry & stairwell, with newly framed closets for coat and cleaning supplies storage:

Curvy alcove under the stairs will eventually highlight art, and provide additional drawer storage:

A peak into the front parlour, currently housing our dining table/tool repository. Eventually destined for library status:

A peak into the back parlour from the front parlour, with the functioning washing machine (very timely repair, given all the plaster dust stuck to our clothing lately):

A little mood lighting:

And finally the new kitchen extension, with the beautiful exposed beams. If I can figure out a way to keep them like this, I will because I LOVE THEM. It might involve custom cabinetry, but if hubby is willing then so am I:

Decorated with antique butter churning bowl from in-laws:

Hidden treasure:

Finally the undone parts: alcove, pantry, closets and the back extension room that still needs extensive structural work (floors are sagging since they are under-framed):

(very excited)

Sucker for Punishment Playlist

AKA The "I'm-still-heating-samples-at-6:30-Friday-Night" playlist:



AKA The American/Canadian-female-artists-punctuated-by-the-occasional-dude-with-an-accent playlist.

It's actually happening

After a year+ of exposed spray foam insulation walls, this weekend we are actually going to put up drywall in preparation for plaster finish. Progress we can SEE. I'm so excited to be over the expensive stage of ventilation/plumbing/electrical.





Onto finishes, floors, cabinets and beyond!And today my washing machine got fixed!

hardly at all

Rose Cousins. If I'm lucky, I'll get to see her in concert for the tenth time in April.

art substitute

The art gallery on campus has a fundraiser every year on Feb.14th, where donated pieces of art are auctioned off while everyone dresses in their pink/red/purple best. Families are welcome to attend, there is a cash bar, and lovely MCs. There is also a cake walk, which is basically musical chairs but using numbered hearts around the perimeter of the room. You buy into the conga line, which snakes around the room while music plays. When it stops, a number is pulled from a basket and if you are standing on the number - you win! Meander over to a giant table full of cakes, and claim your prize.

I can't do art, but I can bake. My mother gave me the BEST chocolate cake recipe a few weeks ago (she made it for my birthday - yum!) and I used it to create this steampunk monstrosity:

It took forever because I didn't know what I was doing. Everything save for the hot ballon mesh and the various structural toothpicks is edible. It might even taste good (although miles from being healthy) since I used a marshmallow fondant recipe.

Bringing geekiness to the artists since 1984.

All these years...

...I coveted the smooth locks of others, wondering in amazement how they could tame their hair. Not even with a flat iron could I achieve the same results, so I just stopped trying and embraced my wild mane.

But lo! I know now the secret to smooth shiny hair now: a new hair dryer (I bought the Revlon RV544 mentioned here in Consumer Report review website) to replace the tiny, inefficient travel dryer I was using before. And then this amazing stuff Pequi Oil which I picked up in San Francisco last month. I had used a bunch of other similar products from other brands (Fructis, Dove, Organix) but none were as light on my fine hair.

Now I know this guy's trick.

Since we bought a new-to-use Ford Focus wagon (OMG no more piles of dog hair in the backseat, thank Chewbacca), I'm left with just a broken washing machine. Since doing laundry on campus is humiliating but possible, I decided to tackle that one last (karate chops the air).

Clearly all this sexy ride needs is some undercarriage neon lights.

season to taste

(Swearing & Orwellian themes, may not be everyone's cuppa tea)

Aikido on the East Coast

Way before the new year, I was at a concert in town when I got chatting with an acquaintance I knew through the crossfit gym. He was asking if I still went (no) and why not (big long explanation about being strong but clumsy). He was the one who suggested I look into Aikido martial arts classes, a martial art he suggested would be the best suited to addressing my desire for increased co-ordination and efficiency in movement.

I googled local Aikido instructors, and tried to convince one of them to come to my tiny village. I tried to round up some interested friends, but it was clear I was the most enthusiastic. Then over Xmas break I was chatting with a friend who mentioned that there were a few people from the university who were studying with a fantastic teacher in a community about 1 hour 20 minutes away. He said a van goes twice a week, and if you can swing the drive, that the instruction was VERY worth it. And lo, the dojo was offering a women's self-defense course three weeks into January I could attend as a introductory course.

So I rounded up some ladies - my boss' eldest daughter and a friend from my hometown. As a trio we hit the snowy roads to learn about self-dense with about 9 other women. The three hour course was divided into three sections - first hour was discussing the strength in intent, projection of self-confidence what it means to be aware & present. The second hour we practiced the one handed take down (with variations), the same skill used by law enforcement when someone approaches with arms outstretched. Then the third hour we did deflection moves with variations, which help smaller sized women throw off front-forward attackers without losing balance. There was the senior instructor and three helpers/attackers - all younger men of various builds and intensities. Reminiscent of goldilocks - you could chose your helper to get increasingly difficult-to-handle men (S, M, L). It was a worthwhile 3 hours, and I was surprisingly sore the next day. Despite this particular spot being so far away, I still find myself thinking about it often.

Airbnb inspiration

An apartment in Austin Texas with a full size mammoth skeleton. I might steal this idea.

Classy Stripper Music

AKA Perfect Friday Morning Music...?



FFFFFFFyeah!

Press Released

Our lab did something that warranted a press release from the university media relations team. This meant that the relatively grueling six hour training period for a new fancy piece of equipment got interrupted halfway through so that newspaper reporters could take our pictures and do some interviews. The tech guy from the States was clearly 50% amused and 50% weirded out by the media intrusion - I slyly asked him whether he had ever been interviewed while on the job and when he stated emphatically NO! I had to reply back "Welcome to rural Canada. You'll be in the local newspaper tomorrow." Since it didn't snow much while he was here, he got one amusing anecdote to carry back to his home state.

I forgot to tell me mom I was going to be in her daily newspaper, so I got a call later about it :) She even cut out the article so I could read it - the reporter did a decent job communicating our science. Hopefully the other papers did an equally good job (the reporters for the smaller paper was very young looking).

Then last week I did a TV interview too. They wanted my boss to speak of course - he's typically scientific looking (big words/bald head/boy bits) but unfortunately was he was held up teaching a bioinformatics lab for most of the morning. He deigned a ten minute visit at the very end to contribute his sound bites, but the rest he left to me and another (camera shy) worker. So I dutifully answered the dozen or so questions as clearly as I could, and looked on mortified the next day at the online clip as I realized I was guilty of the Valley girl lilt in my voice.

"...what linguists call a high rising terminal. That means ending your sentences with a rising intonation. It's as if you're asking a question with every statement you make."
(read more about it here)

I thought I had trained myself out of this behaviour but NO DICE. I had three sound bites during the piece, and the two first definitely suffered from the rising intonation problem. Luckily, the last statement sounded appropriately serious and definitive. I bitched about it to my boss the next morning when he congratulated me on my "successful science communication":

Me: "Goddamn, I did that thing that I've been telling undergrads for YEARS to stop doing: I spoke with a lilt in my voice that makes it seem like I am unsure of my statement"

Him: "I think we've lost that battle. Generationally speaking, most young women do speak like that now"

Me: "I knowwww....but I thought I was better than that" (stomps foot in frustration)

So NOTE TO SELF: When speaking to media outlets who are likely going to carve your cohesive sounding explanations into little lilting snippets, be sure to always.speak.with.a.downward.terminal.

The Rational Mind

I've been a wee bit obsessed with personality tests lately. In particular I did a shorter version of the Myers-Briggs test available here ("yes vs. no" style) and here (five point scale-style). I am an INTJ: borderline introvert, super intuitive, moderately "thinking" over "feeling" and borderline judging over perceiving. The MBTI tests results are ugly four letter acronyms, but each of the 16 combinations has an associated word that makes it easy to remember (examples: "crafter", "promoter" or "teacher"). I am a "mastermind", whose personality is characterized by efficient strategizing, not much respect for convention, and definitiveness (aka arrogance depending on who you ask). We make great scientists.

Yes, this is a typical Sunday night: Agricola board game and LOTR on the macbook pro.

I just thought it was so spot on I made everybody around me over the next few days fill out the questionnaires too. I came out with the same INTJ personality no matter what test I did (similar experience to an Architect friend as well) but my husband got various answers depending on the test. He is too borderline on a few of the options that the type of test, how the question is asked and how long he takes to answer the question all effect the ultimate outcome. For me though, the test was re-iterating some truths about my own personality I've only solidified in my own brain during the last year.

At the music concert a few weeks ago, every one was looking at the performer and I was mesmerized by the sound board. How does it work?!?!

Part of the enlightening process has come from continually interacting with a large group of girlfriends. One of the brilliant things about sharing stories over wine is that you become aware of how people react to situations in ways that would never occur to you. The types of situations we usually end up discussing are relationship related (romantic or otherwise). How do you deal with a friend going through a rough patch? A partner who won't listen? Online creeper? There are the other things too, the practical matters of living: How do you deal with finances? Career advancement? Replacing a car?

It is during these conversations that I have started to peg myself with certain characteristics. Distinctly, I am the least sentimental of the group of friends, and have a self-deprecating inside joke about my robot heart. I have no interest in contributing to (what appears to me to be) self-soothing platitudes that some of the more socially astute ladies insist on doling out whenever someone is in emotional distress ("Oh, I'm sure she just forgot she said she would be here" being a recent example...meanwhile I think "I talked to her earlier today, she definitely didn't forget"...but I keep my mouth shut). My disdain for convention manifests itself in my (usually ridiculous) outfits and hairstyles, among other things. Lastly, from the typelogic.com website:

Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. This sometimes results in a peculiar naivete', paralleling that of many Feelers -- only instead of expecting inexhaustible affection and empathy from a romantic relationship, the INTJ will expect inexhaustible reasonability and directness.

This is me!! I want everything (and everyone) to work like a computer program! May logic always prevail!

I like getting older, and learning more about myself. My birthday just passed, and I've never felt like I wanted to return to age 23. The other side of the coin is feeling better in my own skin too, a super perk to getting older.

So far, twenty eight is really nice.

if you love something, set it free

One general rule I live by: you should give away what you hold dear, because it is only in giving that it will return to you (and you will appreciate it more when it does!). I'm not a metaphysical believer, but I do think life has a cruel way of reminding you of your pettiness when you least want to hear it. Plus hoarders are unattractive.

Most things, like love or maple syrup or books, are easy to give away. Money....not so much for me. My husband joked when we first started combining finances that he used to be the miser in every situation. Now it's me. Perhaps an inevitable bit of my personality? - the same bit that makes me good at science or planning? (I'll elaborate more on that tomorrow). Whatever propels me to budget and finance and planplanplan has started to rub off on others though, so at least I'm giving something useful away.

Over the last year or so, I have met with four friends with different financial personalities and issues (one still studying, one a homeowner/artist, one young professional working in the non-profit field and the fourth about to move where her boyfriend was going to school). Together we worked on budgets, short-term and long-term goals. I think each of them, during our "session", told me they wished someone had sat down with them ages ago to teach them this stuff (life pie, income potential, interest rates, etc). It got me thinking that my job at the university might be just the right arena to round up willing young souls who might be interested in learning what "prime + 2.25%" actually means.

I held off advertising around campus in the Fall because it isn't until second semester when students really feel the financial pinch. Ideally, it would be a casual round-table discussion on financial vocabulary and basic concepts, where I would steer conversation, chip in with my knowledge and serve donuts. :) Perhaps this week I'll actually book space and make up a poster, something I've been putting off due to vague feelings of "who-do-you-think-you-are-itis". Inferiority complex - pipe the fuck down, I'm just trying to help.

Last January I had 14K in student loans left. After reading a bunch of these personal finance blogs, I excitedly proclaimed 2011 to be the year I cleared all my stupid debt off (!!) I was going to punch my debt in the face too!!

Needless to say, I failed.

January 1st 2012: my balance sat at 4,000. Eight more excruciating months at current payment rate. Gah!

So here's to July 1st, 2012! The day I hopefully kick the last of that debt in the face. Meet me out back behind campus, mo-fo.

the funk in the air

After my trip to California, I entered a phase of utter non-productivity. I came home to a broken washing machine, a car primed to fail the yearly safety inspection, and had somehow lost my hair dryer before even leaving for my trip (how does one lose a hairdryer?!?)

So to recap: greasy hair, stinky clothes and shitty car.

I went to a great music festival, which involved staying out until 2 AM during the week, drinking way too much crappy draught beer and otherwise picking "fun" over "responsible". I ate mac and cheese one night for christsake...it was an entire week of processed food, packaged in cardboard and plastic. Just gross.

Questionable content

Then sometime after watching Mission Impossible at the local theatre (but before watching Limitless), the funk broke. I think it was associated with getting this stupid piece of very important paperwork (aka SPOVIP) off my damned desk - FINALLY!- after three months of working on/off on it.

I unpacked my luggage (for real), used the on-campus laundry facilities to clear the 6 foot pile of laundry, and started digging through the ten inch pile of crap on my desk. I've been clearing invoices for the business like a champ, recuperating money we've been owed for six months. There must be good financial karma associated with this drudgery, and I keep whimsically thinking that my bosses will be so appreciative that they'll cut me a bonus cheque for all my hard work. More likely scenario is that I have to ask for a bonus, which I've also been psyching myself up to do. I'll post here about how that works out after the SPOVIP is legally binding for all parties (ie I cross the paperwork finish line).

It will look just like this.

So the next week I'll talk about some of the stuff I've been up to that hasn't made it to this blog: dealing with the car, personal finances, the martial arts class I took, the science I'm teaching myself, the house progress. I'll probably post music too, because the best way to remind myself off cool new finds is to scroll back through this here blog. So with that:

It ain't dead yet

This is the week I post once a day. My bloggy-muscles have atrophied...time for some PX90 shit.

75 cents

(The spell has broken, I am productive once again. I think perhaps it just takes two weeks to recover from the West Coast mentality. Haha)

MORE FIERCE

FIERCE

On my day-long paperwork slog, I've taken a short lunch break to peruse the Golden Globes coverage. May I just say one thing?

I have stylish-alien envy, because Tilda Swinton makes me feel totally inadequate at everything.

jubilance

is a singing redhead with dimples

Bonne Fete

Sent my 28th birthday looking for lighting options for the house, eating a boat of sushi (plus some more!) and hanging out with friends. Listened to this and drank a winter warmer at the local watering hole.

Good day for an eighties baby.

( I owned and loved one of these puppets when I was a kid. It's actually over two feet long.)

West Coast life

I am in San Francisco, and I am feeling better. I hiked up this mountain today, had sushi for dinner and might go see an "old Asian guy" sing country and western. Tomorrow I'm going to go shopping and then to a music show in Berkeley. Two more days :)

update: travel with a head cold

Got whacked with a cold yesterday afternoon, flew with dripping red stuffy nose and pounding sinus. Watched Contagion on the plane. Couldn't drink any free booze (well...I had a clamato) or taste the first class meal.

My mission tomorrow morning (upon waking up from the Nyquil haze I am about to induce) is to find soft kleenex. I'm missing the talks tonight and a bonfire by the beach because of the illness...I'm not impressed.

yes please

California Thursday to Thursday. The wind was especially biting this morning, brr. Oh and I'm flying first class, by a strange pricing fluke on Air Canada. Maple Leaf Lounge here I come :)