Day Four Hundred Eighty Six

I know. I big-time-failed at posting anything while I was in Kansas. And now I'm too tired to do so tonight. Tomorrow, I promise! And there will be pictures! Not many, but they'll be there. For now I'll just say I had an awesome time in Kansas with my big bro (and Grant and Jacob - thank you for letting me stay with you!). Now back to the daily grind. Be gentle this week, grad school. Be gentle.

Day Four Hundred Eighty Three

Happy Thanksgiving! More from my holiday in Kansas with my brother tomorrow - for now, I sleep.

Day Four Hundred Seventy Eight

It's been an exhausting weekend so far. Thursday my experiment wasn't working due to equipment difficulties, so I pushed it to Friday instead knowing it would mean I'd have to come back in on Saturday to take some images. Lab work on the weekends.......and so it begins. While the experiment was successful on Friday (yay!), the result today wasn't ideal. Lame. Once I pass one hurdle, I slam right in to another one. Go easy on me grad school, its the holiday season.

After finishing the first part of my experiment yesterday, I headed over to A Christmas Affair at the Palmer Center in downtown Austin. For those of you who don't know what this is (which is probably most of you) - its a giant Christmas bazaar. Giant. GIANT. They had a massive tree set up in the middle of the room that was topped with a chandelier. Its so over the top, but they had some really cool vendors, almost all of whom were very much out of my price range. I managed to find a birthday gift for my roommate, as well as some delicious homemade tortilla chips. Maybe next year I'll be more successful, since I'll know what I'm in for in terms of the sheer size of the event. To finish off Friday I went to have dinner with my grandpa and family. The food was delicious, and the company was fantastic.

Today started with...Chuck E. Cheese! Because what responsible adult doesn't spend their Saturday morning there?! It was my roommate's niece's 4th birthday. I played some skeeball, put out some virtual fires (in a game that was terrifying for children), and ate part of a Frozen themed cake. All in all a successful morning. Then the trip to campus, then home to take a nap, then out to dinner to celebrate my roommate's birthday. Add to all of this a ridiculously stormy day. Thank goodness where we ate dinner just happened to be right next to BookPeople where I could wait out the worst part of the storm. How very convenient. I got home just in time too, as the lightning started to get so severe that it turned the sky white. Texas weather, sometimes you crazy.

Day Four Hundred Seventy Five

Today I learned we have a mouse that occasionally visits lab. How did I learn this? Well, I heard a grocery bag by my desk making noises it shouldn't have been making, then saw a speedster of a mouse fly out of it and into a hole in the floor. After inspecting surrounding food/snack stashes (all of which I proceeded to throw away just for the principle of it), I learned this mouse has an affinity for chocolate. I can't help but admire his good taste in snacks.

Day Four Hundred Seventy Three

I really have no excuse for not posting anything the last five days. I barely touched my laptop and didn't have the patience (or the needed level of consciousness) to type anything out on my phone right before going to sleep. So to make up for it, I'll post a couple photos!

Friday morning I had an exam in my microbiology class (yuck), but if I have to have an exam, I want it to be on a Friday. Because then I get a weekend of sweet, blissful nothingness. No homework or studying or anything. Just sweatpants and my book and a list of DVR-ed TV shows. But before I got super lazy, I decided to kick off the weekend with the UT men's basketball home opener on Friday night. I went with my laboratory-partner-in-crime Mindy, and we ended up three rows from the very top of the arena. Sweet seats UT, thanks a bunch. Apparently if you're a student and don't shell out money for the athletic package (I have it, Mindy doesn't), they make you sit in the nosebleeds. No matter though, we could still see what was going on just fine from our aerial view. I must say, after a season of exhausting football games where I'm forced to stand for almost the entirety of the 3 1/2 hour game, sitting in a nice covered arena was pretty nice. And UT won, so that made it extra nice.

Saturday I did the sweatpants-book-DVR thing until 6:00pm, when I was forced to put real pants on to go to a game night hosted by a couple at the church I go to. I drove out to their neighborhood, creepily lurked around trying to figure out which house was theirs, then when I gave up and called them I was informed that game night had in fact been canceled. I even made muffins, you guys. No harm, no foul though, their house is close to the cheapest gas in town, and I was able to fill up my very empty gas tank for less than $20. Then I went back home and turned on the UT vs OSU football game and watched our boys secure bowl eligibility. Woohoo! I never thought that would happen after a disastrous 2-4 start, but they've pulled it off. Well done, Stronghorns.

Today was...a Monday. I managed to stay alert for almost all of class this morning (a solid 43 out of 50 minutes, I'd say), got angry at mini centrifuge tubes for not filtering my solution (this doesn't have to make sense to you, just be assured it was very frustrating), and drank a cup of hot water to stay warm in lab. Because it's always freezing in lab. Always. With the weather getting colder out we've all been wearing scarves and knit hats outside.....and then just not taking them off inside. I've simply gotten used to the confused looks in the hallway when I emerge from lab and walk around in Welch Hall looking like I just walked in from the north pole. At least I love my sweaters and scarves, and work always gives me a valid reason to wear them no matter the time of year.

Day Four Hundred Sixty Eight

Sometimes, all the stars align and you realize you have a roommate that will enthusiastically buy matching winter-themed onesie pajamas with you from Target. So.......guess who went shopping tonight? I hope you're all ready for some epic roommate Christmas photos. Side note - they are seriously comfy.

This week has been research heavy, with one failed experiment and one hopefully successful experiment (I'll find out tomorrow) thus far. Those little bacteria are just being way too elusive. Its like they know I'm planning to shoot a laser around them. Stop hiding bacteria. I'm not trying to kill you. I'm just trying to capture you in tiny, tiny boxes from which you can never escape. Better, right?

In other news, last week I bought my next book club book off Amazon. I got a package in the mail on Monday, and after marveling at how big and heavy the box was for a single book, I opened it to discover that Amazon had sent me bedsheets instead. Expensive bedsheets that didn't even fit my bed. Wait...what?! After a slightly confusing phone call with my mom that went something along the lines of:

Me: "Did you send me sheets that won't fit my bed?"

Mom: "..........No."

I emailed Amazon and had a very nice UPS man come today and pick up the random sheets to take back. Long story short - I never got my book. Way to go, Amazon. Luckily one of the UT libraries had it. School saves the day.

Its cold here right now. And I love it.

Day Four Hundred Sixty Five

Picture post! All of these are from yesterday, because all I did today was drive my dad to the airport and sit around my apartment in sweat pants.

Former longhorn football player Jordan Shipley

Tailgate!

One of the army paratroopers (Golden Knights) during pregame

UT about to score! Yeah!

The chemistry grad school football group! Edward gets very enthusiastic
(I don't think I even need to specify which one he is).

Beautiful sunset

Orange tower! UT wins!

Day Four Hundred Sixty Four

UT won today! We upset #24 ranked West Virginia, and it was an awesome game to be at. Consequently, I am completely exhausted, so this post will be short in order to minimize any incoherent ramblings.

Dad came in to town yesterday afternoon (yay!) and we went and hung out at my grandpa's house all evening and had delicious Mexican food (the extent of the Mexican food I ate was homemade tortilla chips, but the rest of the food looked delicious).

Today we started off by going out to breakfast at IHOP with my other set of grandparents, and I got a Belgian waffle and it was the best. No better time to carbo-load then before a big football game. Then we headed off to the Co-Op up at campus to buy some UT goodies and get autographs/pictures with two former longhorn football players, Jordan Shipley and Quan Cosby. I just so happened to be wearing my #8 jersey, which was Jordan's number at UT, so we instantly bonded. I decided to refrain from telling him that I got this number jersey because it was on clearance. I also neglected to inform Quan Cosby that I didn't even know he existed until today. It just seemed like the wise thing to do.

Then, drum line at the tailgate and football game. I'll post pics tomorrow. Until then, I sleep.

Day Four Hundred Sixty One

It rained all day today - a steady drizzle that was so unlike Texas and so much like Washington that it made me miss home. It reminded me that no matter where I end up, I'll always consider myself a Washingtonian at heart.

All these crazy Texans, however, aren't sure what to do with rain. They talk and talk and talk about how much they need rain, and when it finally shows up people grumble. Then they begrudgingly grab their umbrellas and speed walk everywhere. I find it humorous, and probably saw more umbrellas today then I did the entire 14 years I lived in the pacific northwest. I just threw on my raincoat and leisurely walked around campus enjoying the cool weather.

Something weird happened on the drive home though. There are always vultures hanging out on the light posts waiting for road kill, but for some reason the rain caused them all to stretch their wings out while they were sitting. All of them. On 10 consecutive posts. It was so creepy, like some kind of bizarre bat (vulture?) signal.

I voted yesterday. It was my very first time voting at an actual poll booth, and it felt very patriotic (sorry Washington, but mail in ballots just don't feel the same). And for what seems like the first time ever, some of the people I voted for actually won! You best believe I wore my "I Voted" sticker with pride.

Day Four Hundred Fifty Nine

First things first - I filled up my car with gas today that only cost $2.59/gallon. Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how awesome that is? I love "winter" in Austin, suddenly things get so very cheap.

The most ridiculous moment of the day came while I was shopping at HEB. A lady next to me grabbed some canned fruit and showed it to her 5 year old son, who responded with "is it organic?" When the mom said no, he replied "then I don't want it." And she PUT IT BACK. I think I stood there for a few seconds trying to comprehend what just happened before silently walking away in disbelief. It was absolutely absurd. Since when does a 5 year old even know that word exists?

I had my first book club tonight! It met at BookPeople in downtown Austin, and consisted of 5 mystery-novel-loving individuals (including me). I'd never been to a book club before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had a great time. I've already ordered next month's book off Amazon. During book club I found out I had just missed Lavar Burton making an appearance at the store earlier this week. Um, are you kidding me?! I could have met Mr. Reading Rainbow who also now stars in a show I love (Perception on TNT)? I was bummed about this, and relieved to be in the company of people who understood the awesomeness that is Lavar Burton.

It's supposed to storm this week. And do you know what that means? Cooler weather. I. Can't. Wait.

Day Four Hundred Fifty Eight

I read all weekend for book club. It was the BEST.