To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

All aboard the plague ship

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 04:02:53 GMT

So hey, my state is currently skyrocketing in the rankings for COVID cases per capita, hospitals are full, and people are dying, while our governor is trying to be a poor man's DeSantis or Abbot, insisting nothing is wrong, denying schools the ability to go virtual, and fighting mask mandates. Our vaccination rate is something like 41%, because of course it is. Useful infographic. Check out the "active cases" graph at the bottom right. I mean, I guess "vertical line" is a kind of curve...

I'm back to masking, of course--I think there was, like, two weeks in June where I took it off?--and going nowhere except the grocery, the rink, and my parents' house. Not giving up skating again to protect stupid people. Driving and skating extra carefully, though, seeing as our ICUs are overflowing. I'm starting to have critical care/pulmonary/infectious diseases MD faculty cancel on me for meetings/seminars, or be really delayed getting me information, and citing COVID workload for it.

The CDC added biologics as a reason for getting a third shot now, and my rheumatologist recommended it this week, so guess what I have to do next Friday. (Timing it for the off week of my Cosentyx and that Labor Day three-day weekend, because if the third shot is anything like the second, I'll need every moment of those three days to recover.) Hooray? I was hoping I could wait until there's a Delta-specific booster, assuming one is in the works, but oh well.

Work, at least, has given up the pretense that we are ever going back. The department head said that as long as no one over him requires it, he's fine if we work from home forever. As he said, "the most valuable resource in academia is space," so they're just going to add employees but not add offices. I guess eventually those of us who don't want to come in, or only want to come in when we have in-person meetings, will just get a hoteling space somewhere.

Speaking of work, our big behemoth grant will be funded! Yay, we all have jobs for another five years!

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Skate Nashville

Sun, 23 Apr 2017 23:34:12 GMT

Skate Nashville was fun. I actually had competition in the freeskate. There were enough adults that it wasn't just me in my division!

This means I came in last out of the four of us, but I was expecting that as I knew at least two of the three had more difficult jumps than I do. Oh, well. (One of the five judges had me third, which was heartening.) I was uncontested in the compulsory moves event, which was fun to prepare for because the compulsory moves this year were all things I enjoy and am good at, but was over so quickly that I don't know if I'll do it again in August.

I bought the professional action shots a photo company was making of everyone, so here are some selected photos.

I don't think I'll be trying to do an out of town work conference and a skating competition in the same week again, though. That was very stressful and tiring. (And, unfortunately, this conference next year is going to be Thursday-Saturday instead of Wednesday-Friday, so I really couldn't do both. I'm hoping we'll get a budget from NIH someday soon--thanks, Trump!--and will get to hire someone, and that person can go next year, but I should probably be thinking about a poster I can present, since they have a section for training and educational support posters, and that would get me closer to the quasi-faculty position my boss and I want me to move into someday.)

In fact, it was so stressful that I'm pretty sure it's set off another arthritis flare. I have a previously-scheduled rheumatologist appointment tomorrow, though, so at least relief is in the near future.

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Sun, 01 May 2016 23:35:47 GMT

Okay, ten minutes of personal instruction on back spins from Scott Hamilton just because he happened to wander by and see me struggling was worth getting out of bed and to the rink today.

I can't promise it will actually help, but it was a very different way of entering it, so maybe this is the variation that will stick and make it so that I can do this spin. He uses a much deeper, tighter edge than I've been using, and adds basically an extra half-turn before going into the spin. The class was also nice--kind of an adult power class, mostly focused on crossovers and stroking with uber-correct form.

I almost didn't go, because my back is hurting (as usual) and because I went in to the office and worked on data tables for the grant for seven hours yesterday, in addition to the preceding two weeks of 9-10 hour days and four extra hours last weekend, and I am tired. These data tables are going to run over 500 pages, which just seems insane to me. I've had a temp working on nothing but the largest of them for almost six weeks, and that one still isn't quite done. Ugh. At least it'll be over on May 20. And, you know, hopefully we get the renewal, since this is the grant that pays for my position... (Someone today said, "Ah, I see, you're writing your paycheck." Indeed.)

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Some updates

Wed, 16 Jul 2014 23:13:24 GMT

My rink opens back up this weekend! I am counting the days. All two days, thirteen hours, and sixteen minutes, in fact. Ahem.

(Seriously, though, three months of only skating on Saturdays, plus a month of enforced post-op laziness, has done a number on the fit of my pants. Yuck. I need to take care of this before dress-and-skirt season is over in October.)

My first of two giant work events of the year is over, yaaaaay! It went well, too. There were a couple of very minor snags, but all behind the scenes and nothing that affected people's enjoyment of the mentoring activity and the dinner and keynote talk afterward. It was somewhat smaller than usual this year, which ended up being a good thing, because that event really needs three staff members to run smoothly and we only had two this time. But ~~my minion~~ the new hire for my old job starts Monday, so soon we will have help. HURRAH!

In between reading about the debacle that was DashCon, this weekend I broke 110k on the not!drawerfic. I hit a pivotal event, yay! I also blazed through nine months in three paragraphs to get to that point, which I think was good for everyone. Better writers than I probably could've written things about those nine months that would make the Pivotal Event mean more, but I need to be done with this fic, it has dragged on for fourteen months, send help.

I read Among Others this week. I am undecided, but think I fall more towards dislike. It's about and told from the POV of a teenager, which is an automatic point deduction for me. I like that it puts sci-fi and fantasy novels on the same level as the literary canon, but I also felt that at times it used shared references to stand in for original thought. (Maybe it would've been better had I much grounding in 70s-era SF.) I was also dead certain that ( Spoilers ) and the ending nonplussed me a little.

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my heart makes answer

Sat, 15 Mar 2014 00:13:21 GMT

Having the busiest period of the year at work come in the last six weeks of winter really seems to accentuate the seasonal change. By February, everyone's sick of winter (especially this cold, bitter one), all the overtime/work stress is beating us all down down, and everything is generally miserable--and then suddenly I'm walking across campus and there's a hawthorn tree flowering, these white flowers all over what I swear were entirely bare branches the last time I saw it a few days ago, and it's like some fairy creature stepped through the veil and settled here for a while, it's so surprising and otherworldly. Spring! In this land of endless winter and misery!

I didn't stop in my tracks, but there was definitely a hitch in my step when I caught sight of it.

This tree prompted me to notice today that daffodils are blooming in tight little bunches at doorsteps and along sidewalks, down in the little hollows in the neighborhood yards that always have the first of a long parade of daffodils. I've also recently had to switch my alarm clock's alarm sound from birds tweeting to a generic (but thankfully not shrieky) musical tone, because the birds are starting up an hour or so before I normally rise, which leads me to think my alarm's going off. Spriiiiiiing.

And and and, as of today we are finally done with the Big Huge Federal Report that makes life a misery through February, not to mention the Big Annual Program Event and the Big Thrice-Yearly Workshop Events, all of which came within two weeks of each other, and it is as if the sun has come out! Birds are singing, warm breezes are blowing, college students are getting drunk and making embarrassing porn videos in Florida on spring break! (One of these things is not like the others...) I can catch up on non-essential work stuff! I can take a lunch break! Not that it won't still be busy, but it will be a manageable type of busy as opposed to chaos.

(I don't ultimately mind the work at this time of year--it is, after all, job security for the rest of the year, and I suppose it builds a certain kind of team spirit--but it would definitely be nice have it spread out instead of all bunched together. Federal deadlines being what they are, this is unlikely to ever happen.)

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I haven't written much over the past couple of months because my brain's been too fried, but this weekend I AM going to plot out the next several scenes of the not!drawerfic and get started on them. I'm so close to at least joining up the ~80K chunk of continuous beginning and middle with the next few pieces of the middle I already have written, if not moving towards the end.

I did at least get some reading done over the past several weeks. Nothing really worth writing about here, but it was nice to do. Well, okay, one thing I did want to say was that I just finished The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt's newest) and thought it was great, but still a bit flawed. The rambling at the end needed to be cut down a lot. She approached Joycean--it was very reminiscent of the style of the ending to Portrait of the Artist, which is always a plus--but I rolled my eyes at some of it. That said, the book as a whole was intricately crafted and rich with interesting and well-realized characters, and despite myself I liked Theo a lot, so it was certainly worth reading.

Right now I'm finally reading Broken Homes, the latest Rivers of London novel. After that is Push Dick's Button, which is Dick Button's memoir and promises to be entertaining.

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I voluntarily stepped onto a sheet of ice at 6:15 this morning so I could have a session to practice/warm up before my lesson at 7. How did this become my life?

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The tooth and nothing but the tooth

Wed, 26 Feb 2014 00:30:05 GMT

Good: I don't have a cavity or other tooth problem.

Bad: My dentist, much like sinus!doc, has no idea what's causing the sudden sensitivity to cold in one of my teeth.

The dentist swabbed some fluoride over it and said to come back in two weeks if things don't improve. The hygienist muttered something about the filling in that tooth being kind of big and maybe starting to disintegrate, which would require a crown. But one would think that would show up on the x-ray, so who knows. Dr. Google suggests exciting causes such as a hairline fracture that's exposing the nerve to air (and will eventually crack that tooth in half) or an autoimmune disorder that attacks the roots and kills them.

I think I'm going to invest in sensitive-teeth toothpaste and hope for the best.

Apparently I also have acquired a benign, harmless condition called geographic tongue (warning: vaguely gross pictures).

There's a weak link to allergies, which doesn't surprise me, and a weaker link to stress, which really doesn't surprise me given the way the past couple of weeks have gone. Oh, annual progress report to the NIH, how I hate you. Also the four other big work things that are all happening right around now, UUUUUGH, who came up with this schedule and why were they allowed to plan anything, ugh ugh ugh.

But the end is in sight, and indeed, in two more weeks things should calm down considerably, and then I can move from my cube into the office that comes with my promotion! It's not terribly swank or anything, but it's an office, with chairs and a tiny table and a door and more than one drawer of filing cabinet space, woo! It is very exciting.

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A way to walk on water and not drown

Sat, 14 Sep 2013 15:26:00 GMT

It has been an unspeakably busy two weeks at work. A coworker was out suddenly, and I've been covering for her during an especially hectic time; website stuff has been ramping up; we had to make sweeping logistical changes to our biggest event of the year on basically no notice...let's just say I've been putting in a lot of overtime. (Even though I'm salaried, and overtime doesn't really mean anything.) I usually do a good job of leaving work at work (hell, that's one big reason I got out of academia proper), but I've been reading emails at night and thinking about work-related stuff during my off time because there's just so much going on it's impossible not to keep churning it over.

But one thing I like about skating is that there just isn't room for other thoughts when I'm doing it. I have to concentrate on each part of my body to make all but the simplest stuff work, and even with the simple stuff, proper technique is a never-ending battle requiring full concentration. Nothing can ever not be improved. So the rest of the clatter in my head gets put in a soundproof room at the bottom of the ocean from the moment I start lacing up my skates to the moment I get my rag out and start drying them off.

All of which is to say, I had an amazing class this morning. (Even though, thanks to hockey camp, it started at 8 AM on a Saturday.) I am, in fact, the only person in my class for this session, and from this I can see why private lessons are the preferred method of teaching. My technique on everything improved by leaps and bounds in just half an hour. I still have to do back crossovers the clunky way to pass my test, but they're so much more stable with just a subtle delay in the weight shift from foot to foot. My T-stops no longer make my braking foot cramp up because I'm trying so hard to stop on the wrong part of the blade, with my shoulders in the wrong position.

My instructor this time being of the USE YOUR WORDS school helped a lot with that too. She's also super perky and either completely sincere in her praise or one of the best actresses I've ever seen. She started to get apologetic for offering so many technical corrections until I mentioned that, having done dance for years, I got it and didn't take it personally. Then she was kind of like, "YES, someone who understands!" and we were off to the races. If I only get one class session where I'm the entire class, I'm glad it's with her.

Aside from technique improvements, she also started me on inside open mohawks, which are a kind of turn that changes feet and direction (forward to backward). The guy in that video is turning more than we were, as I think she's starting me out with a simplified version and he's doing the correct one. Right now, I'm basically skating forward on one foot, sticking my other foot down in fifth position, changing weight, and skating backward on the other foot. That sounds so much easier written out than it actually is to do.

After class, I went by the grocery store and bought plums and tea. Chocolate hazelnut tea, to be precise, which sounds delicious. I've had an excellent day so far, and it's only 10 AM! Now, back to writing. I'm at 62,000 words and some change on the not!drawerfic, I have clear ideas of what all the rest of the scenes in Part 2 need to do, and by god I'm going to make progress this weekend.

Subject line courtesy of this poem.

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Goodies of all kinds

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 03:45:16 GMT

One of the unexpected benefits of working in a department with a lot of people who've immigrated from other countries is that holiday potluck lunches can get very exotic. We had one today, and in addition to the usual staples like deviled eggs, green bean casserole, turkey, and chocolate chip cookies, there were delicious homemade chicken dumplings, some kind of fried noodle dish, a Chinese beef dish I didn't catch the name of, and tasty little sesame seed pastry balls that are apparently called jin deui.

I almost didn't bother going to this, having had thoroughly meh experiences at work potlucks in the past, but I'm glad I went.

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Finally got around to watching this week's Castle, which was one of the glurgiest things I've ever seen. And I'm a fan of 1930s and 40s movie musicals, so it's not like I haven't seen a lot of glurge! Ooof.

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Got an idea and some words written on a Yuletide treat! Have much more research to do for it, though. Yikes. Also have ideas for Fandom Stocking goodies, yay. Just need to, you know, write the things.

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Four things make a post

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 23:03:29 GMT

This week at work, I wandered around campus taking photos, designed some posters, and read and write a review of a book that is Relevant To My Interests both personally and professionally. Yep, my job is awesome.

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I dug out my BSG season four soundtrack this week, and hearing "Laura Runs" in my car on the way to work instantly transported me back to my first semester teaching, when I played it non-stop in that same car on my way to campus at seven in the morning to psych myself up for getting in front of my students. (My teaching philosophy could in many ways be boiled down to "What Would Laura Roslin Do?" Except I couldn't implement a lot of what she would do because I had no airlocks.) It was a very engrossing sense memory, to the point where I could feel my hands getting sweaty and my heartbeat speeding up.

...I don't listen to that track in the car anymore.

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I just found Fiona's stuffed squeaky owl in the kitchen sink. Apparently she somehow tossed it in there. I can't...I...I don't even know. This dog has superhuman (supercanine?) energy sometimes.

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Now I will disappear back to the vidcave! Eventually to emerge with at least one and possibly two vids!

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Weekend update, with many caps

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 23:24:26 GMT

Amusing things seen in the parking garage at work yesterday:

1. A Denison decal. Denison is just up the road from my own undergrad institution. I've never heard anyone outside of Ohio mention it.

2. A license plate reading "FRAK." On the same, car, a license plate holder reading "My other car is a TARDIS." (I need to meet this person. I'm almost tempted to leave a note under the windshield wipers, but I fear that would be too creepy.)

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Fiona strikes again. This one lasted almost a month, which is pretty good for her. Mom got her something very similar to this today, and in literally under a minute, she had one of the eyes off. Sigh. At least it was cheap and she had fun?

We like these toys, especially the Orka ones, but they didn't have any in stock at Target and no one felt like driving all the way to the pet store. Fiona has the mini bone with the streamers, and while she has managed to get one of the streamers off, the bone itself is intact, and she loves it. It's just hard to actually play with her with it, because it's not really made for tugging and she's not all that into fetching.

On the positive side, she only unleashes destruction on her toys, and not on our stuff, so GOOD DOGGIE.

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I also got a pretty dress today! As well, I've lost a decent amount of weight in the past two months thanks to diet changes, so a lot of my old clothes from grad school and just after fit again! This is, like, the best possible motivation to avoid sugar, because I am a.) a packrat, so I still have all my old business casual clothes from my first job out of college, as well as nice dresses from college ballroom days; b.) a cheapskate, so FREE CLOTHES are great; and c.) a hater of shopping, so I'm getting FREE CLOTHES without having to GO TO STORES AND TRY ON A MILLION THINGS! It's like winning the lottery!

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Double rainbow

Wed, 30 May 2012 02:30:46 GMT

( Today's rainbow. )

My first day at my new job was busy, but fun and interesting. I got to design a poster! And I'll get to write things soon!

As I was walking up to the office in the morning, I ran into a girl I went to high school with. She does my exact same job in a different department. Small world, etc.

I owe people e-mails, and I'll get to them soon, I swear. Perhaps this weekend. Or once I figure out a shorter way home. (440 at 5:30? Not a good idea.)

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Plants!

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:30:10 GMT

In a document that I read at work today honoring a seed company, there was an awesome and I assume unintentional pun: "[Company name] was a growing enterprise on [street]..." Heh.

Speaking of plants, a couple more pictures: ( under the cut )

And finally, I won the Netflix lottery and got Black Swan the day after it came out. Unfortunately, ( the film stank. )

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