Happy Monday!

Monday, April 30th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:35am

Good morning!  Happy Monday - back at it again!  I had a great weekend.  Lots of running, relaxing, and eating really good food :) 

I was thrilled to get an email this morning from an old friend I haven't seen in a long time.  She's an artist from Vermont who shuns Facebook and blogging and pretty much all things technology (besides the email).  She apparently quit her job and went to New Zealand for some long period of time.  Now she's planning on just driving around the country for awhile.  In lieu of blogging, she is willing to write little handwritten notes to people periodically.  Pretty cool - I'm a little jealous.  She and I ran the Tough Mudder together 2 years ago and spent some time together at the Liberate Vermont Music Festival in '09 and '10.  She's a tough nut.  I love hearing from people and all their adventures in life. 

Have a wonderful day, friends!!

Happy Friday!

Friday, April 27th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:02am

Good morning!  It was beautiful today.  Cold-ish - about 46 degrees, but clear, blue skied, not windy, and sunny.  Lots of people were out.  We saw Niko (little black & white Japanese Chin), Logan (flat coated retriever), and Isaac (black miniature poodle).  The cool air was getting everybody all excited and so, consequently, Sofie was playing chase with all mentioned. 

Yesterday night was nice.  It rained during my run, but that was ok because it kept me cool.  I really didn't feel like going yesterday so pushing myself to get it done felt good.  Brian had a bit of a rough/busy day at work and was feeling a little low so I got the fixings for S'mores and we made them after dinner using a candle (wax/unscented don't worry) to roast the marshmallows.  They were the best bad-day S'mores ever.  Dinner was good, too.  We made kind of a stir-fry with udon noodles, sauteed sugar peas, bell peppers, onions, and garlic.  Sofie has to go to the vet today for her pre-spay appointment.  They'll take her blood (aka rob us blind), and then tell us that she is, in fact, healthy enough to undergo anesthesia.  Hopefully this vet is one we can stick with.  They are located in Brooklyn and are about 100-150 bucks cheaper than the cheapest vet I've found in Manhattan.  They also have fantastic reviews on Yelp.  I found out about them from Niko's lady in the Park.

HAPPY FRIDAY!  

Thursday

Thursday (ALREADY?!), April 26th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:57am

Good morning!  Twas a lovely day in the Park, today.  I was a bit late getting up.  Woke at 6:30 instead of 6am.  I just needed it.  As I walked down to the Conservatory Pond, I realized something strange.  It was packed with people, boats in the water, etc...

"Am I in the twilight zone?  What time is it?"

Then I noticed they were filming a movie!  Some guy I passed warned me that walking in the "area" of filming signified that I was giving my consent to be filmed and that I can't sue the company if I appear in a movie. 

"Whatever - I'm not going to sue you (but my dog might)."

I don't know what the movie was - I don't know whether I was in the background of any filming - and I don't know whether Sofie was.  But if you happen to see a movie in the nearish future that seems to be set in Central Park near the Conservatory Pond, and you notice a small, spritely, black and tan dog chasing birds out of hedges, don't look twice - it really is Sofie and me.  :)  

In other news, the breeder where I think we'll be getting our next dog just sent me the most recent picture.  From left to right are the 3 males and then the female.  If we end up with one of these pups, (which it looks like we will), it will be ready to come home with us in June.  2 dogs are better than 1!

Pretty cute, eh?  It's the eyebrows. 

We're not set on a male or female yet, but were thinking Pippa if we get the female or Theo if we end up with one of the males.

Have a great day!!

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:00am

Good morning!  Can't believe it's Wed. already.  Time is going by so quickly!  Sofie met her friend Niko in the Park today.  Niko is a little black and white Japanese Chin.  He looks like he is as big as Sofie, but his lady told me he only weighs 9 lbs!  He is entirely hair.  Sofie likes to be chased by Niko and Niko likes to chase so it's a perfect arrangement.  They played for about 15 minutes until we went our separate ways.  I learned that she takes her dog to an animal hospital in Brooklyn called One Love and it's much cheaper and better than Manhattan prices.  Hopefully that works out because otherwise we don't have a vet to get her spayed at yet. 

About a week ago I called an animal hospital that I thought was in New Jersey and made 2 appointments.  One for blood work for anesthesia and the other for Sofie to be spayed.  I called back 15 minutes after I hung up and had to cancel because the dang animal hospital wasn't in New Jersey but rather, North Carolina. 

Me: "Hi, we were just speaking about Sofie, I made an appointment to get her spayed..."

Receptionist:  "Oh Hi, yes I remember.  How can I help you?"

Me: "Well, uh, where are you located?"

Rec: "125 Ocean Drive.  Do you need driving directions?"

Me: "Hmm....this is a little embarrassing.  What state are you located in?  Are you in New Jersey?"

Rec: "No dear, we're located in North Carolina."

Me: "Well I live in NYC.  I think I'll have to cancel those appointments."

Rec: (laughs) "Ok, I'll cancel for you. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Me:  "Ummm....No... but Thanks for your time!"  (have a nice life). 

These sorts of things only happen to me. 

Have a great day everyone!

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:05am

Good morning!  Had a great day yesterday.  My day worked out exactly as I like it to.  It included at least 10 miles combined.  3.2 with Sofie on our daily morning walk - 6 mile run after work - then about 2 or so after my run with Sofie for her evening walk.  I came home to hot leftover eggplant parm that Brian had made yesterday (I'm fairly certain it's better on day 2).  Then we watched our Netflix movie The Fighter - which was AWESOME!  You know, the one with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Mark Wahlberg.  Freakin fantastic.  Whoever said Mondays have to suck? 

This morning was surprisingly cold here.   Check it out!  41 degrees!

Here's to today being as great as yesterday. 

Have a great one, everyone!

Just another manic Monday

Monday April 23, 2012
Central Park East - 6:45am

Good morning!  The weekend went by far too quickly, but I suppose it always does.  I think we should all get 3 day weekends - one day to recover from the week and catch up on getting stuff done at your house (Friday), then 2 days to have fun (Sat/Sun).  It was a great weekend.  Saturday had wonderful weather, though Sunday was pretty crappy (after the run).  My race went great!  I had a goal of a 7:45pace, and I blew that out of the water, averaging about 7min mile.  I even got 15th among the females in my age group!  I'm feeling extra motivated now to get even faster before my next race (a 10k). 

This morning was a drag.  I woke up and wanted to go back to sleep SOOO bad.  I got up and it was raining.  Luckily it was a nice rain.  It was a drizzly, gray rain, which I kind of like because it's not bad enough to warrant me not going, and it will always be a quiet, empty morning.  Those kinds of mornings can be really nice sometimes.  This morning I only saw 2 people I knew.  Other than that there was no one out.  Just the sound of the rain and the birds.  I can't believe we're almost out of April.  Hallelujah!  One step closer to the end of these god-forsaken classes!!! 

Have a wonderful, fantastic day!

TGIF!!

Friday, April 20th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:00am

Good morning!  THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!  The weeks go by really fast but they are so damn full of stuff to do that every time Friday rolls around it feels amazing.  This weekend is going to be fun.  I have a race on Sunday and then the Immunology people are getting together at 1 to do some yoga.  For now I've just got to make it through today so that I can relax tonight with Brian and Sofie.  I might also be looking forward to whatever it is Brian brings home for us this evening (usually we get Friday treats). 

Have a great, great, great, day!

Thursday

Thursday, April 19th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:55am

Good morning!  Last night when Brian and I went to bed, we let Sofie up in the bed for a few minutes before she had to go in her crate for the night.  I had just given her a bath so she was all soft and clean (for once).  I guess we were both beat because what we thought was a few minutes later, ended up being 6am this morning.  I woke up to a little dog snuggled up in bed with us.  To boot, she didn't want to get up when the alarm went off.  I tried to pick her up but she rolled on to her back and was a limp noodle. 

When we got outside I noticed it had been raining.  Greaaaat.  I've said many times that I don't mind the rain - it is making everything green and lush this time of year in the Park.  However, Sofie is sufficiently muddy and nasty once again.  Several hours of clean and now I've got a dirty dog again.  What can you do?  They like being dirty!

Have a great day!

Wednesday

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:05am

Good morning!  It was pretty hot in our place again last night, leading me to believe it was equally warm out side.

Incorrect...

It was invigorating, though.  Especially for Sofie!

Have a wonderful, wonderful day!

Tuesday

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:05am

Good morning!  It was a hot, hot night in our apartment.  Even with the fan and just a sheet I was uncomfortable.  I think we are going to go out next weekend to get an air conditioner for the bedroom, because it's inevitable that it will need to happen before summer so we might as well do it before the prices get jacked up.  Sofie woke us up around 4:30am panting and whining.  Brian let her out and she was very restless so he brought the water bowl to our room and put some ice cubes in it.  She drank tons of water and crunched up some ice cubes and then was able to relax.  I don't blame her.  I can't imagine how hot I'd be if I were covered in hair.  Despite the hot night, the outside was surprisingly cool.  There was a nice breeze, low humidity, blue skies, and it was about 65oF on our walk.  Honestly it was probably one of the nicest days of the year.  Everything is so lush and green right now. 

On another note, we may be getting our new pup from this woman named Liz.  I haven't heard from our last breeder, so I'm not positive that litters are happening this Spring.  Liz has a litter of black and tans of which 1 boy and maybe the female are available.  I've been back and forth with her quite a bit about it so we'll see what happens in the next few months!  If we ended up going with one of them, they would come home with us in mid June.  That's a better time for us anyway, since classes will officially be over for me and I'll just be working.  We just love the black & tans - I think it's the eyebrows - it makes them look like little bandits.  (I know my Dad is rolling his eyes and commenting out loud that I'm out of my mind)

Here's the website you can check them out!!
http://buddingtoncavaliers.com/availability.php

Have a great day!!!

Happy Monday

Monday, April 16th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:55am

Good morning!  It's the end of a wonderful weekend and the start of a (hopefully) equally great week! 
On Friday night my friend from Philly, Mike came and visited me.  He has been one of my best friends all throughout college and it was absolutely wonderful to see him.  We drank a bunch of good Sierra Nevada's (we have a shared love for that beer) and he didn't end up leaving until about 2am.  Then on Saturday Brian surprised me with a trip out to have dinner at a nice restaurant (The Palm).  FANTASTIC!  We got an order of Calamari with Marinara and Lemon, and then Brian got the Crabcakes with mango salsa and I got a Filet and we shared an order of creamed spinach.  All with some good red wine to wash it down.  Both Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days and involved sleeping in, running, and walking in the Park with Sofie.  I'm a little sad the weekend is over - I wish those types of weekends could last forever.  Brian and I finished off the week watching Frozen Planet (awesome Sunday night series on Discovery) and eating some ice cream.  I also completed the week by meeting my goal that I'd set on Monday morning - running 25 miles.  I finished just that - 25 miles this week - three 4 mile runs, a 7 mile run (Saturday), and a 6 mile run (Friday).  I also did 90 minutes of Vinyasa yoga on Wednesday. 

Onward and upward with the week! 

Have a great one!

Happy Friday!!

Friday, April 13th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:55am

Good morning!  I had an interesting conversation with a guy in the Park today.  I was standing around chatting with him while Sofie played with his dog.  All was going ok until he asked me about what I do.  I told him that I am doing my PhD and study, broadly, immunology and microbes.  He then replied by asking me what I was planning to do after I finished.  I replied that I would likely stay in academia somewhere - teaching/researching or, less likely but still possible, go into private biotech, or even less likely but still possible, work for some agency on infectious disease (like the TB alliance or WHO-related thing).  His reply:  "You know, the only problem I've always had with academia is the fact that they're all liberals who are more interested in pushing their leftist ideology than teaching what they should be teaching." 

.......

What? 

I wanted to call him a prick and walk away, but I instead made a fatal mistake.  I attempted to reason with him.  WHY?

I wasn't nasty about it and neither was he but I'll spare you the rest of the conversation.  Needless to say, neither of us changed our minds.  

My conclusions from the morning:
1.  No matter how hard I try and get away from conservatives, I keep running into them.  For the love of God I'll have to move to Brooklyn or Hells Kitchen if I truly want to escape them forever.

2.  Nobody ever changes their mind about these things - regardless of reason or logic.

3.   Right-wingers have stupid-looking dogs.
...(ok that was a mean-spirited joke)

4.  Conservatives bring these types of zingers up in the middle of perfectly good/normal conversations.  For all the money likely spent on your finishing school, you don't seem to know how to maintain polite conversation. 

Now I'm off to study liberal things ... like how Tuberculosis resists acid in Macrophages. 

Have a wonderful day everyone!!

Thursday

Thursday, April 12th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:05am

Good morning, good morning!
The top of my picture got cut off because I had Sofie on her lead and she pulled to chase after a bird just as I was going to snap the picture.  I can't believe how fast this week has gone by.  I feel like I just got back from Oregon yesterday.  I jumped right back into the frying pan as far as work goes.  I started my rotation yesterday and I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with the work already.  Luckily I found another guy in the lab named Yan who offered to oversee and teach me how to do the cloning.  Thank God.  I also spoke with one of the long-term techs in the lab and she told me she would help me with anything also (i.e. where to find things, how the lab might do little things differently than others, etc...).  Now I'm feeling much better and more confident.  I've never actually had a project where I didn't have an immediate overseer that taught me how to do everything first.  This will be a challenge for sure.  Nothing great every came easy I suppose!

Have a wonderful day :)

Wednesday

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:45am

Good morning!  Sofie and I took a different route today so we could have some variety.  I liked it because it has different plants, trees, people, and dogs.  I didn't like it because it had too many road crossings.  Unless I can optimize that by finding some more tunnels, I don't think we'll be sticking to it.  There are no cars in Central Park before 8am, but this is the time when the cyclists are allowed to ride really fast and take up the whole road.  It  can be really dangerous for dogs and for the riders and it's not infrequent to hear some guy or gal went flying over their handlebars trying to stop for a dog that has run into the road.  Hopefully I can find some optimal new route - we shall see.

Have a great one!

Tuesday

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:00am

Good morning! Another stunning Spring morning in the Park.  The grass must be extra delicious at this time of year because Sofie seeks out the biggest, thickest tufts and just starts chowing down on it like a little cow. 

Have a wonderful day!!

Back in NY!

Monday, April 9th, 2012
Park Avenue & 72nd St.  - 7:05am

Good morning, good morning!  It is wonderful to be home in NY after a great trip home to Oregon.  I chit-chatted extra long with the doormen today.  It's nice to know that they noticed I was gone and were happy to see Sofie and me again.  NYC has a reputation for making you feel alone but I disagree - I've thought it much friendlier than Philly but not quite Portlander status.  I had such a great time with my Mom, Dad, and Sister.  Honestly - you could have tacked a few more days on before I was really ready to go home.  I had 2 beautiful days of skiing with my mom.  One at Mt. Hood and then the next day in Bend at Mt. Bachelor (one of which days included a trip to Joe's donuts).  I slept in every day, drank my coffee & ate breakfast, went running, went on long walks into Portland and through Tryon Creek Park in the sublime weather.  I went bouldering with Dad one day - which I'm still a bit sore from.  I did yoga at Bikram of West Linn.  I ate at Corbett Fish House three separate times and got my fill of Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale.  I ate myself sick on Papa Haydn's English Toffee Cheesecake.  Watched a lot of 30 Rock, layed in front of the fire with Jolie and Sarah, spent an evening with my cousin, aunt and uncle, had dinner twice with my Grandma Clark.  It was the perfect vacation.  The hardest part  was leaving for sure.  Every time I'm at home it feels a little bittersweet because I spend a lot of time far away from them - such is life I suppose. 

Upon my return to NY, I got the greeting of a life time from you know who.  Brian made fettuccine with lots of zucchini, onions, garlic, ricotta, fresh lemon juice, pine nuts, and a little parmesan cheese.  It was fantastic!  I wasn't hungry enough, but he'd also gotten a few other little treats that I will surely have this evening.  It is beautiful in NY.  During my 9 days away, all the remaining trees bloomed and, as you can see, the Park avenue median is filled with Tulips.  NYC is stunning right now.  We opened all of the windows in the apartment to let in the fresh Spring air and I gave Brian his presents - a Deschutes Brewery glass and t-shirt, and 2 enormous bricks of Tillamook cheese (cheddar & pepper jack)....ok maybe the Tillamook is a present for both of us.  I got bag-checked in Portland because of the big cheese blocks in my carry-on.  The TSA people loved it and carried on about it.  The TSA guy said I could bring them only because they are the best cheeses in the country.  To be honest, I think they only bag checked me b/c they wanted to see which one's I brought. 

Finally, I returned to NYC with my tax refund waiting for me.  YAY!!  I meet with Carl Nathan and Sabine Ehrt, my new co-mentors on Wed. at 9am to start my final rotation.  I still have to finish my rotation report for Joao Xavier's lab - it's mostly done.  I just have to proofread, add the references, and finish the figures.  I also have LOTS to read & research to prepare for my meeting on Wed.  I have class starting again tomorrow and journal club this Thursday. 

I'm feeling mightily grateful right now for having such a great life.  I am so happy & fortunate to be able to spend time with my family and re-charge the batteries.  I'm also a bit euphoric at seeing Brian and Sofie again. 

Happy Easter, Passover, Spring and enjoy seeing the World bloom around you for another year!