Friday, June 29th, 2012

Good morning!  This is how it starts (top) and finishes (bottom) :)

This weather is truly horrendous. 

I hope you all have a great day!

Thursday, June 28th, 2012
Central Park East - somewhere around 7am

Good morning!  Summer flowers are in full bloom here in Central Park - and it was another nice day to boot.  It was a wonderful morning - saw so many of my friends along the route.  Sometimes I like rain because I can walk alone and be with myself in the quiet.  Most days, though, I like my routine of stop 'n chats all along the way because it makes me feel connected to something other than the graduate school.  I don't always want to feel like I live on Graduate Student Island.  In efforts to not feel like I live on GSI, Brian and I went to a show in Brooklyn last night.

Now, I thought it would be a lovely evening.  Relaxing, with a nice dinner, followed by the show.  Does anything ever planned by Jennifer Oyler turn out that way? 
.....

The answer is No.  Things have a way of going screwy when I plan them despite my best efforts to not let that happen (i.e. planning ahead, etc...).  So yesterday I took the doggies for a long walk in the Park before meeting Brian at his work in midtown.  We decided to go in to Bk for dinner to maximize non-touristy explore time.  Well first, I just made a Jen Oyler mistake - got on the wrong train.  Transferred after 1 stop to end up at the A train.  OK - the A will get us there fine.  We get on the A train, oh this is nice, where should we eat, I'm excited, how was work, etc...

BAM

The A train becomes Express with no warning.  Thanks for that MTA.  We end up deep in Bk and decide to get off.  Shit neighborhood - something like little Haiti.  Brian's walking around in his suit and tie and I'm just waiting for white boy comments to begin.  We are afraid to get back on the subway for fear that we will be expressed back thru our stops to where we don't need to be.  So we used Brian's phone and WALKED.  I'm talking WALKED.  40 blocks or so.  Feet were killing.  Brian's shoes had HOLES in the bottoms.  Holes entirely thru to the sock.  By the time we got there we had 15 mins.  Of course the area was adorbs w/ tons of great restaurants packed w/ people drinking and eating.  We scarfed pizza then head in to the show. 

I'd expound on the show but I don't have time b/c I have lab meeting in 37 minutes and I haven't even showered yet.  It was great - Brian loved it and even said it was worth the trouble. 

We stopped at Tasti-D lite on the way home (it was tasti and delightful), and then when we got home and incredible thing happened.  Bear was left alone from 5:30-11 barricaded with Sofie in the kitchen with toys.  He did not shit or piss.  Magical.  I don't even know.  (Either that or he/Sofie ate it). 

Sorry, that's gross....

....but plausible.

Either way there was nothing to clean. 

Good luck to Brian today.  He is presenting at his firm's meeting.  So proud. 

Have a great one!

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:20am

Good morning!  Another beautiful day here in NYC. 

62 degrees & sunny and I'm relishing every second of it.  They've started with the snuggling as you can see above.  Sofie has been so sweet with little Bear - it's very cute to watch.  Tonight Brian and I are going to see a show in Brooklyn at 8pm.  I'm really exciteddd to get out of the Upper East and go do a little BK exploring :) 

Updates will follow

Have a great day!

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
Central Park East & home - sometime after 7am

Good morning!  It's amazing how much the weather takes a toll on your mood, sometimes.  The last couple days I've been waking feeling exhausted, cranky, and a bit hopeless over finishing this rotation and moving on to where I'll actually be doing my thesis.  This morning, on the other hand, I woke refreshed, energetic, and positive.  The past couple mornings have been depressingly hot and muggy.  Headache-inducing, sticky, energy-zapping.  This morning was around 61 degrees, no humidity, and partly cloudy (but in a good way - see above interesting cloud pictures). 

This weather has me craving fall already.  Let's get on with the summer, people and on to other, more useful seasons! 

Have a great day!

Monday, June 25th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:05am

Good morning!  It's official...I hate this time of year.  I'm perpetually sweaty and greasy, waking up and going outside makes you ill with the humidity, and you spend your time praying for summer thunderboomers and downpours to cool you the F*** down. 

This morning was one of those.  When I awoke, I walked out of my nice, air conditioned bedroom into heat and humidity.  However, on our walk Sofie and I were graced with intermittent downpours and a churning, yellow/green/black/gray sky.  It was actually quite nice.  That's all I'm going for - just a few degrees here!  Bear spent the morning snuggling with Brian - I needed a little girl time with my girl and Brian worked a little with Bear.  It's amazing how much that little man slows me down on my walks!  I can't wait til' I can let him off-leash like Sof!  Well, I'm off to get some breakfast and shower off (if only to be sweaty again in 5 mins). 

Have a great one!

FRIDAY, June 22nd, 2012

Good morning!  Bear peed in the lobby before we could get him out of the door today.  So at the blessed hour of 6am I had to run back up 3 flights of stairs to get paper towels to clean the mess up.  To top it off, we were already running late because our AC was cranked so high we literally couldn't hear my alarm.  By the time we got to the Park, Brian and Bear couldn't continue on the whole walk with Sofie and me so they turned back a little after hitting the Alice in Wonderland statue.  He also turned back with my camera so I have no Central Park pictures for you this morning.  I do, however, have a picture of something which visually does not look maybe so appealing but that was increîble!  I meant to type an accent over that i.  I don't know what that other accenty-looking thing is.  This, my friends, is a swiss chard, leek, and gruyere tart.  It's got eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, leeks, guyere, a LOT of swiss chard, heavy cream, and garlic scape.  It's made on a bit of light, flaky pastry dough. 

I can't wait to come home for lunch just so I can eat the leftovers (I will promptly be in a food coma following that ordeal). 

Bear had 3 accidents yesterday and 1 this morning - no good little man!  I think he had found something he liked to go on, so I've removed it in the hopes that he will get it out of his tiny pea-brain that this old comforter is not where you piss.  Oh well.  I think he's still doing well.  He gets that when he is taken outside he's expected to go.  He knows that is what gets him a treat and all the lovies.  He just doesn't yet get that going inside is bad.  So we've got part 1 of the 2 part down.  Going outside = good.  Going inside = bad. 

Excited to see Mom & Dad today! 

Have a great one!!!

Thursday, June 21st, 2012
Central Park East - 6:55am

Good morning! 

This is awful.  81 degrees at 7:45am?  I was getting so used to the weather we had during the start of June that I forgot what East coast summers are actually like.  Hot.  Humid.  Nasty.  At this point I'm just counting down the days until vacation in Oregon where it will be nice and cool.  There are some things that will be on the list of things to do while there: 

1.  Visit w/ family
2.  Stand-up paddleboarding (I've never done it but really want to try.  You can learn here but...I'm not so sure I want to submerge myself in Hudson River water).
3.  Oregon Coast trip  - Possibly stay a night?  The hiking, beer, food, candy, and scenery are great and the doggies will be in heaven.
4.  White water rafting - Maupin down the Deschutes?
5.  Corbett St. Fish House (Probably the easiest thing to do since we'll likely be there multiple nights).  On the sublist of this is the coconut rum torte.
6.  Go out with Sarah in her hood. 

AHHH....I can't wait.  Just counting. down. the days. 

Have a great day, everyone!

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

Good morning!  Day 3 of Brian, Jen, Sofie, and Bear walks in the Park.  Brian needs to be back home to get ready for work earlier than I do, so we've been setting the ole' alarm for 5:55am.  Yikes!  It was disgusting out today.  Hot & humid.  Sticky day - one that saps all your energy and makes your pants stick to your legs. 

Bear and Sofie have been getting along great.  They play quite a bit - mainly in the early morning after walks/food and in the evening after dinner.  Sofie is very sweet - she's so gentle with him.  This morning he went and stuck his head into her food bowl while she was eating and she just kept eating like he wasn't there.  She didn't growl or bark or snap at him.  I corrected him and gave him a smack - he should know that eating close to another dog like that can get him a bite from a dog less docile than Sof.  I also don't have to put the baby gate up to prevent her from being in the kitchen when he eats.  She stands about 4 feet away and watches him for any signs he isn't going to finish.  I have to say, though, I don't think she would be so great if I left the room ;) 

Today I've decided to post a video of Sofie and Bear playing instead of the usual picture.  Just click on the link I've posted and you should be able to watch.  Hope you enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TF-_oRuoik&feature=youtu.be

Have a wonderful, wonderful day.  

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Have a fantastic day!!

Monday, June 18th, 2012


Introducing....Bear!  Bear joined the household this weekend.  To be exact, his breeder name is Buddington's Bold Bear.  I think it's an outstanding name.  We went to pick him up on Saturday - he's been a gem so far.  Sofie and he are getting along quite well.  I think when he's a little bit bigger and less annoying to her things will be even better.  As of now she only get's jealous about her chew things - like pig ears and rawhides.  She does not like him coming near her when she has one.  He has been going to the park with us in the morning, too.  I couldn't handle both of them myself yet, but I think that will come quickly, also.  Brian walked along this morning with Bear and did the whole walk with Sofie and I.  Bear was very brave meeting all the new dogs and people.  It's hard to make any progress because we get stopped every 2 feet by folks wanting to say hello.  He even sleeps through the night!

Have a great day!

Friday, June 15th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:55am

Good morning!  I have 2 things to say today.  1.  Tomorrow is the big day!  We go to pick up the new member of the pack - Bear!  2.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! I hope you have a wonderful Birthday & can't wait to celebrate next week with you.

Have a great day!

Thursday, June 14th, 2012
(This picture was from vacation last summer)

Yesterday, Mr. Brian Yurachek had the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge run in Central Park.  The race was 3.5 miles and there were 15,000 participants - and that was just for yesterday - there's another one of equal size in NYC today.  Over the year - the race takes place in cities all over the world including Singapore, London, etc...  I have to say - I've enjoyed my time getting to beat Brian for the relatively short time I've been faster.  That time is no longer.  Yesterday Brian ran the race in 24:24 - which is a 6:58 pace.  He also did better than every other person in his company that ran the race.  Sofie and I were right at the finish line ready to congratulate him.  Next year his goal is for 22:00 - he wrote it on the back of his race bib for this year and stashed it away as motivation. 

I'm proud you can once again kick my ass, Brian, (but I'll have to get used to it)  :)

Have a great day, everyone. 

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012
4:45pm

I had about 20 minutes of free time before my meeting, so I wrote something.  I hope you enjoy it.  I know... I'm crazy about my dog. 

A Toast To My Dog

Tonight,
I raise my glass and toast to you
and,

cleaning:
muddy pawprints on the bedspread,
doghair tumbleweeds two days after sweeping,
stinking eye-goobers,
scummy water bowls,
gritty couch covers

spending:
way too much so you,
  could have a chip to bring you home if you're ever lost,
can eat the very best dog food,
can have greasy pig ears every Friday (ok, thank Brian for that),
are healthy and don't get sick,
don't get fleas or ticks or heartworms,
can have new toys to play with

waking:
at 6am when it's,
 snowing,
raining,
sleeting,
freezing,
humid,
baking.

Because:
You are the most loyal creature I've ever met,
You would do it all ten times over if
you were me and I were you,
I love you,
You are a good dog.

Here's to Sofie and good dogs everywhere.

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:10am

Good morning!  Humid, hot in the park this morning.  One nice thing is that since I've been done with finals I have been so much more relaxed.  I am really enjoying myself and finally feel like I have enough time to give to my projects in lab (designing experiments, researching literature, analyzing data).  It's also so nice to be able to go home and hang out with Brian and Sofie, go running, and think of good things to cook for dinner.  Just this week I had 3 happy hour plans for after work!  Tuesday, (yesterday), I met an old friend from SJU at Cilantro for margaritas.  She is a Physician's Assistant now and works at a breast oncology surgery center in Manhattan.  She actually does mastectomies on a daily basis.  She is supervised and working with a physician, but does many of the surgeries herself.  I always knew she was a really smart girl and it's SO wonderful to see her with a great job that she loves.  Today I meet up with some of my new labmates (i.e. Grégoire's lab), and tomorrow some of my current (i.e. the lab I'm not joining) labmates for drinks.  I haven't had this many social events planned in 1 week in a long time! 

Last night we cooked indian spiced pizzas with mustard greens and goat cheese.  Brian made the crust from scratch, I made the topping.  Tomatoes, onion, garlic, large bunch of mustard greens, coriander, curry, turmeric, chili pepper, salt, pepper.  Topped with pieces of goat cheese and baked for 10 mins.  Good, but not indiany enough for me.  I would like more of a curry next time.  I also found that the spices really masked the taste of the mustard greens.  There were tons of mustard greens on the topping, but you couldn't taste them - which I'd like to.

In other news, Brian has a race today!  3.5 miles in Central Park - I think it's called the JP Morgan run or something like that.  I know he's going to do really great and surprise everyone at his work with how fast he is :)  Can't wait to bring Sofie and cheer him on!! 

Finally, maybe the most exciting bit for last - we pick up Bear (whom Sarah insists should be named Sir mix a lot), on Saturday!  Here are his most recent pictures:

^In the bottom picture Bear is on the right, and Loon is on the left with the stick in her mouth. 


Have a great day!!

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:56am

Good morning!  Another overcast day here in the Big Apple.  I don't mind - it makes it much cooler & moderately less humid.  To be honest I'm not sure I'll ever be used to this East Coast humidity.  Did anyone watch that show Wild America last night?  Wait...I don't think that's the name - I think Wild America is the name of that show with Marty Stouffer back in the 80's that I remember watching as a kid.  Either way, it was on the National Geographic Channel and was about the America's.  It was on last night and tonight and it was really a great show.  Last night they showed something I have never seen before.  A jaguar in South America went into the river, fought an alligator, then dragged it out of the water and ate it.  They were struggling around in the water for awhile, which to be honest I thought would favor the gator, but then they showed the jaguar bite through the gator head into it's brain, which stopped it thrashing around.  She then dragged it out and ate it!  It was insane - that gator was as big as she was! 

Either way, we got our first round of food from the CSA last night (community shared agriculture).  We paid ahead of time for 24 weeks of seasonal produce from a small farm in NY.  They drop off their harvest each week at a church near our house and we just go pick everything up.  I'm especially psyched about it because we (Brian mainly) get to have fun making all sorts of new things with different kinds of vegetables.  i.e. Rhubarb...WTF do you do with rhubarb?  How does a vegetable that looks like red celery taste so tangy?  So weird. So this week's share was:
-2 heads red leaf lettuce
-1 head green leaf lettuce
-bok choy
-cherry radishes
-mustard greens
-mizuna greens
-rhubarb
-garlic scapes (the supposedly mild garlic green shoot that the farmer trims off early in the season so that the garlic plant devotes its energy to making a bigger bulb) 

So we made fresh pesto with the garlic scapes (NOT actually mild at all - quite spicy and bitey, which was a pleasant surprise).  2 cups basil, 1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts, 1/2 cup parmesan, little over 1/2 cup olive oil, bit of salt & pepper, 6 garlic scapes then put in the food processor.  We had that with red leaf salad on the side.  So good!  I don't know if I can go back to store bought pesto (at least in the summer)!

Have a great day!!

Monday, June 11th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:01am

Good morning, folks.  Sorry about last Friday - I just plumb forgot to post anything.  I think I was wrapped up with the fact that I'm officially DONE with classes for the remainder of the summer.  Sure, I'll have to take one more class next year - quantitative biology - but for now...I'm free!  This weekend was eerie - I didn't have anything to feel guilty about not doing.  It was a great weekend.  I went out for dinner Friday night at a place called Hummus Kitchen with the other first years.  The food was quite good, actually.  Living with a man like Brian Yurachek, I'm often not terribly impressed with restaurant food - it takes a lot for me to think it was actually worth the money.  Brian is such a gourmet that he honestly cooks much better and healthier than most restaurants.  Here's an example - last night for dinner he made fresh mozzarella, basil, and tomato sandwiches on olive foccacia that he toasted with garlic and balsamic vinegar.  They were absolutely delicious.  Here's some examples of the things this man makes:

That's homemade salsa with black beans, jalapenos, corn, cilantro, red onion, garlic, & tomatoes along with what the salsa goes with, codfish tacos with red cabbage and cheddar.

 That is what I had last night.  (topped with a bit of parmesan)

 This is the man with his dog.

 This is salmon over a bed of sauteed spinach and garlic with angel hair pasta.

 This is homemade chocolate mousse layered with raspberries (you can't see the other raspberries in it)

 This is a biscuit (a rare but delightful treat) - I don't want to hear any of your Carb-hating Ralph Oyler. 



I digress - so Friday night.  For dinner at Hummus Kitchen we split - lamb and garlic hummus, spicy marinated Moroccan carrots, lentils, and roasted cauliflower with green tahini.  Then I had as an entree the falafel (I'm still thinking about it).  Fried mashed chick peas with onions, garlic, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and tahini.  After dinner we went to see the movie, Prometheus, which is supposed to be the prequel to Alien.  I was super-psyched, but was quite disappointed.  It was not a good movie.  The plot was incoherent.  The only entertaining thing that DID happen at Prometheus was that I got carded at the ticket register.  When she first asked how old I was, I laughed and said "15."  Then she looked at me and asked to see my ID.  Hilarious. 

Anyway, when I got home, Brian had gotten me a Friday treat.  (He always gets me and Sofie a treat on Fridays).  It was a chocolate covered pretzel (my favorite), with miniature Reese's pieces stuck on it.  Finally went to bed around midnight, then woke up at 7 to go run the 10k, which went fairly well (until the last 800 meters, which were uphill and made me want to barf).

All in all, a fantastic weekend - mainly b/c of my peace of mind.  We have one more thing to look forward to this coming weekend....we go to pick up Bear on Saturday!! 

Have a great day!

Thursday, June 7th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:20am

Good morning!  Today is the day - the Cell Bio final.  For 2 weeks I have studied.  For 4 days I have studied 8+ hours per day.  I have listened to classical music, drank 4 liters of water daily (such that my brain is well-hydrated), avoided more than 1 cup of coffee (to avoid panic attacks, anxiety, and the like), and have buckled down and really tried my hardest.  When I would notice my attention waning, I would get down and do pushups to try and refocus.  At this point - what will be will be, but I can say that I did my best. 

It's a beautiful day to be done with this god-forsaken class. 

Have a great one!

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:55am

Good morning!  Aaggghh this morning was ROUGH.  I woke up at 5:50, realized it was 5:50 and thought, "Oh dear lord it's only 10 minutes until I have to get up.  How can this be?  I'm so tired!"
I went back to sleep for the 10 mins, then when my alarm went off I picked up my phone and reset the alarm for 7am.  "I need another hour." 

Guilt.....

"Get up - you have studying to do!"

"But I'm sick, I can feel it coming on!"

"No matter - get up.  If you get up now, you can make yourself the special Kona weekend-only coffee that Mom and Dad brought from Hawaii instead of your regular Maxwell House"

"Fine."

I dragged myself out of bed with not one inch of me wanting to get up.  Not one inch!!  I put my oversized sweatshirt on and pulled the hood up.  "I don't want to talk to anyone." 

Right when I marched into the Park I met up with Yu, the owner of Niko, the little black & white Japanese Chin dog.  This lady is seriously chipper all the time.  "Great - I'll have to be pleasant."  She and I walked together the entire route chit-chatting with Sofie and Niko playing the whole time (they love each other).  It was so nice that I forgot I was tired, cranky, and on the verge of sick.  It was a beautiful morning again.  Just look at that picture!  Look at what I would have missed had I not gotten up! 

In other news, I did my Immuno final yesterday and it went great - it was a huge burden to have off my shoulders.  I'm officially done with that class!  Now I just have Cell Bio to finish off.  I have all day today and then at 1pm tomorrow I'll be done.  Last night I was dreaming about the archenteron (I'm not kidding).  The archenteron is the primitive gut - the first tube that's formed during embryogenesis that will eventually form the gut.  Study, study, study. 

Have a great day!

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:40 am

Good morning!  Today was an incredible morning - another one of those morning walks you just don't want to end.  I could have just kept doing laps with Sofie around the great lawn.  It's supposed to rain, which is surprising because it was sunny and sublime this morning.  Nice and cool, too - around 50 degrees :) We saw all of our usual friends.  Sofie bit the back of my leg this morning - pretty hard - while vigorously trying to get me to submit to her leg humping.  The spaying has not changed her one bit.  I smacked her off and it happened to be in front a homeless man sitting on one of the Park benches.  He very much enjoyed the whole event. 

In other news, today is the Immunology final.  I get a twinge of adrenaline every time I think about it.  Dread mixed with "yayyy! 1 down."  Mostly, I get a twinge of adrenaline because it means I'm one day closer to Cell Bio :(  Immunology is not my concern - cell bio is a whole 'nother ball game filled with things that seem like wizardry to me. 

Have a great one.

Monday, June 6th, 2012
Central Park East, 6:45am

Good morning!  I told you we're back.  I was up extra early today - not sure why.  Was up by 5:45am and left the house by 5 til 6.  It was nice and cool out this morning - quiet, too.  I think the forecast was for rain, so there were very few people out.  There were even times on the backside of the great lawn that all I could hear was the sound of the breeze in the trees.  The solitude, cool breeze, thoughts of fun things to come this June, and Sofie's rambunctiousness gave me little bursts of euphoria - enough to keep me going through the week.  This week I have finals - ugh.  I'm going to try my UTMOST hardest to keep from thinking about next week when they're done and live in the PRESENT.  I've realized that there is almost always something that you have to do, but that you don't want to do or are dreading doing.  If I constantly fantasize about the minute that the event in question is over, I'll avoid experiencing the right now.  Usually the events in question aren't ever as bad as I think they're going to be, either.

Aside from all of that, we found out that, contrary to what we had thought, we will be bringing home little Bear instead of Loon!  Bear is a male - the other "high energy" pup.  11 days and he'll be coming home with Brian and I to join the family :)  Aside from all of that fun, I've got my NYRR (New York Road Runners) Women's Mini 10k next Saturday.  My goal is go run it in less than 43:30 - which is a bit of a stretch of a goal -  but I suppose what are goals if they're not stretches of your abilities?  You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.  Or, in the words of Sofie, "you don't eat 100% of the pigeons you don't chase!"

Have a great day and a great week!

Friday, June 1st, 2012

Good morning!  We're back at it.  Sofie is back to her usual self.  Her belly is all healed up and she's been romping around in Central Park again.  It's been stunning weather the past 2 or so days - not so hot - just sublime.  We've also been seeing tons of friends every day because everyone's been out with their dogs in the morning.  I swear it's tacked on like half an hour to my usual walk.  You should see Sofe right now, she's shamelessly begging me for my toast.  IT'S TOAST!! You won't even like it!!

Above you'll see I've attached the most recent pictures of the pup I think will be ours.  We're pretty sure that we're getting the female, but we we won't know for sure until this weekend.  This week was great - the last week of classes.  Next week are finals and then I can start work in Grégoire's lab!  That's right, you've heard correctly, I joined a lab!  It's too early to get into all of the details (I don't know them yet), but I think broadly I'll be working on trying to mathematically model the dynamics of immune responses to commensal versus pathogenic bacteria in the gut.  If you want to learn more about him, I've linked to his website at MSKCC below. 

http://www.mskcc.org/research/lab/gregoire-altan-bonnet

Have a fantastic day!  We're happy to be back!