Today, I got something very exciting in the mail. Inside a Canada Post Xpresspost envelope was a DVD and an envelope. The DVD was "Class of 1999". The envelope had a very interesting collection of words strung into semi-meaningful/semi-meaningless combinations. Inside the envelope was a Salvador Dali card. Inside the card was a drawing of a man being impaled on a stick, a photo of a 4-month-old baby, and a nice note from a good friend.
Who would send such an awesome assortment? There is only one in this world: Greg Toller.
Greg Toller is great in so many ways. What is so awesome about this gift is the collection itself: a B science fiction/horror film, a sentimental note, a violent hand-made drawing, and a picture of Greg and Hilary's adorable baby. Getting all of these things in one package reminds me that all is right in the world.
Greg has probably watched Class of 1999 twenty-million times. He discovered it in high school, along with the infamous THINGS. I myself have only seen it once, a long time ago, and I don't remember much about it. Greg and I like the same kinds of movies, so I know it will be a great one. Plus, much of the film was shot in Seattle, and the school pictured in the movie is only a couple blocks away from my house! So that is also fun.
Greg and Hilary's baby is also one of the most exciting things in the world. In this particular picture he appears to be discovering the use of his arms as thing that can stick out. An important skill to have in today's hustle-and-bustle world.
On Saturday night, after flying home from San Diego, I also watched "Virus", a movie that Greg sent me a few months ago (on a double feature disc, along with "Galaxy Invader"). Virus was great, in that special, awful way - an interesting plot line, but put together really, really badly. Fully enjoyable. Apparently it was also the most expensive Japanese movie ever made at the time of its release (1980). You would hardly be able to tell by watching it, though. Not sure what cost so much...
Greg Toller also turned 31 on Saturday, March 27th. So not only is he awesome, he's also old.
Thanks for being such a good friend, Greg! I hope you and the IKman die a fiery death in each other's arms.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Oh where, oh where have I been? I used to post more than this. Then it slowed down. My last post was almost a month ago. I bet you thought I was dead, like this guy:
Or stuck in the desert, like this guy:
Or went back in time, like these guys:
Well, I was none of these things - I was simply busy! Alive and well, not in the desert, in this time period, and as busy as a beaver.
Being too busy is becoming a recurring theme in my life, and I don't like it one bit. In grad school you become acutely aware of the pervasive belief that to be successful in academia you must work all of the time. There are countless academics who support this belief, and people who believe in finding a balance between work and life are definitely in the minority. I am one of the latter, but it is a constant struggle to hold my faith. Since moving to Seattle, my faith has degenerated a bit. I have a lot more time for research, and home isn't really home without Bridget here, and so I start believing that I must work more in order to make it.
Thus, I did not have a lot of balance last term. I took on WAAAY too much work, and was busy busy busy all of the time. Hardly any time for fun and relaxation, let alone blogging. This term I am trying to plan a little better - giving myself some dedicated time to not be working, and trying to make my work time more efficient. Oh, and trying to take on a little less :)
But, not all of my busyness was anxiety and poor time management. Some of it was going to ICIS - the International Conference on Infancy Studies - in Baltimore! Baltimore was not a very exciting city, but the conference was really cool. I have never been to a more enjoyable conference. Part of this was because I got to present my exciting hot-off-the-press findings in front of a very large audience! I gave a talk at an invited symposium (my post-doc mentor invited me). Invited symposia always get way more people, so it was a full house (even at 8:30 am on Saturday!). And, the talk went very well! I also enjoyed connecting with other researchers in a very real way at this conference, which I had never really done before. Totally cool and totally inspiring. I feel good!
And aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall of last week I was in San Diego with my B. Bear! It was spring break at the UW, which means I can't really do much work, because all of the RAs are in Bermuda or whatever. So, Bridget took a week off of work (totally awesome), and I came down for a week (ridiculously awesome), and we relaxed and adventured in southern California (ludicrously awesome)!!!
We went to the desert, went biking by the bay, ate excellent Mexican food, went hiking along the coast, watched plenty of Star Trek, hung out with her friends, did lots of crosswords, etc. Pictures of the desert can be found here and pictures of other fun things can be found on Bridget's blog.
It was a really, really, really good break, and was well deserved for the both of us. I was about to say there was no stress, and then I remembered two events: 1) we did our taxes (not really that stressful), and 2) we had a CRAZY time trying to get to the airport yesterday to catch my flight home. I've got to start a new paragraph for that story...
OK, so we're driving to the airport... do-de-do... then oh, we've hit some traffic. Oh, traffic is moving pretty slow. Moving through traffic... oh, 15 minutes later, notice that the road to the airport is BLOCKED. Hmm, OK, we figure we'll drive down a few blocks and try another way. Moving through crazy slow traffic, 15 minutes later (2 city blocks), oh that road is BLOCKED too. WHAT??? All roads to the airport are blocked? How are we supposed to get to the airport? The traffic is insane, everyone is trying to get to the airport. Hmmm... we drive around in crazy traffic for 10 minutes, I'm trying to check my flight status and Bridget is trying to call someone to find out what is going on, Bridget finds out people are getting shuttled to the airport at the road blockage. How is anyone supposed to know this? There are no signs, no people saying anything. We realize that the only way I'm going to get to the airport from where we are is for me to get out and walk/run. So I do that, and eventually a bike taxi finds me and takes me to the shuttle. The bike taxi guy tells me that a water main broke, and so the whole road is closed. I eventually get to the shuttle, and then as I'm paying the bike guy a camera shows up and a guy shoves a microphone in my face, and asks if I'd like to answer a few questions; it's the local news! I answer his questions about my inconvenience, and board the shuttle, and head to the airport. The feeling is totally pandemonium. The airport has hundreds of people outside the terminal, all stranded cause no one can pick them up! It feels a little bit like some Hollywood disaster movie. I make it just in time to my flight, and arrive safely in Seattle two and a half hours later.
When I got home, Bridget said her roommate saw me on the local news getting interviewed! Totally awesome or what? That's the second time I've been on the local news in my life!
I survived the great San Diego water main disaster!
Or stuck in the desert, like this guy:
Or went back in time, like these guys:
Well, I was none of these things - I was simply busy! Alive and well, not in the desert, in this time period, and as busy as a beaver.
Being too busy is becoming a recurring theme in my life, and I don't like it one bit. In grad school you become acutely aware of the pervasive belief that to be successful in academia you must work all of the time. There are countless academics who support this belief, and people who believe in finding a balance between work and life are definitely in the minority. I am one of the latter, but it is a constant struggle to hold my faith. Since moving to Seattle, my faith has degenerated a bit. I have a lot more time for research, and home isn't really home without Bridget here, and so I start believing that I must work more in order to make it.
Thus, I did not have a lot of balance last term. I took on WAAAY too much work, and was busy busy busy all of the time. Hardly any time for fun and relaxation, let alone blogging. This term I am trying to plan a little better - giving myself some dedicated time to not be working, and trying to make my work time more efficient. Oh, and trying to take on a little less :)
But, not all of my busyness was anxiety and poor time management. Some of it was going to ICIS - the International Conference on Infancy Studies - in Baltimore! Baltimore was not a very exciting city, but the conference was really cool. I have never been to a more enjoyable conference. Part of this was because I got to present my exciting hot-off-the-press findings in front of a very large audience! I gave a talk at an invited symposium (my post-doc mentor invited me). Invited symposia always get way more people, so it was a full house (even at 8:30 am on Saturday!). And, the talk went very well! I also enjoyed connecting with other researchers in a very real way at this conference, which I had never really done before. Totally cool and totally inspiring. I feel good!
And aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall of last week I was in San Diego with my B. Bear! It was spring break at the UW, which means I can't really do much work, because all of the RAs are in Bermuda or whatever. So, Bridget took a week off of work (totally awesome), and I came down for a week (ridiculously awesome), and we relaxed and adventured in southern California (ludicrously awesome)!!!
We went to the desert, went biking by the bay, ate excellent Mexican food, went hiking along the coast, watched plenty of Star Trek, hung out with her friends, did lots of crosswords, etc. Pictures of the desert can be found here and pictures of other fun things can be found on Bridget's blog.
It was a really, really, really good break, and was well deserved for the both of us. I was about to say there was no stress, and then I remembered two events: 1) we did our taxes (not really that stressful), and 2) we had a CRAZY time trying to get to the airport yesterday to catch my flight home. I've got to start a new paragraph for that story...
OK, so we're driving to the airport... do-de-do... then oh, we've hit some traffic. Oh, traffic is moving pretty slow. Moving through traffic... oh, 15 minutes later, notice that the road to the airport is BLOCKED. Hmm, OK, we figure we'll drive down a few blocks and try another way. Moving through crazy slow traffic, 15 minutes later (2 city blocks), oh that road is BLOCKED too. WHAT??? All roads to the airport are blocked? How are we supposed to get to the airport? The traffic is insane, everyone is trying to get to the airport. Hmmm... we drive around in crazy traffic for 10 minutes, I'm trying to check my flight status and Bridget is trying to call someone to find out what is going on, Bridget finds out people are getting shuttled to the airport at the road blockage. How is anyone supposed to know this? There are no signs, no people saying anything. We realize that the only way I'm going to get to the airport from where we are is for me to get out and walk/run. So I do that, and eventually a bike taxi finds me and takes me to the shuttle. The bike taxi guy tells me that a water main broke, and so the whole road is closed. I eventually get to the shuttle, and then as I'm paying the bike guy a camera shows up and a guy shoves a microphone in my face, and asks if I'd like to answer a few questions; it's the local news! I answer his questions about my inconvenience, and board the shuttle, and head to the airport. The feeling is totally pandemonium. The airport has hundreds of people outside the terminal, all stranded cause no one can pick them up! It feels a little bit like some Hollywood disaster movie. I make it just in time to my flight, and arrive safely in Seattle two and a half hours later.
When I got home, Bridget said her roommate saw me on the local news getting interviewed! Totally awesome or what? That's the second time I've been on the local news in my life!
I survived the great San Diego water main disaster!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Surgery Nazi says: "No surgery for you!"
No, he was not actually a surgery Nazi - he was a really nice guy! Bridget met with the neurosurgeon today, and it turns out she will NOT be having surgery! At least not for the next while, unless her symptoms become really problematic, which the doctor said is unlikely. This is a HUGE relief!
The doctor thinks it's best to just "wait and see". This does not mean the problem is going away, or that Bridget feels 100% better, or that things won't get slightly worse, or that she will never ultimately need to have surgery later in life. But for now, the risk of serious problems developing is small, and symptom management is the current goal.
So, it's certainly not the best news in the world, but it makes us feel good. It means we can at least continue to get on with our lives. And that's something very positive.
On a slightly humourous note, I would like to point out the following things that the doctor told Bridget she can no longer do:
- month long trips in the Sahara or Antarctica
- bodybuilding
- deep sea scuba diving
So, basically, because of this problem, she can no longer do things that she was probably never ever going to do anyway.
Life is special, ain't it?
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