Countdown

It's T minus 60 minutes now before we head out of town! I am exhausted from trying to get everything in the apartment straightened up before we leave. I cannot stand coming home to a messy apartment. However, we decided to stop in Louisville tonight to break up the drive a little. I can't wait to hit the road!

We'll be excited to see friends. Hopefully we'll get to see everybody before we have to leave. We've also made a list of places we want to eat at. Sakura is the highest priority for me. Mmmm....deep fried sushi.

Two Days

In two days, we will be on the road back to Memphis. While we haven't been here very long and I like Pittsburgh a lot, I am starting to miss the familiarity and routine of Memphis. It'll be a nice change of pace, and I'm ready for a few days off.

Blue Collar Comedy

I remember several years ago not being able to stand the comedy of Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and the like. It wasn't that I didn't like crass, but for some reason, they just grated on my nerves. Lately though, I have been finding them absolutely hilarious. Last night, Comedy Central was showing a Blue Collar Comedy tour show, and it was absolutely hilarious.

Tonight, Jeremy and I went to a local comedy club that was featuring Jon Reep. We had seen him on Last Comic Standing and liked him, but neither of us had any actual recollection of his routine. He was absolutely hilarious. We were in stitches the whole set. What was even better was that we didn't have to pay for tickets. The club has certain shows where you can get tickets to certain shows for only a service fee. Granted, there was a two item minimum per person, but it was definitely worth it, and we'll definitely do it again

Unbelievable

Today, Memphis played football on ESPN2 and basketball on ESPN. We played two Big East teams. While we figured we would lose to USF in football, we also lost to Syracuse in basketball. I'm at a loss for words right now.

Headaches

I have been dealing with a headache on and off for the better part of 3 days. I don't know whether it is weather related or not, but it is no fun. It doesn't help that it's 90 degrees in the lab today. *sigh*

Password

Jeremy and I caught the first few minutes of that game show Password, and William Shatner is horribly bad, and Regis makes him so funny. One of the answers was bowl, and the clues were soup and container. Shatner answered barrel. Another set of clues was amphibian and Muppet, and he answered Hermit. Once his segment was over, we quit watching, but the part we watched we rewound several times.

Woohoo!!!

Jeremy found out today that he got the job he was waiting for a response on. His start date is January 5th. He is going in tomorrow to fill out paperwork, but a huge prayer of ours has been answered. It definitely is a huge weight lifted. We're still going to take it slow on buying more stuff for the apartment, I am looking forward to having two paychecks again and rebuilding our savings.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

As of today, Jeremy and I are 99.9% going to Memphis for the holidays! Woohoo! It would have been really hard not spending Christmas with family. It was hard enough not going home for Thanksgiving. We are beyond excited at this point, but there is a lot of planning and a lot of things to do around the apartment before we leave. Now that we know for sure, we also have to start e-mailing friends to let them know we'll be there. =) I haven't stopped smiling since this morning.

Christmas Mailings

Jeremy is my Christmas elf this year. Today he mailed all the Christmas presents, so if you're expecting a present from us, it'll be there in 2-3 days. Tomorrow, he will mail off the rest of the Christmas cards, so again, it should get there before Christmas. I feel really great this year because everything is done. =)

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

How ironic is it that Jeremy and I move up north where everyone says it'll snow only to have freak snow and ice storms wreak havoc on the southern state where I used to reside? There's snow in Houston, cold weather in Dallas, and ice and snow conditions in Memphis. Here? There's not even freezing rain. Oh sure, we had a couple of days where there was a light dusting of snow on the ground, but it hasn't been anything that required thick winter clothing or snow boots of any kind. I'm a little disenchanted at this moment.

DC Day 3

Our last day in DC included just wandering around places and getting food to eat. We hit Union Station because we didn't think we could see a Smithsonian museum and do it any justice in the 2 hours that we had allotted. We saw that Union Station had a train exhibit, but it wasn't quite what we had expected. It was cute, but it wasn't anything to write home about. While we were there though, I did get a bowl of clam chowder which I crave every time we go to DC.

After Union Station, we walked around Chinatown for a bit and took some pictures. It wasn't as crowded or exciting as the last few times we went, but it was fun. Afterwards, we decided to just head home.

The drive back was a lot faster than the drive there because there wasn't inclement weather of any kind. I slept most of the drive home while suffering through some very vivid but weird dreams.

All in all, we had a blast with his dad and stepmom, and the trip was well worth it. We aren't planning on going back anytime soon, but it is definitely within driving distance for weekend trips.

DC Day 1 & 2

Jeremy and I left Pittsburgh early and got into DC around dinner time. We got to have dinner with his dad and stepmom, and it was great. We had a good time catching up, and they treated us to very good food. After we ate, we came back and exchanged Christmas presents early. We got this beautiful blue and white fleece throw that had a tiger head and our names embroidered on it. It will be great to snuggle under during the winter as we watch the Tigers on TV.

Today, we got up early and checked out the International Spy Museum. We had been before, but some of the exhibits had changed a little, and we really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we headed over to watch Memphis play Georgetown. It was a very disappointing loss because it wasn't so much that we got beat, but we gave the game away. As much as I hate to say it, it really seems that Evans is a bit overrated and not a good college player.

Although the game was disappointing, we got to enjoy DC in the evening. We went to the National Mall and saw some monuments in lights. We got several really good pictures. We were going to go on a carriage ride, but the carriage person was more than 30 minutes late, and we hadn't eaten (his dad and stepmom hadn't eaten since breakfast). Although we couldn't do that, we did eat at a great burger place. Now, with our tummies full and our legs tired, we're in our room watching Batman vs. Dracula on Cartoon Network.

Washington DC

Jeremy and I are headed to DC to watch Memphis play Georgetown. We're really excited because this might be the only game we get to see the Tigers play in person. Jeremy's dad and stepmom arrived safely yesterday, and we're hoping to meet them for dinner tonight. Of course, if they have other plans, I'm okay in us going out to eat by ourselves.

We're not going to have a lot of time there to explore and sightsee, but it should be a fun trip. It doesn't look like they'll be a lot of snowy weather, so we've really lucked out. It's a little icy here, but it should clear up by the time we get ready to leave.

This roadtrip will be an easy 4 hour drive. We haven't had one of these short trips in awhile. If we do go home for the holidays, it'll be a 12 hour drive home. We'll see what happens though as Jeremy waits to hear back about a job interview.

Finished

Jeremy and I finished baking and decorating all of the goodies that will be Christmas presents in the coming weeks. I would post pictures of the process and the product, but I do want it to be a surprise. As long as the goodies survive shipping, we should be golden.

We are sending some of the stuff back to Memphis with Jeremy's Dad and stepmom, so there will be some packing of goodies required tonight. Otherwise, we'll do that when we get back from DC this weekend.

It's a huge load off because not only do we have all the presents accounted for, there's no wrapping involved. That makes my life easier as a whole.

Homemade

Every year I tell myself that I want to make my own Christmas gifts. This year, it looks like I will actually accomplish this goal. You know what, totally not as good an idea as others would make you believe. Sure, you could theoretically save a lot of money, but the amount of time devoted to it just doesn't seem worth it. It really isn't like I could have started this endeavor months ago, because food doesn't stay good that long. So every evening, I rush home, grab a quick bite to eat, and spend the next five hours working on presents. I will not do this again but by God, I will finish it this year.

Hallucinations

Jeremy and I decided we were going to make the majority of Christmas presents this year. We're not going exclusively homemade, but we are baking like crazy. Last night, we finished a huge batch of goodies, and after we cleaned up, we sat down to watch the end of Monday Night Football. Jeremy was going to take out the trash after the game. When the game was over, I could have sworn Jeremy got up, took the car out of the garage and took out the trash. I remember all of this because I thought about going upstairs to bed but I thought it would be nicer to wait for him to get back. I waited, he came back, and we watched SportsCenter for a bit. At this point, things get a little fuzzy, and I ask him if he's ready for bed. He replies that he still has to take out the trash, which floors me because I could have sworn he already did. It was so real that I questioned him several times about whether he was sure or not that he didn't already go to the dumpster. Jeremy's conclusion was that I had been baking so long that I had officially lost my mind.

We are Blessed

Before bed last night, I was telling Jeremy everything I have to be thankful for, and it was quite the list. While we are in a state of flux until Jeremy finds a job, we are by no means strapped for cash in these tough economic times. Plus, it's not like Jeremy isn't being considered for jobs. He's got several interviews this week, and potentially several more in the weeks to come.

I am also extremely thankful for our family who have been unbelievably supportive of our move. I know so many people who would never have quit two perfectly good jobs to move cross country because one person had a job offer.

During these holidays, Jeremy and I may not get to go home or spend any quality time with our friends and family. While this saddens us, we're focusing on the good. Things could be so much worse.

Cake Balls

Jeremy and I have the technique down. We finished all of the chocolate dipped chocolate cake balls. We shaped the German chocolate ones. Jeremy will be finishing the red velvet and the vanilla ones tomorrow. There may not be enough for everyone, but we've gotten the technique down, so it won't be too hard.

Getting in the Spirit

Jeremy and I bought our adult Christmas tree today. We used to have a small 4 foot tree in Memphis that didn't make the move with us. Today, we invested in a 7.5 foot tree. Since Jeremy cannot have a real tree due to allergies, we bought a nice looking prelit tree. Jeremy is putting it up right now while I'm baking cookies and other goodies for presents. We had a small fingers crossed moment when we didn't think the tree would fit where we wanted it, but we've got plenty of clearance. It'll look nice when it's all put together.

Bizzare

I just took the elevator up to work this morning with a guy in a University of Tennessee sweatshirt. I guess if you think about it, that school graduates thousands of people a year, so it shouldn't be that surprising that the alumni base is just as big. It still makes me do a double take though when I see the power T around here.

Christmas Spirit

Being really busy this year, I am here to announce that I have officially figured out what I am getting for everyone. With a little luck, I should be done Christmas shopping by the end of the weekend. Woohoo! Amazon is wonderful!

Decisions

Jeremy still hasn't found a job he wants yet. He's turned down one offer, and he's been turned down by another, and while he's got several other possibilities and interviews, it's becoming unlikely that he'll be employed before the end of the year. This puts us at a crossroads for Christmas. We stayed here for Thanksgiving because frankly, 4 days in Dallas couldn't justify the $800 a ticket price tag. Christmas would be different though because I'd try to get the time between Christmas and New Years off as well. Without a job, he wouldn't have to worry about time off. It makes it harder to justify the cost of traveling though with only one income. We have a bunch of money saved up just for this occasion, but I wonder if it's more prudent to be frugal now in case he doesn't find a job for an extended period of time.

Fans

Lately, I've been really irritated with not only the coaches of both Tiger football and Tiger basketball, but I've also been pissed at the fan base. While I don't believe that my teams will go through the season undefeated, I do feel like the last games that were lost were due to the stubbornness of the coaches rather then the superior gamesmanship of the other team. Relying on a QB that hasn't thrown a pass in a month due to injury isn't fair to him or the rest of the team. Playing a freshman shooting guard, even a highly touted one, the majority of the game when he can't hit a shot while pulling out players who are making shots because they make one defensive mistake is maddening to everyone. However, they are honestly good coaches and genuinely care about their players, so I'm not ready to jump on them to be fired.

The fans on the other hand I'm completely unwilling to cut any slack on. While I was disappointed in both losses, I realize that the world doesn't end. We are bowl eligible because we won 6 games. We qualify, and it doesn't matter that we only won half our games on a shitty schedule. It's money for the school. If we get invited to a bowl whose payout is $750,000, why would we not go? If the fanbase thinks it's too embarrassing to go to a bowl game, then they need to come up with the money to offset the loss. Forcing the football team to pick a lesser paying bowl bid because it doesn't conflict with a basketball game is unfair to the football players and the program. Come on. Who cares?! It's $750k!

I just hope tonight's game will play out better than last weeks. /rant

Ugh

So I didn't post yesterday, because it would've been more of the same. Wonderful hubby taking care of an under the weather me. I'm still not 100% but I'm at work trying to tough it out.

Thanksgiving 2008 pretty much went down as the worst Thanksgiving ever, but I am glad that we decided not to go home. It was bad being sick here, it would've been infinitely worse being sick on a plane.

Exploring

Jeremy and I ventured downtown today for lunch. It was nice to get out, and I did manage to actually keep down a meal for the first time in 3 days. It also completely worn me out though since I came home and slept for almost 3 hours.

I did miss the first 3 quarters of the Memphis vs. Tulane football game. Apparently it was a very good game. They won the game very decisively, and I'm happy that we're bowl eligible again.

Gross

There has been a stomach bug going around the lab perpetrated by a 5 month old baby, and apparently it was my turn this holiday weekend. Let me tell you, Thanksgiving dinner does not taste good the second time around.

The experience though made me even more thankful for Jeremy. He has been so wonderful. Last night would not have been so pleasant had he not been around.

Hopefully though, I'm on the mend. I've been able to keep food down today, and the nausea has subsided. Hopefully, I'll be able to enjoy the leftovers soon.

Thankful

Today has truly been a great day. The weather is nice, and although we were unable to go home to celebrate with our families, we did have a wonderful day just Jeremy and me. We made the pies last night, and we slept in this morning. Once we got up and going, we managed to get everything finished and on the table by 2:30pm. We had recorded the Macy's Day parade, and we watched it from the Thanksgiving turkey till Santa. Now, we're watching the Cowboys play the Seahawks and continuing to gorge on yummy food.

Although this year has brought a lot of changes and upheavals, I am very thankful for the support I've received from my family and friends. I am most thankful though for Jeremy because even though this move was hardest for him, he never once considered not moving with me.

Ready

I'm ready to go home and start baking pies. My goal tonight is to make the pecan pie and the pumpkin pie. If I get those done and still feel motivated, I'll bake the apple pie as well. Tomorrow, the cooking officially begins, but everything should be really easy. There is not one dish that I'm making that will take more than 5 minutes of prep.

Of course, that being said, I need to have my wits about me at all times. The little brain farts I've been experiencing aren't helping in the least. Just now, I panicked a little because I thought I forgot the lettuce that goes in the Asian slaw only to realize that it's slaw and not salad and thus, no lettuce. *sigh*

BBQ

Jeremy and I decided that since it was just going to be the two of us, we wouldn't get a whole turkey. While this lessens the amount of left overs we have, we are planning on having a very food filled day. I wanted to order a turduchen breast and Jeremy wanted BBQ from Memphis. I ordered a small turduchen, and it looks very yummy. Jeremy isn't sure he'll like the duck, so he can easily pick that out and eat only the turkey and chicken. Since it's only the breasts, there won't be a lot of leftovers, but there will be plenty for turduchen sandwiches next week.

Jeremy's BBQ did not quite make it to us intact the first go around. However, we cannot rave enough about the customer service of Central BBQ. We've ordered from them for several parties we've thrown, and they've always been super great about everything. The last time we were there, we had ordered a sausage cheese plate. They had it all prepared, but they didn't have it set with the rest of the order, so we left without it. Jeremy had to drive back to pick it up, and although it was as much our fault as it was theirs, they threw in an order of ribs for our trouble. This time, they forgot to include our apartment number in with the shipping information even though Jeremy had included it in the order. That meant we didn't receive it right away, and it actually sat, unfrozen for 3 days. Because it was their mistake, they shipped us our order plus some extras at their expense yesterday and we received it today. Since it was their mistake, I would have expected them to either refund our money or resend the food, but I wasn't expecting them to throw in extras. That was unexpected and very generous. There really is nothing like a hometown business.

Slow Start

For no reason whatsoever, I could fall asleep last night, which resulted in my oversleeping this morning. I heard the alarm this morning, and I asked Jeremy to hit snooze. After that, I was completely out and didn't wake up until 2 hours later. Since then, it's been hard for me to hit my stride today. I feel lethargic and unfocused. It could be that I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, but I was hoping for a productive week this week.

Disappointment

The football game yesterday was very disappointing. I've followed the Tigers through the great DeAngelo seasons and through the horrible 2-10 seasons. However, if we had pulled out this game, we had the opportunity to win our division. A lot of people are blaming the coach for not preparing for the game, and I have a lot of the same issues. For the last month, we've been hoping to get back our starting quarterback. However, even without him, we've managed to put together good games and win. Granted, the opponents weren't exactly top notch, but we ran creative plays that were definitely not obvious to the casual observer. Now that we have our quarterback healthy, we are running the old plays that are so slow in developing that I can tell exactly what plays are called. It's frustrating also that our fourth string quarterback can get the plays called faster than our first string quarterback. While our backup quarterback was playing, even when he hadn't taken any snaps at practice, the coaches did not have to call a single time out because he didn't know what play to run. Yesterday, we took a time out and had a delay of game because our quarterback couldn't get the play called to the line. I can understand being rusty throwing and running the ball because of a month of no practices. However, in that time, at least you can study the plays and figure out what the coaches are calling from the sideline. Our offense doesn't really consist of all that many different looks.

I am so much more of a football fan than I am a basketball fan, but I am not enjoying watching Tigers football this year. I love the players and the coach, but it's getting ridiculous. We have the talent, and we have the schedule in our favor, but this year, I've found myself waiting for basketball instead of enjoying football.

Update: So to add to the disappointment, the basketball team lost to Xavier tonight. *sigh*

Public Transportation

Jeremy and I took the bus today to work, and it was surprisingly easy. While there is a direct bus from home to work, it doesn't run early enough for my commute. We took the one that required a transfer, but while the stops are not at the same place, it's not a bad walk. All in all, I think I will take the bus in the future if it snows too badly and we're not comfortable driving.

Bright

I am surprised as to how bright and sunny it is here. In Missouri when it snowed, it would be overcast and dreary. Here however, despite the snow, it hasn't been overcast at all. If this lasts all winter, it would go a long way in preventing the blues.

The Tigers play Seton Hall tonight in the semi-finals. Unbelievably, USC lost last night. People are saying because USC played Tuesday and then took a commercial flight down to Puerto Rico while we played Monday/Tuesday and then took a charter flight. While I wanted to see us play USC to see how we measure up, we haven't been playing spectacularly, and I'd rather not lose. I cannot wait for Camp Cal and all the big games about to come up.

Forays into Python I

I've been messing around with Python (a programming language) lately, and all I can say is, I'm really rusty when it comes to programming. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole process of debugging a program, but I have just spent an entire day trying to debug a program that should work, but doesn't. It compiled fine, but the output wasn't what it was supposed to be. It turns out, the indents in Python are critical rather than just for formatting or aesthetics. I simply had my return function tabbed to the wrong place. That took me a day and a half and a dozen different iterations to figure out. Lesson #1 learned.

Cold

The weather here has gotten deliciously chilly in the last week, and I'm enjoying it immensely. I did notice though that where I sit in lab was more drafty, and I couldn't figure out why. While I wasn't cold, my hands would be freezing, and it was just me. Nobody else experienced this. Well, I investigated this phenomenon more thoroughly this morning and noticed that even though the crank to the window showed that it was closed, the seal around the pane had caught on the frame just enough to be letting in the slightest hint of a breeze. Once this was corrected, I am no longer considering wearing mittens at my desk. It is so much easier to type and stuff with warm hands.

Holiday Season

The holiday season is almost upon us, and I feel like there is still so much to do before I'm ready. There are still things that need unpacking at home, and I feel like I'm running low on storage space. We still need to finish unpacking the office, but until Jeremy gets a job, there are a lot of things that we cannot unpack. There are other things that I would ideally take to work with me, but since our lab is just temporary, I don't want to bring them here and then move it all again.

The dining room is especially problematic. There isn't as much storage in the kitchen as we had before, so we have a bunch of things that ideally would go in the kitchen, but don't fit. The cabinets in the kitchen are also unusually skinny, so nothing fits in the cabinets except glasses and mugs. Until we get a buffet or something, we really have no place for our dishes because the one large cabinet we have is for pots and pans. So, we've still got things packed up in boxes scattered around the dining room.

We want to get a Christmas tree, but the current disarray of our dining room makes that prohibitive. I suppose I could dedicate this weekend to cleaning the apartment, but I don't really feel up to that right now. The mood could strike suddenly though as it did a few weeks ago when I finished unpacking and cleaning our bedroom/closet/bathroom.

Picking Up

Things are picking up here at work. I'm no longer working on trying to get one thing to work. I have my original project, but I've also started doing more computational stuff on my own (with permission of course). I've also been handed something else that is very intriguing that I've always wanted to try but never got around to. Additionally, I've been learning all sorts of new techniques that aren't new by any means but are new to me. Thank goodness for all of the nice, patient people I work with. Otherwise, I'd still be trying to figure out the little things like how to make media.

Excited

I am absolutely dying here at work today, and I can't imagine how I would be like if I were in Memphis. Today starts ESPN's 24 hours of college basketball, and Memphis plays UMass tonight at midnight. I really want to stay up and watch the game. On the other hand, that would mean staying up until 3 am, and it's usually not possible for me to stay up until even midnight. I am going to give it a try.

On top of all this, it is now less than a month until the Georgetown game, and we finished booking our hotel and bought the tickets. We're going to drive since it's a 4 hour drive but an 8 hour train ride. Hopefully, we can leave right after work Friday and get there not too late.

It started snowing today. Nothing is sticking yet, but that in itself is contributing to the general excitement of the day. This needs to wear off soon as it's likely to snow a lot this winter, and I cannot get this jacked up at every snowfall. Also, it's likely that I'll be so sick of the cold before the winter is over, but I'm not anticipating that.

Thanksgiving is also about a week away. While I had hoped that Jeremy find a job before the holidays, it will likely be December before he formally starts a job. That's fine. We're staying here for Thanksgiving, and we've decided on eating ourselves silly the entire day. I want to have the food done and out shortly after noon so we can start eating and watching football. I don't plan on moving much other than between the couch and the dining room table.

I hadn't meant for this post to ramble on, but I am apparently looking forward to a lot of stuff.

Blech

This is getting old. I am tired of feeling sick on weekends. Every weekend, the weather seems to change drastically, giving me a headache which leads to a variety of other issues. I can't get anything done because being vertical makes my head throb and my stomach queasy. I wish the weather would make up its mind and get cold already. Thank God that Jeremy is wonderful and understand what a pain headaches can be.

Bond, James Bond

The new bond movie was good, but it wasn't great. The plot seemed a little weak, but the action scenes were great. The entire experience though was fun. Jeremy and I walked to dinner and then had dessert at the theater.

Today, we're just spending a lazy day at home before the Tigers play Fairfield. I spent a little time at work doing minipreps. While I was there, Jeremy spent some time at the local library. I didn't get a chance to meet him there before the meter ran out, but it's close enough to work that I might go after work on day next week.

Quantum of Solace

Jeremy and I are going to see the new Bond movie tonight. We had been talking about holding off on the movie, but since we're not going home for Thanksgiving, we don't have to worry about family wanting to go see the movie. I'm excited because we bought the reserved tickets again. It was a fun experience last time. We're thinking about eating around the theater and then go to the restaurant for dessert. There were some yummy desserts on the menu. The only problem will be if we have leftovers from dinner. We're thinking that we don't want to drive to the theater tonight. I suppose we could have a small dinner since we're going to get dessert anyways. Plus, since we're not driving, we can have a few drinks as well.

Score!

My PCR reactions worked yesterday! I got a band on a gel at the right size, so TA cloning here I come! I'll get really excited when the cloning actually works since I suck at cloning. This cloning kit though requires only a 5 minute ligation step, and other people in the lab have gotten 100% efficiency with it. Hopefully it'll work that well for me. We will know tomorrow if I get colonies and next week when I do minipreps. I know everyone was just fascinated by the science above. =)

Life-wise, Jeremy and I are going to try to extend our evening walks a little longer. Using his iPhone as a GPS tracker, we determined that we've been walking about 1.5 miles a night. It's not a great distance, but we're trying to incorporate this into our daily routine. We want to start running on the trails, but we've decided to take it slowly to start.

We also decided today that we're definitely going to the Memphis vs. Georgetown game in DC next month. I am beyond excited because it'll likely be the only game we see all year. Jeremy's dad and step-mom are going to come up and join us for the game. They're going to drive it from Memphis. I cannot even imagine. We will make a weekend of it though, so it'll be fun.

Feeling Dumb

Today I feel like I'm back in grad school again, just starting out. I'm setting up a PCR to run overnight, and then I'm running a gel tomorrow. Things that I know how to do, but I just spent the last five minutes asking the grad student in the lab questions like, "So, do you add ethidium bromide to the gel?" and "What percentage gel is do you usually use to run the DNA?" Earlier today, I asked deep insightful questions like, "So, how do we isolate gDNA?" and "What concentration do you usually make your primer stocks?" I can't wait until I get to the really hard part when I TA-clone and transform into E. coli. LOL.

Who We Are

Ever since Jeremy and I graduated, our lives have become less stressful. Sure it was stressful moving so far away, and the job hunt has been somewhat stressful for the both of us. However, since we've moved here and settled in, we seem to laugh more and enjoy each others' company more.

Last night, we went for a walk on the walking trail that runs behind our apartments. It was nice and chilly outside, and we got to break in our new winter boots a little. Along the way, we had about a half a dozen bunny sitings. We're sure it wasn't the same bunny because that would've been a really fast bunny to get everywhere we were at that quickly. I want to put out food just to see if we can get the bunnies to eat it, but I don't want to personally feed the entire rabbit population of Pittsburgh. It feels kind of like home though with all the bunnies around because growing up, we had a bunch of wild bunnies living in the fields by our house. This means though that Bob the coffee plant will never be moving outside on our porch.

After our stroll, I asked Jeremy to play the movie The Longest Day. He had just put it on his AppleTV, and I wanted to watch it since today is Veteran's Day. While he was copying files, he announced that he was sorry for the delay in the feature presentation but please visit the concession stand while the movie was loading. He said that all he could think of while we were waiting was the nature scenes they play at the drive-in. It was hilarious.

This morning, Jeremy woke up with a migraine, which doesn't bode well for his interview at noon. However, even with him not feeling well, he still went all the way out to Ikea to purchase our new dining room table. He did get to have a free breakfast there as well.

For the most part, we lead fairly ordinary/boring lives. We don't go out and party a lot, and we tend to like to spend time with each other. I think we really enjoy each others' company, and I wouldn't change it.

Falling in Place

While our lives are still crazy and in a state of flux, what with Jeremy's job hunt and all, the little things in life have really fallen into place. On Friday, I was hit with an urge to finish unpacking the apartment. I was tired of looking at the boxes that were everywhere. With the weather finally turning cold, we had all our summer clothes laying around the room waiting to be put up. After relaxing and going out Friday night, we attacked our list of chores Saturday and Sunday with gusto. As I said in my post yesterday, we finished a lot, and our apartment no longer looks like a disaster area.

With the boxes cleared and the rooms cleaned, we have room now for dining room furniture. We were just holding off on purchasing any until after Jeremy got a job. We figured we wouldn't be having people over, so there was no real hurry. Last night, we went on the Ikea site to check out a new couch we were considering in the future. Amazingly, the dining room table and chairs set we were looking to buy was listed as going on sale tomorrow for Veteran's Day at over 50% off. While there will probably be crowds and Jeremy does have an interview tomorrow, he will be braving traffic to go to Ikea to purchase said dining room set. It is too good of a deal to pass up, and it was the set we were wanting anyways. I guess it was a very good thing we decided to finish cleaning and unpacking.

Finally Settled

After about 6 weeks in Pittsburgh, we are finally settled into our apartment. We still have a few boxes of things that belong in the dining room, we can't unpack them until we actually purchase some dining room furniture. That we won't get until close to Christmas or when Jeremy gets a job. For the most part though, we're completely unpacked.

Jeremy, being the wonderful person that he is, once again humored me and moved the entertainment center to where I had wanted it originally. I really like it a lot better where it is now because it makes our living room/dining room area a lot more spacious. He's not sure he likes it where it is now, but he's willing to give it a week to see. I hope he likes it because I think when we get the dining room furniture, it will look better on that side of the room.

It is definitely nice to have things finally in the places they go. Now, we can finally settle into an every day routine. We won't have to worry daily about what else we need to do or which boxes we need to unpack.

Oh, and the Tigers beat SMU yesterday!

Madagascar 2

Jeremy and I went to see Madagascar 2 last night. There's a Loews theater here that does reserved seating for some movies and has a restaurant at the theater. The tickets were a little more expensive, but we ate at the restaurant and the price of a full meal was about what popcorn and drinks would've cost normally. Plus, the portions were so huge that we have an entire other meal left over. The seats were really nice as well. They were roomy and comfortable, although they didn't recline. However, with the armrest up between us, the two seats were about the size of a love seat.

The movie was also very cute and funny. The little kids there loved it although there was humor for adults as well. It was a great movie, better than the first I think. The first one didn't leave as big an impression on me. We would definitely buy the set when it comes out.

Livejournal

I've had a LiveJournal account since 2002 I believe. Since then, I've probably only posted a handful of times. It was before Facebook, so it gave me the opportunity to keep in touch with some friends. Now, I'm not so sure if I want to keep it to write in. I would keep the account because i have friends that post, and I like to keep up with their lives. However, it seems redundant to post things here and then on LJ. I also feel like there are certain things I can't post there because it would offend some people. While I do self-censor here, I don't feel like I have to. I guess we'll see what happens.

Compassion International

Several blogs I read have been documenting their travels and experiences with Compassion International. I had never heard about them until this week, but since then I've been reading profiles of little children all over the world. Just looking at the faces of all those precious children breaks my heart. While there is very little Jeremy and I can do right now other than pray, we hope to be able to sponsor a child in the near future. Even then, it feels like we are doing so little to help the problem in general.

Potential

Jeremy had a phone interview today with one company and a face-to-face interview with another tomorrow. I think it's an exciting time right now for him because he has more opportunities than he thinks. Yeah, it sucks that he doesn't have a job yet, but we're making it. It will get tougher in a couple of months if he still doesn't have a job, but we can buckle down and survive. He's also looked into finishing up some MSCE certifications. I'm glad he's going to finish that up regardless of whether that helps him in his job search or not. It's another skill to have.

Update: Jeremy received a call later this afternoon asking him for a convenient time to come in for a face-to-face interview with the company he interviewed with today. This is definitely promising, and we're definitely hoping this works out.

Out to Lunch

I went out to lunch with most of the lab today. We went to a cute little sandwich place that had really good food. I am actually feeling a lot better than when I woke up. No, I wasn't upset by the result of the election and I definitely didn't stay up late to watch the results. I would've stayed up late had I known I was going to feel like crap this morning. Surprisingly, I've been feeling better as the day's worn on, so that's a blessing.

First Game of the Season

Tonight is the first Tiger basketball game of the season, and it is a bittersweet and exciting. Like Midnight Madness, I will miss being in attendance. However, it is just an exhibition game against Christian Brothers University. They usually play us close in the first half, but the Tigers pull away in the second because of our deeper bench. We haven't figured out all of the logistics for the basketball tickets though. Hopefully someone will take tonight's game and we'll work out the others in the next couple of days.

Since we're just nice people and we're buying the tickets to keep up our donation level, we weren't planning to sell the tickets at face value. If we aren't able to attend the bigger games, we may put those online and see what we get for them. That alone may make up the difference between what our friends pay us and what we paid for the tickets.

We are hoping to make it to the Georgetown game in DC though. That should be fun. It may also be the only game we attend all season unless we make it to the Final Four again. If we do, I think we'll have to make a trip to Detroit.

Right to Vote

This election has been the first one in my lifetime that has interested me enough to actually vote. For the past several elections, I didn't like either candidate, so in an effort to not settle for the lesser of two evils, I chose not to vote. This election is different because while I dislike both the main-stream candidates, my own political views have crystallized into something that I feel strongly about.

What irritates me to no end is the constant badgering in the media to vote, and not only to vote but to vote either Democrat or Republican. I hear from people that if I didn't vote, I have no right to complain. Well, we live in a country where anyone can complain about anything. Really, if I dislike all the candidates, it doesn't matter who wins, I'm going to dislike their policies, and I should be able to vocalize them. If I voted for the winner, does that mean I have no right to complain because I voted for the guy? Or is it if I voted for the loser, I have every right to complain because had my candidate won, everything would be a lot better?

Lately, I've also been hearing about how it is our duty to vote but voting Libertarian/Green/Independent is a wasted vote. Why is it that we live in a society where we have all this freedom, but not the freedom to choose who we want? It should be my decision how I cast my vote, and if I feel like the two major party candidates don't deserve my vote, so be it. They are allowed to be on the ballot, which means I have the right to vote for them.

Also, is anyone else tired of all the political commercials on TV? I mean really, they run the commercials back to back, often two candidates running for the same office. It's gotten to the point where it's hard to tell when one commercial ends and another begins and it is impossible to figure out which candidate the commercial is even for.

Generally, I could care less about politics. It doesn't matter to me which candidate wins because I feel like our government has gotten so big and cumbersome that nothing ever changes, no matter who is in office. I am just so tired of these elections.

Time Change

I love gaining an hour. It's great to get an extra hour of sleep and then spend a lazy afternoon lounging around with Jeremy. We didn't get any trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Since we didn't get a whole bunch of candy, it'll be fine. Jeremy will enjoy the mini tootsie roll pops.

We did manage to get all our errands run yesterday before I wimped out and took a nap. I'm not sure why I get so wiped during the week to require all the sleep during the weekends. It's getting a little worrisome since I went to bed one day last week at 7pm and slept through the night. Maybe getting to work at 8am is finally getting to me. =)

Flu Shot

I wonder if it's even worth getting a flu shot anymore given how much the last couple have hurt. Last year, the flu shot hurt my arm for several days, but everyone who had gotten the shot experienced the same ache. This year, I think it was the person giving me the shot that is causing the pain. It feels kind of bruised although I don't see a bruise at the injection site. Hopefully it'll get better tomorrow.

Jeremy still refuses to get a flu shot. He never seems to get the flu though, even when I do have it. We'll see how he fares this year with the winters being significantly colder here. I hope he stays healthy though. It would not be fun if we were both to get sick this winter.

Home

It's been a long time since I actually required airfare to go home for the holidays, and I'd forgotten just how crazy prices are. Since we don't know if Jeremy will have a job yet, we're limited by several factors when planning trips home. We both very much want to go to Dallas for Thanksgiving and Memphis for Christmas. However, as we approach those holidays, it seems like we'll be in Pittsburgh for both. If Jeremy doesn't find a job, we'll likely not be able to afford to go home for either holiday. If Jeremy does get a job, we may not have the vacation days to go home. This sucks because I've found inexpensive tickets to Dallas but the return date is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. We'd be able to afford the tickets but Jeremy probably won't be able to get two extra days off work. Ideally, we'd got to Dallas for just 4 days, but the cheapest ticket then would run us about 1k apiece. Not exactly financially feasible even if Jeremy did get a job.

As for Christmas, if can't go back to Memphis, we'll miss the entire basketball season. There's a good possibility that with a job, he'll only get Christmas Eve/Day and New Year's Day off. This means that there's no way we'd be able to go to Memphis.

It was so much easier when we both worked for Universities so we got all holidays off similar to the students. Additionally, when we could just hop in a car and drive to Dallas or down the street to his family's we didn't have to weigh the costs. The plus side I suppose is that Jeremy's mom and stepdad will probably visit us in the spring. My brother may come up to visit the schools and go skiing this winter. It will be hard not spending the holidays with family though.

The Mundane Details of My Life

Since I am doing nothing interesting lately but go to work and then go home, this blog has turned into a datebook of sorts. Nothing interesting has happened at work, and home life consists of watching TV and unpacking.

We might be meeting up with a friend of Jeremy's whose in town with the circus this weekend. How cool is it that Jeremy has a friend that's a clown for Ringling Brothers? I don't want to meet up tomorrow though because I'm curious to see if we get any trick or treaters at our new apartment. We used to get 2 or 3 groups in Memphis, but they were usually older kids.

Snow

It's snowing today. Okay, it's snowing, but nothings going to stick. In fact, it's supposed to be upwards of 60 degrees in the next few days. It was funny making a big deal out of it this morning because we could. I can't wait for a real snowstorm though. I got new boots yesterday, but it would be silly wearing them now since there's no accumulation.

Football Weekend

The Tigers won yesterday in a spectacular fashion. It was a nail-biter until the end, but we managed to win. I was less than optimistic at the beginning of the game seeing as how we were down to our 3rd and 4th string quarterbacks, but they played great. It's a good thing we get a bye week next week seeing as how now we're down to just our 3rd string and maybe a few receivers turned quarterbacks. The direct snap to the running back seemed to work well so maybe he'll play a couple of snaps as QB as well. Thank goodness the rest of our schedule will be relatively easy, and we may pull out a winning season yet.

I'm not as invested in the NFL this year. Last year I would watch the Patriots games, but I'm less interested this year. They did manage to beat the Rams though. We would watch the Panthers games since DeAngelo is playing great this year, but that game is always preempted by a "regional" game.

Other than football, we did manage to get some things done around the apartment. We realized that the pot rack won't hang where we had wanted it, so it's back to the drawing board. I am determined to move the entertainment center again, although Jeremy might just kill me. We did get all our winter clothes unpacked though which I think is a huge accomplishment although I still have to pack up all the summer clothes. Oh well, I'm taking things a little at a time.

Busy Saturday

This morning we got slept in but we managed to get a whole bunch done. We went to Ikea to return some things we bought a couple of weeks ago. We also ate lunch there. It brought back some bittersweet memories of my grandmother because we ate at Ikea the last time we visited her.

We're about to watch the Tigers play their homecoming game. It's the first homecoming game I've missed since 2002. They're supposed to do a tribute to TOMII tonight as well. They probably won't show that on TV. I hope we manage to beat Southern Miss even though we're on our third string quarterback.

Changing Seasons

It's getting wonderfully chilly outside, and I'm liking it a lot. I look around though and Jeremy and I are still confused by what the people are wearing. I know that I personally prefer cold weather, but Jeremy generally does not tolerate the cold very well. And yet, we are both still walking around in nothing more than a sweatshirt or a light jacket, whereas everywhere we look, people are already bundling up. I can understand the light scarves on women because that's a fashion thing as much as it is a means of staying warm. What I'm not understanding is the scarves, gloves and hats that are being worn. Yeah, the thermometer says it's 46 degrees outside, but it's not really that cold. Jeremy and I wonder how we're going to deal with the winters here, but if this is any indication, we may not have all that much to worry about. I want to say though that I have a feeling I will be taking that back in February when I'm freezing cold and miserable.

It has been nice watching the leaves change color across the river from us. The view out our window in the morning is truly breathtaking at times. I cannot wait until it snows for the first time.

I Miss A/C

Honestly, I don't know how people do it. The radiators were turned on in the building yesterday because the weather is turning chilly here. This means that in the mornings when I come in to work, it's cold enough outside to require a sweatshirt and a jacket. Before the radiators were turned on, I would keep the sweatshirt on all day and only be warm enough in the afternoon when the sun came through the window. Now, with the radiators on, I'm sitting here in a t-shirt. Apparently, there's either heat or no heat. We'll see how I make it through the winter.

Nice People/Warm Welcome

Jeremy and I went and got our new driver's licenses today. We had gone on Saturday, but there was a huge crowd and I forgot our checkbook. No big deal. We grabbed the paperwork and decided to go today. Nobody ever enjoys the thought of having to go to the DMV. We envisioned waiting forever and getting our licenses, no more, no less.

Instead, we were very surprised by the entire experience. The estimated wait time was about 2 minutes, but there were a couple of people ahead of us that had some issues with whatever, so we waited a little longer, probably no more than 30 minutes. When we approached the counter, we met a man who seemed slightly gruff, not extremely friendly. We laid out our paperwork, and he examined our mail and questioned us as to why some people put the east in front vs. behind the street name. I can't speak for Jeremy but I was a little confused and apparently being a little slow this morning. I think either that or I'm just not used to DMV employees with a sense of humor.

Once all of the paperwork was settled, he started to enter our information into the computer. He asked us how long we had been in the city and if we'd ever been here before. Because he found out we were new to the area as in just moved here a month ago, he not only gave us information and directions to where to change our tags, he gave us a map, and then a list of area restaurants that he enjoyed. He sat there for 10 minutes handwriting the restaurant names and how to get to each of them. He then walked us through how to get to each one and what was good about the food. When he finished with our paperwork and we went to wait for our pictures and our temporary licenses, he went on break. As he was walking out, he saw us in the waiting area, and he walked by to make sure we had gotten our pictures done.

This had to be the only time I have ever enjoyed going to the DMV.

Possibilities

Jeremy has an interview tomorrow afternoon. I hope everything goes well and he gets this job. While it's probably not his dream job, it would be a pretty good opportunity to increase his skill set. Plus, another income wouldn't hurt.

We keep saying that we're going to go out and explore more of the city, but that hasn't come to pass just yet. This past weekend was hampered by a migraine. However, as the weather seems to keep staying beautiful, maybe this weekend we'll be able to explore more.

Rearrangements

We are planning on rearranging our living room yet again. We have been in our new place a month, and we've moved our living room furniture around twice already. We can't seem to find an arrangement that we like. Ideally, the best place for it would've been where we had it before, but there just isn't enough room for the couch without blocking either the way to the stairs or the way out the front door. Where we have it now on the other side of the room works okay, but we have about 3 feet between us and the tv. It's a little close.

I really didn't want to arrange the living room this way because I want to be able to utilize the bar better, but this will give us more room between the couch and the tv. It will also allow for tv watching from the kitchen.

I've also managed to rearrange a lot of the kitchen so that cooking is a lot easier. I'm not completely finished nor completely happy, but without more room, it'll be hard to get it exactly the way I want it. It's actually not too bad in that my prep area will be right by the sink and the trash can so it makes chopping and stuff more convenient. I can't wait until we get our pot rack though so I can clear out the cabinet and put more prep type items in there.

Cooking Successes

While I'm not going to post recipes here, I will probably document cooking successes and failures whenever we attempt anything new. Today was a success. We had a butternut squash risotto that was amazing. While it probably won't go on our normal dinner rotation, it will definitely be something we make again. We do have a lot of butternut squash left, so I might freeze some for the future.

We also made our own pumpkin puree today as well. The hardest part was cutting the pumpkins open. It took us at least 30 minutes to cut the top off of the pumpkins. We've frozen 1 cup portions for baking during the holidays.

Tomorrow, I'm going to make chicken noodle casserole and chicken jambalaya. I should be able to freeze single serving portions of those for when we both start working. If the jambalaya turns out as well as the risotto, it will be another thing that Jeremy will now eat.

Weekend Plans

Weekends seem to go by so quickly, regardless of plans or activities. Maybe when we get everything more settled our weekends will be more fun.

We get to spend our Saturday morning at the DMV getting our new drivers license. I guess it's a blessing that the DMV is open on Saturdays. Maybe if we get there early enough there won't be that many people.

If we were still in Memphis, we would be participating in Memphis Madness tonight. I told Jeremy that he should feel free to drive 12 hours back there to watch, but he declined. I suppose 12 hours is really too far to drive on a whim.

It's starting to cool down here, inspiring me to want to cook more. Our kitchen is still such a mess though that I'm not sure I could actually cook the way I want. We recently ordered a potrack that we think will work well for us, but it won't get here for another 2 weeks. I think my goal this weekend will be to try to get the kitchen into a workable form so that I can at least contemplate cooking again. It's going to be hard though now that our kitchen is actually about half the size of our old one. I cannot imagine how I dealt with a kitchen that small in my studio apartment.

There is a Memphis football game on Saturday that we will watch provided the DMV doesn't take up all of our time. It should be a fun game, but it will be the first game we watch through the SlingBox. Hopefully it will be better quality than the Memphis vs. Houston game we watched via channelsurfing.com that was actually the Shanghai stream, Chinese announcers and all.

We don't have any plans as of yet for Sunday. Maybe this lack of activity will give us just enough time to finish what we need to around the apartment and actually rest up to tackle the coming work week.

It's Been Quite a Day

So my experiments didn't exactly work today. It's not a total setback being that these experiments were just a test anyways. As I've been told through my entire graduate school career, if things worked the first time, it wouldn't be called research; it'd just be called search.

On the home front, I think we're just about completely settled. We've still got a few things left to unpack, but for the most part, it'll be rearranging some things. We still need to buy several pieces of furniture, but again, we'll do that after we finish settling in.

I am really loving the weather right now. It's warm enough that I don't need a jacket, but it's cool enough where the leaves are changing. I'm really looking forward to the weekend and exploring more of the city.

Eastern Time

I have now lived in the Eastern time zone for oh, almost a month, and my impressions are that it just sucks. Maybe it's because I've only lived with central time, but I'm used to being able to watch ALL of my primetime shows before I pass out at night. Not to mention the fact that I used to actually be able to watch the news.

Now, I'm lucky if I make it to the start of the news. I honestly don't know how people do it. I suppose though that my habit of working 8:30 to 5:00 is a little different for people here. I'm not here particularly early, and my coworkers tend to arrive around the same time as well. However, the two weeks I was at home I noticed that most people really didn't leave for work until after 8 and didn't get off work until later in the evening.

Oh well, I'm getting really good at Wheel of Fortune.

New to Everything

Jeremy and I are finally settling in a little in Pittsburgh. We've been getting into a rhythm at work and at home. We've only gotten slightly lost a few times, but with the help of Google Maps, we've managed to find our way home every time.

Work has been interesting. I'm slowly ramping up to experiments. A few things I have tried have worked, but it's strange trying to get back into the swing of things. Everything is done differently and learning new techniques makes figuring things out just that much more interesting.

The good thing is that everyone is very nice. Even though I feel really stupid asking questions like, what water do we use when we make solutions, nobody has made me feel stupid yet for asking the questions.

I think our first month in Pittsburgh can be considered a success. Hopefully things will keep on improving, and we'll continue to love our new surroundings.