The good and the bad

After a conversation with a couple of friends tonight, I discovered they had blogs and I always love to find new reading material! But it reminded me that I have been remiss. Sometimes I think my life is really just not interesting to other people. Then I remember the only people that read this blog are my friends who are far away and my mundane day to day is interesting to them. So I thought I'd give an update. Things are kind of busy at school this week. I have a couple of out of town visitors/collaborators to keep track of. Which is good, because I might make progress on two more papers talking face to face instead of over email, but is bad because it's chaotic to have them both here at the same time. I'm training a new grad student on the lidar. Which is good and bad, once he knows everything it will take some pressure off of me, but it means that I'll have less field work to do myself and I like the field work. I got my last two rejection letters this week, which is good and bad, it means we aren't moving far away, but it means that I'm not moving forward in my career either. There's a lot I can expound on that subject, but I think there are some things better kept personal and not in the public sphere of the internet. I've been thinking alot about moving this blog to an anonymous title and therefore being a little more free to blog with less self censorship. I will email those of you who read this blog when I do. (A link would kind of defeat the purpose).

I've been reading a new blog lately, that I find inspiring and it makes me laugh out loud in that way that things really aren't funny because they are too real, but still just make you laugh. It's pretty specific to me but someone might find it interesting.

Lest we forget I'm a knitter:

I don't want to leave you hanging. I finished my modified convertible. I LOVE IT! I've worn it in public twice already and I'm very happy with it. Not too happy with Hub's photography though so you'll have to wait a) to see it live or b) for me to try the self timer on my new camera.

I've started two new projects in addition to the 5 ongoing pairs of socks (current count is 3 of 10 socks complete-still no matching pair!) The first is a gift, so you can only see a closeup of the stich pattern and yarn:
I'm making it out of Lang Venezia Colors that I got at the Webs tent sale last weekend. They still have some available. It's a mohair/acrylic blend and usually I'm pretty anti-acrylic, but this I like, it's working up well and the color blending is goregous. I'm working it on size 8s so it's a pretty airy stitch and thus far I'm pretty happy.


Project number 2: Knitter's may or may not recognize. It's the start of a Prairie Tunic from the Spring 2006 Interweave. Well, a modified one at least. My continential style of knitting has produced a different lace then intended, but I've decided to go with it since it's less holey and see-thruish then the original pattern. We'll see how it goes. The yarn is the Jaeger Siena the pattern calls for, but a different color. It's the last of my purchases from last year's tent sale!

Oh and I'm trying out a new template. What do you think?

New Beginnings and Good Memories

Friday morning I drove away looking at this:
And I drove home looking at this:

Yup, you guessed it. I bought a new car. I should say we bought a new car, since this is our first car purchase post permanent coupledom. (Hubby bought his car while we were dating, but I lived in another state). My old car is one of the few things I've had longer then I've known him. I'm very very very excited about my new car. It's a Volkswagen Rabbit and it's blue and it's cute and it's FAST! I love it. As sure I was I wanted a new car, as happy as I was to get it, there was a saddness too. My old car and I had been through a lot. I still get misty thinking about it. A trip to Texas with my dad, and of course the trip back too. All those trips to PA. The three replacement hubcaps (one stolen from the parking lot at school...who steals hubcaps from a corrolla I'll never know, one from the time that truck almost ran me off the road and one from ???). The two replacement bumpers. For the record neither was my fault, and in fact, I wasn't even in the state for one of them. I bought that car when I was 19, yes 19. That car and I have been through a lot. This is the first time I said goodbye to a car and it was really interesting to see what accumulates in almost a decade.

It doesn't rival 13 umbrella's, but it was still quite a haul. As opposed to the new car:



Ahh, a clean slate!


On another note, we also did this thing this weekend:

The competency of the world

So....I know it's been many months since I received my new title but they only do the hooding ceremony once a year. So this Saturday I will get hooded. My advisor bought me my hood in August as my graduation present, and It was a present I so very much loved. It seems silly I know, but that hood means a lot of things to me, a lot of my life, a lot of growing...just a lot of things. So I hung it in the closet so I would be able to use it, all nice and safe for every ceremony I might need to attend in the future. Several months ago it was time to get the tickets and the rest of the outfit. Well, the "souvenir" robes just looked so cheap next to my beautiful velvet lined hood. I decided I would spend the money on a nice robe. That way, I would have it, and not have to rent it should I need to attend future ceremonies, should I somehow manage to obtain a real job and actually successfully graduate some students of my own. (I recognize that there are many optimistic/non-concrete words in that statement, but hey, I'm an optimist.) Plus when my dear hubby finishes his degree, he can use the robe, tam and yes even the hood for his ceremony since we're about the same height (please refrain from midget children jokes!).

So, long story short, we went and ordered the gown. Discovered that they had sent my advisor the wrong colored hood (for no apparent reason since the order form was correct). Gave the old hood back and accepted a receipt for the order of a new one. This was 7 weeks ago to the day. The new hood arrived last week. As graduation is three days away I was worried about the gown, finally broke down and called and was assured that it shipped over the weekend, and finally it was on my doorstep when I came home today. One of the main selling features is that the gowns are monogrammed. I will leave you with this:


I'm thinking my parents really meant to name me....Christmas after my mother's birthday instead of my fathers. Make the Lish looking thing a J for Jones and that would make me a really hot scientist