Before I get started - I found out yesterday that a friend of mine just got her certification to box - I think that's awesome! Now she can spar for real, and possibly enter non-pro competitions!
Today was a really nice day. I started by taking a walk through the neighborhood with my house-mate's wife (who is visiting and must return to Taiwan this week - they are very sad!) Then I had a good and productive day at work during my best work hours - roughly 11am to 8pm. The day itself was nice because I got a lot of little things done making me feel that the tasks I need to do aren't so daunting. My class also went well - two students thanked me at the end of class for a good class! That felt great :) At the start of class I did the famous "pull a tablecloth out from under the dishes" trick. That's always fun. I have only done it before with a few things on the table. The demo guy set it up for me with china, a wine glass, a vase of silk flowers and a burning candle! That certainly added to the flare!
At the end of the day I came home with energy to spare - which seems rare these days. I was able to play the piano a bit which I did a lot when I unpacked it the first week I was here (I missed it over the summer!) but had neglected the last two weeks. I then decided to work on a puzzle in front of a fire. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful at starting a fire. I was too optimistic and didn't build a good enough base - especially considering the wood was damp. I will keep a few pieces inside from now on so they are easier to burn. I spent so much time with the fire that I ended up not working on the puzzle either! Then I had a late dinner consisting of a hearty version of miso soup that I made this weekend, and this absolutely delicious brie I got at the food co-op with rice crackers.
It's now time for me to get to bed early - and read a research paper in bed which will certainly send me into a sound slumber :)
Good night!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
This earth-friendly town
I love this town I live in. I feel so comfortable here. It's not a town for everyone. It's the kind of place where in many restaurants there is no service, and you have to clear your own dishes. I've heard a few people complain about that - but I don't mind. It's also the kind of place where recycling is so part of the culture that even the normal trash cans on campus have notices on them for where the nearest recycling bin is if you want to throw away things that should be recycled. And in all the restaurants you put your bottles in a different place. I normally recycle but I need to be better about sorting things. Another thing I like is the little woodsy touches, like the building I work in on campus - the sign depicting its name is a carved plank of wood like something you'd see in a national park.
the trees
The amazing trees here that I love so much are western redcedars, actually - which are apparently not even a true form of cedar. They are not redwood trees like I originally thought. Redwoods (or giant sequoias) can grow over 100 m tall (the tallest is ~115m) but these only grow to 50-60m tall. They are babies in comparison.
They are still very tall and majestic. There's one clump of them near my house - I like to take Audrey walking back there, and walk between them. 
There's one spot where I'm between them all and it is dark even when the sun is bright. It feels like a magic place that I would make into a private fort as a kid. I would like to go there and have a picnic - even though it's just behind someone's house :)
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Audrey
Most of you know already as it has been my biggest news of late, but Audrey has Lyme's disease. Fortunately my over-protectiveness paid off since I rushed her to the vet at first signs something was wrong, and insisted on the expensive test the vet didn't think would be needed. Catching it early is the best way to assure quick and full recovery. Shortly after my last Sept. post Audrey started limping, and it quickly got worse. I had pulled ticks off her in Massachusetts back in May (and one off myself) and knew that Lyme's was a real concern out there. What I did not know at the time was that a quick onset of a single front leg limping after a 4-5 month dormant period is quite characteristic of Lyme's in dogs. It is unfortunate the vet here didn't know much about the disease, but I am so glad that I thought of testing her for it - I did know it caused joint problems, though I thought it would effect all legs and not just one.
http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/lyme.html
Audrey was back to full energy after only a few days of antibiotics, and is now back to her usual antics. She has to take antibiotics for 4 weeks though - there's still about 10 days to go. 4 pills a day! I coat them in peanut butter and at first she ate them willingly. She now refuses though, and I have to slip them in her mouth between her teeth. I can't blame her, I think they make her nauseous. I can't feed her in the mornings as she keeps throwing up. It's worth it though because Lyme's is not to be messed around with. I'm so happy she is doing well...
http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/lyme.html
Audrey was back to full energy after only a few days of antibiotics, and is now back to her usual antics. She has to take antibiotics for 4 weeks though - there's still about 10 days to go. 4 pills a day! I coat them in peanut butter and at first she ate them willingly. She now refuses though, and I have to slip them in her mouth between her teeth. I can't blame her, I think they make her nauseous. I can't feed her in the mornings as she keeps throwing up. It's worth it though because Lyme's is not to be messed around with. I'm so happy she is doing well...
Home
My new home is terrific - it is so peaceful here, and so easy to take care of. I am fairly settled in though there are still little things to do here and there. I had an open house in September which was well attended and nice. I made sure to get the downstairs settled before people came, so I do have Nick knacks unpacked and some art on the walls. Although at the moment it isn't as clean, you can see what I've done with the main living areas:
One thing to notice is the chandelier. I made it from hand-carved ostrich eggs I brought back from South Africa. I absolutely love it. I also have missed my piano, and am enjoying the fireplace, and being able to use some of my nicer things.
On the other hand I've also been struggling with excess - knowing that I have too much stuff, and a lot of useless stuff I don't value. Since I'm unpacked, I've started to go through things and make donation piles of stuff I no longer want. This week I picked 100 items out of my closet that I don't want anymore. There's still a lot more clothes in there! I also cleaned out my linens, books, and some other items when I unpacked. I have a rather growing pile of stuff to donate in my garage.
One thing to notice is the chandelier. I made it from hand-carved ostrich eggs I brought back from South Africa. I absolutely love it. I also have missed my piano, and am enjoying the fireplace, and being able to use some of my nicer things.
On the other hand I've also been struggling with excess - knowing that I have too much stuff, and a lot of useless stuff I don't value. Since I'm unpacked, I've started to go through things and make donation piles of stuff I no longer want. This week I picked 100 items out of my closet that I don't want anymore. There's still a lot more clothes in there! I also cleaned out my linens, books, and some other items when I unpacked. I have a rather growing pile of stuff to donate in my garage.
My new job
This time my breech in posting was not due to dating, but rather was due to starting my new job. It has been hectic, but great! I feel the burden of responsibility now, though, much more so than I have in the past. Not only do I have roughly 250 students to manage, but I also have a graduate student working for me for research, 4 working for me for teaching, and 2 undergrads working for me for grading. Plus I'm in charge of some committees and have also started a journal club where I am the local "expert" in the field and am thus expected to be able to answer everyone's in-depth questions. Overall I feel I'm up to the task, but this past week I was quite congested and groggy (adjusting to the rainy climate here, I think) and I was not thinking very quickly or well. I hope no one things ill of me based on seeing me not at my peak this week!
I have realized something about myself that is both a blessing and a curse. I have an amazing ability to see everything that I do that could be done better. This, I'm sure, has enabled me to constantly push myself to improve, and thus be successful. However, it also makes me feel like I'm constantly screwing up. I need to shift my mindset to seeing things as ways I can improve next time instead of ways I have failed. I hardly think anything I have done here has been a failure by any stretch - and I need to cut myself some slack.
This past week especially has been up and down. I had what I thought was a great lecture planned for Monday, and the students were underwhelmed by a demo I was using to illustrate an important concept. As a result I felt they weren't really thinking about what was happening, and thus missed the point. Then Wednesday went far better than I expected it to, and was followed by a student telling me he's taken (and dropped) the class twice before and I'm by far the best instructor he's seen. I did another demo by having a student skateboard in front of the class while throwing/dropping a basketball. This was used to show relative motion and was fun and had some results that surprised the students and kept their attention. Friday again was underwhelming - I think by then I was really not feeling well, and my energy level was very down. I think all classes must go this way - some days better than others. I need to learn to take everything in stride and quit worrying so much.
One thing that has been great is my graduate teaching assistants - they are really on board with the teaching and making sure we emphasize the same points and goals in the class. We're coordinating well to keep the labs, recitations and lectures on pace and emphasizing common key points. I hope this is coming across to the students as well. They often think they know this stuff, but they usually need to see it multiple times before they stop making common mistakes.
I have realized something about myself that is both a blessing and a curse. I have an amazing ability to see everything that I do that could be done better. This, I'm sure, has enabled me to constantly push myself to improve, and thus be successful. However, it also makes me feel like I'm constantly screwing up. I need to shift my mindset to seeing things as ways I can improve next time instead of ways I have failed. I hardly think anything I have done here has been a failure by any stretch - and I need to cut myself some slack.
This past week especially has been up and down. I had what I thought was a great lecture planned for Monday, and the students were underwhelmed by a demo I was using to illustrate an important concept. As a result I felt they weren't really thinking about what was happening, and thus missed the point. Then Wednesday went far better than I expected it to, and was followed by a student telling me he's taken (and dropped) the class twice before and I'm by far the best instructor he's seen. I did another demo by having a student skateboard in front of the class while throwing/dropping a basketball. This was used to show relative motion and was fun and had some results that surprised the students and kept their attention. Friday again was underwhelming - I think by then I was really not feeling well, and my energy level was very down. I think all classes must go this way - some days better than others. I need to learn to take everything in stride and quit worrying so much.
One thing that has been great is my graduate teaching assistants - they are really on board with the teaching and making sure we emphasize the same points and goals in the class. We're coordinating well to keep the labs, recitations and lectures on pace and emphasizing common key points. I hope this is coming across to the students as well. They often think they know this stuff, but they usually need to see it multiple times before they stop making common mistakes.
My big day of flirtations
This weekend I had my first date in Oregon. It was underwhelming. At least I got out and met someone! The date was a fix up - actually my realtor's son. His eyes reminded me of a pale-eyed boarder collie - a ghostly gray-blue with one slightly darker than the other. They always seemed very cold and harsh to me. Other than that he seemed quite concerned about showing he wasn't a geek but managed to convince me quite thoroughly that he was!
In the same evening I went dancing with a postdoc to a place that specializes in Argentine Tango. The couple featured under the "events" part of the webpage are young professional tango dancers and were great to watch.
http://www.tangocenter.org/
That was my first time dancing non-ballroom style tango. The two dances are in fact very different. Here is the most noticeable difference as described in wikipedia:
"A striking difference between Argentine tango and ballroom tango is in the shape and feel of the embrace. Ballroom technique dictates that partners arch their upper bodies away from each other, while maintaining contact at the hip, in an offset frame.In Argentine tango, it is nearly the opposite: the dancers' chests are closer to each other than are their hips, and often there is contact at about the level of the sternums (the contact point differing, depending on the height of the leader and the closeness of the embrace). In close embrace, the sternums of both the leader and the follower are in complete contact and they are dancing cheek to cheek (or in the case of a larger height difference chin to forehead)."
In addition to the frame, the dance feels very different. It is much smoother, slower, and more improvisational than ballroom tango. The male lead is very strong but also very subtle. You follow the male because his body is moving a certain way, not because he has given you a cue with the arms. The arms really do nothing. In fact before the social dancing began there was an hour of free lessons - I was lucky to be there when they had a very well known instructor as a guest. And for almost the entire hour we were dancing without using our arms - so the entire lead was just by feeling the man's chest against yours.
The actual dancing felt very different based on who I was dancing with. Making an analogy between dancing and sex is very played out - but it very much was like that. With some people it was like sex - fun, efficient, a bit demanding, while with others it was like making love, where the person was not only giving me subtle cues to respond to but also adjusting his movements based on how I responded. With some people it was like bad sex - with toes in the wrong places, and a lack of ability to communicate (via body language) about which leg goes where...
I'm glad I gave it a try, and I hope to go back again! Maybe next time I'll be slightly less awkward? Probably not though!
In the same evening I went dancing with a postdoc to a place that specializes in Argentine Tango. The couple featured under the "events" part of the webpage are young professional tango dancers and were great to watch.
http://www.tangocenter.org/
That was my first time dancing non-ballroom style tango. The two dances are in fact very different. Here is the most noticeable difference as described in wikipedia:
"A striking difference between Argentine tango and ballroom tango is in the shape and feel of the embrace. Ballroom technique dictates that partners arch their upper bodies away from each other, while maintaining contact at the hip, in an offset frame.In Argentine tango, it is nearly the opposite: the dancers' chests are closer to each other than are their hips, and often there is contact at about the level of the sternums (the contact point differing, depending on the height of the leader and the closeness of the embrace). In close embrace, the sternums of both the leader and the follower are in complete contact and they are dancing cheek to cheek (or in the case of a larger height difference chin to forehead)."
In addition to the frame, the dance feels very different. It is much smoother, slower, and more improvisational than ballroom tango. The male lead is very strong but also very subtle. You follow the male because his body is moving a certain way, not because he has given you a cue with the arms. The arms really do nothing. In fact before the social dancing began there was an hour of free lessons - I was lucky to be there when they had a very well known instructor as a guest. And for almost the entire hour we were dancing without using our arms - so the entire lead was just by feeling the man's chest against yours.
The actual dancing felt very different based on who I was dancing with. Making an analogy between dancing and sex is very played out - but it very much was like that. With some people it was like sex - fun, efficient, a bit demanding, while with others it was like making love, where the person was not only giving me subtle cues to respond to but also adjusting his movements based on how I responded. With some people it was like bad sex - with toes in the wrong places, and a lack of ability to communicate (via body language) about which leg goes where...
I'm glad I gave it a try, and I hope to go back again! Maybe next time I'll be slightly less awkward? Probably not though!
Hiking the bigger hill
Today I tried the bigger hill that I mentioned in my last post. I have hiked since then - it's been about 3 weeks since I've posted! However, we have had a lot of rain, so the amount of days I've been able to hike has gone down a lot. This weekend was beautiful, though. Yesterday I went on a similar hike as the one I posted last time - but I tried different paths. I ended up on a service road that had another entrance to the park, where I found some trail maps. Finally! Now I had some idea when I went in there of if I would need to turn back or if the path I took would loop to another one. Armed with my trail map, and a picnic lunch for myself (though admittedly I didn't eat it until near 6pm!) I headed back out again today. I am frustrated to report that I didn't quite make it to the top of dimple hill (the larger of two hills in this park) but I made it quite close. Another hiker told me it was about another 10 minutes to the top. I knew darkness would come fast, though, and I rightly guessed adding 20 more minutes to my hike wouldn't be good. As it is I just emerged from the forest at dusk and finished walking home after dark. The total trip time from my front door was about 2.5 hours but today I went at a brisker pace than I have been hiking. According to the trail guide I found online:
http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/DansTrailMac_1890.asp
this trail should take about 3.5 hours and that's not including the time I spent inside my neighborhood since I didn't drive to the park. However, I was passed by a lady probably in her 50's who's pace on the trail totally smoked mine! We also saw several mountain bikers. When one of them passed me I was trying to keep Audrey out of the way so I told her to stay - and the biker replied "I can't stay!" It was pretty funny... My legs are quite tired now - and Audrey looks very calm - I think she enjoyed it!
http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/DansTrailMac_1890.asp
this trail should take about 3.5 hours and that's not including the time I spent inside my neighborhood since I didn't drive to the park. However, I was passed by a lady probably in her 50's who's pace on the trail totally smoked mine! We also saw several mountain bikers. When one of them passed me I was trying to keep Audrey out of the way so I told her to stay - and the biker replied "I can't stay!" It was pretty funny... My legs are quite tired now - and Audrey looks very calm - I think she enjoyed it!
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