The heat is on, the heat is o-on...

OK, I'm not sure if the heat actually IS on, but it is IN! It might be on. The furnace is installed and all of the duct work is done. The last Tim and I spoke about it, the gas to the furnace had yet to be completed. I forgot to ask the status again. It's just that that Glenn Frey song kept playing in my head, so I had to put in in the title. We actually don't plan to have it "on the street", or "inside your head". OK, it's kind of in my head now, it seems.

Along the theme of the heat being IN, the window replacement has begun! We are replacing most of the non-custom windows in the house for several reasons:
1. To keep the heat IN!!!! We're putting in double-paned windows.
2. So they look better. The old ones are ugly.
3. Code. Most of the new ones are larger, so that people can climb out of them, if they need to. That way, if we ever have a kid, it'll be easier for him/her to sneak out. You could lump this into #2 as far as I'm concerned. Bigger windows, more light= better aesthetics in my book!

The moral of today's post is that we are making progress on the keeping the heat in, on several fronts. We are also going to put in a very efficient (at heating) fireplace and ceiling insulation, so that's how I justify the term "several".

Daylight Update

Today is the shortest day of the year, they say. In Seattle, daylight is 7:17 long. Here's the rub: tomorrow has the exact same sunrise and sunset. So don't expect much change yet, less than a minute more daylight. However, by Christmas day, there will be 4 more minutes of daylight in Seattle.

I went to a naval web site to get more accurate info than the weather channel. They actually show 7:16 today. I still say that the change is probably less than a minute.

Early Christmas

Isn't this beautiful? This is what Valerie gave us for Christmas. Made of Manos Del Uruguay! I told Tim, "It's like manos, but softer. I wonder what yarn she used?" Well, Valerie has a special treatment that she uses, and it is soft enough even for my sensitive skin. Could it get any better? The colors are great with our couch, and it will be sooo cozy in our new Tahoe abode (which was obviously her plan). Thanks Val!

And it gets better. The picture was taken with my new camera (Thanks Dad).

Tim opened his present from my dad earlier this week when they saw each other in Tahoe. The chainsaw didn't need to travel around with Tim. We had the package from Val arive here. Then we got a big box from my sister. We decided to open these presents, which were too big to travel with us. After that, I rationalized that I should get to open my present from my dad, since Tim already opened his, and we'd opened the presents from my stepmom and sister. Of course, their presents are all in FedEx limbo, waiting for the Denver airport to open. Now we're off for Christmas with Tim's family.

Christmas

OK, I'm ready for Christmas! Wohoo!! I did all my Christmas shopping in 2 days, and mailed off packages to my family in Colorado. Tim was a wrapping fiend! Should get there tomorrow (Friday), but with the Denver airport closed, they may not make it for Christmas. We also got all of our Christmas cards out today. I haven't gotten them all out in a couple of years, I think. Again, Tim was a big help. Tomorrow we will brave the airport and holiday travel. We're going to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with Tim's family. I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas!

That Extra Hour

It is that time of year again. Seattle just seems dark and gloomy even during the few daylight hours we have. This is the time of year when I fixate on the amount of actual daylight and compare it to home. In the San Francisco Bay Area, 9 hours and 25 minutes separate sunrise and sunset. Here, there is an entire hour less of daylight (8:25). And I use the term "daylight" loosely. There are a lot of days that seem stuck in twilight this time of year. OK, those from the northern part of the country may be used to this. Go ahead, call me a wimp, I'm OK with that. Many people may not mind it, but I DO! I'm from California, and this is hard for me. Even in the summer, the sun is not as bright and strong here. Yes, this climate is better for my skin and appropriate for my British mutt genetics blah blah blah. Just because my genes like it here doesn't mean I have to! So, this time of year I fixate on what I'm missing (yes, I am both wise and mature). I imagine that extra hour of daylight, so bright that my eyes can barely take it. And the sunshine is warm, too. Never mind that today's high is forcasted to be 55º in The Park today and the UV index is only 1. I imagine a warm sunny day. I also imagine that extra hour in Tahoe. It is even brighter there because of the elevation and the snow reflecting the sunlight. Of course it is bright and sunny and warm. What is it really like you ask? It is currently 18º, but feels like 11º, with a forecast high of 34º and "plentiful sunshine". OK, UV index of 1. And there is no snow to reflect the sunlight. Both places are still brighter than Seattle, where the UV index is 0. And there is that extra hour.

I know that the solstice is only a few days away, but that doesn't help. I'm fixated. The extra hour... bright sunshine... that hour... i'm missing it... the hour... a whole hour...

Freedom and Christmas Cards

I'm free, to do what I want, any old time... Imagine Mick Jagger, not me, singing it; it'll sound better.

It doesn't feel quite as good as I would like, probably because I will keep going in to lab to finish a few things up, but NOT full time. Yesterday, my first day of freedom, I didn't go in to lab at all. Instead, I got started on my Christmas cards. I used to be really good about sending out cards every year, but not since graduate school and marriage. Of course there is the whole thing with graduate school taking up so much of my time and energy. And what the stress of it does to my efficiency. I also think marriage had a lot to do with my poor record with Christmas cards these last 6 years of marriage and science. First of all, the number of cards increased. That first year, I was gathering addresses from Tim for some of his relatives that I had met, thinking that it would be no big deal to add 5-10 cards to my list. Tim, who didn't send out Christmas cards, thought it was great and started adding some of his friends to the list as well. He was really good as adding names, but not as good at adding addresses, so then there was this big address gathering event before the cards were done. Each year, there have been more of his friends added, as well as new friends of ours that we have met, so the job keeps growing. The other thing about marriage that made the Christmas cards a more formidable task is The Christmas Letter. Now that there are two of us, there is more news each year, and it made sense to include this update with the cards. The first year, we needed to explain our wedding/marriage and describe the new unknown member of our union to the recipients. We married 9 months after we met and only invited immediate family to the tiny ceremony on a mountain. We just slipped it in the same week I started grad school. There were people in our lives who didn't know any of this until they received the announcement in the mail after we married, instead of the invitation beforehand that they would have received if we had a normal wedding. It was important to let them know that they were not individually excluded, but that we didn't invite anyone. We also had the move to Washington for me to attend graduate school. It all makes sense, but it made the Christmas card task even greater. Well, I started sending cards out late, and some years I just never got them all finished. Tim started helping by stuffing and signing the ones for his friends. Last year I was really overwhelmed, so Tim wrote The Letter. It was great, by the way. He has a great sense of humor. This year, once again, we have much to tell, and I really want to get them sent out, but I just started yesterday and we leave for Pennsylvania on Friday. I really hope to get back to my old ways of organization and completion!

Absent Blogger

OK, I know, I'm a sorry excuse for a blog author. Please forgive me, and bear with me for another week. My last official day in lab is December 15th. This Friday! I am feeling great that the end is so near, but I have been working pretty hard to get as much done as I can before I leave. I don't feel too much pressure to finish it all, as things keep getting added to my list. In fact, a significant amount of work was added just last week! At least 3 weeks worth of work! I do intend to continue finishing up the science, part time, while I'm in town. But I won't be on the payroll, so I can take care of other stuff as well. Anyway, I may continue to be the absent blogger for the week, but I will be back.

Happpy Thanksgiving!

We got a nice dusting of snow last night, and woke to a bright, sunny day with blue sky and snow-covered trees. It is glorious! All that brush in the background is what we call "snow bush" and is some sort of manzanita. Eventually it lays flat under the weight of the snow on top of it for the winter. My dad loves to shovel, and made sure to take care of the deck before the snow melted it away.

Then Curious Dad drove over our place to see how well the driveway heating worked. It didn't. He and Tim are over there now, working on it. It had been hooked up and was "all done" a week ago. It came on fine with overnight frost, but never turned off. At $4/hour for electricity, we prefer not to have it stay on indefinitely. Tim got the electrician out yesterday (finally) and he said that his guy mixed some wires during the final hook up. He fixed it and said that now we were good to go. But apparently not. And he has no "guy" to blame this time.

My pirate Sea Captain step-brother managed to get some time off and came out to California to grace us with his company for the holiday. No foolin', he is a Coast Guard certified Captain, who operates a sport fishing boat in Jupiter (near Palm Beach), Florida. And a heck of a lotta fun, too.

Meet Captain Lumberjack

superfund site

I promised to blog on the trees in my next post, but I don't have the pictures yet. I guess I lied. Sorry.

Yesterday I met our GC, Slater. He's great and we are lucky to have him. We talked about some things we could do, and he told us to go ahead and do some more demolition to get an idea of what we have to work with. Today we went over to the house to do our demo. We wanted to open up a few walls in some weird closets to see how much space we could get for a laundry room. After removing the paneling, we found a whole little ecosytem. Here are some examples of what we found:




I can't wait to culture these guys and identify them. Then I'll figure out if they are the toxic sort and whether or not to do some serious clean up. Hopefully the dreaded "Toxic Black Mold" is not a member of our little ecosystem. I will try to clean it up as well as I can, to minimize allergic reaction, but The ID of the bugs will determine how crazy I get with nasty ingredients. Obviously there has been some water in this area. You don't get this amount of mold in such a dry mountain environment without lots of water participation. I didn't get a picture of the worst part, which is the wall on the outside of the bathroom. Basically the shower was flowing through the area, we think. So, now we are going to redo bathroom #3. And we are also going to have the stairs completely re-framed. I'll try to get some pictures and see if I can explain the problem with them in a coherent fashion. If so, maybe I'll blog on it.

At Home in Tahoe

Sorry I have, once again, neglected this blog. I've been very busy in lab, trying to make up for the time when I was sick and unproductive. I also have had some trouble with my new (Intel Core Duo) Macbook Pro. I totally screwed it up by using it for a while, and then migrating everything from my older powerbook. It destroyed my keychain, and the ability to have one, which really messed with my email. I ended up starting fresh, erasing the harddrive and re-installing OS X followed by an immediate migratiion of everything from the old computer. It works just fine now, thank goodness!

Saturday, I drove from Seattle to Lake Tahoe. I got a later start then I wanted, because I had been in lab until 10pm Friday night, and hadn't gotten as much done at home as I needed to. It was a nice drive, because there was no rain. I had dry roads the whole way. And I didn't have the monsters dogs with me. That meant no stops where I wrestle with them, trying to control both at the same time, or take one out, then the other. So, that helped. As soon as I got to I80, north of Sacramento, I went on auto pilot, feeling like I was almost home, and then I really was. At 2:30 am. I love it here no matter what the time, but I was very glad not to find the house invaded by a bear. That would have been a bit too much for me at 2:30am after driving 800+ miles. I awoke about 6:30am, and for some reason went to look out the window. I guess I just wanted to see my home in the daylight. It was on fire! The sky was anyway. Sunrise. So I went downstairs and out to the deck and took a picture so I could share it with you.

This is at my family's cabin, which doesn't have the lake view of our future home. I thought (for maybe a fraction of a picosecond) that I should walk the block down the hill to the lake and that I would get an amaizing shot. Instead, I went back to sleep.

Now, I don't mean to suggest that this is a standard sunrise around here, but I have enjoyed some really beautiful sunrises over The Lake. Seeing as I have always lived on the West Shore, we are prone to beautiful sunrises over the mountains rimming the east shore.

Note the owl on the corner of the deck. He (she?)is protecting the the house from woodpeckers. It hasn't done an outstanding job over the years. I think my dad keeps it as a tribute to his eternal struggle with the "peckers". It makes me smile as I think of the funny stories that come with his War on Peckers.

Today, we went to our house and looked around, talked about our plans, and walked the perimeter discussing the trees. I got to meet the neighbors across the street, and next door. Tim cut some trees down, but I will explain more about that in my next post. I need to snap some pictures.

Tim has scheduled me to meet with our general contractor tomorrow morning and again on Tuesday. He also wants me to meet with the mason and the civil engineer. I might also meet with the window guy, if the timing works out. Tim suggested I drive down to the the "Rock Garden" to look at all their stone products, and get closer to a design for the fireplace. That is in Truckee, a half hour away. On Tuesday, My family will be coming up for the Holiday. I'll see if there is any rest scheduled in there somewhere.

SODs in Progress

Yeah! I found the person, Jaci, in sockwars that I should knit for! From her blog, I learned that she had tried to find her assassin but had given up. We're a perfect match! The gal who had been knitting for her (the target of the gal I killed 2 weeks back) hasn't gotten very far and says that it is "not very well done at all". Well, I say that my new target deserves a better death than that! Ok fine, I admit it, I also wanted to get started asap, and knit with nice soft yarn. Sockwars is over in 14 days and I want to send off another pair of socks first! So I started a fresh pair last night in Jaeger Extra Fine Merino. I love the stuff, it is so soft and wonderful to knit with! The Fiberphiles gave me great feedback on the pair I knit for my first target, Juliana in the same yarn (different color). Plus it is stash busting. I emailed Jaci some color options, then Emily came over to borrow my swift and ballwinder. I really wanted to get started last night, so I consulted with Emily and we decided on the turquoise. Then Jaci responded that she would like the turquoise! I love it when a plan comes together!

I must point out that Jaci has been very responsive, which has not always been the case in sockwars. I had not given her much time to respond. I just was being impatient. "No," you say, "that's not like Daisy!" teehee.
Well, better get knitting!

Sock Wars update

I'm still alive! In Sock Wars, that is. Apparently there are people keeping excellent track of all this, and according to their spread sheet, I have survived to the last 13%! I am trying to get my next pair of SIPs (socks in progress) but have not heard back from the current target of the gal I killed over a week ago. I want to finish off another pair of socks. Those were so fast and easy, compared to the pair I'm working on now!

Meanwhile I have two projects on the needles (OTN).
1. Socks (on 2 circular needles) of KnitPicks Memories superwash merino. Colorway is Prairie something-or-other. These have nothing to do with sockwars, but I did begin them during the end of "Socktoberfest". Who knew there are so many events and things to keep up on in the world of knitting?




















2. Bell Cloche Hat from Monday,April 25, 2005 knitting calendar in Manos. I haven't got a clue of the colorway, if it even has a name. Notice that it is posing on our house plans from the civil engineer, which Tim brought home today. That happens to be the first level, about half of which is crawl space.

























I have finally finished the everlasting pomotomous socks. I'll have to take a picture and post. I also have several UFOs (un-finished projects) that I plan to wrap up in the near future. I'll keep ya'll updated.

Chicken Moment: By the way, the driveway heating is done, Tim has assured me. However, it doesn't work yet, because the electrical is not hooked up yet. Does that seem done to you? Tim seems to be getting used to "Tahoe Time" and much more relaxed about things taking longer than they should. Or maybe all his running around hecticly, paid off by getting things done before the snow comes. By the way, I looked it up and hecticly is a word.

The headache returned today, but I was really careful to head home ASAP (when my autoclave run was over) and take care of myself. I'm gonna beat this thing! Hmmm... well, not literally, that's my head were talking about! Anyway, it is feeling better now.

Better

Yippee! I actually feel well. It started on Sunday, and continues. What a relief. I had a few false starts, days where I felt well, and then I overdid something, or drove down a bumpy road, and the head pain and fever would return. I may have truly turned the corner this time, but I'll be very careful, so that I don't undo this! I lasted all day at lab today, and I only have a very slight headache. I've been sick for a while, and it is really great to put it behind me. I'm fortunate that I'm not used to having headaches, and it has really been wearing me down. It has also made it hard to get things done, like science.

The Light Bulb and "The Plan"

You may have noticed that I have not mentioned anything on the PhD front lately. That is because I was too stressed out about the whole thing to think or write about. This PhD has been very hard on me and the closer I get to finishing, the worse it gets. My advisor and I are not working very well together. He adds a huge amount to my stress level. My husband's desire for me to get finished also adds to the weight on my shoulders. The more stress I feel the less I seem to get done. It is not that I don't try, only that I am less effective. My mind seems to work more slowly, my concentration is crummy and I just seem to lose efficiency. Which makes me more stressed. I had an idea before the Mexico trip, but was advised to think on it. I knew, as soon as the light bulb went on, that it was the way to go, and the only way to preserve whatever sanity I may actually have. My advisor has been pressuring me to finish up by the end of the quarter (December 13) while adding additional things for me to do first. I was getting more and more overwhelmed with the idea of fitting all that work in to such a short time and knowing that I couldn't do it. But my advisor has a reason: the lab is full and he has another lab member joining the lab in January, He can't afford to keep paying me and needs the space. "Why doesn't he stop adding stuff for me to do," you might ask (I often do!). He seems to be incapable. Meanwhile, Tim is we are working on a remodel of a beautiful house for the future, and I am not even there to be included. I have only seen our wonderful house a few times! I saw it for a few hours on the day I flew down there to look at it and make an offer, and then for the 4 days I was in town with the architects in August. I feel so left out, but I am so overwhelmed with everything, that I can't let myself get distracted by it. I am in a terrible position! It was taking it's toll on me in from late September through October and I knew that I had reached my limit. I was in a really bad place and had to do something to get out. I was so stressed out that I didn't even want to go to Mexico! I couldn't even identify with any joy at the thought of going and that disturbed me. Intellectually, I knew that was not good or normal. Emotionally, the numbness felt like relief. I knew I was in a bad place mentally, but felt trapped there, separated from part of myself -from my joy and happiness.

Somehow I realized what I needed to do (I thank God for that, you can see it however you wish). Here is my plan: I am going to take a leave of absence from graduate school. I will take next quarter off, maybe two quarters. I will move to Tahoe with Tim, Jack, and Denver. I will write my paper and my dissertation down there. This quarter ends on Dec 13, so whatever science still needs to be done on the paper, my advisor will have to do, or have the technician do it. To be fair, she (tech) is doing stuff now, to help. I will commute up here to Seattle regularly to work with my advisor and committee, but I will get some peace and quite, too. I will be in the mountains I love, skiing frequently, being involved in our house remodel, writing and living with my husband. I'm not sure if I've ever explained it, but Tim works in the Tahoe area. He works for one week, then gets a week off. He has been commuting for about 3 years for this job. He has also had a couple of jobs that were 2 weeks on/2 weeks off. We have only lived together full time for about 11 months of our marriage (6+ years). Yes, of course, that adds to my stress level. So now I'll be the one commuting. This may sound a little wimpy, like I'm running away from a tough situation, but I see it differently. I like to see this change as simply taking care of myself. I have had support from lab members, who agree that I am not treated well. One labmate suggested that I should do what ever I can to get myself out of there, for my sake. Part of the problem is that I actually try to stand up to my advisor, where as it seems that most others just let him bully them. So, he picks on me, trying to break me down. There is the concern (admit it, you're thinking this) that I may never come back and finish. Those who know me, know that I am stubborn. So try to see it this way: I am too stubborn not to get credit for this huge amount of really great research I have done! My committee felt that I had more than enough data to earn a PhD by the summer of 2005. I deserve this; I earned it. I want it!

I will be moving myself and the dogs down to Tahoe in early January! That has helped me immensely, to know that there really is an end in sight.

In the middle of a remodel? Fat chance!

Happy Birthday, Denver

Denver is my beautiful little black dog. While Jack is a star, with his exuberance and all the troubles and mishaps he gets in to, Denver is my sweet old lady. I adopted her from the Denver Dumb Friends League over 12 years ago. At the time, they said she was about 10 months old, so I estimated her birthday to be at the end of October. That makes Denver 13 years old. She has a lot of gray on her muzzle and paws, her eyes are a little cloudy and she has some arthritis. With a little medication to minimize her pain, this dog is happy, alert and willing to play hard with 4 1/2 year old dorky Jack. She is in wonderful condition and should be around for years more. I love this little dog. She has been my best friend, always by my side, always there for me.

Mystery Photo

I downloaded the pictures from Tim's camera to get all the driveway images, and I found a few mystery photos. This one's my favorite.

I'm not sure where in the house this is, but I am sure of the orientation of the shot, which I spent some time sorting out. Wherever it is, it doesn't look good for the structural integrity to me! I welcome suggestions on what might be going on or what may collapse soon -extra credit for creativity!

I have been getting better very slowly, and Saturday was the first day that I felt normal. I had fairly normal energy, and no headache or fever all day (drug free). Until about 7pm. Tim and I went up to home depot. We had an appointment with a design consultant (kitchen cabinetry) from 4:30-5:30pm. When we finally escaped finished up with him, it was almost 7pm and we were starving. Tim took a creative, adventurous route to get us to Qdobo that included a long bumpy alley. Did I mention that my headache is very sensitive to bumps in the road? The irritation to my meninges was clear, the headache returned and my neck stiffened before we left the restaurant. I took a bunch of advil and an oxycodone when I got home, and then we went to Eric and Janet's going away party. Eric was a classmate of mine (he was one of the first to defend, I'll be the last). His new title is "Maritime Explorer". Eric's PhD advisor, when explaining what his former students are doing now, for a grant application or something gave the title to him. Basically Eric and his wife, Janet, have bought a sailboat in Mexico and plan to sail around and explore for at least six months. OK, I've totally digressed, but "Hey look, a chicken!" Back on task, I may have pushed my poor sorry sore little brain a bit much yesterday. The headache is back, but not too bad. If anyone out there has ever been through this (viral meningitis), will you tell me how long it takes to get over?

Heating the Driveway

While we were in Mexico, the slotted drains were supposed to be done and the electrician was supposed to be well on his way with installation of the driveway heating, if not done. The slotted drains are to catch the water (melted snow) so that it doesn't create an ice rink in the street. Two of those were put in... eventually. Basically, no work happened that week. Last week, when Tim was back down there, he worked really hard helping those guys and getting them going. The drains are in, and the electrician is well on his way. I wouldn’t be surprised if the electrician doesn’t get much done this week, while Tim’s up here. Just got word that he's made great progress and is almost done.

The reason to heat the driveway is to melt the snow off. Homewood Ski Area -our little town doesn't have a stoplight, but we've got a ski area- reports an average snowfall of 37 1/2 feet (450") per year. Our house surely gets less snow than that, but the point is, we get a lot of the stuff! Most people get their driveways plowed or use a snow blower. Of course, nowadays you are not allowed to build a driveway such as ours. It's too long (over our allotted coverage) and too steep. We can't convince a snowplow/blower driver to take on the job of our driveway. After a site topographical study and engineer consultation, it was concluded that redesigning/grading the driveway won't help because we are totally screwed there are no good options. So that leaves us with heating the driveway electrically. "Why," you wonder, "do they want to use electricity in the state of California ($$$$), when they could use hydronic heating?" Just basic dumb Because the driveway is too steep to install it. The equipment they use won't work. Nice idea, though.

Basically, they cut grooves in which to lay to heating wires and trenches for the conduit.


Here's one of the big, huge, eyesores
transformers. There are two. I think we'd better check with the homeowners association's architechtural review board. They like to have a say in things that effect the look of the house on the outside.

Not tonight, I have a headache...

I'm really sorry for how long it has been since I posted. I STILL have my headache! If I lie down, it feels good. It just gets bad when I spend too much time upright. And I still frequently have a low grade fever. It appears to be viral meningitis, but to know for sure would require a lumber puncture, and I'm not THAT sick! Now don't get all freaked our about the m word... all it means is that the lining around the brain is inflamed. It is NOT bacterial meningitis, which is very serious. The viral kind can be quite mild. There are definite signs that I am on the mend. The process is just excruciatingly slow.

Sock Wars:
I finished the pair of Sock(s) of Doom for my victim's victim's target last Friday, but I haven't mailed them yet. I've been going in to lab this week, and my brain is so mushy and slow that I keep forgetting to go down to shipping and fedex them. And then yesterday, when I was thinking clearly, I found that they were no longer in my backpack! sheesh! Today I'm staying home and working on the 'puter so that I can avoid that whole upright thing... maybe I'll get them mailed Friday? I guess I'm not feeling very competitive in Sock Wars right now. I must be on my death bed pretty sick!

House Remodel:
We have a General Contractor(GC)! That's great news. AND, the driveway heating is in process. It was supposed to get done while we were in Mexico, but...

misc ramblings...

Jack has his own blog now. Note the link over on the right. He'll blog on all of his mischief.

I'm back from Cabo, with a raging headache and very sore neck. It isn't that bad when I lie on the couch and keep my head still, so that is what the doc advised. It isn't so bad when I take some of the oxycodon left over from my shoulder surgery either. I wouldn't even go to the doc for this, except it has been going on for 6 days! It started at Sammy Hagar's show, actually. Anyway, not a migraine, probably viral.

Updates: When I got home from Cabo, there was only one package of socks waiting for me. The pair for me to finish! I have not received a finished pair...yet, so I'm still in the sockwars game. My current couch assignment leaves me with time to finish the lovely olive green pair that came all the way from Scotland.


I also have some work to do on the everlasting pomatomous project in Socks That Rock. I knit a bunch on the flights down to Cabo, and for the first few days, but then I realized something was amiss on the top of the foot. I kept trying to figure it out, and I finally decided to just rip out 7 rows from that needle and knit it correctly.


and finally, I'll leave you some pics from beautiful Cabo San Lucas...

Get to know Jack

While Daisy is at the doctor for her headache, I thought I'd take the opportunity to do a little blogging of my own. First of all, I'm a handsome fella, don't you think?

Most of my day is spent lying in the sun, but sometimes I like to have a little fun, especially if there is any chance at all that I might get to consume something, edible or not.

A couple of weeks ago (before the pack leaders went to Cabo), Daisy gathered a bunch of plants from the garden. She had each kind in gallon size ziplock bags, all organized. I had my eye on them from the start, waiting for her to leave them within my reach. One day she left them in the bath tub. I hate that slippery cauldron of misery, and usually refuse to enter it. But...the opportunity to eat her stuff was just too good to pass up!

I braved that evil slippery white tub and look at my prize!!!! I enjoyed some ivy right there in the eviltubroom and some dahlias and ferns in the hallway.


Then I brought 3 ziplock bags to the living room and
shared the contents with my CareFlight bear.



















I had a blast that day, but Daisy didn't seem very pleased. She kept muttering something about dying naturally. Do you think she was referring to me? Maybe it was NOT dying naturally?

Greetings from Baja California Sur

Greetings from Los Cabos! When we got here, we managed to upgrade our rooms (each couple had one) to a suite with a connecting living room and an amazing view! These pictures are from our balcony. I took the picture of my feet that first night. We have an amazing view of Land's End.

Last night we went to CaboWabo to hear Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas for Sammy's annual birthday bash. It was a great show, which included Mike Anthony, also of Van Halen.


This morning, when I woke up I realized that the view from our bed is also incredible, so I lay there, reading, enjoying the view and appreciating the air-conditioning. It is REALLY hot and muggy out there today.

I'm not dead yet!

That is, I have not received my "socks of doom" yet. What on earth am I talking about? I entered Sock Wars 2006. Last week, I quickly knit up some lovely socks...almost. I was at the toe decreases for the second sock (mere days after the wars had begun), when I realized that I had forgotten to decrease at the beginning of the gusset and had to rip the sock out back to the end of the heel flap. Note the green yarn I put in to un ravel to. From there I carefully went backward to the very beginning of the gusset and re-knit the entire foot.

My frustration with myself impacted my motivation a bit, but I did eventually finish the socks and sent them off to my target in Scotland. She has been great to correspond with, so I feel a little bit bad for killing her. Hopefully the Jeager superfine merino will make up for it. She has already "socked" her target, and has forwarded her target's unfinished socks on to me. I hope to finish them off and send them to their intended target, before I receive a pair of socks to knock me out of the game. I really liked the socks I knit, so I am looking forward to my demise in the form of pair of socks (of doom).

Catch Up Time

Sorry, Dear Readers, that I have posted so infrequently, and not at all recently. The house remodel has provided so much rich material for blogging, that I am overwhelmed! Both by trying to decide what to write about first, and by dealing with everything that is coming up. Basically, I'm not sure what the House inspection was for, because it sure didn't find the problems with this house! And there are some MAJOR ones! They come up so quickly and then snowball out of control and, well, I guess I just need to take a really deep breath... of nitrous oxide.

Basically we are spending a lot of money to heat our driveway, to get rid of the snow, because no one is willing to plow it due to the very steep slope. We knew of this problem going in, thinking that we could handle one issue to solve.

The "Chimney" project has caused us to replace an entire 6"x12" beam that had dry rot all the way through AND our entire fireplace has to be torn out and rebuilt. Then they can build a new chimney and finally seal off the roof. Goodbye, beautiful wall of granite:-( We just can't afford to rebuild you.

Have I mentioned that the foundation of the house is sinking? Basically the concrete that holds the major support posts (Tim says they are called "piers") are shaped like bullets. That is perfect, if you want to auger deeper into the ground. But we DON'T WANT TO!!!!! So now we have to fix the foundation.

These are just some examples of the fun I am having.

And then there is sock wars. I would have had my socks all done and mailed off to Edinburgh to kill my target. Except for my big dumb mistake. Oh well, I'm not out of it yet. I'll post on all of this in detail eventually. After I get my hands on some valium.

Dyeing with the Fiberphiles

Last week the fiberphiles got together at Emily's place to dye some wool.



During the downtime, Kristin and Shibani went to check out Emily's Stash...


Now there has been some disscussion on whose stash is bigger, mine or Emily's. The word has been that Emily wins the stash contest. With her (somewhat) recently organized stash, I was able to get a better look. My stash is bigger than that! Well, not much bigger and it turns out She's got more in boxes. Hers is still bigger.

Back to dyeing: some of our results:

A Sweater for Jack

Tim's Parents are in town visiting us, and they brought a couple of sweaters. The sweaters had been a gift for Tim's Aunt and Uncle. They are really big and thick (the sweaters, not the relatives) so they (the relatives, not the sweaters) said they would not wear them and pawned the sweaters off on us. Well, we had the same issue with the sweaters. While I was off at lab, Tim had a light bulb moment and enlisted his mother for his secret plan. Upon my return, I asked where the guys were, and apparently was not given the entire answer. Then I found the forearm of one of those sweaters on the back of a chair, all by itself. I proceeded to question my Mother-in-Law more carefully and uncovered their plot. Here's what they were up to:




Why they were being sneaky about it, I have no idea. Tim was actually out getting some tape to for his mother to bind the rough cut edges of the sweater.

I introduce Jack, our 95lb great dane yellow lab mix. He should have been named Marmaduke. He is a big, strong whimp. Jack gets really cold in the harsh Seattle (indoor) winters. We often find him worshiping lying on the heating vents in our floors. I knit him a sweater last winter, but the measurements need some adjustment in future versions. Now, Jack has a new sweater, and Tim has a new career. First Tim is going to learn to sew. Then he will recycle people sweaters for dogs. He says he'll take the sewing machine to work and sew while waiting for flights. He plans to sell his sweaters online. Apparently "we" will also offer custom hand knit sweaters for dogs. In the summer, he will offer recycled T-shirts. Stay tuned as our online empire grows!

Art

When we met with our architect friends, back in August, we were given an assignment: buy art. We learned which walls ought to have a significant piece of art, and requirements for those pieces. This may appear bossy, or us docile, but neither of those is true! We also had an earlier assignment, before we met with them. In the earlier assignment, we were asked to get magazines with home architecture and style. We were to clip images of things we like, to help them get a good feel for our taste/style. During that process, Tim found a few pieces of art that he liked and clipped. Encouraged, because we all said, "Hey, that's cool," Tim hunted down and acquired one of those pieces.



Yes, that is a moose, made of thin pieces of wood all fitted together. Of course, it will look a lot better in a rustic house in the Mountains than it does in a quaint little 1929 house. And a darker paint color would help! Just in case you are wondering, the moose does not meet the description of any of the assigned pieces of art. It's a bonus piece!

Template fumbling

I am experimenting with my template, so please excuse the rough edges in the next few days.

Ta da...The Grand Stairwell!

Remember the great room? We need to update it. It was a bit dated.

And the dark stairwell?


Here is the architect sketch for what we plan to do to the stairwell. We are going to open up the stairwell and great room by removing part of the wall between them and a small bit of wall at the top of the stairs as well.


Tim has been very industrious in his demolition. He sent me these photos today to show me what he has done. I was delighted when I saw that he had opened up that wall! He has also removed the dark paneling. I think it is glorious! Now I'm looking forward to seeing the railing on the stairs opened up.




I am delighted by it! We are Tim is just interviewing General Contractors and requesting bids. The project hasn't really even started yet, and the house is already transformed! I am amazed by how much work he has done. He's been working nights, so he has a lot of time during the day, but this is above and beyond. Thanks Tim, for all your hard work, and for the pictures that let me see our house.

Giving in to the Urge

I've had enough of staying up until 2-3am analyzing my data. I don't know why I do it, because it is never enough for my advisor anyway. So, I'm going to try to enjoy life and take time for myself again. This afternoon I took a trip to the LYS (local yarn store, not Lysine) with the girls. I have been working very hard for many months to resist the urge to purchase some dyes, so I can dye my own yarn, fleece, roving etc. Ever since Emily had the Fiberphiles over to dye some yarn, I knew I was hooked. "You don't have time for this," I told myself. "You should spend the time in lab, finishing the PhD." I kept telling myself. Well, I gave in today. I could no longer resist. I bought 9 jars of Jacquard acid dyes and some squirt bottles for application. I can't wait to play with them this weekend.

I still plan on a post with house stuff. We got the plans from our friends (architects) on Wednesday. They are so great!

4500 qPCR reactions

All those reactions I was doing went well. Now I'm busy analyzing >4500 reactions, so I probably won't have another post until this weekend. I have pix from Tim's demolition, so there will be a good post as soon as I have the time for it.

My Penance

I was so dissapointed in myself for having lost that USB flash drive, that I gave myself penance. I went and got a new USB drive that is attached to a lanyard to be worn around the neck. I also attached my security card, so the whole thing would be too big drop without noticing. The security card came with a lanyard, but I always thought it was kind of dorky to walk around with it around my neck. I usually slip it in my back pocket. But now I must wear the whole dorky set up as my penance.

I was able to successfuly set up and run that plate (of the lost data) Sunday. I also made DNA preps from a bunch of samples (yeast cells). I know I said this blog wouldn't be about science, but I thought I'd post a picture of my DNA drying, so those of you who don't play with things like DNA regularly could check it out. Basically it looks like schmutz at the bottom of the tube and often on one side as well. In this picture, you can see the white pellets at the bottom of the tubes (they're upside down). Those are the ones that had the most cells in them.

PhD progress

So how is the science going and when will I finish? Not fast enough and not soon enough! I was hoping to have the benchwork (that's the actual science/research) finished by August 1st, but I wasn't done then. Now I'm hoping to finish in just a few more weeks. After that is finished, my committee thinks I'll need 3 months for writing. That's to write my paper and my thesis. At least the end is in sight.

I had a little setback on the benchwork this week. I had a long day on Wednesday, setting up and running over 1000 reactions. These were in 3 plates of 384 rxns each. When I came in Thursday morning, I copied the data from the machine onto my USB flash drive to take back to lab to analyze. I stopped on my way up to read a joural article in the library reading room and then went back up to lab. After 15 minutes of chatting, I went to look at my data, and I couldn't find my USB drive! I looked every where, retraced my steps multiple times, contacted the library, and the security folks (they are in charge of lost and found) to no avail. I was able to recover 2 out of three plates from the machine, but not the 3rd (long story why, but my dumb mistake). So I went in to lab today to re-do the lost plate. I screwed that up, so I gave up and went home. Maybe I'll get it right tomorrow! This isn't the way to finish quickly!

At least I am making progress on the blog! This makes 2 posts in less than 7 days!

The Great House Remodel project has begun!

Here's what our new (future) house looks like from the driveway.


...and from the deck. I love this picture, because our fabulous view of Lake Tahoe is reflected in the windows, along with my darling husband.

I flew to Tahoe for several days to meet with my husband and our architects. We have some friends, who are great architects, and we flew them up from Dallas for 3 days of planning. We worked non-stop and came up with all of the plans for our huge remodel (both phases). They had some great ideas and our house is going to be even better than I could have imagined. We made a lot of decisions, with their guidance, and are almost ready to start getting bids from GCs. I just got home today, and I am really excited about it!

Our house was built in 1965 and we purchased it from the original owners. It has not been updated at all. It has dark paneling, bright blue tiles, funky light fixtures and even shag carpet. We have to update everything.

The outside will not really change until Phase 2, which includes the first level of the house. Phase 1 will include the great room and kitchen, the stairwell, and the upper floor which includes the master bedroom and bath, my "green room", the dog room, 2nd bath and the 2nd bedroom. All of the paneling will be removed, dry-walled and painted. Here are some "before" pictures
We will be opening the stairwell up, with light colored walls, and an open railing and hardwood flooring. We will have some cool lights hanging down that will be like a piece of art.

In the great room we will have light colored paint and hardwood floors. The big change will be to open up the wall to the left of the granite fireplace. The stairwell will be opened up even more this way as well as the great room.

The kitchen will be totally re-done. We are going to get natural gas to the house which will allow us to put in a gas stove (not to mention central heating). The island will be a real island (no wimpy bridge/ counter strip) with a prep sink and bar area. The eating-at kind, not drink-mixing. We have picked out granite for the counters and slate for the floors. And stainless appliances, though we have to pick the exact ones.


The 2nd bathroom obviously needs some help. The weird hallway thing will be integrated into the bathroom, so that the shower will not be adjacent to the back door. The blue tile and fixtures are history along with the blue door!

All I can say is ICK! The Master bath will be stripped, opened up and beautiful! There are a bunch of storage cabinets that will be removed and there is really a lot of space to work with. We'll have two sinks, a large tub, and a shower for two. We have picked out tiles for the floor, walls of wet area, and accent. We know what kind of toilet, sinks etc, but don't have exact models yet.

We'll be living downstairs in the "rumpus" room for quite a while, I think.




When I get some of the architect's sketches, I'll post them to give a better idea of what we are doing.

We had a great tutorial on lighting this weekend. I knew lighting was important for tasks, and that the right fixture can make a room, decor-wise. What I learned is how a space can be transformed with the right kind of lighting. Suzanne did an amazing job showing us what we need in terms of lighting. She also showed us where we should have art and what kinds of pieces in each space. We have been wanting to invest in some art, but didn't really know what we wanted or where to begin. Now we know what will be best in our new house and we are eager to begin our search!