Sunday...the ticonderoga of the week

Let's see, what have I been up to?

Yesterday I started a Spanish class. There are four students in the class (including me) and I'm the only American. The instructor asked me "De donde eres?" To which, I responded "Soy de Idaho" and he laughed at me and said "Soy de Estados Unidos!" What? Of course! We're in the estados unidos, right? And then he made a big point to pronounce Idaho in his stupid american accent. I know that that's what it was because he was going on and on about how weird americans are when they pronounce d's and t's like r's. No we don't. But, besides THAT the instructor was likeable. I guess I'll keep going.

Laura's home from Sioux Falls. She's cleaning out the fridge. Our undergraduate roommate-for-a-month left a lot of weird stuff in the fridge. Like, empty jars of spaghetti sauce, soy sauce, wheat germ, about 3 quarts of cooked cous cous, and various other things that definitely do not belong in the fridge.

I have a new undergrad in my lab. He seems friendly and easy going. He's my project, I mean, I'm going to teach him some things and then he's going to help me do some things. It'll be a good arrangement.

Laura thinks her pinky is becoming paralyzed little by little. She will remember this day always as "The day my pinky stopped working" Or not.

Besides all that, life is about the same.

Moving Targets Special Edition

Because Laura is out of town and have nothing but time.

Once a month, for the past 3 months, I've been donating plasma. I go in on a Saturday morning and let them stick a needle in my arm for close to two hours. Most people would think this is really weird, but I kind of enjoy it. First off, I donate it. Donate, as in I don't get paid to do it, I'm not THAT hard up. Really. And second, it actually doesn't hurt at all.

They let me pick out any movie I want to watch, as long as it was made in 1991 and is on VHS. So far I've watched Sister Act, Jurassic Park and the Panic Room. I wouldn't recommend watching a suspenseful movie when you've got a needle stuck in your arm. Not for obvious reasons though. Donating plasma makes me a little...drunk...so I wasn't paying too much attention to the movie. Suspense movies usually require a little bit more attention to detail than comedies or actions, so I got bored with it.

The plasma sucking out procedure involves only one needle through which whole blood exits my arm and after processing and plasma removal, red blood cells and saline go back into my arm. I think they only take about a cup out at a time, and then spin it up and transfer the plasma to a bag. It looks like pee and they take a whole liter out of me. The saline is cold and makes my lips tingle, but that's okay because the nice nurses will tuck a blanket around me and bring me some Gatorade at room temperature with a straw in it. Not a bendy straw, but you can't get EVERYTHING. If I'm really lucky, they'll fill a rubber glove up with warm water and let me hug it like a hot water bottle. Luxurious. It's a little bit like going to the spa, right?

Seriously, for the price of having a needle in my arm for 2 hours I get to lay around and watch TV while people fuss over me. How much better could it get? OH yeah! Cookies!

Can't hardly wait until October 3rd.....

Fudgie part 2

Fudgie the Whale

This delightful creation is what Laura got me for my birthday. I can't even begin to describe the sweet layers of mint chocolate chip ice cream, chocolate crunchies and decadent fudge. MMMMMMMMM best birthday EVER.

Laura invited a bunch of people over and we drank beer and ate the left overs from Meredith's defense party and talked a lot about work and played some video games. It was a pretty awesome birthday.

In other news:

I know it's not Sunday. In fact, its LABOR DAY and guess where I am right now...If you guessed Working, because you're a poor schmuck of a Grad Student and holidays don't apply to you so you don't even THINK about not coming to work even though no one else is. You're right! I'm working. But clearly, not very hard. I'm even doing laundry.

On Sunday, I got up at 6:15 because I wanted to go to the team bike ride at 7:30. I would have to hurry, but it was doable. Then I realized at 6:17 that the bike ride was at 7:00. That left me exactly 13 minutes to get dressed, drink coffee, eat breakfast, walk the dogs, read the paper and get on my bike and get to the ride. I didn't drink any coffee and I ate breakfast as I rode to the group. Gross. I did okay for the first half of the ride, but then by the second half I was completely out of gas. Did I mention that I donated plasma on Saturday? I was sucking wind at the back of the pack getting all sorts of pity-inquirys from the team leader and other well meaning but annoying folks "Are you doing ok?" "Vamos! vamos equipo, vamos!" and my favorite, from a lady who had enough gear on her bike to ride for THREE days without stopping "Oh, your bike is such a pretty color! Have you been fitted properly on it?" To which I should have responded, but didn't "Shut up lady, I don't have $100 to spend on someone telling me that my bike, which is second hand because I can't spend $3000 on a bike like you, is too big for me and that I should move my seat forward. Thanks."

But I made it back to the starting spot with the group, thank goodness because if I had lost them at any point along the way I never never would have been able to find my way home from BFE Homestead, South Miami or wherever we were. Then I had about 5 more miles to go home. I've never rode any slower. Except maybe when I was trying to just stay upright going over some of those mountains in Switzerland. But it was flat, because I live in Miami and therefore I had no excuse besides complete exhaustion for being so slow.

When I got home, I immediately fell down on my bed and slept for an hour. I nearly died, luckily I didn't.

Today, I am taking a day off.