Vocab 2/27/10

excimbo
n. A state of being or emotion. Looking forward to future events with excitement while not knowing what those events will be.
e.g. I am in excimbo as my husband looks for a job that may require relocation.

Seriously!?! Welcome back to 1996

So I was reading on U2 . com this morning that apparently the opening acts for the band during their tour in 2010 will include Lenny Kravitz!

Wow, I didn't even know he still did music, let alone toured... to all of those going to SLC to see the show may I suggest the following apparel:

Tear-away track pants. C'mon you know you still have some in the closet.

Maybe a leftover grunge t-shirt. Something from the vein of mudhoney or maybe a classy Alice-in-Chains shirt.

Anything Tommy Hilfiger

Baby t-shirts for the girls

If you're feeling ambitious you could rock some early goth looks. Keep in mind that you need to make sure you keep to the goth, as tempted as you might be to go Emo.

A Titanic hat or shirt. Something classy, like Leo leaning over the edge with the caption, "I'm the King of the World."

Maybe something more relevant like say... an, "Oh Behave!" Austin Powers shirt. (While whistling, "That Thing You Do.")

Or maybe you're edgy and you bought the, "Show Me the Money," shirt (Good on you for sticking it to the man and supporting that hot, young actor Thomas Cruise)

Hmm lets see what else...**Rummages through closet and looks in laundry hamper for last week's outfits**

Ahh yes, one last one for ya:

A nice Green Day Nimrod T-shirt under your cardigan, some super low-riding jeans and maybe some extra long hair. Yup that was what I wished I was wearing.

Oh, and throw on your Starter jacket if it gets cold that evening. Something classy like a University of Miami (You know the 'Canes) one.

Then get ready to sing all the awesomeness of, "Are You Gonna Go My Way?"

Cause, boy howdy, I can't believe how awesome the opening acts for 2010 360 tour are!!!

Chris

A Nibble

So I got first word back on one of the jobs I was trying for. Good news is that I have been given an invite to come speak to them. Hey that's awesome cause it sure beats being told flat-out, "NO."

So we shall see...

Vocab for 2/24/10

Agrumblement

n- The act of both agreeing and grumbling or murmuring against the person or action to which one is agreeing.

e.g. The man nodded his head in agrumblement as his boss told him he was needed to be doing more work right now.

When prowling turns to hunting

So I had to bite the bullet and start job hunting (as opposed to THIS). I forgot why I was dreading it until I started to have to submit a resume and fill out the stupid online portions of the application. Yes, I'm telling the truth. No, I haven't had federal sanctions against me. Yes, I am a US citizen. No, I've never been deported. Etc. Etc. . I just can't wait till I can at least have an interview. Turns out (AKA have been told) I may be better to meet in person than on paper. I think that's a compliment but I'm not quite sure how....

Until then...

I'll keep people posted if I actually get any hits.

Chris

The votes are in!

Okay, so it's not that exciting to anybody but me, but I will NOT be receiving a pay cut or temporary layoff days. HOORAY!

Vocab 2/18

Dungeon Dwelling

v. The act of hanging out in a dungeon-esque locale. Usually associated with subterranea and a lack of basic necessities (e.g. Sunlight, social interactions, cell phone reception, warmth).

e.g. Well, since I have 32 images to look at on the microscope I plan to take up dungeon dwelling full time.

Chris

Vocab for 2/16/10

Muesday

n. The day of the week that comes into existence only on a 4-day work week. It is to be more dreaded than a normal day as it has been known to not only possess the evil traits of Monday, but also has the ability to slow down time making a 4-day work week feel like a 40-day work week.

e.g. I can't believe it is only 10:30 AM on Muesday and I have enough work to last two weeks.

Vocab for 2/6/10

Succep Backward

n. The moment in which one seems to achieve a modicum of success only to realize that it is, in fact, a movement in the reverse direction of the intended endpoint.

e.g. The fact that the experiment worked is a real succep backwards for my dissertation.

Unions? I'll pass thanks...

So a while back (last summer) the University of California issued a plan to deal with California's increasing budget crisis. Everyone (except those funded completely by grants or essential services) would be receiving a pay cut and furlough days to help save money. Our center had been approved through the University as an essential service and as far as we knew, would not be receiving pay cuts. Which is good right? Yeah sure until this week. Yesterday we got a letter from HR stating that the Clerical Union that happens to negotiate our contracts as preschool teachers had negotiated with UC to have pay cuts and temporary layoff days for everyone except those that worked in the hospitals. Ummm....that's not cool. The University said we didn't have to have a pay cut because there's really no way for all of us to take a day off. If someone is gone, they have to be replaced. The state of California says so. So in the end it won't save anybody any money, the employees lose money and the University ends up paying as much if not more to fill the gaps left by people on temporary layoffs.
So since I abhor unions and all that they are currently "doing" for people, I wrote them a nice little email today about how much I appreciated what they've done for me. See I regularly receive email updates on negotiations and such from the union, just so I know what is going on. The problem is they haven't sent any emails since December and suddenly we're hit with this letter yesterday. See, I told them that I wanted the same exemption that the University had already granted us. Funny thing is, 45 minutes after I sent my email, UCSD CUE represented employees all received an email from the Union about how departments had issued these notices before both sides had agreed to them and that they would be meeting next week to negotiate details. Really? How did that happen? And magically, you figure this out when someone calls you out on it. Well we'll see next week if I get any news as far as 'negotiations' go. And meanwhile, whether my pay is cut or not, I am truly grateful that I do have a job and even though it doesn't pay exceptionally well (Chris makes more than me as a grad student) it is a job and it does help pay the bills. And by the way, I could do without being represented by a union. Just sayin.

Vocabulary (aka WotW)

We (the staff) feel it is necessary to rename the Word of the Week posts to "Vocabulary" due to the frequency of new words needing to be dissemniated.

So without further ado...

Motivisery

n. The drive, by force of misery, to get things done. Often associated with a feeling of, "either do this or suffer more." May often be found in electronic mail format or public reprimand from superiors. Also associated with dread and helplessness. A common trait amongst people who are trying to get a dreaded thing out of the way.

e.g. Man that e-mail from my boss really gave me the motivisery to finish that experiment so I can graduate.

1 down, 3 left to go

So I finished a successful run on the microscope so that means I only have one of those left to do and then 2 gels and we're looking at the end of the road. Now we know that my boss will have something else to say on the matter but you know you gotta take what you can get. The first of the final three manuscripts went to him (the boss) this morning and that means yours truly is looking at maybe a month or two left and hopefully only a couple weeks of benchwork left. So the prospect of getting out before the end of spring is starting to look more like a reality. Man wouldn't that be sweet. I do know that I will have to stall as I am slated to go to DC for AACR and Lish has already bought her tix to join... looks like I get to stall.

Word of the Week, II

This one is more of a portmanteau:

Explagotiate

v. The act of simultaneously explaining why and negotiating a new end point simultaneously.

e.g. I need to explagotiate to my boss the new deadline for my manuscript.

Can also be used in the noun sense to indicate the act of - such as: We're going through explagotiations to determine how many more weeks I need to be here.

Chris

Word of the Week

Job Prowling

v- the description of looking for a job without actually job hunting. That is to say that you are "window-shopping" jobs.

e.g. I'm job prowling till I can meet with my boss and set a timetable for escape.

Chris

Rain- Day 5

So according to the best guesses San Diego (downtown area only) has around 4-5 inches of rain since Monday. Topping off the awesomeness is that we had hail, lightning and thunder, yeah right here near the beach. It's been awesome. And yes, we're currently building our ark, as per instruction, just in case.

In the mean time we've been told that it's gonna be this way all winter, due to some crazy weather pattern.

I'm no meteorologist, so please, allow the following video to help you better understand this weather.

Dumber for it...

I've decided that the absolute worst way to show off years of veritable knowledge and experience in grad school is requiring the writing of a dissertation. I stare day after day at my computer knowing I need to write more of my thesis stuff but have no motivation to do so. So what do I do instead? ANYTHING. Facebook? Sure, why not. Kotaku? Sure, why not. IGN? Sure, why not. HULU? Actually, I've been good about avoiding TV watching (as of yet)- which is super good as I would be in a world of hurt thanks to Netflix on demand. Blog? Sure, why not. I just feel dumber every time I sit down to try and explain in coherent sentences years of work. Yes, I do have journal papers to write and I am trying to finish those as they are the basis for my work, but still... It hurts my brain and my butt to try and sit at my desk and write non-stop. You would think that my being able to speak for hours on end and answer with ease any scientific questions that are fielded at me would be sufficient for granting a PhD, but NO. I've decided that the final months are the hardest, not because of the work, only because of the hoops. Oh well, back to the grind.

~Chris

The adventure continues...

I wish I could know what the next year holds for us...

But as we move forward only knowing that Chris will graduate sometime in the next few months with his Ph.D., we only have the anticipation of not knowing what's next. But hey, we'll try to keep everyone up to date as things happen. Thanks to everyone for all the love and support we've received over the last year. Oh, and if anyone was ever thinking about coming to visit in San Diego, you may not have very long...

Well 2010...bring on the adventure!

See I knew I was in the right field...

Man, science really does go hand in hand with video games:

Awesome

~Chris

Enough with the idiocy of Facebook

People are idiots!

The following is a response to a Facebook post of a friend of mine who claims that she got the H1N1 flu after getting the shot 2 days before:

I would be highly amazed that you could justify your sickness to the shot seeing as how nearly all current vaccines use recombinant partial-attenuated virus (AKA never had the full virus in it) due to costs and FDA requirements (Live and heat-inactivated are only used in the run-up period). Also keep in mind that you may not have the H1N1 and your local MD isn't equipped with the RT-PCR diagnostics required to validate H1N1 away from all the other virii out there.

So I know I may have just offended a bunch of people, but hey it goes on-

With regard to some friend of mine from high school (again on FB) talking about taking all these tests to determine the sex of the child

(Her Status update) : my voodoo pee test said girl. It was the weirdest test and I wouldn't do it over again. We will see if it is right though. Crossing fingers.

Yesterday at 11:36am · Comment · Like

Person 1- I have a funny test for you, ask me about it when you see me in person

Yesterday at 11:56am

Original Poster- You have peaked my curiosity...

Yesterday at 12:01pm

Random Girl- did you check the chinese birth calendar? it was right about caleb, and wrong about leah. so 50/50...but it's been accurate with a lot of my friends!

Yesterday at 12:06pm

Original Poster- I

did the chinese birth charts. It was correct with my first two, but wrong on the third. This time is says girl, but who knows :)

Yesterday at 12:20pm

Person 1- The Argentine's believed that your baby starts to manifest it self through you. And there are certain things girls and boys do different.

Yesterday at 12:26pm

Other Random girl- I can't wait to find out if the voodoo test is accurate. How come it was weird? Or is it too graphic to write about? :-)

Yesterday at 12:27pm

Original Poster- Interesting Darwin, I am curious.

Jamie, not too graphic so I will try to explain. First there are several things you can't have. You can't have polycystic ovarian disease, no progestrone therapy for ten days, or intercourse within two days. You wait until morning for your sample. You pee in a cup and draw up 20 cc's to put into the test cup. It looks like there was glitter in it as well as other chemicals. You swish the cup for ten seconds. It has to be on a flat surface after swishing and it has to have white under it. You then have to read the test at eye level after ten minutes. If it is green, it is boy. If it is yellow/orange, it is girl. So, if I looked at any angle other than eye level it was green, but eye level it was orange. So I called their help desk and they said it was definitely a girl. Their website also said, if you don't look at eye level it will always be green because that is what the chemicals do to your urine. Freakin weird if you ask me, but we will see. They said it is 90% accurate! Hope they are right, I would LOVE a girl!!

Yesterday at 12:38pm

Well Wisher 1-

GOOD LUCK!

Yesterday at 1:11pm

Well Wisher 2- That would be so fun for you guys!

Yesterday at 2:27pm

Random Girl 3- Wowza! I've never known anyone that has taken that test...til now! That's fun stuff! I'm still sending pink babydust your way!

Yesterday at 3:03pm

Well Wisher 3-

congrats

Yesterday at 3:24pm

Well Wisher 4- I bet it will be a girl! Are you going to find out? Or just be surprised when it's born!

Yesterday at 4:05pm

Longing Girl 1-

I have 3 boys too, I hope my next one, when that happens, will be a girl too.

Yesterday at 4:25pm

Expert Girl 1- Congratulations... The sex depends on when you ovulated. i'll email you about it..... Cindy

Yesterday at 4:29pm

Original Poster- According to ovulation Cindy, we are set for a girl as well. For the risk of TMI, I will email you about it and you can see what you think :

My response follows:

I'm sorry as a trained biomedical researcher I just have to point out the obvious fact from 10th grade health class - it's not yours to decide (your husband carries X and Y, not you), as for the others...ummm of course it's a 50/50 chance of being right - there are only 2 choices (for most of us)

Seriously!?!

I wish I could explain how infuriating the idiocy of the collective is. People are dumb sheep who believe anything that someone else "heard" somewhere!!! Think people, just stop believing blindly and THINK!!!

~Chris

Vegas and U2...a winning combination!

So as some of you may know, Chris is a moderate (cough, cough) U2 fan. So when they announced that their tour dates didn't include anywhere reasonably close to San Diego, we decided to attend the Vegas show, and meet Mike and Michelle and the kids for the show. We had GA tickets, and therefore, if we wanted to be anywhere close to the stage, had to arrive early in the day and wait. And wait and wait and wait. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day and we hung out all day with a very nice Irish family (including the dad who was about 65). We got there around 9:30 or so and got a pretty good place in line.

It wasn't until after 5 that they opened the gates, but we were able to secure a spot, and as you can see I was trying really hard to make myself take up more space than I actually do.

We were able to get inside the circle, only about 4 or 5 people away from the stage on the left hand side. Not too shabby!

Chris took about 1400 pictures (not including the ones for the Black Eyed Peas) which I had the pleasure of filtering. This one is an awesome shot of Bono and The Edge.

For one song (don't tell Chris that I don't remember which one) Larry Mullen Jr. brought out his Bongos and rocked it up with Bono on the outer circle.

But I think one of the coolest parts was when Bono pulled (quite literally) a kid out of the crowd and gave him the glasses off his face. I dare say that Napoleon will forever be a moderate (cough, cough) fan of U2. If not, I say shame on him.

When the band came back out for the encore Bono was wearing this ridiculous jacket. If anyone has suggestions for photographing a moving subject wearing red lasers, so as to not make the subject look like an explosion, please, I'm all ears.

All in all it was an awesome show, I never knew how much fun being right up against the stage with a million strangers could be. I'm definitely ready to go back and see them again!