Vocab for 3/12/10

Hemophilifixed

v. The act of making so many changes to so many parts of a shared Microsoft Office file (i.e. Word document, Powerpoint presentation, etc.) that the next author to open views such a plethora of red that it appears as though the author was drafting the document next to a hemophiliac with a nervous shake attempting to shave for the first time, with no water or cream, on stage, in front of 20,000 hecklers.

e.g. Upon seeing all those red changes marked-up in my document it looks like the editor really hemophilifixed my manuscript for me.

The Way it's Done

Today I just submitted the first draft of my last paper to my boss. So what does this mean? Well first of all it means that in the last 3 weeks I have written three journal papers (A summary of a subset of my research that gets published in a peer-reviewed journal). This means that I now have four first-authorships and I am in a prime position to finish writing my dissertation in the next month! I have no idea how I did it, but I succeeded in writing 50+ pages of science crap in less than 2 weeks total time. All I can say is my brain hurts! Now I just have some revisions and some minor details to iron out.

And just to preempt any discussion I have NO IDEA when I'm "Going to be done" so don't bother asking, and NO, I don't know where we're going to be next. I just know this. I did a lot of writing and I feel good that it will pay off before too long.

On another positive note- I may actually be able to enjoy a Saturday, even if I have some work to do.

Chris

Vocab 3/5

sarcasmablasphemous-
Do I really need a definition? Besides this was sent from Nick, who is faithfully serving a mission in Russia. Here's an example of a sarcasmablasphemous statement: I know life's crazy when you don't have to devote every waking moment to serving the Lord... Well, I thought it was funny. (Not tunny, that's another vocab word from Russia).

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!

Disneyland way back when...(okay so only like a month ago...)

So back in October we went up to Disneyland to check out all of the Halloween decorations.

First thing we saw when we pulled into the parking structure: Disneyland is full. Ummm...I guess we'll try anyway? Fortunately enough people had exited the park by the time we got to the gate that we were able to go in. We watched the cool villain firework show and fantasmic...unfortunately those pictures are still on our other computer and I haven't tried real hard to find them. Oh well.
But here are some of the pictures from Saturday, including Chris's Hipster team captain.

Also, as we were driving home we became enveloped by a thick coastal fog. Cool.

I need one of these...

Plan to buy one of these after I get a real job...

(Don't worry Lish will let me- only rule is she has to be able to drive it when she wants)

~ Chris

Hate "Photos" and "Photogs"!?!

So before I delve in to the finer points of this I was just thinking again of how much I hate the proliferation of the sub-$1000 dSLR camera- that and how ridiculous everybody who owns a Canon Rebel neckstrap is. BTW- don't flaunt it it's not a freaking d series and even then I don't know that I would tout it as all that unless it at least holds a mark moniker (mk II or MkIII). Now before everybody gets in a fit and lynches me you should know where I'm coming from.

dSLR does not equal professional photographer.

B&W is a type of picture that you specifically compose to- NOT a FILTER on photoshop.

Holga is a type of camera with a very artistic value to it- NOT a BOX you click on photoshop.

Oh yeah, and photoshop is to help fix small imperfections and minor adjustments NOT a compensation because you suck at photos.

So why the ridiculous hate? Well see I've had a lot of people that I am connected to get married in the last year or two, as such everybody posts all these photos online - via FB or blog or flckr or you-name-it. Then I see other people gushing about how awesome they are and how they're the best wedding photographer in the world, etc. ad infinitum. This is fine and all, until I start seeing how crappy this stuff is and how much of it is 20 something girls that daddy bought them a camera and they have a macbook Pro so they can charge an arm and a leg and then take these senseless photos, add B&W effects or add a Holga Vignetting and say it's art. It's NOT!!!

I'm not a great photographer, and I don't really like/do well with wedding pictures, but that being said I'm not charging thousands of dollars either. I have shot a total of 3 (?) weddings and I have never done any of it as a pro. It was always as a favor or as an honor to be able to take some pictures for a friends wedding. That being said I am insulted as an enthusiast and friend of multiple professional photographers when I see the crap that is put on FB and flckr. Really you took the dumbest photo and then not only did you make it black and white but then you included the color one so that everyone knows that it's not really a B&W, or maybe you included both the B&W and the sepia tone wash - dear stupid do you even know what a sepia wash is? or how it's done??? (besides the obvious, "Well I click here and it does it- ta da!!")

To me black and white is the best looking form of art there is (now I know I am wrong, but this is my opinion). And to see it corrupted by idiots makes me sick. Think of it this way - most professionals spend years shooting Black and White heck some of them never leave it, but I guarantee you that all of them know how to shoot it. Furthermore, every person who takes a real photo class starts in B&W. This is where you learn the fundamentals, this is where you learn how a darkroom works, keys, tones, pushing, pulling, etc. you learn how to really take a good picture and yet somehow the lack of people knowing the basics seems to make them pros and leads to crap for photos.

If I offended you well I hope you can look past it, if you're really offended lemme know (not that I will do much about it, but maybe we can talk and I can show you what I mean). Otherwise always ask to see a professional's film cameras to know how they're digital stuff is.

Trust me a $500 dSLR is not a camera that you want as the main camera for your wedding- the sensor is too small and it may be 60 megapixels but that number means next to nothing- I know 6MP cameras that outshoot nearly everything else there is.

Chris

Wonderful Day!

So I didn't have high hopes for Disneyland yesterday. Disneyland has recently introduced a monthly payment plan for SoCal residents so the park has been more slammed than usual. When we went on Chris's birthday, we didn't ride a single thing and left about mid-day because there were so many people. So when we pulled up Monday evening and had to park on the ground floor in the parking structure I was worried. Really worried, because that seemed to indicate that all the other floors were full. But much to our dismay...there was hardly anyone in the park. We were able to watch the fireworks while riding Big Thunder Mountain (really cool by the way).
But I didn't dare hope that Tuesday would be as empty as Monday night, and as we waited 25 minutes to get into the parking structure I was not very hopeful.
But as we got to space mountain and the wait said 10 minutes...my hopes started to rise. And when we were able to ride 3 times in 30 minutes life seemed pretty good (besides the fact that I had the day off and got to spend the whole day with Chris). Only bad thing? The ride broke as we were about to get on for the 4th time. I just wish it would have waited 5 more minutes. (It's a life-long goal for Chris and I to see space mountain with the lights on). Oh well.
After space mountain broke, we headed to splash mountain and got there right as it broke down. Then we walked onto pirates, got my birthday gift card and went to eat at the Blue Bayou. By the way, definitely good, but I would save it for a special occasion. After we were done eating the server brought out a chocolate mousse with whipped cream and mickey mouse sprinkles. It was amazing!
Then we decided to head out to avoid getting stuck in traffic on the way home and spent the evening relaxing and trying not to bake.
Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

Follow me, I'm trained to survive this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8206280.stm

So the good news is my years of video game training have made me fully prepared for the inevitable future.

Beat Down

So I had my annual committee meeting yesterday. Didn't go quite as I had hoped for. The good news coming out of all of this is that I am meeting again in three months to finalize my graduation date... that is good. The bad part is i have to really crank it out to ensure that I have good enough data at that meeting that I can sell them on an end-of-the-year/early next year date. We will see. In the mean time I don't think I've ever felt so abused in my whole life as I sat there talking to my committee. I should feel honored that they think what they do about my work and what I can do while I'm still here. Really? Really? Gee I sure do feel honored that you want me to build a second presentation and give it to you in three months. I feel extra honored that you guys can't even decide how much time I need to finish. I have a 2-1-2 split as to whether I'll be done in the next 4 months. 2 say yes, 2 say no, 1 says he can't decide. WOW! Seriously? WOW!

Well no matter what I'm done in 6 months tops but I'm hoping more towards 4- time will tell.

~Chris

Lamentations

Yeah we were so busy on Saturday night that we didn't even take any pictures. The tournament was a success, the stage was rockstar-worthy, the crowd was singing along. It was AWESOME. Too bad about the pictures. My hope is to secure some from some of the "official" cameras, or at least someone else. I also plan to draw up the awesomeness that was the stage. Oh, well. Hopefully there will be other chances to do something similar.

It's time to Rockband Tourney!

So tomorrow night is tourney time. We're helping out with a huge YSA activity (think LA and south) y helping host a HUGE rockband tourney. We'll be sure to take lots of photos and try to get some posted up to the blog. In a worst case secenario we may just do another Picasa album. Anyway I have successfully found the best prizes EVER for our contenders.

How about these:

Amazon

Video in action at:

Gearlog

Yeah they're about the best thing in the whole world. Perfect for the 18-30 year old dedicated enough to win Rockband.

If you guys have any other ideas of things to include in the tourney I'd love to know.

Oh yeah before I forget I got one of THESE to help with the "effect"

Check out the video here.

Btw- for future reference Fog juice is able to be purchased Year Round at Party City (yeah I really had to find Fog Juice).

Cheers

~Chris

Wedding Pics

So if anyone is interested in scrolling through the 600+ pics that Chris took at Tim (Alicia's little bro)'s wedding. Feel free to drop us a message and we'll be happy to send you the link. Keep in mind there are no comments on the pics so you may not recognize most (all) the peeps in the shots, but it's good fun to look at some of the awesome moments frozen in time.

Must have this shirt

Need I say more than the title?

Time to Re-Rock

Yup so 2 bands that we'll be seeing later this fall have released packs of songs on Rockband this week, and it looks to be some must haves for the Larsons. blink-182 and Weezer have both released packs...which makes me wonder: Would these be good songs to have for the YSA conference we're helping with next weekend? Thoughts from the peanut gallery (BTW- YSA=Young Single Adult church group). The songs are:

Weezer- Pork and Beans

My Name is Jonas

Undone (The Sweater Song)

blink-182- Down

Feeling This

The Rock Show

My 2 cents:

My Name is Jonas is my favorite weezer song, but not exactly the rock-a-thon that I come to look for in a good RB song. Down is a kinda slow blink song too. The Rock Show is about as basic pop-punk as you can get which always lends itself to a great play... who knows!?!

Tonight We Music

So the tonight we ride post is kinda misleading as it is still 3 weeks away, that being said tonight for reals we're headed to another wonderful Summer Pops on the Bay concert. Looking forward to some VGL performances and who knows maybe some guest conductors... Anyway they don't allow cameras so no pics, but that being said they don't really check either. Well I'm off to work hard.

Tonight We Ride!

Yeah so it's that time again. What time you may ask? Well time, of course, for the annual Midnight Madness Bike Ride through San Diego. It's coming up on August 15th (that's a Saturday). We're getting stoked and of course not doing anything to be prepared (it's always better that way). So if you're interested in coming out to ride with us let one of the two of us know and we'll get the details squared away. Also if you're from out of town and want to ride with us I'm pretty sure we can put up a few people in the apt for the evening (yes I am epecially directing this to residents of North O-Town). In the mean time I'm gonna have to figure a way to mount the bike racks on to the Yakima Bars... hmm I'm sure I can make this work some how...

~Chris

MIA

For those of you who haven't heard nor seen me much in the last month (year, decade) (and yes this includes my wife some weeks)- I have to say that I wish I was aroud more. I feel like I've been working way too many hours this last year and I don't even have the progress to match. The good and the bad of all this is that I am making inroads toward an end. I am hoping that 6 months is the magic number. After that it's a quest to find a job. I will keep everyone posted but in the mean time if you're really bored and wondering what's new you can always email me as I have lots of meetings and lots of time to respond to email.

Later-

Chris

Buzz...

So while we were at Disneyland this last week I was reminiscing as we were riding the Astroblasters and realized that I never shared my skills on the blog... This is from a while ago when my score actually made the high scoreboard for the day...

New car!

So as some of you may know, about three weeks ago I got into a car accident which ended in a totaled Aveo. Thankfully, I wasn't hurt and it wasn't my fault. So here are some pictures of the new car we got last week. This won't be the final product..the dealership still has to put a spoiler on the back and tint the windows for us, but we finally found everything we wanted (4 doors, manual tranny, sunroof) and got a great deal.

Must Own- NOW!!!

How did I ever survive without one of these:

All I can say is I want that!

~Chris

What happens in Vegas...

Is gonna be shared by everyone as I am proud to announce that we did, in fact, get tix to the U2 show at Sam Boyd Stadium. Even better is that we got GA field tix, meaning I have plans to get some nice up close pix of Bono again. Yeah I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm bragging but I just can't hold it back. I'm going to Vegas to bowl and see my favorite band...WAHOOO!!!!!!!!!

Moving.

So rather than try to call every person separately to tell them I'll just spill the beans here:

We're moving back up to La Jolla, we're hoping that I can get to work faster when I need to, and that we won't have as bad of neighbors this time - thank you idiot that washed a pack of smokes in the washing machine and then dried them too. So yeah if you missed us in Mission Hills, now is the chance to see us in our bigger place up in La Jolla again. Oh yeah and it has a pool, hot tub, and I get a BBQ (Lish said so).

Chris

Down with the Dentist!

So I officially do not like my dentist. I hadn't been in 7 years, so I expected to need some work. But really? Today, while reading a story to my kids at work, my temporary crown fell off. I just don't think that that is supposed to happen. I'm supposed to get my permanent crown next Tuesday, but when I called today to see if they could just put the permanent one on, they said they didn't have it yet. when I originally got the temporary crown, they told me they usually get them in a couple weeks. That was 3 weeks ago and they still don't have it. So now I have to take time off today to get the temporary one back on, then again on Tuesday to get the permanent one. This is all on top of the filling that they did 2 months ago that still hurts when I eat and all of the problems Chris has had. My advice to all of you is to never go to this dentist. He is not good.

It's tour time!

So it's called the 360 degree tour and I'm getting ready to go. That's right U2 is touing again and I can't wait to get my tickets. Oh, yeah for the 5 of you who maybe didn't know - I'm kinda a U2 junkie. In the meantime (Cause the tour is gonna be awhile in the making) I'm just gonna keep on enjoying the new album.

Chris

One Tree Hill/BAD part 2?

So as everyone is well aware I am a huge U2 fan and have been listening to NLOTH for a few days now. I've decided that there is very much a past influence on this album. Example: Unknown Caller sounds like the child of BAD (TUF) with One Tree Hill (TJT). Wow, no wonder I like this so much. Stuff sounds old and new all at once. Man I love this album.

Chris

NLOTH

Yup another acronym to nothing. U2 strikes again with the new album, "No Line on the Horizon."

3 words: Get it, NOW!

I've spoken with several people who aren't totally sold on it. Get it. I've heard it more than half a dozen times now, it just keeps getting better. I wasn't into the whole album at first, it is a heck of a lot more subtle than HTDAAB but far more aggressive than ATYCLB (told you they were into random acronyms). I heard it described best as, a modern rendition of, "The Unforgettable Fire." Yeah kinda, only with a huge rock infusion into it. Think of it as TUF meets HTDAAB with hints of, "Achtung Baby," "Zooropa," and "Pop," tossed in for good measure. It's unique and I can hear Lanois and Eno's influence. Again I wasn't so sure at first but now I'm a total convert.

One last note for everyone: Do yourself a favor. Listen to this on a real stereo. One that has speakers bigger than 4". No computer speaker set, nor MP3 player and accompanying headset can do justice to the small intricacies that are present. It rocks when it wants and makes you want to cry at other times.

What more can I say? I've got a submarine, you got gasoline.

- As a side note it should be noted that Eno and/or Lanois was present in all of the albums I mentioned as being a mashup of.

I'm just not buying...

So Chris and I were at the local Disney outlet, where they sell leftover merchandise from Disneyland at a greatly reduced rate. These are a couple of the items that were for sale. I don't think I could ever buy either of them.

I Forgot how much I LOVE Red Alert

Woooooo! That's all I can say.

Let the Ags keep rolling

This is now 6 days old but still a great one from USA Today. I'm glad to see USU finally getting the national recognition that they deserve. They were almost this good in 03-04 and we never heard a peep. So glad to see the name finally popping up everywhere. I want to have my friends here complain about how much they're sick of hearing about USU, cause heaven knows I'm sick of hearing about some of the other schools. 

Also as an update you may notice that we're now 21/17 (AP/ESPN,USA). Way to go aggies.

Chris

Utah State, Hey, Aggies All the Way!

So always nice to see that the Alma mater is doing so well (Ranked 22/25 according to USA and AP). In fact they're getting more respect than they have in years past. Yes the move to the WAC was rough but it appears that it has really paid off in spades. Just as a heads up here are some links to great articles about USU:

http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/index - the Andy Katz podcast has Stew Morrill on the last 5 minutes.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=290360328 - about the game last night.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?id=3804469 - one of the better stories about the skill of USU.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=328 - check the headlines on the left side for more great articles.

Also for those of you, who like us are outside of Utah you may want to check out espn360.com they stream quite a few of the games. If not the team website has a link to the radio broadcasts for every game.

Go Aggies, Go Aggies, Hey, Hey, HEY!!!

~Chris

For your misbehaviour you get...

THE DRILL!

Yup so Lish and I are finally getting around to doing all that dental stuff that should have been done years ago. As a result we both have fillings to deal with (Alicia's first ones ever), amongst the simple fact that dentists just are unpleasant. I don't like the taste of latex, thanks anyway though. So I'd rather you NOT keep sticking your glove in my mouth, or at least put the mint wax on first so I don't have to think about lab all the time that you're torturing me. Cause lemme tell you something, if you think going to the dentist is bad enough, try having to endure that while being comstantly reminded that you're going to work in about an hour's time. Uggh.

Oh well it's mostly done so maybe for the next 6 months I can sleep at night... maybe.

Three Things in Common

Work. Sleep. Church. Plus one more. Anything fun. These are all things that are made miserable by having a cold. I feel like I've been sick since Thanksgiving with one thing or another and i'm really tired of it. I think I may be getting depressed. Or maybe I have strep. Or maybe I just work with two year olds who for the life of them cannot figure out how NOT to sneeze or cough in my face. Grrr. That's how I feel right about now.
~Alicia

Three things in common

Work, Sleep, Church. All are things that consume way more time than I would like to admit. Now I know that many of you would like to argue that sleeping is time well spent. I would disagree. If I could come up with a way to sleep even less than I already do (around 5-6 hours a night), I would be in heaven. I could do more of what I want and yet still get my "beauty sleep." So the reason I bring this up is that I am starting to really feel the grind. The callings at church are eating at me, the work load is trying to bury me and to top it all off, at the end of a long exhausting day I have to go to bed. The way I  see it, if I could instead spend 1/2 an hour with Lish getting ready for bed and then I could get more work done or even play some games then I would be a more balanced person... ahh if only. 

In the mean time if anyone knows a way to balance more things on a plate lemme know how. I'm dying to do whatever else I can.

Chris

Solution

So as I posted earlier I am having issues with work not working. (Experiments not succeeding). So now I find myself (with the company of Lish) dealing with said issues- by working at lab till like 10 tonight!!! yeah this sucks!

Lack of desire

So I'm in dire grounds here. I found out today that my project (at least a part) isn't working right. Hmm seems bad. Real problem here is that I just don't care today. Yeah it's a Friday at 3:45 and I figured out that I should be in all weekend working on solutions. Instead I'm trying to figure out where I can surf this weekend. I may be seriously screwed if I can't get my lack of motivation figured out by next Monday. That means I have 2 1/2 days to figure out how to get the ganas to fix my problem. Hmmm.... could be a REALLY long weekend of inner thoughts and outer pains. In the mean time I have planned to play videogames and let Lish rest since she's been sick for the last week. Anyone feeling bored and want to play?

Chris

Is anyone more creative than me?

Okay...so here is a picture of a car that Chris and I often see during our commute. I just can't figure out what they meant their license plate to say. I've got only one solution and I can't imagine that anyone would want to advertise that. Let me know if you come up with something.



(If you can't read it the license plate reads "CUPCKBT")

You sir, are an absolute DUCK!

So I am going to use some harsh words in the next few sentences after which I am going to post a comment that was left regarding our post from last night.
Some tool of a person who is quite possibly the biggest dirt monkey I've ever met left some anonymous post on the comments section (I have since deleted it) but seriously!?! Who are you and how pathetic are you that you go in and personally write some of these comments, after which, I might add, you then act like you know me and that we're some how buddies. Best part is that obviously he's a retard and a tool b/c he refers to school (something that is never posted in my blog) and then he goes on to leave some post about some UK website reuniting people (cause I know SOOOOO many people in the UK). WOW! Some people... Thanks Buddy!

Reuniting Friends said...

Great post buddy ....Really the school days are the best days of life...The content of the post was really nice...we are trying to reunite school friends through our website to share their fond memo

BTW-I'm glad that he likes the "content of my post" too bad I can't say the same for him!

Chris

Long Lost Friends

So over the past few years we've made and left some great friends and I've been quite possibly the world's second worst person at staying in contact (Lish is first cause, um.... yeah, she just is) with everyone. So if you've found our blog it means you actually remember us- if yo're dying to know more just drop us a line in the comments section (please for your own privacy you don't have to post your e-mail addy) and we're gonna really strive to get in contact with everyone- it'll be great!!! Anywho, in the mean time just feel free to read on about our lives and the rants that I so often post.

~Chris

Sick

So Lish and I have been swapping colds back and forth for the last month or so...talent is that we're both now sick with something very similar. Lucky us! if you're wondering what the cause of the illness is- we know with certainty that it is NOT strep throat (ask Lish about this one) and also it is NOT depression (although the tests are inconclusive) rumor has it the local NP may know what it is - just go ahead and ask her her opnion, she'll be glad to help you out.
So what is this cryptic message? Well see Lish figured out, finally, what I've been complaining about for years- Nurse Practitioners (95% of them at least) are full of crap - you're are NOT an MD, you are not Board Certified in the same way, and you DO need to listen to your patients and how they describe their symptoms- believe it or not they may actually know what they feel inside or what color their own mucus is!!!

Freakin' Freezin'

Yeah it's cold here and if you don't think 50 is cold try rain, fog, no heaters and NO INSULATION!!! Apparently as the US economy goes down the crapper (there is a better name for this just watch till about minute 50 of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation), anyway as I was saying- as the economy tanks so does the exchange rate on sunshine dollars- heck at this rate it may be sunnier in Seattle before the beauty returns to SD.

Chris

Holidays

So Christmas has come and gone, as has New Years. To everyone who we weren't able to talk to - hope you had a great holiday. To everyone who sent us cards and gifts- thank you very much. Sorry that we didn't get a ard out- after some discussion we just never made it happen. So is our life. Best of intentions, worst of executions. Just ask our neice and nephew whom received Birthdays and Christmas at the same time (fine and all except that their birthdays are in the summer). Anywho, we're diong fine, working hard and hope to post some pictures soon.

~C and A

An Invitation

So I'm tired of being warned when I get onto the blog. So now I'll invite you all to read our thoughts instead. You don't have to, but you are welcome to. Anyway. Today an F-18 crashed into some houses about 10 minutes away from where I work. Cool. N0t cool for the houses and families that suffered, but cool, a fighter jet crashed in the neighborhood. The pilot ejected and landed on a baseball field at a nearby high school. Cool.

A WARNING

I've tried very diplomatically to dance around the issues of this election year. Including B-Rock Obama, John McCain, Sarah Fey, and Joe "The Plumber" Biden, amongst other things like Prop 8, Prop 1a, 4, and the TON of other crap in SD. But it's over, and now the real fights begin.

So Let It Be Known:

This is MY BLOG, a place where Lish and I can post as we will, as such I'm gonna start flying the flag of Amendment 1. Yup, I claim freedom to worship how I will and freedom to publish what I will, you don't like it- leave!

I was once taught that freedom of speech is not so that you can say what you want, it's so that the other guy can say all the things that offend YOU. Part of the rules of the US is that we can and should say what is our opinion, who you listen to and what you do after is your own choice.

~Chris

Let the nastiness begin

So people are very upset that Prop 8 passed ( I intend to address this in more detail over the next few days) but more ironic is that now, while preaching equality they decide to become hostile...

A story in the LA Times shows that the LDS faith will become the main focus of hatred by those who oppose prop 8. Not the first time that people have decided that LDS people have too much ability to influence elections. Irony here is in the form that so many other churches, including the Catholic church supported prop 8, but hey why hate on them...

Whatever the end result I can tell you this. I am proud to be a member of the LDS church, I am proud of the fact that I supported prop 8, and if you honestly think that my freedom to choose my way is so reprehensible, and causes you so much disdain, than maybe you need to consider moving to a place where the public opinion doesn't matter. Cause last time I checked the public in CA twice has said that they don't feel that homosexual marriage should be legal. And that is enough for me.

~Chris

So there was a little electon yesterday...

As you may know I'm in the minority of all of my friends down here b/c A) I am republican and B) I support many of the moral propositions. Yes I know that there is a great argument as to what is moral and whatnot but I won't discuss that here. The great part about America is just that I don't have to agree with you. You don't have to agree with me...

That being said a good friend of mine had this on her blog and I couldn't help but laugh as I am a huge muppet fan:

One of those Weeks

You ever have one of those Mondays that you know is just setting you up for a seriously rough week- well mine started yesterday (that's right Sunday) and I don't think it's gonna let up till next week some time. Ouch, that's all I have to say is OUCH!

Chris

Sick of the Lies and the Hate

You know by now that CA is embroiled in this interesting Prop 8 scenario. What most of our friends else where don't know is how deceitful many of the tactics of explaining prop 8 are. I'm gonna take the time later to explain a bit of what I've noticed but in the mean time, I found these two videos on You Tube that I thought were great examples of the dangers to the future generations and their understanding of the great institution of marriage if prop 8 fails.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkv6miGIcTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLGn_F1uTEo

Chris

Sweet - that's all I can say

I need to say thanks to Natalie Kardos for the link:

I Want THAT!

A real interesting read

A friend of ours is keeping a very interesting blog here. I have been meaning to post some interesting stuff I"ve learned about prop 8 but in the mean time... enjoy this read.

YES on 8

I support prop 8 for many reasons, the main one being that I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God. There are other substantial reasons, to see some of them try the following links:
http://preservingmarriage.org
http://protectmarriage.com

Bullet dodged

So I didn't get picked for jury duty. In fact, I didn't even get to go to a courtroom. Instead, I had to sit in the jury lounge room till almost 3:00 PM. I would have rather been at work. So boring. Oh well, I'm off the hook for at least 19 more months (if you're unsure how tha works, I'll be happy to provide you with insight).
Chris

Post-lunch...

Time for a new game to pass the day. We're gonna play "fat guy, head nod" rules are very simple look at the 350 lb fat guy and watch him get the head nods (you know cause we all want to be asleep). Then count how many violent nod/jerk awakes he has in 2 minutes. Then guess will it be more or less in the next 2 minutes. Give it a try and post your results in the comments section.

Bored stupid

Yeah so here I sit they've still only called 1 group away and lunch is setting in, worse yet is that I may have to sit around here after lunch too. I just don't want to be here- its a sad situation as to how slow they are and how sparse they are with information. A simple go home would be nice.

Jury duty - the waiting game

Now is the most brutal part I've been waiting for over an hour. They've called out 1 group of like 60 people and that's it! Seriously!?! Excuse me, I have better things to do, may I be excused? Great, thanks, see you later.
If only...

Side note

The old guy has a great halting speech that invokes William Shatner only 20 years older. I want him to say, "my jurors, my little jurors." maybe I can get him to do my voicemail a la "wait wait, don't tell me." oh here's the other jury story he tells... Sweet I'm 2 for 2!

Jury duty pt. 2

So a couple years ago when I got called to jury duty there was this old judge whose job it was to tell is how privelaged we are to serve. So ithought by now he might have died (lish had confirmed in feb that he was still around). Turns out nope he's still around even now- cause guess what, he's currently telling me the exact same story that I'm pretty sure he told me 3 years ago. But that being said they have a new movie that they show at the start, too bad they don't serve popcorn...

Jury duty

So here I am stuck at the "Hall of Justices" hoping that its not my turn to do my civic duty. Yup that's right I have to report to jury duty. So my plan for the day is to keep you posted as I endure through what I hope you will be a short day.

Published

About time! So I finally got my manuscript finished, organized, pushed through the correct number of hoops, and so now I submitted it to publication- only thing left is to wait for reviewers to tell me what to fix... in the mean time- even better news is that I got published today!!! Yup different manuscript I was only a co-author on this one, but still I got published! Feels nice to finally see some fruits to my labors. October could be a good month...

~Chris

September already?!?!?!

Okay, beside the fact that I'm tired of looking at me and zucchini, I'm going to update the blog. I'm not sure where the summer went, but when my birthday flew by, I knew I'd missed it. But hey give me credit, it's hard to tell it's summer in San Diego. When it never really gets above 80 for more than a couple days, it's easy to miss. But alas, summer is gone. Looking back, we did quite a bit, but mostly just worked. A lot. We spent the early part of the summer with me being stressed about my job, then that subsided for a while. Then we went on the pioneer trek, the best and worst experience I've had in a long time, but would definitely do again. (just imagine...three tour busses filled with teenagers for a week...) Then we came back and worked. Chris finally had some big success at work, finishing off one of his specific aims for his thesis. I then started being stressed about work as I applied for and prepared to interview for the job I'm already doing. (One of the benefits of working at a university and being union) After having my interview postponed 5 times, I've finally interviewed and I just have to wait for them to decide whether I got the job or the other person they interviewed. As the HR lady said, "we have to do a competitive interview process, and you can't compete against yourself." How does she know, anyway? Hopefully I'll have good news soon...

And zucchini steaks for all...

So Alicia and I are vegetable lovers. Love to eat them, prepare them, even the smell of steamed vegetables is good to me. So that being said even I have a finite limit to my love of all things green. So when our friends Kate and Jeff offered us a zucchini out of their garden we immediately said yes. Unbeknown to us was the sheer volume of said zucchini. It was so big that we didn't even know what to do with it- so to bread it went, with some other assortments being made before having to chuck some. Fine, dandy, life goes on. Then after the trek we got another one- cool I could go for some veggies. Problem was, three days later Kate offloaded another half a zucc on me. So what you might ask? Well see it's not the number it's the size!
Below is a single section of one of the zucc steaks that I had to cut so that we could do stuff with them.









Needless to say they're HUGE! Yeah that 1st picture, that's a US quarter next to it.
So we made some lasagna featuring zucc, and then w still had ~10 cups of zucc left so we shredded it. Who knows what we'll make with it next!
Oh and btw- we still have a whole zucc left to deal with.

~Chris

Below are some pics of Lish prepping the zucc.

Rockin' it up in the coffee shop

Just like a Friends episode gone awry, I find myself hanging out at the coffee shop listening to one of my friends play away on the impromptu stage.
Always a good way to pass the time on a Friday night. It works out for the better because then I can get to sleep for Saturday morning surf club! Ahh, the life of a bored couple that doesn't get much sleep anymore.

Plans...rethunk

So I always thought it might be fun to have twins one day. Then I taught 4 year olds. I could handle 12 at once, twins would be easy. Then I taught 2 year olds. Again, 2 at once, no problem. Then I went on the trek. No more twins. I just don't think I would make it through the teenage years. Heck, 1 at a time might be pushing it. Oh, and kudos to all those who have survived parenting teenagers (and mom and dad, you'll never know how easy you had it).

The sweetness of Barstow, CA

So its 11 pm and we just drove past the linwood exit. Hmm never has barstool looked so good as when they said 2.5 hours to San Diego

Lost? Wish I could lose a kid or two

So here we are finally headed home from our trek we have had a good time mixed with all sorts of craziness - some of which I would never believe had I not been there myself. So the plan right now is survive the 12 hour ride home and then over the next week we'll post up the whole thing along with some sweet pics