Is there any beer left?

So Jeran and I went to the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Christmas party the other day. It was held in a group gathering room in the Carolina Brewery. We got some food but skipped the drink table, knowing what was probably in all those pitchers. It was pretty crowded so we were sitting in the only open chairs at the end of this group of tables. We were talking to some people Jeran knows and after a while, one of the guys sitting tucked against the wall with his back to the drink table asks "Hey Mindy, is there any beer left over there?" because I had a clear line of sight. "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," I said as I look at the table (it was a very long look), before Jeran turns around to glance at the drinks and says, "Yes there is. Sorry, I don't think she knows what beer looks like". True that. I thought those pitchers with lemons on them must have been Coke or something but apparently not. I also learned what that funny smell in the place was when I asked Jeran about it afterwards. Yet one more thing to add to my list of things that smell really bad, along with coffee, cigarettes, and eggs. Anyways, it was funny and I'm glad to say I wasn't ashamed at all to not be able to tell if there was any beer left.

I couldn't resist...

I was at Target and they had these silly little pet costumes for really cheap. I got a penguin with a bow tie and a Santa's elf costumes for the cats. The penguin head thing is super smal and won't even fit their heads. I think these were meant for a Chihuahua and cats are a bit bulkier than that.

This one of Toby makes me think of Toby from The Office. I love that.

I think this last one is my favorite. "Bond - James Bond" he says.

I finally finished my cross stitch!

I did it! After over a year working on it, I finished my biggest ever cross-stitch project. It is a tropical underwater scene with lots of colorful fish. Being finished came very abruptly- I was working on this and that hole in the design and suddenly -wallah - there were no more holes! I did the finish work which went very quickly and now here it is:


The dimensions are 12" x 16" and it has about 30 colors in it. I plan on framing it but after that I am not sure what to do with it. Probably it will go in either the bathroom or spare bedroom if it doesn't go well in the bathroom.

Strategies of Academic Success

I was thinking back on my college days and trying to decide what general tips I would give to students both in college and high school. I came up with a few pretty simple and easy ones that I think made a difference for me:

Make a Semester Calendar. Create a one page calendar covering the entire semester. Write down important dates (tests, due dates, holidays, etc) in a different color for each class so you can see at an instant what you have going on. I usually kept mine in the clear front of a binder or else as the first sheet.

Use white-out strips. It got so much easier to make assignments look good and stay neat when I had white-out strips - you know, the kind that are in a little roll on dispenser. If you make a mistake, instead of scribbling something out or starting over, simply white it out and write over it. It makes life so easy!

Make copies. If you use your book in class but you don't like to carry it, make copies of the relevant parts. For example, I copied all the math problem sections from the end of the chapters and never carried my book to class again!

Make flashcards. My preferred study method was to cut a bunch of papers into 8-12 pieces and write all the terms and things I needed to memorize on them. This method forces you to re-read your notes to find the important info, condense that info into memorizable tidbits, and then re-write the tidbits on the cards. By the time you actually get around to studying the cards, you've already done half the work of studying by just making them! And they are super portable - bonus!

Use the book. Skim through or even (dare I say it?!) read the chapter you will be discussing in class before you go. Simply familiarizing yourself by taking a few notes or highlighting section headings, keywords, etc. can make more of a difference than you expect. The exception to this is Math. In my opinion those books are for getting the math problems from only.

Get to sleep! For most people there is really no very good reason to stay up past 11:00 pm more than once or twice a week. It will make a big difference in how you feel the next day and will help you do better in class. It is said that having 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep is essential to improving and solidifying a task you learned or worked on that day. You can do it!

Well, that's it. Good luck to all you students. As you all know, I'm fuuuull of good advice if you ever need some. :)

Strange Awakening

Saturday night Jeran and I went to bed at about 11:00. Like usual, I stayed up reading until about 11:30 or so, and then I fell fast asleep. I woke up at one point in the night to a voice saying "Ouuuuuuch!" After a second of confusion, I realized that the voice was mine and that my nose hurt where Jeran had somehow conked it in his sleep. I reached for my watch in the dark, thinking it must be about 6:30 or so and a reasonable time to get up if you are already awake. 12:53!!! Oh, no. You've got to be kidding me! Fortunately I was able to get back to sleep without too much difficulty. Isn't that the worst?! I hate waking up early in the night to find that I have no other choice but to go back to sleep when you are wide awake and feeling rested.

For-ev-er! For-ev-er!

So on Thanksgiving Day, Jeran and I were driving to our friends house for a nice small Thanksgiving dinner. We were a few minutes late getting out the door and then "we" decided to take the wrong/roundabout way of getting there. As it turns out, this led us into the path of the NEW light of death. The old light of death is a major intersection near our home where two 4= lane highways intersect. Every direction has its own green turn arrows, etc and you have to wait for a very long time if you miss the green light (which is most of the time, considering you have to wait for about 10 lights to cycle before yours is green again). That was the old light of death.

Meet the new light of death. So we are on our merry way to dinner and stop at a normal old stoplight in a averagely busy area. We were the only car in line and we waited and watched the light for the other direction, waiting to see it trn red so ours would turn green. Well we saw the left turn arrow go green, yellow, red, green, yellow, red... for about 10 times or the equivalent of 6-7 solid minutes (with some but not many cars going the other way and by now three cars behind us), before we finally decided we were not going to sit at the never-changing stoplight FOREVER! Literally. If we hadn't run that red light, we would be there still. staying alive on pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes. Anyways, it was pretty funny and weird.

We had a good dinner with all the normal fixings. Yum. It was good. Happy Thanksgiving. We got up kind of early and went to Target which amazingly wasn't too busy. I feel bad for the poor stores that aren't doing too well and may not get much help from Black Friday. Good luck, Mr. Economy!

See ya later 2008!

I can't believe this year is almost over! Really family, wasn't it yesterday when Andrew got home and we were all together for fake Christmas? To commemorate the passing year, I attempted to list all the interesting things that happened month by month but it was too boring and empty so I won't do that here. So instead, a series of random thoughts.

I bought a new CD yesterday. I have listened to it twice and I'm still trying to decide what I think of it. It is "Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy & Peace". It is not quite what I expected it to be. I was expecting something more calm and relaxing from the great cellist but it is kind of a smorgasbord collection of traditional and cultural holiday songs done by Yo-Yo Ma with guest musicians. There are a few weird songs that I'm sure are some culture's traditional songs but sound disharmonious and strange to me. My favorites so far are the Dona Nobis Pacem pieces (of which there are at least 4).

I am determined not to see Twilight the movie, at least not for a year or so. I just think that the characters are undoubtedly much better in my imagination and just like happened with Harry Potter, when I later think about it, the movie actors will crowd out the imagined characters.

Did I buy a 4-pound turkey or chicken yesterday? When I bought it I thought it was a turkey, but now I think it might have been a chicken. Oh well, they are both good. I guess I could go look in the freezer. Nah. I'll let it be a surprise.

I own a turtleneck sweater. I tried it on the other day with every intention of wearing it as long as possible and made it a full 5 minutes before having to take it off because it was trying to strangle me. And it was making my head look like a melon floating in midair. Seriously. Every year when I see cute turtlenecks in the ads or in stores I think I might like them better now but every time I try one on, I get claustrophobic and hate it. Oh well. Maybe someday just the right one will come along and it will be magic.