New home and office furniture

Last weekend, Ben and I purchased a new dining table. It replaces the 38-year old table that my parents got when they first got married, but got passed to us when we got married (they also had a new dining table and did not need it anymore). The old table new lives under our guest bed, to be brought out when we have the whole family over like at last year's Thanksgiving. Ben and I are loving our new table, as we can comfortably seat 8 people around it, and if people have especially small backsides, it might even seat 10.

I also acquired a new piece of office furniture; a nice big whiteboard. It is awesome. I have already used a good bit of it to write out my conceptual models for my dissertation. I feel so scientific now, as every good (and slightly nerdy) scientist needs access to a personal whiteboard.

Offensive behavior

Apparently, it is quite offensive to assist a toddler with an activity (i.e., putting on shoes, buckling the top part of the carseat, walking up or down stairs, etc.) if she has not explicitly asked for your help. The toddler considers this assistance even more offensive if she is tired, and her response will be quite emotional in nature. Additionally, the toddler must often be given a few minutes to "emotionally prepare" for some activities, such as mealtime, bathtime or leaving a friend's house. To not allow her that period of preparation could also be taken as offensive.

Lab happenings

Just a little while ago, the professors and most of the grad students in my lab left for a regional conference. I decided to stay behind, 1) because I am not presenting anything this year, and 2) to get some schoolwork done. It is going to be a VERY quiet next couple days in the lab, which will hopefully be conducive to productivity on my part.

Considering the figurative sense of the word "quiet", things are also quieting down in our lab because we just finished a faculty search. Over the past 3 weeks, a lot of us have been busy with giving tours to the candidates, going to their teaching and research presentations, and sharing meals with them. Hopefully we'll find out soon which of them is accepting the job.

My time this semester so far has been spent starting on the literature review chapter of my dissertation, investigating prices of ELISA assays that I might end up using (one word: EXPENSIVE), looking for small dissertation grants to apply for to fund said ELISA assays, and meeting with dissertation committee members to discuss my project ideas with them. I have the last of those meetings on Monday, so after that, I anticipate that I'll be able to solidify my research questions and proceed from there.

Scatterbrain

I get on the bus yesterday afternoon at 4pm like I always do. Then halfway home, it hits me like a lightning bolt: I drove my car to campus! Needless to say, Ben was a little surprised when he and Ally came home a few minutes after I did and found me in the kitchen but no car in the driveway.

So I have a sticky note on my computer today to remind me to drive home.

The art of conversation

I recently read a great post on one of the blogs I follow; you can read it here. The topic is about teaching children how to converse with others, and I thought it was a good one for those of us with little ones to keep in mind as they grow older and begin to learn how to have a conversation with others. I think it was a challenge to me too, to examine how I converse with others. Am I always the one talking and trying to tell my stories and my opinions? Do I really listen to the other person when they are talking? Do I fall into an "interview-style" conversation where I answer the other person's questions but don't inquire about how the other person is doing and what is going on with them? Being that I am Ally's example, if I want her to one day learn how to converse properly with others, I need to practice good conversation skills myself. It is some good food for thought.

It has begun. . .

the writing of the dissertation; the final event of my PhD career. Before I begin collecting data, I have to write and present a dissertation proposal, which is basically the first 3 chapters of the dissertation (intro, lit review, methods) and then get IRB approval. I have started with the lit review chapter, which I can chip away at piece by piece as I wait to meet with all my committee members to discuss the ideas I have in mind for the methods. Once I get some preliminary feedback from my committee, then I can proceed to write my intro and methods.

I have waited and worked a LONG time to get to this point, and I am really glad I'm here. I have a LOT of work ahead of me, but I feel ready for this.

Bizarre foods

Lately, Ben and I have been watching episodes of Bizarre Foods on Netflix. Last night, we ate a $6.00 lobster from Kroger. As I munched on a slightly tough piece of lobster tail meat, with the lobster's beady eyes staring at me, many of the episodes flashed in fast forward through my head. Not to mention that Ben managed to locate the lobster's digestive tract and proceeded to investigate it's stomach contents.

I am half-heartedly thinking of becoming vegetarian.