Bowser vs. Mario (and Luigi). And the winner is. . .

Mario (and Luigi). We finally did it. Last night, we got up the courage to beat Bowser in the final castle of World 8 in the new Super Mario Wii game. We had attempted this a few weeks ago, but we kept dying in hot lava, so we left it alone for a while in order to collect the remaining star coins in the lower worlds. But last night, about the only thing left for us to do was to defeat Bowser. I will admit, we were a little nervous about it at first. But it only took 3 tries to send Bowser to his demise in a sink hole of hot lava. Our next endeavor is to make it through the secret World 9, although unfortunately the only prize for making it through World 9 is personal satisfaction.

An interesting side note: If you look around on Ebay and Amazon, you can find a great many of the characters and charms from Super Mario in plush form, and some for very cheap. Seriously, you could probably buy all of the Super Mario cast for a very small sum of money and stage your own Super Mario adventure (maybe something to keep in mind as children's presents for birthdays and holidays in the future). Also, when you see Bowser as a 10 inch tall plush figure, he doesn't seem so scary; in fact, he's almost cute!

My new favorite dog breed

Bernese Mountain Dog! Don't they just look so sweet and cuddly? It is unfortunate that their average life span is only like 6-8 years.

Preparing for comps. AGAIN!!!

If you go back into my blog archives, you will see that many of my posts from July-September, 2007, talk about my preparations for the comprehensive exam that I had to take for my master's degree. Well, now I get to do the whole thing over again, this time in preparation for my PhD comprehensive exams.

My PhD comps are a little different from my masters comps from 3 years ago. My masters comps entailed a 6-hour written exam that covered exercise physiology, sports nutrition, and statistics. My PhD comps will be in 3 parts: a 6-hour written exam, a grant proposal, and an oral exam. The written exam will actually be quite similar to the one I did for my master's comps, but instead of being tested on a wide variety of exercise physiology topics, I will only be responsible for topics relating to metabolism, the endocrine system, and the immune system (but I'll have to know those topics really well!). Additionally, since my specific area of interest is the effect of aerobic exercise on physiological functioning in cancer patients, there will be a section on the written exam with questions pertaining to that area. Once I turn in my written exam, I will then have 3 weeks to write a grant, in the format of a NIH-RO3 grant. My committee then grades my written exam and my grant, and if they have any questions about anything I wrote, or if they would like me to clarify any of my answers, I will then have the opportunity to do that during the oral exam.

We have already set a date for my written exam: August 20th. That would make my grant due on September 10th, and then my oral exam would be shortly after that. So basically, the next 2-3 months will be all about comps. Once that fun is over, then it's on to dissertation fun!

We got a Wii

Yep, we finally did it. We bought a Wii. We bought a used Wii, so it was quite a bit cheaper than what one would pay for a new one. Since Ally goes to bed around 7-7:30pm, we kind of have to stay home at night, and our options for entertaining ourselves (in the absence of schoolwork) were to either watch TV or read; neither of which are terribly interactive. But now with our Wii, we can play games together. Last night, Ben and I challenged each other to 9 holes of golf, a game of bowling, tennis, and baseball (the Wii sports game that comes with the Wii). We ordered the new Super Mario Bros game for Wii, so we're excited for that one to come in so we can play it together.

My current reading list

1. Runner's World magazine
2. The Happiest Toddler on the Block, by Dr. Harvey Karp
3. I'll Mature when I'm Dead, by Dave Barry
4. Peer-reviewed articles about immune system responses to various levels of aerobic exercise intensity

Ally's first birthday party

Last Sunday (Mother's Day), we had a small birthday party for Ally. She shared it with two of her fellow 1-year old friends, Elaina and Miriam, as well as her godparents (Jim, Victoria, and Matt), Miriam's parents Andy and Michelle, and my parents. Since Ally's birthday is the day before Cinqo de Mayo, we served tacos and fajitas with all the fixings, and I made a dulce de leche birthday cake for Ally. A good time was had by all. Here are some pics from the weekend.

The birthday cake

Ally and Grandpa

Ally getting ready to blow out her birthday candle


Ally eating birthday cake.


Ally opens her present from Andy, Michelle, and Miriam-Veggie Tales!

Ally and Elaina


A present from Matt, Victoria, and Elaina-beach/pool toys!


Taking a bath after the big day


Me and Ally


Ally and Grandma

Ally sits at a table and chair set that belonged to me when I was little

Ally is 1 year old!

Today is Ally's first birthday. In some ways, I can't believe the year has already gone by, but in other ways I can't believe that it's ONLY been a year! To do a little "then and now" comparison, here are a few pics from May 4th-ish 2009, and May 4th-ish 2010.

Me, 40 weeks pregnant, and 1 week before Ally was actually born (remember that I was induced at 41 weeks)


Me, this past Easter, 11 months post-partum. I returned to my pre-pregnancy weight fairly quickly (thank you genetics, running, and nursing!), and all my pre-pregnancy clothes fit like they used to

Ally, right after coming home from the hospital

Ally as a 1-year old

Here are some more pics of her opening her first round of birthday cards and presents from her aunts and uncles.