The Junk Punch

For some reason (maybe it was the wine) I found this scene from a movie on TV tonight to be quite hilarious.  I can't deny there have been times in my life when I have felt like doing this.  Sweet revenge.

Memphis Fail

Well here is testament to the fact that Memphians can't handle cold weather.  Just because its a little chilly outside, read ~22 degrees, ice skating was canceled.  Sad day.  I was really looking forward to it.

Oh the weather outside is frightful

via

But ice skating still sounds delightful!  Yes, Memphis is finally experiencing some winter weather.  This morning as I was laying in bed trying to convince myself to get up, I looked at the weather report on my phone.  The current weather reading at 7:45 was 15 degrees.  Not such a good motivating factor for getting out of bed.  However, I did.  Because the grad school is going ice skating tonight!  I can't remember the last time I went ice skating.  Hopefully I don't fall.  But if I do oh well!  It will be fun!  I love this time of year!!


On a different note, I just have to say that I was very impressed with the Memphis Ballet's production of The Nutcracker this past Friday.  After seeing the Oregon Ballet Theater perform it for many, many years I had very high expectations.  And little Memphis did a very nice job.  I think my favorite was the Arabian dancers.  The female was absolutely gorgeous.  I have no idea how she moved the way she did, but it was amazing.  And an obvious close second was the sugar plum fairy.  Simply beautiful!  Did I mention I was sitting pretty much center stage and like 5 rows back (Thank you Anna Pressler!).  I loved being able to actually watch the dancers feet.  Ah!  Loved it!!!

A New Bed

So its been a while since I've had any stories about the polish guy.  I've been busy and he's been busy.  But yesterday a girl in my lab and I were talking with him and a girl in his lab.  He was telling us how excited he was because he just bought a new "big" bed.  We all continued to talk for a few minutes and then out of no where he looks straight at me and says "Danielle, do you want to come try out my new big bed?"  I immediately tried to ease the awkward tension by replying, "No thanks, I have my own big bed." Luckily the other girl in my lab knows all about the polish guy and quickly announced that we needed to get back to our experiments. 

So there ya go, another awkward encounter with the polish guy.  At least he keeps things interesting.

The stress that is the committee meeting

So the past month I have been a bit preoccupied with preparing for what is known as a committee meeting.  As a graduate student we not only have our mentors, the person who is essentially our boss/slave driver, we have about 4-5 additional faculty members who also oversee the fate of our futures.  And starting in our 3rd year we have to meet about every 6 months with this "committee" to go over our research progress.  Yesterday was my first meeting.  Being as I have been in the lab for about a year and a half now I had quite a bit of data to go over and prepare for this meeting.  I knew my mentor expected a good presentation from me and therefore started early. Luckily I know my stuff.  There were only a few revisions and my final run through with her went very well.  However, my worries were not with her.  I know her faith and confidence in me.  This was my first meeting with the rest of the faculty who come from all different backgrounds.  I had no idea how they were going to respond to my ideas and research.  So there I sat, 5 minutes before the beginning of the meeting waiting and worrying about my competence as a scientist.  Talk about stress!
Then 2 hours later, I walked out alive.  Yes, it was a 2 hour presentation. Granted there were many interruptions for questions and discussions.  And thankfully they all agreed that what am doing has scientific significance.  YAY!!  The last year and a half has not been a huge waste of time!  But now what this really means is that I have a whole lot of work to get done in the next few months.  Because then I have not only another committee meeting, but my admission to candidacy meeting, where they will decide if I am fit to finish my PhD or not.  So, I'm letting myself enjoy the rest of December, but come January, its on!

St. Jude Half Marathon

Well I did it!  I finished my first half marathon.  After all the training and lonely long runs I was sure that this would be my first and last.  But after finishing the race and seeing the little children who were sick and the reason I was running, I'm pretty sure I'll be doing it again next year!  Here are some pics.

Picking up our race packets!

Mom with her race packet!

At the race expo!

 St. Jude half marathon start line!!

Pre-race, still happy!

We finished!!!  Happy with our metals! Tired, but totally worth it.