The good and bad of trans-US flight

I’m sitting in the Seattle airport awaiting my final flight and stealing Ken’s laptop.

Bad:
The person sitting near me on the three hour flight who had gas. Bad gas. Who evidently had PLANNED to have gas, because they brought along eucalyptus spray. Bad, very, very strong eucalyptus spray. Which they promptly sprayed every time they tooted. ewwwww.

The very tanned eastern European couple sitting in front of us (possible candidates for Eucalyptus fart-er) who yelled at each other, watched a DVD with no headphones, and let their kid sit on their lap during landing.

When we bought tickets, Ken and I tried very hard to get the same flights. It wasn’t easy, but we persevered. Then, I got moved to an earlier flight while Ken stayed on the later one through some magical schedule shuffling.

Northwest has merged with Delta, evidently, and this means that things are changing. For instance, it now costs $50 to switch to an earlier version of your flight (like Ken wanted to).

Good:
My ski bag, a huge, home-made monstrosity containing a snowboard, two skis, and two poles, and weighing about a million pounds, was accepted along with a boot bag as one piece of checked luggage. No questions asked.

The good lady at the gate waived the $50 flight change fee because Northwest had changed the schedule in the first place.

Then she got Ken a seat next to me.

Then she dealt gracefully with some other passenger’s issues. Thank you, Northwest lady at the gate in Minneapolis for the flight to Seattle leaving at 5:05. You rock.

A history of giving

You may have noticed that today we are almost halfway through December. I have sent Christmas cards out to many of my relatives. I have made thousands of batches (ok, so it’s 10 so far) of candy for church and school friends. I have gifts for: My sister’s birthday, my secret sister, all of my sisters, my mom, my dad, Ken, and the kids who are former neighbors of my friend from church (It’s complicated). This leaves one person for whom (for who? For which? I have no clue.) I must purchase a gift.

This person and I have been exchanging gifts ever since I was old enough to receive my incredibly pitiful allowance ($0.05 multiplied by my age. My parents were SO generous.) and she was old enough to dream up get-rich-quick schemes involving forcing everyone around her to buy lemonade, stuff from numerous catalogs, or hedgehogs. Clearly she was more motivated than I was. Incidentally, she currently earns her living at a real job, has a real car, many (4?) real dogs, and owns a real duplex. Contrasted with me… I’m mooching off the Department of Defense as a student, have 3 bicycles, 0 dogs, and renting a duplex. We never really change, do we?

Next door to the gymnastics place where we had classes together was a store that sold stationary and, I think, a dollar store. All gifts for many years were purchased at these two fine establishments. I believe that I still have a lovely collection of unsharpened novelty pencils that I have never been able to bring myself to use.

In recent years, our gifts have become much more sophisticated. For example, last year I think I got her an ice cream scoop in the shape of a pig and she got me an extendable fork which can conveniently be used for stealing food from plates within a three foot radius OR as a backscratcher. Like I said. Sophisticated.

This year I have to find her something that tops an extendable fork, and I’m just not sure I can do that. Besides, this person I’ve been describing just so happens to be my very own infrangible friend. Recall that my goal is to make her cry?

Well.

No present for HER this year! That oughtta do it.

Revolutionary Road and other sundry thoughts

So remember last week, when I was like, OH HAI, I IS BACK ON UR INTERWEBS… And then promptly didn’t post anything for almost a week? I am nothing if not consistent.

Even now I really have nothing to say. I think that my brain is filled with the anticipation of my impending trip home and the consuming knowledge that I have too much stuff to get done before Thursday when I get on my bike to ride to school to walk to the train to ride to the airport to get on a plane to get on another plane, to wait five hours in Seattle to get on another plane to drive for a half hour to get to my parents’ house.

I think it was less complicated and time consuming to get to Europe.

Anyway, on Kim’s recommendation I read Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates a while back. And by read, I mean listened to on my computer. The downloadable audio books the Cleveland library may be THE BEST THING EVER. While I was not overly impressed with the book (in fact, I was DEpressed), it was superbly written. Below are some excerpts that I enjoyed greatly.

“…he learned the unquestionably masculine, unquestionably middle class trade, of mechanical engineering.”

-Cue giggling from Lisa-

“Ted Bandy never looked his best in fine weather. He was an indoor man. His thin gray body, which seemed to have been made for no other purpose than to fill the minimum requirements of a hard finished double breasted business suit and his thin gray face were able to relax only in the safety of winter, when the office windows were shut.”

I can imagine exactly what this guy looks like. Incredible.

The next one’s really long, but I thought two things when I heard it (and I’m afraid #2 will be lost on those who didn’t grow up with me, sorry): 1. See, the east IS a terrible place where lazy people live! 2. Replace the words “the East” with Moscow, ID and remove “when college was over” from the last line and the quote embodies all that makes me not fit in there.

“Bright visions came to haunt him of a world that could and should have been his, a world of intellect and sensibility that now lay forever mixed in his mind with ‘the East.’ In the East, he then believed, a man went to college not for vocational training but in a disciplined search for wisdom and beauty, and nobody over the age of twelve believed that those words were for sissies. In the East, wearing rumpled tweeds and flannels, he could have strolled for hours among ancient elms and clock towers, talking with his friends, and his friends would have been the cream of their generation. The girls of the East were marvelously slim and graceful; they moved with the authority of places like Bennington and Holyoke; they spoke intelligently in low, subtle voices, and they never giggled… In the East, when college was over, you could put off going seriously to work until you’d spent a few years in a book-lined bachelor flat, with intervals of European travel, and when you found your true vocation at last it was through a process of informed and unhurried selection…”

Done with my “final”

Thoughts from while I’ve been gone

Saturday:
Words which are annoying and also not actually words:
Phenom -It’s phenomenon, people. Come on. It’s four extra letters.
Ur – When I read this in a sentence such as “Enjoy Ur weekend!” I think that we’re about to have a weekend in which we are celebrating ancient Mesopotamian culture. It confuses me.

My 4.0 is officially gone. It was nice while it lasted. If I could have a 4.0 for 4 years of graduate school, that’s an indication that the classes are too easy (and they are!). However, to all the people who had old exams to memorize and to the prof who’s too lazy to make new questions: Thanks for ruining any chance I had at an A and any fairness in that class. That’s the only reason I can think of that a large group of people would finish the test in 15 minutes and average ten points higher than me.

Sunday:
My church voted (unanimously, surprisingly enough!) to pursue purchase of a building. This means that we MUST GROW or will run out of money in 14 months. I think this is a good thing. Stagnation is not the way to go.

Monday:
I have some sencha green tea inherited from Ken’s former roommate. It tastes like grass and I hate it, but I keep drinking it because I can’t bear the thought of throwing it out.

It snowed for the first time today! There was definitely a dusting starting to stick to the back roads when I went to get groceries.

Tuesday:
10:21 AM
AAAAAAACCCCKKKKKK! (That’s the sound of nervous energy before an oral exam.)

3:05 PM
Aaaaaaahh (Huge sigh of relief.) I passed and even I thought that I did well. Now the real work starts.

Wednesday:
I think its time to consider wiping my hard drive and re-installing Windows. I’m uncertain how this will work for re-installing all my programs, particularly the ones that the school only allows us to download once.

In which I again prove that I am clever

Greetings.

Remember me? I used to regularly write inane things on this website and often read and comment on other blogs. Sadly for all four of my readers (hi guys!), regular updates will not be occurring again at least until the middle of next week. I had an exam today for which I was busy studying, have a big holiday party tomorrow that I’m helping organize/decorate for/set up, have a bunch of other work-related stuff to get done with due dates on the 11th and 15th, my scheduled runs are currently taking nearly an hour every other day, I’m trying to get together gifts and cards for everybody I know, and I’ve scheduled my big thesis proposal oral presentation/exam for Dec 8th.

So. I’m busy.

However, I couldn’t let this week pass me by without addressing one important issue. My infrangible friend has very un-subtly informed me that calling her names did not make her cry.

I just want to inform her that it’s not over until the fat lady cries.

See how I did that? I just called her fat, poorly used a modified cliche, and got an important message across that I will not quit until my mission is fulfilled, all in one simple sentence.

I’m clever.

Crying yet, Ms. Infrangible?

I trotted

Turkey trot results:

Last year:
Time: 48:37:27
Pace: 9:43
Place in Women aged 20-24: 132/207 = 0.634

This year:
Time:  44:28:96
Pace: 8:54
Place in women aged 20-24:  76/255 = 0.298

If I can continue this trend and get a 49 second per mile increase in speed (which is a lot, but I don’t think it’s impossible), I’ll be at a 8:05, putting me at 40:24:06. I will also be moving up an age group because I am old. This year that would have put me at 49/400 = 0.123. Guess I better keep running!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blogging can be a weird thing. For instance, as I write this it is currently Wednesday at lunch time. However, I’m not going to post it until Thursday late evening. This ensures that I have news to tell my family when I attempt to call/Skype them to wish them Happy Thanksgiving.  (While not wearing my ridiculous, but totally stylish thank you very much, Joseph-and-the-technicolor-dreamcoat-esqe bathrobe on camera this time.)   That said, I bring you a list of things that have either happened or are going to happen (but will have happened by time this posts) for which I am thankful. Confused yet?

• We got the proofs of paper #1 and returned them to the journal, so hopefully it’ll be published in the very near future.
• I got news that the changes we made to paper #2 were accepted and so it is now officially in press.
• My PhD thesis proposal paper was deemed by my adviser to be ready to be presented to my committee. The plan is to have the presentation/oral exam before I leave for Christmas vacation.
• Last night I bought a “fresh” turkey that was most emphatically partially frozen. Sigh. At least it was 11 cents per pound cheaper than I thought it was going to be. It’s also only 13.5 pounds, so I guess we won’t have massive amounts of leftovers. Hopefully it thaws out by Thursday.
• Tonight I have to play piano for a joint Thanksgiving service. Ack! I thought I was going to have to drive the 40 minutes there in the dark and rain in an old BMW with a failing starter motor all the while trying to read directions and quell the rising anxiety about those two sections in the prelude that I haven’t quite mastered because the organ doesn’t have enough keys to play them all by myself, as Ken had declared he wasn’t coming. But now apparently he IS coming. Whatever.
• Tomorrow morning I’m running the 5 mile Turkey Trot downtown. My official goal that I know I can achieve is to beat last year’s time – just a hair under 50 minutes. My secret innermost goal is to beat 47:00. That’s 9:24 miles. I’m pretty much a speed demon.

That’s all for now, folks. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving menu

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, probably because it gives me an excuse to do nothing but cook and eat. Oh yeah, and give thanks! What more could I possibly want?

This year I’m adding to the normal cooking fun by having a vegetarian over for dinner, along with three people who have never experienced an American Thanksgiving. It’s going to be a blast, but it means I have to be a little creative in choosing the menu for my vegetarian friend yet still have things be pretty traditional. Everything but the turkey and gravy is going to be vegetarian.

Here’s what we’re eating:

• Fresh, brined turkey. Last year I brined a frozen turkey, which is not really kosher, and this time I’m doing it properly!
• Gravy – I made it last weekend a la Nobel Pig. Question: is there such a thing as vegetarian gravy? I have some vegetarian bullion, so theoretically I could make some veggie stock and make it in to gravy. It sounds unbearably weird to me though…
• Mashed potatoes. This is MY favorite part!
• Stuffing/dressing – I used to hate this because my mom would put raisins in it. But I’ve slowly come around and now I love it. I don’t put raisins in it though. Apples – yes. Raisins – no.
• Sweet Potatoes. Last night I made most of this recipe from Nobel Pig (again!). Which has raisins! And dates! I’m feeling adventurous. It’s going to get topped and baked on Thanksgiving.
• Corn and wild rice a la Pioneer Woman – making this tonight (I have to play piano at a Thanksgiving service on Wednesday night, so I can’t make anything then.)
• Apple sauce – Made this on Saturday.
• Green Bean Casserole – This is Ken’s department. His is the only green bean casserole I have ever liked.
• My Grandma’s cranberry stuff – I don’t like it, but everyone else in the world does! I’m also making this tonight.
• Pickles – Ken insists this is ridiculous, but I can’t have Thanksgiving without a relish tray.
• 2 Chinese dishes – My friend who I’ve invited is bringing them, and I’m really excited!
• Dessert – We’re going non-traditional with pumpkin cinnamon rolls, ice cream, whipped cream. The dough for these was made last night, and the recipe modifications got a bit out of hand, so we had to add WAY more flour than we thought, which means that I’m going to be swamped with cinnamon rolls for the rest of my life.

And then we’ll be full. At least, we’d better be!

In which the the interweb provides helpful financial advice

This is post 2 in my finance series. Find the first post here

I’m going to start off this financial mini series (Holy mackerel this sounds exciting!!) by directing you to some excellent websites written by people who know what they are talking about. (i.e. not me.)

The Motley Fool This is my favorite financial website. It has free information for many levels of financial knowledge and it manages to convey information about a very dry subject with some modicum of humor. Amazing!

MSN Money I’m not a huge fan of this website, but they do have a lot of calculators to give you an estimate of a down payment, mortgage payments, retirement requirements, etc.

NPR Your Money NPR generally has very interesting and well done segments on various financial topics. Even if the particular topic doesn’t apply to you it’s usually pretty entertaining to listen to. But that’s coming from me, who listens to Car Talk and This American Life with a near religious fervor every week while I run. Such behavior is probably a bit strange.

Bankrate.com On this website you can compare interest rates (bot for savings accounts and loans) on pretty much every single banking institution that’s available on the internet. I’ve found it very useful to confirm that my local bank has comparable interest rates to other places I could be saving my money.

Dave Ramsey I don’t know much about this guy, except that he’s a big advocate of not having any debt and has a radio show where people call in and he tells them to stop spending money. A lot of the sort of “Christian Mom” blogs that I read – not that I read that many – are trying his method to get out of debt. It seems to be pretty much common sense advice.

Vanguard When I was trying to figure out how I wanted to invest some money, the internet told me that Vanguard and Fidelity were the two bastions of investment
to work through. Both had similar funds offered and similar services. When it came down to it, I chose Vanguard because I liked their website better. They have a lot of information easily available about stocks and bonds.

Open letter 3

In the fashion of Perfectly Cursed Life, I have one open letter for this Friday. Except that it is now Saturday.

Dear Readers,

My two most favoritest TV shows that I watch (on Hulu, of course – haven’t got a functioning TV) are Glee and Stargate Universe.

Does this strike anybody else as a strange pair? Or is this normal?

-Lisa

P.S. I’m incredibly embarrassed to admit that I enjoy Glee.