I figure it is time for some news updates after a month and a half of ‘not getting around to it’.
Here are some pics of Miami. I thought it would be a good idea to have pics of Miami, so I went out three times to take photos. As much as I love photography I just hate taking pictures of city and people. IT IS SO BOOOORRRRING! I just don’t know why photographers would intentionally take pics of the city. Very weird. If I take a landscape photo and person is in it, I usually crop them out, so they don’t ruin the otherwise good photo. The first two attempts failed after taking a total of 3 photos. The last and final attempt was slightly more successful. Patricia and I went downtown, which is only 2 miles from my apartment, to take some photos. We were bored out of our minds in 30 minutes, so we ditched the idea and had nice walk along the bay. That was so much more fun.
Luckily, it the photography trip was not completely a waste because I found a pretty little
orchid to at least take some good pictures.
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Patricia decided to try out her domestic skills and bake a cake. At the same time she thought that directions were beneath her because her mother never needed directions, and all her cakes were perfect. I tried to explain to her that she needed to follow the directions precisely and that the fact that her mother was an expert chef did not make her one. She promptly and curtly told me that she was baking and if she needed advice she would
ask for it. So I sat back and watched her change every step of the recipe. The first pic is her first lovely attempt at cake making. She put too much sugar in the bottom of the pan, and as the temperature was way too hot the sugar boiled up to the top of the pan and burnt black. After taking photos of the debacle, I was willing to try to salvage the middle of the cake. She, on the other hand, wanted to erase the experience from her memory as soon as possible, so she threw the cake away. She only said after seeing the cake is “But my mom’s cakes are all perfect, so why isn’t this one??” I, rather enjoying myself, pointed out again that she unlike her mother has never been in the kitchen before.
Her next attempt at baking resulted in a cake that did not rise. I made the suggestion that maybe my baking powder was no good. She looked at the expiration date and found that expired in 2002! Next thing I know she is telling her mother that I sabotaged her cake (BOTH of them). Oh well… I went from being a good cook to a fraud that ruins other peoples’ hard work.
Until today she has baked eight cakes and the last five were all excellent. I must say that she is quite the little baker. She made 3 banana cakes (like upside-down cake but with bananas instead of pineapple), 1 carrot cake that is completely different (and quite good) from any carrot cake I have eaten here, and 1 coffee cake. Of course, Patricia knows how to endear herself to everyone. She brings cake to school and shares with the lab, janitors, and anyone else who wanders by. They all love her. Our advisor is trying to watch how much fat and cholesterol because he has high cholesterol. She offers him cake each week, and he scolds her for being inconsiderate because he is on a special diet. He finally finishes his scolding, while he finishes 3rd piece of cake.
Now our meals have all the proper parts: meat, a starch, vegetables, rice or bread, and desert. Our advisor always comes in and teases us about eating a banquet for lunch everyday. I think that he is just jealous of our large spread. Lunch used to be such an easy thing. I heat up one container and pronto. Now I have at least 3 if not more contain
ers of food to eat up and a little table space to set up. I always was partial to a just having a big mess of stew myself, but this complete meal idea is not bad.
Everything has to be proper for lunch, and sadly she is still rather disappointed if not horrified by table manners. She is overreacting. I use utensils most of the time, eat my food off a dish or plate, and half the time I don’t even get any food on my clothes. It is Patricia writing now – I need to add some things: he always spills food on his clothes and he loves to speak with his mouth full of food – and even more, he puts more food that his mouth is capable of holding - I am trying to fix it, hahahaha.
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I just finished applying for a three-year fellowship with the Department of Energy Global Climate Change Program. I hope that I get the funding because it pays my way for the rest of my PhD. Also my co-mentor (as is required for the fellowship) is none other than the head root guru. I wanted to put him on my committee when I first started my PhD, but never asked him because he is impossibly busy. However, I needed a mentor for this fellowship, and he was the only one on the list that was similar to my field. I decided to risk it and ask him. He replied quickly and said that he was interested. Both my advisor and I were very excited. Now we’ll see if I get the fellowship because if I do, he’ll be an important asset in the future.
I had such a scare when I submitted my application electronically. When I uploaded my proposal, I uploaded it as a doc file instead of a pdf. Then I read that the application called for pdf files only, and that I had only one chance to upload a file. If it was the wrong file, I could not change it. When I tried to upload the pdf next, it would not upload. I nearly died. I thought, “man, if I cannot apply for this fellowship because of stupid problem like this!” I was rather stressed for the next 2 hours trying to figure out if there was any way to fix the problem. I was not sure if the doc file uploaded correctly, so I just had the idea that maybe the reason that uploading the pdf failed was because of the Firefox. I decided to try it in MS Explorer. Thank goodness, it worked!!!! I realized that if I had accidentally tried to upload the doc file in Explorer, I would have been in serious trouble because it turns out neither the doc nor the pdf uploaded correctly. Thankfully I was saved, and everything in the end was submitted correctly.
I know this is about the most boring news in the world, but unfortunately it is the best I can do because all I do is work until late at night.
The sad thing is I sit all day in front of a computer and first thing I do when I get home is sit in front of the computer again. My live revolves around a square electronic box.
