My baby!!!

I have wanted one of these for so long. Since I came to Stanford at least. And it turns out, today was the day! Chris and I went over to the only significant recumbent bike dealer in the bay area and I tried out some bikes and finally picked this one! I don't want to be inside typing, I want to be outside riding it around!

I've been trying to write thesis and get a technical talk ready for my interview on Friday... oh, but the bike is right here!.... what to do, what to do?!

Good interview?

Whew, just finished that first interview. I wasn't sure what they would ask a Ph.D. about in a tech job interview - research job interviews usually have us give a presentation on our work and then ask questions about it? Turns out they wanted me to talk about my research and point at some things in their lab and tell them what they might be doing (showing that I can recognize hardware?) and then they asked me some quals style questions on motors and heat transfer, both of which I basically bombed because I don't directly work with either of them and they knew that and just wanted to see how I could do under pressure. I was pressured all right. The interviewer said I did better than I probably felt like I did. Apparently lots of people can't even make the connection that 192 watts of power is like a couple of light bulbs and therefore probably pretty hot (this was about the only intelligent thing I was able to say during the quiz section of the interview). Anyway, they already said they want me to come back for a second round of interviews, which makes me think that I should probably apply at the other two places in the area that I'm interested in working at so that I can have some basis for comparison between all of them (and potentially competing job offers?).

I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. Probably because I don't feel totally invested in the job search at the moment - I still have a long time before I feel like I'll really have to have a job.

From reading other bloggers it sounds like it's not considered wise to tell where you work (lest a coworker happen upon your blog and glean some unnecessarily person information from it?). So I don't really want to say where it was I interviewed. But, this might be one of the few interviews in the world where you see a guy using KY jelly and it's nothing even remotely inappropriate. I guess maybe there's quite a few of those in the medical profession...

Chris is totally weird

I know how much Chris loves it when I expose his oddities so here we go again. A couple of weeks ago we saw this link online to "8 Brain Diseases That Give Superhuman Mind Powers." Mostly they were things like autistic savants and stuff like that. But Chris said something like, wow, it's good to know I have a superhero trait! Now, pretty much all the disorders were something totally weird and so I was then shocked to find out that Chris has Grapheme-color synesthesia. It's arguable about whether or not this really makes you a superhero, but at any rate I sat down with him and found out what his letter/color mapings are, and for your enjoyment, here's his map:
In addition he has number form synesthesia. It all seemed so crazy and serious that I was amazed that I married him without knowing it, but apparently it has almost no effect on his daily life so it just never came up. Weird weird weird. But I'm getting used to it.

This week Chris's parents were visiting, so we went hiking and ate lots of yummy food and toured the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory (for my 4th time!). I gave Cece the socks I had made her for her birthday, and here she is modeling them:
These were tricky to make - I had to use a yarn with no wool content and make them 10 inches long. I ended up using 100% bamboo yarn (?!). Cece reports that it's not hot at all and the socks aren't baggy - they stay where they're put. Another successful Nancy Bush sock. Now I'm moving on to a present for my new nephew-to-be, Grant.

Tomorrow I have an interview for a job (!!!) at a medical robotics company. Here's hoping that goes well! I've never had an interview before for a job that I actually expected/hoped to get. I did a couple of kind of practice interviews when leaving college just to have the experience. I've been told by friends to have a lot of questions to ask my interviewers, which seems unintuitive to me. Aren't they bringing me in to ask me questions?

40 Things Rarely Asked

Fun! A meme! Although I'm concerned that it will reveal that I'm really boring...
(Courtesy of Abigail, with missing questions located on the internet)

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?
   No
2. Do you have any weird sleeping habits?
   I don't think so.
   
3. When’s the last time you’ve been swimming in a lake?
   A couple of summers ago when out boating with my family in TN.
4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?
   With someone, but only if it's Chris. Otherwise alone.
5. Do you believe in ghosts?
   Nope. In other paranormal stuff, but not ghosts.
6. Do you consider yourself creative?
   No. I'm much better at implementing other people's creative ideas.
7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?
   Probably.
8. Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears?
   Britney!
9. Do you stay friends with your ex’s?
   Some yes, some no. Mostly it has seemed to be a bad idea.
10. Do you know how to play poker?
    No.
11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?
    No. I think my max is something like 38
12. What’s your favorite commercial?
    I don't watch much TV so I don't really have one.
13. What type of food do you eat the most?
    When feeling unrestrained, cookies and chips. When dieting... um... vegetables maybe?
14. If you're driving in the middle of the night and no one is around, do you run red lights?
    Oh definitely.
15. Have you ever had a Choco Taco?
    Yup
16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?
    Who cares? Although the Sox world series games awhile back were fun.
17. Have you ever been ice skating?
    Yes
18. How often do you remember your dreams?
    One or two per night.
19. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
    Chris and I do this pretty routinely. Most recently from looking at the funniest photos on the internet. Although as of today our favorite (Hand drier icons labeled "Press Button, Recieve Bacon") wasn't on the top 40 list...
20. Can you name 5 songs by NSYNC?
    I doubt it.
21. What’s the one thing on your mind now?
    The future!
22. Do you believe in love at first sight?
    No.
23. Do you put salt on a turkey dinner?
    I don't eat turkey.
24. Do you always wear your seat belt?
    Yes.
25. What cell service do you use?
    Spring
    
26. Do you like bananas?
    Yes!
27. Have you ever narrowly avoided a fatal accident?
    Yes. I think I've nearly gotten run over a couple of times.
28. What do you wear to bed?
    Shorts and a tank top.
29. Been caught stealing?
    Nope.
30. Do you pee in the pool?
    Definitely no.
31. Do you truly hate anyone?
    No. There's a few people I don't like much.
32. Bluegrass or Rap?
    Bluegrass
33. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?
    I think #4 covered this one.
34. Skim, 1%, 2%, or whole?
    Soy when I must. Real hurts too much.
35. What food do you find disgusting?
    Tuna fish. Most kinds of meat. Knox blox. Ugh.
36. Windows or Macintosh?
    Mac baby.
37. Did you ever play, “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours?
    Nope.
38. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back?
    Yup.
    
39. Have you ever stood up to someone you hardly knew?
    Definitely.
40. Have you ever sung in front of the mirror?
    Definitely.
    

Wow, that wasted way too much time.

Ski Skirt

I found this skirt in my grandmother's closet awhile back and thought how great it would be to have kind of an old timey ski costume - like from back in the days when women wore skirts to ski in. Since then I've been trying to assemble the pieces of a full costume, and as I said in the last entry I finally got to try it out this past weekend because the weather was so warm. I think it could still use some work - like a better knit hat and tights and maybe some old timey poles as well. (No way I'm going to go all the way to wooden skis - though I might consider putting a wood veneer on my current skis...) Oooh - I just noticed that a bunch of the skiers are using ski staffs instead of ski poles! Maybe I should get one of those!

Anyway, here's me and some photos that are basically what I'm aspiring to.




I also found this photo online today and thought it was too funny. What in the world was going on here??

Server up! Yay!

I called tech support this morning and they finally brought my server back up. Yay! Chris and I theorize that someone figured out how to hack the form on my feedback/e-mail page and was sending e-mail that way. So that form is gone now - people will just have to send me e-mail by using their own e-mail server. Also, Jen gave me a great lead on a new host service so I'm going to switch as soon as my current contract expires. It's not run by girls, but at least it doesn't appear to be run by some corporate weirdo.

Tahoe was great this weekend. Five of us went downhill skiing at Northstar on Saturday and I finally got an opportunity to wear my "old timey" ski costume. Anne took photos so I'll post those when she sends them to me. The skirt was a big hit. Northstar is pretty much how we heard it was: not very hard. We skied almost exclusively black diamond runs and only a few of them made me feel even remotely intimidated, which is kind of my criterion for what should be called a black diamond. Although, Chris and I have discussed at length the fact that ever since we got back from Kicking Horse (a.k.a. Kicking Mybutt) I've been unintimidated by anything ski-hill-wise. This has a couple of implications. First, that I'm willing to ski just about anything (with the possible exception of Northwest Passage at brundage... I still think that one might actually be an overhang...) and will even go out of my way to find harder things to ski (like bumps and trees at Sugar Bowl). The second result is that I'm skiing much faster these days - pretty much as fast as Chris actually (though I find it hard to believe that he's not just taking it easy on me). At any rate, when we skied with Josh this weekend (Chris's former roommate) we were both amazed that I'm now much faster than he is. Three years ago when we skied together he would do laps on the lifts while Chris waited for me to struggle down blue runs. Anyway, I mentioned this to Shannon and Anne and they were laughing at poor Josh's ego being beaten by so many girls. Apparently when they exercise together Anne is a faster swimmer and Shannon is a faster runner. Make no mistake, Josh is a tough athlete and could kick all our butts at biking and most people's butts at any sport, but it's funny that the girls he knows are faster than him at a few things because he's the type of guy who when he's beaten by a girl at a sport actually feels a twinge. (Not a huge twinge or anything, but more than most of the other guys I hang out with.) Ramble ramble... let's see, Chris finally bought new ski boots, which I'm happy about. There was a place at the base of Northstar that had "guaranteed fit" boots, and Chris got a new pair he seems quite happy with. On Sunday we just slept in and drove home. We had intended to ski but everyone seemed more interested in sleeping in instead, which was totally fine with me. I've had 11 ski days now this season so it's not like I'm hurting for it or anything.

Last but not least, I promised photos of the socks I made for my mom, so here they is. Note also the awesome chair my feet are resting on - over Christmas my sister and I reupholstered these chairs and I think they turned out quite nicely.


Oh, and one more thing. I've been reading this cute blog recently where this girl draws little mathy diagrams of things. I like it that it's math and it's a girl who does it and many of them are quite cute. Here's an example:

Server still down

Grr!!!! Those idiots at my hosting provider still haven't given me back my webpage! I tried calling again today and they just said to be patient and they'll get back to me. I hate it. They took away my favorite toy. I'm definitely changing services when my agreement runs out. Not only is this totally unacceptable but also their CEO has this blog linked off the main company webpage where he publishes sexist jokes and pictures of the latest moron he paid to tattoo the company name on her forehead (!). I want to find a company run by sweet geeky girls, not some jerk weirdo man. Now I'm glad I moved my blog over to blogspot because at least it's still going.

This weekend's plans: two nights in a cabin in north Lake Tahoe with the Greek sailing crew.

TN and back

So last weekend I went to TN to visit my family. I went skiing with my dad (in TN!) which I've always wanted to do and I was not disappointed. Something like 75% of the skiers were making their first runs ever and riding the lift was like watching a hilarious and continuous blooper reel. Guy 1 zooms by out of control, does the splits, full yard sale. Guy 1 is picking up his gear and getting it reassembled when Guy 2 zooms by out of control and bashes into Guy 1. Repeat and fade. Hilarious.

Also while in TN I did a lot of relaxing - watching movies, knitting, catching up with the parents. I finally got around to posting the photo album from my road trip with my dad back in October. Although that link probably won't work right away - my webpage is down because my host disabled it because they said I was spamming?!? I called them and hopefully it'll get fixed soon and then you'll be able to see all the pretty pictures. Assuming they weren't deleted.

I also finished a pair of socks I had been working on for my MIL but that sadly didn't fit her so I was making them for myself, but then my mom was oggling them and saying how she loved the color and they were so pretty, so I gave them to her. (I'm such a sucker.) Anyway, I'll post photos of those when my web server decides to come up again. I think it's about time to find a new hosting service.

Whew. I'm loving the run-on sentences today.

Familial Communication

Since being with Chris I have often reflected on the nature of sibling communication. In my family (and with my sister in particular) I feel like my family is the people I can talk to and ask anything. I have always felt totally comfortable about calling her up and asking her the most embarassing aspects of anything because I felt pretty sure that she'd tell me to go away if she was uncomfortable, or, more likely, just tell me whatever it was I wanted to know.

Chris's family is so much more polite. They're more of the Miss Manners model - in one of her fabulous books she said that the best families were ones where everyone felt totally comfortable because they knew that these were the people who would definitely be polite to them (unlike the rest of the world). Presumably by not asking any questions that might make the askee feel uncomfortable.

So here's an open invitation to my new siblings/relatives (both of whom, I believe read this occasionally?) to ask me anything. I might not answer, but I won't be offended or anything. Not that you have any burning questions or anything, but I just wanted to get that off my chest.

I wonder what it will be like in Chris and my family? Also, given above background it's interesting to me that Chris is a far better communicator. I'm more of a sulker and a sniper - he's more of a talk it out(er?).