Easter!

I visited my parents for Easter weekend this year. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've been home for Easter in about 6 years. It was nice, I guess.

I colored eggs with two of my sisters. We only had 17, sadly. I probably could have done that many myself. I implemented the special technique I learned a few years ago from my college roommate: rubber bands. The eggs turned out gloriously awesome, as anticipated.

Dinner was also pretty good. We had ham and fresh Polish sausage. Meimei even manged to make my grandma's traditional Easter bread, it was almost the same. 

The best part, by far though was watching my dad attempt to find the Easter eggs. I say attempt because he's really not very good at it. I don't know how he managed to hide them for us all those years. To be fair to him, I did take advantage of the fact that he's color blind and tried my hardest to camouflage the eggs. Still, it took the better part of an hour for him to find them all, and that was with hints.

Can you spot the egg he couldn't?

My Dad: The only person I know who needs provisions to hunt
for Easter eggs. That's a brownie and a slice of ham he's got,
if you're wondering.

CGC Class - Week 3

Tonight Pi and I had another installment on our road to certified glory.

Week 3
We were the first ones there this week so I got to see how she reacted as all the other dogs came in instead of how it normally is. She was a perfect lady. We practiced the "greeting a friendly stranger" and she actually was not super good with it, I had to tell her repeatedly to stay because she wanted to go lick the instructor. I forgot the hotdogs this week and she was definitely less attentive. It's not so much that she ignores me, as that she doesn't look at me. I don't know how important that is. I guess it doesn't matter as long as she does what I say? Who knows.

Parts of the Test Introduced:
-Reaction to Distractions - person on crutches, weird baby toys that make noise, dolly with a chair on it, person running past, tambourine, and pompoms all had no impact on Pi whatsoever. She just kept trying to see if the distraction was edible or would pet her.
-Reaction to Another Dog - this is the one where you have to greet another dog/handler pair and have the dogs ignore each other. I was pretty nervous about this one due to some aggression Pi displayed last summer, but she was perfect. She sat when I told her and didn't try to go to the other dog at all.
 -Supervised Separation - this is a piece of cake for us. We only did 30 seconds today and will be working up to the whole 3 minutes in the coming weeks. 


And so the shockingly confident, outgoing, friendliness continues. Good Dog Pi!

I also think Pi is starting to get as bored as I am with all the heeling and staying from 2 feet away for 30 seconds. I understand that not every dog is at the same level and that training shouldn't be rushed but, come on, we got this. Pi will down stay for me at the dog park as long as I stay in her sight (my back is fine, she just wants to see any part of me and if she can't she moves just enough so that she can and then stops). So far I've been using these opportunities to work on Pi's sit stay since it isn't as solid as her down stay but even that is getting un-stimulating.

After the ignoring other dogs part I asked the instructor about reactions in the real world. I mean, being able to perform in class or on the test is well and good, but if she lunges at other dogs when we're out walking it's meaningless. So apparently Pi reacts like a lady to other well behaved dogs but if the other dog is riled up at all she will snap lunge, I've seen it happen.

In order to work on this the instructor suggested that I determine Pi's comfort distance (currently it's approximately across the street) and slowly work on getting her to focus on me whenever she sees another dog. The instructor suggests treats or a toy that Pi really likes to break her focus on the other dog.

I guess Pi, the squeaky duck, some hotdogs, and I will be taking our walks together in the future.

CGC Course - Weeks 1 & 2

I forgot to write about it last week, but Pi and I have started a Canine Good Citizen prep class.

Pi is a pretty shy dog. She is generally well behaved and decently obedient (more so for me than other people but it's not like she becomes a monster the moment I leave the room or anything). However, she is not confident around new people or in new places, especially if both are happening at the same time.

Sometimes I wonder what I did to her as a puppy to make her so shy. At any rate, it is kind of interesting to see her progress in just 2 short weeks. Well, more like 1 week since I didn't really do anything before the class started.


Week 1
We make it to the class and in the room past the hyper, barking golden with no problems. As the instructor is doing introductions and talking Pi is being good and laying at my feet, no problem. But then two of the other dogs got all riled up apparently because she was looking at them. So the instructor asked me to reposition Pi which resulted in her making sad faces at me because she didn't understand why she had to move/what she was doing wrong (probably because she wasn't doing anything wrong, poor dog). After that she pretty much lay there panting her uncomfortableness the whole time. She was also very timid when the instructor came over to meet her (she wouldn't eat the treat offered). We went outside for a bit in the middle and she livened up a bit after that but overall she was an unhappy camper.

Parts of the Test Introduced:
-Accepting a Friendly Stranger - definite sad faces were made
-Sitting Politely for Petting - some submissive posturing
-Walking on a Loose Leash (more like heeling) - we are pros at this, the teacher was impressed that Pi stopped when I stopped
-Sit, Down, Stay - this is kind of a joke for us too although it was awkward to have her stay and me move around with the leash still on because we never did it that way although apparently that is the way to teach it (or at least a good way)


Week 2
I feel like I had a different dog in there today. She was smelling everything and exploring and seemed to actually be enjoying it. We did "Accepting a Friendly Stranger/Sitting for Petting" with an actual stranger (and a man no less!) and she actually had a hard time sitting waiting for him. It was unbelievable. We also did it again at the end of the class with the other students being the stranger and she was all "happy-happy wiggly-wiggly I'm going to lick your face". Wow. I would say that she had no real difference in her attention to me but a huge difference in her demeanor. During the sitting there while the instructor talks part she actually laid all the way down and rested her head on the floor, totally relaxed.

Parts of the Test Introduced:
-Appearance and Grooming - no problems, although it seemed like the instructor was expecting some (based on my reports of shyness)
-Reaction to Another Dog - Pi maintained her attentiveness on me with minimal treats while walking near the other dogs
-Reaction to Distraction - she didn't break her stay when the instructor rolled some baby toys past although she was super interested in them


And so now the question is, what's the difference? Can it really be that just that one visit last week made her completely comfortable with the surrounding? It seems unlikely because we were in a different room. Also, she accepted that strange man no problem which is unrelated to the physical environment.

My suspicion is that the biggest difference was me. The first week we were almost late, I didn't know where/how big the building was, and I didn't know how she was going to react with all those strange dogs in the room. I was so worried that she would growl at one or snap as Pi and I did have problems with leash aggression last summer.

Hopefully now that I know Pi is a very good girl I'll be more relaxed and she'll be the happy dog I know and love.

Exhausted, dirty, and loving it!

Spring Break 2012

Last week was my spring break. It didn't really go as planned.

Originally I wanted it to look something like this:

I had some grand ideas about how many experiments I was going to do and how my PI was going to be so impressed/happy/etc. Yeah....

In reality my week was more like this:

I mainly participated in unscheduled events like going for a bike-run with Z and taking the dogs to the park. Also, having the meimei around for a few days resulted in much excitement, mainly in the form of bad choices (I love being irresponsible ^_^).

First, I experienced drinking with lunch and I have to say I like being a little buzzed in the middle of the day. Plus alcohol goes so well with BBQ it's practically a must. The biggest sister-initiated hoopla/adventure was getting my nose pierced. I'm still not entirely sure why I did it, I guess meimei is just a bad influence on me. It seems that whenever we visit each other for more than a day we end up doing something crazy (like visiting Tattoo Alley in Taipei). I hope that if she becomes my roommate next year this trend doesn't continue or we will both be in trouble!

Finally, my promised haircut has finally happened! It is not quite as glorious as I envisioned, most likely because I foolishly (again blaming the meimei for this one even though it is totally not her fault) decided not to wait for my regular hair dresser to get back from her vacation. Still, short hair grows fast so I can go get it trimmed properly in a few weeks.

I need to learn how to style it or something. Also, I
need to take better pics and clean my office

As of yet I am undecided on how I feel about the hair. There are some pros and cons so I decided to make a list.

Advantages:

• I can shower in record time
• My bottle of shampoo is going to last forever
• The hair distracts from the new piercing, most of my roommates haven't even noticed yet so they can't judge me/comment awkwardly
• The new hair makes my nose ring look bad-ass (at least in my mind). I will have to switch to a stud if/when I grow my hair back out
• I don't have to brush my hair 
• I can wear hats without my ears looking all sticky-outty from having my hair tucked behind them 
• I can, and will, make a fohawk and it will be glorious
• I can wear dangly earrings and people will be able to see them
• My hair is now pretty much all my natural color
• My parents probably won't like it (parents are fun to mess with! ^_^)

Disadvantages:

• My hair is now pretty much all my natural color
• My parents probably won't like it (why won't they love me?!?! T_T)
• I look like a boy (the boobs help prevent this but still)
• I feel judged, especially when people do notice the nose
• Biking in the wind made my hair look ridiculous and I have to be careful otherwise it sticks straight up in the back
• One of my little sisters had a similar haircut and now I feel like a copycat, laaaame
• I'll have to get some hair products if I want to make a fohawk. hair goop = effort = boooo
• I can't let my hair down to warm up my ears, luckily we're moving towards summer so this shouldn't be too big of a problem

Well, so far the advantages are outweighing the disadvantages. Let's hope it stays that way for awhile or I'll have to start growing it out right away which is such a waste.

Islets of Langerhans

I am supposed to be writing a grant proposal right now. My advisors want a draft tomorrow.

However, if I read one more word about islet encapsulation my eyeballs will melt and my brain will implode and leak out of my recently vacated eye sockets. I'm not kidding. It will be a very slow sort of oozing too since the holes (superior and inferior orbital fissures and optic canal, bam! anatomy'd) connecting the brain to the eye socket are pretty small.

Sorry for the very graphic imagery, be grateful that I can't draw or there would have been a very graphic... graphic instead. (I'm envisioning something like Happy Tree Friends. warning: if you don't know what that is DO NOT Google it if you have recently eaten or plan to eat in the next few days, seriously)

I'll go write my proposal now, maybe.

Caution! This post contains airplanes.

Airplanes are nifty. They're like magical time travel devices.

I just bought tickets for my trip to Oregon in May (I finally plucked up the courage to ask and my advisor said yes!!!!). On the way there, I will spend 5.5 hours in the air and 3 hours in layovers but the whole trip will only take 6 hours total. Awesome. On the way back the time travel is definitely working against me though because I will spend 5 hours in the air with 1 hour of layovers but have a total trip time of almost 9 hours. This is of course assuming that none of my flights are late but since the return goes to O'hare assumptions of timeliness are dangerous.

Yay Airplane! (Shut up, I know I can't draw)

The point of the story, at any rate, is that time travel rocks and I love flying!

On a related note, I also love credit cards. They're so handy. I only get paid once a month for 11 months out of the year so it's nice to be able to buy things when I technically have no money but know that I will have money shortly. No more hoping that I don't die/starve before payday. I think my credit card and I will be total besties during that 8 week period this summer between paychecks.

It's also a good thing that my landlady will be back halfway through the no pay zone so that I can eat real food instead of ramen. Not that I have anything against ramen, except of course from a nutritional standpoint...

Cat Tornado (Canado?)

Over the last two days I have been on campus/at work for 30 hours. While this schedule has been great for my research and has inched me closer to being able to ask my advisor for vacation time, my animals have not been appreciative. Last night (a.k.a. early this morning), my dog could not even be bothered to lift her head up out of her kennel to greet me. How bad is life when even your dog snubs you? I'm used to that from Admiral, but he's a cat. Speaking of cats, my other cat, cute little Loki, took a somewhat opposite approach to let me know how unhappy he is with my absence: he went through my room like a cat tornado. He pulled every toy out of the dog's toy box and then proceeded to shred some of them while spreading others around.  There are bits of fluff everywhere.

The start of the trail of destruction.

The most probable fluff source.

Some may wonder how I can possibly know that it was Loki who did all this when I have two other pets, not to mention my landlady's dog. It's actually pretty simple.

1. Pi, the dog, never removes her toys from the toy bucket. If she is feeling destructive she either rips up paper (but only if it's left on the floor) or pulls strings out of the rug.
2. Admiral only destroys food. If I don't let him outside often enough or if he gets hungry he will find either his bag of treats or an unopened bag of food and rip it open.
3. Snoopy, my landlady's dog, would never walk up the stairs. In fact, you have to carry her up them in order to give her a bath. I'm not sure she has ever voluntarily been upstairs.
4. Loki loves plastic Easter eggs.
5. His name is Loki. I mean, come on.

Easter egg bits ended up in the bathroom too.

Easter egg in the water bowl.

Ever since my friend accidentally stole his collar, Loki has been enjoying his stealth mode. Perhaps a little too much.

Innocent? I think not.

I Had A (weird) Dream

I had a dream last night and when I woke up this morning I actually remembered it (mostly). It was... bizarre, to say the least.

---------------

I was with my Aniki and his girlfriend and we were walking somewhere at night. I think they were going to drive me home or maybe they were walking me to the train station. Whatever. The point is, I was definitely going somewhere and we were all walking down the sidewalk. Suddenly, we came across these two puppies. One was brindle and the other was tan. They looked like hound mixes with big long ears, but not too long. The brindle was standing on the sidewalk with no collar about a foot away from the tan who was suspended on a chain link fence by a chain that had been wrapped around it's little puppy body. Connected to the chain and hanging slightly lower than the tan pup was a black harness and red collar that the brindle had clearly escaped from.

Aniki scoops up the brindle as I extricate the tan and then we split up with some sense of urgency. I'm not sure what we're supposed to be doing exactly but it definitely involves helping these puppies even though it kind of felt like we were stealing them. Anyway, I start walking quickly towards this old brick building. It's night so there isn't anyone in this church-esque building (it wasn't a church, but it kind of looked like it from the outside. It actually reminded me of a building near where I work). Puppy and I start going through this maze of a building that looks like an office inside (there were cubicles and narrow hallways) and then suddenly we're outside in a parking lot by this shiny black car. Then I notice a flower bed and I encourage the puppy to pee or poop in it. I guess this is what I was hurrying for? I hear muffled voices as some people walk by on a sidewalk on the other side of a tree and I get nervous and rush inside.

Back inside the church/office building, tan puppy and I meet up with my Aniki. By this point his girlfriend has disappeared and been replaced by a filler character. We wrap the puppies up in blankets and mine definitely goes into some bags (I think with the intention of sneaking it on the train). Filler character urges me to check that tan puppy (who has gotten much smaller all of a sudden) can breathe inside the bag so I make sure the opening is sufficient and then start chatting.

After some time elapses I suddenly look over and notice a thin layer of plastic between tan puppy and the air opening I had so carefully constructed for him. Somehow, I am only minimally panicked that I just killed this puppy (mainly because I know it was filler character's fault but I don't want to say that because it's rude). I extract him from the plastic and he doesn't look particularly dead but he doesn't look particularly alive either. I am not an expert in these things so instead of checking his breathing or something like that I take him over to where brindle puppy is sleeping in a box of towels (much safer than a plastic bag) and hold him out to her. Brindle puppy sniffs her brother and then grabs him in a huge bear hug. My dream self is assured that tan pup must be alive or brindle wouldn't want anything to do with him.

Some more time passes and when I look over at the pups again tan puppy seems to be both growing and melting at the same time. And then the whole scene of the puppies snuggling together starts to melt into a pan of french toast. And then I woke up.

---------------

Up until the very end where the dogs become suspiciously bread-like, the whole dream was pretty realistic, if somewhat choppy in the timeline and details. I wonder if all my dreams are this crazy. If so, I probably don't remember them as a survival mechanism. There is not enough room in my head for this much weirdness and a million facts about islet physiology.

I should get this dream interpreted. Except that, most likely, I don't want to know what it means....

Kindle

My wonderful Aniki got me a Kindle for Christmas. I love it. And I hate it. But mostly, I don't have the self-control for it.

Last week, I spent my Thursday through Saturday reading 'A Game of Thrones' the first of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. It's absorbing. If it weren't for my class/lab/work/volunteering obligations I probably wouldn't have slept, ate, or left my room until the book was done.

To some extent that's just how I am with novels which is why I watch a lot of TV. I can turn a show off and come back to it a few days later, no problem. But with novels I end up in a "keep reading until the words blur on the page" sort of situation. This habit is fine with 200-300 page Discworld novels (which are very light reading), but becomes quite problematic with 700 page complex monstrosities of political intrigue like the Song of Ice and Fire series. (Also series are bad because I hate cliffhangers. I must know what happens. Now. D'you hear me? NOW!)

And this is where the horrors of the Kindle come back in. For some unknown reason my eyes don't get tired reading it. Maybe it's because it's so light that I don't get tired physically holding the book open/up. Or maybe it's because of how I size the pages. Or maybe it's some evil Amazon magic. I don't know. But what I do know is that I can read for like 10 hours straight with no problem. And by straight I mean no food, no water, no peeing, and very little moving. Other than clicking to the next page every minute or so and occasionally rolling over I might as well be a statue.

I wish I could read textbooks with this kind of fervor.

Anyway, the lack of sleep and complete disregard for hygiene that I experience when reading is not even the worst part. What's bad is that I have to continue my hermit-y ways for a few days after I'm done reading in order to make up for all the work I didn't do. I think I spend 2 days doing homework for every day I spend reading. *sigh*

I should name my Kindle so that I can curse it more effectively...

4710 - Year of the Dragon

新年快乐！Gung Hei Fat Choi! 新年快樂！

We are now about halfway through the 2012 Chinese New Year season. Sunday, the 29th, I went to a parade celebrating not only the Year of the Dragon, but also the 100th anniversary of Chicago's Chinatown.

The parade was parade-y. We got a good spot on top of this planter thing but the increased height also resulted in increased cold and wind. We spent pretty much the whole time analyzing the marching bands (especially the guard) and complaining about the silly wai guo ren on the floats with their Japanese style umbrellas despite the fact that meimei and I are wai guo ren (but we're not like those jokers, right?)

I forgot to take pictures of the actual
dishes, I was too busy eating!

The more important part of the day was my first Peking Duck! Before the parade we had the cheapest Peking Duck in Chinatown, and possibly Chicago, at $10/person including a sizable tip. Somehow, throughout all of my Southeast Asian Adventures and extended love affair with Chinese food I had never before eaten this quintessential Chinese dish. It was glorious. There was duck soup followed by the classic crispy duck slices on slices of steamed bun and a duck and bok choy stir fry rounded out this duck-a-palooza. We had BBQ pork as the side dish instead of shrimp and even without rice, we were stuffed.

After the parade we made a foray to Little Saigon to do some shopping sans crowds. Little Saigon is definitely the best place to get Asian groceries. So cheap! I bought a bunch of snacks for my office and if it wasn't for the train ride home I probably would have bought half the store. I was in super-nostalgia mode. The only thing missing from my Asian shopping experience was a strong dried fish smell and a crowd of pushy old ladies getting all the best vegetables.

Adventures in Baking, and Laundry

Today I was really tired for some unknown reason (possibly related to kendo practice last night and running with the dog this morning) but didn't want to take another nap so I spent the afternoon doing laundry (which I forgot to put a dryer sheet in – yay static!) and conducting some baking experiments.

I ended up with three things, all of which are edible and, to some extent, delicious.

-Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

-Gluten Free, GAPS-Friendly, Cranberry Walnut Cookies

-Pumpkin Cake with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips

Here are the recipes I used (more or less). Be warned, I'm not always a big measurer (I tend to just eyeball some things) so ingredients marked with an asterisk represent an estimated amount.

Wow, my scientist is showing. Quick, on to the recipes before I start trying to calculate the percent error or generate a probability distribution!

Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

This recipe (minus the walnuts) came directly from the back of the Aldi brownie mix box so everything is pretty exact.

            1 box brownie mix

            ⅔ cup vegetable oil

            ¼ cup water

            2 eggs

Make the brownie mix with that stuff and then add

            ½ bag chopped walnuts (4-6 oz*)

Separately, cream together

            6 oz cream cheese, softened

            5 tblsp butter, softened

            ⅓ cup sugar

Then add

            2 eggs

            ¾ tsp vanilla (I actually used a capful which is probably closer to ½ tsp)

And then add

            2 tblsp flour

To put it all together, pour half-ish of the brownie mix with nuts into a greased 13x9 pan. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of that, don’t worry about making it even. Finally, pile the rest of the brownie mix on top and run a knife (or fork in my case) through it to make the swirly patterns. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.

These were a huge hit. Even my roommate, who “doesn’t like cream cheese,” really liked these brownies. I’m pretty sure they’re already over half gone and I just made them.

Cranberry Walnut Cookies

            ¼ cup coconut oil*

            2 tblsp honey*

Cream these together

            1 cup walnuts*

Pulse the walnuts in the food processor so you get small pieces (some will end up finely chopped/flour-like, this is good and helps the cookie stick together)

            ⅛ cup dried or fresh cranberries*

Mix everything together making sure to coat the nuts and berries evenly. Press the mixture into a mini muffin pan. Bake at 350F for 10-15 minutes until golden brown and bubbling. It can also be made as a pan but will need to be baked for about 20-25 minutes and then sliced with a pizza cutter. I haven’t tried them as a drop cookie but it should work if you use a significant amount of nut flour to get them to hold their shape better. I have also used this as a topping for gluten free, GAPS-friendly pumpkin upside down cake. 

This recipe, and I used the word loosely, is great because you can just add more nuts or more honey/coconut oil mix as needed (hence my lack of accurate measurements…). It can also work with other nuts or different berries (or raisins) if you’re not a fan of these. Or it could be just nuts if you hate all berries. I don’t think it would work as all berries though; unless you used dried ones and pulsed them in the food processor to make berry-flour…

Anyway, on to the last recipe.

Pumpkin Cake

            ½ cup melted butter

            ½ cup sugar

            ½ cup brown sugar

Cream these together, then add 

            1 egg

            1 capful vanilla extract (1/2 tsp*)

Next mix in

            1 can pumpkin

            ⅓ cup plain yoghurt*

Then add the dry ingredients after mixing or sifting them together

            1.5 cups flour

            1 tsp baking soda

            ½ tsp salt*

            ½ tsp nutmeg*

            1 tsp cinnamon*

            ½ tsp powdered ginger*

Finally, stir in half a bag each of chopped walnuts and chocolate chips (it might work better with the mini ones).

This made 2 half-filled loaf pans, which were then baked at 350F for 45 minutes.

Ultimately I was a little disappointed with this experiment because it was too chocolaty. I never thought I would say such a thing but there you have it. There was too much chocolate (which is why I think mini chocolate chips might be a better choice). If you want some more accurate measurements for the spices, you can look at the pumpkin pie recipe on the side of the can. Also, if you’re a person who can stomach raisins I can imagine that some golden raisins would be nice in here. Next time, I will make this without the chocolate chips and do a cream cheese glaze instead.

After sampling all these baked goods, I don’t think the train was a very good place to write this post.  ~_~  (hopefully that looks like an ill face and not a contented face because I definitely feel like vomit, not warm and fuzzy)

A Good Day (to start a blog!)

I was going to write a post that consisted of variations of the phrase "blah, blah, blah-ity, blah, pickles" so that I could work out my post formatting, but then I had a super awesome day.

Why was today super awesome? Let's see...

Hopefully someday one of these little
beauties will become a fancy bonsai tree!
I will name it Fred.

It was definitely not because I woke up early after not sleeping well, it was cold, it rained all day, I wanted to stab my prof for giving such a boring lecture, and I got stood up by my PIs for our weekly progress meeting and ended up sitting around for an hour because no one told me the meetings were cancelled.

It probably was because:
-I went running with the dog this morning despite the cold rain and my general loathing of running.
-My lab mate fixed the lab fridge saving me from hours on the phone in customer service hell.
-I didn't have to sit in front of my PIs and pretend that I've done something productive in the last week (I totally haven't).
-My bonsai tree seeds sprouted!!
-I composed and sang a song entitled "Fishy Face" while shaving my boss. I may have also made some fishy-faces, for emphasis.
-I got a ride to work so I didn't have to walk in the rain.
-My friend gave a cool presentation on simultaneous MR-PET in class this morning.
-I ate a super delicious dinner.
-I made some pretty okay earrings while rocking out to ABBA this afternoon (thank you meimei for that CD!) 

The chain connects my lobe piercing to my
cartilage piercing (thanks to Z for the idea!)

These are some other attachments for the top
of the chain (they hang down from the top of my ear)

-I managed to shower, get dressed, and brush my teeth in 15 minutes this morning. I'm pretty sure that's a personal record.
-I got a free brownie at my favorite cafe because they gave my roommate an extra.
-I went to a Chinese grocery store near my office/lab and am officially in love. It looks real shady from the outside but I will definitely be buying most of my groceries there this summer.
-I got a pork bun from said Chinese grocery store and it was glorious. I also got a bag of rock sugar for meimei for way cheaper than when I was trying to buy it online at Christmas time.
-I started planning a 2 week adventure on an historic tall ship in May with my friend.  I originally didn't think I would have time because I have to take my qual in June, but as it turns out I can take my finals, go boating for two weeks, and still have time to study for 1-1.5 weeks for my qual. Success.

I think that's about it. Now it's off to bed after some kitty snuggling ^_^

I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to snuggle these guys?