new life. new title. still blaurb.

on marriage.

2011-04-22T00:25:00.001-07:00

"You don't marry one person; you marry three- the person you think they are, the person they are, and the person they are going to become as the result of being married to you."
-quoted in Reader's Digest, December 1983

The Cameri-mo wedding weekend is almost upon us!

two weeks notice

2011-04-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

A new opportunity came up and so it turns out that I will be changing jobs in mid-May. The new position is challenging and involves a lot of travel, but it is right up my alley and I am very excited. :) (Believe it or not, it is within my scientific field AND is an actual PhD-level marketing position. Who knew such things existed?) It is also based in San Diego, so I get to stay put. Win, win, win!

At the same time it will be sad to leave my current position. I have learned so much in the time I have been there, and I genuinely like the people. I do feel bad about leaving. Drug development is also quite exciting, a field that I could see myself in. As one of my coworkers pointed out, I do not know what other opportunities I could have after a little more experience in my current position... so my decision to leave is still a judgment call, one that could be wrong.

Still, it is a hard sell to get someone to continue "paying their dues" in a post-doc position when there is an offer on the table for a job that actually approaches dream job status, at least as far as I can see right now. I have had many "two weeks notice" conversations this week, with responses that run the gamut. These conversations have not been easy. But in the end, everyone says the same thing: You have to do what you feel is best for your career.

This is the right decision.

tweety

2011-03-08T23:13:00.000-08:00

Since I don't seem to be able to maintain regular blog posts anymore, I thought I'd try the 140-character thing out. Follow me at http://twitter.com/blaurb

random amusement

2011-01-23T11:09:00.000-08:00

first up: some cat humor combined with office humor:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/bobcats2
so cute! i love the "god damnit bob stop chasing the laser"!! hahaha. i love the oatmeal! :D

next: a daily dawdle classic, life's too short for the wrong job ads
http://www.dailydawdle.com/2010/09/10-best-lifes-too-short-for-wrong-job.html
oh so clever and creative, those germans. :)

my first week of work has been great! everyone has been super welcoming and i'm just excited to be learning so much about drug development. :) the only thing that has been a little rough is getting up early (~6:30am) every day... but i am adjusting. more on adjustment to the working life later!

last hurrah

2011-01-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

For the past week I have been in Utah! Menzies was there for a Keystone conference so I got to tag along and go skiing at Park City and Deer Valley. It's been awhile since I last skied but I picked it right back up! The slopes were awesome, super wide and groomed... and there were no lines for any of the lifts... pretty amazing. After two days of skiing, I also got to take advantage of the special conference discount on the spa massage at the Zermatt Resort & Spa where we were staying. What a great way to spend my last week of freedom/unemployment!

It was also interesting, talking to grad students and post-docs about their work and their future plans, feeling strangely detached. I'm quite sure that I made the right decision going into industry.

Tomorrow I will be starting work! :D I'm excited to start this new phase...it kind of feels like the first day of school. ;) Time to go pick out what to wear tomorrow. :D

hello 2011!

2011-01-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

What a year it's been! 2010 was chock full of major life-altering events: finishing school, getting married, job-hunting...

2011, you have big shoes to fill. :)

Some good news: I start work in 2 weeks! I will be working at a CRO in San Diego, doing clinical research and regulatory strategy for drug development. I'm nervous and excited for this new phase, and also grateful for the opportunity to enter a new field, and to stay in San Diego for at least the next year. :)

On to the new year's resolutions!

1) Maintain a healthy weight and fitness level.
(In practice this includes committing to a gym, running, cooking more, and tracking calories when necessary.)

2) Establish a healthy work-life balance.
(Of course I am committed to doing well at work, but I am also determined to make time for friends and hobbies.)

3) Stay hungry.
(figuratively speaking that is)

and....4) Blog more consistently?? I guess we'll see about this one... I do have a good feeling about it though. :)

still searching

2010-10-10T15:42:00.000-07:00

It surprises me a little to say it, but it's been a month since I started looking for a job. I am a newbie to the job hunt, so it has definitely been a learning process and an exercise in humility. In my optimistic moments, it's really exciting to read through job postings and imagine myself in those positions. It’s a little exhilarating to think that I could be living anywhere in a matter of months. But in my darker moments, there is so much uncertainty and self-doubt.

I used to be one of those people who would pose the unfortunate question to full-time job hunters: "So...what do you DO every day?" (Horrible, right?) When I asked this question, it was sincerely from a place of curiosity and naïveté, partly because I wondered what a job hunt consisted of on a daily basis, but mostly because I was jealous of all the free time to pursue new hobbies and a healthy lifestyle. With this question, I was just interested in how my friends' lives had changed since finishing school, and how they were adjusting. Now that I'm on the receiving end of such inquiries, it is only because I remember how innocent my own intentions were, that I am able to stave off feelings of defensiveness from not having found a job yet. What do I DO every day? I look up companies, browse listings for jobs that I don't qualify for, and mostly waste a lot of time feeling inadequate about my skills set and uncertain about the future.

I think the problem is that I just don’t quite know what job I’m looking for, which makes hunting for it that much harder. One would think that the process of getting a PhD would carve out a career path, but I find myself browsing “alternative” options, trying to find something that speaks to me. After looking through ~100 job postings, including jobs in management consulting, business development, consumer products, and non-profits/foundations, I think I have settled back down to looking along the more traditional lines of “product development engineer” or “scientist” at a medical device or biotech company. Why has that taken me so long, when I know those are the types of jobs my fellow PhD graduates have been getting? I’m not sure. I guess it’s just something I had to come to on my own.

I have not really gone down the “using your network” route yet. Yes, I know that’s how everyone gets a job these days. Indeed I have been told that many many times. I just needed to take some time to think about what I wanted before I went around asking other people to help me find it. But yes, it is time…

Other than the job hunt, my daily life is generally quite good. Newlywed life is great (it’s been 3 months already!) and I’ve had the chance to catch up with friends pretty regularly. I’ve stalled a bit on working out and getting fit, but I’m slowly getting back into that. This week I’ve been doing a free 7-day trial at Sol Yoga, a local yoga studio. Next week I have plans to do a 7-day trial at 24 hour fitness. In other words, I have all the free time that I always wanted. I just need to find the motivation to maximize it the way I always said I would.

check it out

2010-09-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

That's my article featured on the cover of the October 2010 issue, with the images of cartilage that I harvested, cultured for 3 weeks, sectioned, stained, and documented by photomicroscopy! Let's not think about how many months/years of my life went into this...

2010-09-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

printed on the spine of my real simple magazine, october issue:

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough." -Albert Einstein

for someone like me who dwells on the future and the total lack of certainty it holds right now... this is such a bizarre quote. hmm.

abbreviations

2010-09-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

this morning i woke up to discover an e-mail from my former phd advisor with subject heading, "f/u". given the content of the email, i'm going to assume that "f/u" is an abbreviation for follow-up. still, a bit unsettling. :P

we have now scheduled 3 hours of meeting time over 2 consecutive days next week when i get back into town. sigh... hopefully we can use this time to wrap up everything and submit those last 2 papers...

i need to find a job!!

honeymooning

2010-08-09T02:16:00.000-07:00

menzies and i are leaving for our honeymoon in ~5 hours!!

travelblog updates from barcelona, madrid, paris, and lyon will be posted at http://jenniferandmenzies.com/!!

au revoir!! see you in a 2.5 weeks san diego! :)

to the summit!

2010-08-01T12:29:00.001-07:00

Why oh why would I choose to do Mt. Shasta as my first backpacking experience ever?

Because Shasta was "in the neighborhood" (~5-6 hr drive from San Jose), my friends were doing it, and I clearly had no idea what I'd gotten myself into!

On 7/23-25, Tanya, Esther, Jenny and I went on 3-day Shasta summit climb with Shasta Mountain Guides. I can say without a doubt that even with the perfect conditions that we experienced that weekend, there is no way we could have done this trip on our own. I was definitely not prepared for the grueling mental and physical exertion required for this endeavor! A mountaineer I am not. Though for some reason, I do look very happy in the pictures.

DAY 1: Bunny Flat (6880') to Horse Camp (7880')

Here we are, the whole group at the trailhead at Bunny Flat! Don't we look happy and relaxed? That's because we haven't started yet. ;)

The first day's hike was actually quite pleasant. It was a warm sunny day, and besides the adjustment to the weight of our 35+ lbs packs, the hike was not unlike others I have done before. We reached Horse Camp and happily rested in the shade, filled up on cold, refreshing Shasta spring water, and set up (okay, watched our guides set up) camp.

Resting in our tent! We fit 4 girls in a 3-person tent.

Then: snow school! A bit of a wake up call and a warning of things to come. We learned about the "rest step", pressure breathing, and how to walk in snow- to follow the footsteps in front of you and create a "staircase", to use an ice axe as a third point of contact, to lessen the angle of the climb with switchbacks, and to move at a slow and steady pace instead of the "dash and crash".

Still looking quite chipper after our first taste of snow! Little did we know of what was to come...

DAY 2: Horse Camp (7880') to Helen Lake (10,400')

Since Horse Camp was the last toilet (solar-powered composting toilet, very clean and actually not stinky at all), we tried valiantly to empty our bowels prior to leaving, with varying degrees of success. Too much information? Yes, maybe, but if discussing bowel movements make you uncomfortable, then I would seriously reconsider a trip up Shasta, where you would have to pack your poo and carry it down the mountain yourself. Seriously.

The hiking was tougher on this day, mostly due to the snow and the elevation gain. About once an hour, we were allowed to take a rest break, during which we would drop our packs, sit on them, and munch on our high-calorie snacks. Dried mango never tasted so good. Here we are on one of these breaks:

From our base camp at Helen Lake, we had quite a view of the following day's climb. In the distance you can see the Red Banks, the flat reddish region in the center, at an elevation of 12,400' (about halfway to the summit from Helen). We were told by the guides that many people who turn back on the climb decide to do so during the ascent to Red Banks, which is punishingly steep and also where people start to really feel the effects of elevation sickness. On summit day, we would be racing the sun to the top of the Red Banks. Looking a little more tired here...

During snow school day 2, we learned how to use crampons, do self-arrest with our ice axes, and glissade (basically slide down the slope on your butt, using the ice axe to control speed). We had another delicious dinner (chicken and black bean burritos, with salsa and guacamole) and a debriefing on the events of the next day (summit day!), packed our summit bags, and retired to our tent at ~7pm in an attempt to sleep. Unfortunately, little sleep was to be had. Did you know that sleeping on snow is cold?

A little note on the logistics of packing your poop here. Each "poop pack" consists of 1 sheet of thick legal-size paper with a target on it and 2 paper bags with cat litter in them. You are supposed to lay down the target paper, put some rocks on it to hold it down, squat over it and poop on the target. Then you pour the cat litter from 1 bag onto it, fold it up and put the whole thing into the first paper bag, put the first paper bag into the second paper bag, and put that whole thing into a plastic ziploc bag. Each person has 2 poop packs. If you have to poo more than twice, well...then you hope one of your friends has a pack she doesn't need, or you divy up your own poop packs. Then the problem...what to do with these ziploc bags? Find a place in the snow for them until you come back for them on the way down. Oh the joys of mountaineering.

DAY 3: Helen Lake (10,400') to Summit (14,162'), back to Bunny Flat, then back to San Jose aka THE LONGEST DAY EVER

We were "woken up" at 2:30am. I use the term "woken up" loosely, because we were all really lying awake fitfully waiting to be called to get up. After a quick breakfast, gear check, and putting on all our harnesses, crampons, helmets, headlamps, etc, we finally set off on the day's climb at ~3:45am. The mountain was pretty- with several groups already climbing, we could see little rows of headlamps working their way up the mountain. It was also good to start in the dark, when we could not see how much farther we had to go.

The climbing was difficult. The only way up was to follow the two steps lit by your headlamp in front of you and to maintain a rhythm between your steps and your breath. It was peaceful and in a way, meditative. There's a beauty when you're in the middle of a task so enormous that you can't think about the whole thing at once, just the two steps in front of you. By the time the sun rose, we were almost at the Red Banks.

The last part climbing up to Red Banks was definitely the hardest for me. With the ground no longer snow-covered at the top, we were stomping up slopes covered with scree (basically broken rock fragments), which would slip underneath each step. Each step had to be chosen carefully on our own, with no footstep left by the previous person. Worst of all, with the extra weight of the crampons hanging off my feet, my knees were screaming with every step. Eventually, somehow, we made it Red Banks for our lunch break.

After lunch, more climbing:

We were so happy to see Misery Hill, the last big effort before reaching the Summit! Despite its name, Misery Hill was not bad. The hill before Misery Hill was worse.

After about 8 hours of climbing, at a point of total physical exhaustion, we summitted together!! Here we are sitting at the tallest point of Shasta.

We signed the log book to prove we had made it.

View from the summit:

And then: the descent. At this point it seems appropriate to quote Vincent from the movie GATTACA: "You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back."

Yup, pretty tragic. I'm quite certain that the only way my feeble knees and I were able to descend this mountain was by sitting on my butt and glissading down. For anyone who has not done it, glissading on snow is like riding down a water slide for hundreds of feet at a time and is basically THE BEST THING EVER! It really makes the climb worth it.

Don't we look happy? :D

I'm going to stop recounting the trip in detail here, because returning to base camp in broken physical condition, packing up our tents, putting our poop packs at the top of our bags NEXT TO OUR HEADS, and laboring our way 4 miles and 3000' back down to the trailhead while carrying our 30+ lb packs was really not anyone's finest hour, and certainly not the part of the trip that anyone cares to remember. :P Needless to say, this climb was one of the toughest things I have ever done. By the time I made it back to San Jose and climbed into bed ~3:30am, I had been up for over 24 hours.

I am so, so, so, so, so, so proud of us. Would I do Shasta again? Probably not.

But would I do another mountain?

Hmm...I think so. :) There's already talk of Mt. Whitney next summer...

married and oh so happy :)

2010-07-31T21:58:00.000-07:00

july 10 2010 was the best day of my life. it sounds so cliche but it is just so true. it's one of those days whose happiness is so great and so full that it spills over into the days surrounding it and and shines out of every reminder of it- pictures, leftover cake, cards... a week later people said i was still glowing, and even now i get lost daydreaming back to that day.

i hope every couple feels this way about their wedding day. when i think about why i was so happy there are just so many things that come to mind- i was so thrilled and nervous to be marrying menzies, wondering about his vows, nervous that i was going to cry, nervous that i would be the only one not crying (since i am a robot and all). i was so incredibly excited to see EVERYONE and so happy that the most important people in my life had come all the way here to celebrate with us, nervous to let everyone see such a personal and intimate side, and also so proud and excited for everyone to just enjoy the day and see all the plans come to fruition.

a few things i was surprised by-

1) how emotional i was for the entire day!! it was a really new feeling for me. every sense was heightened, and i felt like i was on the verge of tears for the whole day… i even cried 3 times. very odd.

2) how helpless i was for most of the day. i needed so much help and i totally relied on my bridesmaids, my wedding coordinator, and my family to just get everything done and run the day for me. i couldn't even put on my shoes or go to the bathroom by myself. it is a strange feeling to arrive at this day that you have spent over a year planning every detail of, but totally not be in control and not want to be in control of the execution. to melanie (my amazing coordinator), i just said, just tell me where to go and what to do, and that was all that i could handle that day. frankly, i don't know how anyone could do it without at least a day-of coordinator. luckily, as far as i know, everything went as planned, though i have to admit that with all the excitement and the time passing so quickly, i barely noticed. i think i actually saw fewer of the wedding details and definitely had less of the food and drink than any of the guests. i only saw how great everything looked in the pictures and heard later that the food was yummy. :)

3) i was really surprised by what a hit the photo booth was! that was definitely a last minute vendor addition and i just find all of those pictures hilarious!

4) finally, one of the things that has really surprised me is that in marriage, something about my relationship with menzies feels different. of course, we have been committed and living together for quite some time already, so nothing in our daily lives has changed except that now i call him husband and he calls me wifey. the daily motions of us making food, going to lab, us living our lives together, is all back to the norm. yet a traditional streak has come out in me- suddenly i feel like i should be taking care of him, like i should learn to cook better so i can make us yummy dinners. i strangely don't mind doing more than my share of the dishes or his laundry because not everything has to be "fair" or divided exactly in half anymore. now it feels like when we talk about our plans, it is more concrete, so conversations like what we will do if i have to relocate for a job become less scary. i don't face things alone anymore. it's hard to explain because everything looks the same but feels a little different. i wonder if this we-are-a-team feeling comes out of any marriage ceremony or if it is a product of a big celebratory wedding where all your friends and family send you off in a huge showing of love and support.

all in all, i'm just grateful for everything on the wedding day and all the incredible people in my life. through all the ups and downs that are sure to come in life and marriage, i know i will be able to draw happiness from my memories of our wedding for the rest of my life.

i did it

2010-06-28T15:29:00.001-07:00

i finally jumped on the iphone/smartphone bandwagon and bought an iphone 4 last week. i have to say, as a former skeptic, that i have become a total convert. you can now find me "checking-in" to places on foursquare, logging my food and exercise on "lose it!", checking email on my phone, and NOT printing out directions to places before i go! yes, i am a few years late to the trend, but wow, technology is amazing! suddenly i understand the draw of things like twitter and facebook status updates - just another excuse to dabble on your phone!

my dissertation defense generally went well. the presentation went off without a hitch, though i was grilled by my committee for quite awhile during the closed session. sometimes i think they just want you to concede that you don't know the answer to their question, after you speculate wildly on the possibilities of course. it's weird to have spent so much time working on something and thinking about a particular problem, that by the end, the deeper you dig, the more uncertainty you have and the more questions you can't answer... it's one of these things where sometimes i wonder if i really contributed anything useful at all. haha. what am i supposed to be an expert in now? do i feel any different from when i started grad school? more thoughts on the phd and transitioning to the job hunt to come, i'm sure... it's been almost a month, but it still feels like i haven't really had time to process it.

the best part of being done is definitely the FREE TIME! i have such an appreciation of life right now! it is amazing to be able to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, to drink coffee for pleasure and not out of necessity, and to be able to exercise!! since my defense, i have run the camp pendleton mud run, had my san diego bridal shower, visited home for my san jose bridal shower, had my engagement photo session with menzies, and just enjoyed life to the fullest extent. life is fantastic right now. :D

and now, everyone keeps asking: what's next? what's next is that i'm getting married in two weeks!! :D :D :D i can't believe it's almost here...!

this is crazy

2010-05-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

so i need to finish my thesis this week, and i still have several chapters to write. my days now get divided into 1) "quality brain time" during which i am ideally writing cogent introduction and discussion content for my thesis chapters, 2)"poor quality brain time" during which i do things like write the methods and results and deal with formatting, and 3) "sleep", a phase which is never long enough and only occurs after phase 2 has deteriorated to a state where there is no point in staying up any longer.

is drinking too much coffee supposed to make you feel nauseous? or is that lack of sleep...

i'm pretty sure i used to be able to tolerate this kind of work schedule in college, at least for short periods of time. i guess sometime in the last 6 years, i got old.

the losingest loser and the greatest friends ever

2010-03-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

it's official- i am the biggest loser in the lab march madness pool! my bracket is dead dead dead, and as last in the pool, i get my $10 back! hooray! :D i did have an exciting run there, being tied for first after the first round, but it all went downhill from there...but i do have to say i am very excited about this result. :D

today i also turned 28. :) hello, adulthood! it is chasing me down now. as lisa put it, it is my last birthday as a miss and not a mrs, and also as a miss and not a dr! every year on my birthday i feel so lucky to have such amazing friends, and this year is no different. thank you for the e-mails, chats, texts and presents. i am having a really good birthday. :)

my recent lifestyle has been ridiculous. it's really hard not to hate your life when you're in lab for 12+ hours every single day for almost 2 weeks and your results come out and show that things are not working. and then...your computer hard drive fails catastrophically, wiping out 2 weeks of work with it. great stuff. really tests your character (a test which i sadly did not pass, haha). luckily menzies found a way to piece me and my craptastic computer back together (with new hard drive courtesy of apple), and monica organized a birthday brunch so i could actually take a day off and see friends... it's amazing how much that works wonders for the mood and perspective. actually, it's not surprising at all.

to my amazing friends, i love you. this week is better than last week, and 28 is better than 27.

madness

2010-03-16T23:11:00.001-07:00

march is here! this month is always crazy for me.

lots of birthdays coming up soon...!

first some good news! after many tries, i finally had the long-anticipated meeting with my advisor, and he is on board with me graduating in late may or early june!

the bad news is, he decided to change a bunch of priorities and add a ton of things to do... so my timeline, which was already "aggressive" according to him, is now risky and insane. yay! fun stuff.

all i want is to survive these next 2 months, to wrap things up into something i can be proud of, and to graduate on a good note. and then, to find a job.

on the wedding front... :) menzies and i have wedding bands! his is sitting in my jewelry chest. mine is coming sometime in april! the wedding invitations are now "in production" which i think just means that they are being printed...trying to get those out in early april. and i just bought a cake topper today from etsy! so, good things are happening!

i also filled out a march madness bracket for my lab pool. i picked my whole bracket in less than a minute, so i gotta say, my chances are pretty good. all i have to say is, go cal! beat duke!

in the thick of it...almost

2010-03-06T20:46:00.000-08:00

life as i know it is changing before my eyes

i *should* be graduating soon...in ~2-3 months i hope??

getting married in ~4 months

and starting to look for future employment...!

in anticipation of all that i've wished for and looked forward to for SOO LONG... i actually feel wistful. the thought often crosses my mind that i need to appreciate the days i have left of the life that i have become so comfortable in, because these days are numbered...and maybe life will never be this free from responsibility ever again. so this is the time to appreciate life, to spend time with friends, to exercise and cultivate healthy habits...

at the same time, the pressure of finishing up the degree weighs on me. i obsess over it. i need to set a date for the defense. the uncertainty of working towards an undefined deadline is both nerve-wracking and demotivating. i had a good talk with my advisor last week about graduating and he seemed to be on board with a may/june finish. the problem is...there is a lot to do, an insane amount for the time that remains. is it possible? i just need to do as much as i can before i set the date and the countdown begins.

meanwhile, weird dreams about wedding dresses, family, and photographers whirl around my head at night. wedding detail decisions need to be made. the cake, the rings, the vows...at least the invitations are almost done! and the bachelorette weekend is in motion! it would be so perfect if i could graduate before then, and just totally relax and enjoy. :)

patience. one thing at a time. first i need to put in the work.

i like this

2010-02-15T11:26:00.000-08:00

week 1

2010-01-07T11:45:00.000-08:00

in the first week of 2010, i have:

-worked out in some form (treadclimber or workout video) on 4 days out of 7, not bad :)
-not eaten out yet
-booked a florist for the wedding (the final big vendor)
-resolved to waste less time at work, resulting in somewhat increased productivity...
-told my prof that i'd like to graduate in the next 6 months (to a somewhat mixed but still positive reaction)
-tried valiantly and failed to start waking up before 8am... i have managed to drag myself out of bed between 8 and 8:30am for the past few days, so i'm getting close. ;)
-started walking to school again!

it's all small stuff, but definitely a promising start to the new year!

happy palindrome day!

2010-01-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

menzies just pointed this out to me. today is 01022010.

when will the next palindrome day be? 11022011

haha! i am enough of a nerd to appreciate this. :)

2010

2010-01-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

happy new year! big changes coming up in 2010! :) while 2009 was the year to just appreciate what i had and take advantage of the last year of sheltered life, i knew all along that 2010 was just around the corner... the year that i would finally grow up and join the real world. :)

planned so far:

january - DC trip to visit kathy!

february - menzies' family visits from taiwan.

march - work work work.

april - write thesis? (hopefully by this time i will have an idea of when i can graduate.)

may - bachelorette weekend in santa barbara!

june - camp pendleton mud run, bridal shower in san jose, and wedding preparations!

july - 7.10.10 - i am so excited for this day! :)

august - honeymoon in madrid and paris!

september - ??? find a job and start working?? *cross fingers*

change comes all at once, before you know it. just have to remember to take it one day at a time and enjoy the process.

wedding vendors, part 2

2009-12-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

Many decisions go into a wedding. In part 1, I covered the venue and the photographer and here I will go into ceremony details. :)

3) Dress: Brides Against Breast Cancer
The wedding dress was the first thing I found and the most surprisingly easy decision. Brides Against Breast Cancer is an organization that grants wishes for end-stage metastatic breast cancer patients (like Make-A-Wish Foundation), and their primary fundraising source is a traveling sale of wedding gowns that have been donated by bridal shops, designers, etc. I definitely went to this event with no expectations and no plans to buy, especially since it would be the first time that I would be trying on any gowns. Monica and Jen A came with me to provide honest opinions and ultimately found and approved my gown!

The event took place in a hotel ballroom, with all the dresses hung up in one room and an open changing area set up in the other room. Each person had a bridal consultant or "fairy godmother" who would ask what style of dress you were looking for and then go and grab a bunch of dresses and help you change into them. Then you would look in the mirror and tell her what you like and dislike about the dress, and then change into the next dress, and repeat. Altogether I probably tried on 6 or 7 dresses, quickly narrowing in on a strapless style dress with an A-line skirt. I tried on a lot of simple dresses while secretly coveting the ballgown princess-y look...but when I did actually get to try on a ballgown, I looked really short, like I was drowning in the dress. So it's true what they say, you can picture a style in your head but you never know what you will look like in it. I was a big fan of the ballgown with draped "pick-ups" look, but on me it just looked like I was drowning in a down comforter...

Luckily, Monica took it upon herself to go searching amongst the racks, and she was actually the one who came back with THE dress. It's strapless and made of light taffeta satin, with an A-line skirt and a lace bodice that fits perfectly so that I'm not "spilling" over the top...and then the surprise in the train, which is big and poufy and has bows trailing down it, giving it that long train and ballgown look while preserving the elegance in front. *love* And I don't have to lose any weight or anything to fit into it! Can't wait to wear it. :)

4) Ceremony Music: Strings For Your Heart
I consider this vendor the one major indulgence and the only thing that I've ever really imagined since I was a little girl for my wedding day; that is, walking down the aisle to a classical string quartet...except since the quartet was too expensive, we nixed the second violin and booked a string trio instead, heh. :) I found Strings For Your Heart while browsing the listings on GigMasters and emailed the group after listening to their samples on their website. I chose them over other live music options based on the quality of the samples and customer reviews and their flexibility in pricing. Menzies and I still have to choose the songs for the ceremony processionals, but I think I would like to keep it pretty traditional. :) Strings For Your Heart is also playing at our cocktail hour, but mixing it up with some pop selections. Menzies thinks (and I concede) that this is a little over the top, but I'm still excited. :)

5) Ceremony Officiant: Rev Clint Hufft
Menzies and I have crashed two weddings in order to book this guy! Haha...seriously though, it is strange to look for a vendor to marry you. Since we do not have a pastor or spiritual leader in our lives, we weren't quite sure where to turn on this one. There was the option of asking a good friend to get licensed online and perform the ceremony, but we weren't sure who to ask and we still wanted it to be an authority figure. I also considered asking one of my uncles to perform the ceremony, but then the whole thing would be in Mandarin (Chinese), and we were afraid that we wouldn't be able to understand our own ceremony, which would be pretty unfortunate. While we were puzzling over our options, I had the chance to meet Wen-Lin's friend Marcella who was also planning her wedding and was in a similar predicament. She was actually the one who recommended Rev Clint. :)

Although there were hiccups involved in trying to meet Rev Hufft (like driving up to Orange County only to crash the wrong wedding and miss him altogether, haha), when we did finally meet, we liked his focus on making the ceremony exactly what we want and not injecting any of his own agenda into it. He has also provided us with ~50 pages of different potential ceremony texts and will help us put together a version that is "us" and will also advise us on how to structure the ceremony. All I'm looking for is a ceremony that is meaningful and honest, delivered in a way that conveys the preciousness of the bond and promises that we are making, in words that we will remember and honor in our marriage. So, of course we are still deciding specifically what that means, whether we will write our own vows, whether to have readings, etc. But I feel confident that we are in control of our own ceremony and that we still have the time to mold it into what we want.

Up next: more vendor decisions, including hiring a coordinator!

wedding vendors, part 1

2009-12-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

It is now approximately 8 months until the big day! It is truly astonishing how much planning goes into just one day- I don't know how anyone manages to pull together a wedding in less than 8 months. Menzies and I have now been engaged for over a year, and we are still hunting around for our last few vendors...We still need a DJ, florist, cake...heh. Not quite there yet, I guess. :)

In any case, I thought it would be fun to do a "quick" run down of the vendors that we have booked so far, and some of the thought processes that went into picking them. :) Who knows, maybe it will be helpful to someone else planning a wedding in the future.

1) Venue: The Crosby Club
Menzies and I did a huge hunt for wedding venues back in January (see previous blog entry). We visited a bunch of places, but what I was looking for was a single site where we could have an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception. We ended up with two favorites- the Darlington House in La Jolla for its unique and quaint feeling, and the Crosby Club in Rancho Santa Fe for its posh and classy feeling. We almost put down a deposit for the Darlington House, but we couldn't quite get past the difficulty of finding parking in Downtown La Jolla or the 10pm time limit. We figured that we would make it easier on ourselves and on our guests and go with the Crosby Club. :)

As it turns out, Sara Rader, the coordinator at the Crosby, has been incredibly helpful. She lets me know whenever there's a wedding going on so I can drop by and check out the setup, which I appreciate. :) She always returns emails promptly and is very accommodating with special requests, e.g. serving drinks at the ceremony site, using golf carts for transport, etc. The only small annoyance so far has been that since the Crosby is normally a private club, anytime I want to visit I have to call Sara to put my name at the front gate, and the approval process at the front gate is always a little awkward. But overall, I'm still very happy with this choice. :)

2) Photographer: Trailbrook Photography
Menzies and I put a lot of effort into finding a wedding photographer who we thought could capture the day in an artistic and beautiful way. We met Stan and Jeanette at the SD Bridal Bazaar, and they were actually the first photographers we talked to...but because we were suspicious of their pricing and worried about being newbies, we still checked out ~20 other website portfolios and actually met with 4 other photographers of different price ranges before finally coming back to the first photographers we met!

Suffice it to say that there are AMAZING photographers in SD whose work is beautiful and whose personalities are sparkling and easygoing and who I could easily trust to capture the day beautifully. It was really interesting to learn about different photography styles- the editorial style, which is shot similarly to a magazine photo shoot where the photographers help guide the shot, and the photojournalistic style, which is shot like a newspaper where the photographers let things unfold on their own and just capture what is happening. Most photographers seem to take more of an editorial approach on the engagement sessions and more of a photojournalistic approach on the day of the wedding. I was surprised to discover that although I like the idea of photojournalism, so that the photographers do not interfere in the day, I really don't mind being told to turn a certain direction or stand somewhere else for better lighting if it's going to make a better picture. Obviously, I don't want them jumping out at me as I'm walking down the aisle, but in general I would prefer going to the trouble to get the better picture, and relying on the photographer's eye to see that.

Ultimately we went back to Trailbrook because we liked the funky, urban style of their pictures and their overall creativity and use of color. We liked that their photos incorporate the locale and the uniqueness of the surroundings as much as they do the people in them. We appreciated that they wanted us to pick a place for our engagement session that was significant to us, rather than have us go to one of their stock locations. And in the end, what really sold it was the care and personalization that they put into their wedding albums. Some photographers have these rather obvious drag-and-drop template-style albums, but Trailbrook seemed to really have a different album for every wedding. They create a nice balance between an album that retells the story of the day but also incorporates some "wow"-factor shots that can be enlarged and canvased into a piece of wall art. I liked the way Stan described it when we went into their home studio- "it's like a piece of art that you happen to be in."

Anyway, that's it for the first two vendors. Coming up: wedding dress and ceremony details!

kitty bunkbed

2009-12-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

upstairs: moony in her classic tail wrap-around sitting pose

downstairs: sunny in his typical belly hanging out sprawled out pose

changes

2009-12-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

congratulations are in order~!

-to monica and don, proud new parents of a beautiful baby boy!

-to joyce and kris, on their post-thanksgiving engagement!

-to dr. greg, on his bright and shiny new phd!

-and to lisa, for successfully launching her own business! (check it out at http://www.etsy.com/shop/satsumabug)

wow, it's been a crazy time, with so many big changes to finish off 2009. it's true, change happens all at once. seeing all this rapid growth happening around me is like a kick in the butt- time to mobilize!

gotta get cracking on that last aim of the thesis... big things coming up in 2010...

happy thanksgiving!

2009-11-28T01:07:00.000-08:00

weight graph

2009-11-15T18:42:00.000-08:00

For the past year, I've been sporadically tracking my weight on a google spreadsheet. I thought it would prove useful for looking at long term trends and associating any changes in weight with certain phases of my life or any particular habits.

After the marathon, I thought it would be interesting to plot the results and see if I had lost any weight from the 5 months spent running ~30 miles a week. And the answer is... NO!

Shown below is the weight data for approximately the past year, starting from mid-January. (Notice the undefined values for the y-axis, hehe.) I am happy with the apparent downward trend. However, it appears that marathon training did nothing for weight loss. In fact, looking at the timing of the decrease, I think the biggest factor was the decision to walk to school every day rather than take the shuttle. This is pretty surprising to me.

Of course, I also have to mention that I have not dieted. I generally try to eat healthily but I definitely also indulge. During marathon training, I would have a boba milk tea about 2 times a week and also eat a ton of pasta on Friday nights. So, I can't say that I was being particularly weight conscious. =P

Now for the hardest part. Hellooo holiday season... ;)

nyc 2009

2009-11-10T21:48:00.001-08:00

The NYC marathon was amazing!! It's hard to sum up how satisfying it is to finish something that you've had your heart and mind set on for so long. For anyone who doubts if a marathon is worth all the time and energy, the sacrificed Friday nights and the 5am Saturday mornings...it absolutely is. Don't get me wrong, the mental and physical toughness you gain through training is the actual life-changing part of it all. But when you see the finish line at the end of the 26.2, and you're hit with the flood of relief, exhilaration, and triumph that takes over your body as you forget all the pain and just charge through the finish...that rush is like nothing else.

This was my first running of one of the 5 "marathon majors" (NYC, Chicago, Boston, Berlin and London), and the energy level at this race was just incredible! I have never experienced so much cheering and crowd support, which makes the miles fly by in a way that they never do during training. I felt like a rock star high-fiving little kids from the side of the road. I got energized from the constant music and entertainment from live bands and gospel choirs. I relied on the runners around me, syncing with Jen A and her perfect pacing, drawing inspiration from the guy running on two prosthetic legs, staying just behind the girl who had written her name "JENN" on her shirt and thus elicited cheers for all three of us... ;)

That being said, I could not have made it through without all the help, support and love from my awesome friends who came to NY, who came out to the race, and who cheered from afar. =) Knowing that my cheering section was waiting at the mile 19 water station (and again at mile 23!) - Menzies, Tanya, Lei and Andrew - kept my motivation high when fatigue started setting in earlier than I had expected. Having Lei jump in from miles 19-23 kept me laughing and distracted and kept "the wall" safely at bay. Seeing Cindy and Chris with the "Go Jennifer!" sign at mile 26 gave me that much-needed adrenaline push to the finish. =) Every time I crossed a timing mat (every 5K), I would imagine emails flying out from under the mat to the inboxes of everyone tracking me online (yes, my mind goes kind of wonky during long runs). After all the training, I am a little sad to admit that physically, this race was not a great run for me. There are some long runs that feel really good and are confidence boosters because they show you how strong you have become. For me on marathon day, for whatever reason, things just did not come together for me physically. It could have been any number of factors- injuries acting up, fatigue from traveling, the hectic morning and crowded running field...who knows. What I do know is, when I was hurting physically, I ran through it by resolving to stay with Jen A and by drawing mental and emotional strength from knowing that I had people waiting for me and rooting for me, who I couldn't let down. (It also helped that they were posted so late in the race, when I needed it the most! ;) I can't imagine doing a marathon without the support system that I am so lucky to have.

I think that is everything I wanted to say... the rest is in pictures. =)

Day 1 We start with the NYC Expo, huge and overwhelming, followed by delicious Shake Shack! I still dream about the Pumpkin Pie Oh-My shake...=P The day ended with a visit to Times Square and pasta dinner at Gnocco in East Village.

Day 2 Race Day!! Jen and I wake up at 5am, get ready, and head over to the insanely packed South Ferry station (where we take our smiling "before" picture, above). At the start area, we rush around amongst hordes of runners, trying to check our bags, eat breakfast, and use the toilets before heading to the start. Finally at the start, Jen and I get emotional during the national anthem. And with a cannon blast, we're off! Meanwhile, our friends (dressed in very cute ponchos :) hand out waters at mile 19, Meb wins, and Paula falls to 4th. A very long while later, Jen and I cross the finish together!! The day ends with a delicious celebratory steak dinner at Peter Luger's.

Days 3-5 New York is so fun!! These days are filled with sight-seeing, including the Statue of Liberty and Rockefeller Center, free tickets to see Dave Letterman (where we're seated in the 2nd row!), rush tickets to Chicago, tapas dinner with super-runners Debbie and Hideki, lunch from a truck with Cindy, shopping, and so much more...! I didn't ever want to leave. A huge huge THANK YOU to Cindy and Chris for opening their home to us.

Definitely a trip I'll never forget. =)

wedding planning

2009-10-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did a makeup & hair trial with Kelly Zhang, who I have now booked to do my wedding makeup and hair! Here is my before and after shot:

A HUGE thank you to Jen A and Esther who woke up at the insane hour of 5am (or even earlier!) to come with me to Pasadena for our 8am appointment! I don't know if I could have survived the drive without them, and I definitely appreciated the company and especially the second and third opinion!

wedding planning is fun. =)

going green

2009-10-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our garden. =)

This is a picture of the whole plot. We're making use of the front three plots for sugar snap peas, herbs, and lettuces (from left to right). The back two plots are still pretty empty, except for the mint in the back left corner planted by Greg. I'm saving the back right plot for iris and daffodil bulbs, to be planted after the first "morning frost". I'm still trying to decide when or if that happens in San Diego. =)

These are our lettuces! The first row is Nevada lettuce, second row is mesclun greens, and third row is arugula. On the very right is our delicious bok choy. =) This plot grows like crazy! We've had so much salad...

This is our herb & random stuff garden. In the middle is our rainbow chard, and around it are parsley, strawberry, rosemary, mint, shallot, and cilantro. The chard is delicious when thrown into soup. And the flavor of fresh herbs just picked from the garden is awesome. =)

One more picture: my new bike! I've started biking to and from school (instead of walking) and I am slowly overcoming my fear of riding next to cars. It's surprisingly tiring riding just the ~2 miles to school, but I swear it's uphill both ways! It's quite a good workout, and good cross-training for the marathon I suppose. I like the baskets in the back, which I use to hold my lunch. =)

Somehow even with all these new healthy lifestyle additions to my life, I have still managed to get sick. =( I've been in bed all day and unfortunately don't feel much better. =P I'm sad to be missing my last 20-mile run tomorrow... but hopefully can make it up later this week. Now for a weekend of rest and lots of fluids...

mid-autumn update

2009-10-04T23:41:00.000-07:00

happy mooncake festival! it finally feels like fall in san diego! which really only means that it's finally below 80 degrees outside. i have been meaning to update the blog for weeks, with so much going on...

the marathon is in less than a month! training has been going smoothly overall, just a few bumps along the way but nothing major, and just one more 20-miler to go! i'm really nervous for this race! it's strange, even though i've run a marathon before, that doesn't seem to help with the nerves at all. i'm just hoping my muscles behave and the weather is good and the training is enough to carry us through those last 6.2 miles. besides the race, i'm really excited for this trip! SO glad to have friends coming out to support us. =)

the other day, i had this pang of sadness that soon, i would no longer be waking up at 5am on saturday mornings to go running. sadness! it was odd. of course, nobody's stopping me from continuing to do saturday morning runs...heh. there is a peace in running outside in the early morning, accompanied by the feeling that no matter what else happens that day, that you've accomplished something. nothing quite like it. i always knew i was a morning person. ;)

in other news, menzies and i now have a very productive vegetable garden! we have been on the waitlist for one of the garden plots in our apartment complex, and boy did we get lucky with the plot that was bestowed upon us! the family that was there before us left us all of their tools, two bags of potting soil, and a huge lime tree! we have since planted nevada lettuce, mesclun greens, arugula, bok choy, swiss chard, cilantro, rosemary, parsley, mint, strawberries, and sugar snap peas! AND they're ACTUALLY GROWING! it's pretty amazing how tough these little plants are. and most importantly, we've already had several meals from this garden, all of them delicious. =) (i realize i'm starting to sound like some kind of health nut, which is not what's going on, especially considering i ate chipotle yesterday and an insane amount of greasy delicious dimsum today. but i'm hoping the garden is a good influence. =)

also, menzies' latest obsession has been bike-building, especially vintage schwinn bikes. in the last ~2 weeks he has bought 5+ bikes (i've lost count) and lots of bike parts from craigslist/ebay/garage sales. my new rant is that he's crazy and the bikes are taking over our balcony. BUT in this whole process he has managed build me a bike and also patiently teach me how to ride it. =) so, i'm the proud new owner of a vintage schwinn bike with green sparkly handlebars that i finally got the guts to ride to school today. =) i'm still scared of riding on the road, but it's a big step from where i started.

one last note, my new favorite tv show: glee =) so much fun, and great singing to boot!

eep it's way past my bedtime!

fun with photoshop

2009-08-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

menzies and i have been making progress on wedding stuff, slowly but surely... here's a photo from today. =) hopefully, save the dates will be going out soon! we're working on it.

in training

2009-08-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

I'm in week 6 of training for the 2009 NYC Marathon! This will be my second marathon, so I at least have the slight reassurance of knowing that it can be done, since I have completed 26.2 miles once in my life before. ;)

For the 2004 Nike Women's Marathon in SF, I trained on Hal Higdon's novice schedule, which I highly recommend for first-timers. This schedule increased the mileage in a way that was not intimidating and steadily built confidence, which was really important since I was training by myself. Not only did it help me go from ground zero to feeling mentally and physically prepared on race day, it also enabled me to finish the race in a time that was faster than what I ever expected and allowed me to recover within ~1 week post-race.

This time, I'm following a more ambitious training program, the "First-time and Casual Marathoner" schedule on the NYC marathon website. "Casual Marathoner" is such a misnomer... there's nothing casual about 18 weeks of training. Regardless, this time around, there are definitely some key differences that have made the training process so much more enjoyable. :)

1) A training partner!! Training with Jen A has made all the difference. Every week we run together for our long run and our mid-week run. It's amazing how much more quickly the time passes, and we have a good balance between pushing each other and taking breaks when we need. I'm so glad and so grateful that she decided to run the NYC marathon for charity! Jen is raising $2500 for the Arthritis Foundation in exchange for guaranteed entry to the race. Please support her if you can at her donation page! Every little bit counts. =)

2) The 3min run - 1min walk pattern. It's still so counterintuitive to me, but I'm quite sure that I actually log faster times overall on this pattern than with just normal running. I think the mental boost from knowing that the 1 min break is coming up inspires a significantly faster pace during the 3 minutes. Jen and I usually run continuously for the first ~20 minutes to warm up, and then do the 3 and 1 intervals for the remainder of the run (sometimes these are adjusted to 4 and 2, which helps the time pass a little more quickly). It really highlights how distorted your sense of time can be, especially by the end of the run.

3) Early morning long runs. It's amazing how much nicer and more leisurely it is to run first thing in the morning, before the heat sets in. We start our long runs at 7am, and are usually all done by 9am (so far). Of course, this means I wake up at 6am every Saturday morning, which is insane, but absolutely worth it. Can it be possible, that I'm actually becoming a morning person?

4) Energy gels. I've only used this once so far, after mile 10 on a 12 mile run, but what a difference it made! It feels like a video game power boost. One minute you're exhausted and it's hard to pick up your legs, and the next minute you're exhilarated and bouncing off the pavement. Is it the caffeine? The electrolytes? Who knows, but it works, and if you're planning to use them during the race, why not use them while training? I'm partial to the GU gels.

5) Refraining from eating like a horse after every long run! Strangely enough, the amount of food that I eat has not changed much. This is in sharp contrast to the first time I trained for a marathon, when I would return from a long run and become a carb monster. In light of John Cloud's TIME magazine cover article on "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin", I have to admit that although I find the article to be sensationalist and misleading, I indeed have not lost much weight. However, I do feel stronger and more toned, and I fit into my clothes better, all without giving up my Chipotle burritos and other indulgences.

And perhaps the best benefit of all- I've managed to maintain my sanity and peace of mind in a period of relative insanity and high stress at work. The best reason to train for a marathon is that it forces you take time to take care of yourself.

12 more weeks! :D

2009-07-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

i'm getting married in a year!! =D =D =D

coffee as art

2009-07-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

I smile every time I re-read Christoph Niemann's "Coffee Art" post on NYtimes, which details the evolution of his love for coffee through napkin art.

He starts off:
"I like coffee so much that I have tea for breakfast: The first cup of the day in particular is so good that I’m afraid I won’t be able to properly appreciate it when I am half-asleep. Therefore, I celebrate it two hours later when I am fully conscious."

(So cute! It worries me a little that I actually understand this sentiment.)

My favorite is napkin #8, which is a graph showing his coffee and bagel biases over the years. (1) drip coffee; (2) Starbucks; (3) blueberry bagels; (4) sesame bagels; (5) poppy seed bagels; (6) everything bagels.

(I would love to document my life this way and see what trends pop up! I think it would be very revealing.)

Also, on a more educational note, here is a very nice explanatory schematic of various espresso drinks:
The nerd in me loves this and wonders if the ratios shown here are accurate and if they scale to volume.

Recently, I've cut down my coffee consumption to 1 cup per day (down from my previous 3-4 cups). If I'm craving a hot drink in the afternoon, I'll have some roasted rice green tea. Of course, that just makes me appreciate my morning cup o joe that much more. ;)

travels and photos (picasa update)

2009-07-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

yaaay i finally uploaded my pictures onto picasa! links to albums below:

2008.10 - Michigan
Esty, Jess and I visited Tanya in Ann Arbor and spent several days eating, chatting, and just enjoying the glorious autumn scenery. Highlights included getting freshly made donuts and cider at Plymouth Orchards, touring U Mich in all its fall splendor, crossing the border into Canada, and having awesome Greek food in Detroit! It was so nice to see Tanya in her college-town environment, especially since I never got the chance to visit her during college. =)

2009.01-04 - Miscellaneous Winter and Spring
This is a collection of images from several events that basically occupied the first few months of 2009, including shopping for wedding venues and dresses, celebrating Menzies' and my 5th anniversary with yummy meals, celebrating my 27th birthday, and visiting UW in Seattle and UT Austin with Ger. =) Busy times, but also super fun and actually pretty productive. =)

2009.05 - Vegas
Girls' trip to Vegas for Jen A's 30th! We stayed at the Venetian and partied at XS in the Wynn. Highlights included gambling at the sports bar (Mine that Bird!) and at the craps table. =D Lows included getting lost from the group and the morning after...uggg...it will be a long time before I'll be ready for another trip to Vegas. At least I got some nice pictures out of it.

2009.05 - Yosemite
Our Memorial Weekend trip to Yosemite was awesome! We stayed at Housekeeping Camp in Yosemite Valley and had campfire deliciousness while still getting to sleep on beds and take daily showers. =D The highlight was definitely the Half Dome hike with the Mist Trail waterfalls flowing in full force! Nothing quite compares to the feeling at the top of Half Dome, although my knees paid dearly for it on the way down. We also did the Yosemite Falls hike the next day and caught some more gorgeous waterfall views. So yes, even though everything came back smelling like campfire, it was totally worth it. =)

2009.06 - Toronto
In early June, Menzies and I took our international trip of the year to Toronto! =) We stayed in the University of Toronto dorms and tromped our way around town for 5 days, including taking a day trip to Niagara Falls, exploring St Lawrence and Kensington Markets, and capping off the trip with a 10-course molecular gastro-normous meal at Colborne Lane. Toronto is one of those funny cities that doesn't have much tourist cred but has such a diverse population with so many unique neighborhoods that it seems like it would be a really fun place to live. =)

-------------------------------------------------
That's all for now! Wow I really took a lot of trips during May and June. Coming up in the summer months: not too much! I've been settling into a routine of training for the NYC marathon and trying to make progress in lab. I should be sticking around San Diego for the second half of 2009, with short jaunts out to Austin (to visit Ger) and to NY (to run 26.2)!

Happy 4th of July! =D

let's get it started

2009-06-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

today was my first "long" run, accompanied by menzies' ipod shuffle music selection. =) i almost got run over by some girl who was texting while driving (grr...), but other than that, all went well. even the weather cooperated to provide a nice cool morning mist. =)

my route:

i've been contemplating using the "run-walk" method but i need to figure out how to incorporate the walking breaks in a way that doesn't allow me to use it as a crutch. time to break out the old sports watch, perhaps?

looking for some upbeat running music...

marathon

2009-06-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

i'm running the 2009 NYC marathon!! i got picked by the lottery system! =D this means i'm going to NYC for halloween (since the race is on nov 1)! and also...my summer schedule just got busy with lots of running! =) =) =) life always feels better when i'm running and exercising consistently, and the fear of an upcoming race is the best way to ensure that i make my health and fitness a priority.

life has been such a whirlwind lately, especially with being in and out of town so much. this weekend was the last trip for awhile. so finally, i will be settling down and even actually be in san diego for a full week. maybe even do laundry and get some groceries.

i think i will be following an 18-week training schedule, which means i officially start in 2 weeks. i'm planning to follow the "first-time and casual marathoner" schedule (http://www.nycmarathon.org/training/training_schedule.htm).

it's weird but there's something that pleases me about running a marathon towards the "end" of my phd program as a counterpart to the nike women's marathon that i did at the beginning (october 2005, 4 years ago!). i think it will be sort of...poetic when i look back on it one day.

half dome

2009-05-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

the view of half dome from glacier point

the group at the trailhead, aka our "before" picture. don't we look happy? =)

a brief rest from the torrential downpour on the mist trail! COLD!! but gorgeous.

view from the TOP! we made it!! =D

sitting out on the ledge at the top with Humphrey the traveling gnome. =)

all in all, an awesome trip. i love yosemite in may. there's nothing quite like the feeling of making it to the top of those cables. just the escape i needed.

2009-05-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

just a couple of clips from articles i've read lately that have stuck in my mind:

A father...on Christmas Eve puts into one son’s stocking a fine gold watch, and into another son’s, a pile of horse manure. The next morning, the first boy comes to his father and says glumly, “Dad, I just don’t know what I’ll do with this watch. It’s so fragile. It could break.” The other boy runs to him and says, “Daddy! Daddy! Santa left me a pony, if only I can just find it!”
--George Vaillant, as recounted by Joshua Shenk in "What Makes Us Happy?" The Atlantic, 2009

The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.
--John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667

haha! two very different ways of saying the same thing. ;)

reset

2009-04-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

There's something about getting away from it all and exploring a new place that just refreshes me. It breaks up the monotony in a way that washes away all the built-up frustrations and injustices (both perceived and real) and gives me the proper perspective on things. And hopefully, when I return, I am able to start over in a better place mentally.

This past week I have been at UW in Seattle, WA and UT in Austin, TX helping Ger to explore her college options. =) Two very different campuses and cities, and each one enticing in its own way. We took campus tours and then walked around and explored the engineering & chemistry buildings as well as the college row (The Ave at UW and The Drag at UT) and downtown area of each city. I realized yet again how much I really like the hustle and bustle of college campuses, with students hanging out and studying together, tabling for various causes, and scurrying off to class, not to mention the promise of excellent coffee in close proximity to the campus (and in the case of Austin, breakfast tacos!). My overall impression: I love Seattle (reminds me of SF) and would even consider tolerating the rain for the awesome sushi and Pike Place Market, but in terms of academics and a college experience I personally think UT Austin is the place to be- I've never seen such a high concentration of orange in one place before! HAHA...longhorns....grumble...Anyway, it will be exciting to see what Ger decides, and I'm glad I got to help in the process. =D

I also got in some really nice family time, and much-needed E time. =) So important for helping to ground me and keep things in perspective.

Now it's back to San Diego...! time to board my flight.

chirp

2009-04-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

today while i was on the treadmill at home, i happened to turn on the tv and catch oprah and her debut on twitter, along with her skype interview with the newly triumphant ashton kutcher in his twitter-win over cnn.

wth?

i must really be getting old, because i really don't understand what all this twittering is about. props to oprah for being all up with the times and everything, but can somebody please explain to me why twitter is suddenly all over the media? they must have acquired some crazy awesome marketing people over there at twitter because it seems like they exploded about a month ago, after several years of barely-there existence.

anyway, this was supposed to be a quick "twitter-sized" note but obviously i'm too verbose to fit myself into a 140 character limit. that's why i have a blog (that i update about once a month, haha).

vingt-sept ans

2009-03-31T11:41:00.000-07:00

time flies when you're getting older! ;) it seems that every birthday comes more quickly than the last.

i had a really fantastic birthday, filled with lots of weekend-before and day-of festivities, thanks to my dear friends. =) saturday was downtown night with dinner at tabule and drinks at suite & tender...sunday was spent recovering...and then last night people came over and we made a chocolate sformato birthday cake, which actually turned out to be a delicious success! it tasted kind of like chocolate souffle, but a little darker and creamier, with toasted almonds and amaretto whip cream...yummmy. i truly feel so grateful and appreciative for my girls in san diego and also the emails, cards and phone calls from afar. =) thanks for always making my birthday feel special.

27 is a good number.

lately

2009-03-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

it seems that every month i look up in the middle of it all and am suddenly alarmed by how quickly time has flown by. this month is no exception. i don't feel like i have been exceptionally busy, but there's always something to do and the constant pull of other things that i would rather be doing but don't have time for. i think this is normal...?

something about my research and grad school life of late doesn't feel right. in the midst of all the soul-crushing that is sort of understood to be a natural part of the phd process (see phd comics), i seem to have really misplaced my drive and passion for this stuff. so, instead of fighting off distractions and kicking my project into high gear the way that i should be doing, i'm dragging my feet and acquiescing to all of the random distractions and demands by my boss, which then become the excuses for why i'm not progressing as quickly as i could or should be. sometimes this feeling of "not caring" is liberating and translates directly into more free time, more sleep and a more balanced life, but other times i can't shake the feeling that something is really wrong, that i'm in the wrong field or that i've lost my way somehow. of course, this may also just be a natural part of the cycle, with the upswing looming ahead. i guess we'll see.

in the meantime, life has been really good. i've been working on a couple of pendants in jewelry class which are nearing completion. =) i also found a wedding dress at the brides against breast cancer event which was really fun and which i should really blog separately about. i have also started up running again, with plans to enter the NY marathon lottery. And just this past week, i finalized trips to seattle and austin (for ger's college visits) and to vegas (for jen a's 30th). lots of excitement coming up. =) 27 is just around the bend...

happy fingers

2009-02-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

when i was in middle school, one of my parent's friends from taiwan did a quick fortune reading of me by looking at my hands, facial features, birthday, etc (i really don't know what it was based on, some chinese counting stuff). one of the things he told my mom from this "reading" was that i was good at things involving the use of my hands, which i naturally assumed he only said because my fingers looked strong from practicing piano for ~1hr every day. (other things he said were that i was not obedient enough, that i liked big open spaces and big houses, and that i should wait until i was older, at least 27-28 years old before getting married. all true, whether by subconscious self-fulfillment or not.)

what i've started to realize recently is that i really am drawn to hands-on, craftsy things. when i was young, i would use my old socks to make clothes for my barbies. i had a "junk collection", which i would use for various random arts and crafts projects. i went through a phase of making balloon animals (i was actually not bad once i got over the fear of balloon popping noises). every one of my birthday parties had to have some kind of project involving a trip to michael's. in high school, i specialized in making elaborate posters/visuals for my high-powered speech and debate expos career. in college, the craftsy urge translated into doing research and lab work and my interest in tissue engineering, or making tissues and organs from scratch, as i saw it at the time (i now see it differently). in recent years, the craftsy side of me has capitalized upon halloween, the only time that i get to make random weird costumes like a fortune cookie from brown paper bags and posterboard, a bunch of grapes from purple balloons and safety pins, or a birth control pill pack from foamboard and felt.

my latest fix has been this jewelry-making class that i've been taking this quarter at the ucsd crafts center. i've never worked with metal before, and it's really fun! we get to melt down silver coins and make whatever we like- rings, pendants, earrings, bracelets, in any design we can imagine. the people in this class have the most amazing jewelry, which they made themselves! it's really giving me a new appreciation for jewelry...and of course my fingers are happy once again. =)

the other thing keeping my fingers busy: menzies and i got a piano! it's a yamaha digital, with weighted keys, bought off of a craigslist posting. not the same as a real piano, but it actually sounds pretty good and satisfies my piano cravings. i'm a little rusty but it's coming back slowly. i've been playing canon in d. =D fun fun.

time to sleep!

sd wedding venue hunt

2009-01-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

This entry is for future brides-to-be who are hunting for a wedding ceremony & reception venue in the San Diego area (and for anyone else who may be interested). All in all, my fiance and I have visited ~10 sites over 3 weekends, and I think we're finally coming to a close on the search (crosses fingers). In my hunting I ran across a blog entry that showed some pictures and descriptions of venues and found it very helpful, so I thought I should share too. =)

Background: We are both PhD students at UCSD and have become used to living a decently frugal life. However, we like nice things and love yummy food, and we are willing to indulge a little for the wedding "of our dreams" (whatever that may mean). That being said, we want the wedding to reflect who we are and feel natural and personal, and we want our guests to feel relaxed and comfortable hanging out with us and just having fun. =D

What we were looking for: a venue that can hold ~200 guests (we have a lot of family), with a pretty outdoor ceremony area and outdoor or indoor reception all in one location. good food with the capacity to accommodate vegetarian guests. someplace not too pricey and not logistically difficult, particularly for out-of-town guests. and finally, someplace that is "us" (definitely the most difficult thing to pinpoint).

What we were surprised by: For many venues, 200 is considered a lot of people! Most "smaller" venues will accommodate up to 180 as an upper limit. Many places have time limits of 10pm due to noise level restrictions. Also, the logistics and flow of the event is important and needs to be considered during site visits- where will people arrive and park, how will they know where to go for the ceremony and what to do afterwards, quality of restroom facilities, etc.

On to the venues! (in chronological order of our visits)

1) Balboa Park (San Diego)
1a) Japanese Friendship Garden

+natural setting with asian heritage, great garden entrance for guests to explore
+moonlight deck and koi pond is very pretty as cocktail reception area
-small space and very long layout of the dinner reception area
-bathroom facilities are minimal, single stall only
-ceremony site at the gate is awkward, requiring a crooked bridal walk and majority of guest seating behind a tree (shown in right panel).

1b) Casa Del Prado A/B

+nice architecture (pretty arches), big rectangular space that could be dressed up
-too public, basically anyone walking past could watch and potentially crash the festivities

1c) The Prado

+pretty outdoor courtyard with fountain and nice ballroom for indoor banquet
-ceremony site is below where the guests would sit, which feels a little detached, and the bridal walk requires going down a split staircase

1d) Spreckels Organ Pavilion

We briefly considered this as we walked by because of the big open space and great architecture, but never seriously looked into it. It's pretty though. =)

2) Grand Tradition Estate (Fallbrook)

+They do weddings exclusively, so their space is laid out very logically and everything is set up nicely for the flow of a wedding. This includes their heart-shaped lake and gazebo ceremony site, their beautiful ballroom with grand staircase entrance, grand piano, spacious dressing rooms, etc. They have two sites but we liked the beverly mansion better than the arbor terrace (no AC, no plated dinner, in a tent).
+good hosted bar options where you pay for just what is consumed
+package includes everything, making logistics and planning easier
-in fallbrook (1hr drive from san diego, can be deathly hot in the summer)
-on the pricier side ($120 per person as base price for plated dinner)
-feels fabricated (At the arbor terrace site, they have a waterfall that they can "turn down the volume" on during the ceremony, haha! clever and useful for weddings, but...unnatural)

3) Elfin Forest Estate (Escondido)
+private estate with big backyard, bbq pit and pool. feels intimate and offers lots of flexibility, including bringing own alcohol and food.
+bbq pit has a natural gazebo-like look which makes for a nice ceremonial setup
-in the middle of nowhere, with narrow, steep, rough road leading up to the house which is not well sign-posted
-backyard space is divided into sections, so the space is not very open. great for a large backyard party, not ideal for a wedding reception. plans to remodel, but not done when we visited.
-no real bridal dressing rooms yet (remodeling is planned)

4) La Jolla Cove Suites Rooftop (La Jolla)

+GREAT location in la jolla just across from ellen browning scripps park, panoramic view of the ocean, would be gorgeous at sunset
+could go down to la jolla cove wedding bowl for pictures
+hotel venue = convenient for guests to stay there and after-party in their rooms
-time limit of 9pm, could pay extra to extend to 10pm. requires reserving out ~20 rooms on the 4th floor.
-turquoise lamps are not super attractive, nor are the big skylight humps
-the indoor area where the AV setup is would be too small for everyone to see the slideshow

5) La Valencia (La Jolla)
+beautiful hotel with villa style and hand-painted tiles and homey warm feeling
+separate cocktail reception area and gorgeous ballroom that can open out to the patio for an indoor/outdoor reception
+hotel venue = convenient for guests
-lawn for the ceremony is tiny tiny so people would have to watch from balcony of the next building
-requires a certain minimum of rooms, with 2 night minimum stay over weekend and 3 night minimum over holiday
-pricey

6) Quail Botanical Gardens (Encinitas)

+natural setting, quirky and cute
+reservation would rent out the entire garden with lots of flora for guests to explore
+pretty gazebo reception site and very private walled garden for ceremony up to 180
-bathroom facilities are not the greatest

7) The Crosby (Rancho Santa Fe)

+country club gated entrance feels super nice and "exclusive"
+pretty pretty clubhouse with spanish style arches and decor, all facilites have upscale feeling
+separate but nearby spaces for ceremony, cocktail reception, and plated dinner
+no time limits
-lakeside ceremony requires a small trek up a hill
-no bridal dressing rooms

8) Darlington House (La Jolla)

+beautiful charming interior, 4 bathrooms, library, living/dining room, etc.. everything is old but really well-maintained and intimate-feeling
+gorgeous steinway grand piano in living room
+beautiful exterior patios- hand-painted spanish tiles, rose garden, fountain
+beautiful dressing rooms upstairs, with cute furniture
-no parking, would need to hire valet service
-time limit of 10pm (last dance 9:30pm)

2009-01-29T11:18:00.000-08:00

hehe i love this nytimes article about the new obama style at the white house and how it contrasts with the old bush regime. it's nice to catch a glipmse of what obama's daily schedule and work style is, and i find the article really funny and charming. =) he really does sound like a normal person.

2009-01-25T22:33:00.000-08:00

after several weekend excursions, i think we finally found a wedding venue!

darlington house in downtown la jolla, one block from the ocean.

it's super cute and quaint and every piece of furniture and wall decoration has a story and a unique origin. it has three beautiful outdoor patios, including one which has these gorgeous blue hand-painted spanish tiles in the floor and on the walls. i love that you can really feel how much personal thought and care went into the design and furnishing of each room of this house (even the bathrooms!), and the whole place just has a warm and inviting feel. AND better yet, the money goes towards providing housing for the low-income seniors who live in the building next door. all-in-all, this place is tops. i think this could be it. =D

happy chinese new year! year of the ox- a time for diligence, tolerance, and persistence- perfect for going after that phd...MOOOO

winter 2008

2008-12-22T21:56:00.001-08:00

i'm in san jose for christmas break! =) i'm looking forward to some good downtime and catch-up time with family and friends. 2008 has been a hectic year, full of ups and downs...but mostly ups. =) i am definitely feeling like things are buzzing along, and life is just good right now.

at some point i will sort through the 500+ new zealand and sydney pics and post a selection. suffice it to say that i still love LOVE new zealand, and as for sydney- i could see myself living in sydney. it was just amazing to be able to get away for two weeks, go on the best hikes ever to see the incredible unspoiled sights of new zealand, and then soak in the pure city-ness of sydney with all its delicious food and great harbor sights. what a great great trip. highly recommended.

as for being engaged...being engaged is great! also highly recommended. =D

this year i also progressed in my research, passing my senate exam (where i proposed my thesis), publishing my first paper (check it out! that image on the cover of the current issue is from my paper!), and actually starting to decide what kind of stuff i'd like to be doing after the phd...pretty exciting! =) i would not say that the end is in sight quite yet, but i am definitely learning to enjoy the process and not stress out so much over silly things (haha i keep having to re-learn this particular lesson).

the other thing i was preoccupied with for much of the year was organizing the student and young investigator events at this big conference for tissue engineering & regenerative medicine. this included writing a $30K NIH grant for travel awards, coordinating with meeting chairs and conference organizers to figure out logistics and events, submitting budgets and trying to get sponsorship and donations, putting together a student team to organize the 8 events that we had running over 3 days, recruiting day-of volunteers, dealing with fiscal people to get people their travel award checks....and on and on and on. it is a difficult undertaking, one that i could not have done without my co-chair and one that i would not choose to do again. but in the end, our events were really successful, we got great feedback, and it ended up being a really satisfying experience. my favorite event (out of all the career-oriented and professional development seminars and sessions we had)- the 5K fun run. =D hee.

coming up in 2009... who knows? hopefully more good stuff. =) wedding planning, wrapping up big project #2 and formulating an exit strategy from the lab, getting back in shape...!! good times ahead.

engaged!

2008-10-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday (10/23), I had to work late, so Menzies graciously offered to pick up dinner for us and bring it back to campus. We agreed on Chipotle, the usual steak burrito for him and burrito bowl for me. =) It was just like any other night. When Menzies got back, he called me and I went down to his office for my burrito. When I discovered that his office was dark, my first thought was, "Um...where is he? I want my burrito." When he finally opened the door, there were candles set up on the little table in his office, along with our burritos, cans of Coke, and a photo album.

We went through the photos together and reminisced about the pictures from Berkeley, Vegas, Hawaii, Tahoe, San Diego, New Zealand, China... and the whole time my head was spinning with thoughts like, "Where is this going? Is this what I think it is?" I knew that the photo album was a box and hoped that maybe there would be a ring box when we reached the end...

This is what I saw at the end:

Letdown!! Sadly, no ring. It was just our notebook and the collection of cards that I had given to Menzies over the years. (Background: Menzies and I started a Moleskine notebook earlier this year as a way for us to surprise each other by writing to each other and hiding the notebook in random places for the other person to discover. Credit goes to Lisa for this idea.) At this point, I was convinced that I had just overhyped the whole thing in my mind. I decided to just appreciate the moment and read the journal.

This was Menzies' latest entry:
This is a picture of me taking a nap in my first apartment in San Diego. Judging by the textbook next to me (and by my sleepiness), it was probably my first year in grad school.

This is a picture of Menzies and me in the car in New Zealand. In this picture, he is driving the car. Isn't that disorienting? That always blows my mind a little.

HAHAHA I first met Menzies when I was an officer in TBP (an engineering club) at Berkeley and he was in the incoming candidate class. This card was the generic Thank You card that was given to all the officers at the end of the following semester. I wrote half of the 20 or so cards, but Menzies' card did not happen to be one of those. I can't believe he kept this card!

In this card, which I sent Menzies right before he visited UCSD for grad school, I told him that I had resolved to let him make important decisions about his future without emotional input from me, and I would support whatever decision he made.

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! my favorite page, by far.

Of course, I answered "YES!" first and wrote in this response later. Notice the method of hiding the ring in a laser-cut, ring-shaped hole in the journal. Ingenious!! Or as my sister put it after I described it over the phone, "You mean, like how you hide drugs??" hahaha *sigh*

Then he put the ring on my finger!! Isn't it gorgeous? =D

Then Menzies broke out the champagne, and we ate our Chipotle dinner. =D We're ENGAGED!! YAAY!! Time for the celebrations to begin... =D =D

so it begins (again)

2008-10-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

year five. the beginning of the end, but really, just the end of the beginning. it feels the same, just like last year, the year before, and the year before that...except suddenly i feel like i've been here for a looong time.

it's tempting to think that i'm almost done here, and if i just push harder, i'll have a chance at graduating soon. but i know better. based on the experiences of other people in my lab, my own interactions with my PI, and the work that remains in my thesis project, i know better. so, i will enjoy the rest of my time here as best as i can, and i will avoid the mental and emotional trap of thinking that the harder i work, the sooner i will finish. i know better. i know better.

last week, i was asked by three little asian girls if i was a freshman. i think i was secretly pleased when i grumbled back that i was a grad student, and they backed away apologetically. yay, i'm still young, sort of.

at least it's a good time to be in school, what with the economy falling apart and all. =P

i like sleeping next to trees =)

2008-09-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

last weekend, 7 of us piled into a grand caravan and drove up to sequoia national park for a 4-day, 3-night camping trip, filled with lots of hiking, fancy campfire cooking, encounters with deer and bears, and good times. =) a small sampling of pictures below, more in the album at picasa.

day 2: after a few mishaps, including being pulled over, forgetting the tent poles, and calling AAA, menzies and i manage to emerge smiling, ready for the first hike up to tokopah falls.

the guys, responding to a request to "look manly"

the girls, aka me and the joyces

the sequoias are so huge and majestic! =) we visited general sherman (a very large and old sequoia), followed by a hike through the congress trail. this picture is of the "house", but we also saw the "senate" and "the president", all sequoias of course. =)

day 3: the long hike. this was the view from our lunch spot. there's nothing like eating your sandwich while sitting on a ledge and peering over a sheer 1600-ft drop into the valley. eek.

heather lake was a beautiful spot to take a rest and soak our feet. =)

day 4: the look on our faces says it all. "can we go home and shower now?"

trees and papers

2008-09-08T10:49:00.001-07:00

Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong. (George Carlin)

HAHA! i found this quote of the day on my iGoogle page timely, since i'm going on a camping trip this weekend at sequoia and kings canyon national park! yessir definitely excited to go hike amongst the trees, sleep on the ground, and get away from it all...but hopefully still have access to some flush toilets and showers.

things in lab have been buzzing along. with so many old samples to assay and the new cultures running, there's lots to do every day, so every day is full and productive and there's a nice feeling of accomplishment at the end of each day, which is different from the paper-writing process.

but, just received some exciting news on the paper-publishing front! one of the figures from my recently accepted paper is going to be on the cover of the december issue of the journal! just icing on the cake really, but still sweet. =)

living your life

2008-08-29T21:45:00.000-07:00

you're gonna be a shining star, with fancy clothes, and fancy car-ars.
and then you'll see, you're gonna go far
cause everyone knows, who you are-are.
so live your life, ay ay ay.
instead of chasing that paper
just live your life, ay ay ay.
you got no time for no haters
just live your life, ay ay ay.
no telling where it'll take you
just live your life, ay ay ay.
cause I'm a paper chaser
just living my life (ay), my life (oh), my life (ay), my life (oh)
just living my life (ay), my life (oh), my life (ay), my life (oh)

just living my life. =) i love that this is a cover of the numa numa song, haha! my new theme song. =)

dnc

2008-08-27T23:45:00.000-07:00

this seems weird to say...but i'm so proud of hillary for how she has handled herself in denver and rallied behind barack obama! i thought hillary's speech was so genuine, remaining true to herself and still unequivocally in support of obama. i loved how she challenged her supporters on whether they were only in this election for her, or if they were in it for the issues, the right reasons. i loved the statement about how when her mother was born, women couldn't vote, but this year chelsea got to cast a vote for her own mother for president. and of course, i enjoyed that joke of how apropos that bush and mccain are meeting in the twin cities, because those two are difficult to tell apart these days. =) and finally, ending with harriet tubman, merging women and blacks, telling americans to "keep going" and that before we can keep going, we've got to get going, and elect barack obama. best speech by hillary ever.

bill clinton didn't do so bad himself, offering a very cogent view on what has gone wrong with the country and what is needed to rebuild. i loved his line about the people of the world always being more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power. and finally, "thanks, but no thanks" to the republicans getting another 4 years. HAHA. the comparison between himself in 1992 and barack in 2008, acknowledging the parallels that so many have made, was a nice touch too. =) overall, a good "i've been there, and i know this guy can do it too" speech.

the clintons are a well-spoken couple, that's for sure. i wonder what their private conversations at home are like.

goodbye beijing

2008-08-23T23:02:00.000-07:00

memorable moments of the olympics:

1) michael phelps X 8
it's amazing to watch him win gold over and over, and it's so endearing that he looks for his mom after each win. most amazing were the 0.01 second out-touch at the wall in the 100m butterfly and the lezak leg of the 4X100 relay. all this excitement almost makes me want to take up swimming...

2) usain bolt in the 100m and 200m dash
man, how cocky is this kid? i can't decide whether i like him for his amazing performance in the 200m, or whether i hate him for his celebratory chest bump before he even crossed the finish line in the 100m. finish your race, man! focus!

3) the baton droppings by both the US men and women relay teams, while wearing their ghetto magic marker-written bibs instead of the standard printed bibs. this was followed by the announcer saying there was a "vacuum of leadership" on the US track and field team. ouch.

4) the extravagant opening and closing ceremonies. um, WOW. was there a single person in beijing, or for that matter, in eastern china, who was not involved in these displays of strength in numbers? just how many chinese people are there??

and many more, including misty may-treanor and kerri walsh, shawn johnson and nastia liukin, team redeem...

most exciting olympics in a long time, in my humble opinion.

now for the start of football season! gotta give eli and peyton manning something to do besides play jenga and connect four... ;)

present time

2008-08-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

time is moving more quickly than ever. i can't believe summer is over already. it's a little disturbing because when i think back on the past few months, i can't seem to remember anything notable; in fact, i had to check my google calendar to see what i've been doing...

on may 23, i passed my senate exam, after a long and hard-fought struggle with my advisor to let me keep the originally scheduled exam date.

one week later, i submitted the revision of my first paper, which has recently been accepted for publication in the journal arthritis & rheumatism! my first paper! =) what a HUGE relief to have that off my shoulders.

two weeks after that, in june, i submitted my first review paper, which was a much less traumatic paper-writing experience than the first paper.

the following weekend, i went home to san jose for a much needed vacation. the 4 days i had there were not nearly enough time with family and friends, but definitely relaxing and lots of fun. =)

the rest of june and most of july were devoted to running a new round of experiments in lab and mentoring my undergrad in starting a new project. highlights included july 4th weekend with esty & friends, the ivy for lei's birthday, the shout house with wen-lin, and menzies' return from toronto & london!

at the end of july, i submitted an abstract to a tissue engineering conference that will be in san diego in december, and helped my professor with a grant.

august flew by with ger's visit to sd, a week spent in new hampshire at the gordon conference on biomineralization, and finally the submission of an abstract to the ors conference. and of course, olympics watching. =)

so, it's disturbing that with so many exciting things going on, i have felt so detached and dissatisfied. during the past couple of weeks, i have started realizing that i spend so much time worrying about the future that i don't live in the present. in this way, my otherwise productive and happy life slips by unnoticed and unappreciated, and i become bitter and detached for reasons that don't even exist yet.

so, it's time to turn over a new leaf! time to make time for things that help me live in the present, like exercise, friends, and blogging. time to live in the present.

non caffeinated

2008-04-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

WOW i have never suffered caffeine withdrawal like this before. symptoms: insane runny nose allergies, crazy mind-numbing headache and dizziness, squinty sleepy eyes, total inability to focus, general lack of "togetherness", and intense desire for hot caffeinated beverage

what is going on?? ackk

at least my presentation went okay. =) i think my proposal was generally well received, although it is starting to worry me that every time i present the proposal, some professor/surgeon in the audience will make comments about how i'm going to be here for 7-8 years and then my advisor just kind of chuckles...

caffeinated

2008-04-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

it's really scary to think about how much espresso i've consumed in the past 3 days.

and how little sleep i've gotten.

on the upside, my senate (thesis proposal) plans seem to be progressing. if i actually manage to do everything that i'm proposing in the next two years, i'll be shocked. and amazed.

for the past few days, i've been consumed by my practice senate presentation tomorrow, which i'm giving at the orthopaedics noon conference. basically it's just a good opportunity to put together a draft of a full senate proposal (and to potentially have it get ripped apart). but my advisor has been surprisingly available to discuss my senate plans with me, and i think we've reached a good consensus on defining a project that is interesting and fitting for me to do.

so things are good. things are exciting and moving forward at an alarming pace. i just need...to catch up...with things

the past month in pictures

2008-04-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

march 1-5: ORS in san francisco was great! good chance to see esty and larry, and also hang out with the lab, and see old friends! oh..and learn about the latest in orthopedics research, of course. =)

march 9-16: mexico was super relaxing and super awesome, the perfect vacation with menzies! =) cruising is fuuun. yummy yummy food and not a care in the world. =) favorite port: puerto vallarta! see the album here.

march 30-april 5: birthdays and a wedding! every year around this time i'm reminded just how great my family and friends are. =D fun times in san diego, san jose, and jenn liu's beautiful wedding at hakone gardens!

coming up? WORK! my senate exam is scheduled for friday may 23!

25 + 12 months

2008-03-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

what a great birthday. =) thanks everyone for making it such a special day! i have the best friends and family that a girl could ask for. =)

pictures to come from the day (thanks mon!)

and also from the cruise to mexico with menzies! =D

(i just need to get around to uploading them...)

overall, it's been a good CHALLENGING year. lots of growth and self-reflection, but i think i've finally come out the other side! now it's FULL STEAM AHEAD!

negotiation as an exercise in theatre

2008-02-27T23:26:00.001-08:00

I attended a graduate seminar this week given by Nancy Houfek, Head of Voice & Speech at Harvard, about how to approach negotiation more effectively, with a slant towards women and the gender divide.

She started off the seminar by recommending the book, Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, citing a sociological finding that women ask for $4000 less on average in their starting salary, which isn't a huge difference at first but ends up costing millions by the end of their careers. Sounds like an interesting book...may have to give it a read.

The talk was structured along the (somewhat gimmicky) theme of "theatre techniques for getting what you want." Basically, it consisted of a lot of advice on how to change your mental approach to a negotiation, starting with how to manage yourself in a negotiator "role", how to think of the other person as a partner rather than an adversary in the negotiation "scene", and how to fit the negotiation into a big picture, i.e. the "play".

A few tips I found useful:

1) Before stepping into a negotiation, think of any time in your life when you are calm, confident, focused, decisive, quick-thicking, basically all the qualities that you need to be in order to be a successful negotiator, and access that part of yourself that you already have.

2) Reason alone is not enough to get what you want in a negotiation. You have to draw from a variety of tactics, and what tactic you use depends on the situation. Don't just memorize and recite all your lines at once; choose them based on the response of your partner in the scene.

3) A negotiation is only 1 scene in a 10-act play. No is not no, just a starting point. Understand the back story of the play and build your alliances with the other characters. Alliances don't take place during meetings, but before and after. Allies can help you control the "positive energy" in a meeting.

Overall, Nancy Houfek was a good speaker, personable and relatable with some nice anecdotes and a well-organized talk. The theatre-as-life metaphor even worked. However, the advice was pretty vague and the examples were kept light-hearted (for the most part). The talk rarely crossed over into the more painful and personal analysis of why women find it more difficult to negotiate or even just more examples of more important, higher-stakes negotiations than gym memberships or car purchases. It would have been more interesting as a deeper-level talk including how to overcome gender-specific barriers and behaviors...not that I'm rooting for a man-hating talk or anything, just one that attempts to address what women can do to narrow the gap.

Regardless, it's nice to see that these types of seminars are being offered, and I did draw some bits of inspiration from it. Successful negotiation, like success in anything else, could just be a matter of making a mental shift in your approach. And that, I think, I can do.

visit weekend #2: eat and drink (and eat and drink some more)!

2008-02-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

Figure 1. champagne rose tasting at wine sellar & brasserie. 6 champagnes, tasted blind, plus the BEST BREAD EVER (and really amazing food too)!

Figure 2. 5 girls glowing from good food, good drink and good company!

Figure 3. sunday night, rooftop bar at the ivy hotel. i really really like this place! pretty bar, pretty view, pretty people. =)

Figure 4. mon, esty and me! are we druuunk yet?

Figure 5. shot!

it was such an awesome food & drink weekend! cafe chloe, neighborhood, chez nous...somehow in between all the eating and drinking, we never quite got around to "fitness day"....hahaha. =) (although we did find time for shopping, hehehe.) i love when E is in SD, and hanging out with these two ladies is always the perfect combination of crazy fun times and solid, real convos about life as we live it. (it was cool hanging out with don too, good man =) a GOOD weekend all in all! =) up next: half dome???

one mouse click away...

2008-02-15T16:14:00.001-08:00

from submitting my first paper! yes, THE paper. THAT paper. that THING that has been the source of endless frustration (occasionally spilling over into bitterness) for the past THREE years of my life. from watching water flow through tubes to fruitless cycles of revisions to going on a personal "strike" until the paper was finished...i cannot even describe how difficult and insurmountable of a task it has been to get to this point. nor how incredible it feels to actually reach it!

(i clicked it! it's official!)**

Anything is Possible! (maybe even a phd!)

**in all likelihood, the paper will come back with major or minor revisions needed, and this whole cycle of revisions will start over, so this is by no means over. but for today, this is a big big BIG deal. =D

it's prime visiting season in SD!

2008-02-11T22:26:00.001-08:00

Figure 1. Friday night! Wen-Lin and Kathy looking fresh after shot #1 at belo. friendly people, good music, nice space = classy joint and fuuun times! I highly recommend.

Figure 2. Saturday afternoon, wine-tasting in the barrel room of Leonesse Winery in Temecula. riesling = yum, oyster crackers = AMAZING.

Figure 3. Saturday night at Bar West. It's crazy to look around this place and see the old Margarita Rocks with the same floor layout but with a whole different feel. It got waaay crowded though (obviously after this picture was taken...haha).

Figure 4. Sunday afternoon at La Jolla Cove for some seal-watching and brunch-eating. beautiful beautiful beautiful beautiful...I'd be so jealous if I didn't already live here.

And so much more! pedicures, carne asada fries, cafe chloe, boys boys boys...;) A weekend full of good food and good friends. =) Thanks for visiting, Kathy! Here's to many more adventures to come...in Alaska!

I Voted

2008-02-05T22:26:00.000-08:00

i got a sticker today! yay hillary got california! but to be honest i'll be really happy to vote for either democratic candidate come november, so it's a win-win for me. =) it's just so awesome to see people so energized! Super Tuesday indeed.

and i find it incredibly exciting that "Asian" is now considered a voting contingent in california (75% for hillary, according to cnn). it's about time we got some recognition, alongside the White, Black, and Latino vote!

birthday boy!

2008-02-04T15:05:00.000-08:00

yay eli manning!

2008-02-03T23:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it!!! What a great 4th quarter! What an incredible win by the Giants! Eli Manning had some great drives through the whole game...but none as gorgeous as those last 2 minutes when he had to get down that entire field and score that touchdown... and he DID IT! craziness! (And how great was it to see Peyton cheering him on?? Can these two please do some more commercials together?)

I have to admit, after an entire season of rooting passionately against Tom Brady and the Patriots, I really felt bad for them today... it must be so heartbreaking to have the "perfect season" slip away like that, and I don't get the satisfaction that I thought I would from seeing them go down. But to be fair, this season was never really perfect- there were close calls and games where they did not play well- and this time, they just didn't have it in the end.

Like the announcers said at some point in the pre-game stuff, this is what's so great about football- it's not about legacies or what you've done in the past, it's about what you do today. And today the NY Giants won the SuperBowl!

Overall this football season has been NUTS. Is it just because I've been paying more attention this year, or has this season been one of the most exciting and unpredictable ever, both for college and pro? What a great sport. =) BIG smile.

alternative restaurant week

2008-02-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

San Diego Restaurant Week was this past week, but since these fancy 3-course meals still go for $30 or $40 a pop (per person, before tax and tip), Menzies and I decided to forgo this year's selection and do our own alternative restaurant week, spreading the fooding funds over several nights. =)

1. Phuong Trang, a low-key Vietnamese-Chinese place located in a ghetto-looking strip mall next to a Boxing Club. I just wonder, why both Vietnamese and Chinese? It's an odd mix, with a Chinese restaurant decor but Vietnamese pho-style efficiency.
First course: egg rolls! fried deliciousness wrapped in romaine lettuce, with cilantro and mint, dipped in a sweet and sour sauce. YUM. Even better than the egg rolls at Pho T Cali, due to higher quality egg roll skin.
Second course: pho, with everything on it. But ehh...the broth was only okay, with not much depth of flavor. The meat was fatty! Yuck.
Price: was right. Think typical pho prices. Yay!
Overall: I would go again, but would definitely try something besides the pho. Who knows, maybe their Chinese cuisine is good. Heh.

2. Kous Kous Moroccan Bistro, located below street level with validated free parking and a very nicely decorated interior. Menzies and I were celebrating our anniversary so they seated us in a secluded corner with cushioned benches, lots of pillows, and candlelight.
Drinks: sangria. good, not too sweet, and a good deal if you get the pitcher.
First course: pita bread with 4 spreads- eggplant, potato salad, tomato and bell pepper, and carrot. These were SO good with the hot pita bread, and spread portions were generous.
Second course: lamb shank tagine (for Menzies), and sea bass with shrimp in sharmoulah sauce (for me). Both dishes were great! The lamb was falling off the bone, and it notably lacked the stink that usually keeps me away from lamb meat. This dish actually turned me back on to lamb after a 1.5-yr lamb fast. The seafood sharmoulah special had a stronger flavor (very tomato-garlicky and a little sour) and very generous portion size, but a heftier price tag ($25). Cous cous side was delicious, warm and fluffy and satisfying.
Price: Be prepared to spend some money.
Overall: Great ambiance and food for special occasions. Yummy "exotic" flavors that tantalize but don't overpower.

3. Hodad's, a hippie/surfer burger joint with picnic bench seating, license plates on the walls and loud music in Ocean Beach. You walk in, grab some menus, and find a place to sit.
Drinks: Chocolate milkshake topped with a scoop of chocolate ice cream. yum yum yum
First Course: Onion rings. These hit the spot. Surprisingly not too greasy!
Second Course: Single Cheeseburger. As far as burgers go, this was pretty good but didn't blow my mind or anything. The meat was not particularly juicy and it was way heavy on the onion. The potato wedge fries were awesome, with a nice curly-fry seasoning.
Price: Very reasonable. Good cheap eats. Very filling.
Overall: Nice place to go if you're in the neighborhood, but not quite enough to motivate the 20-minute drive from home. Okay burgers, GREAT sides.

new year, new tag line

2008-02-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

So! In keeping with my new year’s resolution, I’ve decided to refrain from any more blog-whining about grad school (although it’s bound to sneak in every now and then). Instead, I’ve been trying to reconnect with San Diego and what drew me to this city to begin with. =)

Coming up: more outdoorsy activities, more san diego eats, and more good times with good friends. =)

2007 --> 2008

2008-01-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

Coming back home and seeing where everyone is in life (married, working, buying houses, etc) always makes me question whether I made the right choice going to grad school. I don't think I really knew what I was getting into when I signed up for a PhD program (I probably should've read more PHD comics). I thought I just had to like running experiments (which I still do, THANK GOD), but it's turned out to be much more than that. It's more about the politics to gain the support, resources, and time to do the work you want to do, rather than the actual process of doing the work itself (which is also not trivial). It's a privilege to get to work on something you are really interested in, and even if you have finally carved out that space, you still have to fight for the time to work on it (amidst other distractions) and for the acceptance from others in the field. Meanwhile, you put off your personal life and pinch pennies, in hopes that it will all pay off when you finally get your degree and finally get your life started. Is it worth it? I SURE HOPE SO. But I'm starting to get this feeling that the "real world" operates in a very similar manner.

2007 was a good growing year for me, one of those build-you-up and beat-you-down years. This winter vacation has been a good time to refresh and recharge for a new start. 2008 is going to be the hardest year yet I think, but what is there to do but plunge in and get started?

new year's resolution: to stay positive and keep going.

2007-12-31T17:02:00.000-08:00

from ger:

"we learned an important lesson today... to never have a shave in london."

heeheee. (guess what movie we just saw.)

i'm home!

2007-12-22T17:27:00.000-08:00

in san jose until january 4. the next two weeks will be a mishmash of seeing friends, working, spending time with family, exercising (hopefully), and RESTING. one thing that will not be happening (anymore): consumption of alcoholic drinks of any kind. i've had quite enough of that. more than enough. UGG.

the last few months have been really discouraging in terms of research. lots of disappointments, one after another, and of course we can't forget the endlessly frustrating paper-submitting process. it's been tough not to let it get my spirits down, and i've really had to learn how to detach my sense of self-worth (so to speak) from how things are going at work. nevertheless, i'm still here, still chugging along, and every little step is still a step closer to the goal.

bust it

2007-12-04T22:45:00.000-08:00

2.5 weeks until i go home for christmas break! lots to do before then. gotta bust it. does this mean i actually have to get to school before 10am every day?? dangit...

i've been dragging myself through my days in a zombie-like state lately... i don't know if it's lack of sleep or lack of motivation. either way, it's ssoo tempting to just auto-pilot the next couple of weeks. but no. i must live in the present. i must be productive.

i fell asleep in savasana (the last resting pose in yoga where you're lying on the ground) on monday. they say savasana is supposed to be better than sleep, but i gotta say, that little nap was feeling prettty good...right up until the moment when i was jolted awake by the instructor's voice. but yeah...i can just see myself falling asleep and staying there while the rest of the class starts rolling up their mats and getting up to leave...not good.

time for bed.

currently listening to: gravity by sara bareilles (loving this song, thanks mon!)

self(ish) revelations

2007-11-18T14:33:00.001-08:00

this weekend i came home to assume the role of mini-mom while my parents were away in LA. this included feeding my cousins and sister for a meal, going to my uncle's house, judging at a speech & debate tournament, revising my cousin's college essays, and giving my sister rides to and from various destinations throughout the weekend. while it was really great to see ger and help out and hang out in the bay area, there was some part of me that was very resistant to following a rigid weekend schedule dictated by the needs and desires of others. does this make me a selfish person? maybe (or maybe just not ready for motherhood). one thing's for sure - i appreciate my independence and my alone time that much more, and i do not intend to squander it away. there will come a time in my adult life when i will be lucky to squeeze out precious minutes of a day to myself; for now, i should do everything i can to make the most of what alone time i do have (even if that includes actually carving time out for myself).

i have recently come to a similar revelation about grad school. as grad students, we are lucky to be working on things and studying fields that we are actually even marginally passionate about. there are lots of people, young and old, who don't get that privilege, and we may someday find ourselves trapped in a similar state. so while we are working on things that we presumably care about, we should stop stalling and complaining and just hop to it. who cares if we're overworked and underpaid? (actually, i do. but that's a separate blog entry.) so...that has been the basis of my shift in attitude and hopefully it'll bring a surge of productivity and progress that i so need right now.

that's it. this was a good weekend. big thanks to esty and tanya for nourishment, and as always, for the understanding, advice, and perspective. =) and to ger, the most spoiled but down-to-earth sister ever- thanks for a great weekend! hang in there kiddo. it gets better.

sunny gets into xmas

2007-11-12T14:34:00.001-08:00

i've been getting into the christmas/holiday spirit lately! we got a christmas tree and made ornaments and put up lights and everything! san diego has also been nice and cold (low 60s...even though it's 75 degrees today...booo). anyhow, i love the holidays! i'll be going home next weekend to start the thanksgiving feasting festivities...=)

grizzly bear notice

2007-09-20T20:41:00.001-07:00

heheee =)

volume control

2007-09-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

near the end of a string of emails between Bob (my boss), Won (a post-doc) and myself unsuccessfully trying to to schedule a meeting with a potential collaborator...

B: ...how about today at 4pm?
W: works for me
J: sorry i'm out of town this week. =(
B: sorry, i see you on the [vacation calendar] schedule now...was wondering why things were a bit quiet. tuesday?
W (to me): are you normally loud? :)

hahaa this makes me laugh...hints of the long-standing joke about my volume control issues, from a new source.

but i really do keep it toned down in the office!

fall

2007-09-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

ahh the end of summer... i don't know what it is that afflicts me, but i have just needed to get out of my routine and out of san diego. nothing really wrong in san diego...just me. i suspect it's related to by lab environment and boss, but i can't pinpoint it really. there's just a malcontentedness that i need to chase out of my system.

so i've been chasing. for the past 1.5 weeks i've been chasing it with coffee, friends, running and yoga, shorter workdays...i.e. my go-to pick-me-uppers. but i've remained moody and irritable and have started suffering from this weird insomnia. so now i'm in san jose for the week, having spent the weekend with two of my favorite gals, with plans to get a facial, to shop, to read for leisure, and to figure out how to snap out of it. in other words, the list of heavy-lifter pick-me-uppers...

i'm moving to a new apartment in october, i'm actually in decent shape, i had one of the most productive summers of my life... things are good. things are good. things are good.

google play

2007-09-17T21:15:00.001-07:00

there is something extremely captivating about the new google play website, which is basically just a slideshow of photos recently uploaded to blogs. there's definitely a voyeuristic, almost guilty-pleasure-esque feeling of peeking into people's lives, with pictures of kids and friends and shots of normal life. but there's more! art and postcards and screenshots in other languages and of other worlds... i've been watching it all for almost an hour...

summer days

2007-08-19T17:19:00.000-07:00

this summer has been a haze and a blur...weekdays have been consumed by lab and work, with the only highlights being so you think you can dance and the occasional yoga class and run home from campus. weekends are a combination of brunching, (attempted) surfing, erranding, cooking meals for the week, and labbing. and while i am running in place, completely absorbed and overwhelmed by my daily monotony, friends are here and there, traveling everywhere, always moving somewhere and looking ahead. i'm too busy to be idle and yet i wonder if i'm missing out on something.

at work i've been learning how to manage others and how to manage myself. it's more difficult than i would have thought. how do you motivate others when you have trouble motivating yourself? how much is work ethic and goal-setting a personal matter and how much is it a matter of professional development that can be demanded by supervisors, or taught by mentors?

the summer is almost over... just gotta keep on swimming.

unproductivity

2007-06-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

hmm what to do with a weekend to myself? let's see...i have tons of work to do....a paper draft to finish this weekend, a SOP to write and papers to read for an upcoming trip to chicago on tuesday, a presentation to make for lab retreat on thursday...

so of course i "buckle down" and get started...ha.

first order of business: check every blog i know and read my glamour magazine

second: 4 loads of laundry. while watching scrubs dvds. episodes 1-12.

ack! what is wrong with me!!

falling slowly

2007-06-06T23:25:00.000-07:00

i don't know you
but i want you
all the more for that
words fall through me
and always fool me
and i can't react
and games that never amount
to more than they're meant
will play themselves out

once was so good! simple and endearing, all about little moments and a real connection between two people who are right for each other, not in the typical romantic way, but in the way of meeting each other at the right time and being just what the other person needs and setting each other on the right course... and to top it all off, all told in emo folk-rock. =)

see the ny times review for a better description. =)

frustrations

2007-06-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

this past month or so has been tough. i have been struggling with the feeling of being trapped - in a grad program that affords me little freedom, in a life that's not moving forward - leaving me to watch as so many others seem to be moving on to the next phase of life...buying houses, getting married, getting new jobs, going back to school, getting out of school...

i have also been sick. not continuously, but repeatedly, which frustrates me to no end.

this blog entry is not meant to be a complaint. i am and will be okay, and i am not quitting grad school or doing anything drastic like that. i signed up for this, so here i am, and i realize that this is all part of the process. i just wish that i could regain that sense of control i had back in college, when the amount of payoff actually related to the amount of effort and time you poured into something.

people warn me against becoming too bitter too early. it's dangerous.

i just need to find something else to focus on again. maybe running...? according to menzies, i was a happy and goal-oriented person when i was training for my first marathon...

cindy and chris

2007-05-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

pictures from the wedding!

i think what made cindy and chris' wedding so perfect was that it totally reflected the two of them, their personalities and their sense of humor and their love for one another. everything from the groomsmen marching down the aisle to the indiana jones theme, to cindy strapping on a guitar at the altar and singing her vows, to the toasts and songs and slideshow at the reception...the whole day was musical and personal and funny (and super well-organized without feeling forced, an accomplishment in itself). cindy and chris and their relationship were laid open for everyone to see what they are all about, which seems like it would be hard to do in front of 400+ people but felt so natural and so right and is really what a wedding should be. these days with big weddings it's so easy to get lost in all the hullabaloo and get caught up in looking pretty and showing off and all that image/status stuff. it's inspiring to attend a big wedding that incorporates all the "right things" but easily bypasses all that silly showcasing and remains true to the two people getting married. cindy and chris are just the people to pull it off, in a beautiful wedding marking an auspicious beginning to a wonderful and happy life together, i'm sure. =)

dining out excessively

2007-04-16T00:32:00.000-07:00

i have eaten out every night this past week. this is insane and is definitely a departure from the norm. i need to get back into the groove of cooking at home again!!

here's my list of dinner places & associated excuses for the past week:

sunday - souplantation (salad and soup buffet) - had just driven back from vegas and was hungry and tired
monday - sushi on the rock (japanese) - was taking a prospective student out to dinner
tuesday - tofu house (korean) - had dinner with wen-lin and wen-ting
wednesday - nozomi's (japanese) - menzies wanted something quick before going back to lab
thursday - red robin (burgers) - had not eaten lunch and was incredibly hungry
friday - toshi san (japanese) - had dinner with lisa and erik
saturday - cafe zucchero (italian) - had dinner with lisa and erik in little italy downtown
sunday - raphaela's (italian) - farewell dinner for joe

insane! lessons learned? (1) eat lunch. (2) go grocery shopping early in the week. (3) food is a social medium and enjoying a yummy dinner with friends is the best, so learn to order smart and stop eating ~halfway through your plate.

number of time i've been to yogurt world this past week: 2
new favorite yogurt world combination: vanilla custard with strawberry, coconut and almond roca topping. YUM.

no more eating out!! i've had my fix.

pictorios

2007-04-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

pictures from the past 4 weekends can be found at my (new) picasa albums!

03.24-03.25 - in san jose with the family, sonoma with the girls

03.30-04.01 - happy hour at cafe japengo, brunch, sd wild animal park

04.06-04.08 - vegas birthday bash

04.13-0.4.15 - lisa&erik visiting sd

if anyone is wondering, i switched from flickr to picasa because it's just so much easier to use. you can upload all your pictures directly from iphoto, and picasa itself has a much more intuitive interface for organizing your photos into albums and choosing the order of pictures, captioning etc. plus, i have a real problem with the way flickr just slaps all your photos into one continuous disorganized stream with only 3 albums unless you upgrade to pro...boo. ridiculous.

anyway, that's all. hopefully there will be some kind of real post coming soon. =)

vegas

2007-04-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

nothing like a weekend of debauchery to ring in our birthdays together! =) thanks for a fantastic weekend ladies! see more pics at the flickr album here.

vegas is like the ultimate indulgence. you can drink and eat anything you want, party all night long, gamble all day while getting free drinks, shop at incredibly high-end stores, see ridiculously elaborate shows...basically do whatever your heart desires. but hanging out with a group of beautiful ladies who also happen to be great friends is the best part of all (awwwwww)!

to the next quarter of a century~!

twentyfive

2007-04-02T01:22:00.000-07:00

i had a perfect birthday and birthday weekend. =) thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes in person and through email, phone, and texts! thanks for coming out to celebrate with me! i can only hope that everyone can feel as special and loved on their birthday as i did on mine. =)

one more thing: happy birthday ger!! go get that driver's license. =)

H2O --> tubes

2007-03-21T00:25:00.000-07:00

disappointment is working your butt off for months on end motivated solely by the thought of finishing, only to see it snatched away just when you think it's all about to pay off, forcing you to start from the beginning.

bitterness is the feeling that develops when you spend enough interminable days watching water flow through tubes with no end in sight, after you thought you would never have to do it again.

nobody is more aware than i am of the irony associated with all the recognition i'm getting for a project i'm not truly interested in and a poster i'm certainly not proud of. i don't want to sound ungrateful, because i do feel honored by these prizes, and they may just be what's making all this tube-watching bearable. but if i ever wanted proof that i have to actually like what i'm doing in order to be happy, regardless of how much attention i'm getting for it, i now have it.

this is probably one of the most negative blog posts i've written...it'll be okay. i just needed an outlet for my venting.

grad school = reaching deep down to find motivation to overcome the inevitable lapses into disappointment and bitterness that will occur over the course of 5+ years of research

30-60-90

2007-03-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

this is news to me, but apparently we are all supposed to be exercising every day for at least half an hour!

according to the us dept of health and human services,
30 min/day is required just to get the health benefits of exercise (i.e. reduce risk of chronic disease).
60 min/day is required to manage body weight and prevent gradual weight gain in adulthood.
90 min/day is required to sustain weight loss in adulthood.

90 minutes a day?? that's craziness. does anyone actually do this? that is, besides people who actually get paid to play sports and/or look hot and thus get ridiculed and shamed if they don't?

okay so my new self-project is, from now until the end of march, to try to engage in some kind of physical activity for at least 30 minutes (preferably 60) every single day. why? mostly because i like to set goals to test my self-discipline (and also for the novelty). besides, this can only be good for me, right? the other motive comes from my inner skeptic. is it really possible to exercise every day and not lose weight?? i'll bet if i exercise 30-60 minutes every day for the next 3 weeks, i'll drop at least 5 pounds (i hope i'm not jinxing myself by saying that).

next step: firing up google spreadsheets to keep a record of daily physical activity and occasional weigh-ins. yes, i am aware that diet is an important part of all this, but i am not planning on writing down everything i eat. i plan on just eating "normally" whatever that means. if all the exercising makes me hungrier, then maybe i'll eat more, but i'll try to keep it reasonable. (it's a good thing yogurt world is so far away...)

wish me luck!

my new obsession

2007-03-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

yogurt world!! haha okay so the name is a little hokey but there's something about that combination of frozen tart yogurt and the fresh fruit toppings that i can't resist. =) i think i've found my new boba....

their setup is simple- you walk in and pick up a cup, fill it up with whatever flavor yogurt and toppings you want, and then pay by weight (38 cents per ounce). they have the pinkberry-style plain tart and green tea and additional mango and peach tart flavors, but they also have the more traditional, sweet creamy style flavors, including cookies and cream, toffee, raspberry, etc. then for toppings, they have real fresh fruit, including strawberry, blueberries, blackberries, kiwi, mango, raspberries, lychee...SO good with the plain tart yogurt. if only they had mochi toppings...

in my obsessive state, i've taken the liberty of searching online for recipes...haha yes i'm a freak. i've always liked plain yogurt with fruit and granola anyway, so i was just curious about how the sour frozen yogurt is made. both of these recipes are off of comments on colleencuisine.blogspot.com, where people seem to be very passionately arguing about pinkberry's shady copycat business practices. for what it's worth, the managers/owners of yogurt world seem nice. =) they were at least smart enough to open in san diego (in a GREAT location next to tofu house on convoy) instead of LA where the yogurt market seems a little oversaturated.

recipe 1:
whipping cream - 150ml
plain yogurt - 200ml
milk - 100ml
honey - 5 Tb
lemon Juice - 5 Tb

1. Whip the whipping cream to a consistency where you can start to see the stroke marks of the whisk and slowly disappear

2. Add plain yogurt and the rest of the ingredients

3. Put the mixture into a container, then in the freezer

4. Every 30 minutes, give it a scrape-down to aerate it. They say the more you scrape it, the smoother it becomes.

5. Enjoy it plain or with toppings of your choice.

recipe 2:
1) 10 oz. Non-Fat Plain Yogurt
2) 2 oz. Fresh Green Apple Juice(Granny Smith Apple)
3) 2 1/2 oz. Non-Fat Milk
4) 2 oz. of Granulated Sugar

not dead

2007-02-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

well here goes again...every time this blog is on its last breath, i come in and try to resuscitate it...so here i am again! let's try to get this thing started one more time...

life has been crazy. CRAZY. and as someone who used to be invigorated by a busy schedule, i have to say i must be getting old or something...i can't handle this kind of nonstop action anymore!

my podium presentation at the big orthopedics conference went over well! everything came out like i practiced and it was actually worth all the stress and sleep deprivation! my prof seemed really happy and proud afterwards, and it was such a high that it really did boost my confidence and make me feel like a real grad student.

right after the conference i was sent to chicago on a whirlwind 2-day trip during which i got to have shabu shabu for the first time (yum) and learn lab techniques (yay). immediately upon my return i had a poster at the ucsd engineering research expo where i won a best poster prize of $250! all in all very exciting. =)

so now, finally, i have some time to unwind and recover from all the excitement and try to regain my sanity. after many hours of sleep and cleaning and errands to try to get back on track, i'm starting to feel like myself again. not to sound ungrateful or anything for all the great stuff that's happened in the past few weeks, but sometimes i really am just a boring girl longing for some quiet domesticity.

two thousand seven

2007-01-06T23:20:00.000-08:00

hello dearies, and happy new year!

i had a lovely winter break, and am ready to get going on the new year (albeit a week late, hehe).

it's inspiring to see so many people making resolutions! as for myself...hmm i really feel that this next year is going to be a really good one. =) i feel it in me bones. i think it's going to be a year that i have to invest a lot of time and energy into, but i really feel that the rewards will be great. =)

my first resolution this year is to develop an independent work ethic. recently i have found myself basing my attitude towards work on the perceived work ethic of the people around me- for example, getting really mad when i had to work while menzies would play or sleep, or feeling guilty when people in lab were working longer hours than i was, etc. i need to understand that my work is my work and nobody else's, so my motivation to complete it should come from within.

my second resolution is the long-standing "be healthy, don't be a slug" credo that shows up on this list every year. self-explanatory. i've done an okay job this year with the exercise, but the eating has been a little irregular. what i need is consistency, consistency, consistency. and no more silly resolutions about giving up coffee. let's be realistic here.

my third (and last) resolution is to make more effort to stay in touch with my family and friends. it's pretty appalling how bad i am at this, considering how much i love these people and how important they are to me. for some reason, writing letters/emails and making phone calls always gets pushed back because there's no scheduled time or deadline associated with it. but it shouldn't take external pressure for me to make the effort, because I would really like nothing better than to stay all up on everybody's business. ;)

so 2007 is all about motivation for me - being driven internally and independently by the right forces. i need to correct what i'm motivated by in the short-term so that it lines up with my actual long-term priorities. it's quite a change and it'll be hard. but change only gets harder as we get older (and i'm certainly not getting any younger)!

as i say every year...no day but today!

FashionistaDeals.com blog launch!

2006-12-26T01:28:00.000-08:00

this is something i've been thinking about doing....kind of like a slickdeals.net exclusively for fashion. to test the idea i'm starting with an experimental blog phase with my partners in crime - menzies, monica, and karen. =)

check it out!

http://fashionistadeals.blogspot.com/

deals? comments? suggestions? lemme know!

(i'm off to tahoe for a couple of days of snowboarding! be back on the 28th!)

merry christmas!

2006-12-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

feels good to be home and to hang out with friends and family. =) very restorative.

hope everyone is having a good holiday!

macbookblack

2006-12-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

i have officially migrated over to my new macbook black! fully equipped with core 2 duo processor, 2 gb RAM, 120 gb hard drive. 13.1" widescreen, magnetic power cord...the works! so far, i love it. i'm a little clumsy with it, but it's just sso pretttyyy. =)

have i become a mac user?? well....i'm still definitely going to install windows on it. i love the aesthetics of the apples but i'm still a pragmatist...i need this laptop to be a workhorse (i'm writing my thesis on it after all)! SO...windows for some lab data analysis stuff, and probably future work-related stuff too.

software:
iwork
office:mac
adobe creative suite (including photoshop, illustrator, acrobat)
windows
parallels (to run windows)

other stuff:
protective sleeve
applecare 3yr protection plan

anything else??

VAIL = amazing

2006-12-10T18:55:00.000-08:00

vail was awesome!!!! =) =) amazing skiing, good bars and cheap food around town, friendly folk, incredible lodging!

above all: the skiing. the runs on vail mountain are sooo good! there are so many great runs that you can ski for three whole days and do a different run every time! not only are the slopes wide and steep and well-groomed, but they also feel virtually empty! you can ski without any worries about running over or being run over by anyone, which is HUGE. usually i try a few different lifts and end up settling on the 1-2 that i like for the rest of the day. not at vail! at vail every new run you try is better than the last, which makes you want to try a new run every time you go up! you get to ski through trees, you get to carve your own S's...you get to feel like you're improving with every run you take. it's amazing and incredible and i totally recommend it.

our typical schedule:
7:30am - wake up
8:30am - get free coffee from hotel lobby and go to joe's for breakfast burritos!
9:00am - get skis from ski check area and head up to the slopes!
9:00-1:00pm - do warm-up runs on a green run, ski a bunch of blue runs, go to the back bowls for 1 or 2 powder-y black runs until quads BURNN...
1:00pm - eat a $5 soup and $3 coffee for lunch. expensive? yes, but worth it!
2:00-3:25pm - more skiing!
3:30pm - get on last lift of the day to top of mountain and ski down!
4:00pm - free hot cocoa (w/ marshmallows) and apple cider (w/ cinnamon sticks) and cookies!
5:00pm - hot tub & hot shower
6:00pm - massage/stretch sore legs and watch tv
7:00pm - go into town in search for foooood (and beer)
9:00pm - back to hotel!
10:00pm - sleeeeep in nice comfy bed. =)

2006-12-02T01:06:00.000-08:00

i usually don't like to complain too much, especially because i know there are always other people who work harder and get less sleep than i do, but i gotta say... i. am. tired.

i need this next week of vacation really badly.

good luck on finals/labwork/projects everyone. i'm outta here!

just...one more assignment to finish...