Si se puede

Yes, we can.

So Halloween was fun, classes are still going great guns, I went to a faculty-student reception on Oct. 30 and caught up with my advisor and met the (really nice!) organic chemistry professor, my paper-writing skills appear to still be functioning, canvassing in Nashua for Obama was a bit scary at first but really good. I'm an official Biology "field of study" person now, which is sort of like having a major. I stayed up way too late watching election results, then scrambled while sleep-deprived and strung out to get my stem cells assignment written and turned in Wed., prepped for the two brain classes Thursday, oldest had a kitchen accident Thursday night while I was still in lecture & I took her to the emergency room (which fortunately is right at the end of the street where the apartment is, we were there in minutes and she was seen quickly and got her finger stitched up and she's fine), and I went to see a play last night.

The play involved fake chemistry and a bear, but mostly the toppling of Ceaucescu. It was okay.

The election... is still sinking in. I'm tearful, and hopeful, and feeling like the country is waking from a long nightmare into rationality. This administration has brayed for 8 years now that my opinions are un-American and that staggering incompetence is what I should expect from government, and that the voices of millions and millions of my neighbors deserve contempt when we are acknowledged at all. A resounding majority said, well that's enough of that.

The ballot questions that passed, restricting basic rights for my friends, exasperate me. There is a LOT of work to do--on some things, clearly we haven't made much progress. I remember vividly the snarling hostility of black activists toward gay activists at a student summit I was at, over 20 years ago, in preparation for a massive "teach-in." It got pretty ugly in that room, and those divisions haven't moved in all that time, apparently. I hope the poison and hatred and pain can start, now, to dissipate, and that the country can start finding reasons to work across divisions instead of reinforcing them with concrete.

Peace, all.

too funny

Quick hi, everybody (how the hell did it get to be Thursday again already? sheesh!) - this is too funny not to share. "Vlad and Boris" respond to Sarah Palin being able to see Russia, and they reply in song that yes, they can see her, too...

Beer is good

Ahhhh.

The particular beer I had a while ago, not so much.

Let's see...town elections were today! All the people who had campaign signs in my yard won! Most excellent were K. and D.'s wins - they will be good additions to their boards. Yay! So after molecular biology review session, I went and congratulated K. in person and had some wine and yakked with D. for far too long. D's sister is working for the Clinton campaign and almost literally working her ass off; I told her the question Jon Stewart had for Obama a couple weeks ago: "Are you worried that after election day, at your inauguration, Hilary will still be running?"

I'm pleased that all the primaries matter. But I hated the lead-up to the primaries, and I hate the assinine press coverage of crap nobody seriously believes matters. (end o' rant)

There's a project I really, really want to do, especially now that I'd be teaming up with two people I would so love to work with, and there's a decision happening very soon. I am excited about it. And hopeful. And stuff.

Also staring at a job posting at school: a research assistant position to help maintain and build a neuroscience lab. Gulp. Throat goes dry. It screams, hey! weasel! apply for this! I'm a bit flummoxed. Sigh.

The rat dissection last night was really cool! wow! It was fun! The specimens we had were pre-killed and vacuum sealed in plastic, rather uncomfortably like lunch meat, actually...anyhow, my dead rat had been treated with some dye so that when I cut it open, I saw a bright blue liver. And lungs. WAY cool. (Lab partner dismayed at first that we had no aprons, 'cause he was all dressed up, but there wasn't anything squirting).

A rat uterus is a long band of tissue, not a single compartment - and the bench across from me had a pregnant rat, they discovered! with bumps along the uterus that looked basically like pinkish peas in a pod. It was neat. Itty bitty rat trachea, teeny rat kidney and ureter... interesting.

And thanks, Mel - I can't spell French correctly, either, as you can see. But my accent is pretty good. Lucia, maybe see you at Javaroom, huh?

At last I feel sleepy. Good night!

New and Improved

New and Improved

Okay, I tend to be behind the curve with things. One of dh's indicators that this blogging thing was really going mainstream was that I had one. So I've been hesitating, but Blogger forced my hand, and I'm now using New Improved Blogger. Feh. We'll see. Grumble, grumble.

Happy Darwin's Birthday! I've been hanging around here yakking about politics again. It seems to help a bit.

Anyway, thank you, you guys: Jena and Lucia and delurking Old Round (hi!) and Carla and Lynne and Carole and Erica. Virtual hugs much appreciated. I'm out from under the waves again. I think. Thursday was pretty challenging--I kept bursting into tears all day, and had to teach two classes at the homeschooling coop. By Sunday the weeping and wailing was pretty much limited to while I was driving. Have you seen An Inconvenient Truth? Gore talks about polar bears drowning. They swim in the direction of new ice, and the ice isn't there, and they keep swimming, and eventually they stop from exhaustion and they drown. Thursday was my polar bear day. Thanks for throwing some ice my way.

ADDENDUM! My Secret Pal has been so amazing, supportive, warm, wonderful--I'm grateful beyond words. At last I know who she is: Lorena. Hi, Lorena, and thank you again. Hope to see you this fall sometime.

Some miniscule knitting progress can be seen. DS's gloves are becoming asymptotic for some reason; I don't know why, but I seem to be resisting finishing them at some very deep level. I am infinitely approaching, but never quite reaching, completion of these. Here's where they stand (or lie limp on the kitchen table):


I'm already not charmed by the new Blogger image upload. The html is now much longer and includes "AAAAAAAAAM", which looks very much like I've accidentally leaned on the keyboard. Ah, well. I've wound some new yarn and begun a desultory sweater. It's, um, that really soft yarn that makes me fall over in a dead faint.

Malabrigo. (swoon, thud) JUST ONCE could I remain conscious, do you think?! Holy moly. It is very very nice stuff. Really.

Bustling in that New Improved Functional way: I have finally moved the boxes of Christmas decorations upstairs, ready to go into the attic. I have phoned the snowplow guy, leaving a wheedling message along the lines of, boy I hope you're still plowing after this totally sucky snowless winter, could you please plow us out when the blizzard hits tomorrow night? I found a lost library book, under the driver's seat of my car; the Dracut library will be so pleased. I used my gift certificate to Michael's and discovered that they now sell Paton's wool (suitable for felting!) and that Lion Brand has some new wool, also good for felting (I haven't gone near their yarn section in some time, so this was news to me); I inquired about whether they need a knitting teacher, too, though I don't know if I'm ready to deal to that extent just yet. I have closed out a joint account that had a couple of hundred dollars in it. I am tidying piles of crap, creating a smaller number of piles if not actual orderliness. I have successfully discussed the need for a corrected W-2 for 2006 with dh's employer--new forms on their way, yay. Upcoming: MacMall says they've shipped my new hard drive, so the next major project will be installing it and tranferring and repairing all my damaged files.

Happy Darwin's Birthday, all, keep warm, and thanks for stopping by.