Impending transition

I’m still far from my next big transition (graduation), but I feel like I am on the cusp of a change in mindset; I feel like it is an adjustment for me to transition from a student with a long way to go to one who is wrapping up.

I recently finished one big chunk of my research that will become a chapter in my dissertation (huzzah!). I had been planning it for ages, then working on it off and on for the past 18 months or so, and now the data are collected. One of the things that way always in the future is now at hand. Add that to the manuscript that is in preparation, the lab work for another chapter that is 70% done (see sidebar counter), and the last chapter that was dramatically reduced after my most recent committee meeting, and I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel different preparing for Big Conference next week than I have for conferences in the past. People always ask if I’ll be finishing up soon and I always have to say no. This time, I get to say yes, I expect to be graduating in about a year and yes, I’m starting to think about post docs, will you have one available? I’ve even ordered business cards (I hope they arrive in time) to give out during all the networking I have planned. I feel similarly about the job ads that sail through my inbox every day. Occasionally, I’ll see interesting job listings, but I know I’m too far from finishing to pursue them. That will be changing soon.

It’s a little scary to realize the thing I’ve been doing for the past five years (seven if you count the time I was a tech in my current lab) is coming to a close. I love where I am, so it’s sad to think about leaving. But at the same time, it’s exciting to think about leaving to pursue something new, or even about staying but with a new project in the same lab. I’m really ready to graduate, but apprehensive about the thesis writing and defense process which I know will be stressful given my advisors’ lack of enthusiasm for reviewing my writing. So, while it may seem trivial to think of the last year of grad school as a transition, I think my mindset and even my daily routine will be changing quite a lot. I hope it’s good.

scientiae-carnival.

Kittehs!

We are cat sitting for a friend for the next month. Having been debating getting our own cats for many months, I'm excited to have an opportunity to test drive these ones to learn more about my suspected allergies and low tolerance for hair on the furniture.

Our friend dropped them off on Friday night. They didn't leave the room where he released them, the office (except when he had them in the bathroom to clean off the poo and pee they made and then wallowed in while in the carrier), mostly hiding under the futon. Our friend spent the night on Friday, so they were with him on the futon that night. All day Saturday, they continued to hide in the office. They eventually started to venture out into the rest of our apartment, but if they saw me they'd dart back to safety under the futon.

Until last night.

They decided to come out in the middle of the night. I mandated that they should not be allowed in our bedroom. I figure any allergy problems I might have will only be worse if they sleep on my face and I really don't want all my clean clothes covered in cat hair. But, they were scratching at the door and meowing like crazy. Eventually, EGM went out to sleep on the futon with them (isn't he a peach?). They still meowed like crazy, so he gave up and came back to bed with the door open. They came in and out, roving all around but sill making lots of noise. At one point they even pulled down the curtain (on a tension rod, so not that difficult). So we locked them out again. I'm not sure if they were looking for our friend or were freaked out by bad weather outside. The noise eventually stopped, but it kept us up for much of the night. Today they are resting quietly under the futon. In summary, they keep us up all night and are no fun during the day. Little shits. Still, I'm hoping they'll come around because they are awfully cute.

So I ask: who on earth had the brilliant idea of domesticating a nocturnal animal?


I promise that academic/science posting will resume soon.

Refreshed and sorta tan

I had a great vacation! We were in northwest Florida, halfway between Panama City and Destin. I was sad to leave the beach, but I'm happy to be home and ready to get back to work.

Every day we'd get up, have breakfast, strap on bathing suits and lube up with sunscreen (SPF 15 for my friend, 55 for me) and lounge on the beach till lunch. After lunch we'd go back out till around 5, then come in for showers, snacks and drinks. Most nights we went out to dinner around 8 pm, then came home and went to bed. That's basically my ideal beach vacation. To top it off, I didn't pay for anything other than my plane ticket and part of a fishing trip. Sweeeeet.

I got only a light tan, due in part to liberal application of SPF 55 and to spending time in the shade to avoid an unpleasant rash I get with too much intense sun exposure, but I got it on much more of my skin than I had intended. I had this great bathing suit from a couple of years ago. It was a relatively modest "tankini" that covered my whole midriff. At the last minute when I was packing, I tossed in an old string bikini just in case. Good thing I did, because the first day as I was putting on the good suit, I heard a ripping sound. The elastic was totally shot through the whole thing. I was really not thrilled about wearing the skimpy backup bathing suit in front on my friend's family, but her suit was even skimpier than mine, so I'm sure they didn't care. Actually, that’s the thing with the beach. Everyone is so self-conscious, yet nobody really cares what anybody else looks like. We all need to just get over it.

The swimming wasn’t too great owing to lots of yucky seagrass/algae stuff and an unappealing density of jellyfish, so we mostly sat under umbrellas reading books. I read Lonesome Dove, which is one of the best books I’ve ever read. At nearly 1000 pages, it took me almost the whole week to finish it. Spending that much time in a book that is that well written gets you really attached to the characters; it was really sad at some parts, so the last day on the beach I was trying to stifle sobs as I read. I almost never cry, but this book just got to me. Sigh… In contrast, I read most of a Janet Evanovich mystery (Lean Mean Thirteen) that BFF loaned me for my long waits for flights home. It sucks (although I guess it could turn around at the end). I’ve been hearing people go on and on about how great these Evanovich books are, but I certainly won’t read another.

Well, I’m going to start reading the 213 blog posts that accumulated in my reader last week and take a look at my email. Hopefully they’ll be better than Lean Mean Thirteen and less sad than Lonesome Dove.

I'm off!

I'm going on vacation tomorrow! I'm going to Florida for a week with my BFF and her parents and her gram. Aside from a half-day fishing trip, we'll spend pretty much the whole time laying on the beach. I worked my tail off the last couple of weeks to get lab work wrapped up on one of my projects so that I could vege for a week without guilt*. I came really close, so I feel pretty good about leaving.

I had planned to not even bring my laptop, but now I'm going to. We still don't have tickets to France for EGM's sister's wedding in late August. They are super expensive, so I'm going to wait for EGM to give me the name of the travel agent they sometimes use for work trips who seems to be able to find good deals. Even if that fails, our next credit card billing cycling starts Tuesday, so by waiting four days to buy the tickets, we'll have an extra month to pay for them. Another reason to bring the 'top is so I can email EGM. :)

In other news, once again I dragged my heels writing a post for Scientiae and missed it. It was a great topic too, so check it out. Also, Karina has an interesting post that you should comment on.

Have a great week, everyone!



*Remember this post when I said how Academic Advisor "joked" that I should have my paper submitted before this trip? Well, I've given him two drafts since then. He hasn't looked at them.

Saturday in the lab

I went to work today and got a ton of stuff done. Before gas got so expensive, when I went to the lab on weekends, I used to vacillate between thinking "it's Saturday, I can take lots of breaks" and "I'm spending my Saturday here, I better have something to show for it when I leave". Now when I drive the 35 miles each way to go the lab on weekends, I think, "I better get a shit ton of work done since I'm spending so much money to get here."

Almost no one else in my lab works on weekends. It's nice to be alone there on occasion. I can listen to whatever music I want without offending anyone. Plus I can sing along! And dance a little! I can use all the space and equipment I want without getting in anyone else's way. I can fart. And bonus: I can get away with not wearing my safety glasses when I'm doing stuff that's really, really low risk (but dont' tell anyone).

The only bad thing today was that I got this really weird pain in my foot, like a cramp or pulled muscle or something. It feels like there's a nail being driven into the arch just next to the heel. By the end of the day I couldn't put weight on my heel -- I had to walk on my tip-toes on that foot. I put one of those rice filled heat packs on it when I got home but it still hurts. I'm hoping that a good night's sleep will take care of it.

All alone

Ecogeoman left for Far Off Land this morning. He'll be gone for three weeks, then back for one week, then off to British Columbia for another two weeks (where he'll be in the forest alone. can he not get eaten by a grizzly bear?). He'll be participating in his high school best friend's wedding, renewing his visa, visiting family, and working.

I just hate it when he's gone. I miss him a lot, plus I'm such a homebody. Without someone around, it's possible for me to stay inside all by myself and do nothing for way too long.

Expect lots of blogging, I guess.

Read that paper and then you can have your dinner

I think reading papers goes into the important-but-not-urgent category. Reading lots of papers gets you really immersed in the literature and that, I believe, a good scientist makes. Reading before it's urgent (like for a proposal deadline) means that you ruminate on the ideas and assimilate them into your own work over time.

But it's just so difficult to read papers regularly and well.

To combat this problem and help relieve some guilt, EGM and I decided we're going to read together every night. He's about to go on a whole bunch of travel, so we'll probably start when the fall semester begins. We don't have details worked out -- I think we'll read for an hour an night or something -- but we'll keep each other accountable. Science can't happen on an island. Unless it's funded by the Dharma Initiative.

I used to worry that I might make a poor PI because I get so bogged down with reading and writing. I love lab work. I really enjoy thinking about and discussing science, and I often find it delightful to listen to research summarized in a talk. But reading papers is a chore. I sometimes fret that I'm doomed to be a Ph.D. Technician. However, in another example of how much this blogging community rocks, reading other blogs written by people who seem to be awesome scientists has made me realize that many people have a hard time reading as much as they should. And many people procrastinate, feel inadequate about, or actually dislike writing. So maybe I'm not doomed to failure after all. Thanks, guys.

Getting bigger

Summer has finally arrived 'round these parts, so I dug out some summer clothes stored from last year. It's not pretty, folks. I have to face an undeniable reality that my loose and stretchy winter sweaters let me ignore: I have gained weight.

I have been about the same weight my whole adult life. I might edge up a little over winter and then slim down a smidge in summer, but I until recently I could still fit some clothes from high school. Lately, however, I've been feeling like my good jeans are uncomfortable and my loose jeans have become good jeans. Ugh.

Last January, I had this idea that I would do video Pilates workouts every day. I wanted to observe if it impacted my physique, so like a good scientist I took my measurements as a baseline (the Pilates didn't produce measurable changes in four months' time). The other day I found the paper where I recorded those measurements, so I busted out the measuring tape to do a comparison. Whoa. I increased more than 2 inches everywhere but my bust (why isn't it ever in the bust first?).

I don't own a scale, so I have no idea how much I've gained. But the extra needs to go. I have had enough warning from observing the weight gain and subsequent dieting of a mom and four sisters to know what can happen if I blow it off. Not healthy.

I feel conflicted writing this post on this blog. It feels very anti-feminist to be fretting about a little weight gain. I don't think women need to be super slim to be successful or worthwhile. Also, I kinda feel like an ass for complaining about a few pounds after years of stable weight when so many people I know, probably including some readers, have fought their weight forever. So why do I care about a few extra pounds? Partly, I don't want to have to buy new clothes in a bigger size. Partly, I feel uncomfortable in a body that somehow feels less limber and lithe. Partly, I don't want my weight to get out of control so I develop knee problems like my mom. Partly, I feel like if my body was the same weight for so long, it was probably a healthy weight. And partly, I'm a little vain.

So, I'm going to start getting more exercise each day. The weather is good now so I can walk or jog outside. And I'll be more observant of WW points. EGM has been doing Weight Watchers for almost a year now but doesn't really count points. I think we should get back into that habit. I think what I'm noticing is the decreasing metabolism with age, because I don't feel like there has been a big change in my habits. Although clever readers may note that it is odd that this is coincident with adding chicken back into my diet in January.

Shuffle meme

All the cool kids are doing this meme, but I've been resisting because I don't have an iPod. I broke down today when CAE specifically tagged me to do it. I figured I could make do by leafing through my old-school travel cd case to list the 25 songs I've listened to the most lately. Unfortunately, I pretty much only listen to 2 or 3 cds, so I tired to come up with songs I really like even if they're not in regular rotation. Even that didn't get me to 25, so I took a trip down memory lane to fill in the list with favorite songs from throughout my life. I think I need to cut back on the NPR.

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through when someone gets them right.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING.


Bonus points if you can pick out the two songs from the cds I have on repeat. More bonus points if you can identify what was my first favorite song.

1. Someday mother will die and I’ll get the money
2. When you grow up livin’ like a good boy outta
3. This is the beat that make you shake your rump
That make your booty go ba-bump, ba-bump
It’s that beat that make ya bump ya bump (ohh)
4. I’m wearing
fur pajamas
5. Ground control to Major Tom
6. Drop your glasses, shake your asses
7. All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
8. Hello darkness my old friend
9. You never give me your money
10. Sunshine came softly a-through my window today
11. The queen of light took her bow and then she turned to go
12. I want you to know that I’m happy for you
13. Reluctantly crouched at the starting line
14. She keeps moet et chandon in her pretty cabinet
15. Sitting on a park bench eyeing little girls with bad intent
16. I was lying in the grass on Sunday morning of last week indulging in my self defeats
17. Alcohol on my hands I got plans to ditch myself and get outside
Dancing women
Throwing plates
Decapitating their laughing dates
Swirling chickens caught in flight
Out of focus
Much too bright
Coming down
Shiny teeth
Game show suckers trying to bleed
But I got a drug and I got the bug
And I got something better than love
18. We’ve come a long long way together
19. You’ve got to trust your instinct and let go of regret
Youve got to bet on yourself now star
cause thats your best bet
Watch me now with a wicked and wild and I said
We come with the funky style
That gets us known for the show
And well mix the hip hop reggae if we say it is so
And fuck the naysayers cause they dont mean a thingcause this is what style we bring
20. Good mornin’ ladies and gentlemen, boys and motherfuckin’ girls
21. Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise
22. At home, drawing pictures of mountain tops
23. 6 o’clock already? I was just in the middle of a dream
24. On the first part of the journey I was looking at all the life
25. Early in the mornin’. risin’ to the street. Light me up that cigarette and I’ll strap shoes on my feet

Vacation Part 2 -or- Carrot

I went on vacation the day after I took my oral candidacy exam. I hadn't realized just how tense I had been while preparing for the exam; I've never felt such an obvious release of tension. Even though the trip was to Gatlinburg, TN with my whole 28-member family (including two infants), it was blissful.

When I told Academic Advisor about my July vacation plans, he half-joked that I better have my paper submitted before then. I thought about it a little and decided that it's a really good goal. By the time we go through a few more iterations, we probably will be entering summer. It would be positively glorious to lie on the beach with a beer knowing that the paper is off my desk.

Yes, that's the goal. That's a big juicy carrot dangling on a stick. I'm gonna kick that paper's ass.

Inept

I got my haircut tonight. Yay for eliminating the cute cut that turned into a mullet as it grew out.

I am so awkward in situations like haircuts. I'm stuck with this person who wants to make small talk for 30-45 mins and I just don't have shit to say. My stylist is very nice and seems very interesting, but 30 min every 3 months is just not going to make us BFFs (of course I know that this is part of her job and she doesn't want to be my BFF either). She tried really hard to ask about my work, but I just couldn't be bothered to talk about it. What I do is just too weird to try to explain to someone with no background when I'm that distracted. Plus I'm much more interested in what it's like to do her job. So after an awkward moment after the third or fourth question about work, I giggled and joked that it was classified and said I didn't really want to talk about it. Then I asked her stuff like, "do people want to cut off all their hair this time of year?" or "Do people think their hair is so awesome that they can pull off ridiculous haircuts?" That got her telling me stories about crazy customers which was much better than me droning on about my research.

And I wonder, do stylists take notes about you after you leave? Seriously, I've been to this woman once before back in January and then took my sister to her in February. She remembered what I do, where I work, where I'm from, etc. It's impressive.

Treat

In light of yesterday's news, the wonderful email I got today from Research Advisor telling me how she nominated me for the award*, and how I rocked out at work today**, I decided I should get a little treat. In fact, I got myself the treat of all treats: I had ice cream for dinner. Actually, it was a chocolate malt from 31 Flavors. YUM.

*I feel I should seriously savor this because it's not too often that you get praise in this business. I'm sharing it with you not to brag, but because I think it's unfair when people want you to listen to all the bad things that happen but then don't share the good things. And this is "The Happy Scientist", after all :)
** I got back on track with the paper rewrite. I really focused on it this morning and made some headway reorganizing the discussion. I Then spent the afternoon in the lab and it was going so well that I decided to stay to do more samples. I feel really good about my progress today, which is much more than I can say for any other day this week.

I can't believe it!

Today I found out that I received an award. I was totally surpised and very, very pleased. The award is related to a fellowship I have from an external organization that's part of a program designed for students researching a particular problem. Each year, they give a special honor to one fellow who best utilizes the opportunities offered by the program and does good work. In addition to the honor (and the line on the CV), the honored fellow gets a little extra money. Woo-hoo!

Is your inner monologue cool?

I am neurotic about my efficiency in the lab. I don’t like for anything to take longer than it needs to take, so I figure out ways to shave time off of every procedure. I pride myself in being fast at particular tasks and have been known to toot my own horn about it.

One of the technicians is learning a procedure that Awesome Technician and I mostly do. I mentioned a short cut for one step and they marveled at my anal retentiveness -- “you have a protocol for that?”. Yes, I do. Just as I have a preferred sequence for every series of steps, a seamless choreography that lets me get just one more sample done.

AT and I considered why I am like this. I suggested it’s because I have a boring inner monologue, so I have to think about how to get done faster, while she can luxuriate in her interesting and creative thoughts. But it probably has more to do with my overwhelming desire to finish my damn thesis.

Mmmm, w(h)ine.

Ecogeoman took me out to dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday. We had a coupon (coo-pon, q-pon?) for one of our favorite restuarants, which included a bottle of wine. That wine will explain any misspellings or irrational thoughts in this post (ha-ha, EGF wrote a drunk post!). Here's what's on my mind:

EGM and I went on a big long walk before dinner and I dominated our conversation with my anxiety over paper revisions. I'm feeling a little depressed about work, mainly because rethinking everything I wrote seems hard. Here's an insight into me: I tell horrible, long boring stories with anticlimactic endings. Every group of friends I have ever made has come to the same conclusion. So while EGM tells me every details of his work, I end up not talking about work stuff so much because I'm worried about being boring. But tonight I let loose and it helped me work out some ideas. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for rewriting. Also, I hate admitting that the revisions feel hard because I feel annoyed when other people whine (too much) about this sort of thing.

Why, oh why, do I feel like I'm getting bigger yet I continue to wear the same size pants? I've gained a few pounds, probably less than 10, since college. Yet, I periodically feel like my jeans get too tight and I phase them out. I buy new pairs, but they are the same size in the same brands! WTF? Do they shrink over time with multiple washings? Do the sizes vary pair-to-pair? Does the fashionable cut change over time such that what seems tight is actually just a little out of style? It's possible that the sizes are increasing (i.e, today's 6 is tomorrow's 8), but it seems unlikely over the 2-3 year period that I'm making observations. On the other hand, I don't think I used to have this muffin top. :(

It feels like spring is never going to arrive. There is still snow on the ground and more is forecast for Thursday. Jenny F., maybe you should reconsider the Midwest, because it really sucks this year, even though I was one of those people who said it was just great and winter is no big deal and you get to wear fun hats.

We learned this weekend that S4 is pregnant with her third kid. yay! But it means that my parent's house is going to be even more jam packed with people at holidays. I love our fun and chaotic gatherings, but boy are there a lot of people.

Double whammy weekend

This year, I share my birthday with Jesus' resurrection (zombie day?), so Ecogeoman and I are dutifully off to my hometown for the weekend. I think we'll have fun. We're going to spend Saturday evening with my BFF and some other friends and then Sunday will be a family Easter extravaganza, complete with an egg hunt and many arguments over peanut butter eggs which are the centerpiece of our candy cap-and-trade system. We're taking Monday off to drive back home at a leisurely pace.

I'm really excited about going away for the weekend. EGM has been so stressed and busy with work and I could use a break as well. I am not, however, too excited about this birthday, 29. I have clear childhood memories of my mom teasing my sister-in-law about aging, saying she should say she was 29 when she was well past 30. Not an novel joke, but one I heard so young that it stuck with me. It makes me feel now that I have only the last crumb of my youth left to savor. But, I can take heart that no matter now old I get, I will always be fresh compared to my siblings!

Interdisciplinary

I am firmly planted between multiple fields, as my pseudonym might suggest. I don't really have an opinion about whether this is good or bad. I got into this research before I really knew exactly what different disciplines did, so I didn't realize when I started that it didn't neatly fit anywhere. My undergrad major was interdisciplinary too (in a different way), so I guess it makes sense.

My work isn't radically interdisciplinary, like Am I a Woman Scientist? discussed a couple of months ago. Rather, if I wanted to be a professor, I'm not sure which kind of department would want me. It most certainly would depend on the individual department, since not all departments with the same title do the same work. Indeed, people who do work similar to mine are in a wide array of departments, even falling into different colleges of universities.

In one sense, I have more options. In another, it adds to the impostor complex because I'm not so familiar with the fundamentals of the traditional disciplines. I noticed that I am included in a Geoblogosphere blogroll and thought Whoa, I should tell them I'm not a geologist! But whatever. I'm not really anything else either.

NYR February Review

Another month has breezed by; it's time to check in on my New Years' Resolutions.

Project Efficiency has gone downhill. I haven't been writing daily goals, which is the centerpiece of the program. I have also been checking my bloggy email and maybe sometimes peeking at bloglines during work. On the other hand, there hasn't been a lot of fake working. I think I can be proud of that. I'm optimistic about March after reading Silvia's book and getting Slimtimer. So my goals for March are to get in the habit of actually using Slimtimer regularly while establishing a writing routine.

Money went pretty well in February. In addition to the normal big-for-my-income sum that gets automatically transferred to my ING savings each month, I had a little bit leftover on the 29th to add to the kitty. Having two international trips planned really motivates me to save. In other news, Psycgirl and I are thinking about starting a multi-author blog (similar to the Active Academic ) to discuss all manner of money issues that academics have. Anyone interested in that?

We cooked most of our dinners, but there was more pizza than there should have been. Oh well, it was yummy.

Work has been medium. I made some more progress on Chapter 1 paper and discussed what I have so far with both advisers. There's still a lot to do though. There was a little progress for Chapter 2 as well, as I had to complete the final laboratory analyses on one chunk of samples and partially work up the data for a conference abstract. My goal for March is to finish a complete, decent draft of the Chapter 1 paper.

Overall, February was medium. I'm hopeful that the longer days of spring will revitalize me. But, who am I kidding? It won't be spring around here for another two months. I guess I may as well be working!

Bullets

This blog has been a tad serious lately so I wanted to lighten up a little. I couldn't think of anything both chipper and coherent, so here are my disjointed thoughts for the day:

• I forgot to put on deodorant this morning. After a few hours at work, I remembered I had some in my desk and slapped it on. Unfortunately, it was like, rancid or something. At a minimum there was no fragrance left. It smelled terrible and made me feel queasy all day.
• Advisor has lots of time for lengthy impromptu conversations, but has trouble scheduling an hour to discuss my paper draft. I highly value these unarranged chats, as I learn a heck of a lot and really enjoy them. It's just a little frustrating when I want to talk about something specific. And it's all about me, right?
• Someone asked me this question as sort of a quasi- pseudo- personality test, "would you rather give up eating or sleep, knowing that you wouldn't be physically harmed by the loss?" Really, I'd like to give up pooping, but since that isn't an option, I choose eating. I *heart* sleep. However, I hate putting myself to bed, even when I'm tired. I think there are few things as decadent as falling asleep on the couch, which I've been doing pretty often lately. This question is supposed to give some insight about your personality, but I don't know what that might be.
• Do you ever listen to the radio show This American Life? I play the podcasts while I do this super tedious task at work. It makes the time fly by. The one from last week about "tough crowds" was really good and funny.
• The spellcheck in Blogger is working again!
• Lost was awesome tonight!

Archive Meme

Arduous tagged me for a meme!

Archive Meme Instructions: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you've written. ... but there is a catch:Link 1 must be about family.Link 2 must be about friends.Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are... what you're all about.Link 4 must be about something you love.Link 5 can be anything you choose.I think this is a great way to circulate some of the great older posts everyone had written, return to a few great places in our memories and also learn a little something about ourselves and each other that we may not know.Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be *newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better....and don't forget to read the archive posts and leave comments!

My blog doesn't have an extensive archive yet, but whatev. Here are my choices:

Link 1: Family
This is my favorite post so far about family, but it's recent. Since I think the point of this meme is to highlight older posts, I'll link to this one too, which is about what I usually do during Thanksgiving break.

Link 2: Friends
So far, I haven't written so much about friends. I guess this explains why (although I have had some things to say about e-friends).

Link 3: What you're all about.
This post lists my top five dreamy dream jobs.

Link 4: Something I love
Selecting a post for this one made me realize this blog is pretty negative. I like finishing things and FotC, but Ecogeoman is who I really love.

Link 5: My choice
I'd like to point to two posts that go together about why I started this blog and why I named it The Happy Scientist, which is kind of a lame title at first blush.

I guess I cheated a little by linking to multiple posts. Oh well.
I tag ScienceMama (since Arduous didn't :) ), Psycgirl, Amelie, Amanda, and DancingFish. Of course, they don't have to if they don't want to. And if anyone else wants to do the meme, they should. I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering what's in a blog's archives but not having time to sift through them.