The mildly insane thoughts of a mildly sane graduate student

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Crazy week



My weekend home (it was supposed to be for an elementary school reunion but it ended up being for a memorial service for Melanie - there is still little news about what happened to her, leaving a lot of room for questions) was a bit of an emotional whirlwind of questioning, sadness, anger, breaking down crying in a parking lot, more anger. Much thanks to the people who took care of me last weekend (especially my mother who fed me and retrieved me from said parking lot and Eric who fed me sushi, let me drag him into a very pink-colored cupcake bakery and snagged me a last minute comedy show ticket) - anyone see a feeding trend?

I've been submerged in work since I've been back (probably somewhat therapeutic): got through a good primary run-through of my experiment today (after, uh... 2 failed attempts). Means I can start once I get back from vacation, assuming my ammendment I'm sending to the ethics board goes through (I'm combining the methods of 2 previously approved projects which means that neither project's consent form actually describes what I am doing). This has been my other little project this week. Got to love ethics.



Oh yeah, and I'm packing my appartment (Casey has a new trick: she likes to rip tape off of boxes and unpack).



Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Get your jollies where you can...

I've been feeling a little down in the dumps. I just got news that a girl I'd gone to high school with died (the details are sketchy but my understanding is that she's been missing for about 6 weeks and her body was found this morning). We weren't close in high school but our class was small and everyone knew everyone. I've spent most of the day thinking what an awful world this is. I can't imagine how tough this must be for her family and friends.

Here's my attempt to cheer myself up. It's a video I took of Casey caught in the act of drinking from her water bowl with her paw. Maybe it'll cheer someone else up a little too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQtmxV4P708

Monday, July 16, 2007

Casey's great escape






Here's Casey on her make shift dog harness in my parents' backyard. Note her shiftiness. She has a real cat harness and leash now. She likes running around outside my building chasing pigeons. She does not like the elevator ride to get there.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Last weekend - part 3: da wedding







So here was last weekend's main event:

Wedding was beautiful. It was the first time since before high school graduation that our whole gang from high school was together.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Last weekend - part 2: blankies all around









So here was my latest craftiness: theme of the weekend was blankies.

Exhibit A: "The Cookie Monster"
This was Elena and Jon wedding gift. So named due to large dark blue fuzzy nature of said item. It was a work in progress since my trip to Puerto Rico in February, finished 24 hours before wedding. Justine and I complimented Cookie monster with cookie-themed gift pack complete with cookie jar, cookie cutters, fancy cookie mixes and cookie cookbook. See gift strapped into seatbelt on drive to wedding (we were afraid cookie jar might break). Casey was fascinated with Cookie Monster. Kept lying next to it and hoping I wouldn't notice her slowly reaching for it. I have a pattern for a knit cat bed. May have to use some of the leftovers to make one if she is so enraptured by the texture.

Exhibit B: "unisex baby blanket"
This is a gift for one of my expecting friends. As baby's sex is not yet known (at least by me), had idea of using different colors of baby yarn from my stash to make reversible blanket when one side would be boy colored and one side girl colored. Not coming out quite as imagined but I am finding the thick stripes side and narrow stripe side very appealing.

Last weekend - part 1





I've got so much stuff to show from the past weekend and so little time. Here's just a taste: Justine and her dog, Penny came over for the wedding (more about that later). Casey was not too impressed (though she did like to tease Penny).

Monday, July 2, 2007

Long weekend and baby sweater









Despite my issues with gluttony (yes, I like to eat...), I had a good spontaneous holiday weekend in Kingston (check out the Canada Day motor cycles and firetruck and my attempts at photographing the fireworks).

Got home this afternoon and, not feeling like working on the paper I should be working on, I finished off the baby sweater. I'm pretty pleased with the results.