scientician kate says this is about:

acquisitions

2012-01-26T04:09:00.002+11:00

I recently acquired a purple cardigan. It was from the 'lost and found' box at my local dancing hall. Everything that had been left behind and not reclaimed in 2011 was left in boxes for people to sort through, find their own stuff, or claim stuff that they wanted. I don't normally wear purple of this hue, or cardigans buttoned up. But I am very much enjoying this one.

In other news, baby type person is growing astoundingly quickly. I am once again blond, having bowed to Swedish peer pressure. I have decided that I don't hate pumpkin anymore, so long as it's not great hunks of it. More to come.

Of bread

2011-07-17T06:57:00.004+10:00

So I was reading over at soozs about baking no knead bread in a dutch oven, cue laughter, and was inspired. I've always enjoyed baking and really wanted to bake some more bread. We have fortunately inherited from some dear friends all of their kitchen wares which include a cast iron pot with lid that is perfect for the task of making this no knead bread. I've made several lots so far and have found it to be delicious and crusty and all things wonderful. Please see below for take 2 of the bread.

We have friends coming for lunch tomorrow who we haven't seen since October last year. They moved to Oxford so that M could study and have only got back recently. I've decided to make a double batch of the dough tonight and see how we go tomorrow. Crossed fingers and toes here that it'll be as tasty as the previous loaves and perhaps even better because there is more of it.

Anyway, I should go and do that starter dough now before it gets much later. I've finished pumping some milk for the wee one, ready to go in the fridge for tomorrow's consumption. So all that is left to do is to get the dough ready, brush my teeth and fall into bed. I live in hope that I will be able to sleep from midnight-ish until 5 or 6am without a break. I very much doubt, however, that this will happen. The small one enjoys a 3.30am feed recently, and if not a feed, certainly enjoys stirring as though she's going to wake properly. She makes just enough noise to make me think she's going to wake fully and get her some food organised, before settling back to sleep. Sneaky monkey.

Long time no write

2011-07-14T03:45:00.003+10:00

So it's been a long time between posts. I don't even remember what the last thing I wrote was, so I'm just going to start writing whatever I like and those who read this (hi Mum, wise old aunt and husband!) will probably know half if not all of what has been going on in any case.

Today, the smallest one and I went to a friend's house in Mölndal for fika. We were offered rhubarb pie with vanilla sauce, coffee and soda water. It was delightful. It was one of those lovely summer days in Sweden that is much nicer than you could possibly imagine. Something like that anyway. The sun was shining, there were a few clouds in the sky and there was a light breeze. Comfortable to sit in the sun or shade and just relax. Not humid, like previous days this summer have been. Lovely.

We got to meet my friend's newest addition to the family and show off the smallest one to her. The new baby S, has lots of hair and looks like she'll end up a redhead. She mostly slept and ate, but finished up with a giant poo, just as we were leaving. The smallest one was exceptionally well behaved, having a feed, a nappy change, a bit of a play with the newest addition to the family, Sophie the giraffe (see below) and then fell asleep in the sling before we raced off to the bus stop to start the long journey home. We also got to play with E the 2 year old who is currently being toilet trained to greater or lesser success. She had an accident on the deck and spent the rest of the visit underpantsless telling us about her trip to the park recently.

No crafty adventures to speak of here at the moment, apart from a half finished sock for a friend and some facewashers that I knitted for a new baby, but failed to photograph. Will try and post more regularly here, if only for my own records of the smallest one's achievements and development.

Skill that is currently favoured by her is grabbing her feet and sucking on her right big toe. I am reminded of Fergie every time she does it. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

news and happenings in the world of Kate part 1

2010-06-12T03:07:00.008+10:00

So, I haven't posted on here for about a million years. Life gets in the way of blogging. Life and facenerd. I think I spend so much of my time on telling people what I've been doing there that I forget about the good old blog.

In recent news, I have turned 30, found out that my PhD thesis sat in Canberra in an office for 4 months instead of being sent to my examiners, moved apartment and started to appreciate the Swedish summer with all the light that it brings.

For my 30th birthday the boy and I travelled to Oslo to celebrate. Much the same as we did the year before. We stayed in a lovely hotel, walking distance from the center of town. I was suffering from terrible hayfever that I believed was actually a head cold, so much of the trip was spent sleeping. I find hayfever absolutely exhausting for some reason. Pollen is evil and should be banned.

But the good thing about all the pollen I guess, is that it means that the flowers are blossoming and spring/summer is here. It's outrageously beautiful and transformative in a way that Australian spring cannot compete with. The total difference from winter is apparent as within two weeks the entire outside world transforms from brown and grey to GREEN! Flowers start appearing everywhere and the Swedes start emerging from hibernation. More about that in a bit.
So we visited our favourite frognerparken on my birthday, went to see the Munch museum where one of my favourite paintings was one of Nietzche. I tried posting linkage and/or the image and failed miserably, so if you are interested, google image search works pretty well.

My family called on my birthday and I got to chat with them for a little while.
We went out for dinner both the night before and the night of my birthday. The first night was at a Bahranian restaurant for a friend of the boy's birthday. Once it got past midnight I got a piece of birthday cake with a rocket sparkler in it and an Arabic version of Happy Birthday played over the loudspeakers. The food was pretty tasty, but as with everything in Norway, expensive.

The next night we decided to do something relatively cheap and go out for some Thai food. We looked up the closest restaurant to our hotel and decided to walk there. We ended up getting lost, but found the strangest Thai restaurant ever. It was in the basement of a building and was decked out as though you were in a beach bar in Thailand. There were UV lights everywhere and the tables were made out of bamboo. Halfway through our dinner there was a 'thunderstorm' with flashing lights and a soundtrack of tropical rain. It was hilarious. This combined with our Swedish waiter, complete with Swedish moustache as sported by the guy in the front of this photo. This stype of moustache is all the rage here in the Swedens and is found on many of the young hipsters. The boy has dubbed it the Swedish moustache and keeps on threatening to grow one. The waiter also had the large 80s glasses that are also quite popular, see here. So in any case, it was a lovely evening and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After my birthday, the 'cold' that I had meant that I spent most of Sunday asleep. But it was nice to get a rest and know that I had nothing I 'had' to do.

The next day was Norway's national day and we made our way into town to watch the parade and check out the royal family waving from the balcony. I will post some photos soon to show all the cuteness of the kiddies dressed up and all the national costumes. We then decided to have lunch with a friend of the boy's and played Rock Band on the Xbox. I had a thoroughly good time playing 'drums' and listening to the Norwegian, which is like Swedish only different. The Swedes always say that the Norwegians always sound happy when they speak. I'm not 100% sure I agree, but I became aware of how much Swedish I understood when I was in Norway and suddenly couldn't follow the conversation as easily.

Anyway, it was a pretty good trip and I enjoyed myself. It's now getting kinda late and I have to be up at some undogly hour to go to Stockholm, so I'm off to finish my washing and pack for tomorrow.

Winter versions of those trees

2010-01-13T20:49:00.002+11:00

So as promised, here are the photos of some of those trees from yesterday as they are seen now. They are sans leaves and occasionally with snow in the branches. I also tried to get a photo of what the snow looks like when it's been sitting there for a while. It looks like leaves or feathers sticking up. Very pretty. But I don't think that my photo really did it justice, will have to play around with the conditions.

So heres the tree outside the lunch place

And here's the tree outside my window

And here's my attempt to capture the snow from this morning

Perhaps this afternoon will be a discussion of mores stuff from Xmas and hopefully some more photos.

obvious season changes

2010-01-13T02:36:00.002+11:00

It's a cold winter here this year. The temperature hasn't been over 0 for a very long time. I'm not sure I can remember when it was last above zero. Maybe sometime before the new year. In any case, now that we are heading towards spring, I have started to notice the days starting the lengthen. 3 weeks ago it would have been fully dark now, 4.45pm. But looking out of my office window (praise be to the spaghetti monster that we've moved out of the basement) I can see a vague little remnant of red on the horizon. This would have been unheard of back before NYE. It was dark at 3.30pm.

The other thing I've noticed is the changing of trees and plants. I have some photos of trees around my work this autumn. I'm going to take some photos tomorrow when there is some sun to show you the snow that is currently blanketing everything.

So here are the autumn photos. Let's see if I can be organised enough to get up the winter ones soon.

Here is a tree that is across the road from our flat. This photo was taken from our kitchen window.

And here is a tree at work.

And the last one, outside my favourite lunch place.

I think they are so pretty. It was sad when all the leaves went away.

Good continuation!

2009-12-31T04:46:00.003+11:00

So here in the Swedens, they say (translated of course) good continuation either between Christmas and New Years Eve or in the new year. I guess it's supposed to be an hope that the new year will be as good as the old, or better or something good in any case.
I was at the doctors on Monday talking about gut issues and results from my gastroscopy, all normal you'll be glad to hear, and he asked about what we say in English at this time. I honestly couldn't think of anything. In fact, it's now getting to the point that even if we did say something at this time of year, I wouldn't remember it. My english skills have fallen by the wayside. I can't remember simple words like cash register.
So, to the news of the post. Today I was a consumer whore (and how!). Those who have watched the cartoon rejected will get that reference. In any case, I am in the position that all my items of considerable worth are all kinda dying at the same time. My black knee high boots that I've had since January 2004 have repeatedly had the heels peel off and have a hole in the sole. They also are all worn in a number of places. They need replacing, desperately. My coat, which is even older, possibly dating back to 2001 or 2002. It's getting thin and it's definitely not windproof. My laptop is dying in stages and will eventually crap itself and die properly. Finally, my ipod is no longer stereo and because it's got a harddisk in it, it means that when I'm running, it's probably not doing the ipod any favours.
So today I solved two of those problems, the coat and the ipod. My new coat is superb. It's about -10 outside at the moment and I went outside wearing normal clothes with no jumper, just a t-shirt under this enormous down jacket. I was toasty warm. In fact, if I had had a jumper on, I probably would have been roasting. It's fabulous. It's from peak performance, which is apparently a swedish company. It has masses of pockets, a hood and feels like I'm wearing a doona around. I've only had it a few hours and I love it beyond all measure.
The second problem I solved was the ipod. I'm now in possession of a pink nano and an armband to wear it while running. I will be testing out the running capabilities tomorrow or possibly Friday. I've just found out the gym is closed tomorrow and due to all the ice on the ground, running outside isn't really an option.

I'm trying to think of news to tell the interwebs. My brother and his friend Wombat came to stay with us for Christmas this year. We had them here from the 18th until last Sunday. We had some amazing weather while they were here. It snowed, a lot. And it was really cold and relatively clear for most of the time they were here. The three of us (the boy doesn't like the series in question) watched all of the Green Wing on the projector and a good amount of other TV shows and movies. We baked pepparkakor and the boys decided to make them a little rude. There were many penises and animals humping one another.

See here for an example :

Odd things that happen when in Sweden

2009-12-06T04:23:00.002+11:00

Today I was in the supermarket getting myself a lussekatt and the woman behind me has a very old phone with 'polyphonic ring tones'. Her phone rings, it plays Walzing Matilda. She is definitely not Australian. Weird.

While I'm on a roll

2009-10-23T05:20:00.002+11:00

Updating a-go-go for me tonight. I'm proud to announce that my PhD thesis has about three lines that are required to be added to it and then it's ready to be printed and then bound. I've even written my abstract and acknowledgments. I just need to work out exactly where to get the printing and binding done. There is a place I've found that should be able to do it, but I have to make sure that my three-colour label figures show up okay. I have some worries about them. I think that sometimes adjustments made on a computer screen quite often end up looking different on the printed page. I'm worried they'll end up looking too bright, too overexposed. If they do it'll mean quite a bit of reworking for me, but it will be worth it. I really look forward to being able to look at the final book. Then it might actually feel real that I might one day be officially allowed to do the job I've been doing for the last 7 months.

Observation

2009-10-23T05:12:00.003+11:00

I am a social person. I am a social person and I don't like to live alone. The boy is in southern Sweden for some work thing from yesterday until Saturday afternoon/evening. While I'm not feeling 100% what with having gut problems and my period at the moment, I'm still usually fine to go out dancing etc in the evenings. Last night and tonight I decided to stay home. I don't know why I can go out dancing late into the night when he's at home but when he's gone I don't want to go out. That's my observation for tonight.

The Health Report

2009-09-28T18:12:00.003+10:00

You would think with a title like the health report that I'm going to tell you of being ill and my recovery. But no, this post is about the health report from Radio National. I listen to this podcast every week. I've just downloaded it and am putting it on my ipod to listen to while I work on my flies. And I've come to the realisation, I have a massive voice crush on Dr Norman Swan. I could listen to that man for hours. This is not a new thing, I've loved listening to the health report for ages, but today I realised that I was actually excited to listen to Norman. Oh dear.

long time no write

2009-09-23T18:46:00.003+10:00

I'm sitting in my office, there's no-one else here. I'm listening to NPR's fresh air on my ipod and contemplating work. I'd like to have a fabulous reason to not have written in my blog for a while, but it all sounds kinda lazy. I was busy, on holiday, sick and out of time. But I'm going to endeavour to write more.

Brief update: went to a wedding in Germany, was rather fun. Went hiking in the Bavarian Alps, to Berlin, had my parents visiting my house, went to London for a blues dancing weekend, came home and caught my husband's cold.

I'm just back at work after almost a week off for illness. Bah! But in good news, I'm feeling like I'm at the tail end of it and will be fighting fit by the weekend.

More writing and photos to come, I hope.

Spoke too soon

2009-06-23T01:43:00.002+10:00

I spoke too soon. I'm not really at home in Sweden.

Today I tried to see a doctor about my bloated belly. It's been huge and uncomfortable and I've been feeling like I need to burp all the time, but not being able to burp. So I went to the local health center and was told that I could see a nurse at 10.10am. While I was waiting to see the nurse I went and sat in a garden and read my book. While I was sitting, I had a seagull shit on my bag, my ipod and just missed my leg because I moved out of the way. I got a coffee at a cafe and the guy there helped me clean up my stuff. The coffee was nice and he even gave me a complimentary biscuit because my day had been so crap. This was the highlight of my entire day.

I went back to the health center and somehow the nurse managed to miss me. I was told I could wait. I waited for another half an hour before they told me that it'd take too long to wait and I should go to the acute/emergency center that I'd been to before. I did that and waited another hour to see a doctor who was able to tell me that while he could understand there was something wrong, that center didn't send you away for any tests or anything. They were just an acute center. So that was 200SEK down the drain. He was very understanding though.

So finally, the nurse from the other place called me up and asked what was wrong. She called at 2.30pm. I explained the situation and she got me in to see a doctor tomorrow at 11.30am. So, it took me from 8.30am to 2.30pm to get a doctors appointment for tomorrow morning.
This whole thing reminded me that I don't know the swedish system and frustrated me endlessly. I'm sick of feeling constantly like I need to burp. I'm sick of starting the day looking relatively normal and by the end of the day looking like I'm 5 months pregnant. I'm sick of worrying that everything I eat is going to provoke more bloating. The only upside of it is that I have managed to pretty well establish that lactose probably isn't the cause (I've excluded it for over a week).

But the good news for today is that is delightfully sunny outside, the sun is warm and friendly and the sky is clear, there are birds singing and I'm going to be able to go for a walk in the sunshine and relax a bit. And truth be told, I'm probably okay with Sweden, today was just a bit of a trial.

Oh so many things

2009-06-17T17:20:00.003+10:00

You will be pleased to know, if you were following the continued saga of my lactose intolerance that my gut is somewhat back to normal today. Certainly the shirt I am wearing today (a new one from Lindex) which didn't fit over the weekend is now doing up nicely and I'm not feeling quite as big.

I have a number of things that I wanted to talk about here. The most pressing in my mind was that I have come to realise that I'm actually settled in here in Sweden. I was thinking last night as I left dancing, walked home and got ready for bed, I have friends. I have a number of people that I have met that I really like and enjoy talking to. Thinking back to just 3.5 months ago when we first arrived I was really worried about doing just that, making friends. I was homesick for a place where I knew people and they knew me. I didn't want to have to make new friends and make all that effort to get to know people. But it's happened. I don't have any best friends yet, but I do have some people who have that potential.

Truth is, while it was super hard in the first few weeks of settling in, it has become so much easier. I don't know why I worried about it that much. I think I am possibly one of the most social people I know. But I was missing having people I already knew and didn't have to play the get to know you game with. But anywhoodle, it struck me on the way home etc, I have managed to integrate myself a little into Swedish society. I feel kinda at home here. I put the kinda in there because there are times and things that happen that make it abundantly clear that I'll probably never be completely at home here.

Other things that have been cogitating in my noggin will have to wait for a little bit, I have to do some kind of work today.

more information than you'll probably want

2009-06-11T18:10:00.002+10:00

I should probably state upfront, if you don't want to hear about ladyparts, don't read on.

I had a PAP smear this morning. This is partly due to me gaining a personal number here in Sweden. About a week after my personal number was granted and I existed as a person in Sweden I got a letter. This letter stated that I was due for a PAP smear and should present myself at the appropriate clinic at 8.30am this morning. I guess that on becoming a person who really exists they all of sudden have a need to look at your genitals, or something like that.

I turned up on time and although I had an appointment time, I had to take a number. B this I mean a number like you take at the deli counter of a supermarket in Australia, so they know which order to call you in. Taking a number is an important part of Swedish culture, I am sure. When I signed up for SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) I had to take a number to talk to someone so I could get another number to actually enroll. But onto the cervix story. I took a number and waited. The lovely nurse Annika came and collected me. I got to have my legs in stirrups for the very first time, all very exciting!

The one thing that I want to note in this post is the following, it was not at all uncomfortable. I've had real problems with PAP smears in the past, all kinds of semi painful scrapings of my cervix. But today, I barely noticed it at all.

Huzzah for Swedish healthcare! Please return to your normal life, I've got experiments to do.

Guess where I'm going in three weeks

2009-06-03T05:47:00.002+10:00

So, I hope that you can see that that is a lovely beach and is a small hint. The boy and I are going to Tuscany for a wedding, huzzah! We booked the hotel, flights and other stuff this afternoon and I'm terribly excited. 4 days and 5 nights of relaxation in a Tuscan village, a wedding of a good friend and hopefully some of his (the good friend's) mother's cooking.

Don't you just hate me?

Lessons to be learned

2009-05-30T04:07:00.002+10:00

Evidently I don't understand what contains lactose. Either that, or I don't care. I ate 'Princess cake' today. It has cream in it. I am once again bloated like a mofo. I hope this means that I've learned this lesson and will avoid all lactose in the future. I was going to go out dancing tonight but I think I might have to stay home for a while and hope that my stomach deflates enough for me to do up my pants again.

I'm now off to drink a truckload of peppermint tea and rub my belly for luck.

Here is a picture of the cake that did me in:

Taken from tartelette.blogspot.com

Bloatsville -population me

2009-05-29T06:06:00.002+10:00

Recently I think I mentioned that I had discovered that I was lactose intolerant. Well, I kinda ignored that tonight and now I'm paying the price. I did the very silly thing of eating a lot of vienetta:

That was very very silly. I went for a run after dinner tonight. It was lots of fun and I think I ran for about 40 mins or so. I didn't time it exactly. It was a good run. But when I stopped running I noticed my belly was feeling a little sore and a little rumbly. This is approximately what it looks like (taken from pedro.bitterpill.org, a pregnancy blog):

So I anticipate some feeling a little rumbly and gassy over the coming hours. Lucky the boy is away this week learning about his job. He won't have to suffer the noise, or the smell.
Right, I'm off to have a shower and amuse myself with my pseudo pregnant belly.

el procrastinatoratron

2009-05-21T21:32:00.003+10:00

Today is a public holiday in Sweden. Something to do with Easter and some Christian thing. I really don't know exactly what it's for. But it means a day off, so I'm pleased.

I'm using the opportunity of a day off to do some work on my thesis. It's so tantalisingly close to being finished. But there are so many fiddly details to fix up. I can definitively say that there are 2 chapters that are done and dusted, completely finished. 2 more that are close, but not quite there. And 1 that is yet to be sent to my supervisor to be commented upon. The 2 that are close are driving me nuts. There are all these pissy details, like references that I didn't think I needed, and small changes to figures to make. I totally understand why those changes need to be made, it's just frustrating that they aren't quite ready yet.

So with these things I'm feeling a little like doing almost anything else. I've put some of our bottles that we've been collecting for a future beer brew into boxes, ready for the move. Did I mention we're moving? Yeah, we're moving about 800m away from where we are now, but has a separate bedroom and a projector. Anyway, I've done that, I've packed up my mum's birthday present up ready to be sent, I've made a shopping list for lunch and dinner tonight, I've called my family (brother just graduated, woo!) and I'm now preparing to head to the shops to buy things for lunch and dinner and put my plastic bottles in the recycling dealy that gives you a discount on your groceries. I have also done some work on the thesis, but it hasn't been huge. I shall attempt to do better after lunch.

Cortege

2009-05-03T22:57:00.002+10:00

Every year for the last 100 years Chalmers students have organised a parade with floats depicting the happenings of the last year. It's held on the 30th of April and turns into a bit of a drinking fest towards the end, or so I've heard.
This year it was the 100th year, so there were floats depicting stuff/important happenings from the last 100 years and not just from the previous year. The boy and I went along to check it out. He's placed a few photos up on his flickr photostream. We saw all sorts of funny things, a car filled with water (car pool) a couple of guys on a couch that had wheels and a motor, lots of girls doing marching band kind of things with flags and sticks, some guy dressed up as Obama with a ridiculously large paper mache head, and girls dressed as police officers complete with penises made out of stockings filled with socks. I'll try and get the boy to give me a copy of a photo of these girls to show you all.
One member of my lab decided she wasn't going to go to the parade, because 'You never know who's been to Mexico there and there are so many people. I'd rather stay home'. So as with everywhere else, Sweden is also filled with people worried about swine flu. I haven't felt sick yet, so I'm guessing we're safe and sound.

Friday was a 'red day' here in Sweden. It was May Day and we were able to have the day off work. We (the boy and I) went to lunch at a co-workers house with the German guy who's visiting our lab and his family. We ate lots and lots of Persian food and lots and lots of lollies and chips and consequently did not need anything for dinner. It was a lovely sunny day too, so combined with the food overload and the sunniness of the day, we had an early night in the Burgermeister household.

Right, I should now go and do something fun/productive. I've completed the writing I wanted to do today, sending chapter 5 back to the supervisor for further reading/reviewing. So, now this afternoon will be knitting and possibly baking a pie, possibly plum and apple, or strawberry and apple. Mmmmm pie.

More elk-ness

2009-04-30T15:49:00.002+10:00

Hej på dig! As they would say here.

I found an article in the local paper that shows a photo of the elk I saw. Check it out here. It's in Swedish, but you can put it in translate.google.com and read the article that way, should you be so interested.

In other news, I have a Swedish mobile phone now, but no credit on it. So I can receive calls and messages but not send any.

ELK!

2009-04-28T18:22:00.002+10:00

I was walking to dancing last night. It's about a 20 minute walk, over a couple of hills. As I got to the top of the first hill, what did I see before me, but an elk. A freaking elk walking down the street. It was huge!

For those not familiar with elk, here is what one looks like.

Other things to tell you

2009-04-16T20:03:00.004+10:00

Hello once again,

Today is a good day for so many reasons. It's sunny outside, I've found out that I only have 2 more chapters of my thesis to fix (of five) before I can submit it and finally call myself Dr Kate. Well, not really, as it needs to be passed first and all that kind of nonsense. But, it's almost to the point that I can leave it alone for a while and concentrate on my paid work.

The paid work, by the way, is going rather well. I have two mutants that I'm working with. One has a distinct phenotype and I've started mapping the gene. The other one I'm yet to really start working on, but I'm hopeful of getting some good results with that one too. I'm currently sitting in the office waiting for my timer to run down so I can set up another wash of the first embryos. Once I've finished with all this washing I can finally go and get myself some lunch. Mmmmm lunch.

The thing that I really wanted to mention in this post today was something that I'd like to remember for a long time. It has been about a week since I first started noticing bumblebees around the place. I've seen lots of flowers and other such things, but I've never before in my life seen a bumblebee. The very first time was about a week ago, as I said. I was walking to work. This is an uphill climb through the community gardens, with their little houses and pretty garden beds. And buzzing around was a bumblebee. They are such fuzzy, fuzzy animals.

For those not familiar with the bumblebee, here is a photo, taken from this persons flickr stream

Photos from Easter weekend

2009-04-13T23:32:00.002+10:00

Here are a selection of photos from our Easter adventure on Saturday.

Spring vs late winter

2009-04-13T23:19:00.002+10:00

This is the view from our apartment now towards a large street nearby. I didn't really think that it was that different to when we first moved here. But then I looked at my photos, and found this:

Turns out it's very different and rather delightful now. Hooray! I wish that my allergy prone body didn't really react so well to it though. I'm now in hayfever mode. But at least I've got my eczema and lactose intolerance stuff under control.

I'm going to be DJ Kate tonight. I'm both excited and scared about it. It should be fun, but I just hope that they like the music that I do. It's good though, or so I think, so it should go fine. More photos coming soon.

Swings and roundabouts

2009-04-12T08:09:00.003+10:00

So today has been a day of swings and roundabouts. Actually, most of it was lovely, but the last little bit has been not so great. I've recently discovered that I'm lactose intolerant. I stupidly had a coffee with milk in it at the lovely party/dinner I was at. We made it home in time for me to have a good old sit down, but it was a close run thing and my guts were very unhappy.

The other thing that isn't so fabulous is that our neighbours upstairs are having a party and we can hear it. It seems as though they are doing karaoke or something to that effect. We've been lucky enough to hear their rendition of "hit me baby one more time" and many other delightful songs. I hope that they can it before I really want to go to bed.

The good stuff that happened today was something along the following lines, I'll hopefully fill in the rest of the details later. We got some new forks and knives from the charity shop across the road, as well as some new tea towels. We only had two before, tea towels that is, and all our forks and knives are tiny. I think the forks are cake forks or something of that nature. We washed all our clothes and mopped the floor. The floor here gets very dirty, very quickly. I think it partly has to do with the lack of a doormat, but it means that a lot of the time there is a layer of crap attached to your foot when wandering about. I got an opportunity to speak to my lovely friend EE and her husband about the arrival of their daughter two weeks ago. Apparently, according to EE, breastfeeding is like having your nipples tattooed. Mind you, she has never had a tattoo, so it's just a guess. She is, however, happy with every other aspect of motherhood and fingers crossed her nipples hold up under the strain. I got to talk to my parents and my brother for a little while too, which was rather nice. My dad has bronchitis, which he got from his sister. He says he's feeling better than she is and has antibiotics. He should be better soon.

Other good stuff from today: we were invited to a Swedish easter dinner. We went to a member of my lab's house for dinner, starting at 4pm-ish. We were picked up by my boss and her husband and went to S's house. It's a lovely house, near to the ocean and very light and breezy. There were four couples/families there. We were the only one without children. There were 7 kids there, two of whom were called Embla. Three kids were from a newly arrived German family. We had a Swedish easter dinner with salmon, potatoes and pickled fish of different flavours, lamb, salad and bread. It was really tasty. I took some photos and will post them later.

After dinner we went for a walk down to the water, through the forest and had a few adventures up on the rocks. Ask, one of the kids, lost his shoes when dangling over the edge of a small cliffette. He sounded quite calm when he asked for help to get down, so his parents didn't realise how precarious his situation was. But he was okay, his shoes were found and he was hoisted back up the cliffette. On the walk back from the ocean I had the pleasure of a conversation, somewhat one-sided, with Josefine, a 5 year old German girl. She could really talk and required little from me, so my German held up well. She was most amusing. I also put my German skills to use in helping her older sister Johanne (sp?) play monopoly (Gothenburg version) with the kids of the household.

We were there quite late, and had to get a lift to the closest tram stop. We made it there just before a tram arrived and had to walk about 15 minutes home. In that time, my guts were quite unhappy and I was concerned I wouldn't make it home. Fortunately, for me and the boy I made it home safely and without incident. I wish that I hadn't had that coffee with the milk.

The other delightful thing about today was the weather. It was blue skies, sun and warmth all the way and I got to see a bumblebee. That makes me ever so happy. They are such ridiculous looking animals.

Right, almost bedtime, I hope the neighbours pack it in soon, or I'm going to have get all nanna-like and go up there and tell them to please be quiet. I wonder if banging on the roof here would work?

I love swedish children's television

2009-04-02T18:09:00.001+11:00

This was on TV this morning and you don't have to understand Swedish to get the hilarity of it all. Also, in case you are wondering, it's probably work safe, nothing rude, no swearing.

Sometimes you see something that tickles your fancy

2009-04-01T23:45:00.003+11:00

I saw this at the supermarket the other day and _had_ to take a photo. Do you think that pussi would taste as good as it looks?

Edited to add: I'm just looking at the eyes on that cat and I find them somewhat disturbing. Why are they staring so?

The harvest

2009-03-30T06:08:00.002+11:00

I harvested a couple of chillies and all the capsicums I had been growing just before we left Australia. I made them into a pasta sauce with some tomatoes and zucchini from my cousin's garden. They were very tasty. I did my best to get a decent photo of them before I chopped them all up. I was rather proud that they managed to survive the stupidly hot weather and the ripened really well.

Hooray for gardening.

Temperatures

2009-03-30T05:22:00.003+11:00

So I noted today, not for the first time, that temperatures here appear warmer than in Aus. So, for example, today we went to IKEA and it was about 6 degrees outside. Thing is, it felt more like 15 degrees would at home, or near enough to. Why is that? It was cold, yes, but not that cold. At one stage I was wasn't wearing my coat. This would be completely unheard of if it were that cold in Melbourne/Canberra. So what is the difference?

We got one more step closer to having a bed that fits two adults today. We went to IKEA, found the mattress we wanted and the kind of slats would go underneath it. But I was worried that the bed frame we liked the most would be too wide for the space we have. So we decided to go home and really work out whether it would fit. Turns out, it wouldn't fit, so we're lucky there. But we have two other options that will fit. The first of those two will fit the best, and has underbed storage (score!), but the second one is prettier (I think) and matches the chest of drawers we bought to go in the hall. We're so excited about the idea of having a bed that is wide enough to fit both of us on comfortably.

More stories tomorrow, I have nachos to go eat.

SNOW!

2009-03-19T01:33:00.001+11:00

As I write this blog post, it's sunny outside and positively balmy at about 7 degrees C. But last Thursday it snowed. It snowed a lot. I got the boy to come and pick me up from work, because it was dark and it's nice to have someone to walk home with. He joined me and we walked down the hill together, in the snow. It was rather lovely.

Here is some evidence:

Fambly

2009-03-19T00:49:00.002+11:00

I was showing another member of my lab some photos today and came across a couple of photos of me and my brother. One from when we were very little and one from late last year. The one from last year I think describes our relationship well. In that photo I think, if I remember correctly, he had just licked his hand and pressed it to my forehead. I'm pretty sure I did it to him first. That's my job as a big sister.
Here they are, one after the other.

I've spoken to my brother more in the last few weeks of being here in Sweden than I have in a while. Well, I've spoken to him more frequently. He's called a number of times, it's good. I think he's usually calling at my mother's behest, but I usually speak to him first.

They called this morning. Mum was worried about me, because of the homesickness post. Just to reassure her again: Mum, I'm fine, I'm just undergoing a little culture shock. I'll be perfectly fine in about 2 months time. For the next 2 months, I'll be adjusting, then I'll be sweet. There are so many things to explore here. Tonight the boy and I are going for a walk. I want to investigate the tower I've seen on another hill near our house. I'm hoping there are a lot of stairs.

More to come from me, some posting about snow, sunlight and maybe dancing related news.

Some things are the same, some are different

2009-03-16T01:12:00.002+11:00

So, I'm having a small wallow in homesickness today. I'm sure it'll pass pretty quickly. But I'm allowing myself a day of feeling pretty crappy and wanting to go home. The boy is a little hungover today. We went out last night with one of my aunt's former students and his girlfriend. There was much beer and discussion of all manner of things. I remember most of it, which means I can't have been that drunk. Yay for me!

I'm sitting on the couch, watching queer eye for the straight guy and trying to read the subtitles in Swedish. Another thing that I've caught on TV here is wipeout. It's a Swedish version too. So some things are the same here.

The things that are different are both good and bad, or maybe just different. I don't know. But there are a lot of things I like about being here. I just wish I understood more of the language and was better able to communicate with people here. But there is a bit of time available for me to start learning. We haven't been here for 3 weeks yet. I have to remind myself to slow down and not to expect everything to be fixed immediately.

My Swedish dinner

2009-03-15T04:06:00.002+11:00

I cooked myself a totally Swedish dinner the other night. I had meatballs with brown sauce, lingon jam, some kind of cubed potato onion and bacon delight and some green beans and brussel sprouts. It was rather tasty.

Here is a picture to enjoy. Stories of snow coming soon.

Spring has sprung, or so it would seem

2009-03-11T21:22:00.002+11:00

So, theoretically March is Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere. And to a certain extent this is true. While it is predicted to snow in the next couple of days, it's also been a little sunny. The real indicator has been in our flat the whole time though. Well, at least since the trip to IKEA.

As I mentioned a little while ago, my boss insisted on buying us pots with bulbs in them etc. Here is an example of what they looked like when we first bought them.

As you can see, they are mostly green and the flash has gone off on the camera when I took the photo. There is little evidence of how gorgeous they will become.

Here is what they looked like on the weekend just gone.

The hyacinths (I think) are so heavy they make the pot fall over occasionally. They are rather pretty though. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that perhaps the boy is allergic. He had a sinus headache all yesterday and they are usually started by an allergic reaction/hayfever-ey thing. He's okay today though and has been given the task of mopping the front hallway, it's getting really dusty and dirty.

The other evidence I have of the existence of spring is all the green shoots I see, bursting out of the ground on my walk to and from work. I'll take a photo tomorrow on the way in and show you what I mean. Snowdrops and daffodils are making themselves known.

Settling in

2009-03-10T21:41:00.002+11:00

I'm having a tough time today. I'm lacking motivation and I'm feeling a little at sea. I think it's just a combination of poor sleep, with a touch of culture shock and a pinch of homesickness.

My brother was playing at WOMAD last weekend and apparently had a fabulous time. I'm super proud of my little brother and his achievements within music. I saw his photos on facebook and was stoked to see the large crowd that they played to on the Sunday. I heard interviews with another band member and heard a bit of their set from the WOMAD pages. I would have liked to have been home when he got back to get all the goss on the weekend. He tells me that they were played on JJJ on the weekend too.

My Opa has finished his chemo and radiation therapy, but is still feeling sore in the arsular region. He said it's getting better, pain-wise, which is good. But I'd still like to be around so I could go and visit him again. It was Oma's birthday on the weekend too. They had a good time though, so that's good n that.
My best mate, JJF, just had his vasectomy (hope you don't mind me sharing that babe) and is a little tender in the nadular region.

I've been able to call all these people, plus others, since being here. While it's great to be able to talk to them all, it's just not the same as being at home. I have such limited times available to call when we are all awake and with it. It's slightly frustrating.

What else is frustrating me is sleep. We have a very small bed. Those who keep up to date with faceplant know that I've been whinging about our bed. It's 120cm across. It's freaking tiny. Combine that with a heater that you can't turn off and it's all just a bit difficult to sleep. In order to keep the heat down, we open the window a little, but that lets in a lot of noise from the street. I feel like I can't win. We're trying an experiment tonight though. The boy is going to sleep on the couch and see if I'm able to sleep when I have some more room. I think it's a no-brainer. I'm totally going to be able to sleep if there is more space. But it's worth doing the experiment before we waste money on a new bed that doesn't solve the problem. With that said, I have spent a bit of time on the IKEA website today, looking at beds. I think I've found the one we would be happy with, 160cms wide, with storage in the base and it's cheap!

The other thing that is a little bit bothersome is that my boss is absent from work today, and was absent yesterday. It's good though too, she's absent because her son is sick and she can do a lot of her work from home. But it's bad, because she was going to do some experiments with me today, looking at our mutant embryos. I still need help finding everything, including bench space in the lab. But apparently she'll be in after lunch today, so I hope that we can get a bit done. She's been rather busy of late, submitting a paper and helping a student prepare for a thesis defence. I think, though, that it'll be good to have her back in the lab today to help me out with these cool mutant embryos.

So, to the positive elements of being here, so you don't think it's all woe and botheration. We have some cool mutant flies from a guy in Germany and found out that they have a tracheal (the model we work on) phenotype, so I have work to do that will not only be interesting, but might actually get me a publication. I've already instituted some things in the lab that are appreciated. The control of genetically modified organisms here is much less strict than Australia. Our fly room consists of a corridor like room with doors open at both ends, and my 'quarantine' of flies consists of keeping them on my desk until I know they don't have mites. It's great! We live really close to work and to pretty much everything. There are a lot of good restaurants near us. I've been able to go running. We've seen snow. I love a lot of the dairy products on offer here, especially this 'almost yoghurt/almost milk' stuff that you can get in different flavours. I've been having a raspberry one on my muesli in the mornings and it's great. Oh, and spring is coming, which means it's getting greener and greener here. I'll post photos of our bulbs and their crazy blooming that they've got going on soon.

Right, best be off, I'm probably supposed to be working now.

SHOES!

2009-03-08T21:44:00.003+11:00

So, I brought my boots with me to Sweden, for all the cold weather. But considering I'm constantly taking them on and off again I felt that some smaller shoes were in order. I found the smaller shoes yesterday, in a cool shopping/cafe area just down the road called Haga. I bought a pair of dark brown suede desert boots from clark's. Wheeee! I think my parents owned desert boots in the 70s or 80s. I certainly have memories of them. I'm going to take my desert boots on a walk this afternoon, somewhere lovely, like the fabric shop, just down the road. Mind you, that is dependent on it being open. I'm going to make a wheat bag to help when my unhappy girl bits appear again. My Australian wheat bag is fabulous, but it's in Australia. It was just too heavy to bring with me all that way. Especially when I had to make room for all sorts of other delightful things like clothes and vegemite.

IKEA trip

2009-03-08T19:24:00.003+11:00

Hello again.

I've been rather busy since I last posted on here, so I haven't managed to sit down and post anything. Today I'm sitting in my PJs on the couch, watching the snow fall outside our windows. We got up about half an hour ago and in that time the snow has gone from not sure if it's rain to definitive snow, and it's falling on an angle. It makes me glad to be inside and glad we got our wandering and shopping done yesterday.
So I can't quite remember what I wrote last time, and am too lazy to look it up, so I shall guess.
Last Saturday we went shopping, with my new boss and her daughter, to IKEA and COOP Forum (supermarket) to pick up a chest of drawers and a shoe shelf, plus a few food items. IKEA was like every other IKEA I've ever been in, except it was filled with real Swedish people.
We wandered around and I think the boy got quite frustrated with me and my boss. We were looking at everything but chests of drawers. The first thing we did on arrival was to drop Embla (7 yo daughter of boss) in the playroom. Here we found our first delight in Swedishness. She was given a little bib with a number on it. All the children in the playroom were numbered. Marvelous.
Then it was the time to look at all the IKEA 'stuff'. My boss insisted on buying us some bulbs in pots and a low vase/bowl thing to put them in and some rocks to put in the bottom of the bowl. She said it was very Swedish and we could watch Spring approach with the blooming of the flowers. The boy wasn't too keen on the idea, but I was rather delighted, so we got them. We did eventually end up getting a chest of drawers, Hemnes in white, shown here in blue and a shoe shelf. For those not familiar with the European/Scandinavian shoe world, shoes are taken off on entrance to a home and you go around in your socks. You need somewhere to store your shoes in the front hallway. So we got ourselves on of those too. We also picked up a bathroom rug/mat thing and a few other plants.
We picked up Embla from the play room and had ourselves some lunch somewhere in the middle of all this stuff and had ourselves an IKEA lunch extravaganza. Well, more accurately, the boy had Salmon and I had meatballs. The boss again insisted on getting something, in this instance cake for dessert. I was absolutely stuffed full.
After IKEA we loaded up the car with our purchases and drove about 300-500meters away to get ourselves some food. We went to COOP Forum. As far as I could tell, it was a mix between the biggest supermarket you've ever been to in Australia, combined with a Kmart or Target. There was everything there and heaps of it. I couldn't get over the size of the place and the choice was enormous. I intend on revisiting that same place one day to get some photo evidence of the hugeness. I'd write more here, but really it was a supermarket shopping experience and is really not that exciting.
My boss took us home and we started constructing the furniture. Anne (the boss), was really keen on constructing the furniture then and there. The boy suggested that maybe we could wait until the next day and he and I would do it. But she was pretty keen on doing it then, and to be honest so was I. So the three girls put together the majority of Hemnes set of drawers and the whole of the shoe shelf. I was impressed with the dexterity of Embla. She even used a hammer pretty well. I'm guessing they must train kids here early in IKEA furniture construction.
The last item of business of the day was dinner at Anne's house. We made our way there and were greeted by some lovely food that her husband had cooked. It was red rice with chicken breasts covered in vegetables and bacon I think, cooked in the oven. Really tasty. We also had some cask red from Australia (apparently). The boy also got to try some beers that they had in their cellar and we got a tour of the house. Towards the end of the evening, we started playing a board game. It was effectively dungeons and dragons, as far as we could tell. We ended up winning by accident. We played as a team, Anne and Per were the second and Embla and Ask (their son) were the final team, though Embla wasn't particularly interested and spent most of the game out of the room.
Okay, this is already a long post, I shall add some more stuff at a later time. Right now, I'm going to have a shower and get some thesis work done. I'll be back later on today to talk to you about Saturday Sweets, new shoes and Thai food, Swedish style.

I fucking love running

2009-03-02T03:50:00.003+11:00

Exercise makes everything better. It fixes all problems. Well, perhaps that is an overstatement. But it makes me happier. I was feeling rather, shall we say, unhappy about the thesis. I went for a 20 min jog/run around the area surrounding our flat. I feel so much better now. I've found out it's possible to run, even when it's really cold outside (about 3 degrees C). I didn't get lost and I saw a bit more of the area. It's rather lovely around here. There are lots of shops and cafes and the like. Fantastic! I think this will soon become a daily routine. Help me clear my head.

So, message reads, yay for running.

Thesis

2009-03-02T02:16:00.002+11:00

I got another draft returned from my supervisor this afternoon, Swedish time. Getting an email from him fills me both with hope and dread. Hope that he'll like what I've written, dread that it will not be good enough.
As ever, it wasn't good enough. This chapter he didn't like the structure of it and wants it to be more like a former student of the lab who did something similar. Bleh! It means more work for me, more than I had hoped for. But I had to expect it really. I kinda feel like it'll never be over. But that can't be true. It has to finish.
I'm also not sure how much time I'll have for my thesis, now that I'll be working full time in a new lab. I'm lucky that I have a 'househusband' to sort out the house stuff so I can work at night.
Speaking of that, I should probably go do that now, start some thesis work. More to come about the Swedish experience, including our trip to IKEA and subsequent construction efforts by me, my new boss and her 7 year old daughter, who is quite handy with a hammer and an allen key.

Sverige

2009-02-27T05:03:00.002+11:00

Hello and welcome to a blog post from Sweden. I'm sitting in our kitchen, at the kitchen table. The boy is cooking some pasta that we bought at a market hall thing yesterday. Two different types, one with walnuts in the pasta and stuffed with cheese and the others made with normal pasta and a different type of cheese. We have a couple of candles burning and it's been raining all day.

Welcome to Sweden!

But it's not that bad. I'm not sure what to say about Sweden just yet. It's cold, (yay!), it's very ordered, it's full of people who speak English well. Our apartment is a studio, but has a kitchen with room for a table that sits 6 and two full sized fridge/freezer things. Our bed is tiny for a double or large for a single, we haven't quite worked that out. We can't work out how to turn the heating down, and it's really quite warm in the flat, somewhere around 25 degrees, which is far to warm for sleeping purposes. We don't know where our rubbish goes, or whether we have a storage room. But, we do know how to book the laundry in the building and it's about two doors down from our flat. So we're pretty well set up.

There's a supermarket 2 mins walk from the flat, a lolly shop across the road, a fruit and veg shop + deli as well. We have a 7-11 nearby too. I can walk to work in about 10 minutes (uphill) and we're about 15-20 mins stroll from the centre of town.

Hmm, what else? We've still not found out what the rent will be on this flat. We don't have a bank account. But hey, we've only been here for 2 days.

Okay, I'd better go, the pasta is almost ready and I should probably go and see if the boy needs any help.

By the way, my English has gone to shit since we arrived. I think it's because I'm trying my darndest to learn as much Swedish as possible. So all my nouns have gone missing from my brain. Apologies for the wandering manner of this post and my potentially shitehouse English from now on. Better get that thesis finished!

Less than a week to go

2009-02-17T17:30:00.002+11:00

So I'm currently visiting my Opa who is on his last week of chemo and radiation therapy. It's likely that while this may help and completely reduce the tumour (10%), the more likely scenario is that he will have a smaller tumour removed surgically later. But we'll find out about that in March. Otherwise he's doing okay. He doesn't like to eat too much because it results in pain at the other end. He's lost 10kgs and Oma has lost 5 due to the lack of full meals. But there he's still relatively positive, even if he does whinge a bit. My brother and I drove up from Melbourne last night and were amazed by the destruction we saw from the Hume, brought by the bushfires. It was amazing how much was burnt and how much smoke there still was in the air.

P (the brother) has managed, through working and playing too hard, to get himself a dose of flu. He's got a fever, sore throat, headache, sinus pain etc etc. So he's currently napping again, after a full day of napping. I didn't realise how sick he was on the drive up though, until we stopped for some food at a 'crap in a box' chain restaurant and he was saying how cold he was, but was burning up. It's a trip to the doctor tomorrow. Poor bugger.

To the topic of today's post, less than a week to go. This time next week I'll be on a plane, somewhere (I think) between Hong Kong and Helsinki. I would love to say that tomorrow I'm flying to Canberra to submit my thesis. But alas, this is not the case. What is the case is that I will have two full drafts of my thesis completed and submitted to my supervisor by Friday the 20th of February. As ever, the thesis is taking longer than expected. I have made significant changes to the original documents and it currently sits at about 30, 000 words of thesis goodness. I'm hopeful that it really will be only 1 more draft and then I can submit. I would have loved to be finished by now, but I hope that by submitting later I might actually pass. Updates no doubt to come soon.

I think I shall now go and do a little bit of work on the thesis while Opa watches the news.

Thesis thesis thesis thesis

2009-01-27T16:14:00.003+11:00

So the last few weeks have been pretty full on with thesis work. I've been working solidly towards getting the thesis done. We fly to Sweden on the 24th of February and I'm hoping (cross your fingers for me) to submit on the 19th of Feb. That means the thesis has to be finished and printed before then. I think it's possible, I hope it's possible, I expect that I will make it possible.

Inter-dispersed between these bouts of thesis mania have been a number of different things. I found out a lovely lovely woman I was friends with in Canberra died last week from secondary cancers. She originally had breast cancer a number of years ago. She was a very stylish, friendly woman who had great taste in shoes. We weren't super close by any stretch of the imagination. We met through dancing and would talk and see each other occasionally, at socials and other events. I was so sad to hear of her death. She was only 35. 10 minute prior to finding this out, I got an email from a friend from uni. He's relapsed again with his lymphoma and is going into his last attempt at cure with some really hardcore chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant. I'm hopeful that he'll do well and recover.
So I've had two people I know be touched by cancer. That an my Opa is currently undergoing treatment for bowel cancer. It's just a cancer-a-thon. I'm really looking forward to some good news.

I'm not sure if this counts as good news, or just something that is new. I've been making good progress with the couch to 5km program and am up to week 7 of 9. This means I'm going for 25 minute runs/jogs 3 times this week. I've already done 2 at this length and was able to run further the second time. My running buddy is in Canberra at conference this week, and the temperature is going to be over 40 degrees until Sunday, so I'm not sure how well I'll go on the planned runs for Wednesday and Friday, but I can but try.

Anywhoodle, back to thesis talk, seeing as that is all my life is about, if you pay attention to the questions I get asked by people. I look forward to a time when someone asks me how my thesis is going and I can tell them that it's done, finished, submitted and dealt with. 3 weeks today until I need to print it. Today I'm sitting in the state library in the domed reading room, making use of the free wireless. It's nice in here, cool, well lit, and the desks are really old wooden ones. It usually works to make me work well and focus. Today isn't going so well, but I'm almost done with my planned work for today, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Bleh, I'm also suffering from raccoon eyes. I've not been sleeping terribly well, too much stress = too little good quality sleep. I have exceptionally vivid dreams which while not specifically nightmares, are disruptive to good quality sleep. But at least I can aim for pretty well rested eyes after the 19th of Feb. With that in mind I'm going to leave this poorly constructed post and go back to the joys of chapter 5.

This and that

2008-12-26T20:55:00.002+11:00

I'm laying on my couch, watching Monsters Inc. I'm going to go and check on the boy later. He's had somewhat of a skinful today, which contributed to his not feeling too great. He doesn't always cope well with family situations and today was a step too far for him. It's not something that I really truly understand. I'm totally okay with family situations, and enjoy myself a lot. But, different strokes for different folks I guess.

It's been a stressful few weeks here in scientician land. We're starting the move tomorrow to NBs house. I've got a lot to do, but no doubt it'll all get done and go fine. My plants are growing a lot and there are proper flowers on the capsicum plants.

Now, is definitely time though to go and start working out what stuff I need to pack for storage, which stuff to pack for moving with us, and which stuff to pack for selling/giving away/getting rid of. Movie is almost over and I need to get moving. Mind you, maybe getting an early night would be in order.

Stress and itching

2008-12-22T16:26:00.001+11:00

I’m itching to buggery. I don’t think this is helped by the fact that I’m wearing linen blend pants. It’s all my own fault really, I haven’t been moisturising properly. I always pay if I don’t keep that up. I have really dry skin that needs a good moisturisation to keep my body from completely itching from head to foot. It’s worse when I’m stressed, and when I’m busy.
At the moment, I have a lot to be stressed about. My thesis, while it continues along and seems to be proceeding okay, needs to be finished by a certain date so I can make that move to Sweden. I have a job lined up, yay!, starting on the 1st of March. I need my thesis to be completed, signed off on, printed and submitted before we leave, hopefully in the last week of February. This, in and of itself, is pretty stressful. But you add to the top of that, we’re moving in a week. We’ve got to be out of the current house by the end of the year. We’re having our final inspection on the 30th (wish us luck) and we need to pack everything up and move out. We’re moving in with my best friend of some 26 or so years, NB. She’s been my friend since I was two years old. We went to the same primary school and then separated to go to different high schools, but remained friends. We hardly ever see each other anymore, but the bonds of best friendhood have been maintained. So, she has graciously offered the boy and myself a place to stay between leaving this house and moving OS. So it’s back to share house living for a little while for us. We visited the house last night, on the walk back from the parentals. So the boy has now seen his new house for the first time. I think we’ll settle in well there, though it apparently gets hot in our bedroom, which for me is always known as Natalie’s room, after NB’s older sister. We’ll see how bad the heat is and if necessary sleep a few nights at the parentals, in their newly installed ‘evaporative cooling’ house.
In any case, everything we own has to be packed up and moved, either with us to the new house, clothes and DVDs I’d say, or put into storage at my parents house, or sold. I’m bringing my gardening endeavours with me, which continue to impress me with their proliferative nature (can you tell I’ve been writing about proliferation of cells etc in my thesis recently?).
Oh yeah, so onto the third thing that is stressing me, though perhaps to a lesser extent. We’re moving to Sweden! In about 2 months! And I have to organise a visa that has the right name on it, which I think should be my married name, though I intend to work under my maiden name for publication purposes etc. I still am waiting for my new passport to be sent to me, I hope it arrives before we move. We need to try and find somewhere to live in our new city. This is apparently going to be really difficult as the Swedish system of flat rental is interesting and complicated and the city we’re moving to, Gothenburg, is really tight, rentally speaking, at the moment. But I’m sure something will work out, it’s going to have to. We just have so much to organise, in particular what to take with us, flights to get us there, and all sorts of things to do with paperwork and the like. I’m trying not to stress about it, but it’s hard. I like to be organised and know what I’m doing.
The fourth and final thing that has been stressing me, and last week was the catalyst for a very shit day, is that my grandfather has been diagnosed with bowel cancer. He’s been having difficulties with that end of his food tube for a while. It was going to be ‘fixed’ last week and when they went in, they found cancer. He’s starting radiation therapy next week and has been told that it’s treatable. But he’s yet to see an oncologist, so I wonder a little about that. We’ll have to wait and see.
I can understand the process of cancer formation, and that, as you get older, it’s almost one of life’s inevitablities. But I want my grandfather to be well, to not be suffering with pain (as he is at the moment) and to continue to have a happy existence with my grandmother and their lovely dog, Monty. But there’s not much I can do about that. So I will have to wait, hope for the best and hope that he uses the pain medication properly so he doesn’t have to suffer pain and discomfort. It will be good to see him, and Oma, on Wednesday, for our traditional German Xmas. This year it’s at my parent’s house.

So, it’s been a stressful couple of weeks for me. I’m hopeful that, with the move over, we can relax a bit more and get back on an even keel. The boy has been delightful in helping me maintain my sanity and I cannot explain how much that means. He’s just delightful.

Back to the salt mines, ie my thesis writing. I wish that writing it was as easy and flowy as writing this blog post (that has been composed in the basement of the biomedical library at Melbourne Uni while on a mental break from working), but alas, no such thing is true.

My famous brother

2008-12-21T15:19:00.002+11:00

I'm sitting in the living room. I've just finished writing some figure legends for my last result chapter to be drafted. I've found some mistakes, I'm in the process of fixing them and trying to find some of the data I want to use. In any case, I'm also listening to PBS. My brother is playing live with his band, the Black Jesus Experience. He's the drummer. They are probably what you would call a mix of African hip hop and jazz. It's hard to explain, but I like it. They're also playing the Melbourne leg of the Big Day Out next year and going to Womad (spelling?), the world music festival in Adelaide. He's definitely going places this brother of mine.

Ooh and he was doing his best as a Bradman model earlier in the week. He works for an auction firm that were auctioning off Donald Bradman's baggy green (one of them anyway) and he had to hold it for photos and the news. Apparently some friends saw him on the Channel 10 news.

If you're ever in Collingwood on a Sunday afternoon and want to see my brother in action, head over to The Horn, which is the African cafe that the Black Jesus Experience plays at every week. It's on Johnston Street, just near Smith Street. Then stick around and eat yourself silly on the really tasty Ethiopian food.

Fats Waller

2008-12-16T23:43:00.001+11:00

My lovely husband has acquired for me some Fats Waller. I adore it. Should I be allowed to DJ at all again, in a lindy hop context, I will be using some of this.

Lovely stuff.

I made another quilt

2008-12-16T17:35:00.003+11:00

I'm in the process of making a cot quilt for a friend of mine's baby. She's due, actually I'm not sure exactly when she's due, but sometime next year. We haven't got a clue about gender, but there is a clue about hair colour. My friend is a redhead and it's a fair chance that she'll produce another one. So with that in mind, I tried to choose colours that would complement a ranga. It's finally up to the quilting stage. I hand sewed the 'squares' together with no pattern in mind, just a whole bunch of different sizes that I hoped would fit together nicely. I had a few holes in there that I had to creatively patch. But I think it's worked out well. So now all that is left is to quilt it, and then bind the edges and she's all ready for the expectant family. They're such lovely people, I hope they like it.

So here's a photo of the sandwiched together quilt. I used a tablecloth that I got from the op-shop as a base, some bamboo batting for the middle and the top that I sewed. Go crafty me.

Planting up a storm

2008-12-16T17:23:00.002+11:00

I recently, well about a month ago or something, planted some food plants to help me keep sane and give me yummy food to eat. I planted a strawberry plant, cos lettuces about 6 capsicum plants, 2 jalapenos, some basil and some of that coriander you buy at the supermarket in a pot. The strawberry started off with no flowers and just one misshapen strawberry that was still white. It's now grown quite a bit, the strawberry is ripening nicely and there are flowers galore on it. The capsicums have started to have flower buds on them, as are the jalapenos, as well as growing a whole heap. The coriander initally looked like it had died and I thought I wasn't likely to get any. But it started to sprout a new sprout and I swear is growing mms overnight. I has a new prong to the sprouting part nearly everytime I look. The basil has grown, but seems to have stalled somewhat and I think needs to be repotted somewhere where it isn't shaded by the lettuce. The lettuce is growing well and we've started eating it in sandwiches and salads and I'm really pleased. Yay! So here are some photos of that, these are the grown up plants. I think I'll pick the strawberry really soon. It looks so tasty. Nom nom nom nom nom.

So here's the newly sprouting coriander:

The buds on the capsicum:

The stawberry is top left, to the right of that is the jalapenos and along the bottom are the capsicums.

Another capsicum plant in the background, lettuce in the middle and basil in the front. It also appears as though something is eating the basil. Perhaps it's time for more snail bait?

Running is my drug of choice

2008-11-17T21:43:00.002+11:00

I never thought that I would enjoy running. All throughout high school, while I danced a lot and was cardivascularly fit, or so I believe, I never was good at running. The school run was a torture. 1.3km or so, around the school. We had to do it for PE, a lot. So I never thought that running would be fun.
I can't remember when I started doing it. Maybe it was about 2 or 3 years ago when I was at the gym and thought that it might make a bit of a difference from cycling. In any case, I started and kinda enjoyed the endorphin kick I got from it.
In recent times, I decided to start the Couch to 5K program again. I had tried it on a treadmill in the gym before and had gotten to about week 3 (of 9) and then due to various different things like stress and illness didn't manage to get any further. Recently I wrote about the next thing to happen to me while trying to run, the ankle spraining. That turned into about 6 weeks of pain. I was on crutches for 2 weeks, not able to walk at all. I had an ultrasound, and an x-ray and a bit of physio. Turns out that torn ligaments really do take a long time to heal. But now I'm done with physio and my ankle is stable and strong. It still aches a little in the evenings if I've done a lot of activity. But it's pretty much healed. So I've started the program again. Last Monday I did a week 1 run again. I was supposed to run again on Wednesday, but due to the 35 degree day, I decided it was just too hot. Thursday was also hot and Friday it rained all day. Though I could have those days mixed up. In any case, no running was done then. But Saturday morning, I was determined. I got up early and did another week 1 run.
Now, the program says to run 3 times each week. But I figured as I had gotten through most of week 1 previously that I could get away with running week 2 today, rather than waiting until Wed. So this evening about 7.30pm I went out and did that run. And it was relatively easy. I was doing intervals of 90 seconds jogging/running with 2 mins of walking and I didn't completely exhaust myself. It was good to feel as though I'd gotten somewhere. A little fitter. So, the plan is as follows, run again on Wed and Friday this week. Get myself to week 3, and then week 4,5,6 etc. Don't get injured again! Fortunately, or unfortunately considering I just bought cross trainers to help support sideways motion of the feet, soccer is not on this season as they couldn't get enough people together for a team.
Okay, enough procrastination, let's write some thesis!

3 problems with our house

2008-11-17T21:17:00.003+11:00

We've had a series of interesting problems arise with our current house. The first was that there was the pipe that took the water from the laundry sink outside. It was broken, before we even moved in, and would leak a lot of water down the side of the house. We were promised a plumber for a long time. This weekend, we finally got one. It only took 3 and a half months. But it was fixed! And in the meantime, while waiting for the plumber to eventuate, the bathroom sink was clogged and draino hadn't fixed the problem. The plumber fixed that too. Huzzah!

The second problem was the possum/s in the roof/wall of our bedroom. We called the real estate agents and after much harassment got them to send out a possum man. They were almost impossible to get hold of and I'm not sure they were convinced that the problem was really all that big. Mind you, they weren't getting woken at 5.30am by the little bastards returning from a night of frolicking.
Anthony, the possum man, came and looked around, found where they were getting in and set up a one-way exit. But we were still having problems, being woken at 5.30am every morning by the returning beast/s, hearing noise in the wall during the day. Anthony suggested that it may not be a possum. It was probably rats. After absorbing this more disgusting news, he put a non-lethal trap in the roof to have a look to see whether it was a possum or a rat. Possums are native and protected by law. So if we had both possums and rats, we'd have to get rid of the possums first, then bait the rats. The trap was set off the first night and whatever it was escaped. This pretty much confirmed rats. So Anthony has now baited them and we should start to find that they don't make any noise anymore. At one level, I cannot wait for them to be gone. We've been sleeping in the spare room because the noise is annoying, and we have a visitor coming this weekend to stay. We'd like to be back in our own room. At a different level, I feel bad for killing the rats in such a horrible way. Rat baits work by the use of an anti-coagulant, meaning their blood is very thin and doesn't clot properly. It also, I believe, includes something to ensure they start bleeding, like glass shards. So the little buggers bleed internally and aren't able to stop it. It sounds like a horrible way to go. Oh well, at least they won't be waking us up anymore.

The third problem is our lawn. The house is a on a really big block. The lawn hasn't been mown since we moved in, in August. Spring has been great for the growth of the grass and it's very high now. The possum man said it was a good idea to get it mown. No-one I know has a mower, so we've had to find someone to do it for us. You would think that would be simple. It is not. I initially called the guy who mows my parent's lawn. He's not doing lawns anymore and instead is doing a much more honourable and possibly more interesting job working with a charity that helps the homeless. The next port of call was one of those chain services, VIP. The guy rang me. He had injured himself in a pretty bad way, that might need surgery. He wasn't able to do our lawn. The third option was a guy I found in the yellowpages from the local area. He came this afternoon to look at the job and apparently will be here to do it 'sometime this week'. So I'm hopeful of this problem being solved too. Mind you, with my experience of the plumber (he called once, promised to call again to sort out a time and then never tried again. We had to call the estate agents to get his number, which should have been the case in the first place), I am skeptical of the mowing dude turning up at a sensible time or at all really. If it gets really bad, and he doesn't turn up, I have plans to be nice to our neighbours and borrowing their mower. They use it enough.

So soon our house should be going well and have little or no problems with it. Mind you, we only have a lease until the 3rd of January, so there won't be a heap of time to enjoy it.

Next post will be about bottling wine, growing herbs and veges and should include pictures of one of those things. But for now, I'm tired and the thesis work has been minimal today. I'm going to go and do some work on the discussion for my 'this worked' chapter of my thesis. I've got a fair idea what I'm going to write, but I have to get it down on paper first and then try and get it into the computer. Don't know why, but it's just how the brain sometimes works.

Possum magic

2008-10-28T17:36:00.002+11:00

We have a possum in our roof. It woke us up at 5.30am. I am not impressed. I asked the boy to get on to the real estate agents about getting a possum man to come and remove it. I hope that that happens. But who knows? They haven't organised to fix a pipe that has a leak in it, so why help us out with the possum?

In other newses, I was in Canberra on the weekend, visiting, attending a wedding. I got to catch up with some ladies I used to work with. All but one of them was pregnant. I felt a little left out (not really). But it was great to see them all as well as all the other mates I've missed since moving back to Melbourne.

With all the pregnancies going on around me (another friend EE is also pregnant), I've been busy making stuff. Just little presents to give to expectant mothers. So here are some pictures I took earlier of presents taken to Canberra, or being sent to Tassie.

I made some more booties like the green ones for VA, but didn't get time to photograph them.

Anywho, I have just finished making a delightful cake and should go and ice it. I've also made a totally tasty salad to go with the lovely lamb chops I'm marinating for dinner tonight. I'm using my procrastination to good purposes today, I'm being a proper little housewife. As much fun as that is, shoot me if I start calling the boy my hubby. I detest that word.

Angry

2008-10-15T11:36:00.003+11:00

I don't exactly know why, but today I am angry. There are a number of things that are making me angry.
-I received notice that an application I put in was unsuccessful, and not for content reasons.
-I'm angry because due to injury, I cannot exercise properly and am barely walking, though the barely walking is an improvement on the last two weeks I guess.
-I really want to be closer to finishing the thesis, but it seems like, today at least, it's an insurmountable task that looms over me, not allowing me to do anything else, not allowing me to move on with my life.
-I'm angry because I have to move soon and moving is a bitch and a pain in the arse and I really don't want to have to find somewhere else to live, I'm relatively happy with the place we have.
-I'm angry because I would like some more communication with someone, but am not getting it. Admittedly, I should be trying harder on my end, but they are a little bit scary, so I'm kinda avoiding it. Terrible I know. But it makes me angry that they haven't acknowledged me for quite some time.
So actually, I guess I do know why I'm angry. I'm most angry about thesis stuff, and frustrated that it isn't going faster. If I could exercise, maybe I would be able to vent that frustration and anger. Guess I'm just going to have to make do with screaming a bit and maybe punching something. Wish me luck.

Edited to add the following: fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
Consider this my blogging version of screaming.

Injury prone

2008-10-06T18:12:00.002+11:00

I don't know that the title of this post is strictly speaking true. I don't know that I am injury prone per se. But I seem to be able to injure myself at inconvenient moments. Like last Thursday. I have been the replacement Kate for my cousin's soccer team. The other Kate is injured, something to do with her knee. So for the last 6 weeks or so, I've been helping out and having heaps of fun, as I have mentioned. Until this last Thursday when it was almost an entirely family affair. My cousin G, his wife C and my other cousin T were all playing and Macca was the non-family exception. All was going great, I was defending like a mo-fo and all of a sudden my right ankle went over and I heard a snap. The snap was not good. I have not walked properly since, in fact until today I've been on crutches or hopping the whole time.
So Thursday night saw me being taken first to the Western Hospital in Footscray, where there was a 4-6hour wait to see a doctor, to the free medical clinic on Bell Street, where I waited about 35 mins to see a doctor who spelled soccer: soccar, and heard : heared. I'm guessing he didn't get his medical degree by being able to spell. In any case, he strapped my ankle, told me to get crutches, gave me a prescription for panadeine forte (woo woo!) and told me to go and get an ultrasound to see if I had any ligament damage. I finally made it home and started making the husband (hehe I still giggle at calling him my husband) do things for me. He made me a lovely dinner, helped me in and out of the shower, and the next morning gave me a piggyback to the toilet and went and got my crutches from the pharmacy. So this Thursday I'm going to the ultrasound place and then back to the doctors to see what needs to be done. I've bribed my physio friend with food to help me learn how best to strap the ankle and today I'm hobbling around the house sans crutches. I fear, however, that the dancing I had planned for tomorrow night will not go ahead, nor the running regimen I had started last week.
But in good news, I got two pairs of glasses for $400 and I've got some crafty things on the go. Should be great. Now I just want to get to an op shop to pick up some quilty type stashes, I forsee quilting in my future, or at the very least patchwork. Next post will have photos, absolutely!

Running and descriptive biology writing

2008-09-29T15:44:00.002+10:00

Today has had two themes : running, and descriptive biology writing.

This morning I went for a run. I've started, for about the third time, the couch to 5K program. It's a running program that means in 9 weeks, if you follow it through, you can be running 5kms. It was good fun, and hard work. I'm hopeful that if I stick with it this time it'll help my indoor soccer skills. I've been playing indoor soccer for my cousin's mixed team on a Thursday night (not sure if I've written about it before) and while it's heaps of fun, it really does show up how unfit I am in a cardiovascular sense. We'll ignore all the other kinds of unfit I am for now. The fun bit was checking out a bit of the Yarra trail. It runs all the way from near my parents in Macleod to the city along the Yarra river. I got as far as about Ivanhoe, from Heidelberg, and then turned around and came home. I'm thinking that perhaps as the weeks progress I'll get closer and closer to the city. Though I don't think I'll ever go all the way in, it's about 25kms of winding track. So, theory of the program says I'll be running again on Wednesday. I hope that is true.

The other part of today is descriptive biology writing. I'm having a major mental block at how to write this though. It's for the most successful part of my thesis work that I've done, the prostate gland stuff. It's worked really well, but I'm just not sure how to write it. I know what content has to go in, I know exactly what I did and what I found out in the process. But I cannot for the life of me work out a way to write it in a coherent manner. It's very frustrating. I think I might have to start with dot points and move them around a bit until it flows. There are many ways to approach the writing. In a chronological sense (not in terms of when I did the experiments but the timing of the development of the organ), seems to be the most sensible, but there are other ways that also make sense to me. I really don't know what I'm going to do. I've made thesis figures already for this and they seem to make sense to me. Perhaps I should just describe them and go from there. Gah! It's all a bit brain-hurty.

And one last thing, in recent times, 19th September to be exact, I got married. I'm now Mrs Burgermeister, or am if you believe my boy and facebook. I've changed my licence and medicare card over to the new name and it's all a little strange. I'll be keeping my maiden name for work purposes, publications etc, but for everyday life I'm someone new. I wish this new Kate was good at writing descriptive biology.

two more sleeps to go

2008-09-17T09:51:00.002+10:00

In two more sleeps (3 days kinda), I'm getting married. Between now and then I'm getting a manicure, massage and an awesome hairstyle done. I finally can justify getting myself made up all pretty like. Huzzah! I think everything is organised for the day. I have my dress, ring, underwear and relaxed attitude all ready. Just need to get there on time and everything is fine, fine, fine.

The other news of this week is that my discussion for one of my chapters (thesis) is almost done. I hope to finish it today and send it to the supes with a note explaining the whole getting married thing and suggesting we chat next week about it. We haven't been chatting much of late, via email or via phone. I think it's time that changed, and after the wedding seems the best time. Before is just a ridiculous notion, too many other things on the go. He can, I'm sure, wait another couple of days before talking to me. He's managed to go this long without talking to me.

I've also been playing indoor soccer with my cousin's team on Thursday nights. It's been great fun. We're in a mixed team and I'm the replacement Kate. The other Kate from the team has hurt her knee and I've been called in to help out. Last week was probably my best week, I kicked two goals! Yay!

Other things going on are: I've been DJing in Melbourne. Hooray! I have now DJed twice at Carnivale, which is a new dancing night in the Melbourne scene. It's Thursday nights (after soccer for me) at Suede bar in Smith Street. It's been great fun. I love to inflict my musical choices on other people. I can't go this week though, nor to soccer. I'm getting my hair done in the city, then heading to the airport to pick up the boy's Dad and 'stepmum'. I say 'stepmum' because she's only been with his Dad since he's been grown up, so never had a role in raising him. Then it'll be straight home for sleep before getting up really early on Friday to get to the wedding on time.

Anywho, this is a rambling post with little sense, so I should go and bathe and get that discussion finished before my manicure this afternoon.

Reasons I like living in Heidelberg

2008-08-14T15:35:00.003+10:00

Near to my house, there is a tiny cemetery. It consists of one small house block on a regular street. It's probably about 15 mins walk from my house. I was driving my mum's car back home this afternoon and noticed that there were two rabbits in there. I decided to drop in and take a few photos. The rabbits were obviously someone's pets. I hope they don't get run over, one of them hopped into the road as I was leaving. Enjoy!

Lessons learned from thesis writing

2008-07-29T18:29:00.003+10:00

Here's something I've learned today about thesis writing. No-one gives a crap about your thesis figures. They don't care how long you've spent on them, they really don't appreciate the works of art that they are. Fuckers.

My life is now dominated by thesis, thesis and preparing to move house. Thesis, preparing to move house, and contemplating going to Canberrang (swing festival in Canberra). Thesis, preparing to move house, contemplating Canberrang and getting married. Thesis, preparing to move house, contemplating Canberrang, getting married and moving to Sweden. But mostly thesis, yeah right!

Ah deary me! I am looking forward to being settled in the new house. I'm hoping it brings a lot of writing goodness and I hope that it all falls into place after that.

In other news, I've started watching Dexter on TV. I like it. I get where my friends raving about it last year were coming from. That and Grand Designs have to be my favourite TV shows at the moment.

To tie this up. Lesson learned: no-one else gives a fuck about my thesis, except me, and maybe my supervisor. But we are keen on it for different reasons, and the same ones too I guess. Getting me the hell out of the PhD student land and into gainful employment. Must get back to it. A chapter is almost ready for supes to read.

Changes

2008-07-27T19:35:00.002+10:00

In recent news, the boy has decided that he's 'the man' in our relationship now. This means he makes the important decisions in the relationship. This means, he decides (apparently) which football team we support, Western Bulldogs. I've tried to explain that that isn't how things work with football team support. But he is adamant that he is the Man and that his word is final. I think I'll just let him believe that if it makes him happy.

In other news, we have a house to live in together, yay! It's in Heidelberg, it's 3 bedrooms and it's a 3 month lease. That means we have three months to get my thesis finished, get married and get sorted to move to Sweden. Wish us luck, I think we'll need it.
We're moving in next weekend, so this week will be packing and preparing.
The other news of the last week has been that I have been suffering from what I'm pretty sure, was the flu. I had been feeling pretty poorly since last weekend and on Thursday I was exceptionally unwell. I took my mum to have her foot operated on and then spent the next 6 hours asleep at her house. I also stayed the night and slept most of Friday as well. Fortunately, today I'm finally feeling human and I think that by the time comes to get moving I should be feeling back to normal.

Living in Armadale

2008-07-17T11:39:00.003+10:00

So, I went for a run/walk thing this morning. Just walked down to the local park, ran around a bit, came home. On the way home I decided to play my favourite Toorak/Armadale/South Yarra game, how many 4 wheel drives. They are ever so prevalent here. To make the point more clear, I counted 104 4 wheel drives on my way home. It took me about 25 mins to walk back from the park. That's a lot of 4wd cars. I excluded all the ones that were obviously work trucks for those many many builders and handymen working on houses around the place. And if the car had dirt on it, and looked as though it had actually been used for off road driving, it was also excluded. 104! Gotta love people with more money than sense, or hate them? I wonder. Anywho, in my travels I also saw three labradors and two friendly cats. The cats were ever so keen to be patted. One tabby and one ginger. That is all, time to work on a project proposal for the Swedish Research Council and do some washing.

Homecoming

2008-07-16T11:33:00.002+10:00

I've been back in Melbourne now for 24 hours. Did I mention I was coming back? Yeah, I decided that writing my thesis would be more efficient with my boy near me. The boy is now my fiance, that's the new change as well. We decided to get married soon after my birthday and plans are afoot. We're going to make use of the registry office and have a small, tiny, hard to see wedding.

So what else is news? I'm in Melbourne - tick. I'm getting married - tick. I'm moving to Sweden -tick. I'm writing my thesis -tick. I've been doing very little exercise -tick. I'm feeling a little displaced -tick. But I'm good. Give me a week and we'll be firing on all cylinders.

I'm going to look at an apartment this afternoon in Alphington, wish me luck that it's fabulous and they take us. We need somewhere new to live.

End vague and useless post.

Speakeasy Blues Performance

2008-06-18T14:57:00.001+10:00

Something else, vaguely interesting

2008-05-13T09:33:00.002+10:00

I posted a photo of a mug of Max Brenner's hot chocolate quite some time ago. Turns out that it's a popular photo when getting people to check out this blog. I've been wasting some time checking out via sitemeter where people are coming from when finding their way here. This photo is apparently a big reason:

You dirty bunch of bastards. Trust the thing that brings most people here is a picture that could possibly look like minge. Deary deary me. But what else was the internerd invented for but for pictures of minge. I know, boobs and arses too. And probably cock. Can you tell I'm tired? And procrastinating?

Notes I write myself late at night

2008-05-13T09:18:00.002+10:00

This was to remind me to dissect the prostate glands from some developing pupae. It's sad that I have to write these things to myself, but necessary. This was written at about 11pm. So, due to the approximately 5 hours sleep I had last night, I'm off home for a snooze to come back later to do some kick arse microscopy of some different fly prostates from developing pupae. My life is ever the interesting.

Reasons I am turning into my grandma and nanna

2008-05-11T11:26:00.002+10:00

So I've realised in the last couple of weeks, I'm turning into my grandma, and her mum, my nanna. I present the following evidence:
Nanna used to like drinking just hot water rather than tea or coffee. She also drank a glass of water with lemon juice in it most mornings. I have taken to drinking hot water with lemon juice in it. Yum!
Grandma was the kind of woman who would read something in a newspaper article or magazine and go with the idea. This usually related to food. She read once that walnuts were good for reducing your blood pressure. So she stopped taking her blood pressure medication and just ate walnuts instead. She loved a food fad. My act of finding something in a magazine/newspaper wasn't a food thing though. I read somewhere that washing your hair only with conditioner was great for it, especially for those people like me with dry skin. Your hair apparently goes through a phase of being desperately greasy and then it rights itself. Today I'm wearing a headscarf to cover over the greasy hair. It's slowly getting there, I'm about a week and half in. If it doesn't improve soon, I think I'll give it a miss. But to be honest, it hasn't been that bad.

Just thought I'd share that. And the following: yesterday I went and saw tap dogs at parliament house and then went to see Kevin Rudd's office. Wheeee!

immortal log update

2008-03-25T17:38:00.002+11:00

I'm trying to kill the immortal log in our toilet. It really is living up to the name. There are a couple of bottles of creme developer that live next to the vanity unit in our bathroom. They contain peroxide. I've put some in the bowl and I'm going to leave it there for a while. I'm hoping it'll dissolve whatever it is that has taken up residence in our toilet.

This sort of thing makes me wonder about what my housemate must be eating. I can't imagine it's healthy stuff.

Newspapers

2008-03-25T16:58:00.002+11:00

I quite regularly check out the Age website. I like seeing what's making news in my hometown of Melbourne. I like to have a look at the most viewed articles section at the bottom of the page. But there aren't just the most viewed articles from the age, there are also the most viewed articles from the brisbane times and also the sydney morning herald. I've noticed a trend. The articles most viewed in the bris times are inevitably of the more sensational variety. I wonder if that says something about people in Brisbane, or whether it says something about my prejudices. Probably a bit of both. But I do wonder about that. Why do those up north more reguarly click on the articles with the least intellectual content? Like the stuff about Lara Bingle getting engaged, or the latest Britney Spears scandal (like we give a toss).

The thesis work obviously continues apace. Back to it.

Lazy Kate and scooter riding

2008-03-25T14:02:00.002+11:00

I always think of things to blog about when I'm riding my scooter into the lab or on the way home. But by the time I get to work or home, I'm too lazy to get organised to post anything. So this'll be a start at trying to get back on track with the blogging.

Today is a rainy day, I keep on checking the www.bom.gov.au website to look at the radar pictures, waiting for a clear patch to head into the lab. There won't be one for hours. So I'm stuck in the house with the crazy dogs, waiting for a clear patch. This isn't so bad, I do have a PhD thesis to write, so I guess that's something to keep myself occupied. But it's also kinda hard to get going with that. But I will have something done by the end of today, something productive towards the thesis. I have already made a few thesis figures, so I guess that is a good start. Photoshop is ruining my brain though. That program is evil.

What other things are new in the land of Kate you ask? Or you would if you were reading this and gave a crap. The wedding I went to in Perth the other weekend was delightful, though we almost didn't make it in time. I blame cabs in Perth. Sneaky bastards never turning up. We made it in the end though so that was good. It was in Kings Park with the reception at the Old Swan Brewery. Both bride and groom were gorgeous and I'm so pleased they are married now. It's about time though, they've been together for more than 10 years now.

I'm heading back to Perth in a few weeks for some more dancing extravagance. It should also be a delight. I'm making a dress to wear to the ball and I need to sort out a mask. The dress will be pink and navy blue from a 1947 pattern. I need to adjust it a fair bit though, my lack of waist means that it's a bit snug around the middle. According to the measurements on the packet, my bust is a size 12, my hips are also a size 12, my waist is the right size for a size 16. There is something wrong with that. So I've adjusted the pattern accordingly and on the weekend I made up a mock top half of the dress with some fabric I've had sitting around for the best part of a decade. It was never going to be anything that I'd actually wear and now it's made itself useful.

On the easter weekend I did a few things. I performed at the national folk festival, hurting my back in the process. I drank a ridiculous amount of alcohol on Good Friday. I spent all Saturday recovering from that. But I didn't spew and am proud of myself for that. I've evidently learned some restraint in my 27 and a bit years.

Other than these fun things I've been working on my thesis, trying to get some final experiments to work and looking around to find a job to do once I'm finished the PhD. Fingers crossed something good will turn up and I can do some exciting work and get paid again.

More to come, when I'm next procrastinating expect another post. Maybe with photos, but don't hold your breath.

Final note: for those that remember the immortal log blog, it's back and refusing to die. It's definitely not mine this time. Ew!

What I did last night

2008-02-19T09:43:00.002+11:00

I did a few things last night, all of which I am proud. I taught two dancing classes at our new venue, Macgregor Hall. Chris and I hit our teaching groove and were really working well together. We got our students dancing like fabulous dancey things and I am hopeful that they all enjoyed themselves. I was moderately smutty, but not too much. Just enough to make it amusing, or so I think anyway.

I picked up my housemate from the airport. I managed to score a free pie from the caltex next to the airport. I think if you turn up later in the evening (around 9pm) they are pretty happy to get rid of the remainders. My stomach is still okay, so I've assumed that there weren't any nasties in the pie.

I taught two friends of mine some basics of tap dancing. I haven't tapped for quite a number of years. I think about 5. But it was definitely all coming back last night. I have organised with the boys to get them to feed me in exchange for lessons. Feed the poor student is the name of the game. It was heaps of fun too.

The final thing I did last night was probably the funniest though. JJF is moving house this weekend and came over to drop off some of my stuff that I'd left in his cupboards. He turned up with the stuff at around midnight. He also brought with him a can of Mr Sheen and a big cloth. There is a park with some play equipment in it, just down the road from my house. Within the equipment is a metal slide. We've used the park for smashed by Kate for the last few weeks and noticed last week that the slide wasn't very slippery. JJF had the solution, Mr Sheen.
So we wandered down there with the Mr Sheen and the big cloth, soon after midnight. He sprayed the slide, and I was the first tester. I sat on the cloth and slid down, spreading out all the Mr Sheen. It was really fast, really, really fast. JJF slid down next and almost hit his head, he was going so fast he came off at an astounding rate and nearly fell onto his noggin. I laughed so hard. I kept thinking of all the kids who will use the slide in the future and will fly off. I think they'll get some pretty good air time. We played around with the slide for a few minutes after that. Then it was pretty much time to go home and get some sleep.

I had a pretty exciting evening last night. Topped off with some fabulous giggles with my best mate. Who, by the way, did pass the fitness test for the AFP and has only the interview left to pass before he can go to police college. The boy now wants him to change his surname, at least on facebook, to Gutenberg. And we have to watch a police academy marathon.

When you are out and about sometimes you see things that make you laugh

2008-02-13T16:22:00.001+11:00

This is one of the things that made me laugh recently while out and about. I'd just been to Questacon with friends. We had dropped off JJF's girlfriend at her house and were heading home, stopping on the way in Manuka to get dusted jelly babies. We passed a cafe and we saw the following:

I was amused. That is all. I'd write more about how touched I was about the sorry speech Kevin Rudd made today, but I have flies that desperately need my attention downstairs.

Smashed by Kate

2008-02-06T23:49:00.000+11:00

For the last little while I've been running what we've termed 'Smashed By Kate'. It's a boot camp/personal training effort. It's rather fun. I get to be quite a nasty bitch and tell people what to do. After one session last week, I sent a text message to a friend, asking if he was in pain at all. His response was a one word text message: Bitch. I think he may have been suffering somewhat. Hehehehehehe. That does amuse me.
I have to admit, I was in a fair amount of pain too. Last week had 7 participants including myself. We did, amongst other things, walking lunges in a line from the park down the road, most of the way home. It also included lots of push ups, lots of sit ups and the beep test. Next week JJF is going to do the physical entrance test to the AFP again. He's been working pretty hard, so I anticipate that he'll get in this time.
I gave him a good copper haircut last night. About a number 2 or 3 all over. He obliged me also, by cutting my hair. It needed a bit of going over later, to make some adjustments to stop it kicking out all over the shop. But it was my favourite kind of haircut, free!
Oh yeah, so back to the SBK. This week will be a bit of a test run for the AFP entrance test. We'll all see if we can get into the police, well at least physically. I'm not sure we'd all past the psych test. Fingers crossed we'll also see Princess Kate (PK) there this time. It'll help the gender balance, and help with the Kate quotient.

Dogs!

2008-02-04T17:12:00.000+11:00

Well this weekend saw the whole household, including dogs and my housemate's boyfriend traveling to Captain's Flat to have a look at Huskies. My housemate LJS had decided that when E moves out, her dog Tikka will need a companion. So it was off to look at dogs who might fit into our happy little home.
The drive down saw the BF and LJS and Tikka in one car and E, myself and Toren in the other. Toren was rather excited at the trip and licked my ear on numerous occasions from his position in the backseat. It was very affectionate, but at the same time kinda gross as I know what he does with that tongue and it's not pleasant.
We arrived to have a look at three different dogs, all in need of a home. A male dog, Beau, who was white, very friendly, but a lot bigger than we were looking for. Teaka, a 3 year old white husky, with different coloured eyes. The last dog was Coco, a dog who while only a year old had already had a litter of pups. She was brown/red, probably a cross with another breed and very sweet. In the end, the different coloured eyes of Teaka won the day. But having a name like Teaka, so close to Tikka, LJS changed her name to Ava.
So now at home there are three dogs. Two kelpie/husky crosses and a purebred Husky. She has already shown that she will be an interesting dog to live with. She's escaped once, more on that later, and she and Tikka are sorting out the pecking order. It'll be a little while before we know who the new boss of the dogs is, but my bet is on Ava. She's very sweet though, and submissive to humans and loves a belly rub, so she'll no doubt fit in well in the long term.

Stories for me to tell you tomorrow: Smashed by Kate, my new boot camp thing that I'm running with some friends on Sundays and dinner at the day to day supervisor's house, who is no longer my day to day supervisor, she has a job in the public service so we have to eat dinner to talk science. But it's rather nice having a sciencey meeting with wine, we should have done that earlier! But now I'm off to get ready to teach the first of the ANU dancing classes for this year. And the penultimate class at the ANU refectory.

Two things

2008-01-29T13:06:00.000+11:00

My scooter got to 20,000kms today. I have booked it in for a service tomorrow. Fingers crossed it won't be too expensive.

I noticed about ten minutes after arriving today that I should have worn a belt. I have evidently lost weight since last summer and these shorts are on the roomy side. Question is: go home and get belt, tough it out, or buy a new belt at lunchtime?

update

2008-01-16T14:49:00.000+11:00

I saw the movie Atonement on Saturday afternoon. It was going to be a solitary 'get out of the heat' event. It turned into quite the social occasion. I'm teaching a jazz routine next week (do a youtube search for hotpockets and jojo to find it) and have been practicing the teaching of it with Princess Kate (PK), as she won't be able to make the actual class. We were having a go Saturday morning and then sitting around chatting afterwards. My housemate and her boy were thinking of what to do for the day and I said I had plans to go see a movie to get out of the heat. They decided to come with and PK thought that perhaps she and her boy M would also join us.
So, cut to later in the day and housemate, boy and myself were at the mall ready to go to the film. PK and M had phoned to say they were on their way. Housemate's parents were coincidentally going to the same session, we run into friends of housemate's boy. In the end there were 9 of us seeing the same film in the same session. Crazy.
I absolutely adored the movie. It was sad, it was funny, it was shot exceptionally well. My only gripe is that James McAvoy didn't have his shirt off enough. Other than that, I give it two thumbs up. The costuming in particular was great.
What else is news you ask? Tomorrow night we are hosting a dancing birthday party at my house. We have bought 10m of lino (dark grey marble) and we are having any number of people come over to dance and play sing star. I predict it will be the party that we'll all talk about in the weeks to come. Until such time as there is another one like it. It's a genius idea. Lino + talcum powder = an excellent dance space. We tested it out on Sunday afternoon and found it to be great. Can't wait to try it out for real with a whole party of people. I'll be DJing half of the event. Wish me luck.

Two things

2007-12-11T22:10:00.000+11:00

Kevin Rudd is PM, yay! We have a deputy PM (who is currently acting PM) who is a woman. Woo woo! That is all. Please return to your usual daily activities. I will update when I am not sick and not running around doing endless experiments and waiting for science to treat me better.

back home again

2007-10-15T16:12:00.000+10:00

I'm back in Canberra. After 7 weeks away, I'm back. It's much warmer and sunnier here than it was back in August. The lab is much the same. My house is much the same, though currently covered in dirt and dust. Everything is pretty much the way I left it. My brain, however, is not. It is fuzzled and useless. I hate jet lag. So because my brain is addled and I couldn't possibly update you on all that has been going on. I present, some of my favourite pictures of my trip. The ones with the funny names and the one with me drinking an exceptionally large beer.

This is from Gothenburg. It's a chinese restaurant.

Spunk wine gums in Copenhagen.

The call button for a lift in Copenhagen.

Chocolate in Sweden.

Beer drinking Kate

Oslo

2007-09-22T05:42:00.000+10:00

Hello all. I've made my way from Germany and Austria to Norway. I'm currently sitting in the living/bed room of friend's of the boy's. We are drinking Henkell Trocken and chatting etc. We spent the whole of today travelling. We left my relatives in Delmenhorst, near Bremen, at about 9.40am and made it to Oslo at about 6pm. Our plane was delayed at Hamburg airport for about an hour. So we sat around and made really bad jokes and bought some duty free.
What else is news? My German cousins are the cutest bunch of kids I've met in a long time. Berlin is awesome. My great aunt isn't well, but living in a rather pleasant old people's home. It was rather sad to see her how limited her movement is these days (she's unable to walk) and to see that she doesn't recognise me anymore. But we only met a few times in the last 10 years or so and she is very old.
Hmmmm what else? Not a lot really. We've been having a great time away and I'm really looking forward to seeing a bit of Scandinavia. Then we're off to Munich and Oktoberfest before we come home. Better be sociable now and stop all this internerd nonsense.

Hannover

2007-09-06T22:51:00.000+10:00

Welcome to my journey accross Germany. Today is Hannover day. We are really only here for today, we have to leave ridiculously early tomorrow morning to drive to Cologne. It should be fun and scary and all those things that Germany should be, efficient! My English is suffering a great deal from being here. I said something monumentally stupid this morning, something along the lines of 'all of a sudden the sunshine goes'. Very correct grammatically, if I were German perhaps! But not exactly idiomatically English. Bleh! So long as it doesn't continue on my return home then I'm okay.
The boy has picked up some more of these German-English-isms and has said that he has much pleasure in Hannover. So there's his contribution to the blog today. What else? We had curry wurst today, we're debating whether my Australian friend's housemate is German or American. When she speaks English it's with a very American accent. I maintain she's German, the boy thinks she's American. I intend to find out tonight.
Bleh, my brain isn't working, will post more later. I'm off to have a post lunch nanna nap and then take the dog here for a walk. His name is whisky and he still has his nads, as do most of the dogs we've seen here. Weird!

Germanermany

2007-09-06T02:28:00.000+10:00

Hello there peoples. I'm currently sitting in the living room of a friend from Australia. But we're in Hannover. I've ended up here instead of in Bavaria, because my host parents are still in China. Danielle is working here as a postdoc and has graciously allowed us to stay with her for a couple of days. I'm looking forward to doing some washing and speaking English with someone other than the boy. We drove today from Dresden to Hannover and didn't get killed. It was an amazing adventure. Scary, scary, scary shit. So many trucks. The fastest we went was about 160km/h. Wheee!

What else? I gave a seminar at the Max Plank Institute, I got taken out for dinner at a fancy restaurant where there was a full sized poodle in the restaurant at the table next to ours. We drank a lot of cheap beer and city itself was delightful. Lovely lovely place. The conference I went to was interesting and really full on science. I'll write more when I can be arsed.

So auf wiedersehen meine Leute, bis bald.

Hi Mum, I'm not dead, just distracted

2007-08-07T12:08:00.000+10:00

Well hello there. Today I am feeling a little overwhelmed. Whenever I think of what I have to do, I get a little headspin. I have a lot planned over the next few days and weeks. I'm not 100% sure I'll be able to do it all. But I'll die trying, or something like that. I'm mostly posting this to let my Mum know that I'm safe and sound, just busy and distracted with things like facebook and the boy (who's staying at the moment, yay!) and work and the impending doom that is Canberrang. Well, not doom, but the impending event that is Canberrang.
I have one houseguest coming to stay. He'll be sleeping in the living room, with the dogs. I'm sure they'll get along great. Other than that, I may have a couple of other stay, depending on organisation and the like. I'm going to all the events and also trying to get as much labwork done as I can. I expect to be very tired on Monday. But hopefully, pleased that Canberrang was so much fun. And I'm determined not to get a cold this year.
Okay, so Mum, I'm okay, I'll talk to you next week sometime. Everyone else who has decided to read this, send me and email and tell me what you've been up to. I have been working and gyming and spending far too much time on facebook. Tell you all about Canberrang later.

going to the gym, yay!

2007-07-26T16:09:00.000+10:00

I'm off to the gym in a minute. I haven't been in about a month. I am rather excited. I will no doubt be in agony on Saturday. But I don't care, because I'm going to have super scary strong muscles. Fingers crossed the absence from the gym won't mean that I'm completely useless at lifting weights, but there are no guarantees.
In other news, I might be going to the reception of a wedding this weekend, specifically to dance. No eating, no drinking, no knowing the couple getting married. Just dancing with a guy from Tassie to a jazz band. I hope it works out, I have a lovely outfit I can wear.
I'll also be dancing tonight at the regular social dancing gig here in Canberra. I'm quite looking forward to that one too. Man I hope the music is good.

erm, stuff

2007-07-24T17:08:00.000+10:00

So the cold is finally retreating, not quite gone, but mostly. Other than that, there's not much going on that I care to share. I've been a little bundle of stress and worry in the last few weeks. But I think that I've got myself a resolution that works for me and I'm happy about. More details to come later, if they become relevant to people other than me.
Canberrang is coming up very soon. I have a few potential house guests during that time. Should make for a fun weekend. JJF is hosting our dear friend chelle at his place. It should be a blast. I'm getting a little excited about all the fabulous dances that I intend on getting over the weekend. Some of my favourite dancers are coming to the event and I will have to stalk them and get myself some dancing goodness.
What else? The virgins have started emerging that will give me the babies that should be the right thing to finish off the thesis. That's pretty exciting. Other than that, woa, I have three bags full. I stole/borrowed it from Mum on Sunday. I'll have it back to yourself or your lovely daughter soon. That's the book I mentioned a while ago that my cousin got for her birthday. It's a detective novel, with sheep.
Right, those virgins will turn into hussies if I don't get there soon, so I'd best be off. Talk later and stuff.

snot central station

2007-07-16T11:30:00.000+10:00

Yep, I'm still as snotty as a girl can be. And it's moved to my chest. I think that a trip to the doctors this week is in order. Other than that, experimentation is still going on. I've been teaching lots and dancing lots and generally having a bit of fun. Just not being able to stay up very late or sleep particularly well. When I'm well, I'll be more inclined to write something interesting here, and will most likely have something to write too. So, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and get rid of the vast amounts of snot that have accumulated in my sinuses.

I'm not dead, just sick

2007-07-13T11:15:00.000+10:00

Today I have a stuffed up nose, a sleepy expression and a lot of work to do. The blog has suffered as a result of all this work and cold-ness. I will resume telling you all the fascinating details of my life when things get less hectic. So what's news you ask? 6 weeks to go until Europe, 4 weeks to go until Canberrang. I'm in the lab every day, twice a day, two hours at a time, doing the big experiment that should give me the results that will allow me to write up my PhD. I need a haircut to trim my fringe (I think it might end up being a home jobby). It's fricken freezing in Canberra and I really need new winter gloves for the scoot. I've taken off the P plates on my scooter. I'm still restricted but I don't have to display them anymore. I've been DJing at dancing (last night in particular). I've been teaching on Wednesdays the last couple of weeks and loving it. I've been hanging out with mates and introducing people to the TV series coupling.
So yeah, not a lot going on. Much of it is the same old, same old stuff. When things get interesting (like around Canberrang time) expect photos and fun and stuff. Until then, I suggest that you do something fun, eat some chocolate for me.

Found again

2007-07-02T18:03:00.000+10:00

So I found my access card. It was on my bed. Why I didn't find it on the previous search is beyond me. I found out something useful today, spectrin doesn't work on prostate glands. It works on testis, just not prostates. Which is annoying, seeing as that is what I am looking at. But you get that. Looks like I'm stuck using the stain that works, most of the time, and avoiding the muscle layer.
No more nerd speak now, says I. Onto more interesting things. I'm going dog walking tonight. Taking the puppies on an outing. We'll be checking out all the trees and poles around the local area, they can pee to their heart's content. I'm going with JJF so that if there are dodgy types around I'm unlikely to be attacked. And also it helps to have someone else around to walk the other dog. Two very big husky Xs is hard work. Actually, one is hard work, two is unthinkable.

What else you ask? Today is 8 weeks until I leave for overseas. I have a lot of work to get done in that time, but I should just about manage it. All things going well. It's the boy's birthday on Sunday. He's coming for a visit, yay! Four days of fun for me, with work chucked in for the hell of it.

Other things, before I disappear to the fly room:
-I picked up the tickets for our trip today
-my arse has stopped hurting from all the exercise last week
-I cut JJF's hair and it was shorter than we'd planned, but apparently good
-I drank red wine and vodka on Sat night, ate chocolate and watched a girly movie on SBS with my housemate
-I've been teaching a couple a dance for their wedding (can't remember if I've mentioned it before) they are doing splendidly and are a lovely couple. They let me stick around and chat and they also let me play with their pets
-I saw frankie wants out! last Friday night, they were great, check them out on myspace (myspace.com/frankiewantsout)

Okay, time to go to the fly room.

spazmo

2007-06-30T16:53:00.001+10:00

I've lost my access card. I'm pretty sure I lost it at the gig I was at last night. I've searched my house, I've searched at work (I got someone to let me in). It's not anywhere that I could imagine it to be. I'm pretty sure that I took it with me, it's the only thing that makes sense. I've called the venue and given them my details. But I doubt I'll see it again. I'm going to have to get it cancelled and get me a new one. I hope that the security guys don't get too shirty with me. Fingers crossed they'll be fine. I'm going to go and search for it again. Gives me an opportunity to tidy up my stuff anyway. I've cleared out some of my drawers already today. Might as well continue.

Meh, I'm such a spaz sometimes.

the vending machine is broken

2007-06-28T15:07:00.000+10:00

Today, I feel like eating some chocolate. Nothing swish, just something sweet and fatty to get me through my afternoon. The vending machine is not working. Not happy, Jan! (not you woa) I'm going to a seminar in a little bit over at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, I am living in hope that they have a functional vending machine with something tasty in it. Anything to distract me away from my sore legs and arse. My new gym program is great. It's effective, but my oh my does it make my muscles hurt. My bumscles in particular are very sore. My triceps only stopped hurting today, and I worked them on Saturday. I'm soon going to be super strong. Go me!

Made it!

2007-06-26T15:01:00.001+10:00

So, hasn't stopped raining, but I'm at work. How you ask? Well, I stole/borrowed my friend's beetle and drove here. It was rather scary and the thing kept on stalling, but it was worth it to come and deal with my flies. I still feel guilty about the day off yesterday, but you get that. Anywho, should do some work now I'm here. No excuses.
I just hope the weather is a little better tomorrow, I have a million and one places I have to be.

update with the weather

2007-06-26T12:12:00.000+10:00

This is ridiculous! So, you would think that Canberra being Canberra, it would have stopped raining by now. Nope! I am going to have to brave the weather in a little while, just so I can get some work done. I've been productive this morning though. I've filled in some application forms and detailed why I should be given money to travel overseas and enjoy myself and work hard of course. So onto some lunch, then continuing with the writing and reading. I've looked up a few things on pubmed and have been pretty productive for someone who's still in her PJs.
Yep, give it an hour and I'll have to get a move on. This is craziness. I think all the rain that hasn't fallen in the last six months has decided to turn up today.

fecking rain

2007-06-26T10:29:00.000+10:00

It's raining. I've checked the bom.gov.au website. It's going to be raining for a while. I'm actually inspired to go to work, but there's no way known I'm riding my scooter in this kind of rain with Canberra drivers on the road. I think a bit of writing work will have to be done. I've been meaning to update my introduction outline to pass on to the supervisors to get some opinions and start working on it. I also have to write a paragraph about how I will benefit from traveling to Europe to try and wangle some more funding out of the university for my travels. I've $2000 covered already, but that doesn't even cover my airfare, and the registrations for the conferences are quite steep.
Speaking of the rain, I've just looked out the living room window, it's a bit trench-like out there. My housemate has dubbed the front yard the somme. Toren has been digging holes and enjoying himself out there. All the holes are full and it's a big puddly, muddy mess. Hooray! Both dogs are currently sleeping. Tikka next to me on the couch, all curled up with her nose buried in her tail, and Toren in my room, sleeping on my bed. He's a big lump of a dog that one. JJF and I took them both for a walk last night. They loved it! It was rather foggy, but surprisingly, it wasn't that cold.
Okay, working now, wish me luck with the weather and the writing.

mental meltdown

2007-06-25T18:31:00.001+10:00

Hello. I'm suffering today from what I've decided to call a mental meltdown. Actually suffering isn't really the right word. I'm fine. I just took today off. First day I've spent at home, all day, since April. It's a rather exciting state of affairs. Admittedly, I've spent the day watching TV and doing dishes. Nothing exciting, but enough to give me a mental break from work. I've been a busy bee, in the lab every day, not all day every day, but every day. But I'm going to be fine, because tomorrow I'm going to go into work and be more motivated than I've been in a while. Hooray!
Going to work every day for three months isn't good for you I've decided. I should re-instate my one day off a week rule. Maybe one day a fortnight, or month? I'm still feeling exceptionally guilty that I didn't go in today. But it's cold out there now and it's dark too, so I'm staying in.
Blergh, anyway, other things going on you ask? Well, I've choreographed a wedding dance for a lovely couple and have been teaching it to them Sunday evenings at their house. Yesterday I had a lovely time showing them all the moves. I got to play with their cockatiel as well. It's a very cute little bird, I'm looking forward to maybe meeting their dog. They take the dog to her parent's house while we're dancing. Apparently, she'd want to join in a little bit too much.
Hrmm, what else? Nothing much. Plans have been made for the europe trip, the balance has been paid off and in 9 weeks from today, we'll be jetting off to lots of interesting places and meeting interesting people. We've got accommodation in a whole bunch of different place with friends of the boys and relatives. I'm rather looking forward to it. Apart from that, I've been working, sleeping and running around Canberra. I could tell you stories about my new gym program, but I don't want to be that boring. I'll leave it here for today and go and do something productive. Yay, I'm going to bathe.

the countdown is on

2007-06-15T10:30:00.000+10:00

They boy arrives sometime this evening. He has to go to Brisvegas for work again and is coming here tonight and staying until early Monday morning. I'm pretty excited. Two days of lovely hugs and snuggling and enjoying the simple delight of staring at each other until one of us pukes. Woo!
This will be the first time since March that I will have seen him sans cast. Apparently when he takes off the arm stocking thing they have for him his arm is 'ribbed for her pleasure'. I look foward to seeing that and reveling in it's bumpy nature. Apparently it's a tiny arm now too. I guess not moving it for 10 weeks will waste muscle like nobodies business.
Anywho, still haven't made it to work yet, it's raining and I'm cold. I'm going to leave soon though, to brave the day and collect me some virgins.

busy, cold, tired and the like

2007-06-07T14:12:00.000+10:00

Yeah, so today I'm a little tired. I had the house to myself last night, so after getting home late (10.30pm after tango and laksa) I made my way to bed pretty swiftly. But because I had the house to myself, I might have had the company of two large dogs in my room. That's great, except Tikka decided at 4.30am to go and pee. Not in my room though, in the front yard. Seeing has she hasn't learned how to open the door yet, I had to get up and let her out and then back in again. That mucked with my sleep a little. So today I'm a little tired.
It's freaking cold in Canberra, no surprises there. But I have a car for 10 days, LJS is in NZ with her parents, so I've been given the keys and told to drive to my heart's content. Woo! Go heated vehicle, go!
Hmmm, what else am I bitching about in the title? Oh, busy, yeah. I am doing an in situ hybridisation today as well as an antibody stain, trying to update my labbooks and collect lots of virgins and get my application for money into the office asap. I'm getting some help to go to the conferences I'm going to in September. All this and I want to go to the gym today to do some squats, I didn't get a chance yesterday to do squats because there were people on the Smith machine the whole time I was there. I'm hoping to get there around 4 today and squat until my legs are tired and then maybe go for a bit of a run to get the heart pumping.

In other news, I ate some SPC pineapple in passionfruit jelly for a post lunch treat today and it was jelly-rific. Food is good at the moment, especially my porridge with golden syrup. Yum!

sewing and seeing

2007-06-03T11:08:00.000+10:00

Why hello there. Welcome to the blog post of me, from today. I'm going to show you photos of the dress I'll be finishing sewing in the next few weeks (depending on when JJF gets himself set up at the new house), and I'm going to tell you about waking up and being able to see the other side of the room.

So, I'm sewing this dress:

ouf of the following fabric, main fabric is this:
and the middle panel in this (because I don't have enough of the main stuff)

I bought the orange stuff from the bargain shop in Queanbeyan about 2 years ago, maybe even more. I had vague ideas of making a skirt. It was a bargain, $5. The other stuff I got at Lincraft a month ago. I realised I didn't quite have enough of the orange, so tried to find something to fill in the gaps as it were. The dress pattern is care of my Mum's collection of patterns that I raided sometime in the last few years. I'm quite looking forward to having it finished. And wearing it with my boots, woo!
Okay, onto the seeing, I have breakfast waiting and I can't be arsed doing this in two phases. On Friday I got some contact lenses. Today I'm wearing them, I slept in them last night. I'm allowed to sleep in them and I think it's great. I could see the other side of the room! Woo! Doesn't get much better than that. Will post photos of me with my new hair and my new glasses-less eyes some other time.

Fingers, do you need them?

2007-05-31T10:53:00.001+10:00

I taught a private swing dancing lesson last night. It was in Gunghalin. Afterwards I rode my scooter to my tango lesson. I don't know how my fingers didn't drop off. One of the students in the private lesson said that he'd heard that riding at 80km/h had a wind chill factor of 10 degrees below ambient temperature. Last night was -3! This morning I didn't feel like I wanted to have fingers, they hurt so much due to the cold. The problem is that there is a tiny bit of moisture in my winter gloves, as a result, when I get on the road, cold fingers in seconds. It's all a bit crap.
What else is a bit crap is that I tried on some tango shoes, and they were lovely. They fit, they looked good and they made the dancing better. Well, that's not technically the crap bit, the crap bit is the cost. More private lessons needed to get those shoes. But then I think of my upcoming trip and think that maybe it's not worth spending money on shoes here when I could spend money on shoes in Europe. Or food even. Oh woe is me!
On another note, science appears to be even more my bitch that yesterday and all I need to make today complete is a yellow plus, white plus, curly, tubby virgin female. So cross your fingers for me that I get what I need.

PS I'm getting a haircut today and I may have dyed my hair VERY dark brown.

science is my bitch

2007-05-30T12:42:00.000+10:00

Today science is my bitch. Tomorrow I'll be science's bitch. But today we must revel and enjoy because I finally have something going right. No doubt, by writing this down, I have now cursed myself to failure of the greatest degree. But for today, I don't care.
For the techical nerds out there, I have my yellow plus insertion on the second chromosome, and I'm one cross away from having no life and getting the BIG EXPERIMENT underway. This is the culmination of 3 years of work, and it's starting to look like I might actually have some results before I go to conferences in Europe, huzzah!
For now that is all, later there may be pictures of the dress I'm sewing, but only maybe.

Belated birthday presents

2007-05-24T17:09:00.001+10:00

Last Monday I told my class that it was my birthday the next day. One student told me after class that if he'd known in advance that it was my birthday, he would have bought me flowers. I jokingly said that that was okay, I accepted gifts up until a week or so after my birthday.
This week he turned up, with flowers, for me, for my birthday. Needless to say, I was quite embarrassed and shocked. I was also rather pleased, but who wouldn't be. My teaching partner took a photo of the three of us, me, my student and my flowers. Here is the evidence:

As you can see by my quite red face, I was quite the embarrassed. Oh well, the struggles of being a good teacher I suppose. It was quite an effort to get them home. JJF took them on his scooter and they got drenched on the way home. It absolutely pissed down as we scooted along and I had to go sans winter gloves to work the next day. Trust the next day to be one where the temperature doesn't get above 10 all day. Grrrr! But eh, I got flowers. Aw!

Funny buggers

2007-05-24T12:43:00.000+10:00

My cousin and I, in our youth, spent a lot of time thinking of silly things to do. Quite often we did them. We dyed his hair any number of different colours, collected furniture (with my brother) from the side of the road, and drank quite a lot of vodka. One of our silly suggestions was to invent the game of Funny Buggers. That way, whilst playing it, if anyone asked what we were doing we could honestly answer, 'Playing funny buggers'. This was probably about 8-9 years ago now that we came up with the rules.
Today, I got sent an email from said cousin. He's just moved in with the in-laws until the house he and his wife have bought is ready for them to move in. Something about settlement or something, I don't understand all the things to do with buying houses, I'm many years away from that. So anyway, he found the rules to funny buggers while packing and emailed them to me. Suggested I might like to blog about them. So here I am, and here are the rules:

Put all the plates in the linen press
Put all the dessert spoons in the oven
Put all the soup spoons in the microwave with a cushion
Stand all the teaspoons up along the mantlepiece
Short sheet one bed (if possible)
Put one sock of every pair of person A's socks in person B's drawer
Put one sock of every pair of person B's socks in person C's drawer
Put one sock of every pair of person C's socks in person A's drawer
Put all underwear in the house (extra points if this includes the player's underwear) under couch cushions, in pantry and other people's drawers
Turn all shirts on coathangers inside out
Mirror image a room (to greatest extent possible)
Leave around no less than 16 but no more than 22 notes saying "Nevil Maskelyne is a bastard (Longitude)"
Sticky-tape one grape to every item in the fridge

Oh deary me! It still makes me laugh. We were and are most daggy and nerdly. I look forward to playing funny buggers once he's moved into the new house.

the bog log blog AKA the turd that wouldnae die

2007-05-21T12:17:00.000+10:00

So Saturday night, I end up at home after spending some of my afternoon sewing at JJF's place. I've made myself the pants of my PJs and have cut out and started sewing my dress, more details later. We'd watched a lot of the goodies in that afternoon. It was all good and lovely, we made pizza for dinner with fetta and roasted capsicum and salami, was rather delicious. Add to that a nice bottle of red and it was a swimmingly good evening. Until I ventured to the bathroom. We had an immortal log issue.
I'm not sure if it was me, or my housemate Em (we share the bathroom) but there was something there at the bottom of the bowl, that did not disappear when I flushed.
JJF told me that bleach sometimes works, so I bleached the bastard in an attempt to vanquish it. But alas, the next morning the little bastard was still there. JJF had also suggested the use of dishwashing detergent, but as I was in a rush, I just bleached it some more and tried to get it to die properly. I then headed out for my day. The day was lovely sunny and bright. I walked up Mount Ainslie, went to work and dealt with my flies and then made it home just in time to change, watch some Kath and Kim with Em and then head out dancing.
When I got home, the immortal log was gone and I assumed it had been my bleach that had done the trick. Until I talked to Em. Turns out that she had made use of a stick to dislodge it from it's new home and sent it on it's way to the processing plant. I cannot believe how persistent that little turd was. It was the little turd that could.
Anyway, the rest of my weekend was vaguely interesting, but I'm too busy to talk about it. Suffice to say, my mother had another birthday which she said she enjoyed. I pulled a muscle on my pole on Friday night and I got my scooter back with a new drive belt, new seat upolstery. Tell you more later, I have lunch to eat.

DJ Kate

2007-05-17T17:01:00.000+10:00

Hello there. I am DJing at the jumptown social tonight. Hooray! I get to play music I like and watch other people enjoy and dance to it too! That is exciting. So if you are in Canberra and can make it to the Canberra City Bowling Club, Elder Street, Braddon at 8.30pm, come and join in the fun. If not, I shall show you the pattern and fabric that I am using to make myself some PJs from.

Speaking of DJing as I was earlier. I've just been listening to some of my swing music to determine what to play. I've found that there is one song, that no matter how many times I listen to it since my grandma died, it still makes me cry. It's nuts. I'm not even sure that we listened to it much together in the month before she died. I'm not even sure if we talked about it, but every time it gets me, I miss her terribly. Every time I listen to, get this, I've got a gal in Kalamazoo. There are other songs that remind me of grandma, lazy bones, song of india, what a wonderful world, the list goes on. But this is the only one that sets me off. I think it's odd, but a completely reliable outcome. There is a list that has been going through my head in the last 9-10months, of things I remember/miss about my grandma. This has been one of them. One day I'll get them all together and make a post out of it. Not today though, can't spend too much time upset when I have to go and get myself organised to make the PJs and DJ the songs for the lovely people. Wish me luck.