I mentioned previously that I had some fun things going on last week that I would share with you, and here they are.
Last week, Mom and Dad were here in TX. They drove some things down (and across) from IN on Saturday that can’t be moved by the movers. They also wanted to use the week to make a decision about tile and carpet for a large percentage of their new house here in TX. And to top it off, there was the possibility that some of it could actually be installed that very same week!
On Monday, they chose tile and carpet, and I worked on a manuscript for some of my research. oodles of fun, that.
On Tuesday, they came down to my apartment so that Dad could see it for the first time in person and so that Mom could see the latest stage. I had hoped to get the last two boxes of decorative things unpacked before they arrived, because I had visions of them helping me hang framed art that day. However, it just took me too long to do the manuscript on Monday and other unpacking/cleaning on Tuesday morning.
Consequently, we used our Tuesday to go out to a fabulous, fabulous German lunch and go site-seeing. Lunch was just amazing. I had three kinds of sausages, sauerkraut, red cabbage, and what they called “German potatoes.” Turns out German potatoes are fried/sauteed potatoes cooked with baaaaaaaaaaaaaacon that have baaaaaaaaaaaaaaacon bits on them. OMG were they ever good. The sausages were fabulous.
Did I say the food was amazing?
Anyway, on the way to shopping in the historic part of town, I drove them past a couple of things that my town is known for. And we happened to go past the library.
Note that these were taken on one of my prior visits to the library; we did not go inside on this trip.
I love the high ceiling, natural light, and light fixtures inside.
And this library is the one that has the Starbucks machine inside; that is very funny to me, since I didn’t even know they existed.
Here is one of the landscaping features you see as you walk to the front door of the library.
And on my way to the parking lot, I spotted this sign.
That sign for the reading garden intrigued me, so I decided to venture to the back of the library
Turns out, it was just a very open space with benches and minimal landscaping. But I did see a lovely crepe myrtle that was in bloom.
And then we headed to the historic and tourist-y shopping district in town.
I hadn’t taken my camera with me, which was a shame, because there were some lovely places that were really photo-worthy, but that just means that I’ll have to go back!
We had a really fun time there. We were mostly just browsing, but we did keep an eye out for a breezy gardening hat for Mom. We saw a LOT of various decorative things for inside and outside. In fact, Mom found a great wrought iron, glass, bead and bell hanging piece; I guess it could be considered a windchime. She was hesitant to buy it, but the price was so low, that Dad and I went back to buy it for her.
I found this really interesting stone that is in the shape of a smooth egg that changes color inside (very subtly) depending on the angle from which you view it. And I scoped out clogs. I have been debating with myself about buying a pair of clogs for school. Not being able to wear open-toed shoes in labs means that I have to think a bit differently about what kinds of shoes are wearable for work.
And then, pretty soon it was time for us to end our day of site-seeing. But we made plans for another outing for Wednesday.
I was just on the MSNBC site and saw an article about a “plus-sized model” whose photos had gotten retouched to make her appear thinner and the outrage surrounding that.
Well, turns out that the fashion industry considers anyone who is a size 8 up to a size 20 a “plus-sized model.”
How bizarre is that?
They basically say that anyone who isn’t a size zero or size 2 is above the norm, and thus is considered plus-sized. Note for the men out there who are confused, stores that sell women’s fashions categorize size 18 and above “plus-sized.” Consequently, you might imagine how this is confusing terminology for those of us who shop in typical stores.
Anyway, I thought I would share that info about terminology today. I think it is interesting, and it says quite a lot about fashion.
Last week, HB and I finalized our decisions about our divorce decree agreement. Consequently, on Monday, I printed it out, proofed it one more time, signed it in front of a notary, and sent it by 2-day FedEx letter to him.
He received it, looked it over one more time, signed it in front of a notary, and filed it with our county court yesterday (Friday, 23rd) in MN.
At the end of that sentence, I sighed inadvertently.
Now, we wait for the judge to get around to making a decision on it. Could be 2 weeks, could be 3-6 weeks.
Once he signs it, we will be officially divorced.
I, as you might imagine, have mixed feelings about being at this stage. Part of me is glad to have everything almost finalized; part of me is still sad about the breakdown of our relationship. My feelings sort of ebb and flow; I say that, because it doesn’t feel quite right to refer to it as a rollercoaster or some sort of up and down analogy.
So, there you have it. The latest update on our process.
I have had happy stuff going on this week, and I’ll write about it more soon.
Last week, I was at Port Aransas, TX, near Corpus Christi on the eastern coast of TX, for vacation. I was with Texas Seestor (TS), Trainwreck (Tr), older niece (M) and younger niece (YN).
I had an exceptionally great time. Floating around, swimming, bouncing around, and playing in the pool for pretty much all day from 8:00am to 4 pm was just fantastic.
This is a bit of a tangent, but I am definitely a “water” when it comes to the whole water, air, earth, fire personality types. My dreams are usually water dreams, and I just love the feel of being in the water. I never dream about earth. If fire or air is in my dreams, it is usually a nightmare of some sort.
Anyway, mornings were usually a time when I sort of took care of M, because she and I both wake up early (6:00ish). Most mornings, I was only able to occupy here and allow TS and Tr to “sleep in” until 6:30, maybe closer to 7:00 if we were all lucky.
One morning after she woke me up at 5:00am, I really wanted to go out to the water and take photos of the sunrise. You might recall that last year, I was able to take sunrise photos every morning from our condo’s patio and I wrote a blog post this spring with a few of my best shots.
This year, due to the location of our room, I actually had to take more time to do it, because I had to take the boardwalk out to the beach to get shots.
But I love the boardwalk, because it allowed me to experience this interesting transition from condo and building to ocean. And on the way, I was walking past the dunes which were actually still green this year and not all dried out; I guess all of the rain they got a couple of weeks ago due to hurricane Andrew was actually helpful.
Here is the end of the boardwalk before I got onto the sand.
And then just as I was setting up my tripod at the bottom of the steps, this group of about 8 (or so) teenage girls dressed in white gauzy dresses start walking past me onto the beach. Right into the sunrise area.
ugh.
But the adult who was with them, with the big fancy camera, stopped and talked to me about how it was their last morning here and how the sunset the previous night didn’t work out. How she had to get them all up and ready by 6:00 am, blah, blah, blah. I was sort of sympathetic, but I also knew this might be my only morning to get out and take photos. She ended up saying that she’d try to keep them down the beach and out of my line of images. They were only partly successful. Thus, some of my photos do not have the sun actually centered. *sigh*
But, I caught the first glimmer of the sun over the clouds.
And one of my favorite parts is the sound of the seagulls calling out to each other over the background sound of the ocean waves.
Once the sun rose a little more, I decided to try to capture my joy in being out there. This required me to use the self-timer on my camera and to sort of guess where I needed to be in the photo.
For the first one, I only had the timer set at 10 seconds, because I didn’t check it ahead of time, and when I got out there, I realized that I’d left my shoes on. As I was trying to pull off my shoes, the camera snapped the shot.
oops.
setting it for 20 seconds worked out a bit better.
of course, when I ran back to the camera, there was that girl in the photo again.
it isn’t perfect, but it is all that I had energy for.
I realized it is quite difficult holding ones balance with ones arms raised in joy while not knowing when the waves were going to come in. Once a wave comes in and the water sucks back out, it is rather hard to keep ones balance.
Then attempts with the sun shining on me.
oops.
try again.
then back to the ocean and the birds and some close ups.
After some photos of the seaweed, I headed back.
It was a beautiful way to start the day. It made up for waking up at 5:00 am.
And then, after breakfast, it was back to the pool with M. We had it all to ourselves for about an hour.
I don’t go to the MSNBC site everyday, so I often miss it, because they only have it every few weeks or so. But the good thing is that once you are on it, if you keep clicking previous, it will keep taking you back to older ones.
I was looking at it today, and some of the photos were reminding me of my family.
My older niece, M, usually bonks some part of her body at least once a day – I think she may average around 3 a day right now.
Texas Seestor is usually the one who consequently holds her and kisses it to make it better. So this photo reminded me of them.
Please don’t think that the appearance of either of them remotely resembles the orangutans!
Then I saw these photos, which reminds me of my younger niece (YN) when she is eating her mushy foods by spoon in her highchair.
Thank goodness there is just one of her! Can you imagine feeding triplets? or more?
This next one reminds me of playing blocks, playdough, or cartons with M. She just loves to make towers.
And this final one reminds me of my parents’ new home in TX.
There are a LOT of deer in their neighborhood. And when I say a LOT, I mean that the house right next to them had 3 deer in it the other week eating the grass. And one of the homes down the road had a whole herd of about 10! TEN deer!
crazy.
And since they live on a golf course, I wonder how many times the golfers end up seeing deer run across the course?
Yesterday, we did the sort of thing that Americans do on the 4th of July when they live in a warm weather state.
We went to the pool!
This pool is far nicer than most, because it is at a friends’ home.
Here we are headed down to the pool.
But this photo also serves another purpose, because you can see the little awning covered area that is next to the pool. This is where we did the other Key American Event on the 4th of July: we grilled. (We being the male half of the couple that owns the home.)
Of course, to put a true Texas spin on the holiday, we grilled meat for fajitas.
But believe me, the fajitas were really fantastic, and a real treat, as compared to burgers and hot dogs.
And we finished the meal off with another Key Food on the 4th of July: apple pie with vanilla ice cream on the side.
Those of you who look at Flickr regularly may have already noticed the plethora of photos taken and captioned as being at my mom and dad’s house here in TX.
The basic story is that since they have not moved here yet, but they have closed on their house, Texas Seestor or I go once a week to check on it.
Last weekend, we needed to deliver a piece of furniture to Mom and Dad’s house. And while we were at it, we figured we’d look at the sprinkler system and try to figure out how to make it water more in the sunny backyard and less in the shady frontyard.
We were afraid to tell M (older niece) where we were going for fear of confusing her. We didn’t think that we could tell her we were going to Bam-ma and Bop-pop’s house without her thinking that they were actually going to be there. Instead, we just told her we were going on “an adventure to a special house!” She seemed to think that was explanation enough for a car trip.
When we got there and we could show her the empty house (and lack of Bam-ma and Bop-pop), it was easier to explain the concept that this is where they would live…
…. sooooooooooon.
First, she just wanted to check out the outside by looking through the windows.
She was a bit hesitant to go outside while her younger sister (YN) was hanging out inside.
But when I pointed out the swing in the backyard and told her I was going out there, she was ready to go!
I don’t have a pic of the two of us swinging, but I got that one of Trainwreck carrying YN out to that part of the yard.
Here are some additional shots of their backyard.
This one is from underneath the arbor. You can see the swing again just to the left of the upright.
Here is another shot taken from under the arbor.
Lest you think all of that green grass is their backyard, I should explain that their backyard backs up against a golf course. The golf course starts around where those double trees are located; the closest part of the shadow that they are casting is about where it switches from their yard to the golf course.
It is really peaceful.
I’m sure that you will see more photos of us out there over the years.
I’m looking forward to their moving here this fall!
Well, I am officially here according to the state and my school.
For the state: I have my plates and driver’s license.
For the school: I have my ID card/number, lots and lots of HR paperwork completed, an email address, and (just yesterday) a phone number!
My office at school is coming together. I have the “before” pics, but I am waiting to post them until I do the “after” pics.
Everyone is being super friendly and helpful. A lot of the students who are doing research for the summer and are around and being introduced to me remember me from my genetics lecture (in class). Thus far, only faculty remember my seminar, but if this school is anything like my last school, there are students who remember it who are too shy to say anything about it.
I have a really great room for my lab space, but it needs a big cleaning. It is a place where a handful of old computer monitors have been “stored.” Some extra chairs and a couple of classroom desks are also in there.
However, the admin is super about getting work orders in so that stuff gets removed ASAP. And a summer research student is going to help me clean up the lab space during incubations in his experiments. He is doing PCR, so he has a 4 hour block of time when he is free on a fairly regular basis.
I’m working with IT to get the right kind of tablet PC for my teaching. I cannot use an iPad, because I have to run powerpoint on it, and the iPad cannot run Microsoft products. The school has a discount with Dell (big surprise there), but the one that they had gotten for me to try out, and I tried yesterday, has an awful touchscreen for writing. These weird lines shoot off to the left when I write on a powerpoint presentation slide. Perhaps it is a setting issue, but if the reviews on the Dell website are to be believed, it is an inherent flaw in Dell’s choice of touch screen technology.
I used a Fujitsu at my last school. Evidently, they pioneered a lot of the touch screen technology for tablets.
Here is the short-ish video that I took of me using it while videotaping myself (one-handed). Not all that exciting, but since I taped it, I feel like I’ve got to do something with it.
I guess that is it for now. Thus far, I’m unaffected by the hurricane; it is just rainy here.
