The bird is in the fridge

Our Thanksgiving shopping is officially done, except for two things that I want to wait on.  I got the yams for 25¢ a pound.  Steph and Linda joined us last Saturday night for some chocolate peanut butter bread pudding and Thanksgiving planning.  3/4s of us are very in to cooking so it was an excited session.  Thankfully Steph usually has a level head and was realistic about how much food four people can actually eat.  I believe it narrowed down to four appetizers, a turkey, a tofurkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, filling, yams, a vegetable dish, cranberry sauce, gravy, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, and apple pie with cheddar cheese ice cream.  There will also be drinks for merry making; Steph is bringing a warm cider type drink and there will be wine.  Matt did such an amazing job with last year's turkey that he is in charge of this year's as well.  Luckily this year its a much more manageable eleven pounds.  This is the first year I'll be using Catarina's candied yams recipe.  It was so delicious last year that I got the recipe from her.  We're going to be having dinner at about one in the afternoon.  That way we can eat, lounge around and go in for round two.  It promises to be a wonderful day with our surrogate family since we can't be with our actual families this year.

We're almost there!

As I must these days, I'll start with a Zelda update. She gets her final parvo shot this weekend. That means that her exile from the outdoors and other dogs is almost over. YAY!!! This also means that we will be able to start taking her on walks. I've convinced myself that this will cut down on a lot of her biting Matt and I. She does it the most when she gets really excited and playful. If she's exhausted from walking she won't get like that, plus she gets more exercise than we can give her right now. I don't know if I mentioned it before but the medicine the vet gave her did it's job and her poop is now lovely and firm. Just what you wanted to know. She does this silly little dance when its feeding time that Matt just loves. I'm going to have to get a video of it this weekend because it is pretty cute.
Steph is out of town this week for a Ladies Family Weekend. Linda couldn't go because she started her new grad program this week (go Linda!). So we invited her over to watch So You Think You Can Dance. Its our favorite show, this also includes Matt who has learned quite a bit about critiqueing dances now. To go along with the show I made a delicious blueberry bread pudding with brown sugar rum sauce. It was divine. Linda brought some vanilla ice cream to go with it. mmmm, I love dessert. We had a great time and she might be joining us for the results show tonight if she gets all her work done. If you haven't seen the show let me break it down for you. Its kind of like American Idol, except with dancers, and way better. You can only do so much with singing but dancing can be completely different from one dance to the next. They start off with twenty people-- ten guys, ten girls. Each week they're assigned a random dance style and they get five hours with a choreographer that shows them what they'll be doing. Its pretty amazing. My favorite girl got voted off last week which was really sad but her partner, Brandon, is still on and going strong. Let me direct you to some of the dances from this season. Brandon/Janette tango (hot!!) Brandon/Janette jazz (seriously awsome) and let me warn you about this last one, it made everyone on the show cry, I cried, Jacob cried, its very touching and beautiful Ade/Melissa contemporary piece about breast cancer. Don't say I didn't warn you (I'm getting a little misty thinking about it).
I have two weeks of work left which is insane. Looking for a job sucks, especially in this economy. Nobody is hiring. Oh well, maybe I'll just get started on my Esty.com career sooner than I had dreamed of.

What's new pussycat?

Its Thursday and Dave has gone to the Wnt meeting in DC for the next four days.  Which means, I'm all alone in the Maroni Lab.  *sigh*  At least nobody is here to hear me talking to myself.  Its is 23 days until Zelda comes home.  I've been badgering her caretaker to send another picture because its been too long since we've seen her.  Scariely enough, I think we have gotten almost everything we'll need when she comes home and a couple that she doesn't *need*.  The main thing thats lacking is her food but we're waiting on that so it doesn't get funky before she gets here. The only really big job left is to get a list of questions that we want to ask the vet as first time parents and finish puppy proofing the house.  The upstairs minus spare 'oom is almost ready.  There are a few more tidying/blocking from puppy's reach things that still need to be done.  The downstairs is another matter altogether.  There are quite a few things that won't be able to be moved so we're going to have to watch her all the time.  Its not bad, we're supposed to be doing that so potty train her anyways.  Matt and I have decided that she's going to spend her first week or so only upstairs.  The puppy book and the messege boards I've read have said to keep the puppy confined to a small room or room for a while so she doesn't get overwhelmed.
On other non-puppy related news.  Matt is going out tonight with his lab.  They're celebrating a paper.  I'm going to drop him off and then go back home and watch So You Thing You Can Dance.  Its kind of a bummer because two nights in a row we won't hang out together.  Tomorrow is Doug's last day and we're going to He's Not to celebrate his time in the lab with a few blue cups.  Or if it rains, some fried pickles and garlic fries at PT's.  Matt won't be joining us because he's reviewing a paper and it needs to be finished by Monday.  Which brings me to my next topic.  Saturday is our first D&D game.  Yipee!!!!  My character was the last to be finished and she still needs a last name and I need to write out her background story.  She is a half-elf bard named Laeriel, which means "daughter of song" in Tolkein elvish.  Because I'm a nerd like that.

Hullo!

Its been almost a month since my last post, oops. On the bright side, I have been getting loads done in the meantime. My thesis writing is going swimmingly, I'm now working on the figures and Mark and I are going to talk about pictures tomorrow.
My darling friends Archie and Keiko were here visiting for the weekend. We didn't do a whole lot but we did eat quite a bit. We took them to Buns and Mama Dip's this weekend. Then this morning they tagged along to a Maroni Lab breakfast at the Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen. If Keiko doesn't gain weight from all that it is beyond me to help. We had a nice peaceful day yesterday. Lots of lounging around, lots of napping. This is the first time in three years that I've seen Archie. I'm sad to say that her accent is almost gone. No more "ber-gers" or "al-ooh-min-ium". I did fun have asking her opinion as a future doctor about all sorts of stuff. I made cheesecake for everyone on Saturday and while serving some yesterday Keiko cut her finger. I'm not really sure why she was using the giant knife to cut cheesecake but we've come to a consenus. The knife, now named Audry, has gotten a taste for blood and might be sentient. Just a warning to anyone who comes over and tries to cut stuff. The ladies were a big help this weekend with the cutting up bags. I've found that the rate limiting step to making the bag of bags is the making of the plastic yarn. They thought my giant plastic ball was very amusing.
Now, last but most certainly not least. I thought I would leave you with a picture. I should have lots more to put up on Saturday but until then you can adore this one.

State Fair!!!!

I promised I would get to it and now that I have tidied up the living room a little bit I can.  On Wednesday Matt, Steph, Linda, Kuo-Chen (my super adorable rotation student from Taiwan) and I finally got to the always amazing NC State Fair.  Sure it meant having to leave work two hours early but it was darned worth it.  Let me just start by saying it was sooo cold out that night, Matt will laugh at my saying this but it was 48F.  I should have worn more layers.  Being a veteran of the fair, I took the lead and almost ran the whole way from the entrance to the roasted corn.  I can't even describe how much I love fair corn.  Maybe because its dipped in butter, maybe it is all the things that I sprinkle on it, who knows but it isn't the state fair with out it.  We munched our corn while viewing the display gardens because they are Linda's favorite part of the fair.  Afterwards we headed back into the fried food fray and began our decent into fried-ness.  In an effort to show Kuo-Chen everything that is right with American we might have gone a little over board with the food.  We ordered fried snickers, a blooming onion, fried mac and cheese (new this year).  Kuo-Chen got fried oreos, Dan (our lovely British friend and Kim's fiancé) got the fried pecan pie and ribbon fries for Kim.  Meanwhile, Steph was chowing down on a giant turkey leg.  I'd like to point out though that all food was bought for the purpose of sharing except for the giant turkey leg, that was all Steph.  After making all of that stuff disappear we decided that it was time for some veggies, fried veggies!  It is the state fair after all.  After the veggies and pickles were done, things were sitting heavy so it was time to check out some animals.  We wandered through the exhibits for a while and even got to pick up a baby duck when we realized it was time to head to Hogway Speedway.  Now, my dad pointed out that as a vegetarian I should probably object to the poor little animals being treated like this.  I'm not so sure though, they get treats at the end of the really short track...and they're so cute!  We managed to sneak in some fried cheese and ice cream, albeit separately before heading out.  You all might be surprised to hear that the cheese wasn't my idea.  I had explained it to Kuo-Chen earlier in the week and she was so amused by the idea that she insisted on trying it.  I was in a food coma the whole way home.  It is probably a good thing for my arteries that the state fair only comes once a year.

Dan enjoying his pecan pie

Kuo-Chen and the giant pumpkins which she found hilarious

Fried veggies and pickles

Matt and Steph sitting on a dumpster

Matt and I at the end

Its been too long

I'm sorry its been so long.  I get to work with the plan of taking ten minutes to post and then start looking at what I need to do and forget about the blog.  Some of you may have noticed the new gadget on the left sidebar.  I've added twitter so that I can send mini-updates to the blog.  I know it is quite popular with the kids these days and this past weekend I've heard that NPR is now tweeting too.  Speaking of which they are doing their seasonal pledge drive right now.  I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold out before I send them money.  My immunity is running out plus, as Dave points out, we listen to it about ten hours a day.  I probably should send them something, they're wearing me down. 
Matt and I are (very) slowly finishing up the unpacking and organizing.  Pretty soon we will be able to start the decorating.  w00t!  Last year, at the after Halloween sale, I bought some cute little hand towels for the bathroom.  They are quite adorable in the downstairs bathroom.  We recently purchased a couple of Halloween themed kitchen towels at Target in their bargain area.  I keep teasing Matt that in a couple of years we will have a complete set of decorations for every holiday. 
We've unpacked nearly everything in the spare room now.  It has left us with a slightly disturbing discovery.  There is a 1.5' by 1.5' square on the floor that reeks of old lady perfume.  It is so gross!  We think that because we have always had boxes covering it up before we never noticed it.  Now that things in that room are almost done the smell is overwhelming.  I can only work in there for small bits of time because the odor gives me a headache.  Last night we poured baking soda all over it and I'm going to try and see it the smell is gone when I vacuum it up tonight, everybody cross your fingers.
Last but not least, since we have taken time off for weddings and whatnot this year and we'd like to be able to take time off for Christmas, neither Matt nor I are going home for Thanksgiving.  Instead we are going to be hosting a nice, quiet dinner at our new place this year.  Any family or friends who want to come are invited although being so far away I don't think we'll have many takers.  We are inviting a few local friends and judging by their responses so far we are having an international Thanksgiving.  So far those who have said they will come: Catarina and Nunu (Portugal), Mira (Germany), Kuo-Chen (Taiwan), Kim (Alabama) and Dan (England).  Two of the guests, Mira and Kuo-Chen, have never been to a Thanksgiving dinner.  Even better they have never eaten turkey.   So no pressure right?

Actually I believe it is pronounced "new-cle-ar"

I think I was raised by some pretty intelligent people.  I was raised with a definite left leaning philosophy but I was also taught to evaluate ideas and people based on the available information.  I never had anything against John McCain, I was never a crazy Obama fan either.  Having said that, I think John McCain has very quickly lost his mind over the time of this campaign.  Whatever made him think that Sarah Palin was a qualified running mate proves it.  The idea of that woman being a heartbeat away from the presidency is a truly frightening thought.  This whole idea of voting for her because, "Hey, she's just like me" is ridiculous.  I'm not qualified to be president, most people I know aren't.  Thats not bad, I'm not qualified to be a physician or a physicist either, some might argue I shouldn't be a scientist either but thats another story.  I can, however, name magazines and newspapers that I read, I can also tell you about several Supreme Court decisions that I don't agree with, and I don't count refueling stops as having visited a country.  *sigh*  Sorry this election is getting to me, I wish we could just elect Obama and stop having to hear about the idiocy of Sarah Palin.

Enough of that.  We have an action packed weekend.  Tonight we are headed over to Mike and Erin's for a little fondue and some gaming.  We don't get to see them often enough since they live aaaalllllllll the way over in Apex.  Back when I lived in LA or Vegas driving 45mins to see someone was nothing.  Now that everyone I know lives within ten minutes it seems really far.  Tomorrow is the semi annual wine show at Weaver Street.  We're going to that and then heading over to Steph and Linda's for some good food and good friends.

Rugs cover up the carpet

Not much unpacking got done yesterday due to an annoying sinus headache I developed just as I was leaving work. We did however stop by Steph and Linda's after dinner to pick up our fabulous new rug! They took a holiday trip to DC this past weekend and stopped all day Monday to wander through the mesmerizing halls of Ikea. Since they took the Jeep they offered to bring us back something for our new place. Matt and I had been discussing getting a cheap rug to cover up the hole in our living room carpet we jumped at the chance. We got the Jorun rug:I'm hoping to get a few things done tonight but our main focus should be on packing for our weekend trip. Steph has valiantly agreed to drop us off/pick us up from the the airport this weekend.

The marathon is over, at last!

The moving part of moving is officially over.  Matt and I finished getting everything out of my apartment Sunday.  We spent several hours Saturday and Sunday scrubbing the place down.  We dropped the keys off at the office Sunday night with only a few reminiscing tears.  It is wonderful to be done with it.  Now we are concentrating most of our free time on unpacking.  Although at the this point it is literally just unpacking.  It mostly consists of Matt and I opening boxes and then walking and dropping them into the room where they should live.  As soon as we can get the living room rid of boxes then we can start to organize the rest of the house.  It is just too much to try and do the whole apartment at the same time.   So, for the time being, the place looks a little chaotic.  We even left work "early" yesterday at 5pm and spent the night unpacking after we cooked dinner together.  Not much of a holiday but time well spent I think.
Its going to be a short week for us anyway since this weekend Matt's best friend is getting married.  We are flying out to Chicago on Thursday but the wedding is in Indiana.  We're both really sad because we have to cut our trip short.  We had originally intended to spend a few days in Michigan with Matt's family.  Due to my aforementioned new grueling work schedule and Matt's new project for Sushmita's paper we really just can't afford to take the time off.  Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.  I was really looking forward to seeing where Matt grew up and all the places he's told me about.  He's consoled me by pointing out that we have the rest of our lives to get there and that now is just not the right time.  I'm lucky that he's so practical. 

Sick and tired

It is nearly a week since my last post and as I look around the new apartment from our almost-too-big-to-get-into-the-apartment couch, I am glad that is almost over.  Matt and I moved him out of his place, no help in two evenings.  My place, not so easy.  Luckily we have a bunch of super awesome friends.  Steph and Linda came over to my place on Saturday to come help pack.  They are a powerhouse moving team.  I think we moved about 75% of my stuff before the four of us lost nearly all ability to move.  There was enough time to take a quick and much needed nap before showing and heading off to Jess and Jacob's.  They were having a get together that consisted of playing Rock Band and watching The Explorers and Flight of the Navigator.  There was a ton of amazing food including Jacob's Mexican thing that had beans and sour cream and doritios, the wonderful blue cheese that Dan brought, and the lovely caprese salad that Jess made with buffalo mozzarella.  mmmm, cheese... Sadly we only made it through the first movie before Matt and I were ready to pass out.  Sunday morning we took a quick jaunt to pick up the U-Haul.  We had originally planned to hire movers to get all of my incredibly heavy furniture out and in our new place but Dave, the post doc that I work with convinced me that him and a couple of other guys could handle it no problem.  So true to his word Dave showed up on Sunday along with Jacob, and Matt's brother Dan.  If you have ever seen all of my furniture you will understand that it was no small feat but the four guys managed to get it all into the U-Haul and into our new place in a matter of hours.  Not everything has made its way out of my apartment, largely due to the fact that I caught a rather nasty cold on Sunday that finally got me down enough that I had to take a down day.  I think it should be down by Thursday, I think.  Then we can get around to unpacking and making our new place feel like home.