Stick 'Em Up!

For the last six years, one of my dear co-workers has had this picture pinned up next to her desk. When I first started working there, I wondered if it was a deep and meaningful glimpse into her psyche. Now I know she just thought it was really cute. Anyway I found the picture again while searching around the internet and thought I'd put it here for everyone to enjoy. It really is a cute picture (kind of a priceless moment really).

Around the Water Cooler

In the style of Ms. Tink, here goes an Around the Water Cooler bit (except I have to add a little backstory first):

My Studly Hubby is a longtime fan of the Tick. The Tick, for those of you nerds who are hopelessly out of touch, is a contemporary comic book hero around which a popular Sat morning cartoon was based in the mid-90s and a doomed prime-time live-action TV show was done recently. My Studly Hubby's parents sent of DVDs of both the cartoon and live-action shows for Christmas. While the live-action show is almost unwatchable, the cartoon is pretty freaking hilarious. The show we watched Sunday night involved a chef supervillain ("the Breadmaster") who was trying to take over the world with a giant souffle, which was set like a bomb to go off at a certain time. Unable to diffuse the bomb-souffle in time, the Tick and his buddies came up with a plan to make a noise that would deflate the giant souffle and therefore saved the world. I immediately asked the Studly Hubby "how does that work?" and he explained that souffles are very sensitive when they are rising and you actually have to be quiet around them to make sure they don't deflate. Wow! I never knew. Anyway, now for the Aroud the Watercooler bit:

Coworker1: I have to wear goggles when I use the homogenizer because I'm afraid if it breaks I'll get bacteria sprayed in my face.
Coworker2: Really? Do you try not to talk to anyone too?
Me: Oh is the homogenizer sensitive to sound?
Coworker1 and Coworker2: (gape)
Coworker2: No, you don't want to talk because you could get bacteria in your mouth.
Me: Oh!
Coworker1: Why did you think it would be sensitive to sound?
Me: Well my Studly Hubby and I were watching a show last night where the supervillain was going to take over the world with a giant souffle but the hero made it deflate by producing a lot of noise...
Coworker1 and Coworker2: (gape some more, for a bit longer this time)
Coworker2: (starts laughing hysterically)
Coworker1: (politely laughs, then sneaks away)

Who's hot now?

You'll never believe who this is: Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter)!!! He is all grown up and doing some new stuff - namely a London play in which one of the promo shots is of him (almost) naked leaning seductively against a horse. What's that all about? Well Harry (hem, Daniel), you've done us proud (can't wait to see more).

I was alerted to these very interesting pictures through a celebrity gossip blog that my Studly Hubby found, PerezHilton.com. Free celebrity gossip with pictures? sweet!

Post-Traumatic Gym Locker Disorder

I've discovered that a few of us from my high school suffer from post-traumatic gym locker disorder - meaning we still have nightmares that we have forgotten our gym locker combination. Clearly this was an extremely common and stressful problem in my high school. I believe the reason why was because we only had gym class once every three days (which in itself was hard to keep track of), so it was easy to forget your gym locker combination - especially after winter break. To make things worse, if you did forget your gym locker combination and had to go get it from the gym teacher, chances were high that it would make you late to gym class and generally they had no mercy for that kind of thing.

So imagine my distress when I found out at work that the only legitimate place to store food now is in a locker out in the hallway. Oh, what trauma I went through. I even had the gym locker dream again. I haven't had too much trouble though - it turns out that I use the locker every day, and have the combination posted at my desk. The new trouble I'm having (which also brings back traumatic memories) is forgetting to take home the remains of my lunch at the end of each day. One time in junior high my locker partner (bless her soul, if you are reading this JM I am SO SORRY) got fed up with all the bags of moldy half-eaten sandwiches in the bottom of our locker and cleaned them all out. Then she left the moldiest one on top with a note saying "The Secret Locker Cleaner Has Been Here" and never told me it was her that actually did it. Or maybe she did tell me, since somehow I now know that it was her. Anyhow I don't know how she put up with all that disgustingness. I am trying very hard to be a new and better person now but it is very very hard. I forgot my lunch three days in a row last week but did manage to take it all home on Friday, so that counts for something right?

Jackass 2

For some reason neither of us understood, my Studly Hubby and I rented Jackass 2 from Netflix and watched it last night. I have never seen the show nor did I see the first movie but I've heard all about it so thought maybe I'd give it a go. It turns out, it was exactly what everyone said it is: a bunch of crazy guys kicking each other in the balls and doing all sorts of other dangerous stuff. I can't believe one of them hasn't died yet. Some of the stunts were actually kind of fun to watch, like all of them trying to do loop-de-loops on tiny motor scooters (one guy actually made it all the way around). Mostly they were just going for a high 'cringe-factor' - something that would make us cringe - like when Steve-o has a leech put on his eyeball. And some of the stunts were AWFUL, crazy things that you can't imagine anyone doing - like getting branded (badly) in the butt and skateboarding/bicycling/rollerskating top-speed into a brick wall and landing on pavement. Some of the stunts were so bad that someone would end up throwing up (once the camera guy threw up). I guess the important thing is that we kept watching it, which is exactly what they were going for.

Stooopid Levis

My new Levis changed size on me all of a sudden. You are probably all laughing thinking they "shrunk in the drier" but actually I'm having the opposite problem. I swear to God, they are now a size bigger than when I bought them. Argh! I have now washed them twice in super-hot water. I am now testing the boundaries of the heat of our drier to see whether that helps. The funny part is I think I've actually gained a few pounds since I bought the jeans and they are STILL a size too big.

Life Update

We finally finished moving at work and have gotten back to the daily grind, although we're all a little worn thin because of it. The new space is beautiful; large windows overlooking the water and a view of the mountain, a lot of room for everybody, and new benches and chairs to work at. Plus we've been mingled in with two other labs that are incredibly nice and friendly - they remind me of my old lab in MN (I miss you guys still!). So as I recover from the trauma of the move I'm hoping for the best for the future.

We've also officially started dog-shopping at some local shelters and started off with an immediate rejection from a shelter for an application for a super-cute apricot miniature poodle. Apparently they didn't appreciate the fact that my husband and I will both be gone all day and that our yard is only 'partially fenced' (it needs a gate). I was kind of blown away that they are able to be so picky with shelter dogs. I think about everyone I know that has dogs works all day (or did at one time) - and I work nearby and have a pretty flexible schedule so it's about as good as it gets - so I'm wondering who it is they are adopting the dogs to that doesn't work all day. Plus a lot of people here in Seattle don't even have yards (and I know several of them that still have dogs). Anyhow I'm trying not to get too down about it, and we are going to persist. A friend of mine who is familiar with the pickiness of rescue groups (she used to volunteer for one) recommended that we emphasize the flexibility of my schedule, and I think I might go ahead and say that our yard is totally fenced since we plan to put a gate up if we get a dog anyway. It's really hard being scrutinized like this though.

Speaking of a flexible schedule, I better hop off to work before it gets too late.

The Funky Mayonnaise Cake

For our great evening watching Superman (see below), my Studly Hubby and I desperately wanted some chocolate cake. So I thought, maybe I could make some...

Which is never a good idea.

First, I got in the way of my Studly Hubby's elbow while I was looking for a pan. I was ok after some ice, but then almost immediately dropped a glass measuring cup on the floor. It miraculously survived, but then I realized too late that we didn't have enough cocoa, so I substituted some Mexican chocolate. After it was all mixed together I found out that I was using a strange recipe for an eggless and butterless cake that uses Mayo instead (I hadn't intended to do this, we have plenty of eggs and butter, but I didn't really look at the recipe before I started following it). Problem: we don't have Mayo. Instead of Mayo we use Nayonnaise, which is a soy alternative that tastes somewhat like Mayonnaise but a little different (I like it better). So I dumped a cup of Nayonnaise in the mix and hoped for the best.

The batter was disgusting.

This was a huge disappointment, because I love batter and was kind of excited about finally being free of egg-worry and being able to eat batter to my heart's content.

My Studly Hubby convinced me to bake it anyway (the oven was already on) so we baked it up, without much hope for a miraculous recovery.

But when it was finally done, it was DELICIOUS!! There was only the slightest hint of soy-mayo taste, and it was very moist and light. Plus we could convince ourselves that it was a little bit healthy (or maybe... healthier than regular cake).

I LOVE SUPERMAN

The Studly Hubby and I finally got around to watching the new Superman Returns movie with the oh-so-hot Iowa boy Brandon Routh (ladies he is HOT - as Iowa boys tend to be). It was better than I thought it would be! Mainly because Superman is such an awesome hero.

As we were watching, I had an epiphany. Superman is the quintessential dream guy. I think it was Superman that I modeled my first expectations after (sorry guys), at the age of 6. When I was 6, every 6-yr-old kid I knew wanted to be Superman or marry Superman. If you could draw the Superman logo just like the real one you could really earn some friends. If you had a cape and some red underpants, even better.

So last night while we were watching the new Superman movie I relived my childhood a little bit, and at the same time wondered what was so hot about a guy in some red underpants anyway. Definitely his little curly hair tuft has something to do with it. And his superpowers are pretty great too. But I think what really gets the girls excited is his shy and nerdy alter-ego Clark Kent. Who can't resist a shy and nerdy no-name with secret superpowers? That's why I married my Studly Hubby. Plus he's from Iowa.

The Animation Show - Take 3

Tonight we went to The Animation Show (put on by Don Herzfeldt and Mike Judge). We saw a great show, and then got to see a live Q&A with Don Herzfeldt himself (I swooned).

Don Hertzfeldt is the creator of the underground cult classic Rejected (shown at the first Animation Show in 2004) and Mike Judge is the creator of Beavis and Butthead.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Animation Show is fantastic. It's only in select theaters, and you basically have to know about it to find out about it, so now that you're "in the know" you, too, can have prized access to this great event. It features a variety of very good, very interesting and very unique short films that are all animated (and all very good, did I say that already?). Because they are not mainstream, the mediums used and the styles are very explorative, so it is a lot different than what you may be used to seeing in 'traditional' animated film. It makes for quite an experience and is also pretty inspiring.

An Erotic Bakery Surprise

One of my dear friends from Minneapolis just got her PhD last week (go SpeedyKT go!) and I thought I'd send her a gift. We live down the street from the Erotic Bakery, so what a finer gift to send as a graduation present than a cake with a big penis on it? (note this is a clean blog so I have included a picture of one of their lip-cookies instead of the penis cake, but for their full selection check out their website)

I've been kinda busy lately so last week I hopped on the old 'puter and checked out what they had on their website. It turns out that the penis cake is $40 (and another $20 to have it shipped overnight) which is a bit pricey (plus if it didn't get delivered promptly it may become inedible) so I thought I'd go with the more affordable and flexible option of cookies. Plus this way I could get a bunch of different cookies with something different on each of them and my good friend could experience their whole array of erotic options.

Unfortunately, it seems my website order glitched so instead of an array of different cookies and a card that says "congratulations," she only got two cookies, both with the same thing (female parts instead of male, unfortunately) and a card that says 'eat me'.

Dang.

Next time I should probably take the time to go down the street and place the order in person.

Back to Work... Sort Of

Now that the super-awesome-spectacular (extreme) San Francisco vacation has come to an end, it seems like it's time to get back to work. I went in yesterday to see what was going on and found my lab in total chaos. They are moving to a new space this week, but the new space is still not ready yet, so people were crabby, everything was in boxes, and nobody knew what the moving schedule was. So I sat down in the now empty office and worked on a grant for a while, then took off for home a bit early. This morning I woke up to an inch of fresh snow on the ground, which means the city has shut down again (they can't handle snow here), so I figured probably nothing new has happened at work and I may as well stay home for a while. So here I am. Fortunately I brought home a few papers to read to work on the next part of my grant, so I'm all set for at least a few hours. Plus I need to shower.

I've become addicted to a new book, Motley Crue/the dirt (confessions of the world's most notorious rock band). It seems like the kind of book that wouldn't be all that great but it's actually very well done (they must have had one heck-uva ghost writer) and pretty crazy. These guys did nothing but drugs and pills and booze for years and as a result had some pretty interesting experiences. I wouldn't recommend it for the innocent. But it does sort of delve into their childhood traumas and their relationships with women and with each other, and has some deeper moments of thought and reflection (surprisingly). What's really surprising is that any of them remember anything. My Studly Hubby got the book for Christmas and I of course stole it from him and got sucked in.

The Levi Victory

While we were having a fabulous vacation in San Francisco (see below) I was inspired by the Levi Strauss display at Levi Plaza and insisted we stop by the Levi flagship store near Union Square during some down time to pick up some jeans. I had to try almost all of the jeans on at the store, but finally found the perfect pair (for only $20!) - Levi's 545 (stretch). They hug my booty so nice...
This is a major thing for me, so I would like everyone to pause while looking at the above picture of my booty and take a moment of silence for reflection. Every time I change sports (from horse riding in college to indoor spin in grad school to running/walking now) my booty makes a major shape change and causes Serious Jean Challenge that eventually leads to a Jean Emergency - all my old jeans suddenly look very different on me and I need a new pair STAT. So during winter break I did some serious shopping and couldn't find ANYTHING that fit right. I was beginning to believe that I had an un-jean-able booty when I found this pair in San Francisco at Levi's. I haven't had such a fabulous pair of Levi's since high school so I didn't know if it would be possible but clearly it is. I am now a Levi's girl. (I should have picked up a few more colors while I was there!)

San Francisco Extraordinaire

The only way to describe our trip to San Francisco is:

Super-Awesome Spectacular (EXTREME)!!

We stayed at the Carlton Hotel in downtown San Francisco (the Nob Hill neighborhood). It was a good hotel in a great location, and had many fancy artsy details that were aesthetically pleasing, but the walls were paper-thin so that when our next-door neighbors got home at 2:30 am it felt like they were standing right over our bed talking to us. We enjoyed it anyway, and partook in the free wine-tasting and the yummy Mediterranean restaurant there. It was very conveniently located near Union Square and central to all the good San Francisco tourist adventures.

On our first day there (Thursday) we hiked all the way up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower (shaped like a fire hose), then snapped some pictures of the awesome view of the Bay and Alcatraz. The hills there are indeed very steep (we tried to take a picture of each of us climbing up the hill but the hill-effect didn't really turn out).

We were so excited about the bay that we walked all the way out there and went out on the pier to see the sea lions lounging around in the sun. Some of them were fighting with each other and going "ARE ARE ARE!" at each other. It was very entertaining. We walked back along the water and passed the Levi Plaza, where there was an interesting display about Levi Strauss' company (founded in San Francisco in the late 1800s to provide heavy-duty clothing for the laborers of the time - mostly gold miners). It was there that I got motivated to buy myself a pair - but I'm going to leave that for another post.

Walking back from the bay we saw many of the San Francisco neighborhoods; the very Italian North Beach neighborhood (and the famous gathering spot for the Beat writers and home of City Lights Bookstore - those of you from Iowa City may now get the play on words that created the Iowa City bookstore, Prairie Lights). I had gotten a San Francisco tour guide book from the library before we left so I could point out many of the famous historical spots around the neighborhoods and later that night I read all about the Beat movement, Doda the first topless waitress who started the topless waitress movement, and the Octagon House (also part of a movement). It was really neat-o.

Friday morning was freezing - we found out later that San Francisco was colder this weekend than it's been in years. We woke up with the intention of getting some dim-sum, but couldn't find any in Chinatown or elsewhere. After a nice tour of Chinatown we finally found a cute little cafe back in Nob Hill and had some omelettes and pancakes. Then we took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) over to Berkeley where my Studly Hubby's Graduation Weekend officially began with an open house at the office of his Animation Mentor school. This is also where things really started getting fun. We met loads of interesting and fabulous people, the Studly Hubby met the founders of his school and many of his classmates, and we got some free cookies. Afterwards, we got a ride back to North Beach in a complete stranger's BMW and went out for dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant with some of the Studly Hubby's classmates where we wined and dined and conversed late into the night. The next day was the big graduation ceremony, held at the Fort Mason Marina in San Francisco (near Fisherman's Warf) in Cowell Theater overlooking the bay. It was extremely well done and very touching (this was the first-ever graduation ceremony for this school and there were lots of tears and cheers and many thank-you's going around). My Studly Hubby won an award, they got some inspiration from the director of Madagastar, and it finished with a large load of balloons falling from the ceiling. Then we had a reception where students could meet each other and their mentors, and a formal dinner with more socializing and a bit of dancing. I can't even begin to describe how invigorating and unique and totally touching this whole affair was, and how happy I was to be there.

On Sunday morning some friends we met at the Animation Mentor party took us to a Buddhist temple in Berkeley (Mongkolratanaram) for a Thai Sunday fundraiser brunch that the temple does every week. This was some of the most fabulous Thai food we have had and was a very fun place to go - they serve large volumes of food for not very much, and you pay with funny tokens that you purchase in advance, and then sit at picnic tables in their courtyard. We stuffed ourselves for an entire hour and then fantasized about the delicious food for the rest of the day.

All in all, it was the best time we've had since our trip to Chicago last January. It's pretty fun going someplace fun and having some fun, that's for dang sure.

Mongkolratanaram

Back on Track

We arrived home safe and sound last night and had an AWESOME trip, I'll post more details later but for now, a brief recap:

Animation Mentor, the school from which my Studly Hubby was graduating, got some local press, which you can read about here (and watch the video clip off to the right that they showed on the 6 o'clock news Friday night).

My Studly Hubby won an AWARD for being so studly!

We met SO MANY wonderful and amazing people I was just blown away. I'm not even part of the program and I felt like I met a few people that I could have been best friends with. One couple in particular was uncannily like us; a science PhD wife who just got a faculty job, an animator husband, they have similar geography issues and also met in high school. They took us out to breakfast on Sunday at the most amazing Buddhist temple in Berkeley and I almost cried when we said good-bye to them.

Off to San Francisco

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn we are taking off for a four-day trip to San Francisco to see the sights, take a break, and most importantly, attend my Studly Hubby's graduation from Animation Mentor (Sat afternoon). He's very excited to meet all his classmates and teachers, and I'm very excited to see the big city for the first time. I won't be taking my computer so there will be a little break and then hopefully I will post lots-o-pictures upon our return.

The Bacteria Whisperer

Last night on PBS my Studly Hubby and I were watching Nova, a show about science. It was really cool. They were showing some thing about how we should try to build an elevator into space, then they talked about how many Mayans there were before they all died all of a sudden (they had a population estimated to be the size of NYC!), and then they started talking about some "bacteria whisperer" and I thought, hey! Maybe this will be someone I know!

It turns out, it WAS about someone I know - in fact, a colleague in my field! So the piece was all about what I do (except she works with glowing harmless bacteria and I work with pathogenic bioterrorism bacteria - but both kinds of bacteria talk the same way and that's what we have in common). And one of my comrades from the lab I was in for grad school is now doing his post-doc with this person, and he was on TV too! I was so excited I almost knocked over our coffee table. You can watched the entire clip or read about it from this link.

The most inspiring part of the clip was this: the woman they were profiling, who is a PI at Princeton, in the National Academy of Sciences, and a Howard Hughes Fellow, is also a part-time aerobics instructor. At the beginning of the segment they showed her teaching an aerobics class first thing in the morning, and then going from there in to her office. I was so inspired! This is the only other bacteriologist (besides me) that I know that teaches aerobics in her free time. I found myself bonding with this woman that I've only met twice. Except I left that aerobics bit behind in Minnesota (or at least I thought I did) and now feel a little out-of-shape and behind-the-times. Maybe this will be the thing that inspires me to get back to it...?

We Found It!

About a year ago I finished a jigsaw puzzle to my great delight, but was left with one piece missing (for those of you who jigsaw you may already know - this is FRUSTRATING). Well, when we moved we FOUND it. Want to know where it was?

In my Studly Hubby's briefcase.

I think it was a conspiracy. Someone stuck it in there to drive us both crazy. Maybe it was our landlord, or our neighbor, or those guys who stole our bikes. Well it didn't work! We took a picture of the finished puzzle, threw it away, and never thought of it again until we found that missing piece nine months later. HA! You failed you crazy conspirators!

For his birthday, my Studly Hubby got the DVD of the Tick TV series from his Studly parents. I like this show but only watched a few episodes when it was on so was excited to see more. We have watched a few more shows now, and I'm afraid I may have to start posted some quotes from it because they are so dang good. The first is this (said by The Tick to his apprentice Arthur, in episode 1):

"You're not going INSANE, you're going SANE in this crazy world!"

If you think about this, it really explains a lot.

My Studly Hubby's Homosexual Robot

In the way of Tink (and recently also Newt), I've got a Daily Conversation with the Studly Hubby to share with all y'all:

Me: You have a sticker on your shirt that says G20
Hubby: Whoa!
Me: Are you cheating on me with a robot?
Hubby: Yes, and he's really hot
Me: (pause) He?
Hubby: Oops! I guess it was a homosexual robot then.
Me: Wow this just got interesting.

So next time you see the Studly Hubby, make sure to ask him how the affair with the homosexual robot is going.

Nostalgic or Lethargic?

I wrote the word "nostalgic" in my last post which made me remember a story from when I was a kid. When I was a kid, I got a lot of words mixed up (this is apparently common to people with attention deficit disorder, like me). Two such words were nostalgic and lethargic. One time when I was about twelve our dog was acting lethargic so I called the vet clinic to ask them whether we should bring them in. When they asked what our dog's symptoms were I said, "well he's been acting very nostalgic for the last couple of days..." There was a long pause, then the technician on the line said, "...do you mean lethargic?" Now when I think back on that, I wonder if the technician might have actually tried to picture a nostalgic dog before figuring out what I meant.

I also used to think for some reason that the word "jaywalking" meant "prostitution" (somehow someone must have confused me because these two words are nothing alike). One time when I was in middle school there was a story in the news about a blind man who got ticketed for jaywalking. Everyone was in a fit because it's not very fair for a blind man to get a ticket, although the police thought the guy should have to follow the law just like everyone else. I completely misinterpreted the story though. I thought the blind man was prostituting, and everyone was in a fit because blind men aren't normally prostitutes. Whenever I volunteered my opinion that this guy should have known he would get a ticket for jaywalking (translation: prostitution) since it is in fact illegal... I got more than a few weird looks.

Christmas Tree Nostalgia

So how long can you leave a Christmas tree up after Christmas? I think New Years is the general rule (does that mean through New Years Day? because I saw a lot of Christmas trees still up on the night of New Years Day...). Our tree is so pretty though that I want to leave it up all year. I think I'll compromise with myself. We put some white lights up along our fireplace mantel that look very pretty - I think I'll leave those up all year, or at least the rest of the winter. I think lights are very helpful during the gloomy winter months - it's too bad a lot of people take their lights down right after New Years because I consider January just as in need of lights as December.

Yes, I'm one of THOSE people

I changed my blog template AGAIN. I hate it when other people do that, it totally throws me off balance and makes me wonder where I am, but here I go doing it to my own blog. I like this template better, but I may work on it a little more. I'll try not to do anything else drastic though.

Going through FOOD WITHDRAWEL

I am majorly going through food withdrawel. Whenever there is a big eating frenzy, especially one that lasts more than a day, I tend to gorge myself over and over until I get used to it and then start to expect it. So when I get back to my PB&J sandwich for lunch it's not enough. It's nowhere close to enough. So I crave chips and cheeseburgers all day for a few days post-holiday, hence, FOOD WITHDRAWEL.

My advice to any of you who are going through this same thing: DON'T KEEP EATING, it wreaks havoc on your grocery bill. Try to lay off, stay busy, speed past the donut aisle, and for heaven's sake, don't talk about food with your co-workers. I wish you all luck. We should return to normal by Friday.

I am the NEW BLOGGER

I have joined the New Blogger Club and changed over my blog. The trouble is, I don't like my new blog one bit. First I had to try to remember all my links and put those back in there. Then I screwed around with fonts and colors for about an hour, then when I looked at it, it was totally not what I thought it would be. I need to keep working on this. Please let me know if a link is screwed up or worse, I forgot to put you on there.

Yay for 2007!!

I spent about four hours blogging last night - I think I was catching up on 2006 (or at least the week between Christmas and last night that I was absent from the internet). In addition to reading everyone else's blogs, I posted some about my great week and about all the things I did last year. I had a crazy year! I'm hoping next year is a little less crazy but my New Year's resolution to myself is to learn how to spin the crazy stuff a little more positive and try to enjoy it all more. It's my life after all, I'd be changing it if it wasn't what I wanted (and it IS what I want, I just don't seem to always realize this). So maybe it won't be less crazy in 2007, but I'm going to be ok with it either way.

We are winding down slowly from having visitors and doing all the Seattle adventures. My Studly Hubby got sick on Sat, spent most of yesterday hacking and blowing his nose, and is currently in bed. I won't wake him. I'm actually going to work today - my first time at work on New Year's Day ever, I think. I'm not much of a work-on-holidays type of gal normally, but I also don't usually take as many vacation days in a row as I did last week (although that's not why I'm working today). I'm working today because our lab is moving in two weeks, they're shutting down the radiation room this Thursday, and I'm giving lab meeting in three weeks. So whatever I want to get done before lab meeting (which is all radioactive experiments) has to get done between now and Thursday. So I'm going to go in for as long as it takes to get an experiment done in the radiation room, and I'll enjoy the holiday quiet that should be underway and maybe get a few papers read while I have some down time. Then hopefully I can leave a little early to come home and enjoy the holiday. Next week we'll be fighting over benches in our new lab space and then the Studly Hubby and I are taking off for San Francisco for his graduation ceremony (yes he DID graduate and is up for an award - he is supposed to prepare a speech!). We'll spend a long weekend in San Francisco checking out the city too, I've never been there. Then it's back to Seattle for a full two months of not-much-but-work, so we'll have lots of time to take down our Christmas tree and decide whether or not to get a dog. Perhaps the Studly Hubby will find a job during that time too. And I'll have loads of time for blogging.

Tootle-oo (or however you spell that) and have a happy first day of 2007!