Being the Chronicles of B: Not Unlike the Toaster, I Control the Darkness

What's up with no paragraph breaks?

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:19:19 GMT

27)Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. 544 pages. About the only good thing I can say about it is that it's a quick read. Terribly written, the conversation is positively wooden, and the multiple descriptions of Edward's scintillatingly perfect chest are positivity eye rolling. It's like really cheap candy. It pushes all the right BUTTONS (romance, awww I felt that way in high school buttons), but that doesn't make it good. I think I wasted some neurons on this one.

28) Empress: A Novel by Shan Sa. 352 pages.

29) Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi. 144 pages

% Complete: 97%

Pages read: 8.536

Might make 30 books this year after all...the last few days have been very good for this.

A not so open letter

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:19:51 GMT

Dear Prof in the Office Next to Me,

We've all got bodily functions, I know. Believe me, I'm as human as anyone else. But I think we would all appreciate it if you tried not to fart loud enough in your office for me, the person in the office next door, to hear it. The fact that you do it several times per day is something I bear with, but right now, during lunch, is...unfortunate. Can we work on this? We don't share air circulation, so silent but deadly would be fine.

Thanks!
Me

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:19:53 GMT

25)The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution by Carl Zimmer. 394 pages.
26) Don't be SUCH a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style by Randy Olson. 216 pages. COMPLETELY TERRIBLE. This guy sounds like the most pompous ass I have ever had to read.

% Complete: 86%
Pages read: 7,496

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:08:51 GMT

I baked my first spaghetti squash today! It tasted pretty good, but I'm worried my stomach doesn't like it very much. When you're baking it, how do you tell if it's cooked all the way? Anyone?

22) The Gender Knot: Unraveling our patriarchal legacy by Allan G Johnson. 304 pages. Wow. Just wow. It gave me SO much to think about. So so much. One of those books that will really change how you see society.
23) The search for the giant squid: the biology and mythology of the world's most elusive sea creature by Richard Ellis. 336 pages. COMPLETELY AWESOME!!!!! SQUIDS ARE SO COOL!!!
24) The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology by Masaharu Takemura. 225 pages. Really! Not kidding!

% Complete: 80%
Pages read: 6,886

A truly pathetic showing so far this year. I don't know if I'll even make it to 30 books! Partially reading other stuff over again (which doesn't count), and mostly the blog and the THESIS. I will read so much once the THESIS is done...

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:08:50 GMT

It's so hot. I tried putting my peaches (chopped up) in the freezer to make them nice and cold so it would be more like eating ice cream. They are nice and cool. But I had to turn on the AC anyway. The cat was sprawled out and drank all her water in one go. Officially too hot for angoras round this joint.

Anyway:

19) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and some guy named Seth who thought that Jane Austen would be cooler with zombies. 320 pages. OMG SO FUNNY. Even funnier if you love Jane Austen.
20) The Annals of Imperial Rome by Cornelius Tacitus. 240 pages. Apparently suicide was VERY popular in the first century.
21) Attachment, Evolution, and the Psychology of Religion by Lee Kirkpatrick. 400 pages. Review on the official blog soon.

% Complete: 70%
Pages read: 6,021

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:17:20 GMT

16) An Odyssey with Animals: A veterinarian's reflections on the animal rights and welfare debate by Adrian R Morrison. 272 pages.
17) More Sex is Safer Sex: The unconventional wisdom of economics by Steven E Landsburg. 275 pages.
18) Unscientific America: How scientific illiteracy threatens our future by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum. 209 pages.

% Complete: 60%
Pages read: 5,061

Depressingly low number of pages read. Of course, this isn't counting all the articles and textbook sections and freakin BLOG POSTS I read on any given day. If I stopped reading blogs, I'd probably be both more productive and get about 100 more pages read in a day more than I normally do. Or six miles more run. Something.

Secondly, what is it about books of a serious nature that they have to have such LONG TITLES?! Why couldn't the third book just be "unscientific america"? Why must the authors pontificate in the very title of the book, when they wrote an entire book in which to pontificate? You know what. I'm going to write a book. And it's going to be called "The book title: this is serious business. Srsly. I'm not kidding: the story of books with titles that are too explanatory and leave nothing to the imagination". But I'm willing to bet no one would get the irony.

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:45:03 GMT

Sigh...we were doing so well. Brazil 3, USA 2. After Brazil brought it back to tie it I saw no hope.

But hell, you know, if you're going to go down, going down to BRAZIL with such a close score is really pretty good. Spain may be number 1 or whatever, but the world FEARS Brazilian soccer.

I'll need to get a TV before summer of 2010.

Also, Clint Dempsey. <3. SO CUTE. American ladies need to get into the hotness of soccer men. I can't believe he's younger than I am.

There might be more than this

Sat, 16 May 2009 01:08:41 GMT

I keep saving up books to write in (one book at a time sucks), so I think I may well have read more than just three...but I can't remember which others to save my life.

13) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. 320 pages
14) Whipping Girl: a transsexual woman on sexism and the scapegoating of femininity by Julia Serano. 280 pages.
15) How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. 256 pages.

Can anyone remember books that I've read that I don't remember I've read? Anyone?

% Complete: 50% (out of a total of 30)
Pages read: 4,305

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:29:00 GMT

Ok, ok. Following butterfly_eli 's charming ode to macaroni and cheese, I am feeling the need to play. Also because I had epic couscous fail last night. The large grain couscous really doesn't cook like the small grain. And what is UP with having to "toast couscous lightly" before cooking? Me no likey.

An ode to ramen:
Simple 21st century sophistication
everything ready in three minutes
satisfaction assured in bright orange packaging
in "chicken flavor" that never saw fowl
the glory and the tragedy
tasty 250% of your daily sodium intake
But now, with zero trans fat!

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:26:08 GMT

St. Leo 5k today. I ran a 23:30 and feel pretty damn proud of myself. Except that I apparently had Kate's ass the WHOLE TIME and couldn't catch her. Next race...

Best part: I won a fleece in the raffle! It's way too big, but it's a really nice fleece, and kind of like being wrapped in a fleece blanket all the time. Snuggies have nothing on this.

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:13:07 GMT

I LOVE Neil Gaiman! He can even go on the Colbert Report and totally own it. I want this book SO bad now. Not that I didn't want it before. But I REALLY want it now.

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:25:51 GMT

10) The End of My Addiction by Olivier Ameisen. 352 pages.
11) A History of God: The 4000 year quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Karen Armstrong. 496 pages.
12) Rhapsody by Elizabeth Hayden. 672 pages.

% Complete: 40% (out of 30)
Pages read: 3,449

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:33:09 GMT

6)Coraline by Neil Gaiman. 192 pages. I really want to see the movie now!
7) Instant Egghead Guide to the Mind by Emily Anthes and Scientific American. 240 pages.
8) Professionalism is for Everyone by James Ball. 72 pages. Waste. Of. Time.
9) Communicating Science: Giving Talks. 43 pages. Less of a waste of time.

% Complete: 9/30= 30% Amazing how much progress you make when you set your expectations low.
Pages Read:1,929

Longer books will be coming along. I swear.

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:03:37 GMT

The huge strain I'm under right now gives Mondays that extra pile of suck. I was never meant to exist on 5 hours of sleep a night. It makes me hate random people who haven't done anything to me and makes me depressed over things that are not actual slights to my intellect and character. But, in the interest of promoting some positive, yet ironic karma:

Today I am thankful for the goddam worst fuckin' ACUC protocols in history. Because without them I never would have realized that "rodent transfer request" is a great name for an indie band.

New Year: New List!

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:07:16 GMT

I only got to 62 (or so, I think it might have been 63) books this past year. I was doing just fine on it until May, when I started that whole "blogging" thing. And it was downhill from there. So this year, what with dissertation writing (I HOPE), blogging, half-marathoning, etc, I'm only going to try for 30 books. I know that sounds like a lot considering all that I have to do (at least it sounds like a lot to me), but really, considering the piles of books coming in right now for my review (I'm currently sitting on three, progress has been made on two others), I think a good chunk will get done that way. Someday I would also kind of like to give up the book thing for a while and get through the last TWO YEARS of National Geographics that have piled up, unread. Not to mention my issues of Seed. Perhaps when I take a break from running, I'll be on the elliptical a lot...

Anyway, here we go.

1) Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: the Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. 209 pages. I was very worried about my grammar and punctuation when I began being featured on the NY Times webpage. Apparently my punctuation is close to flawless. Grammar probably still needs work. Also spelling.
2) Of Darkness, Light and Fire by Tanya Huff. I've only read the first of the two stories. 235 pages.
3) The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. 368 pages. Brilliant.
4) Bonk: the Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. 320 pages.
5) Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most by Stone, Patton and Heen. 250 pages. Annoying as hell, but very useful.

Not such a bad start, right?

Now off to have a VERY late night analyzing data, writing a post (I hope), and prepping for a paper presentation in lab meeting tomorrow, as well as getting my advisor those paper edits...crap.

BUT, one more thing. I heard about a study that shows that ktria is on to something. Apparently scientists took two groups of people on an exercise program. Half wrote down every day what pisses them off, the other half wrote every day something they were thankful for. The group writing what they were thankful for worked out 90 minutes more per week than the group that wrote down what pissed them off. Being that I am trying not to be lazy about my training this time around, this is a good idea. Thus:

Today, I am thankful that I FINALLY got Firefox!
I am also thankful that, were it the 19th or 18th centuries, I would have been a FABULOUS blue-stocking wife. Cause Abigail Adams was AWESOME.

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:31:32 GMT

60)Freaks of Nature: what anomalies tell us about development and evolution by Mark S. Blumberg. 344 pages.
61) The Lady Elizabeth by Allison Weir. 512 pages. Oh Allison, I love your biographies so. Please keep my opinion of you good, and DON'T WRITE ANY MORE NOVELS!! kthxbai.
62) The Physiognomy by Jeffrey Ford. 210 pages. Thanks, cobalt_00 ! It was fantastic!

Percent complete: 62% I got past 60!!! A great miracle happened here.
Pages read: 20,652. I feel like it's not so bad. I think I shall try and get in 50 next year.

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:07:12 GMT

The jeans situation has reached critical mass. I tore the heels off my one favorite pair last week. This week I discovered a forming hole in the crotch of my other favorites, the 'nicer' dark ones that I wear everywhere. This is bad. I need jeans. Target is too short. Old Navy is FAR too ill-fitting. Advice? I need them LONG. Preferably darker, it makes them look nicer and then I can wear them to nicer things.

Happy Meme Day 2

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:54:02 GMT

Today what makes me happy: I get a new computer!!!! I'm even allowed to go over budget ($1400) because my advisor feels bad for all I went through on Monday. It's going to be a Dell (I don't have a choice in this matter) Latitude 6400, weighing in at a nice 4.3 lbs, and with 160GB harddrive! I wanted more but couldn't afford it. So yay, new computer. The real key will be if I can get it in red...

Computers are my retail therapy.

I managed to fit in books!!

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:14:09 GMT

56) Paradise Lost by John Milton. 512 pages. The best in Chrisitan literature, my ASS. That was torture. I have no idea what my brother sees in it. St. Augustine is better, and I don't even like him. But I will put it down to improving my mind.
57) The Wars of the Roses by Allison Weir. 480 pages.
58) Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure, by Paul Offit. 328 pages. Very readable. I liked it, though of course it was rehashing the arguments and stuff I'd heard a thousand times. It was good to really read the history of the "debate". However, I wish that the author had spent more time on kids without vaccines who still get autism, just to make it clear that there is obviously another cause, autism rates do NOT fall in unvaccinated populations. But still good.
59) Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole my Mother's Boyfriend, by Barbara Oakley. 473 pages.

59% Complete. I think 60 is probably a reasonable goal for this year. Perhaps I should have stuck to graphic novels and young adult fiction or something. Still, I think this has been good for me, and I think it has broadened my reading. It gives me something to work for. I might try for 50 next year...

Pages Read: 19,856

It's official

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:05:22 GMT

Let it be known that Dec. 3, 2008, at 2:46pm, is when B gave up.

I waited. I did. I was patient. I put on more layers. I even wore my coat over my legs for the entire morning! But today is the end. I know it's dangerous, I know it's bad for the environment, I know I should be tough. But I can't do it any longer.

I just turned on my space heater.

The waves of heat flowing over my cold, frozen icicle feet are like heaven. It's like when you're freezing and you first step into a gloriously hot jacuzzi. It actually almost hurts, and then your feet just seem to melt into bliss.

And this means I can now use my coat on my upper half.

And since I got tagged by the lovely butterfly_eli, I have a meme:

"The rules are that for 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day. Tag 8 people to do the same."
I hereby tag: marcelle42 , cobalt_00, jianantonic, gypsrselee,pengybean, ktria, dracis, and moniq68.

And today, I think you can guess what is making me VERY happy: Warm toes!!

I CAN SEE THROUGH TIME!!

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:22:40 GMT

This is what comes of going off caffeine for so long. Got a cup of the notorious Krankie's coffee (delicious, fair trade, organic, shit will knock your socks off). I am now completely shaky and paranoid. This stuff is STRONG. It's kind of great in that I can type reallyreallyfast. But it's also kind of scary in that I'm freaking out about everything. I think my Cholingeric receptors are screaming for mercy. I can hear their sad, pathetic little whines echoing through my central nervous system...I think I need to eat something...But this paper draft is so important and the figures are almost done and then I can graph the CPP data and the odds are it will show nothing but I need to have those graphs to prove I did the shit and this powerpoint is already over 60 slides long...

You know you're in grad school when...

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:40:43 GMT

Last night's dinner: handful of Doritos and a chocolate chip cookie
This morning's breakfast: M&Ms and tostitos.

Seriously, I'm eating what's around the lab because I just DON'T LEAVE.

Except to go to the dentist. Where I found out I have lovely teeth. So yay.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:35:53 GMT

To the Sour Grapes and those who are skeptical,

Stop it. I was in a beautifully good mood this morning. I have been so disappointed for so long. I know, intellectually, that this change will probably not live up to my expectations. I know that I will again grow bitter and cynical. I know very well that there are some people who didn't like the election, and there are some people who think Obama cannot live up to the extremely high expectations that we have of him. I know that he faces huge challenges.

But you know what? I'm still proud. I'm proud of all the people who got the vote out. I'm proud that modern America can still be the home of the American Dream. I'm proud of an election that was, without question, the will of the people. And I'm sick and tired of having people rain on my parade less than 12 hours after election results were called. I'm not gloating, I'm not walking around with a big grin on my face taunting people who voted differently. I just want a chance to be happy a proud for a day. Ok? You can try and make me cynical tomorrow.

Reading no blogs or articles the rest of the day,
B

An Open Letter

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:49:47 GMT

Dear McCain Campaign people, the scary voice-recording, and Rudy Giuliani,

STOP CALLING ME. I do not want to hear a scary voice recording talking about "palling around with terrorists". Neither do I want to hear any more attack ads about how Obama is "dangerous". I do not like negative campaigning, and this has gone far beyond the traditional mudslinging. The Obama campaign called me once. For a poll. And they didn't tell me they were the Obama campaign until I had taken the poll. You have called me every day for the past week, each time with a voice recording of negative ads against your opponent. It is base, crass, and has made me lose what respect I had for your campaign.

Furthermore, stop filling my mailbox every day with little bits of Obama hate mail. You are killing trees to no purpose. Thankfully, I can recycle glossies as well as regular paper, so you will be glad to know that the mail is not going to a landfill. I will gladly accept phone calls and propaganda when you are prepared to talk to me about your views on the issues. Until then, please leave me alone. I have far better things to do with my day than listen to your fear-mongering.

No Love,
capriciousbee

PS: Can I debate Sarah Palin? Please?!

Quote of the Day

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:09:57 GMT

Mark: Yeah, Reference manager does suck. Just like Endnote sucks. It's like picking a president. Pick the one that annoys you least.

*phew* the tiny grin he got from me is the least tense my jaw has been all day. I HATE bibliographies!!!