On my lack of love for the piano, and the irresistable cuteness of blond toddlers

I don't mind classical music. In fact, when I'm in the right mood, it's wonderful. I played violin for 12 years, and really enjoy most of it. My one exception is the piano, which I would love to learn to play simply because I'm not sure I'm coordinated enough to get my extremities and eyes together to complete a song. For whatever reason, though, piano music does not generally excite me. I much prefer cello or a full orchestra.

Which makes it a wonderful coincidence that my new downstairs neighbor appears to have one hobby.... classical piano. Oi. And while he's very good, it's piano. And it's driving me nuts, because he appears to practice exclusively during the times I am trying to nap, or read, or blog, or generally enjoy some quiet downtime at home. Maybe this will change as the semester progresses and he gets a social life... but for now, I'm anticipating a forced lesson in how to appreciate the piano through my floor. Ew. (Or, I could take it as motivation to find more hobbies/spend more time in lab.... choices, choices...)

On a happier note, I went to visit some family last week and was greeted by these cuties and their parents.

Adorable, yes? They also helped me practice with my fancy schmancy camera, but I didn't come out with anything too spectacular.

(She knows she's cute, you can see it in her eyes. Both adorably cuddly, too.)

Fieldwork for Advisor's project (theoretically) starts in less than two weeks. HOLY CRAP. I need to pack and wrap up everything I'm doing for this month soon. Oi.

I am behind

And as usual, blogging is the first thing to take the hit. Sorry, all.

I've been working on all sorts of projects, and just took a week to visit my family for the first time in six months. That felt good, and I even got a bit of work done while I was home.

I have a couple of posts backed up that I'll try and get to this weekend, but for now, there's this spiffy bit of science news.

I have no witty title today

It is snowing. Again. Please, please, please.... can we just go one week with no new snow? Please? (I've almost decided that if and when I get to choose where I live & work, there will be zero possibility of snow, and it will be glorious.)

I've been meaning to update for a while and just haven't gotten around to it. So here we go, in list form.

1. A fairly major person in my field, Dr. Ronald Schusterman, died recently. I don't know much of his work, but his lab focused on some really interesting stuff, and I know my advisor is close to at least one of his students. I'm disappointed that I never got to meet him.

2. There is a possibility that I will go on some field work in the next couple of months. YES. I need this. I need to get out of the lab and to see some of the people that I've worked with the last couple of years. (I also need the time crunch that will get me motivated to finish my analyses for my conference in April, but we won't talk about that...)

3. Advisor has told me that our lab will "make an offer" for one of the students we interviewed. Kind of makes it sound like we're buying a car, rather than hiring someone, though I suppose that's how it's done. Should be interesting.... when she interviewed, she mentioned that another school was going to take her whale-watching during her visit. I still haven't decided if that's a point in our favor (the other lab doesn't study whales), or not. Hmm.

4. It turns out that my cooking repertoire is somewhat limited. Pasta, while lovely, gets very old, very fast. Do any of you have favorite recipes I can try out? I'm a decent cook, so if you have something you really like (that hopefully involves minimal pasta!), tell me!

And there you have it, my life in bullet points. Or numbers, I suppose.

Let's hope for warm and sunny weather this week!

Growing up can suck.

How does one decide when to end a friendship? I thankfully haven't had to deal with this very much in my life, but it seems to be an issue now. I've known my friend (we'll call her Erica) for about ten years; for most of that time we were very close. When she was dealing with the aftermath of assault, I was the one she called, and when I had professional setbacks that put me in tears, she was there to talk me through it. My problem now is that we seem to be growing apart, and I'm not sure whether it's worth trying to fix the friendship or just let it go.

Erica is bubbly, bright, intelligent and can be very sweet, but she has always been kind of selfish and not the type to really put effort into friendships. I have almost always been the one to call her and to make arrangements to get together when I'm in town (once or twice a year, recently). She likes to talk about her work and her social dramas (especially the boyfriend(s) of the month), and often doesn't pick up on when I want or need to talk about something. Subtlety is very much not her strong suit. Nor is remembering important dates, or being anywhere within 15 minutes of when she's said she'll be.

On the other hand, I am nearly always 5 minutes early, make a point to remember and acknowledge birthdays, etc., and would rather talk about current events or entertainment than her work (which in no way relates to my interests), though gossip is usually okay. These differences have started to grate on my nerves, and over the last year or so, I've started feeling drained when I hang out with her. Also, when we had several months of no communication this year, I found that I didn't really miss her all that much. Am I an awful person for thinking this, and yet still wanting (somehow) to fix our friendship and get it back to the way it used to be?

I think one of the major issues is how busy we both are. I don't have the time or energy to chase her down for a phone call or a meetup that will ultimately end in me being frustrated and angry, and she hasn't picked up her half of the burden, either because of time constraints or just not caring. But at the same time, I have gone through a lot with this woman - I've trusted her with every secret I had, and had so many good times with her. I'd like to think there's still some good in the relationship and that it can be rescued.

Readers: what do you think? Given that I see Erica at most twice a year, is it worth the effort to salvage this friendship? Do you have any suggestions on how I should go about saving or ending it?

Back from vacation

So last week lacked updates because I was visiting my family and taking a friend around the state. She is the luckiest tourist on the face of the planet, I swear. Saw all but one of the major animals, got lucky with great weather and scenery, and even saw a black bear in the yard. Anyhow. Some pictures:






Science update will come tomorrow, because I haven't kept up on it the last few days. I was productive, though - met with a collaborator at home and scheduled a committee meeting for later this month. Eep!

Progress

There has been progress on the report. This is good. It still isn't in any shape that I'd consider good, but it's a first draft, and I have a few hours tomorrow to work on it... so it's passable.

I cannot wait for my trip. Driving out of here tomorrow night and flying Tuesday morning. Will be home by Tuesday afternoon! My challenge will be staying awake on my drive... leaving here after class (9pm) for a 4 hour drive. UGH. (and let me just say that I had so better not hit a deer. I will be SO upset if that happens).

Today's science pimpage: this article is encouraging. We aren't there yet, but it's coming. There was also an article about bats and vocal recognition that was mildly interesting, but predictable...so this got picked instead.

Right. On to packing and making sure that all my arrangements are made. One draft, meeting with prospy, and spanish class, and then I am on my way HOME!