Come visit more often, but next time leave the germs in Little Rock.

Ho hum, I guess I should blog to keep certain people happy (you know who you are). The bad news: I've spent the last 6 days or so doing a lot of whining about how bad my throat hurts and coughing my lungs up - thanks, Leah. The good: I got to hang out with Leah for the first time in like, years it seems.

Other happenings:
-Jonathan came to visit last Wednesday till this morning. It was fun hanging out and was a good prelude to this summer!
-I ate Asian food three times in the last week. That's pretty abnormal for me.
-I skipped church without having a good excuse for the first time in a long while today. It was kind of refreshing actually.
-We are T-11 days till I leave for a week in Puerto Rico. To say that I'm excited would be the understatement of 2009 so far.
-The weather lately has made my soul happy. The pollen explosion caused by said weather has made my allergies not-so-happy. I'll gladly make that trade any day though. Bring on the flonase!

Darwin Day?

People in the biology field FREAK OUT about Darwin. Apparently tomorrow is Darwin's 200th birthday. Some of the professors are so excited about it that they started talking about it last semester, so I am not surprised that my department is having a birthday party for him. Here's an exerpt of an email I just got:

"We will be going over activities for the semester as well as celebrating Darwin's 200th birthday!...As part of the celebration, there will be an evolution quiz game with prizes. And if you can, please bring fun Darwin-related food items to help celebrate."

I'm really curious what people will come up with for "fun Darwin-related food items," but I don't intend on going to find out. I'm such a biology rebel. Just for fun, what Darwin-related food item would you come up with? I'm thinking "Galapogos goulash."

I'm not going to name this post Ice Storm '09.

Look y'all! I'm updating my blog! I thought I'd do my obligatory ice storm 2009 photo post. The first picture is the tree in the corner of our driveway after if fell across the road. If you look closely, you can see the electric and cable wires to our house that it took out in the process...thus the beginning of a cold few days at the West Ave. house. Amazingly, we just happened to be on the front porch when it fell. Freaky and awesome all at the same time. Also notice the tree in the top right corner of the picture that is creeping down, more on that one later.

The next Center St. between our house and the university. It was mostly impassable for a few days due to all the trees blocking the road, let alone the inch or two of ice coating it.

Next is a nice view of Old Main from the window in the lab where I work. The trees in this picture are mostly fine, but Old Main lawn took quite a beating.

Another view of Center St. between Hill Ave. and Duncan Ave.

Some crazy looking ice-covered berries.

Remember that tree I told you about in the first picture? Here's the end result. Yeah, that's the street in front of our house.

The finished product.

And my fish miraculously stayed alive even though the temperature of the house got down to 34 degrees!

Lately.

Here are a few things I've been up to lately.

Went to the Arkansas vs. Tulsa football game with Cara, Laura, and Jordan - basically 3 of my favorite people. The picture below was taken from our seats, which were right in the heart of the Tulsa section. I was a bit skeptical about these seats at first, but it ended up being a blast (probably because Arkansas won and we were able to act a fool in the middle of a bunch of angry people holding hurricane warning signs.) Thanks for the tickets Mr. Dean!

Our walk home from the game was beautiful. This was the peak weekend for fall color in Fayetteville, gorgeous!

Last Sunday, I attended a banquet in honor of the Indian holiday of Diwali.  Apparently it's a really big deal to Indian people. I have some Indian friends at work, so a bunch of us (as well as other non-Indian people I work with) went.  And we all wore Indian clothes.  My friend Brenda hooked me up with an awesome male Indian garment (it was actually Nepali, but no one noticed) that she just apparently had laying around.  Indian clothes are comfy, I could definitely get used to them.  The banquet was pretty sweet.  There was lots of Indian music and dancing, some funny clips of Bollywood movies and commercials, and basically the best Indian food I've ever eaten...it was seriously awesome.  The first picture is me with my friend Sharath, who works down the hall from me.

And this is Carmen and Payel, both of whom work in my lab.

The Grim Reality

Fair warning: This is a Debbie Downer post.

So last night I was aimlessly browsing facebook for a long time, and I randomly came across a facebook group dedicated to the death of one of my former students. I had no idea he had died.  He was actually one of my favorite students I've ever had- super nice, hardworking, genuinely interested. I could've definetly been friends with him. After some detective work (searching the archives of the newspaper in his hometown), I found out that back in July he lost control of his vehicle and ran off the road into some trees and was thrown out.

Sometimes I forget that people my age die.  Freak accidents happen.  Life is transient.  I suppose it's a good reminder, but it sucks that such a great human being is gone.

Anectdotes from Sunday School

One of my favorite things about hanging out with a group of 5-7 year olds is the funny things they say or do.  Here are some of my favorites from this morning:

Kid: "We went in a cave once and it was like 50 feet tall.  Mommy said that's about 13 daddies."

While they were coloring-

Me: So what are your favorite songs these days?

Kid #1: Hosanna!

Kid #2: (named another Christian song, I don't remember what it was)

Annoyed Kid #3: Do I have to say a Jesus song?

Me: Of course not!

Kid #3: Ok then, mine is Free Ride with Lightning McQueen. (I assume it's from the movie Cars)

At the beginning of the Bible lesson-

Me: Ok, let's pray. Dear God, thank you for letting us be here, and help us learn more about you. Amen.

Kid: Gee, that was short.

Sing to the moon.

I'm might be more overwhelmed right now than I ever have been.  Not by work, or life, or responsibilities....by music.  The pace at which I'm getting new music right now is much faster than the rate at which I can actually listen to it all.  I think it's safe to say that I'm probably getting on average about 4 or 5 new albums per week.  There are several reasons for this. 

1. The advent of Ruckus (and my subsequent knowledge of how to free my Ruckus songs from the oppression of the licenses they bear).

2. Mojo, a program that lets you browse the iTunes libraries of other computers on your network and download the songs to your computer.  This has made for some ravenous music sharing with the roomies.

3. Friends making mp3 cds for me.

4. New releases from some of my favorite bands.

That being said, here is a list of albums I have fallen in love with lately.  If you are cool, you will like these albums too.

-New Surrender by Anberlin

-The Sparrow and the Crow by William Fitzsimmons

-You are My Sunshine by Copeland

-For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver

-Conor Oberst (self-titled)

-For All This by The Early November

-and there are others but I'm writing this at the end of a long day of work and my mind is going blank.

What a wonderful thing to be overwhelmed by.

"...better dressed than any girl on her wedding day."

So I've been listening to Jon Foreman's (lead singer of Switchfoot) solo acoustic albums lately and they are way good.  He made four EP's, one for each season, and I thought I'd share one of my favorites from the Spring EP.  It's called "Your Love is Strong," and it's a modern take on the Lord's Prayer.  These are my favorite lyrics from the song:

I look out the window
The birds are composing
Not a note is out of tune
Or out of place

I walk to the meadow
And stare at the flowers
Better dressed than any girl
On her wedding day

So why should I worry?
Why do I freak out?
God knows what I need
You know what I need!

That is all. Hopefully I will start posting more often than I have been.

How to dress like a European, and smell like one too!

Hello? Is this thing on? There's like an inch of dust on this thing.

So I just got home from what I'm calling my annual "science camp." This year it was at the University of Toronto, and there were around 700 grad students and professors from my field from all over the world. I always get a kick out of how differently European men dress from Americans. In addition to being the annual science camp, these meetings also give me a fresh look at the new trends in European fashion. So without further ado, here is a list of must-do's to look uber cool and trendy (Euro-style).

-Of utmost importance is the capri pant (man-pris). It was like a floodgate of 3/4 length opened and I got caught in it.
-Of lesser, but very high importance is black socks. With sandals, shoes, any other desirable footwear.
-Extreme v-neck t-shirts...time to show some man-cleavage.
-Faux hawks. Nothing says "I'm european" like a huge spike down the middle of your head.
-A last rule of thumb for dressing like a european is the tighter the better.

Now you can all go and dress like european men. You're welcome.

Skies so blue, hearts so true.

Hello. It has been too long, here's what I've been up to.

-Finished writing my grant proposal. I was so excited to be done writing that I literally could not proofread it as closely as I should've - thus it got turned in with a handful of typos.

-A freakin awesome trip to Albany, NY. The highlights included hanging out with Dan alot, a legendary 24 hours in Montreal, hiking to a waterfall in the Catskills, hiking to the top of Black Mtn. in the Adirondacks (or the 'dacks as the locals call it), visiting Schenectady's finest cougar hotspot, and eating lots of Hormel products.

-Successfully defended my grant proposal! I'm now officially a Ph.D. candidate. Thanks to everyone who celebrated with me afterwards with El Camino Real and Habibi - it was a blast!

-Got selected to give a talk at the conference in Toronto that I'm going to in July. Holy crap I'm talking about my research in front of like 800 people. It's kind of a big deal.

-It's summer!

ps. There's a lab full of Chinese people downstairs and they are ALWAYS listening to country music. I don't know why, but it makes me laugh every time I hear it.

EDIT: I almost forgot! I decided that my all time favorite 80's pop songs are Oh Sheila by Ready For the World, Africa by Toto, and Take on Me by Aha.  At least these are my favorites at the moment.

and I just can't hide it....

I'm literally minutes away from taking my last final EVER. This brings great joy to my heart. I'm definitely as happy or happier than this guy.

Fleeting thoughts

Throughout my day, I have lots of little random (and I mean RANDOM) thoughts here and there that I usually don't think twice about. But when I do, I usually get a pretty good laugh at myself. In an attempt to enlighten you with what goes on in my head on a daily basis, I've been trying to remember and write down some of these random thoughts. Here are a few that I've been able to remember from the last few days. For comedic effect, I'm not going to include the context from which these thoughts arose.

-Is your hair really blue, or is my brain playing tricks on me?

-You look kinda gross with your fake-back tan and bleach blonde hair, but I really don't care right now.

-Maybe lightning is what happens when God takes pictures of us.

-You make me feel really awkward.

-Who the H cares if Shirley Temple broke her arm?
-I'm pretty sure you guys record the music for the Weather Channel.
-HOLY CRAP! ASIAN COWBOY!
-Your name totally means "face" in spanish.
-Is it bad that I want to kick that cat?
-I'm glad I'm so entertaining to myself. It's one of my favorite things about me.
-What if there was weed in this?
-I hope I never get attacked by a Komodo dragon.
-Note to self: do not traffic drugs for anyone when you travel. No matter how legit it seems.

Life update

So it has been 20 days since my last post. A lot has happened since then, here goes (not necessarily in chronological order):

-Two AWESOME bluegrass concerts.
-Spring!
-3 birthday cakes. Please stop, Brian. Or keep doing it...I'm really ok with either.
-One of the more enjoyable Saturdays of my life...farmer's market, good music, planting things, baseball game, sunshine, topped off by an awesome evening with bff's.
-Laptop conveniently needs repair when I need it the most.
-Momma raccoon in a cage on our roof, baby raccoons in our walls miss their momma dearly and scream. Alot. In the process of catching the babies - 1 down, 2 (we think) to go.
-First sunburn of the year. Feels so good.
-Finally found a great place for my GPS in my car.
-Ate goat meat and drank goat milk. Not at the same time. The meat was pretty decent, somewhere between lamb and beef, the milk had a weird twang to it.
-Watched the ncaa championship, and by watched I mean sat on Weston's patio and smoked cigars and drank margaritas during the game and went inside for overtime. Fantastic.
-My hair is the longest it's been in quite a while. So far I'm liking it, but I do miss the buzz.

Definitely not an exhaustive list, but that's most of the high points.

Cultural awareness: so hot right now.

I had a very culturally diverse weekend. On Saturday, Brian and I visited three different international food stores. First stop: Betty Jo Corner gas station on Wedington which has a small selection of Middle Eastern groceries. I bought some Arabian cheese (really good!) and some hummus. Next stop: Mexico Aqui Tienda (also on Wedington). I bought a couple of Coca-Cola (hecho in Mexico) in glass bottles and made with real sugar....muy delicioso! Last stop: Oriental market/Philpino restaurant which was next door to the tienda. I bought some cassava chips and coconut milk.

Later that night, Brian, Cara, Laura, and I went to an Indian restaurant in Rogers for dinner. It was pretty good! They had a buffet so we got to try a few different dishes.

To top the cultural weekend off, we watched a movie called Kite Runner last night. It is filmed mostly in Afghanistan and most of the dialog is in Arabic. It was pretty good, I recommend it.

Friday: Weirdos and Withdrawals

Is anyone else concerned/annoyed that it is 30 degrees colder today than yesterday? I am.

I walked to the union for lunch today and the crazies are out, folks. Here is a sampling of just a few of them:
-Guy/girl with green hair juggling by RZ's

-Crowd of medieval enthusiasts by juggler with green hair.

-Some sort of international fair thing between union and library - the international people weren't weird, but the non-international people there were.

-There was a table of hippies with a sign for peace or something at the international fair. That wasn't too weird (it is Fayetteville, after all) but the punk girl with plaid skirt roller skating around the table was.

Yay for diversity!


In a completely unrelated story, I stopped taking zyrtec a week or two ago after taking it pretty solid for several years for allergies. I don't like being on medication long term and it didn't seem that necessary anymore. I noticed that my skin has been really itchy the past few days but I couldn't figure out why. The only thing I could think of that was different was that I wasn't taking zyrtec anymore. So I googled it (as I do) and sure enough, I'm having "zyrtec withdrawals." It's not listed in any of the side effects or in any professional literature, but lots of people are realizing that it's a real thing. Apparently when some people stop taking zyrtec after extended periods it can cause them to have really sensitive and itchy skin. It can be really severe, mine's not though (thankfully). So just fyi, if you are considering zyrtec as your allergy medication of choice (especially now that it's over the counter) you might want to rethink. Class-action lawsuit, anyone? Jk Jk.

Psalm 30

1 I will exalt you, O LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.

2 O LORD my God, I called to you for help
and you healed me.

3 O LORD, you brought me up from the grave;
you spared me from going down into the pit.

4 Sing to the LORD, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.

5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.

6 When I felt secure, I said,
"I will never be shaken."

7 O LORD, when you favored me,
you made my mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.

8 To you, O LORD, I called;
to the Lord I cried for mercy:

9 "What gain is there in my destruction,
in my going down into the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?

10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me;
O LORD, be my help."

11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

World's Youngest Hey Jude

The whole L pronunciation probrem apparentry happens at a very young age.

Sleepless in Fayetteville

I'm having trouble sleeping, so I thought I'd blog. Just so you know, I have no idea where this post is going so don't be surprised if it doesn't make any sense.

I'm thankful for people who have talked me through things lately. I've realized in the last few months that I think through problems/issues best when I can bounce my ideas off people instead of trying to figure it all out in my head. I'm amazed at how God has been continually providing ears for this purpose recently, and in places I didn't necessarily expect to find them.

I inherited two fish earlier tonight. My buddy Dan is moving (river of tears) to New York and can't take them with him, so I volunteered to be the godfather. It'll be a nice memento to have when he's gone. I hope they don't die.

There's real therapeutic value in music for me I think. I pretty much have music for any possible emotion (at least the male spectrum of emotions), and when my soul can identify with a song it can be really comforting.

Speaking of emotions, I feel like I'm alot more emotional the older I get. I haven't quite figured out the reason for this, but I have some ideas. Maybe I'm more comfortable with who I am that I'm not afraid to be vulnerable. Maybe my world view is changing and it's not all about me anymore. Maybe my life sucks more now than before (I'm 100% positive that this ISN'T the case). I feel like I've been teary-eyed and/or cried more in the past 6 months or so than I have my whole life. And it's been a variety of reasons such as crying to God in prayer, sad movies, saying goodbye. I'm really thankful I'm surrounded by people that I feel comfortable crying with.

I'm gonna try this whole sleeping thing again. Goodnight.

Clarity

The last few weeks have allowed me to spend some quality time with some of my closest friends. Some of which live here, some visiting from exotic places such as Tennessee and Mississippi. I'm kinda prone to becoming delusional in my spiritual view of things (I know that is vague), but something about being around my best friends brings tremendous clarity to all my delusions. Whether it be dumping all my sinful baggage on someone, laughing at inside jokes from back in the day, wrestling with God together about injustice in the world, or just riding in the car listening to music and being silent, the Lord blesses me from just being in their presence.

If you've never read Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, I recommend it (and I hate to read). I really like the image he presents at the beginning of the book about his spiritual journey. He is walking down a long dirt road and he can barely see God as a tiny speck way off in the distance. As his journey progresses he can see God getting closer and closer. I'm so thankful for the people in my life who help me see God more clearly. He is coming into view on my dirt road.

Those crazy Sunday school kids...

I forgot to write this in my post yesterday. Here is the funny Sunday school story of the week: The kids were coloring pictures of baby Jesus, and then they started coming up with names for their baby Jesus. Most of them were just silly kid names, but then Max (the youngest kid in the class) says "Mine's name is Lord." He said it so matter-of-factly as if to say "try topping that, fools." The kids stopped coming up with names after that, and I laughed real hard. Way to go, Max.