I had hoped to get these posted on the actual day of packing, which was Wednesday. But well, better late than never, right?

The first order of business that day was making sure my car was cleaned out of all goodies (i.e. the stuff from my office at school and CDs) so that it could be hauled away on a car carrier.

As they drove it onto the carrier, I couldn't help thinking "good thing they are professionals and have lots of practice at this."

Finally, they got it into position.

We didn't hang around to watch them secure it or put the other car back on. Instead, we went back to breakfast and preparing for the packers to arrive.

It was strange seeing each room transformed during the day. But it was quite a relief to not be the one doing the transforming.

The guest bedroom was probably one of the most dramatic differences that could be captured in a photo.

I got to my picture taking a bit later than I'd intended, so the main mover/packer had already started on the kitchen. But you can still see the difference between the 'during' and 'after.'

Oh! And since the pic is wee little, you might not have noticed it, but I made sure that the important stuff got packed last.

Had to have tea and chocolate chunk cookies at lunchtime, you know.

I took a bunch of pictures of the living/dining room. I guess because that is the part of the house where I hang out the most, so it seemed particularly strange to see it get dismantled. And that is where a lot of our breakables/collectibles are located.

Notice how the Girlie-girl is in most of the pics.

it just looks so barren to me!

And this final pic, was my attempt to capture an artistic interpretation of moving day.

In addition it is the angle out the bay window that I saw from the couch for about 4 and a half years (minus the moving truck, of course).

I took all pics with Dee-Dee.

Posted by danielle at 03:29 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Just a note to let everyone know that I'm plugging along, HB is driving along with the Girlie-girl. AND the BIG NEWS is that she hasn't gotten sick YET! This has never happened before!

I think that buying a dog crate for her, the size for beagles, because she is waaaaaaaaay bigger than a dachshund, did the trick. It is all wires and is very open. Unlike the carriers that are pretty much solid plastic walls with small openings. Even if it does take up 2/3 of HB's back seat, not having her get sick is so worth the loss in space.

We put one of her favorite cushions from a footstool in the crate, and covered it with a towel (just in case). And HB tells me that she pretty much lays on it constantly and is doing her version of sleeping.

So, that is very reassuring.

I have pics of the packing and other stuff that I figured I would post, but well, I've been migrainey a lot this week, so most of my non-working time has been taken up getting things set aside/packed or sleeping/resting or at least not looking at the computer screen.

more later. um, not sure when. just later.

Updated to add:

a MAP! of HB's trip. I lurve maps. The more detail the better.

FYI for the geekoids out there, that would be 1375 miles give or take 10 miles.

Posted by danielle at 09:44 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I am feeling better now.

This morning, I was very teary, and got all weepy over everyone's kind comments. I really couldn't gather the emotional strength to respond, but I want each of you to know that it helped me to know that you are all out there, rooting for me.

Several good things happened today.

1. I finally got a spare moment to finalize details with Lola (not her real name, but her chosen online name) about staying with her.

2. I called my future advisor/boss about changing the timeline of my start date with her, and she was completely understanding and kind about it. I'd heard from many people that almost 100% of the time, people in our field try to speculate on when they will complete their degree, line up a post-doc for one date, and then end up delaying it by months. But hearing about it being common, and doing it myself are 2 different things. So, I was glad that she was so very understanding and nice about it. No big deal after all. *whew*

3. My results. Well, the one thing that I've busted my butt on lately which was kind of my back-up to the chemical thing not working out is indeed panning out. Yes!

However.

4. I did _not_ get nice clean cut results on the second try with the synthetic chemical. *sigh* This could be due to several reasons, that I'm not going to go into here. The key thing to understand is that 3 months ago we'd relegated a certain type of experiment to the category of "impossible to do, with the compound not working consistently." So I planned accordingly (on finishing sooner).

Then with it looking like it might work a couple of weeks ago, that experiment got shoved into the "WOW! Now we can do that experiment we'd been wanting to do" category. But too bad that means I'll have to stay around an extra set of weeks to do it.

Now, we are back to the "impossible to do for my thesis work, maybe someday the people remaining in the lab will be able to follow this up."

So, while it is extremely frustrating that it didn't work (although, like I said, we have some guesses about why that is), in a way, it may make my life easier in the end. Oh, and I'll be trying it One Last Time, taking into account what we think may be playing a role.

5. HB IS HOME and I AM TOO!

Need I say more?

Didn't think so.

cya later, alligators. ;-)

Posted by danielle at 08:57 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

No Flowers today. I'm just far too tired to deal with looking through pics, resizing them, dealing with them, etc.

General update of sorts though is that HB comes home tomorrow! Yay!

Ce-le-brate good times, come on!

The movers come on Wednesday to Pack. Thursday to Load.
They take my car Wednesday morning.

Thursday night/Friday morning will be the last that I see HB or the Girlie until I can join them in Mnnpls.

Yes, I am staying behind to finish my experiments, and in the process, I will be missing the joy of travelling with our poor car-sick Girlie, the joy of closing, of getting to see our new house when it is really Newly OUR HOUSE.

So, everything is kind of bittersweet right now. Well, maybe not bitterSWEET. Maybe just kind of foul tasting.

*sigh*

I am so dreading these next weeks. We have endured SEVEN MONTHS now.
February, March, April, May, June, July, and now August. Yep, that's 7 alright.

And I am just really, really ready for this being apart thing to be over. That the delay is because of crappy experiment delays and problems, just makes it that much more wretched. And those of you who know the whole saga of my thesis work, know just what kind of delays I'm talking about. For those of you who don't, let's just say that this whole crappy lot of chemical is just a drop in the bucket of the SHIT I've put up with in trying to do my experiments.

*grumble grumble*

I had such hopes of being done by now.

Add on top of it that this is the last that I will be in this part of the country, and I have friends I am leaving, and well, it is almost overwhelming.

*pausing*

This is depressing. Do I post it?

Well, sometimes the uglies just cannot be kept away.

Um, I'm sure I'll be in a better mood later. And when I am, I'll post something new.

Posted by danielle at 09:21 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

artistic looking, no?

This would be what happens when the person who normally does the cooking around the house is gone. Said missing person probably made a mental note to himself to remember that the spaghetti box was open on one end. However, said person forgot to send that helpful mental note via ESP to the spouse who normally doesn't have to cook, but must now fend for herself on a daily basis or eat peanut butter and jelly every night.

Not that peanut butter and jelly isn't good almost every night. But said fend-for-herself spouse prefers to eat peanut butter and jelly at the most every other night.

Thus the tired fend-for-herself spouse who normally doesn't cook, and who struggles with functioning synapses at the end of a work day, had no chance against the booby trap that was lying in wait in the cupboard for her (or is that laying in wait? who knows. then again who cares.) Said fend-for-herself spouse was depending upon the idea that boxes of various items which have been previously opened would be Taped Shut before being stored away so as to avoid messy messes which take Time to clean up.

2nd example of said Messy Mess

By the way, that would be the science part of the brain of fend-for-herself spouse who likes everything nicely labeled and taped shut, preferably with brightly colored time tape, and nice printing with an ultra-fine sharpie. But around the home, happily settles for clear tape and whatever writing utensil can be found in the junk drawer, if any can be found at all.

Tangent:
Why don't office places sell cool colored tape like they do for laboratory supplies? or maybe they do and I just don't know it?
hmmmmm
odd.
The colored tape is much more F.U.N. AND is a Terrific substitute bandage in a pinch, as Jenski shared with me back in the day when she worked in a neighboring lab. Not that Jenski or I would know anything about using tape over wounds, oh no, not us, we are the never-clumsy-lab-chickys we are.
*smirk*
End tangent

"OH! But WHY end the tangents!" they cheer.

"More Tangents!"

ah, well, since you asked....

On another note (i.e. tangent), why is it that when one's back is turned for just an infinitesimal moment to set the table or do something silly like, say, get a drink of water, the boiling spaghetti starts looking like this

"EEK! Pick it up! Quick! Before it boils over!"

*whew* just in time

*turns setting on burner down.*

Then the next thing you know, your pot of pasta looks like this.

yyyyyyyyyyyyeah. That would be, um, too far down.

*sigh*

We want it like this, please.

"Ahhhhhhh, just right."

Tangent:
Does that last sequence of pics remind anyone else of Goldilocks?

Recall something along the lines of "The first bowl of porridge was tooooooooo hot.

The second one was toooooo cold.

But the last one? Oh, the last one was juuuuuuuuuuuuust right."

End tangent

End of cooking story. Back to peanut butter and jelly.

;-)

- The End -

Posted by danielle at 09:40 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

Texas Sister took this photo.

She says that it was a bit of a fluke that it turned out so well, but I think she has a bit of an "eye" about her too.

I love it for the beauty of the horns on the longhorn cow (yes, it is female, cause that is her calf). The horns are like works of art, all by themselves.

But then there are so many things about this photo that are beautiful. I love the freckling on the longhorn's nose, her direct stare at us, the way she is protectively standing over her calf, how her calf's face is so brilliantly white and is offset by the lighter brown patches, the calf's white eyelashes, and the calf's teeny baby horns.

And then there is the beatiful setting. The parallel lines of the sky, the hills, the fence, the road.

And the break in the parallel lines with the tree on the right. How all of the small scrub bushes and trees in the distance create perspective.

The fact that the blue sky offsets the green of the hills and the reddish brown of their hide.

Just gorgeous.

I meant to post this for my Dad's birthday, because I know he really loves this photo of my sister's. But with one thing and another, well, I didn't get it done.

But it has been on my mind today.

I thought we all needed some pretty animals for a while. Don't you think?

Here are more that my seestor took.

A close-up of the calf.

I love the star shape of the calf's hair.

Wait! Is that a cowlick?!

And, didn't we try to mimic that shape with our bangs in the 80's? You know, the curls that spray out from a central point?

Maybe that was just popular at my school.

The white is so white! Must be using oxyclean to keep that hair white. I hear it works wonders. ;-)

This one, to me, looks like someone was doing watercolors and was trying different splotch colors.

"Um, let's do a dark one!"

"No, maybe a bit lighter."

"How about somewhere in between."

The brindling on this one is really striking. This also reminds me of Closet Metro's dog Jack, who is also brindled.

Who knew that longhorns could be these colors?

All photos were taken by Texas Sister. I have no idea what type of digital camera she owns. ;-)

Posted by danielle at 10:32 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack

I wasn't going to post any Flowers for Friday this week. I basically came home tonight drained of creative thought.

I haven't quite figured it out but certain blogs, like Honestyrain's lead me to come up with outrageous (for me) comments. For some reason, I feel funnier when I make comments on her blog. Of course, the disadvantage of this whole blog-thing is that it is hard to know if anyone is laughing with you (or at you, for that matter). So, maybe I just feel funnier to myself. But that's okay. At least I make ME smile with my comments!

Where was I? Oh yes. Sidetracked again. Sorry, I think I'm secretely avoiding having to get up and prep the house one more time for yet another showing tomorrow. *sigh*

Occasionally, Ladybug's &/or Squirl's blogs inspire me to make outrageous comments too. I don't know why. Haven't quite figured out what it is about Honestyrain's in particular that does this to me.

odd.

So, after reading Honestyrain's latest post and coming up with yet another long complicated comment, I thought that surely

"Did you just call me Shirley?"

So, I looked through my Texas Flowers folder of pics, which at this point, is kind of like my ol' standby for flower pics when I haven't taken any lately, and lo and behold! I found this.

It seemed particularly appropriate this week, with the stuff that Ladybug is dealing with and all.

I think of it as light in the darkness.

It may look familiar, in that it is very similar to the one I posted on the Saturday before Easter. But if you click on that link, you can see the difference between that one and this one.

This One is pink with yellow and not white with yellow.

Proof! that my eyes still function very nicely this late at night, really they do.

I just have to prop them open with toothpicks is all.

;-)

So, Ladybug, dearie, this one is for you.

This pic was taken in the Spring of 2003 with Tweedle-Dum (the Sony Cybershot DSC-P71). I haven't adjusted anything in photoshop, except to crop the pic. Oh and to burn a leaf that was yellow so that it wouldn't be distracting.

Posted by danielle at 01:01 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Yesterday, there was a Moon Festival in Chinatown in Boston.

I didn't go to it, because I needed to work in the lab for 7 hours, and I had tried to maximize the amount of time I got to spend with HB before he headed off for Mnnpls again. In other words, I went in late and had to get crackin' to work.

However! I did spot this as I was walking down the street.

Those guys are on stilts! And instead of using their hands for balance, they are using their hands to hold up the dragon heads. They made the heads move around (hence the almost not noticeable, slightly out of focus effect).

This was all accompanied by really loud percussion.

There they go.

I took all pics yesterday with Dee Dee.

Posted by danielle at 08:50 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

I've been waiting for the right time to post this pic ever since I took it during my trip to Indiana 6 weeks ago.

And By Golly THIS is the TIME!

I am SUPER excited, because I just got some of the absolute B.E.S.T. and MOST FANTABULOUS data that I've collected the entire SIX years I've been working on my Ph.D.!!!!!!

I can't use enough caps, exclamation marks or words of excitement to convey Just How Thrilled I was today. (which was yesterday if you read this on Friday)

!!! EEEK !!!

I sat and stared in shock.

I did the happy dance.

I clapped.

I jumped up and down. Perhaps that is redundant, because my 'work' version of the happy dance is not the same as my 'home' version and mostly involves just a bit of very light jumping/bouncing on my feet.

I smiled really really big.

And I altered my experiment plans for tomorrow so that I can repeat this T-riffic result.

When I got home, I hugged HB and squealed
"Good data! Good data! Good data!"
(of course, he'd already heard the semi-complete version on the phone earlier)
Then I told him that we needed to break out the champagne!
(not really, cause I don't drink, and he knows that)

Wait! Ice cream! A perfect way to celebrate!
Um, rain check on the ice cream though, it is getting kinda late in the evening to be eating ice cream.

This weekend, I will DEFINITELY be partaking of either Cold Stone Creamery's chocolate ice cream with peanut butter sauce or Peaceful Meadows' chocolate ice cream with homemade peanut butter sauce.

Cause This Moment can only be adequately celebrated by partaking of chocolatey goodness combined with peanut butter heaven.

THESE are the moments, my friends, that can be

so

very

few

and

far

betweeen,

that get me out of bed at 3:15 a.m. or keep me working for 14 hours straight.

THIS is what makes it alllllllllllllllll worth it.

YAY!

Oh, flowers, right?

Don't mind me, I was just distracted. Residual shock, you know.

Here is the big size of the one above. It will take forever and a day to load, but I think it may be the best photo I've taken yet.

These flowers belong on this plant.

It is a yucca.

I did once see a really really big version of this plant when we were in Texas. Lesseee if I can find that photo.

Well, the only copy I seem to have is the one with my mom next to it, so, here is the one with her cropped out of it.

Oh, wait, here's the huge one!

It just wasn't blooming, but you can actually see the leaves on it, instead of just the flowering stalk at the top. We did talk amongst ourselves about how impressive it would be when it finally bloomed.

Those were all taken with Tweedle Dum, even the really good one at the top. Not too shabby for the lil' ol' Sony Cybershot DSC-P71, eh?

Posted by danielle at 01:01 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

This evening, as I was bringing the trash can and recycling bin from the curb of our street back under the porch, I saw a dragonfly on our rose bush!

I stood there for a moment just appreciating how neat he looked, because I assumed that if I tried to go inside and get Dee Dee, that he'd fly away in the meantime.

But after standing there a minute or two, I decided to try to go in the house to get her, just in case he was willing to hang out and not be distracted by my movements. So, I walked away really slowly, grabbed Dee Dee, got the automatic settings all ready to go in case he decided to fly off as I approaced. I also kept my fingers crossed that my lens wasn't going to steam up from the temperature differential between our (air-conditioned) house and outside (which has happened to me recently), and then walked back around the side of the house even more slowly.

And lo' and behold! He was still there! I snapped a few pics on that automatic setting, then took a risk at changing the settings to the aperture priority setting that I prefer for this kind of photography.

Well, he didn't seem to mind that I was moving my hands around as I flipped the camera from one setting to another. And the various clicking sounds didn't seem to scare him off. So I took some more shots, edged in closer, took some more. Got closer, took some more. I also shifted my position, leaned against the bump out, and held my breath to try to improve the focus/jiggling aspect of the images.

Finally, he lost his patience with me and buzzed over to the asphalt tiles of our bump out.

Silly thing! You blend in on that. Don't go there!

Poop.

So, I grabbed a stick-like piece of mulch and tried to swoosh him, uh, encourage him to go, onto the stick. He was actually pretty brave as I scooched the stick close to him and not until I touched him with the stick did he fly over to the evergreen bush.

Perfect! Much better constrast on the evergreen.

I took a gazillion pics of him on the evergreen, but I'm limiting the ones in my post to just this one. There are 2 others in the slideshow on Flickr (link at the end).

After a while, he got fed up with me again, and flew waaaaaaaaaaaaay up on the house on the tiles. Just as I was debating about going up the porch steps to get closer to him, he flew off.

So, I meandered around taking pics of some of the annuals and worked my way to the front of the house.

And you'll never believe this.

Just as I was standing there looking at the annuals in the pots at the front of the house trying to decide if anything was photo worthy,
the dragonfly comes buzzing around the house,
lands on the wrought iron holder of the flowers I'm examining,
and looks. straight. at. me.

!

Unbelievable!

It felt like Girlie-girl with the camera "Oh! You've got the camera out again! You MUST want to take pictures of me! Here's my good side."

Never in my wildest imaginings did I envision a dragonfly as a camera hog.

Click here for a full sized view of that one. This one is my favorite I think. Well, it is a toss-up between the one above on the evergreen and this one. I like them both. I just hope that they still look good tomorrow when I check them out on my monitor at school.

Again, after taking oh, about 20-30 pics from different angles, I decided to see if I could actually pic ;-)
him up on my finger. get it? yeah, just call me punny.

Well, he tolerated me touching the wrought iron underneath him, but not actually touching him.

It was kinda tough holding the camera with one hand and using my 'focusing hand' to reach out toward him. But I like this photo for the size contrast. The one where my fingers are touching the wrought iron, shows off my ripped up nails and cuticles, and well, I share lots of stuff with y'all, but some things, you just don't need to see.

As you might imagine, I scared him off reaching out to him, but he didn't go far. He just flew down to the metal sculpture that you've seen before.

And here is the link for the full size version of that one.

All in all, it was really a fun photo opportunity for me. This is the first time where I've really set out to capture photos of a flying insect.

Tangent: When I say the phrase 'flying insect' I realize that this post could potentially weird-out one of my best blogging friends, Ladybug. Um... sorry, hope it isn't too bad for you, dearie. Twasn't intentional. ;-)

Anyway, as I was saying, I'm just using the kit lens on Dee Dee, which isn't really intended for super-close-up photography. But I'm pretty dang pleased with the results all the same.

And here is the
slideshow of 8 of the dragonfly photos.

I took all pics today with Dee Dee, my Nikon D70.

Posted by danielle at 08:08 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack