Happy Halloween!

Not a particularly informative post, but hey!  I feel like celebrating!!  We've got trick-or-treaters for the first time since....well...many years.  We never had any out in Crozet (including before hubby and I moved in together) so I was tickled!  Lots of cute kids, hilarious costumes and even football players.  Not much more to say, so here are some pictures -

Boo!

Our doorway with decorations....well, pumpkins and a ghost.  We didn't exactly go wild, but at least made clear we had candy.

Uh, my treat.  Being an adult has its perks, including having a beer with one's chocolate.

Waste not want not!  Pumpkin seeds roasting.

Now back to being a grad student and reading papers.  Hope everybody had a fun Halloween!

Where have I been?

Obviously not on the blog.

I'm sorry dear readers.  Sincerely sorry, but sometimes it's hard to figure out what to say.  I'm not going to harp on an on about my lengthy absence, but instead move forward and hopefully make up for it in posts!

Sooo...what brings about the sudden return?  Other than the massive guilt trips?? (you know who you are....)  How about some down time due to "snowpocalypse" hitting the east coast?  Yes, even though I'm plenty far from the coast, the mountains of Virginia are getting a nice dusting of snow courtesy of H. Sandy.  It's not that bad in my immediate area largely due to the fact it's been balmy up until two days ago and what is hitting the ground is melting.  We'll see what happens tonight when the temp dips further!

In the interest of brevity (and keeping this from turning into a novel) here's what's been going on since we last chatted:

1. Spring semester ends with a...bang?  My dad had a major health scare, prompting me to head north to smack him upside his head in person for scaring me, but in the midst of my finals.  My professors were incredibly understanding and let me post-pone my assignments and exams.  My dad stabilized and was discharged from the hospital and I headed back.  That meant that after a week of brain-melting anxiety I was stuck tackling grant writing/papers/finals....it was painful, my profs were patient, and we all survived.  THANK GOD it's over.  My dad has totally recovered and is doing GREAT!  Moving on...

2. We buy a house.   Immediately after finishing my makeup finals hubby and I dove into the exciting realm of home ownership.  That's really a story for another post, but it's a great place that didn't need any significant work to be totally livable, but has tons of potential for upgrades/updates.  Perfect kind of investment place for two people who have limited resources but lots of tools and know-how (well, at least hubby has the know-how.  I know how to hand him tools.  Many years of training with my father :-) Huge yard, lots of light, much more space.  All the furries are happy as are we!

3. We move out of the appartment and storage unit into the new house, then turn around and drive to Michigan again.   Yeah, not my best idea, I'll admit.  We spent 10 crazy days traveling, helping my dad catch up on stuff that his health had kept him from, had lots of emotional time with family at the memorial for my uncle who passed away, spent quality time with my two nephews, dealt with a 90* heat wave with no A/C, dealt with Haley getting a staph infection due to heat then throwing up in the truck due to meds on the way home, staying in the SKETCHIEST hotel and deciding leaving at 5am was better than catching something from the room, and finding out that Va got hit with a crazy-ass wind storm (a derecho) while we were gone and our house/cat sitter found the doors of our new house blown wide open for who knows how long (nothing was taken, neither cat ran away).
Whew!  Makes me exhausted just to type it all.  As for the move itself, we were prepared, we were organized, and we had some awesome friends to help us so it went as smoothly as we could ask.  Except for Haley discovering a bunny nest in the front yard, eating a baby bunny, then regurgitating it onto the linoleum of our new kitchen.  In front of our friends.  Ah, pets.


Bed is calling, and with the crazy weather I think I'm fighting something off, so this is TO BE CONTINUED SOON.  I promise!

A post in pictures

I've managed to accumulate some pics, and thought I'd do a post using the pics as update prompts!

April showers bring....Well, technically that's a late March shower, as viewed from the front step of the apartment.  We've had an up and down spring so far, with some pretty good thunderstorms rolling through.  During house hunting drama we had an entire weekend of rain, then back to cool days and frosty nights, but now were back to sun and heat!

Warm weather earlier in March along with rains brought on spring blooms in a HUGE way around here.  Can't deny it, Blacksburg is BEAUTIFUL in spring!!

(This is right outside my lab building :-)

We're well beyond cherry blossoms and daffodils now.  The trees are really starting to leaf out - you can watch the line of green creeping up the side of the mountains just outside of town.  It's pretty cool, and something I always loved to watch happen on the Blue Ridge back in Crozet.

With the return of warm weather the last two days (as in 80* +  weather) another spring tradition played out:

"The Great Hair Removal Day"

The pictures never do it justice!  Especially on the pups...although the most dramatic effect on them

is a tactile one.  Before clipping, petting them is just like petting a soft, fluffy dog (duh...metaphor fail).  After clipping, petting them is like rubbing a marine's head!  They've been nicknamed the "crew-cut pups" post-clipping.  Both are very happy and were extra-romping on our walk this evening.  Haley has gotten so used to the clipping that she just lays down in the grass now, and I have to drag her around to do each side.  If anyone else has read the Hunger Games (or seen the movie) then you'll know what I mean when I say I feel like her personal prep-team!  Zack is nervous about it like he's nervous about car rides and baths - thinks he's going to die the entire time then is jumping out of his skin with happiness when he realizes he survived.  Sammy took his butchering in stride...not exactly thrilled, but not caring much either as long as we still pet him.  His Pop-eye forearms always crack me up!

And finally, we've got some help on the home front:

Meet the "Happy Home Buddha".  He was sent to me by my wonderful Godmother to "help us find a happy home."  How sweet is that??  It's also a bit hilarious due to the nature of my relationship with my Godmother.  Her purpose as godmother, according to my parents, was to instill in me a love of Sugar Island (the island I grew up on) and....to teach me to drink beer.  I think I'm remembering that second one right.  Yeah, my family isn't so big on religion or spirituality.  Definitely big on family parties and beer.  (Side note- It's no wonder I married a home-brewing man, and that my family loves him!)

 So it tickled my funnybone that at the age of 31, I am receiving the first spiritual guidance from my Godmother in the form of a garage-sale lucky buddha statue.  This is why I love her!!  And to give her full credit, she also listened to me rant for at least 1hr about the house hunting drama explained in the last post.  

Maybe she actually is part saint!!

More updates soon :-)

Yes, still alive

But not exactly happy.

I've dropped off the blogosphere once again, but house shopping had a lot to do with it.  As in, any free time I had on my computer was devoted to searching Trulia, Zillow, MLS, for sale by owner....you get the idea.

I won't bore you with the unexciting process of identifying a house, but the punch line is hubby and I found a great place!  A 2bed, 2 bath modern-ish, efficient green house!  That we can afford!  That we can bike to work from!!  It's actually an earth-bermed home, meaning it's built into a hillside.  Imagine a house with a full walk-out basement, then chop off the top floor and make the front of the house 1/5 stories tall with floor to ceiling windows.  Nice, eh?

Decision made, we made and offer, came to a reasonable agreement, got a ratified contract and applied for a loan.  So far, so good!

Until the "unique" house didn't qualify for the loan.

Seriously, not me and hubby - we're super qualified.  The house didn't qualify, because being so different, it was impossible to find similar comparable properties to determine an accurate market appraisal.  There are specific guidelines laid out by Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac about comparables/appraisal stuff, and if the house doesn't meet them, then you basically can't get any USDA, FHA, etc. mortgage.  There may be other loan types that could still work, but they are way more expensive (as in, like 1.5% higher interest rate).

So we had to cancel the contract today.

We're starting the hunt again and not giving up, but I'm starting to feel like karma is catching up with me.  I've been so lucky with finding nice, unique, affordable places to rent with great landlords.  It's like payback now that we can't manage to snag a nice, unique, affordable place to buy.  Ugh.  I'm totally depressed about it - this place was by far the coolest we'd found.  I honestly don't feel like looking for some place else, but the cramped apartment living is pretty good motivation.

This probably isn't the most exciting update, but I thought you guys deserved something. Off to bed so I'll be bright-eyed for 8am class tomorrow.

And another reason to stay active...

Wow. It was recently discovered that exercise changes gene expression in muscles:

http://www.nature.com/news/a-trip-to-the-gym-alters-dna-1.10176

Summary is that the more we exercise, the more metabolism-boosting genes get expressed.

It's just remarkable how we keep finding more evidence of how our environment and behavior can alter something as fundamental as our DNA.  In some cases those changes can actually be passed to offspring!  I'm talking about epigenetic inheritance, or the phenomenon of inheriting gene expression patterns that are defined beyond the the actual sequence of the DNA.  Bear with me while I attempt to explain this for my non-sciencey readers: a child inherits two copies of a single gene, lets say a gene for eye color.  One copy is from mom, the other copy from dad.  The two copies, if sequenced in a lab, have the exact same code, say for brown eye color.  So one would assume this kid would have brown eyes.  BUT for some environmental reason, dad's copy of the brown eye gene is actually turned off by epigenetic modifications.  That's a big fancy word for basically scrunching up the DNA so tightly that it never gets transcribed into RNA or translated into protein.  silent gene = no protein = no eye color from dad's gene.  So our hypothetical child might not have brown eyes (maybe hazel), even tho he/she inherited two genes for brown eyes.

Before someone blasts me for scientific inaccuracy, I know this is a gross over generalization and I honestly don't know how eye color is inherited - I just used that as an easy-to-visualize example.

But seriously - how cool is that?!??  We actually have some control over how our genes behave.  Now I just need to figure out how to turn off my chocolate-craving genes....

And we have our first fail....

Ok, so I'm a bit back-logged on posts.

So what is the glamorous life of a grad student in March?  Using spring break week as a chance to catch up on lab loose ends while there aren't any classes to mess up the day!  Weeee!

Did a quick visit to C'ville to catch up with friends this past weekend - it was wonderful to see folks and catch up, particularly because two of them are expecting.  It was a talk and food filled weekend, with some beautiful weather on Saturday.  The maples are budding out, crocuses and daffodils in full bloom...oh yes, and hubby snuffling with allergies.  Ah, spring!

Then we came back to Blacksburg:

The weather has been so spastic!  Freezing cold with snow, and 48hrs later it's going to be 63*.  I know it normally bounces around in the spring, but this seems pretty extreme.  I know it's hard on Dax.  She started shedding a few weeks ago, but we've had two bouts of cold snowy weather interspersed with 70* since then.  The good part about her new barn is that she's got lots more shelter and shade options than the previous one.  That combined with quality hay means she's as well equipped as possible to handle the crazy weather, short of putting her in and out of a stall (although she actually has access to one of those too!).

Not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on at the moment, except that....drum roll please...

WE'RE HOUSE SHOPPING AGAIN!!  AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Brace yourselves!

The Vicious cycle

I'd like to wax philosophical for a moment about how frustrating the cyclical nature of stress/exercise/mood is.

I should probably establish that I always feel best when I've done something physical - I know that sounds desperately cheesy, but even hubby notices it - whether it be a long hike, a bike ride, a horse ride, exercise class, whatever, I'm always happy when I get home.  I know it's not rocket science.  Runner's high, whatever you call it, the body-wide and mood altering effects of exercise are WELL documented.

The problem arises when I get busy.  Busy = less time to play.  Oh, and less time to exercise.  However, busy also = stress.  If life were fair at all, stress would = desire to go jogging, because that's what I really need.  That's what would help me sleep better, maintain my focus in class better, have more energy to better make it through long days.  Yeah, if life were fair.

But it's not.  So for me....

Stress = CHOCOLATE
Stress = LAY ON THE COUCH
Stress = ORDER PIZZA
Stress = WANTS FOOT MASSAGES

Why is that??!?  Why is it that the thing (exercise) that would actually help me relieve stress the most is the thing I least want to do??  How does this make any biological sense?!?!

WHY ARE WE WIRED SO BASSACKWARDS???

*sigh*

On an entirely different note, here are photos of Cato finally.  You can see she's not bald, so no worries that she's freezing.

She always balls up like that!  Even when she had all her hair! 

We also go LOTS of snow out of the storm that hit yesterday - it was beeeee-utiful! (I was born in Michigan - love of snow is in my DNA).  It was also the perfect kind of snow b/c even though we got over 8 inches, it's been so warm that once the plows went through, the roads melted in no time!  Being a student, you might think I would be hoping for a snow day out of a storm like that, but I'm too familiar with the academic system.  Big universities will only shut down for the worst of the worst...it's too costly and difficult to shut down an entire 30,000+ machine for some measly 8" of snow.  Doesn't mean I don't enjoy it any less!  Will try to get some pics of the snow up soon.

2012 Goals

This is kind of funny.

The only goal I've been able to come up without thinking too hard is to blog at least once a week.  Ha!  Well, part of the purpose of this post is to get me thinking a bit more carefully about this upcoming year, and about things I want to accomplish.  Perhaps having some discrete goals will snap me out of the mild funk I've been in since December.   So here goes (not in any particular order):

1. Post once a week on the blog, even if I don't have any major epiphanies to share...I can always come up with a funny animal picture :-)

2. Continue piano lessons to the point that I can play an entire Tori Amos OR Sarah McLachlan song.

3. Wow my committee with LOTS of exciting experimental results.

4. Find a place and make it home - either house rental, buying a house, what ever.  Just get settled in! And no longer have muddy bikes sitting in my living room.

5. Write more letters and be better about keeping in touch with family and friends - even short notes!

6. Exercise three times a week...no excuses like exams, tired, etc. unless I'm really sick.  Includes, hiking, running with dogs, gym trips, bike rides, yoga, horseback riding etc.

7. Less whining - more doing.  I think this is a repeat from last year, but still applies.

I really wish there were something horsey to add, but there isn't.  Haven't had luck finding other riding opportunities, and while Dax is OK to truck my butt around occasionally, I am very cautious of causing her more pain.  Also sitting on my horse while she just saunters around doesn't really count as "riding".

Well, I may come up with more brilliant goals to add, but this is a start.  Any goal suggestions?  Feel free to leave them in the comments.

'Bout time to get 2012 started....

Hello there....I have no particularly good excuse for neglecting you.  Sometimes I just can't figure out what to say, or don't have the energy to say anything at all.

With that, I'm just going to dive into some updates:

1. The furries are fine.  Zack, Haley, Sam and Cato continue to be the lowest maintenance "kids" and cheapest entertainment possible.  The only major changes are that A) it has become shedding season and B) we shaved Cato again...all over.  She was beginning to get mats again, and would beat the crap out of me when I tried to comb her (it's hard to gently comb out mats).  So I thought we'd try clipping again, only this time with some horse clippers which have a blade designed for pet fur.  Unfortunately, these clippers are also very loud, but much to my surprise she was pretty calm about the whole thing (remember, Cato is our feral-stock kitty!).  I really believe she thought it was just a big, loud, pet-fest.  She definitely prefers clipping over combing, and I'm not going to argue with that!  The job is far from perfect, but it's way better than the last one.  Plus she doesn't have knots and won't be contributing to the usual spring hair-tumble-weeds around the house.  Speaking of hair, Zack and Haley got baths this weekend and decided it was a good time to start blowing their coats.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, "blowing" a coat means the dog is basically shedding out chunks of hair.  We combed them before the baths, then collected tons of hair in the tub, then combed them again three hours later when they were dry, and they're still loosing hair in small chunks.  I don't know how they aren't balding, but they do this every year.  I mean, cattle dogs are neither big nor long-haired....you can see in the pictures on the right....but they are double-coated (meaning they have an outer guard-hair layer and a downy under-layer for insulation).  I wish I could show you the handfuls of fluff that comes of these guys....they made the entire living room carpet black.  Put our german vacuum to the test!  Yes, we have a german-engineer vacuum that is more valuable than my husband's truck....days like that remind me it was worth every cent.  And yes, I am the type of person who would buy a german vacuum but never spend the money on a german car.  I hate cleaning, so anything that makes it easier or even remotely fun - count me in.  Hating cleaning is a poor life choice when one has two hairy dogs, and two long-haired cats, and a dirty mt. biking hubby, and a dirty, hairy horse addiction, and...well, you get the idea.  Speaking of the dirty, hairy horse...

2. Dax is ensconced in her new farm and doing wonderfully.  I found a smaller, family owned and run place about 20 mins outside of town.  It's simple, the pastures are smaller and at least one is flatter (I have acknowledged that being in Blacksburg means there just isn't anywhere that's totally flat).  It's also much cheaper than the previous barn.  To be very blunt, the pastures have rocks, the grass is eaten down, there's a mix of fencing, the back pasture is half scrubby woods, the herd is a mix of mares and geldings with 8 total....and it's perfect for Dax.  She integrated into the herd with practically no squealing or bravado posturing, she's dropped a few extra pounds that she NEEDED to loose, and she's been listening to me a bit better - there's a couple more dominant mares that are reminding her that she isn't queen bee.  The woods also provide her with more shelter than she had before.  All around, she's in a better place to just be a happy horse.  The previous barn was perfect for a busy student who wanted to continue to ride regularly and have their horse cared for as an athlete....but fate decided to hand Dax and I different cards.  After getting her settled with hubby's help, we both agreed that this was making the best of a really shitty situation for Dax and for us financially.      

3. Went to California for a week in Jan - hubby was sent to a conference and I made it a good excuse to visit family and friends in sunny, 70* SoCal while it was snowing in Blacksburg.  It was rough.  I sat around and just absorbed time with my sis and her crazy family, my dear friend and cousins I hadn't seen in years.  It was so wonderful and all too brief - I want to ship them all to Blacksburg!!!

4. My lab made the move to the new building and I LOVE IT!!!  Clean, organized, well lit, no stinkbugs...did I mention the stinkbug problem in the old lab?  Anyway...it's awesome and I'm doing much less running around now that I'm located centrally on the vetmed campus.  After additional unexpected delays (biosafety hoods not certified so we couldn't do any work) I have cells growing and am planning exps for the end of this week, assuming the cells cooperate and grow quickly.  However, it is lonely...we're the only lab in the building for now and I don't think that's going to change much for months.  Well, it's not like I had a bunch of collaborators in the previous building, but there were other students that I'd had class with that I was at least on speaking terms with.  Yeah...I can't say the social scene has exactly brightened up. Still the same problem -  people are super nice, but they are not inclusive and they don't reach out.  I know, it's just up to me to start reaching out, making plans, inviting people to go hiking, etc.  I just kinda chafe at the idea because first, I'm the freakin' new person!  That's their damn job!  Secondly, I never know if, when someone says they can't do something, they actually want to and just have a conflict or if they're really not interested and just trying to be nice to the pitiful, lonely new girl.  Ugh.  Over-think much?

5. Classes are much simpler this semester...a decent bit of review, and, well...kinda boring.  I know they're going to pick up, and for now I'm enjoying having the mental free-time to focus on organizing our departmental seminar series!!  I was gently handed the simple task from the previous student and promptly came up with about 10 brilliant ideas for how to make it soooooo much better and, well, yeah.  I'm probably coming off as all kinds of pushy but c'mon! I'm trying to improve the academic environment of my department!  Oh never mind, even that sounded pushy.

More on classes soon, and I'll try to snap some pics of Cato, if nothing else than for comic relief.  Side note: someone sent me a Crozet calendar....I have no idea who.  It just arrived in the mail with no message, but was addressed to my new address so it wasn't random.  So if someone happens to read this and knows who it was...tell me!  I have it up on the wall next to my bench, and this month's image is an amazing sunset over the Blue Ridge right in Crozet *sniff*

Still alive...I swear!

Ok ok, I know I've been bad an I don't blame any readers who have just quit on the blog.

I've had a lot of stuff roiling around in my head, and nothing is really coming up as a coherent post.  Plus I'm kind of in a mid-winter funk, which always freezes up my writing brain cells.  Please be patient, and I will do my best to get some updates out.

I just need to get back on Virginia time after being on California time for a week....

In Memoriam

Once again, I need to apologize for neglecting the blog.

There's a lot to update, and thoughts that I want to share about my first semester in grad school, but for now a list of the significant events will help bring everybody up to speed.

1. Classes finally wrapped up, all assignments were turned in and exams done.  I ran into a problem with attendance in one class and after about 50 ba-zillion emails and negotiations it was cleared up.  I'm happy to say I accomplished the goal of completing all of my classes in excellent standing.
2. The committee meeting happened, it was successful and I got a proverbial thumbs up from everyone.  I think my advisor is very happy with me, so all in all a great end to the semester.
3. I finished the grant I was hoping to submit to an F32, but never submitted it because I didn't qualify as an applicant.  However I have gotten input back from some profs that it is a solid grant, and I plan to try to submit it to something else next year (as long as I don't get scooped!).
4. Holidays were spent making the rounds to Virginia family with dogs in tow.  The cats were left to their own devices with plenty of food and water in the apt.  Everybody survived and made it back home *whew!*  Hubby promptly caught a cold as soon as we got home, poor guy :-(
5. Dax was moved to a new barn on the 31st.  More on that later!

The week before Christmas, my uncle who had been in cancer remission fell suddenly ill and was admitted to the hospital.  He passed away a few days later, surrounded by his family.  I wanted to be there, but they are all in Michigan and I'm in Virginia, so it's not exactly easy to just pop up on short notice (not including the question of what hubby does or what we do with the dogs, and what about our previous holiday commitments, etc.)  My uncle was a kind, if reserved, man and I fondly remember dancing with him on my wedding day, in addition to so many other gatherings and visits.  My whole family is heart-broken, and the holidays were difficult in the face of such a loss.  I'm glad his three daughters, wife of 50 years and siblings were able to say their good-byes, and he passed away peacefully and comfortably.  Philosophically he had a good, fairly long life and yes, death is a part of life, but that doesn't make anyone miss him less.  Time will hopefully replace the sadness with happier memories.

2011 wasn't the best year, and it really ended on a low note with my uncle's passing.  However, it's a new year and I have hopes for a better one!  We're already planning on visiting all the Michigan family this summer, when we can hopefully have a big get together and tell funny Uncle Gil stories.

Here's hoping to a fresh start and a wonderful 2012 for all of you!

Virginia Tech

I assume most of you have heard/seen the news about the shooting today on VaTech campus.

If not, the short story is that an unidentified person approached a Tech police officer around 12noon and shot and killed him in a parking lot on campus.  This person fled on foot towards another parking lot (the cage), where a second individual was later found dead.  A weapon was found near this person, and it is presumed he is likely the shooter, although not confirmed.

All of this went down while I was sitting in a seminar in the vet school.  At the end of the seminar, it was announced there had been a shooting and we were on lockdown.  I had my cell phone on me, but of course decided it would be the ONE day I didn't have my laptop with me.  I was only supposed to be at the vet school for that seminar, then going back to my lab which is in a different building off campus.  Needless to say I rushed to the library computers to get more info, and started texting family to let them know what was going on.

There was a rapid and vigorous police response, and those of us who were stuck waited pretty patiently for every scrap of news.  It was a crystal chilly winter day, and the bright cheerful sunlight seemed weirdly out of place.....nobody was freaking out, but everybody was pretty anxious.  The lockdown was lifted around 4:30pm after no further incidents and with a very heavy police presence on campus.

The situation is disturbing on many levels -
It's horrible that a police officer was shot and killed, regardless of the circumstances.
It's horrible that another person died.
It's creepy that it  happened within walking distance of the vet college where I was.
It's creepier that only 20mins before, I had parked my truck in the same parking lot where the second body was found.
It's a terrible blow to the university's people after having suffered so much trauma in 2007.

While tragic, this incident might not be so remarkable by crime statistic standards.  We still don't know who exactly the shooter was, if there was motive or mental illness involved.  It might be as simple and horrible as someone over-reacting to a drug bust - we just don't know yet.

However, in this place, it echos the senseless violence that occurred in 2007 and set everyone on edge.  While I wasn't a Tech student at the time, being at an academic institution (UVa) and so close to Tech that I got a glimpse of the horror of that event.  There is something about indiscriminate violence, the kind that tears at the fabric of human civility which covers us all, that is profoundly disturbing.

I think that's the best description for how I feel about today: disturbed.  While the events may have been a far cry from the tragedy that struck in 2007 and I was perfectly safe, it made me think a LOT about meaningless violence.

So I talked to my family, emailed with friends, and gave my husband a lot of hugs tonight.  I suggest you all do the same.

Decision making help

So this is not meant to be offensive to anyone:

I WANT A CHART LIKE THIS FOR EVERY DIFFICULT LIFE DECISION!!!

 I might have peed a little laughing so hard at this when I opened it.  For those of you who know him, it'll be no surprise that this came from my dear old Dad.  I'm pretty sure he thinks this falls under his fatherly duty of "spiritual education" of his offspring .

Receiving this was particularly apropos as I was working on flow charts for experiment plans just yesterday.  If only science were as amusing....

Football and Thanksgiving review

Well, is everyone feeling fat and sassy?? I certainly am!!

I'm also feeling conflicted....conflicted because at this moment UVa is loosing miserably to VaTech in football.  That's right, my alma mater is loosing to my...er...current mater?  I'm not a huge football fan, but I can get into college football sometimes and this game hits close to home on many levels.  Where do my allegiances lie now?  Totally split.   I have so many fond memories of UVa and there are some fabulous things about that school (like the 11 amazing libraries, or the gorgeous buildings and gardens)....but there are also some sucky things.  For example, how the Wahoo fans leave the stadium in the third quarter to go drinking when their team is down 28-0.  Tech fans would be frothing at the mouth, channeling every decibel they could at the field.  Unfortunately, I find rooting for a dominant team boring, but I have to respect the Hokie fans for their dedication.  Like tailgating before 9am for an 8pm Thursday game (witnessed while on my way to class).  While I knew Tech would probably win today, I had hoped the game would at least be close.  There's something about a hard-fought win that is sweeter for the champion and more noble for the defeated.  There's always next year......

Thanksgiving in Blacksburg was a nice, simple affair.  Good food, good company.  I got to give my Dad a tour of B'burg today - including the new lab!  He was a trooper (I know seeing new biosafety hoods isn't as exciting for the non-lab folk).  He even went with me to visit the pony, who is back out to pasture though we're still fighting the nasty skin infection.

Not surprisingly I have managed to not get as much done before the coming week as I had hoped.  Ergo tomorrow is slated to be spent in seclusion, working.  I'm too easily distracted at home, so it's off to the lab or library with some caffeine early tomorrow.  I'll have to warn everyone, please don't be surprised if I don't get a post in for the next week or so....but I'll try to squeeze one in as a study break :-)
 
On a different note:

In musing about the holiday and on being thankful, something stuck in my head.  I was listening to an old episode of Radiolab about "the self".  Literally, it was a radio show about the neurological and psychological basis of the perception of "self".  Within the larger show, there was a story about a woman who suffered a significant brain aneurysm and upon recovery had a very different "self".  The woman's daughter told the story from her perspective, and ended with the following thoughts:

"My mother's illness, like a death or an accident, was one of those moments when time stops.  When normal disappears.  When you marvel that everyone else in the world can still laugh and go to the movies and complain about the weather.  That's an explosion.  In those moments, you can see life happen.  It has clarity and meaning and purpose in the midst of its horror and pain.  But then those moments pass and you're consumed by the trivia of daily life once again.  Sometimes, when I'm overwhelmed by the task of making my way through the world, I try to focus on the fact that the electric bill does no matter.  The idiot driver glued to their cell phone does not matter.  The mind numbing day job truly does not matter.  But welcoming the strange and the different, being open and available for my husband, my friends, my family, experiencing love and laughter as often as possible; that's what matters.  Because it can all be taken away in one, brilliant flash."
Hannah Palin

I love Thanksgiving more than any other holiday because it is meant as this reminder - to set aside the frustrating minutiae of daily life and be thankful for the good things we have.  To open our arms and hearts to those around us and to celebrate.  To appreciate what is here, now.

I loose sight of these things often.  If I only had a larger house, if I only had a sound horse, if I only had smaller thighs, if I was only more active, if I only focused harder...Nothing is 100% good (no matter what the ads say), but we need to remember to embrace what we have.

Somehow, I need to find that balance between embracing my here/now while also planning/hoping for the future.

That lesson is soooo much harder than grad school!

Poor, neglected blog!!

Oh dear.  I am NOT a responsible blog owner.  (Thank heavens I'm better about being a responsible pet owner, but that doesn't really help you guys.)

The long absence is due to two unsurprising things:
1. School has been nuts.
2. None of it is remotely interesting to anyone other than myself.

It's getting towards the end of the semester, ergo all of the classes decide to crap on me at once.  This coming week is Thanksgiving so I don't officially have classes, but I'm still working in lab and meeting with some other students to deal with group projects.  In the two weeks following, I'll have two final exams, a paper due, two group presentations, another paper, and a final version of my grant due.  And the week after that I'm trying to schedule my first committee meeting to get it out of the way.  Oh, and my antibodies are all in so I need to be in lab doing my experiments too.  Oh, and the lab might start moving in two weeks.  

And did I mention my Dad is coming to visit??  Yeah, I'm the idiot that told him it would be a good idea to come for Thanksgiving.  WHAT was I thinking??? Thank heavens Dad and hubby enjoy spending time together, since there might be more of them hanging out together while I'm holed up in the library than I had originally planned.  I'm going to scramble these last three days before he shows up to get as much done as possible so we can have at least a few chill days before I'm swallowed up by school again and the two boys are left to their own devices.

Speaking of hubby, he's been up to no good:

BEER BREWING!!!  I haven't mentioned his brewing hobby previously because, well, he hasn't done a ton between all the moving crap and not having all the equipment.  He finally got a brewing pot and proceeded to fill our tiny apartment with the aromas of chocolate malt and Willamette hops.  Actually, he might have filled the whole building the the aromas, but nobody complained!  (Side note: hubby was looking at brewing gear and came across a grain mill called the "cereal killer"!! *snort*)  What's currently in the carboy, burbling away?  A porter kit that he's going to add some dried black currants to (courtesy of Dad).

Brewing beer has always struck me as being too much like making a very complicated solution in lab.  There's a lot of temperature measuring, timing of ingredients and stirring.  However, much like science, hubby is pretty darned good at it, and as I get to enjoy the fruits of his labor, I'm not complaining!

Beyond that, the furries are all doing fine.  I actually got out and RODE my horse today!!  She's trotting and cantering around her field on her own, so I decided she could pack my butt around for just a little bit.  The short version is that Dax once again proved she is freakin' amazing: went all over new unfamiliar territory in blustery weather BY HERSELF (well, with me aboard but that doesn't count as company to most horses).  Yes she was scared and needed to be pushed along, but she was a trooper and listened to me.  We even opened gates from horseback and she. was. perfect. Still lame, but perfectly behaved.  Unfortunately the crud on her hind foot (the scratches) has gotten worse, so she's stuck in a stall for a couple of days to be treated....it's kind of sad, but I don't mind because it gives me an excuse to be at the barn twice a day!!  I'm on the hunt for a new/cheap place to board her seeing as retirement/rescue ideas have fallen through or dried up.  More on that later.
 
As for me, doing ok.  Still feeling kind of off kilter in my new role as student, not feeling very organized or like I've got the crazy juggling act of classes-research-wifey down, but not feeling like a total failure either....just not at the top of my game exactly.

I'm also OVER living in the tiny apartment with four bikes in my living room.

I JUST WANT TO BE SETTLED SOME WHERE, TO BE UNPACKED AND FOR STUFF TO HAVE ITS PLACE SO I'M NOT WASTING BRAIN CELLS DEALING WITH THIS CRAP!!

Life is busy enough without constantly struggling with clutter or always trying to figure out where things should go (biggest example right now: my class crap.  I don't have a desk of my own at home to study at and it's a problem.)  I'm also running into more and more incidents of wanting/needing to use things that are currently in storage.  When we packed up and left Crozet, we thought we'd only be in the apartment for a few months and packed away things accordingly.  Oops.

Even after all of my previous posts about the whole house vs. apartment life style stuff, I realize:
1) hubby and I are nesters.  We want to live in a place where we and others like to spend time.  I want to decorate for holidays and have enough room for a friggin Christmas tree.
2) We both have gear-heavy, space-sucking hobbies: think lots of bikes, all the tools to repair bikes, power tools to build stuff, horse gear, beer brewing 5gallon carboys, 5 cases of beer bottles, lots of kitchen crap for Catsie-cooking-craziness.....

Do we both need to get out of the house and be active?  Yes.  Do we want to lead a life style in which we are engaged in our community in some way?  Yes.  Do either of these things negate the two previously mentioned facts?  Nope.

Do I want my cake and want to eat it too?  You betcha.

By the way....

I'm sure a few of you have noticed the new blog layout. (and if not, then check it out!!)  I wasn't sure if this new layout would take longer to load or not...if the blog seems unusually slow to load (or if you generally don't like it) just let me know!!

And thanks for reading!

Happy Halloween!

Zack and Haley say "Trick-or-treat!"

Ok, I know this is an older picture, but they're so darned cute!!  If Batman ever decided to have a furry side-kick, it would have to be Zack....those ears, that double-mask, the grouchy demeanor....I mean, he IS Batman in doggie form!!


So life continues rolling along.  Hubby and I have had a few busy weekends visiting friends and having friends visit us.  It's been great to catch up with all of them, but it also reminds me of how much I miss having a strong social network.  Before moving to Blacksburg, I'd lived in the Charlottesville/Crozet area for 12 years.  That's longer than I'd lived in any other place my entire life!  I've made some great life-long friends from those years, and had gotten pretty comfortable and settled.  


This move has been awkward socially.  On one hand, I'd really like to meet some people in B'burg who share similar interests, whether it be horse riding, bike riding, even going to check out live music or some plays....folks that might want to do spur-of-the-moment hikes or grab a beer out.  On the other hand, we're only 2.5hrs away from a number of my dear friends, so it's easy to plan weekend trips to visit and do similar things.  But that makes me feel socially isolated in B'burg.  For all this whining, I'm not too worried as it's only been 4 months and it took me 12 years in C'ville :-)  I've never been one to make friends quickly! 


Hubby just commented that we simply haven't found the right crowd yet....the old fogey crowd.  Thanks dear.  


The furries are all doing pretty well.....getting furry-er as we speak.  Winter arrived yesterday in the form of a sleet storm so I can't blame the creatures for fluffing-out and getting into hibernation mode.  Example A:

Example B:

Yeahhhhh....it's a rough life.


Dax is still lame and still in the same place she was.  I applied to a non-profit horse rehab organization but they turn us down, so I'm back to square one trying to find a better and cheaper living arrangement for her.  I've got another lead to follow up with, but I'm pretty sure it's going to come down to me posting a "free horse" ad on craigslist....which I'm really scared to do b/c I don't want her to end up in a sketchy situation.  Obviously I can try to minimize this risk by careful interviews and visiting farms, but once she's moved I have no control.  And this is assuming anyone is even willing to take her on, which is a big IF in this economy. *sigh*  At least she's been a good girl since the kicking incident - she's got a minor skin infection on her pastern (commonly called scratches) and she lets me treat it in the field without fuss, even though it's pretty sensitive.  She gets this crap every year when the grass is really wet, causing her lower legs to stay wet and allowing bacteria growth to take off.


Lab and school are going well, and getting busier by the week.  I'm finally doing actual experiments!!  Woo!  Growing cells, running gels....and it all makes me feel totally helpless because I have to ask where everything is.  I swear I know how to do this crap...I just don't know where the buffers are, where the conical tubes are kept, where I can put my stuff in the freezers.  I don't know where the freezers are for that matter!  Totally helpless.  Luckily the lab manager/tech is patient and understands, so she'll kindly stop whatever she's doing to get me a lab timer or show me where the sharpie markers are (first lab I've been in where there aren't sharpies lying around everywhere!).  


There's been lots of lab drama due to our scheduled move to a new building in the end of Nov or Dec (we're predicting it doesn't happen before the holidays :-).  Currently, my lab is located in a building separate from the main veterinary campus.  The main vet campus is made up of three connected buildings, so it basically looks like one very long building, but it's divided up by the hospital phase, the classroom/teaching phase and the research phase (they're called phases b/c they were built in different phases.  Very creative.)  Now there is a fourth new wing with two floors, one for offices and IT and the second floor with all research labs (and a kitchen area!!  I'm pushing for a new coffee maker...)  There are five labs, so we'll occupy one and the other four are reserved for new faculty.  I'm excited to be moving for multiple reasons:
1) I'll be in a more centralized location for classes and labwork.
2) New lab = new equipment!  
3) No stink bugs.  Our current building is very old...we have window A/C units b/c there's no central air, and somehow lots of little "wildlife" find their way inside.  I was doing cell culture in a sterile cabinet/hood Thursday when I suddenly saw a stinkbug sauntering along the open edge about 4 inches from my arms.  Not so sterile.
4) New collaborators!  The new labs are reserved for new faculty which the department is actually in the process of hiring (not just talking about hiring).  It's an example of a general expansion that seems to be going on in the college.  There's another new building that just broke ground that is for DVM teaching and professor offices.  Another huge research building (called the "translational research" building) is 3rd on the list to get funded by the university, meaning it very well could break ground in the next two years and be built before I graduate!  The physical expansion goes along with the new hiring expansions (something like 11 new faculty over the next couple of years!), and there are plans to expand the DVM class sizes as well.  It's an exciting time to be at the VMRCVM! (Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine).
5) I'll be getting my own lab bench to work at (right now I'm sharing) and I'll hopefully learn where stuff is stored as we move...since I'll be helping put things away as we unpack.  But that means we can also organize and generally have the lab set up in a much more efficient way than it is now.  Right now, it's kind of chaos, and I'm not just saying that b/c I'm still sort of new and don't know where anything is.


Let's see, other than that I'm still working on writing some grants...have gotten good comments back from some faculty on my rough draft.  Now I'm scrambling to find a place to submit it because I just found out last Monday that I am in-eligible to apply to the F31 I was originally planning on applying to.  Poop.  Serious poop.  I also can't apply to an NSF fellowship b/c I have a Masters degree.  It's looking more and more like my proposals are going to end up being submitted by my PI for R-type grants (the kind of grants that only go to faculty, or at least people with doctorate degrees).  Either way it'll get submitted which is good, except it would be better for my career if I was able to get an award under my own name.  


Notice I'm automatically assuming they'll get funded??  HA!  It's a big assumption either of my proposals will make it past triage (where all the grants that don't have a remote chance get tossed without being reviewed).


Learning....it's all a learning experience.... 


I'm getting the stare-down from the puppers.  Time for a walk, then some apartment cleaning.  Hope everybody else has a nice weekend!

Gratuitous advertising

Dear Readers,
If you are of a sciencey-bent and have some spare time, check out my friend's blog and read some ruminations on monsters, volcanos, philandering men, oh, and Mary Shelley:
http://tinyacorns.net/

If you are of a more photo-y mood, check out the recently updated photo site of my dear hubby (who has a photography addiction like I have a horse addiction :-) :
http://www.brianhallphoto.com/

I promise an actual update on life in Blacksburg soon!
- Cat

Dax is going to be famous!!

And I'm going to get my jumping form torn to shreds.

What is this all about?  Why, a picture of Dax and myself jumping is up to be critiqued by none other than George Morris in Practical Horseman's Jumper clinic column!

So I imagine all my non-horsey friends are wondering what the heck I'm talking about.  Brief background:
1) Practical Horseman is a popular equine magazine focused on jumping/hunter style english riding.
2) George Morris is a SUPER famous trainer/coach/rider dude who has been running a column in the monthly magazine for...I don't know....ever?  A long time anyway.  His approach to form and showing is from a previous generation/classical hunter approach and he has very particular preferences about how riding and showing should be done.
3) In this column, he takes three pictures of people riding over a jump and critiques each rider's form, horse's form, cleanliness, tack, etc.  Offers tips and suggestions for correcting mistakes and training stuff.

The point?  The picture of Dax and myself jumping is going to be published in a reallyio-trulio magazine with national distribution!!  It only took four years :-)  Yup, submitted the photo four years ago - the magazine uses photos in the order in which they are submitted.  It's a pretty popular column!

What photo might I be referring to?  Why, this one!

 
Of course I think it's great and that both Dax's and my form are pretty darned good....but Morris is a stickler and ALWAYS finds stuff.  I'm preparing for a major picking-apart.  So if you want to see Dax and myself in print, check out the December copy of Practical Horseman (they're always at Barnes and Noble, probably any tack stores, etc.).

I just want everyone to look carefully at Dax's expression here....if anyone ever questioned that horses' like to jump, here's the proof.  Dax freakin' loved it, and I loved jumping with her.  I miss that so much.

Horse hazards

This will be a short post....because my hand freaking hurts.

 Ok, so it doesn't look nearly as gory in the pic as it does in real life....normally I can see the bones in the back of my hand clearly, just to give you an idea of the swelling.  The bruising is deep and developing slowly, but I don't think anything is broken as I can still move everything and pressure doesn't create any stabbing pains (I'm typing pretty effectively right now).

Sunday, after spending an hour doting on my half-sleeping horse (it was bath time) and hand grazing her for another 10mins, we headed back to her pasture.  The breeze was up, it was a beautiful evening and she perked up as we headed up the hill.  We were just through the first gate when she majorly spooked, dove forward and yanked me along with her as I had a pretty good grip on the lead rope.  Meaning my hands where right out in front of me when she sent a rear hoof directly at me, catching me in the back of both hands and across my left forearm.

Needless to say I let go of the lead rope.  Which is a good thing, because otherwise I would have strangled her with it.

Dax went tearing off.  After I assessed the damage (can move everything, no major blood, have feeling again) I followed to catch and return her to her pasture.  Of course she gives me these" Oh HI mom!  Where have you been?"eyes and actually walks to me across the rest of the field.  She nuzzled my scraped up arm after I let her loose in her pasture, probably smelling some of the blood.

Idiot. Horse.

Just goes to show it doesn't matter how much your horse loves/fears/trusts/knows you....if something scares it badly, they know they can run faster than you, and the fastest one survives.  Bomb-proof horses are a myth, and any horse that can stand on four feet can still kick and bite.  Shoot, they can bite even if they're lying down!  While I've never had that particular incident happen, I do have some nice bite scars, along with permanent dents in my quads where a filly double-barrelled me in a stall, and and old scar below the bikini line where a horse caught me in a pasture and hairline fractured my pelvis.  That's not including the concussion from falling off.....

So you remember the last horse post where I talked about how every time I get on a horse I am trusting it with my life?  I want to amend that to be "Any time I am within 20ft of a horse, I am trusting it with my life."

More later, but right now there's an ice pack calling my name.