On the catwalk

Another search for a building in Beijing that has a catwalk... elicited this picture of a model on a catwalk..
I think China may be slightly ahead of the rest of the world fashion-wise.

On the catwalk

Another search for a building in Beijing that has a catwalk... elicited this picture of a model on a catwalk..
I think China may be slightly ahead of the rest of the world fashion-wise.

Thanksgiving

I think I may have set a new record for myself this Thanksgiving in highest number of unique beds slept in over 6 consecutive days: 6.

Maine has become a very sentimental place for me. In fact, I started crying when we drove through Augusta, because goshdarnit, I love that town. The weirdest part of this vacation was definitely the realization that I do not have a home anywhere in the greater Augusta area anymore. I had just finally gotten used to the fact that I lived in West Gardiner, not Augusta anymore, and when I went home from school that's where I would be going home to. Not that I minded being a guest at my friends' houses, but still, it was just odd to think that I didn't have the option not to be. I've moved around a lot in my lifetime, but Maine has definitely been the state I associate with leaps and bounds above any other place I've lived.

Anyway, not all of this trip was sentimental. In fact, very little of it was. The majority of the rest of the trip consisted of wine, buying expensive clothing at ridiculously cheap prices, wine, eating turkey and leftover turkey and even more leftover turkey, wine, watching Harry Potter, you thought I was going to say wine, driving all over creation, watching a thunderstorm/blizzard, sending lots of text messages, and generally being crazy.

Unfortunately, due to lack of any semblence of planning or ability to transport myself places, I didn't get to see a lot of friends I would have liked to. Hopefully by the next time I'm up there, I will be a functional human being and have a car of my own. Or alternatively, you guys could come visit me in Alaska! Mmm?

Another exciting thing in Maine was the sudden existence of cell phone towers! I got perfect reception everywhere I went, no matter how remote, which is more than can be said for Pittsburgh, the urban blackhole of cell phone reception.

According to Rand McNally, we logged 275 driving miles while in Maine (not counting the 13 hours it took to get there from Pittsburgh). Here is a map of what my trip would have looked like if Maine were a map and I looked kind of like a giant blue-green millipede:




In conclusion, I vote Maine gets moved closer than 13 hours away from Pittsburgh.

Nothing.

I'm at work right now and have nothing to do. It' s pretty weird having a job where sometimes I just sit around do whatever the hell I want. This is a nice intro to the real workworld.

Turkeyday

For those of you who don't know, I'll be in Maine for Thanksgiving, staying at the Chesley household. Since my current residences are in Pittsburgh and Alaska, it may be awhile before I make it back to Maine again, so give me a call while I'm there! November 23-earrrrly27.

Lizardo, Cr4m3n & Myrak

I was just flipping through my pictures on Picasa (the best program ever, and everyone should get it) and found these two shots of my dorm room's message board from last year. It made me remember just how ridiculous my room actually was last year, I'd kind of forgotten!

CRP@CMU

Today I started my new job as a research assistant for the Center for Risk Perception in the Social and Decision Sciences department. Basically they had me get a feel for what it is that they do there (I still have no clue) by watching the final products some of their old projects. One of them was an informative CD about herpes, its prevention, its social stigma, etc. The computer they had me sit at to watch it was directly next to the main entryway for that section of the department, so needless to say it was awkward watching the section of the video about herpes and STD prevention where it showed how to put on a condom, as many people walked by while this was happening.
Overall, it looks like they do some pretty cool stuff at the CRP, and I'm excited to get started with the cybertrust and bioterrorism projects that are just beginning, and figure out what the heck it is these guys do!

Awyeah

I had a very long, amusing explanation of all the crazy things that happened this weekend, but Firefox decided that it will never be posted. So, here is a highly condensed version:

I turned 21.
I completed the rite of passage by vomiting in a bathroom in a bar.
I made it to all of my classes and work.
I purchased alcohol 5 times, and only got carded once.
I threw a totally badass party, which was loads of fun.
I got serenaded!
I spun my buggy in the chute.
I bought 2 gorgeous dresses.
I made an enormous amount of beer sausage.
I probably shouldn't have survived.

This weekend was pretty much the best birthday weekend of my life. Thanks for making it awesome, guys!

November 3rd, 2005

And just like that I'm 21.

Mattress Factory

For my Consciousness and Cognition class today we took a field trip to the Mattress Factory (a modern art musuem, for those of you who might be under the crazy impression they make mattresses there). Unfortunately we only had time to walk around the second floor, which was the floor of "Dark Pieces". Basically they were minimalist (verrry minimalist) exhibits using light as the only medium, but they were so cool.

I would really like to go back and check out the rest of the museum; anyone else up for a MF run this weekend?

You big oaf.

Another thing that happened to me today was that I almost knocked over a midget. I was card shopping, and walking along the aisle sideways without paying much attention to things or people that may have been near me, when I crashed right into this midget standing right next to me, nearly toppling her. She was not in my field of vision at all, which I am not used to, being fairly close to the ground myself! So immediately after the collision, I did the proper thing which was to apologize, go shop in the other end of the store and avoid further eye contact at all costs.

I feel like there should be a circle of hell for people like me, midget shovers...

What up gangstaaaaa?

So I was thinking about gangstas today, and how badass they are. Then I was also thinking that today was Daylight Savings Time Day. So it made me think that maybe gangstas aren't so badass, because they still have to follow things like daylight savings time, and that they are still being controlled by The Man. It somehow made me feel a little safer inside picturing a real hardcore thug walking around his house setting all of his clocks back an hour.

I was just gonna say...

You what I was thinking about that really bothers me? Whenever someone participates in class and prefaces whatever they're saying with "Well I was just gonna say...". You weren't just going to say... you are saying... and we all know that, we can hear you talking. Start noticing this, so it will bother you, too. Nearly everyone does it.

Farewell, Snicklefritz

My computer finally sold! While I'm glad to have the money for rent and food, I'm a little bit sad- we've been buddies these past few years...even if we sometimes quarreled. I'll miss all the hours I've spent sitting here procrastinating in the middle of the night; I'll miss the orange Windows scheme I custom made; the way my laptop's fan kept my left hand warm on those cold winter nights; watching other people get frustrated when they couldn't figure out why it sometimes took so long to open an internet browser, but no time at all to open 3 instances of Photoshop; the enormous desktop that made all the icons really, really small; the sticky left click button that prevented anyone else from successfully operating this machine; the backspace key which has seen more wear than any other key; I'll miss the time I brought it to class and forgot that putting a computer in hibernate mode does not make it stop playing iTunes when it wakes up; but mostly I'll miss the hours spent typing to my friends on this screen, making plans to get away from the computer.

In a few days, it will be sitting on someone else's desk and will become someone else's friend. I hope it has a good new home, and never forgets me.

Don't tell Paul Revere!

So today when I was talking to my mom, she told me that she thinks I have adult ADD. I've actually been thinking the same thing lately, but decided it was just a cop-out excuse for being unproductive. It just seems like this semester I have not been able to focus on anything, even things that I enjoy- like driving a buggy for example. It takes all of my concentration to keep focused on the road and not die. Then for things that are actually boring it's a million times worse! My grades have been terrible this semester because I am just not able to sit there and write a paper. I try to write 4 papers at once, which seems to be the only way I get anything done, but then none of the papers actually get finished. I feel like if I'm only working on one thing, I could be doing so much more.
Even now, I was taking a break from my work and trying to watch the Simpsons, but got distracted from relaxing and now I'm writing this, crocheting and cleaning my room.
Ugh.
Do any of you have ADD?

Supermouse

This is the nest our resident mouse has made in our dining room. I would really, really have liked to see him move those packets of ramen from my shelf (4 feet off the ground) to the corner there! I feel kind of bad for the mouse - that much sodium can't be good for his cholesterol.

Not the real CIA

So evidentally there has been some confusion from my friends at other schools about the difference between real CIA and buggy CIA ("Carnegie Involvement Association"). Also, there has been some confusion about what buggy is! Which I intend to remedy right now.

Buggy is essentially a super high-tech soap-box derby relay race. That probably doesn't mean anything to you, so here's my team's website and here's a video of me "in the chute". I'm inside of that thing, wheeee!

This doesn't do buggy justice, so I will leave the rest up to my friends here!

Please complete this sentence:
Buggy is...

Scumbucket

I am turning in my paper one week late. But it is done and now it's not looming over my head making me feel like a scumbucket anymore.

Time to celebrate with my good friends Fuel and Fuddle!

Costume?

Halloween is coming up! Any suggestions for costumes? What are you gonna be?

Adventures in babysitting

Yesterday while babysitting....

I'd gotten the kids set up for lunch and stepped out of the room for a second (my first mistake). When I came back in, I saw Annie holding a sponge from the sink. She then began to spread cream cheese on it and started chowing down on it. I said, "Hey Annie! That's DISGUSTING" and took the sponge from her and brought it back to the sink to wash it off. While I was standing at the sink, an angry Annie came up behind me and proceeded to bite my rear end as hard as possible. You can probably imagine my reaction (hint: @!&*@%#!).

The moral? Don't let anyone bite your butt. It hurts.

Laptops everywhere!

I'm buying a new laptop to replace the beast I have now. It's an IBM Thinkpad T41 and I'm buying it used from a grad student here on campus. I told the guy I wouldn't be able to pay for a new computer until I sell my current one and get some birthday money, and he said that would be fine. I assumed he meant that when I got the money I'd get the computer. Evidently not. When I went to go check it out today, he had the laptop all boxed up and ready to go. He handed it to me, told me to enjoy it and to get around to paying for it whenever I get some money.
This seems like a pretty flaky way of doing business on his end; he's lucky I'm an honest person, because this would be a really easy way for me to make a quick $1000.

But whatever. I've got a hot new computer. I win.

The beginning of a new era

Perhaps a new blogging environment is just the kick I needed to continue writing interesting and frequent posts. So here's a promise to you (yes, you) that: should this blog become mundane, frivolous or nonexistant, I will permanently retire from the blogging community. And most importantly, I solemnly swear never to post quizzes.

That being said, let me start talking about more interesting things, such as last weekend.

Saturday morning at 5:30am marked the beginnning of my career as a buggy driver. It's amazing how quickly you can wake up at ungodly hours when it's something fun about to happen, as opposed to an 8:30 recitation. Fully conscious and rearing to go, I wiggled my way into Firebird and passed the drop test with flying colors. Let me say that the drop test is significantly easier than navigating the course in that you go only about 10 feet at 3mph vs the better part of a mile at 30mph. The next part of a driver's morning is the coursewalk. It must be fairly bizarre for an outsider to see a brigade of midgets walking around in a bunch at 6am on a weekend. On the coursewalk I attempted to remember all the places where I could possibly screw up the line, but at that hour it's pretty tough even to remember how to walk properly.
Immediately following the coursewalk it's time to drive for real. CIA has this crazy idea that in my previous life I was a fully-proficient driver and that I should drive first roll without watching someone else do it first.
That was a mistake and here's why:

The moment I felt myself moving forward and felt Aileen let go of my pushbar was probably one of the scariest in my life. I kept going over the line in my head, but when you're 2 inches off the ground, the course looks nothing like it did while walking upright on the coursewalk. So I took a wild guess at where I ought to be, and followed some arbitrary line that seemed like a good idea at the time. First transition was fine, second transition- I could not, for the life of me, remember what landmark I was supposed to use as a reference point. I remembered the horror stories I had heard about a driver the previous year who went to the right of the monument (!), and chose a very lefterly path to be on the safe side. So then where was the flagger that was supposed to give me something to aim for? He must have gotten bored and went home. Okay, so it's time to guess. Guessing (and having no clue where you are) while in a buggy is a scary, scary thing. Especially when your guessing happens to lead you directly toward Panther Hollow Bridge! I can only imagine what the people in the follow car must have been thinking ("WTF?" or "Is she trying to steal Firebird?" or possibly "HAHAHA, what a fruitcake"). After an eternity of not knowing where I should go, I decided on 'right', and made a 90degree turn toward what turned out the be the actual path. Lo and behold there was the elusive flagger! PHEW! And then a second flagger! Amazing! Now here comes the chute turn....and here's where I run out of momentum! Thank you Hill 3 pusher for rescuing me from the middle of the chute. The backhills were nothing new and finally the finish line arrived and I was done.
It was a big relief to get out of the buggy and tell the team that I would be driving a proper line the next time, that I was, in fact, not trying to steal the buggy and nor was I drunk.
The gist of that story is DRIVING A BUGGY IS AMAZING.

Sunday's rolls involved much less guessing and much more velocity. Thumbs up!

The weekend also involved a lot of pancakes, 2 separate rounds of disc golf in Schenley Park, an amazing trip to Green Forest (an eat-till-you-burst Brazilian meat restaurant where the waiters carry around giant skewers of meats [fancymeats, like filet mignons, many forms of steak, lamb, chicken, turkey, pork] and hack off bits onto your plate as often as you want), an awesome party (however short), and 2/3 of 'The Godfather'.

My week thus far has been much less eventful, except tonight I have to write 4 papers all due tomorrow (as evidenced by the fact that I chose now to start a blog).

Please comment to let me know you're reading this (otherwise I might get discouraged and quit again). Also, if you're worried about this being an entirely buggyblog- your fear might be grounded. But I will do my best to talk about other things.

Okay, just one more buggything:
I'm not sure what everyone knows about my transition from SDC to CIA. While I will keep my reasons for leaving SDC to myself, I had no intention of switching teams when I left SDC. However, the same day I quit, I was approached by a member of CIA about driving for them. This was an offer I couldn't refuse and suddenly I was in CIA. Of course I still have the utmost respect for SDC, however I am disappointed that word did not spread at all that I was no longer on the team. It makes me a little sad that it didn't even come up in conversation that Social Chair Liz was no longer in SDC. But life goes on, eh?

My apologies for starting this blog with a novel, and thank you for those who made it to the end! Future posts will not be this long, I can guarantee that.

And to those who gave up halfway and aren't reading this at all, screw you.

love,
Liz