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It's a girl!

My dear friend Juliana and her husband welcomed a baby girl into the world this morning at 4.35 am. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and she is 20 inches long. No name as of yet. I am so excited to get up to Seattle and see my practically-niece.

The Rage

Today was my last day as a fish counter. I wouldn't say it was the most boring day ever on the job, but it definitely ranked up there, and the start of the day was the worst one ever.

note: very long story about a trying situation at work and my philosophy of blame

Mice

We've started the official mouse-tally in temporary Casa de Leah. The owner here trapped one mouse the other day (glue trap), and one mouse fell dead from poison (right in front of the bathroom, so I'm glad I wasn't here that night).

Today, the owner set up four mouse traps around 5ish. At 6.30, the first one went off, and another one went off at 7.30.

Around 8, I heard squeaking from the cabinets under the bathroom sink (where the mice get in; we've got a hole we need to plug up somehow). Since I would not be able to sleep with that all night long, I decided to investigate.

Check these Out

all seen at Kottke, home of any useless link or piece of fact finding you will ever need.

What Should I Read Next? A website for those looking for new books. Personally, I still favor the "random book from library" method, but it takes all kinds, y'know? Also, if you register and tell them all the books you read (note: not for the paranoid nor faint of heart), they supposedly can give you even better suggestions.

Physics solves yet another pressing mystery of the modern world by telling us how cheerios clump together. Actually, I shouldn't poke fun, since I thought this was cool.

If you've ever wondered about the genetics of Harry Potter, you're not alone. So have many other scientific nerds. Personally, I think that wizardy is controlled by many separate alleles that help form not just magic ability but the degree of magic ability, especially in different subjects. Not all wizards were created equal. A fun topic to discuss and ponder, for sure.

Parmesan Dijon Chicken

As gleaned from Congregational Cuisine, the cookbook of Kirkland Congregational Church, with my adaptations at the end.

8 halves chicken breasts, boned and skinless
1 c dried bread crumbs [and they mean crumbs -- I just buy mine b/c
they're kind of hard to make so tiny]
1 c grated parmesan (fresh is best)
1/3 c melted butter or margarine
2/3 c dijon mustard
3 T dry white wine (may sub. sherry)

Mix crumbs and cheese in flat dish or pan. Mix mustard, wine, and
melted butter in another dish. Coat chicken halves, both sides, in
mustard mix. Dip the rounded side only in crumb mix and place the
chicken, crumb side up, slightly apart in a greased over dish or pan.
Spoon whatever mustard mix is left under the chicken breasts, spread out
and also fill in any gaps on top of the chicken with bread crumbs mix.
Preheat over to 500. Place chicken in over for 15 minutes, or until
golden brown.

So, being a college student and not cooking for eight freakin' people, I
always cut the recipe at least in half and sometimes even more. I don't
really worry about proportions -- I just try to make a yummy mustard
sauce that coats the chicken. I use the teeny-tiny progresso bread
crumbs with parmesan already in them, then add in more parm. I like the
chicken in chunks, and the cooking time is shorter. I think I cook them
at 450. Also, sometimes I use a different brown mustard -- not always
dijon. Nice to mix things up.

OSU

rocked the casbah. I am seriously interested in going there and studying with Andrew Blaustein. Not only is he an interesting and stand-up guy, but his lab students are inquisitive, friendly, and supportive. They were all wonderful, and one walked me around and introduced me to a few other professors and students. He also showed me some research he was doing, and he gave me ideas of fellowships to apply for.

Also, OSU has a Craft Center. You have to become a member, and then you can use the darkroom and take stained glass classes and all that great stuff. It seems really cool. I'm going to keep looking and see what other social stuff goes on there, because it's important to have a life outside the lab.

I'm definitely still excited about OSU (and, yes, that's Oregon State and not Oklahoma).

A meme

but a good one. Seen at a few livejournals . . .

20 "random" facts about myself in no particular order, and comments/explanation on some of the things in my "interests" list.

Mini-vacation

Tomorrow, after work, I'm headed up to Corvallis, where I'll be spending the night with an "old college friend" (can't believe I'm saying that). Then, I'll meet with a professor the next afternoon to talk about grad school, research, and all that nerdy sot.

Thursday night, I'll end up in Portland somewhere (likely crashing on a couch or floor at good ol' Pacific University), and I'll enjoy a nice morning in the Grove before heading back to GB to finish out my last week of port sampling and my last two weeks of motel.

I'll be leaving GB on Oct 9th via Ashland (for the Shakespeare Festival -- I'll be going to Twelfth Night), and I'm not sure when I'll be back up in Seattle. I'm toying around with the idea of visiting Crater Lake or doing something touristy in southern Oregon, because I have no clue when I'll be back here again (unless, of course, I end up falling in love with OSU).

Posting may or may not be even more sporadic than my laziness here in Gold Beach, but I'll schedule something to go up tomorrow so everyone has something to read.

Is this telling me something about grad school?

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Thanks

for all the support from everyone. I think I emailed/called everyone back, and I'm sorry if I missed you. I thank everyone for the overwhelmingly positive (with one exception) response to my post. The post itself turned out more melodramatic than I intended, but everything is working itself out well. I started out the post with the intention of pointing out that there are those in this world who are callers and those who are callees, and I'm sick of being the caller all of the time; however, I let my emotions run away with me a little. Now that things are settling down, I'll just try and be more diligent about finding people to contact before I let myself feel lonely again.

Strangely enough, even people who don't read my blog randomly contacted me today. One friend emailed me and asked me to call this weekend when I got a chance. How serendipitous. It's kind of like the cosmos decided people should contact me.

In any case, I will just be grateful that I have more friends than I realized. Thank you, internet people, for being great e-friends that will hopefully someday become great friends in general.