penn

to all my west coast readers (probably most of you)

I can't believe all the snow over there! I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous; I came to Michigan expect snow and a real winter, and it's been downright balmy here. It's been in the mid-50s to low-60s all week long. I'm sure I'll regret wishing for winter this weekend when the temperature drops to the 30s; perhaps we'll join Seattle in the snowy times.

I hope all of you are staying safe despite the snowy weather. Enjoy what comes rarely over there!

Quick thought on working out

xkcd has a great comic that embodies my thoughts on working out. I am completely more inclined to work out when I am awarded points or can keep track of workouts somehow. At the Y, I used a fitlinxx point system that awarded me a score based on weight lifted and amount of time exercised. It was completely gratifying to watch my points accumulate.

I should work out some sort of record keeping method to use here, because I think that would help me improve my workout. Plus, I've got to start practicing statistics for a class I'm taking next semester (taking intermediate stats when I haven't had intro stats), and it would be good to use data I collected on myself.

Is buying a house really that hard?

When I decided to go to grad school, my parents got all excited about potentially finding me a house. My older brother bought two houses when he went to grad school (a duplex and a fourplex), and he rents out almost all of that. It's worked out well for him, so they told me I should consider the same.

I ultimately decided to live with housemates instead of finding my own place. Part of it was a time factor; I didn't want to spend a bunch of time flying to Ann Arbor to find and close on a house. The other part of it is a social factor. Sometimes, I have a hard time meeting new people, and I thought it would be nice to live with people who weren't in my program.

I am a unique flower

So I'm redacting my name. I figure it might be a good move . . .

If you go to How Many of Me?, you'll notice that there is only one "Leah [B]" in all of the USA. I'm sure that means there is also only one Leah [complicated last name, replace by initials PB]. There are a few more Leah [P] out there, so perhaps it's good that [B] is my legal last name

I realize now that I've never explained my name on this blog, so a short bit on that will be below the cut for those that are interested.

Reason # 6572555 that I miss the west coast

No toll roads.

I paid $10 in tolls to get to Pittsburgh today. The toll roads definitely increase the cost of my vacation. I'm really thankful right now that my car gets great gas mileage; the 5 hour trip only ate up about 3/4 of my tank, and that includes some stop and go driving.

I got a bit lost in Pittsburgh (I swear, I need a copilot -- I'm good at directions except when I'm driving), but I made it safe and sound to my friend's house. We've spent the evening playing video games, and now I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow looks like video games and more video games. I love being a nerd :-)

Dove ad

I'm not normally a big fan of commercials, but this Dove ad caught my eye.

It's nice to know that we can acknowledge manufactured beauty. Unfortunately, just recognizing it does very little to stop people from feeling inferior. Yes, it takes lots of makeup to make the beautiful people we see on billboards. But how do we translate this into real world action? What should we do as a society to encourage people to embrace the natural beauty (no manipulation, no futzing, no makeup) present in the human form?

Future Travel Plans

For starters, I'm going to Pittsburgh this weekend. I'm more excited than I should be for just visiting Pittsburgh, but I'm also going to see an old friend, and that should be lots of fun. I don't think I'll do much sight-seeing; the purpose of this visit is to play video games, gossip, and just generally act like we're still in middle school.

I'll be heading home to Seattle for Christmas. I've only got 10 days off, but I plan to make the most of those ten days. Again, ridiculously excited. I miss the west coast.

Speaking of missing the west coast, my latest "spring" break plan is to fly back to Seattle again. Since our spring break is at the end of February, the weather still won't be great, but I bet it will be warmer than Michigan in February. My idea is to stay at home for a day or two then drive down to Oregon to see people. I've got lots of friends down there still, and it'd be nice to see them again. Who knows when I'll have another chance to get to Oregon?

After that, I have no clue when my next break will be. It all depends on what kind of research I do. If I work with wood frog tadpoles, I should be done by mid-July. However, I might find other things to do that will occupy my time out in the field (I'm thinking of study dispersion of the adults. Rough, but important). I might get a week or two off at the end of August. I'm thinking either road trip or a flight to New Mexico; I've never been to NM, and I'd love to visit April.

Next Thanksgiving, I'm going to Spain. Not sure how that will work, but I will be there.

I love to travel, and that's the one major bummer of the grad school schedule. We really don't get chunks of time off. Still, there's a few weeks here and there, and I hope to make the most of it all. I get itchy feet when I stay in the same place all the time. I'm dying to use my passport again; maybe one of these days, I'll take a jaunt up to Canada. It's only an hour away from here. No clue what I'd do there, but at least I'd be going.

Another Short Update

I've started working out again. I won't bore people here with exhaustive details of my workouts, but I'm happy to be going to the gym.

Other than that, it's mostly all homework here. I played some video games this weekend, and I slept in.

So, yes, things are still very busy, and I apologize that I'm not blogging more often.

A little bit of breathing room

Today, I submitted my proposal for the National Science Foundation pre-doctoral fellowship. I only have a small chance of getting it, but that's no reason not to apply. For the last two weeks (especially this past week), I've been breathing this fellowship proposal. I've put a lot of time into it (best estimate: 20 some hours). Mostly, I've done a whole bunch of reading and thinking.

It's done now.

Of course, it's far from perfect, but I did the best I could considering I had two pages to outline a significant new research idea.

I'm going to continue to refine this idea during this semester, and I might just do part of the project this next summer for my research.

To celebrate being done, I've had a bit of a relaxing night. I went out with some friends. Then, I came home and (1) played some video games, (2) watched a bit of TV, (3) did laundry, and (4) cleaned some of my room.

As a special treat, I also put up some Halloween pictures. There's a few under the cut, and the rest of them can be found in my flickr Halloween(s) set.

I Voted

A few months ago, I registered to vote here in Michigan. In retrospect, I kind of wish I had asked for an absentee ballot from Washington instead of registering here; I don't think I knew enough about the issues or the candidates, so I practically voted straight party line.

Still, I voted. I made my voice heard. I was prepared for all kinds of trouble at the polls, since I haven't yet gotten a state issued ID (I know, I know! I've been so busy). However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they accepted my UMich ID as a voting credential, and no one was at the polls to challenge my eligibility. I also got in and out in about fifteen minutes, so that was nice too.

Glad to know I've done my minimum civic duty for the year. Some year, I'd like to help on a proposition campaign so that I can feel more civically involved.

visual proof: