Skating, showers, spring, Santino & swans
- Jimmy and I went ice skating a couple weeks ago with a bunch of folks from his new lab. I started out with figure skates, but kept catching the darn toe pick on the ice and nearly falling on my face. I guess the months of rollerblading has had an effect on my ability to skate with figure skates! So I switched to hockey skates and had a blast. In fact, we had so much fun we decided to invest in hockey skates for ourselves. We found some on eBay, and we are now the proud owners of our very own skates. Skating, anyone?

- I went to Chicago last Saturday for a baby shower for our friend Ginny. She and her husband have picked out a Classic Pooh theme for their nursery - so cute! We had tea at the Drake. I'd never actually been there before - it was really nice. Good tea & sandwiches and it was great to see all sorts of people that I haven't seen since we moved.

- Spring has sprung! My favorite time of the year has arrived, complete with pouring rainstorms. Wednesday night, we were watching the Project Runway finale and it was raining so hard that we had to turn the TV up. The finale, BTW, proved that we are definitely not good judges of high fashion. We loved Santino's collection and hated Chloe's. We didn't understand how Chloe's stuff, which we had liked all season, could have suddenly become so bizzare. On the other hand, we really liked Santino's dresses, and unlike the judges, thought that a more mature Santino was a good thing.

After the finale, it was still pouring rain and Violet was sacked out on the couch, but we had to take her out for a walk. The poor puppy kept giving me disgruntled looks while we were walking and trying to huddle into my legs, as if to say "Why did you wake me up and make me go out in this?" She hates water so much that she had to look where she stepped every time, so that she wouldn't accidentally step in a puddle. Poor little doggy.

- Yesterday, Violet and I saw some swans out on the pond by our apartment while we were walking. She was intrigued and wanted to investigate them, but I managed to convince her that swans could totally kick her butt.

- OK Troy, we blogged. Please don't put us on hiatus :)

Best. Husband. Ever.
Just a note to say acknowledge how wonderful my husband is for sending me flowers and a teddy bear - to the office in Chicago - for Valentine's Day, since we had to be apart. :)

Things that rock... and things that suck
Now Playing: Olympics!
Things that rock:

1) Olympic women's hockey in HD - all day, baby! The U.S. women's team just finished demolishing the Swiss team, despite a crazy number of penalties. Next up: Canada vs. Italy.

2) CBC's live Olympic coverage. When will NBC learn this lesson? I just don't understand. I mean, it's Saturday. I want to camp out in front of the TV and watch some Olympics. NBC owns, what, five networks? And only two of them are showing live action, and not simultaneously. Come on. Although, CBC is fun - I love the Canadian commercials.

Things that suck:

1) Forgetting that there's a frozen-over puddle on my normal dog-walking route (because the puddle is covered in just enough snow to make it invisible). Stepping on said puddle. Falling on one's butt, and jamming one's left arm. Ah well. I guess the good thing was that I was wearing gloves, so I didn't scrape my hand up, just bruised it.

2) Our blogging habits. Yes, we stink. We promised a vacation recap that never came. No excuses.

General notes: We've both been working pretty much non-stop on various projects. Jimmy's actually doing experiments again, and I've been loading data into our new software at work (yes, that's exactly as fun as it sounds). We're taking the day off, and celebrating Valentine's early tonight at a really nice restaurant in A2.

Amusement
Mood:  caffeinated
Last night at home, Kathleen was watching "Beauty and the Geek 2" on the WB. The challenge for the women (good looking idiots that they are) was to basically take a computer out of the box, assemble it, turn it on and log onto the net, download a song, yada yada yada. So, as they all take the computer components out and begin trying (most of them, in vain)to assemble the machines, Kathleen screams in exasperation ,"The connections and cables are COLOR-FRICKING-CODED!!!!!"

I almost fell off the couch laughing...

We're back
Actually, we got back Monday night, and have both been sick ever since. A real odyssey summation post is coming soon, we swear.

A belated Happy New Year to all!

Holiday Odyssey, days three and four
Christmas was one of the most enjoyable we’ve had in recent years. We slept in a bit in the hotel room, and then headed over to Jimmy’s parents house around noon or so. After opening presents with Kathy, Mom, and Dad, we sat down to dinner- Violet went mildly nuts running around beneath the table looking for handouts. She decided that Jimmy’s dad had to be the softest touch, so she focused her attention on him for most of the meal. Eric, Kelly, and their daughter Amber showed up and we then opened some more presents within them. The balance of the day was spent playing games with Kathy, watching Veggietales, and cuddling with the puppy. Great, fun, relaxing day for all.

We dropped Violet off with Jimmy’s parents this morning, and are now packing up and getting ready to fly out to California. All in all, the trip is going quite well so far, and the travel weather for today looks like we won’t (hopefully) hit any snags.

So, hope everyone had a merry Christmas, and happy Hanukkah!

PS: Go Bears, your NFC North champions and holders of a first-round bye!!! And a shout-out to Noah Herron, even though he plays for the evil Packers, for his touchdown yesterday.

Holiday Odyssey, Days 1 and 2
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Seahawks vs. Colts
We are now sitting in our second hotel room (out of five total) in our 11-day holiday extravaganza. Violet has amazed us with her skills as a traveling dog- no whining, no going nuts, just sleeps the miles away in the back seat. She’s also loving the king-size beds in the hotel rooms, as they allow her to stretch out as far as possible without having to kick either of us out of bed.

It was great to see Jason and Lauren this morning as we were able to meet them for breakfast as we passed through Chicago on the way to Rock Island. The weather has been great, and having the X M r a d i o in the car helps the hours pass quickly. We were also able to see our friends Ginny and Robert before we left Ann Arbor- they stopped by our place briefly on their way from Chicago to Robert’s hometown near Detroit.

Tomorrow will be nice and relaxing, with no traveling and joining Jimmy’s family for Christmas day. Here’s to good food, watching little sisters opening presents, and the Bears obliterating the Packers!!!

Absolutely insane month... and more to come
Mood:  chatty
First, we must apologize for not blogging in a while. Here's the recap of our last three weeks:

Day before Thanksgiving: Got 5+ inches of snow in Ann Arbor. While being incredibly happy that we had booked our flight to San Diego for Thursday instead of Wednesday, were slightly fearful of back-up delays the following day.

Thanksgiving: Woke up at 3:30 a.m. ET to catch our flight to San Diego, connecting through Chicago. It was still snowing. The snow was blowing and drifting, making for fantastic driving conditions. Jimmy drove to the airport. A trip that normally takes about 15-25 minutes (depending on traffic) took 45 (thankfully, hitting the road at 4 a.m. Thanksgiving morning means that there's practical no traffic). Got on the plane to Chicago, and sat on the runway for an hour waiting to be de-iced. Luckily, we had planned a 2.5 hour layover in Chicago, so we made our connection in plenty of time and arrived in sunny SoCal on time. My brother picked us up at the airport and we immediately got Starbucks (after all, we had already been up for about 12 hours at this point). Had the big family Thanksgiving party. Then, our friends with families in SD came over and hung out until about midnight PT to sing Happy Birthday to me. We finally got to bed about 12:30 PT - a fun-filled 24-hour day.

Friday-Monday after Thanksgiving: We enjoyed SD, ate fish, went to the beach, had In-N-Out burgers, relaxed, tried to sleep in (darn jet lag), and spent a lot of time with friends and family. Monday night, we got back on the plane to Chicago and arrived at Midway about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Tuesday, 11/29: Checked into our hotel for a few hours of shut-eye - I had an 8 a.m. meeting in the office and Jimmy an 8 a.m. flight back to Detroit. Put in a full day at the office/lab. After work, I managed to convince our friends Jason & Lauren let me come over for dinner and to drive me back to the hotel by Midway (Thank you! Thank you!). Jimmy picked up Violet from his co-worker's house, where she had enjoyed a much more restful Thanksgiving than we did (and even made friends with J's co-worker's cat).

Wednesday, 11/30: I discovered that a very tired person should not attempt to go through turnstiles at the El with one's rolling carry-on bag. The bag got stuck, causing a bunch of commuters to hate me, and a CTA employee to have to rescue me. After another day in the office, took the train back to Ann Arbor and finally got to sleep in our own bed.

Thursday & Friday, 12/1-2: I worked from home, as usual, and on Friday was finally starting to feel a little more normal.

Saturday & Sunday, 12/3-4: I put up our Xmas decorations, watched some football and relaxed.

Monday & Tuesday, 12/5-6: Back to work.

Wednesday, 12/7: Worked, then I got on the train to Chicago.

Thursday, 12/8: In Chicago; went to lunch with Troy, Eulalia & Will at Chipotle, where one of the staff members developed a liking for Will or E & we all got free chips & guac!

Friday, 12/9: Office holiday party - sorry, no nearly getting killed at a bar stories this year. We had dinner at Parthenon in Greektown, which was really good, and then went to Duggan's until about 2.

Saturday, 12/10: I tried to sleep in this a.m., but ended up waking up a few times and having to force myself to go back to sleep. Checked out of the hotel and came to the office, where I'm now typing this exceedingly long entry. Now I'm about to head over to Union Station and hop the train back to Ann Arbor - and I'm definitely ready for two weeks without any travel. But we're back on the road on 12/24 for our Xmas trip - which should put Thanksgiving to shame by sheer complexity.

Anyways, it was wonderful to see everyone that we got to see over the past three weeks, and while I'm ready for a break, the various trips were all worth it.

Random observations
As I look out the window in my lab, I see that it's snowing lightly while the sun shines brightly in a partly cloudy sky. Oh how I love this goofy Midwest weather...

On another note, if any of you are ever tempted to apply for post-graduate funding, be forewarned that the applications are royal pains in the you-know-what. Guess what I'm working on right now....;)

One week until we head out to SD for Thanksgiving. Figures that the temperature here had to drop to highs in the 30s just so I can get used to the cold before heading out to 70 degree SoCal. Of course, life must be pretty good if I have to complain about flying out to sunny California :)

28 Degrees!
Well, it's officially winter in my book. I saw flakage this morning while walking to the office, and it's pretty darn chilly outside. Here's hoping it doesn't start really snowing and cause me to have another 12-hour train ride back to A2 from Chicago (at least I have business class this time).

A2 was under a tornado watch last night, but it looks like the storms stopped south of Michigan. Phew.

It was great to see folks yesterday - thanks again. While at dinner, the topic of Radiothon arose - Radiothon's turning 18 this year! Who's up for descending on Radiothon 18 and scaring the undergrads? I think I'll be in Chicago.