The Word is Officially Out...

So, I guess the word is officially out: I got accepted into the PhD program at Montana State University. When I posted it on facebook, I did not expect to get so many comments! When I originally found out that I got in, I didn't tell anyone except my parents. I had a test the next day and was a little shocked about really getting in. I'm still not sure if I will go, but it's looking better and better. But moving all the way up north? That's probably what scares me the most. Cold winters, no wide open spaces, not knowing ANYONE (well, other than my parents fly-fishing guide and his family, but I've never officially met him). But it's an adventure, and at this time of my life, I'm in the perfect position for one. Anyway, no decision will be made until I go see the school, which I'm hoping will be done soon. My dad is going to fly up there with me, since Bozeman is one of his favorite places. I'm so nervous, and excited, and scared, and ready!

The kitten is getting into trouble a lot lately... If he's not rubbing up against my new, black sweater and leaving white hair on it, he's knocking everything off my cabinets in my teeny tiny kitchen. And in the mornings? If I'm not up when he is, he will either sit on my chest and purr (and he purrs LOUD), poke at my face with his paws, or lay on my pillow wrapped around my head and purr and breathe on my face. Kitten, it's Saturday morning, meaning I can sleep in! grrr.... But he's so cute when he does it, I can't help but love him more, even if I end up a little sleep deprived.

Chillin' out on his usually spot on my bed.

Okay, enough procrastinating. I have a ton of things to do today. Go to lab and check that my experiment went well, work on the graphs and figure legends for my thesis, work on actually writing my thesis, and clean. I usually keep my apartment semi-picked up, but with people coming over to my place next weekend, I want it to be spotless. Ha! Like that'll actually happen. Worth a shot, though.

Everyone enjoy this beautiful Sunday, and I'm off to get work done!

-amyg

love, Love, LOVE

So, I'm in a loving mood, for some odd reason. I survive today, which may be why. It wasn't a bad day today, but when you stay up late reading, and then when the contacts don't work, it leads to a potential not good day. But I did manage to get some studying in, Thank Goodness! I have a test on Wednesday, the first one since this past summer. And it's multiple choice. Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't had a multiple choice test that really counted since, well, when I was an underclassman in undergrad. So, I'm nervous. Multiple choice tests scare me. I know it sounds weird, but I LOVE essays. You can get partial credit, and can draw pictures to explain your answer. Multiple choice to me is, well, multiple guess. So wish me luck.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. My sister and I went and saw When in Rome, which was too cute! I actually had a good day yesterday. I got some letters sent to my friends, and got some in return. I don't know about you , but I LOVE getting snail mail! It makes me feel special that someone took time out of their busy schedule (and who DOESN'T have a busy schedule?) to think about writing a letter to me and actually sent me one. So it makes me happy!

Another thing I LOVE, my kitten! I just did dishes, after I had to buy a new sponge. My last one got stolen by the kitten, and I have yet to find it. Along with one zebra skin ballet flat. I've looked in my closet, and under my bed, and in the cat's toy box. Cannot find either. Anyway, I just sat down in my chair and the kitten nudged the computer out of the way, curled up where it was, and feel asleep. So now I am trying to type with my elbow over the kitten with his head resting on my wrist. A little difficult to type, but so cute!


LOVE my kitten!














On the list of things I LOVE, I'm super excited one of my best friends is coming to visit me. We've been trying to plan a time to get together, but nothing has worked out. Even our New Years Eve 'party' hasn't happened (yet, who says it actually has to be new years to get together?). But we're planning on her coming to stay with me next weekend, and we'll get to have our get together with the guys in Dallas (hopefully, we haven't asked them yet), and, most excitingly, we are planning to go see Phantom of the Opera. Yay! I love the movie. When I went to see the play in New York years ago, I had bad seats and didn't enjoy it much. But this time I am determined to get good seats and enjoy. I'm super excited.

So, that's my LOVE for the day (in this blog, anyway). I need to go study a little more before class tomorrow and the review that is to follow. Wish me luck on my test, I think I'll need it!

-amyg



London, first time in the snow!
















So much snow in one day! It was amazing! You can already see how much snow has fallen, and this was only midday. A lot more snow fell!














An old picture. I was leaving him for a couple of nights. I know he was saying 'Take me, Mom!' He also has a fascination with my suitcases and bags. I constantly find him in them.

















At my parents house. My kitten London, and my brothers monster, Cabela, sizing each other up. London totally won.

Snow, Snow, Snow, and Experiments...

So, here in Fort Worth, we are getting real, actual snow. I'm just as surprised as anyone else. Yesterday the weather forecast said we would, but, especially after asking my friends, I didn't believe we would really get any snow. Boy, was I wrong! However, school was not canceled for me. I had class at 10am this morning. Surprisingly enough, my instructor ( the dean of my apartment, wow) got a call in the middle of class saying that the school would shut down at noon. Well, lucky me, my class ended at noon. Lucky me. And then it took me FOREVER to drive back to my apartment, because nobody would go above thirty! Yes, it makes sense, but for someone like me, who usually goes fifty (as does the rest of the cars I usually travel with) going thirty was not my idea of fun. And then I found out that tonight it is supposed to freeze major, so they are anticipating shutting down the school tomorrow. Umm... I have a MAJOR experiment planned for tomorrow! My mice are infected, I cannot wait a day or three. It HAS to be done tomorrow. So, not only do I get to brave the icy roads tomorrow, so does Tim (my lab mate) or Rance (my PI, or primary investigator, or BOSS) to help me. Great... just what I was looking forward too... Hopefully, the experiment won't take too long, and I can get the data I need quickly, so nobody has to stay longer than expected. Hopefully.

Until then, I plan on enjoying my new show, Leverage, which is super awesome, until I plan on an early night. And this weekend, I plan on hanging out with close friends, especially since I don't have my own Valentine's. However, I expect that all my friends and comrades who do have one, they better enjoy it, majorly! And that's an order!

;p

-amyg

100 Books Everyone Needs to Read

Another List! Books that BBC says that everyone needs to read. Here is goes!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen I want to, and I've started it, but haven't had time to finish

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien Yes, and not really my favorite books... so hard to read!

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte yes

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling Duh!

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee I love this book!

6 The Bible yep!

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte a long time ago...

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell nope

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman nope

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens yep, every single word, which he was paid by

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott I love this book

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy nope

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller nope

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare not the COMPLETE works, but some of them

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier nope

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien after trudging through the lord of the rings? I couldn't make myself do it.

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk no

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger no

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger a great book, the movie didn't do it justice

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot no

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell nope

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald yep

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens nope

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy isn't this one of the longest books ever?

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams I saw the movie, and it was weird...

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh nope

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky no

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck nope

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll no

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame nope

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy nope

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens nope

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis yep!

34 Emma - Jane Austen no

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen no

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis isn't this part of the chronicles of narnia

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini no

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres no

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden yep!

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne no

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell yep

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown yep

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez no

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving no

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins no

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery no

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy no

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood no

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding yep

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan no

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel no

52 Dune - Frank Herbert no

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons no

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen no

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth no

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon no

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens no

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley no

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon no

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez no

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck no

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov no

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt no

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold no

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas love it!

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac no

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardyno

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding no

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie no

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville no

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens no

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker no

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett yep

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson no

75 Ulysses - James Joyce no

76 The Inferno - Dante no

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome no

78 Germinal - Emile Zola no

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray no

80 Possession - AS Byatt no

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens no

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell no

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker no

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro no

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert no

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry no

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White yes

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom yes

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle no

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton no

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad no

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery yes

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks no

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams no

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole no

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shuteno

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas no

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare no

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl yes

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo I've seen the play!



Well, I haven't read as much as I thought I had. Whoops.

I was going to write about my weekend from, well, I won't say it. But it was interesting and stressful, and, well, that's all I will say.

Anyway, enjoy my list!

-amyg

100 Skills Everyone Should Master

hmmm... so, my good friend Jenny Nikki posted, and insisted I did as well. So here it is! Nothing new here. I finally got my applications into some schools to see if I can get into a PhD program. I'm about a semester away from my masters, and although I'm extremely excited about it, I know there is a lot of work to do before I can get that degree. A LOT of work. And that is stressing me out a little. But my goal is to take it one day at a time. It's all you can do, right?

Anyway, I found this list on a website yesterday (courtesy of http://mightygirl.com/2009/12/30/100-skills-everyone-should-master/), so I thought I would go through it and see what all I have done. Hmmmm... let's find out, shall we?

1. Set goals - Yep, I've done this!
2. Keep a plant alive - Oh, no! I fail miserably at this! I can't even keep the unkillable plants alive!
3. Care for a baby - Does babysitting count? Because I am WAY far away from doing this myself!
4. CPR - I've always wanted to get certified...
5. Feel confident naked - ummm, sure?
6. Interview for a job - I've done this, but as a skill? Mostly I feel like I rely on luck...
7. Bake a birthday cake - Yes! For every family member. Ask my sister how her cake turned out this year. Quite good if I say so myself!
8. Use a fire extinguisher - I've never used one, but I know HOW to use one, and that's important
9. Use a compass - Hey, I was a girl scout once!
10. Express condolences - Yeah, but there's really no comment on this
11. Tell a joke - I might be terrible at it, but I've done it!
12. Remember names - uh.... yeah, I'm kinda bad at that.
13. Sharpen a knife - With very bad consequences. Needless to say, I'm not allowed to play with sharp objects.
14. Dump a poisonous friend - I have never dumped a friend. Maybe backed away for awhile
15. Check your oil and tires - I know how to do this!
16. Relax/Meditate - ooohhhh, that's a hard one. My life is one big ball of stress!
17. Apologize - It might be hard to do, but it is an important skill
18. Be polite - I'm from the south, of course I know how to be polite!
19. Get a good night’s sleep - Again, hard to do when your life is stressful, but very rewarding when you get it!
20. Dress appropriately for the situation - I suck at this! But I'm learning to always over dress than under dress. Better to look nicer in the situation than like you don't care.
21. Type - I can type a mile a minute! Thanks to high school BCIS!
22. Fight fair - as in physically fighting? never really done that. But I'm sure I would fight fair. Wouldn't I?
23. Read - I love to read! It keeps me up way late at night, but totally worth it.
24. Ask for exactly what you want - It depends if it's worth it or not...
25. Trap a rat or mouse - eewww! I'm not sure I could do that. Though, I do work with mice, but those are clean mice. Trapping a wild mice? Do you know how many germs there might be on those things? eeewww!
26. Basic stretches and/or yoga poses - I know basic stretching thanks to 13 years of dance, but I would like to know some yoga poses...
27. Heimlich - Something I would like to learn to do properly
28. Please a partner sexually - yeah, no.
29. Tell your partner what you want in bed - Again, not happened yet.
30. Shine your shoes - No, but a lot of my shoes need it.
31. Make your case in writing - I don't think so. Unless it's my thesis, then yes, in what will be about 100 pages. Ugh, thinking about it makes me stressed.
32. Tie a scarf or tie (bowtie too) - I know how to do some tieing (spelling?) of scarfs. Thanks to the ladies who work for my dad at the hospital. They are super awesome!
33. Jump a car - Unfortunately I do know how to do this. My battery has suffered ever since...
34. Mix a signature drink - As in my own drink? No, but I make a mean margarita!
35. Delegate - somewhat.
36. Make a simple meal for company - I love doing this! I haven't done it in awhile, I should do it again...
37. Give a neckrub - No, it seems awkward to me.
38. Drive a stick - haha! Somewhat! My dad taught me, but I haven't done it in traffic or anything...
39. Ride a bike - Yes, and I fell off a lot. I have the scars to prove it.
40. Swim - I love to swim! Best thing there is! I took swimming lessons every summer I was a child, sometimes from 3 different places at once (maybe my parents were over-cautious?). It turned me into a water baby...
41. Use chopsticks - Yep, my friends wouldn't let me use a fork when we would go eat sushi...
42. Make a new friend - Everyone knows how to do this! right?
43. Build something simple - No, I'm not really sure I have...
44. Change a tire and put on snow chains - I know how to change a tire, though I've never done it myself. Same with snow chains. Though, if I move up north I might need to learn how...
45. Give a toast - No, I've never done that.
46. Make a perfect egg - I only like scramble eggs, but I can make those really well!
47. Speak in public - I'm in science, it's a skill I'm learning...
48. Improve your mood - From sad to happy? Nothing ice cream or a good friend can't fix!
49. Simple mending - Mending as in sewing? With my grandmother? I learned how sew on buttons, hem my jeans and pants (she stopped when I was 15. I can't help it if I'm short!), sew up holes, and even make my own pajama shorts and t-shirt quilts one of my biggest accomplishments!
50. Travel light - No, I can honestly say I cannot do this.
51. Steam vegetables - Yes, although I don't do it often.
52. Negotiate - I kinda suck at it...
53. Be a good listener - I would like to think I am...
54. Be alone comfortably - Yep!
55. Select good produce - I can do this, too...
56. Maintain your weight - Maintain, yes. Lose, no.
57. Build savings - You can't build savings if you don't get paid... sigh...
58. Say no/disappoint someone - Unfortunately...
59. Use a drill - I've never done it, but now I want to use one!
60. Flexibility in the face of the unexpected - Yep. Although I admit I'm stubborn, so it might take awhile...
61. Make small talk - Again, not too good at it...
62. Skip a rock - I have done it before, but I think luck was on my side...
63. Set personal boundaries - yes?
64. Organize your home - Eek! I would like to think I am kinda organized, but I always want to be more so. At least most of the time I can find everything. That's a plus.
65. Deliver a eulogy - No, I have not done this.
66. Shuffle a deck of cards - Yep!
67. Dance socially - Not really. Unless it's line dancing. Hey! I did say I was from the south...
68. Know a second language - I wish I did! My college roommate tried to teach me, but I only caught a few phrases.
69. Win the affection of a dog or cat - Of course! I DO have the best cat out there. Remind me, I need to include a picture...
70. Write a quality love letter - No
71. Play one card game well - Anyone want to challenge me in a game of Cribbage?
72. Eat healthfully - I'm working on this. I've done, well, not extremely well lately, but a lot better than before.
73. Create a budget - Yes, I do know how to do this. Although, Christmas threw me off, but I'm getting back on.
74. Take a decent photo - Yes
75. Order the wine - Uh... No, but I do give input when someone else orders.
76. Know what makes you happy - Mostly, but I think my list is growing
77. Flirt - Not well. It's a skill I might need to learn...
78. Make a good first impression - I hope I do.
79. Write a thank you note - Yes.
80. Find a perfect gift - Not often, but I love the rush when I do!
81. Assertiveness - It depends...
82. Arriving on time - Working on it...
83. Make a little kid laugh - I've done this!
84. Kiss well - Another skill I need to learn...
85. Make a good mix tape - Oh yes.
86. Tie basic knots - I can tie a mean square knot, again thanks to girl scouts...
87. Dress to flatter your shape - Again, working on it...
88. Build a campfire - Girl Scouts, remember?
89. Change the subject - Yes, although my friend says I don't do it well. I just think he doesn't follow with the conversation to begin with though...
90. Acquire or shed a habit - I'm working on getting rid of the nail biting thing. Such a bad habit!
91. Treat a hangover - To my credit, I've only been truly hungover twice or so, but this means that I don't really know how to treat one. Advil and water, right?
92. Be a good judge of character - I find I'm sometimes too critical at first glance. I'm working on it, because most people turn out way better than I give them credit for at first. Wow, that makes me sound like a not-so-good person...
93. Season a cast-iron skillet - As in you never, EVER put one in a dishwater, or wash one for that matter?
94. Give a compliment - Yes, I think I can do this.
95. Accept a compliment - I read somewhere that you should just say thank you, and not try to reflect it by saying something else or give a long explanation. I'm working on it.
96. Contribute in group situations - Depends on the group
97. Judge yourself by your own yardstick - Huh? If you're talking about judging myself, yes, I do do that.
98. Calculate the tip - Yes! I've successfully managed to figure it out! Math really isn't my strong point...
99. Ask for a raise - I need to work on getting paid first...
100. Build a shelter - I can set up a tent, does that count?

Other suggestions:

-Do a load of laundry - I think by graduate school everyone should know how to do this.
-Keep your living space clean - Hey! I'm working on it!
-Write legibly - Never going to happen.
-Choose a good mate - Working on it...
-Ask for help - Even though I am annoying because I ask too much, I feel it's better to be annoying but do it right the first time.

Wow, I can't believe I just went through that whole list. I think I did pretty good knowing how to do some of those things. lol.

Anyway, this was quite a long post for me. Enjoy it!

-amyg

My cute kitten, London! Here with the sister, right after I first got him. He is so adorable! And tiny here!

Here he is, asleep on my journal article that I needed to present the next day. I guess he decided I was paying more attention to that than to him... He still looks so tiny!

So, my teddy bear lost the fight. As usual...

Haha! Here he is wrapped up in my blanket. So cute!

So, I finally posted a few pictures of my cutest kitten. More pictures to come!

paper writing sucks...

paper writing sucks. enough said...

still here...

Post number 2! Amazed? So am I...

I guess it's been awhile since I've posted. Whoops... but really, nothing has happened since my last (first!) post. The monster is still cute most of the time. But I've really got to get him to stop chewing on my hands, and I don't know how. Any ideas would be welcome...

School is, well, school. I'm trying to write my research proposal, and it is definitely not as easy as I thought it would be. I've lost countless hours of sleep this week working on it. And, since I haven't had any experiments this week, I've banished myself to the other, smelly lab so I can write with, well, minimal at least, distractions. And I would like to think I've gotten a lot done. I guess I have, but it's still not completed, so I feel like I haven't done anything. But I promised the boss I would have a copy for him Monday. Then, I can give it to my committee members, set a date to present it to my committee members, and hopefully get it passed, before Christmas. Wow, I think my stress level just went up a million points (or, because I'm a nerdy scientist, 1x10^6).

Anyway, I'm off to look watch tv, and actually get some sleep tonight, because the rest of the weekend will be spent writing and prepping for experiments next week. Good thing I love doing what I do!

-amyg

ps- I guess I should say 'go frogs!' They are number 4 in the BCS ranking, and tomorrow's game will have ESPN's college game day broadcasting. So, go frogs!