(no subject)
I've been meaning to post for awhile since there's been a lot going on. However, I haven't really had time to, since there's been a lot going on. Funny how that works.
June 3rd was our wedding anniversary. We toasted to a year of being happily married with no one sleeping on the couch, except some guests. Because the 3rd was a weekday, we didn't do very much that evening and we spread some of the celebrating over a few days. Made some tasty peanut buttery brownies one day, went out for a walk together and ordered in pizza another, etc. It was nice, though not what we had intended. We had thought we might go out for dinner, but all sorts of stuff kept coming up.
Last weekend was a cousin's wedding in Cincinatti. We had a lot of fun there. Perhaps the best part was getting to swing dance with Gabe on a real dance floor instead of our kitchen. We also participated in some Lithuanian wedding traditions. The main one was being part of a fake wedding party that claims the hall, the head table, the DJ, etc. are all for their wedding. This fake wedding party refuses to leave until properly bribed, that is, until they are given some alcoholic beverage. Furthermore, this fake wedding party is dressed up very shabbily. Sometimes they even cross-dress, but there was a request that we not do that. Thus, I was in scrubs and a very ripped up tie-dye. Gabe wore one of my shirts, which was very tight on him and kind of too short, some cargo shorts and Groucho Marx glasses with nose and mustache.
While in Cincinatti we did some other stuff too, like go to the Bodies exhibit and cross over into Kentucky for breakfast one day. We also had some Graeters icecream. I guess they're really big locally and I must say I certainly enjoyed their icecream. Our travel was pretty smooth both to and from. Much appreciated.
Yesterday I had a performance with "Sodauto", a Lithuanian ethnographic ensemble (that is, we sing traditional Lithuanian songs, play and dance traditional dances, and dress in traditional costumes). It wasn't a very long performance, but I think it went well. I had a good time and Gabe claims it sounded good, so hurray! The other perk of this is that maybe my life will get a little calmer for a bit now. I think I've gotten past most of the performances and rehearsals for a few months. I enjoy the rehearsals and performances, but let's face it, it's nice being at home too.
The week was rather calm at work, though that didn't necessarily mean it went that well. I have Western blot woes, for those of you out there who know what I'm talking about. Basically, it's a procedure used to see protein levels in cells by transfering the protein to a membrane and probing with an antibody. You then visualize it and thicker, larger bands mean more protein, whereas an absence of a band or a faint band means the protein levels are lower. Part of the reason the week was light was that my postdoc is preparing for her maternity leave. She's due July 2nd and in case the baby comes early, she wants to be sure there's some sort of outline for me to follow. On top of that she's working on a paper and other bureaucratic stuff associated with the lab. This coming week should be busier for me. Perhaps the other reason the week seemed light was that I have an undergrad helping me. She's been working with my postdoc for a long time, but it's somewhat off and on. Because she wants to do well in classes she often doesn't come in during term, or comes in only a few hours once or twice a week, but nothing regular. It's really nice having her around these days; everything goes much faster. I hope I'm a good supervisor for her. I do my best to give her a variety of things to do so it's not always the same thing.
In sad news, my laptop's battery seems to have died. We looked into this some more. It seems Dell no longer makes my computer model, and thus the battery is also no longer really readily available. This fact makes getting one more expensive than I think most batteries would be. Furthermore, we looked at user ratings of my battery and it seems this particular battery has turned out to be crap, so it makes us hesitant to go and purchase a new one if it will just be another crappy battery that will die promptly after the warranty on it is up. We'll see. Of course, my laptop works fine when it's plugged in, so I still have a computer, it's just no longer portable. :(
Anyway, today is a busy day, complete with household chores, visiting family and some work related stuff. So, back to work!
June 3rd was our wedding anniversary. We toasted to a year of being happily married with no one sleeping on the couch, except some guests. Because the 3rd was a weekday, we didn't do very much that evening and we spread some of the celebrating over a few days. Made some tasty peanut buttery brownies one day, went out for a walk together and ordered in pizza another, etc. It was nice, though not what we had intended. We had thought we might go out for dinner, but all sorts of stuff kept coming up.
Last weekend was a cousin's wedding in Cincinatti. We had a lot of fun there. Perhaps the best part was getting to swing dance with Gabe on a real dance floor instead of our kitchen. We also participated in some Lithuanian wedding traditions. The main one was being part of a fake wedding party that claims the hall, the head table, the DJ, etc. are all for their wedding. This fake wedding party refuses to leave until properly bribed, that is, until they are given some alcoholic beverage. Furthermore, this fake wedding party is dressed up very shabbily. Sometimes they even cross-dress, but there was a request that we not do that. Thus, I was in scrubs and a very ripped up tie-dye. Gabe wore one of my shirts, which was very tight on him and kind of too short, some cargo shorts and Groucho Marx glasses with nose and mustache.
While in Cincinatti we did some other stuff too, like go to the Bodies exhibit and cross over into Kentucky for breakfast one day. We also had some Graeters icecream. I guess they're really big locally and I must say I certainly enjoyed their icecream. Our travel was pretty smooth both to and from. Much appreciated.
Yesterday I had a performance with "Sodauto", a Lithuanian ethnographic ensemble (that is, we sing traditional Lithuanian songs, play and dance traditional dances, and dress in traditional costumes). It wasn't a very long performance, but I think it went well. I had a good time and Gabe claims it sounded good, so hurray! The other perk of this is that maybe my life will get a little calmer for a bit now. I think I've gotten past most of the performances and rehearsals for a few months. I enjoy the rehearsals and performances, but let's face it, it's nice being at home too.
The week was rather calm at work, though that didn't necessarily mean it went that well. I have Western blot woes, for those of you out there who know what I'm talking about. Basically, it's a procedure used to see protein levels in cells by transfering the protein to a membrane and probing with an antibody. You then visualize it and thicker, larger bands mean more protein, whereas an absence of a band or a faint band means the protein levels are lower. Part of the reason the week was light was that my postdoc is preparing for her maternity leave. She's due July 2nd and in case the baby comes early, she wants to be sure there's some sort of outline for me to follow. On top of that she's working on a paper and other bureaucratic stuff associated with the lab. This coming week should be busier for me. Perhaps the other reason the week seemed light was that I have an undergrad helping me. She's been working with my postdoc for a long time, but it's somewhat off and on. Because she wants to do well in classes she often doesn't come in during term, or comes in only a few hours once or twice a week, but nothing regular. It's really nice having her around these days; everything goes much faster. I hope I'm a good supervisor for her. I do my best to give her a variety of things to do so it's not always the same thing.
In sad news, my laptop's battery seems to have died. We looked into this some more. It seems Dell no longer makes my computer model, and thus the battery is also no longer really readily available. This fact makes getting one more expensive than I think most batteries would be. Furthermore, we looked at user ratings of my battery and it seems this particular battery has turned out to be crap, so it makes us hesitant to go and purchase a new one if it will just be another crappy battery that will die promptly after the warranty on it is up. We'll see. Of course, my laptop works fine when it's plugged in, so I still have a computer, it's just no longer portable. :(
Anyway, today is a busy day, complete with household chores, visiting family and some work related stuff. So, back to work!