Dusting off the blog

Well, I've been silent for awhile now and while I'm getting lots of work done in lab, I miss the blogging community a lot. So, I'm dusting off the blog and sweeping the cobwebs out of the corners. I'm not going crazy with it, though. My current goal is one post a week. If I can manage that then I'll feel like I'm doing okay.

So, what have I been up to? Lab. That's pretty much it. Oh, every once in awhile I do necessary things like laundry and washing dishes, but mostly, I'm just in lab. It's enough to drive anyone crazy. So far, I'm holding on to my sanity by the skin of my teeth, but I am still holding on to it! Last weekend (Aug 16 and 17) I was in Iowa for my nephew's first birthday. I cannot believe it's been a year already. I still remember the seemingly endless waiting for the phone call from my mom to tell me my sister had gone to the hospital. Where does all the time go? Well, we celebrated his birthday with a cookout at a park and then the next day went to the Iowa State Fair and saw all manner of farm animals (and even petted a few--hey, does anyone out there know why they shave llamas to look like poodles?) and prize-winning dahlias and ears of corn. I ate a footlong corn dog, a funnel cake, some ice cream, a honey stick, a hard-boiled egg on a stick (given away for free at some booth), a real lemonade, and a strawberry smoothie. Yum! We saw the butter cow (life-sized cow carved out of butter) and the butter Shawn Johnson (she's from Iowa) and an ice-sculpture carving demonstration. And contrary to normal state fair weather it was actually pleasant out and we didn't go home hot and sweaty and on the verge of a heat stroke. I wish John could have been with me. I think it would be fun to drag his city boy ass all over the state fair and make him look at 1200 pound pigs.

Speaking of John, right now, I'm sitting on my balcony in California. I came here just as soon as I got back from Iowa. I needed a break from lab in the worst way (I believe I told my advisor, "I need a break or I'm going to shoot someone.") so I decided to take a total of 10 days and go to Iowa and then California. I'm hoping it's my last big break before the final push to get everything done in lab. We'll see how it goes. My labwork has been giving me fits and I've spent the last three months troubleshooting an experiment that used to work before the Powers That Be took away one of my resources and turned the space into an office. I'd like to find the bureaucrat who thought that was a good idea and tell him a thing or two.

So, I've spent the last several days in California knitting and shopping and going to craft stores and swimming the pool at the apartment complex. Can't wait until I get to do this full-time!