Summer in the city

Oh man, summer on the East Coast kills me. I've had two miserable summers in Guelph, so this time I wangled an escape by staying in New Haven. But nope, it's just as gross weather-wise... although I'm definitely still much happier than I was in Guelph :)

I took a six-week sublet of a tiny little studio that is very close to work (and the gym), and MAN what a great idea. Not having the psychological barrier of having to wait for the shuttle or walk for 40 min makes it so easy to pop into work (or the gym) anytime I think of it. I'm getting a lot more done suddenly.

It also doesn't hurt in terms of productivity that both Helena and Rebecca are away visiting family. I have to say that it is very, very boring around here without them - but it is definitely an incentive to spend weekends in the lab. Not only is it air-conditioned, but what else am I going to be doing all by myself?!

The downside is getting enough sleep. It is SUPER hot and humid here (week-long 35C+ heat waves with 80-90% humidity) and my body just can't take it. My place does have a window A/C unit, but I am paying for my own electricity (and cheap, so don't want to run it much) and also too much A/C tends to make my throat hurt. In lieu of A/C at night, I keep the windows open (I have a corner unit, so it's a pretty good cross-draft) but that means the blinds are open over the windows so it's also really light in here. So, I've been waking up very early in the morning as soon as the sun is up.

Overall, though, the upsides of the move outweigh the downsides (I would have been dying in the heat on Nash St as well, and no A/C there!) If I was living in New Haven long term, Howe Street might be the place to be. True, it borders on the dodgy side of town (so far walking home have seen one car accident, one cyclist get hit by a car and two arrests) but the police are very active in patrolling this area and the headquarters of Yale security are here. And yeah, a lot more gymming and working are being done.

Anyway, two more weeks before I head out. I've finally finished data collection (!!!) - it took months longer than I had hoped, but that's research for you. The results are looking interesting. We should definitely be able to get a paper out of this one. There's a slight possibility we could even get two. I've started a new project with Helena too, to do with attentional bias to infant faces in parents. We've got it off the ground, and she will do the data collection while I will do the analysis from wherever I happen to be. It's been an interesting and fairly productive year, and to be honest it's also been a complete holiday. Being away from Guelph = no sitting through a million talks about rats (I've been to an equivalent number of talks, but on much more interesting topics), no students constantly wanting something, and no time being taken up by annoying departmental things. I just do my work quietly and then go home. This must be what having a sabbatical is like! Love it.

I had sort of planned to do some travel around the US with my last few weeks, but that was before Rebecca had to go home because of her mom's illness. I still could go by myself, of course, but summer is always tight money-wise, so am thinking maybe it's best just to sit tight unless something interesting comes up, and save my money for the UK trip in two weeks.

Reflections on a Pizza-Cone

Hmmmm. Just was looking through old photos of me on Facebook (sometimes I do this and wonder what someone who didn't know me would gather just based on these photos... which is less self-obsessed than it sounds because sometimes I do go through the photos of relative strangers and see what I can figure out about them. Oh social networking, life is so much easier now that I don't have to just casually peer through windows while out for a walk when I am curious about the lives of others).

Anyway, long asides aside, I saw the set of photos posted almost exactly a year ago, after I went to New York for the first time. In fact, I saw a picture of us with pizza cones, and only last weekend I saw that exact same shop (now closed, boo) because Helena and I hopped into the city on the weekend to check out the charity shops. And that is so weird. A year ago I spent 18 hours total in a car on a three-day weekend to head into NYC, and I had NO IDEA that 365 days later I could casually jump on a train and for 1.5 hours and $14 each way go to the city whenever I wanted. Amazing. Makes me wonder what this time next year will look like - barring disaster, it's not inconceivable that I could be finishing/finished and...??? Stuck in Guelph, off on a awesome postdoc, scampering off to Oxford? Who knows. Should be interesting to find out, though.

It also occurs to me that is it difficult to overstate how much happier I am this year. It's pretty tangible: 8 blog posts for all of 2010?! Yeah, that was not a good year. Couldn't even bring myself to write about it. Stuck in Guelph, very few people who genuinely cared about me in town, Ph.D. projects going incredibly slowly, being constantly abandoned by Guelph-based "friends"... awesome. Obviously nothing earthshattering or tragic, but it's pretty excellent to be living somewhere I enjoy (except for the stupid pollution - I have conjunctivitis to rival London, yuck. No contact lenses for me) and having ACTUAL care-about-me awesome friends, and fun work... it's amazing.

Yep, am really having a great time at work these days. Sad but true, Helena and I both spent the entire weekend in the lab (well, 1pm-6 or 7pm, anyway, both days). Got a couple of projects I'm keen to get moving, and some EEG data to analyze, and since both experiment design and data analysis are my idea of fun, had a pretty great weekend. Sad, but I gotta own my nerdiness since it sure ain't going away.

Up in the air as usual

Oh my goodness, just checked the family blog and choked on my spaghetti squash. Good lord, dad. And also, naked gardening sounds very uncomfortable.

Also sad to hear about the Slave Lake fire. I donated a bit to the Red Cross 'cause there's not much else I can do. Scary stuff.

Ironically, it's been pouring here for a week. I really wondered if we were going to get floods. I walked home from work yesterday, umbrella in hand, and was soaked to the skin by the time I was halfway home. I think the rain was hitting so hard it was bouncing off the umbrella and drenching me. Even my socks were wet - boots were still waterproof, but the water was leaching down through my jeans. Yikes.

Still no word on my visa, and starting to do the hamster-wheel thing in my head. Can't make summer plans unless I know how long I can stay in the US, but there's nothing I can do about it. Doesn't stop me constantly worrying at the problem, though, and trying to think of some way I can control it. The girl from OISS (Office of International Students and Scholars) has consistently ignored my emails, and now is out for a "family emergency". Her bounceback message referred me to another person in the office. That person has refused point-blank to help me, and said the original girl will sort me out when she gets back. Whenever that is. In the meantime, Del has booked a flight to New York for the end of June, so if I can't get back into the country to meet him I will be mad.

(The deal is: my visa currently ends June 30. I have a conference in Winnipeg June 24-26. I could re-enter as a tourist July 1, but am worried they would be suspicious of someone whose J-1 visa ended the day before and refuse me entry. Or I could come back in the last days of my visa, but again am worried what the customs people would have to say about that. I can extend the visa till July 18, but that would require the cooperation of OISS no-show girl. ARGH.)

Despite all this, I've set up a summer sublet anyway for July and the first bit of August (allowed to stay in the country for 30 days after my visa ends apparently - may as well get some thesis-writing done). It's a studio, small but in a secure building, right beside Helena's building. It's pretty cheap if I take it for only the six weeks and it's very conveniently located. Luckily they didn't want any money up front. In some ways staying at my current place would make more sense, but still grouchy about being left out of the conversation about the new housemate. She has arrived, by the way. She said she'd move in Friday at 4pm, and showed up Saturday night at midnight instead. Scared me half to death, since my housemate had gone to Cape Cod and I was NOT expecting someone to unlock the door at midnight. Good times.

Things otherwise about the same. Still having a jolly old time hanging around the Child Study Centre and feel pretty lucky about the whole thing. (I suppose it's really more of a hobby anyway, since I'm certainly not getting paid!) I analyzed the EEG data from my original experiment, but it looks like we just don't have enough power (there might be effects, but it's hard to see because the data are noisy because we don't have enough participants). Need to run some more people, but having trouble getting them in. However, I've been liasing with the new RA at Guelph, who is running some experiments for me there, and have been developing a new one to run at Yale as well, so one way or another should get some good data this summer. May as well take advantage of working somewhere that encourages productivity - summers in Guelph tend to be just Asma and I hanging around the lab, staring morosely at our computers.

Spring in New Haven is insane - millions of flowers on all the trees and petals everywhere. And pollen. I didn't think I got spring allergies, but I'm allergic to this town. My eyes have been itchy and sore for a month. Sure is pretty though.

Rodent of Unusual Size

Yikes! Just ran across what I can only imagine is an opossum while walking home. Like a giant white rat with a horrible naked tail. It was scraping through some leaves by the sidewalk. We scared each other and ended up in a standoff, staring at each other with nobody making a move. Finally I moved my foot and it ran off into the bushes.

Okay, just looked them up and the title is a misnomer, as apparently they are marsupials. Weird. And apparently if I had "threatened or harmed" him, he might have "played possum" and secreted a foul-smelling liquid from his anal glands. Awesome.

Learn something new every day.

Living in America is creepy.

In the last week, some poor bike mechanic got shot, and somebody opened fire at a gig. Suddenly pretty happy I went for the house in the "nicer" part of town. My housemate went on a Critical Mass ride in memory of the dead bike dude. He says the cycling community is pretty shook up.

However, luckily I pretty much work all the time, and our participants are unlikely to shoot us because being associated with the lab is pretty lucrative for them (longitudinal studies pay well and usually include travel costs, and you're guaranteed that money as long as you show up to be tested every six months). I've finally, FINALLY started testing and have two participants run, although not without a lot of drama. The first girl turned up with braids on Monday, meaning we were not able to fit the EEG cap on (it fits like a swim cap, so no room for giant bunches of hair). We rebooked her for Wednesday at 6pm, after she had taken her braids out, and her mom was there by 5.45. Said her daughter was on her way. 6.30, no sign of the kid. It's getting dark and mom is freaking out. 6.45, still no sign. Mom is calling every relative she can think of, but they won't pick up because they don't recognise the number. 6.50, kid finally appears. Luckily her hair is down. We run her anyway, since she seems up for it, getting the net on as quickly as humanly possible. Study ends, we pay the participant, and mom starts yelling - "What do you MEAN we don't get travel costs?!" eek.

Thursday, participant is half an hour late. No, make that an hour late. No, make that cancelled entirely. Rebooked for next week. Friday, I'm calling around trying to get people in for next week. Mom says her kid could come - if we can fit him in that day. Check the schedule, there's a tiny one-hour slot available in the testing room. Book him. Luckily he showed up braid-free (perfect hair actually: very short!) and was a nice, cooperative kid. However, the person who needed the room ahead of me ran late and so had to spend 15 minutes trying to make conversation with a taciturn adolescent. However, data is data.

I did make it out to a performance of the Bach mass in B Minor in support of Japan last night, though. We got there late and got pretty bad seats, but luckily could see the conductor, who was very entertaining. Complete with flying white hair and hopping on his toes and giant arm gestures. Everything was sung in Latin, so I was kind of losing focus until out of desperation I read the liner notes, which explained the similarity between Baroque architecture and music - both were obsessed with symmetry. It used the Palace of Versailles as an example. After that it was easier to know what I was listening to, and I was much less fidgety.

In other news, now that the snow has melted there are three blue jays, two robins and countless squirrels hanging out in my yard. Much more fun to watch them than do my marking, although I'm trying to make inroads. I have never encountered more whiny students than with this course. They seem to think that "Distance Ed" = "Don't have to work", and they send extremely nasty emails should they get a lower mark than they thought they should have. Highlights have included, "I don't know if you realize, but I'm a 90% student and you just gave me a 70%", and "I don't agree with the mark you gave me. I technically did the bare minimum requirements, so clearly deserve a high mark" and slagging me off in a series of public posts on the course forum, claiming I should not be doing the re-grades. Luckily the prof has supported me 100%, but it ain't the most fun I've ever had.

Ah well, it pays the bills... sort of.

Upheaval and drama!

Man, it's so nice living somewhere I don't hate, so that I actually feel like posting! This practicum was definitely a good call.

So, just to keep everything interesting, the drama has been ramped up even more this week. I moved into my place last Wednesday, not quite realizing that the previous occupants had no intention of moving out until the Friday. However, the room I was moving into was free and they gave me an air mattress, so fair enough. Except that it was so cold on that mattress that I couldn't sleep without wearing my hoodie and toque over my PJs and piling my coat on top to keep warm... brrr. The house was in total disarray because the previous people were, in theory, packing to move out. However, I wanted to give Helena back her space, so just put up with it.

By Friday, not very much was packed and NOTHING was cleaned. I was told that they were having a party that night at a local restaurant and would leave first thing Sat morning. Got home late Friday night to find that STILL nothing was packed. I did have a bed, though, in pieces on the bedroom floor. Dustin and Marshall (guy moving out) helped me set it up at about 1am. Apparently Cecelia, other person moving out, rolled in at 3am.

Not surprisingly, Saturday morning was hectic. Cecelia spent the morning haranguing Marshall while Marshall threw things in boxes. They packed Cecelia off on the train by noon and then Marshall was MIA for a few hours while Dustin and I attempted to shove some of the boxes out of the way so that new housemate Jeff could move his stuff in. And let me tell you, there were millions of them. When Marshall came back I tried to help him pack, only to be constantly corrected: "Oh wait, I had a plan for packing that. Hold on, those things shouldn't go together..." so I gave up.

At 4.30 pm, Dustin took me shopping outside of town (since it is not possible to buy useful things in New Haven*) and then I went out for dinner. When I returned at 9pm, Marshall was still packing. I heard him cleaning until about two in the morning. He asked very humbly if he could crash in the living room for one more night. Sunday, he dumped all the boxes in the basement, having realized that they would not fit in his car and asked if we'd mind if he came to pick them up later. Then he and his corgi left around noon.

Incredibly, I heard from Jeff that Marshall came BACK around 2pm to grab a few more things before starting the 6-hour drive back to his hometown.

This meant that Jeff and I couldn't get set up at the house until the work week started, and things are still kind of in disarray as there seems to be a lot of the previous occupants' stuff still around (fetus-shaped cookie cutter?!)

Meanwhile, I was at the lab quite a lot trying to get my experiment programmed. Was having a major problem getting the number of trials per condition to balance and was spending a lot of time working on it. I was testing it yet again when I heard from Del, in total shock, having suddenly been called into a room on a Friday morning, along with about twenty of his colleagues, and made redundant (laid off).

Heck of a week.

Del's had an interview within the first week, though, and some of his colleagues have already found jobs... good news there at least.

While all this was going on, we got about three feet of snow and then an ice storm on Tuesday. After the snowstorm, the city refused to plow our street because they told us it was too narrow. So Dustin ended up organizing the neighbours to spend the whole afternoon digging out the street with snow shovels so people could get their cars out! I walked to work and saw people on every street, trying to unearth their cars. Many of them were totally buried due to snow plow action. After the ice storm, they switched to attempting to knock the ice off by using various implements to whack their cars. It was crazy.

The ice storm made walking treacherous, but it made the trees all frosted and beautiful. I tried to take some cell-phone pics, but not surprisingly they did not come out all that wall. Nevertheless:





(Houses here tend to be insanely huge and gorgeous too. I almost moved into one with 11 bedrooms and a conservatory!)

Luckily Yale runs FREE shuttle buses every day, one of which runs two blocks from my place, so I can get around even if the sidewalks are icy. (Except that they are cancelled in the event of very bad weather, bah!)

In other news, I finally got my experiment program working, did behavioural pilot testing with three participants (it looks great!), got the EEG tags put in (had to get help with that one) that tell the EEG system when to start recording brain waves, and pilot tested the whole shebang on myself! The EEG setup they have here is pretty cool. It is a big translucent net containing electrodes, and you only need to add water (with salt and baby shampoo in it) to get them to conduct. When I think of all the time I spent at Bangor fiddling around with electrode gel and making people wash their hair in the lab... this is pretty awesome. Fingers crossed we can start participant recruitment soon.

* New Haven is what is referred to as a "Food Desert", apparently a common phenomenon in America. There are no grocery stores in the city. Zero. There was one, but it closed. There are a few insanely-priced gourmet shops, delis and Asian markets ($0.85 for ramen soup and $7 for frozen dumplings!) and the drugstores sell milk and bread, but apart from that you need a car. So, I am relying on the generousity of my housemate and one of Helena's friends to help me get groceries once in a while.

The ironic part is, if you want fast food or a restaurant, there are millions. (There's a Dunkin' Donuts practically every block!) But if you would like to cook healthy food, sorry, out of luck unless you have a car... It's a 20-min drive down the highway with no transit options (apparently).

Same goes for homewares and kitchen supplies. If you can drive, you can get to IKEA or Target or Walmart or thrift shops. Otherwise, nothing. I did find one dollar store, but it's in a dodgy part of town... So insane.