Del got the job! Interview within a week, new job within two, AND a pay rise. Not bad going, no?
Going to a Josh Ritter concert in New York City tomorrow with the girls (i.e. Helena and some of her friends). So pleased that I HAVE girls to go with. We're taking the train down in the morning and back up after the gig. We are THAT CLOSE to NYC. Craziness!
On Monday we are celebrating Valentines' Day with heart-shaped donuts (Helena was adamant) and a girls night.
We have decided that Thursday night is for going out to the Yale grad student bar. It is a big old nerd party, plus there is free (wimpy American) beer till 10 on Thursday. Last night the School of Management students were auctioning each other off, so after they were done we snuck into the room and I ate my body weight in expensive canapes. (Marinated red pepper and fresh olives!) Pretty sweet. They also advertise "$2 Wells Drinks" on Thursday nights, which we both assumed was a type of beer. So we went up and ordered two Wells, only to have the bartender burst out laughing. Apparently "wells drinks" are just drinks made of the standard house liquour. Whoops. Now I know!
Going to go into work on Sunday, I think. Things have stalled a bit with the project, and part of the trouble is that I have to photoshop all my stimuli. Going to have a giant pile of marking to do starting tomorrow, too.... looks like a busy week but with some cool stuff crammed in there!
Friday, 11 February 2011
Saturday, 5 February 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
p.s.
Both people living here now are Environmental Studies majors and both drive SUVs.
Also, I saw a cop car parked outside a Dunkin' Donuts today while one of them ran in for donuts.
Americans!
Also, I saw a cop car parked outside a Dunkin' Donuts today while one of them ran in for donuts.
Americans!
No Longer Homeless!
So, as of today I have signed a lease and have a home. Hope it works out. I am sharing with Dustin (from rural Iowa and so far very sweet) and Captain Wilson, a wire-haired fox terrier. Like Snowy! Unlike Snowy, he doesn't bark (not even Wooah). There is also a super-hyper Corgi running around at the moment. He is supposed to be moving out on Friday with the people I'm subletting from. Captain Wilson is like a robot dog. He doesn't say anything and doesn't shed, just comes and hangs out. Five minutes after I moved in, sitting on the floor booting up the laptop, he wandered in and unexpected sat down on my lap. I think Captain Wilson and I will get along just fine.
We have the main floor of a house, two bedrooms, sharing with Dustin and one yet-to-be-encountered housemate (both guys). The house is in a nice quiet neighbourhood (kinda far from work, but there are FREE shuttles). I talked the outgoing housemate into leaving me the bed/furniture, so should be quite comfortable here. It's not the cheapest place I looked at, but I had a good feeling about Dustin and Wilson so fingers crossed it was the right choice.
We have the main floor of a house, two bedrooms, sharing with Dustin and one yet-to-be-encountered housemate (both guys). The house is in a nice quiet neighbourhood (kinda far from work, but there are FREE shuttles). I talked the outgoing housemate into leaving me the bed/furniture, so should be quite comfortable here. It's not the cheapest place I looked at, but I had a good feeling about Dustin and Wilson so fingers crossed it was the right choice.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
at the airport
At Pearson Airport, making use of their free wireless! Awesome. So I'm on my way down to Connecticut to do an Ivy League practicum. Crazy stuff. I got hammered HARD with baggage fees at stupid Gatwick (didn't have my luggage scale, bad call) on Friday, so have managed to pack for six months in the States using only one checked bag and one carry-on (plus the allowed laptop bag and "small purse"). I had it exact to the pound this time around, and of course they never even weighed anything. However, travelling light has its own rewards in terms of actually being able to move everything by yourself without dying. The old couple in the Redcar on the way to the airport had three bags EACH. The woman told me, "Well, it's difficult, dear, when you're going away for two months." I almost one-upped her by mentioning that I'm going for six, but stopped myself in time. Nobody wants to get into a travelling-light oneupsmanship contest at four in the morning.
That's right, Air Canada bumped my flight twice, from a nice 2pm flight to an 11.30am flight to a stupid 7.55 am flight. I am TIRED. I am also wearing a million layers because I was worried about luggage weight. I've got a dress over jeans and a long-sleeved top, plus boots, plus two belts, one scarf and one jacket. I also got to try out the new US body scanners. Anticlimactic. Also got through customs just fine, which is a big relief. They sent me my visa paperwork, but I was worried I had missed something or they would grill me. But nope, all is apparently well.
I'm also not sure what to expect when I get there. Spent yesterday running around like a mad thing when I realised that my bank "can't guarantee" I can access my money from the States. Tried getting travellers cheques at CIBC, but they were incredibly slow and couldn't debit my account. They sent me a travel money place down the road, but they could only take $1000 by debit and needed a cheque for the rest. So I ended up calling and BEGGING my housemate to bring my chequebook along on his way to the gym, so I could pick it up, so I could run for six blocks and get to the place before it closed. (I also didn't have a bus pass - they didn't give me one this semester, so this was all on foot in -20C). I also found out at 4.30 pm that there is a form I was supposed to fill out for the university, which of course had to be signed by seventeen people. I think it's all good now - but if not, I'll be trying to sort it out by email from Yale.
Yikes, the next few days will be crazy. This time last week I was in the UK, chilling at Del's house. Next week, with any luck I will once again have a fixed address...
That's right, Air Canada bumped my flight twice, from a nice 2pm flight to an 11.30am flight to a stupid 7.55 am flight. I am TIRED. I am also wearing a million layers because I was worried about luggage weight. I've got a dress over jeans and a long-sleeved top, plus boots, plus two belts, one scarf and one jacket. I also got to try out the new US body scanners. Anticlimactic. Also got through customs just fine, which is a big relief. They sent me my visa paperwork, but I was worried I had missed something or they would grill me. But nope, all is apparently well.
I'm also not sure what to expect when I get there. Spent yesterday running around like a mad thing when I realised that my bank "can't guarantee" I can access my money from the States. Tried getting travellers cheques at CIBC, but they were incredibly slow and couldn't debit my account. They sent me a travel money place down the road, but they could only take $1000 by debit and needed a cheque for the rest. So I ended up calling and BEGGING my housemate to bring my chequebook along on his way to the gym, so I could pick it up, so I could run for six blocks and get to the place before it closed. (I also didn't have a bus pass - they didn't give me one this semester, so this was all on foot in -20C). I also found out at 4.30 pm that there is a form I was supposed to fill out for the university, which of course had to be signed by seventeen people. I think it's all good now - but if not, I'll be trying to sort it out by email from Yale.
Yikes, the next few days will be crazy. This time last week I was in the UK, chilling at Del's house. Next week, with any luck I will once again have a fixed address...
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Zooming Around the UK
Having a lovely time in the UK. I am now in a place called Upper Tadmarton, which makes me laugh every time I hear it. It has been a super busy week. Flight went fine, no major delays, and Del was waiting for me at the airport. Drove straight up to Edinburgh and spent Hogmanay there, although we didn't do much since everxyone but me seemed to be suffering from a stomach bug. We went up to Calton Hill to watch the fireworks, but then everyone else had to go home and lie down, so I soldiered on alone and went out to a house party with a friend I knew from living in Edinburgh. Much drama ensued, but made it home all right in the end.
Spent a few days in the city, staying at a furnished apartment type thing (staying on Del's friends' floor was getting to be a bit much after a few nights). Saw Matthew and Jen, went to a lot of gorgeous pubs and generally had a nice time. I cooked Del's friends butter chicken using the recipe Judith put on the Badgers' Grub wiki and it went over extremely well! Then we drove down to Liverpool to visit Del's friends Pauline and Gary and their little girl, Chloe. She is nearly two and took a huge shine to me for some reason. By the end she was howling every time I left the room, which was a bit awkward! I got a big tear-stained farewell when we left.
It was snowing when we left Liverpool, but pushed on to Bangor to visit my former supervisor and my friends Ralph and Thandi. R and T are both doing their PhDs and it was great to catch up. We stayed with Ralph, who was the soul of hospitality and brought cups of tea in bed in the morning! We stopped by to see Thandi's house in the morning, which is miles away in Porthmadog, making it the first time I've ever driven 30 miles for a cup of tea! She has a lovely house with amazing views, but I really can't imagine doing that commute every day.
The tea stop meant we had to drive through Snowdonia to get to Oxford, which was insanely gorgeous but pretty tough on poor Del. All those tiny windy hairpin turn-filled B roads were pretty icy near the top of the pass, so fairly unpleasant driving. I had a great time looking at the scenery, however! Made it safe to Oxford in time to go out dancing and have an amazing night out with my friends Jo, Roxie and Aonghus, and have now collapsed in Upper Tadmarton for a much-needed rest!
Spent a few days in the city, staying at a furnished apartment type thing (staying on Del's friends' floor was getting to be a bit much after a few nights). Saw Matthew and Jen, went to a lot of gorgeous pubs and generally had a nice time. I cooked Del's friends butter chicken using the recipe Judith put on the Badgers' Grub wiki and it went over extremely well! Then we drove down to Liverpool to visit Del's friends Pauline and Gary and their little girl, Chloe. She is nearly two and took a huge shine to me for some reason. By the end she was howling every time I left the room, which was a bit awkward! I got a big tear-stained farewell when we left.
It was snowing when we left Liverpool, but pushed on to Bangor to visit my former supervisor and my friends Ralph and Thandi. R and T are both doing their PhDs and it was great to catch up. We stayed with Ralph, who was the soul of hospitality and brought cups of tea in bed in the morning! We stopped by to see Thandi's house in the morning, which is miles away in Porthmadog, making it the first time I've ever driven 30 miles for a cup of tea! She has a lovely house with amazing views, but I really can't imagine doing that commute every day.
The tea stop meant we had to drive through Snowdonia to get to Oxford, which was insanely gorgeous but pretty tough on poor Del. All those tiny windy hairpin turn-filled B roads were pretty icy near the top of the pass, so fairly unpleasant driving. I had a great time looking at the scenery, however! Made it safe to Oxford in time to go out dancing and have an amazing night out with my friends Jo, Roxie and Aonghus, and have now collapsed in Upper Tadmarton for a much-needed rest!
Friday, 10 December 2010
Qualifying Exam
I passed my qualifying exam!!!! I think it went really well (all things considered) and spent the first half of yesterday being inordinately pleased with myself. It has been weighing on my mind for almost a year now - it is a long process, with two written and one oral component (plus supposed to be two meetings, but I only got one). I finished the initial written bit by mid-summer, but they couldn't schedule the meeting until September. Spent this semester stressing about the long written bit but got through it with the help of our postdoc, Alex. Then finally yesterday they got around to doing the oral exam. My labmate got pages of feedback to her written component (11 pages!), which the oral exam was based on, so that was what I was expecting. What did I get? Two sentences of feedback. So I was quite worried because I therefore had no forewarning of what to expect from the final. (I complained about the lack of feedback to the Chair, but he slapped me down with, "I can't believe you're complaining about NOT ENOUGH negative feedback!" He may have a point).
I felt like the meeting went really well. I DO know my stuff (thank you very much), and although I've never been a grade-grubber, I really like research and am therefore reasonably good at it. And luckily, that's what this exam was designed to measure. I definitely got more feedback from the meeting, some of it quite positive. There was one horrible moment when my supervisor asked me a question I had no idea how to answer, and there was a.... long.... uncomfortable...... pause......... while everyone stared at me. But then I just told him I don't know, said there didn't seem to be much in the literature on that point, and everyone moved on. At any rate, they only deliberated for a few minutes about whether to pass me (they send you out of the room! uncomfortable) so I guess that's good.
I'm proud of myself for how I am handling the pressure at the moment, too. Because I didn't know how to prepare for this exam, I was pretty stressed about it, and it comes during a week where I have to finish up all my work projects, mark 200 papers, and pack up and put my entire life into storage. But I've been trying hard to use exercise to manage the stress, and yesterday when I was nervous about the meeting I used my yoga breathing - sounds corny but works great! So I was able to walk in there feeling confident and somewhat relaxed, and paradoxically I think that always makes people go easier on you since you already seem capable.
Unfortunately yesterday didn't end as well as it started. I have a ton of papers to mark, and they're due in Monday (eek!), but I would have like to go out quickly to celebrate. My housemate was going out and said he'd text me when he got there. Needless to say... not a word (although I did get an apology text this morning). Guelph is reminding me more and more of how I felt in London.... NOT, I should note, a good thing. It's weird how some places you live work out right away, and some are just never going to be happy places. Generally speaking it comes down to the people. Fingers crossed Yale will be a good one (at least I already have one friend there!) and I can wrap up Guelph quickly. Getting past this exam is a huge step in that direction, for sure.
So on to the marking, the experiment-making, the paper-writing (we hope to have one ready to submit before I go!), the fMRI analysis, the packing, the moving and the leaving do. This is all going to be totally worth it when I get to spend an entire month with all my favorite people! (So screw you, Guelph.)
I felt like the meeting went really well. I DO know my stuff (thank you very much), and although I've never been a grade-grubber, I really like research and am therefore reasonably good at it. And luckily, that's what this exam was designed to measure. I definitely got more feedback from the meeting, some of it quite positive. There was one horrible moment when my supervisor asked me a question I had no idea how to answer, and there was a.... long.... uncomfortable...... pause......... while everyone stared at me. But then I just told him I don't know, said there didn't seem to be much in the literature on that point, and everyone moved on. At any rate, they only deliberated for a few minutes about whether to pass me (they send you out of the room! uncomfortable) so I guess that's good.
I'm proud of myself for how I am handling the pressure at the moment, too. Because I didn't know how to prepare for this exam, I was pretty stressed about it, and it comes during a week where I have to finish up all my work projects, mark 200 papers, and pack up and put my entire life into storage. But I've been trying hard to use exercise to manage the stress, and yesterday when I was nervous about the meeting I used my yoga breathing - sounds corny but works great! So I was able to walk in there feeling confident and somewhat relaxed, and paradoxically I think that always makes people go easier on you since you already seem capable.
Unfortunately yesterday didn't end as well as it started. I have a ton of papers to mark, and they're due in Monday (eek!), but I would have like to go out quickly to celebrate. My housemate was going out and said he'd text me when he got there. Needless to say... not a word (although I did get an apology text this morning). Guelph is reminding me more and more of how I felt in London.... NOT, I should note, a good thing. It's weird how some places you live work out right away, and some are just never going to be happy places. Generally speaking it comes down to the people. Fingers crossed Yale will be a good one (at least I already have one friend there!) and I can wrap up Guelph quickly. Getting past this exam is a huge step in that direction, for sure.
So on to the marking, the experiment-making, the paper-writing (we hope to have one ready to submit before I go!), the fMRI analysis, the packing, the moving and the leaving do. This is all going to be totally worth it when I get to spend an entire month with all my favorite people! (So screw you, Guelph.)
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