I've been dreading today for a long time. It was prone to be a very anxiety-producing day, due to the number of things I had to do and the urgency of all of them. Luckily, it turned out to be just fine. But I like breaking up days like this into the goods and the bads, even though most of these things end up being irrelevant.
Good:
- I made it to my meeting at the Cal Academy of Sciences without getting lost, or paying for parking.
- My meeting was very exciting, and gave me hope for the fun, interesting things I might be able to do with this institution, like helping to come up with an evaluation of their Lizards and Snakes exhibit. Herpetology? Yes please! Now I just have to talk to my adviser.
- While I was at the CAS, I saw this girl that I used to take piano lessons with when I was 5-12. It was insane. We both did a double-take, then I confirmed that it was her later on facebook. She works there now, apparently. So weird!
- My meeting ended early and I had plenty of time to get to my class observation at the Palo Alto Junior Zoo.
- I successfully collected data for my evaluation class! I also got an audio recording of the entire class, which I now have to transcribe. I've been working for two hours and I'm nine of 54 minutes in. Ughhhh.
- When I came back to my apartment, I found an unopened, brand new tube of lip gloss in a really pretty color sitting on the sidewalk. I thought about it, inspected it, decided it was untouched (and unscratched - the case is still shiny) so I decided to take it. I'm waiting 24 hours in case anyone sends along a building-wide chat asking for it back, and then it's mine. I would like to emphasize how not opened it was.
- I went running. The run actually sucked in that my calves were really tight the whole time and the trail I wanted to run on was closed. But it counts as good because a) I did it, and b) my back didn't hurt really bad afterward like the last two times I've gone running.
- Krist agreed to extend my zoo email for a whole year. Yayyyyyy! No need for separation anxiety, no, not here.
- Halloween festivities start tomorrow, and it looks like there might actually be some.
Bad:
- I am soooo unstoked about my classes and getting less and less excited about them by the day. I just want this quarter and these required classes to be OVER.
- As a result of being extremely unexcited about my classes, I have not been getting extremely high marks in them. This is annoying because it implies that I need to do more work. But I don't want to do more work in classes that I don't like. All I need is a B and I can move on with my life. For all I know, that's what I could be getting. But we don't get a lot of grade-related feedback. I hate grades. I don't want them anymore.
- I need two stamps. Also, I am continually amazed that they make you pay the postage on your mail-in ballot. Helloooo it's the government. It's supposed to be free to mail stuff.
Okay, that's it. I'm going to transcribe, sleep, and kill this week off. Six down, four to go....
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Google Fail
I have to tell this story because it's hilarious.
So today I had to go shopping for my research assistantship to pick up some materials for our lessons (now I know how Kristen feels). My first stop was meant to be Michael's, the craft store. I found one in Mountain View and put the directions on a little green Post-It (I'm trying to only use my phone in emergencies, as GPS kills the battery). I followed the directions, diligently, all the way to the Google campus, which is in Mountain View. But, instead of a Michael's, I found a dead end. So I turned on my phone's GPS and used Google Maps Navigator to figure out how I had missed Michael's. I was pretty sure that the combined power of using Google Maps Navigator at Google would somehow be amazing.
It was not.
I followed Google Maps Navigator until it told me "turn right, and your destination will be on the right." Even though I knew there was no Michael's there, I even turned into the parking lot and drove around it once, just to make sure. In my infinite frustration, I turned back onto the road and into the next parking lot I found, which was the HOME of Google Maps. I could tell because of the big, red, "you are here" place marker in the front. I called Michael's and they informed me that the street they live on is bisected by the highway, and they are actually the other way down the street, not on Google's campus, as Google believes. Once I figured that out, it was smooth sailing but these are some parts of the conversations I had with my Google Maps Navigator in the meantime:
GMN: Turn right and your destination will be on the right.
Kathayoon: Okay...but I'm not sure...that doesn't look like a craft store. That looks like the home of The Internet.
GMN: You have reached your destination.
Kathayoon: What? Wait. No I haven't. This isn't my destination. This isn't Michael's. This is...this is YOU, Google. This is GOOGLE. GOOGLE is on my right. NOT Michael's!
I really wanted to park my car and march into the building and say something along the lines of "Are you kidding me? Your GPS isn't accurate for MOUNTAIN VIEW?! It's not accurate for YOUR OWN CAMPUS?! Eff you, Google. You're a joke."
I didn't end up doing this. I just updated my status on my Google Android phone, to let the world know how ridiculous Google is. HA.
Also I might have had a splitting headache this entire time, making this situation a lot more ridiculous (and a lot more hilarious, in later retellings) than it would have otherwise been. But still. Seriously.
So today I had to go shopping for my research assistantship to pick up some materials for our lessons (now I know how Kristen feels). My first stop was meant to be Michael's, the craft store. I found one in Mountain View and put the directions on a little green Post-It (I'm trying to only use my phone in emergencies, as GPS kills the battery). I followed the directions, diligently, all the way to the Google campus, which is in Mountain View. But, instead of a Michael's, I found a dead end. So I turned on my phone's GPS and used Google Maps Navigator to figure out how I had missed Michael's. I was pretty sure that the combined power of using Google Maps Navigator at Google would somehow be amazing.
It was not.
I followed Google Maps Navigator until it told me "turn right, and your destination will be on the right." Even though I knew there was no Michael's there, I even turned into the parking lot and drove around it once, just to make sure. In my infinite frustration, I turned back onto the road and into the next parking lot I found, which was the HOME of Google Maps. I could tell because of the big, red, "you are here" place marker in the front. I called Michael's and they informed me that the street they live on is bisected by the highway, and they are actually the other way down the street, not on Google's campus, as Google believes. Once I figured that out, it was smooth sailing but these are some parts of the conversations I had with my Google Maps Navigator in the meantime:
GMN: Turn right and your destination will be on the right.
Kathayoon: Okay...but I'm not sure...that doesn't look like a craft store. That looks like the home of The Internet.
GMN: You have reached your destination.
Kathayoon: What? Wait. No I haven't. This isn't my destination. This isn't Michael's. This is...this is YOU, Google. This is GOOGLE. GOOGLE is on my right. NOT Michael's!
I really wanted to park my car and march into the building and say something along the lines of "Are you kidding me? Your GPS isn't accurate for MOUNTAIN VIEW?! It's not accurate for YOUR OWN CAMPUS?! Eff you, Google. You're a joke."
I didn't end up doing this. I just updated my status on my Google Android phone, to let the world know how ridiculous Google is. HA.
Also I might have had a splitting headache this entire time, making this situation a lot more ridiculous (and a lot more hilarious, in later retellings) than it would have otherwise been. But still. Seriously.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
a quantitative look at my life
Number of days I've been sick: 3.5
Cups of tea that I've drank in that time: 9
Zicam Zinc Supplement disgusting "strawberry" chalk chews that I've eaten in that time: 12
CVS brand Nyquil I've taken: 2
CVS brand Nyquil I've taken that actually did anything: 0
Episodes of Weeds that I've watched: 5
Episodes of Angel: 3
Episodes of either of those shows that have had to do with pregnancy: 3
Hours of sleep I got Thursday night: 0
Hours of sleep I got Friday night: 12
Other things of interest:
PHD Comics have become a whole lot funnier since I figured out that they were written by a Stanford grad student and therefore a lot of them take place at Stanford.
Eric is sending me a new Taylor Swift song every day for 12 days. It's like the 12 days of Christmas, but it's the 12 Days of Taylor.
I am extremely worried that Halloween is going to be a bust this year. I have already accepted that it won't be anything like the last two years, but I am a little worried that there won't be anything to do at all (that doesn't involve undergrads).
Jackie is here and last night we went to an a capella concert and then got frozen yogurt. Today we're going to lunch and then grocery shopping. I'm excited.
Okay byyye.
Cups of tea that I've drank in that time: 9
Zicam Zinc Supplement disgusting "strawberry" chalk chews that I've eaten in that time: 12
CVS brand Nyquil I've taken: 2
CVS brand Nyquil I've taken that actually did anything: 0
Episodes of Weeds that I've watched: 5
Episodes of Angel: 3
Episodes of either of those shows that have had to do with pregnancy: 3
Hours of sleep I got Thursday night: 0
Hours of sleep I got Friday night: 12
Other things of interest:
PHD Comics have become a whole lot funnier since I figured out that they were written by a Stanford grad student and therefore a lot of them take place at Stanford.
Eric is sending me a new Taylor Swift song every day for 12 days. It's like the 12 days of Christmas, but it's the 12 Days of Taylor.
I am extremely worried that Halloween is going to be a bust this year. I have already accepted that it won't be anything like the last two years, but I am a little worried that there won't be anything to do at all (that doesn't involve undergrads).
Jackie is here and last night we went to an a capella concert and then got frozen yogurt. Today we're going to lunch and then grocery shopping. I'm excited.
Okay byyye.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
i see you colorful
This is what I did for procrastination today:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130567101
The only sad part was that my favorite Jonsi song, "Animal Arithmatic" was not as great as I'd hoped it would be. In my infinite desire to not do work, I googled Jonsi and looked to see if he was playing a show in the Bay Area anytime soon. Turns out, he was actually playing one soon. Or I should say, is. Right now. In Oakland. Talk about poor timing.
Anyway. Zoe came to Stanford last weekend and it was my favorite weekend in Palo Alto yet. We ate out, toured campus with her parents, went to the Farmer's Market, and went to the first SUSE cohort dance party of the year at my friend Erin's house. Everything was a lot of fun. Also we got facebook married, on account of Amanda breaking up with me. We would have invited you to the wedding, but we didn't.
Now it's life back to normal over here. I made a smoked mozzarella veggie lasagna yesterday, which was delicious. I wish my hair was a little bit longer or a little bit shorter, anything but the in-between it's in right now. I also wish I could go into Dosha and lighten my highlights a little bit more, but I have to wait until Christmas for any hair related changes.
There is really nothing notable to write about right now, I think. I'll probably just grab a bowl of ice cream, finish this book review, and watch Entourage. Oh the illustrious life of a doctoral student...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130567101
The only sad part was that my favorite Jonsi song, "Animal Arithmatic" was not as great as I'd hoped it would be. In my infinite desire to not do work, I googled Jonsi and looked to see if he was playing a show in the Bay Area anytime soon. Turns out, he was actually playing one soon. Or I should say, is. Right now. In Oakland. Talk about poor timing.
Anyway. Zoe came to Stanford last weekend and it was my favorite weekend in Palo Alto yet. We ate out, toured campus with her parents, went to the Farmer's Market, and went to the first SUSE cohort dance party of the year at my friend Erin's house. Everything was a lot of fun. Also we got facebook married, on account of Amanda breaking up with me. We would have invited you to the wedding, but we didn't.
Now it's life back to normal over here. I made a smoked mozzarella veggie lasagna yesterday, which was delicious. I wish my hair was a little bit longer or a little bit shorter, anything but the in-between it's in right now. I also wish I could go into Dosha and lighten my highlights a little bit more, but I have to wait until Christmas for any hair related changes.
There is really nothing notable to write about right now, I think. I'll probably just grab a bowl of ice cream, finish this book review, and watch Entourage. Oh the illustrious life of a doctoral student...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Thank God For This Website
Allow me to express to you my life in a few someecards...
And I got bored of looking through someecards. The end!
And I got bored of looking through someecards. The end!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Food, Fauna, and FRowing.
When I was thinking about my new life at Stanford, I decided that I was going to take a quarter off from rowing, just to get myself acclimated to life before I threw the most intense sport ever back into the mix.
Well, fortunately that lasted about three weeks. Last week I saw The Social Network and there are a lot of rowing scenes in that movie. In fact, that's pretty much all I got out of that movie. I miss rowing.
So I signed up for the Palo Alto Rowing Club's Masters program. Masters is a funny word because you can actually have never rowed ever at all in your life and still be a Master, just as long as you're not college-aged. All of you guys would be, in fact, Master rowers. Congratulations!
I coxed Masters women in Portland for the three months that I lived there in between D.C. and Outdoor School in 2007. It was the worst and I swore I'd never do Masters again. Crew is not as much fun when everyone is not your age, in fact a lot older, and there's no real team spirit. But, there is no graduate crew team at Stanford that I have found, and PARC is free. So far. For me. Because I don't row. So I signed up.
Basically, this morning's row was so fun. The women had only rowed four times before so it wasn't super ideal, but they weren't that bad. And the great thing about coxing novice rowers is that everything you do is impressive. Not that I'm not a competent coxswain, but the bar is way lower.
The whole time we were rowing I kept thinking about how much crew has factored into my life the past 6-7 years. I thought about CCRC and how fun and hard that was. I thought about my favorite regattas, like Bair Island, which I may cox again this year. I thought about winning races and losing races, really good rows and really bad ones. I thought about rowing in Australia and what a weird but fantastic experience that was. I thought about rowing at Yale and how much I loved that, the beautiful Housatonic River, the breathtaking boathouse, the wonderful people, and the huge cup with my and Matty's name on it when we won MVPs first year.
I'm sad I won't be doing crew with a college team, but it's not out of the picture. Given some time with PARC to learn the lay of the crew land, I might have it in me to start a graduate crew team at Stanford sometime in my infinite tenure here. Now let's look at some of my favorite crew-related pictures of all time!
Well, fortunately that lasted about three weeks. Last week I saw The Social Network and there are a lot of rowing scenes in that movie. In fact, that's pretty much all I got out of that movie. I miss rowing.
So I signed up for the Palo Alto Rowing Club's Masters program. Masters is a funny word because you can actually have never rowed ever at all in your life and still be a Master, just as long as you're not college-aged. All of you guys would be, in fact, Master rowers. Congratulations!
I coxed Masters women in Portland for the three months that I lived there in between D.C. and Outdoor School in 2007. It was the worst and I swore I'd never do Masters again. Crew is not as much fun when everyone is not your age, in fact a lot older, and there's no real team spirit. But, there is no graduate crew team at Stanford that I have found, and PARC is free. So far. For me. Because I don't row. So I signed up.
Basically, this morning's row was so fun. The women had only rowed four times before so it wasn't super ideal, but they weren't that bad. And the great thing about coxing novice rowers is that everything you do is impressive. Not that I'm not a competent coxswain, but the bar is way lower.
The whole time we were rowing I kept thinking about how much crew has factored into my life the past 6-7 years. I thought about CCRC and how fun and hard that was. I thought about my favorite regattas, like Bair Island, which I may cox again this year. I thought about winning races and losing races, really good rows and really bad ones. I thought about rowing in Australia and what a weird but fantastic experience that was. I thought about rowing at Yale and how much I loved that, the beautiful Housatonic River, the breathtaking boathouse, the wonderful people, and the huge cup with my and Matty's name on it when we won MVPs first year.
I'm sad I won't be doing crew with a college team, but it's not out of the picture. Given some time with PARC to learn the lay of the crew land, I might have it in me to start a graduate crew team at Stanford sometime in my infinite tenure here. Now let's look at some of my favorite crew-related pictures of all time!
 | |||
| Rowing in Newport Beach, CA with CCRC |
 | ||
| Kelsey and I, after we won our first races and got ceremoniously thrown into the river. |
 | ||
| Melbourne Rowing Day 2006, the most insane crew day of my life |
 | ||
| A classically REALLY INTENSE moment during a regatta, in which we were pulling ahead. |
 |
| And one of my favorite moments, that I got to share with one of my favorite fellow coxswains. Our names are on that cup forever, my friend! |
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Culinary Prowess
So after a rather lame start to the week (rejected manuscript, credit card fraud, etc) I decided yesterday that I would make myself a really nice dinner that I had been dreaming about for awhile. It turned out to probably be the best thing I've ever cooked. Allow me to share:
Chicken breast with tumeric, lime, caramelized onions, and garlic.
Basmati rice
Steamed green beans and broccoli
Baked potato
All of the vegetables came from the Farmer's Market and the chicken and rice were from Trader Joe's. It was soooo good. I ate it again for lunch today because, as you might notice, it's a lot of food. I wish I had more.
Right now I'm annoyed because tonight I have a meeting at the Palo Alto Junior Zoo and my first crew practice with the Palo Alto Rowing Club. I am not annoyed about these things, but I am annoyed because my car is very low on gas. I mean, the red light isn't on yet, but soon it will be. This would not be a problem except I don't have a debit card anymore on account of it being frauded and all. So I have to pay for everything with cash for the next week or so. But that means going to an ATM. And then finding a gas station outside of Palo Alto because PA charges something like a fifteen cent premium on gas. I think I have no choice but to go to the student union, take out cash, go to my zoo meeting, and hope I have time between zoo and crew to stop at a gas station somewhere in Redwood City.
UGH. So inconvenient. Wells Fargo is cool and all for giving me a temporary ATM card, but I'm super annoyed that I have no other way to pay for things for 7-10 (I guess now 5-8) business days. Which equates to something like three months. (Just kidding, but I feel like measuring things in business days is always very deceptive).
Chicken breast with tumeric, lime, caramelized onions, and garlic.
Basmati rice
Steamed green beans and broccoli
Baked potato
All of the vegetables came from the Farmer's Market and the chicken and rice were from Trader Joe's. It was soooo good. I ate it again for lunch today because, as you might notice, it's a lot of food. I wish I had more.
Right now I'm annoyed because tonight I have a meeting at the Palo Alto Junior Zoo and my first crew practice with the Palo Alto Rowing Club. I am not annoyed about these things, but I am annoyed because my car is very low on gas. I mean, the red light isn't on yet, but soon it will be. This would not be a problem except I don't have a debit card anymore on account of it being frauded and all. So I have to pay for everything with cash for the next week or so. But that means going to an ATM. And then finding a gas station outside of Palo Alto because PA charges something like a fifteen cent premium on gas. I think I have no choice but to go to the student union, take out cash, go to my zoo meeting, and hope I have time between zoo and crew to stop at a gas station somewhere in Redwood City.
UGH. So inconvenient. Wells Fargo is cool and all for giving me a temporary ATM card, but I'm super annoyed that I have no other way to pay for things for 7-10 (I guess now 5-8) business days. Which equates to something like three months. (Just kidding, but I feel like measuring things in business days is always very deceptive).
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