jen_drake

Adventures in Canning

2009-08-08T00:09:35Z

I decided to learn how to can this year. We joined a co-op of local farms and there is a lot of great fruits and vegetables. Today, I made blackberry jam. The blackberries came from Mount Vernon Farm. I used the recipe from the SureJell box and I think it turned out well. I have a lot of pictures that I can upload later, but here's a picture of the finished jam cooling on the counter. I just have to wait for it to cool and set before I can try it out some toast.

Next week, I'm going to try to make tomato sauce, pickles, and Dilly beans. Andy's going to be gone for the weekend and I need something to keep me busy.

Marathon Training, take two

2009-05-30T19:40:59Z

I wasn't sure I wanted to do another marathon ever after I finished Marine Corps last year, but I guess I forgot the pain and the long hours of training and all the bad things. I signed up for another one. This time it's the Suntrust Richmond Marathon (rated as one of the best in the country). The local sports commission, Sportsbackers, organizes a training team that gives the training plans and has group long runs on Saturday (or Sunday) that are fully supportive. Seems pretty cool. Andy also decided he wants to give this a try, so he's doing it, too.

Securing my place in the apocalypse compound

2009-05-26T15:48:15Z

I can knit socks! That makes me useful!!

How did I forget Perl?

2009-05-20T16:01:53Z

It's been a long time since I wrote any Perl. I'm trying to use some old code, but adapt it as part of a different program. I have to open input and output files and couldn't remember how to do it at all. Not a good sign. I think this is going to take a little longer than I originally thought with all the other programs I'm going to have to steal code from to make this work.

Practical joke?

2009-05-15T21:54:52Z

On Monday, we found this on our doorstep

Is this a practical joke? Perhaps done by a certain cousin who lives in Korea?

Adventures with new vegetables

2009-05-14T23:57:32Z

We joined a food co-op this spring. Every week, we order whatever food we want from the group of farms that are delivering this week. I like this arrangement more than a CSA because we don't end up with things we don't like or too much food.

That being said, I have been making an effort to try new food. This week, we bought mescalin mix, orange beauregard sweet potatoes, strawberries, and hanover greens. I made a salad out of the hanover greens tonight and thought it was pretty bitter and not very tasty. Then, I looked up online what they are. Turns out they are turnip greens and most people don't eat them raw. Oops! I'll try frying them with a little olive oil, onion and garlic later this week.

If you have a different suggestion for them (or anything else), please let me know!

Knitting Projects

2009-05-14T23:28:39Z

I've been working on two knitting projects for quite awhile.

First is a pair of socks. I finished the first sock in October, but I haven't had the motivation to do the second one. Right now, I'm knitting the foot part of the second, so I probably have about 8 inches left to do. Not bad, but if feels like it's taking forever.

Second is a lace scarf. I've been trying to work on lace for awhile. I tried a few projects and nothing worked out quite right, but I finally settled on this pattern. I had about 33 inches done and was knitting last night. I realized I'd dropped a stitch about 4 rows down and tried to fix it. I failed miserably and tried to rip a few rows out. That didn't work either. I will probably end up going to the Yarn Lounge to see if one of the wonderful ladies there would be willing to help me out.

Microchips in the Cats?

2009-05-09T03:54:39Z

Taji is our grey two year-old cat. We got her from a farm in Wisconsin when she was about 7 or 8 weeks old. I don't think she's forgotten that she's a farm kitty. She loves being outside and even will walk on a leash.

Unfortunately, she tries to run outside every time we open the door. If she gets out, she runs underneath cars and stays there. Today it took over a half an hour to get back in. By the end, we were both frustrated and upset. She's still angry at me.

This has me worried and thinking about injecting a microchip in her. It would be permanent and linked to our address. We'd still probably have to keep a collar on her, which would piss her off, but I get worried about her running out and not being able to find her.

Has anyone microchipped a pet? What are your thoughts? Is it too mean to consider?

Now a PhD Candidate

2009-04-23T14:41:32Z

After all the stressing out about my oral exams, I did pass. It was kind of uneventful. I was very nervous at the beginning and couldn't explain p-values versus q-values. At least my committee let that go and chalked it up to nerves.

The best part of my day was that right after my exams, my younger little brother called and asked me how to make hamburger helper. Awesome contrast.

9 Days Til Doomsday

2009-04-13T16:38:59Z

My oral exams are in 9 days. I'm freaking out.

Grant is almost done. I have to give it to my committee on Wednesday (4/15).

Have I mentioned I'm freaking out? I don't even know what to do anymore to get ready. The whole thing is a very NOT FUN experience. I guess that's the point.

A little about grant writing

2009-03-12T21:25:13Z

It is painfully slow right now. Adviser 2 (not my primary adviser, but directs the overall project I'm working on) wants me to have the first page done by tomorrow. This is the page with the summary of the project and the specific aims of the project, so in many ways it is the most important part. It is really tough.

I have a draft done and got some feedback from the other Jen in my lab. I'm going to revise it before my meeting with adviser 2 tomorrow. I feel better now that I have a start on it and have something done that isn't too horrible.

Turns out this is timely anyway. The lab is applying for one of the NIH Challenge grants and my work is about half of the grant. So, I'm writing some of this one. This is nice because the sections get to be used for both.

Picking your poison

2009-03-08T19:13:45Z

The weather is gorgeous here today. Unfortunately, I am inside working. I have to write a grant for my oral exams coming up (sometime...maybe? end of April? scheduling has been a nightmare). It's not a lot of fun and I've really been doing everything I can to procrastinate and not work on it.

One of the things I did this morning was try to work on a household budget and look at a debt repayment calculator. I found a few good spreadsheets online. I like having numbers for how much we can spend on groceries, gas, stuff, etc. and still be able to make more than the minimum payments. Now we just have to stick to things. It's a little scary and overwhelming, which is probably why I've been putting it off so much.

Paper is Finally Out

2009-02-15T03:49:08Z

The Science Paper I mentioned several months ago has finally been published.

Here's a link to the abstract. Let me know if you'd like a copy of the PDF and I'll send it.

So...how's everyone doing?

2009-02-15T03:40:21Z

I haven't posted in awhile. Guess I just got out of the habit. I've been meaning to do it, but it's hard to get started. Lots has happened:

*My knee is mostly healed. Lots of PT for the meniscus, ITB, and patello-femoral syndrome. I ran for the first time this week. It's boring to run 1 minute, then walk a minute.

*My project is moving along. I've gotten some interesting results (can't talk about them too much). I had a committee meeting last Thursday that went well. I'll have my oral qualifying exams coming up, so I will have a ton of work before then.

*Cats are ok. We found out Griffin has a dental disease (lymphocytic-plasmacytic gingivitis stomatitis) that is basically a hyper-immune response to his teeth. He has to get dental cleanings from the dentist, I've been trying to use toothpaste, and rounds of antibiotics. He's already had one tooth removed and it's likely he'll lose all of them eventually.

Other than that, I feel like not too much is going on. We are pretty drama free and that's just fine with me.

I love the University of Wisconsin

2008-12-18T00:04:15Z

More about my knee

2008-12-05T02:24:22Z

I had a follow-up appointment with my sports medicine doctor yesterday. There's still a lot of swelling in the knee capsule, which should have gone down some by now. So, I got 6cc of cortisone. It was a weird experience. The cortisone was cooler than my body, so I could feel it going in the knee. It hurt a lot yesterday, but it's gotten better today.

She still thinks there is a possibility it will heal on its own, but it really depends on the extent of the tear. I'm having an MRI on Monday night and then getting the results on Wednesday. I also have another PT appointment tomorrow. I've finally gotten better at the exercises and they don't hurt as much. Which means that I'm going to get my ass kicked again tomorrow.

Look ma, I'm on Twitter!

2008-12-05T02:19:13Z

http://twitter.com/TriGirlJ

Adventures in Appleland

2008-12-05T00:58:13Z

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, my dearly loved old Powerbook G4 was having problems with the display. I would use it and there would be lines across the screen. They would go away if I tapped lightly on the coffee table or on the couch. Around November 20, the lines got worse and I could barely see the screen anymore. The trick of tapping no longer worked. I talked to a friend of mine who is a Genius Administrator and he suggested that it was either the logic board or the display, but it was probably the logic board.

I was sad and am not very interested in the newest model. I found the previous generation on clearance plus I got to use my student discount. Andy decided to order it for me. It got here why we were on vacation and I finally got it set up today. That required going to the Apple store so that I could borrow a FireWire 800 cord to transfer everything from my old computer to my new computer. That took about an hour to transfer 60 GB. I can't imagine the horror should I have tried to use a USB cable.

During the hour at the Genius Bar, I saw 5 iPhones being replaced for various problems. One of them had a capacitor problem in the screen, another was no longer connecting to calls, etc. There were 15 iPhones on the back counter. Crazy. I'm not convinced that I want an iPhone after seeing that.

Sidelined

2008-11-13T01:42:58Z

The day after running the marathon, I noticed a big lump behind my left knee and a lot of pain in the knee. It was nyper-extending while I was running, so I thought it was just stretched out a bit. I rested and thought it would go away.

Fast forward to Monday. I got up from my desk and twisted the knee a little and immediately felt a ton of pain in the same knee. Not good.

I went in to my sports medicine doc today and had her check it out. Diagnosis: torn medial meniscus. At my age, there's a 50% chance it'll heal on its own. I have an appointment with a physical therapist next week to help strengthen the muscles around the knee. Hopefully, it'll heal. I have a followup appointment in three weeks. If it's not better, we'll be planning surgery.

Knitting Frustrations

2008-11-08T15:52:27Z

I decided to tackle a more advanced project and knit something for myself, so I picked out a lacy wrap pattern. Turns out it was a little too challenging. I got about 5 inches done before I decided to "frog" (rip it all out) it last night. Now, I'm looking for an easier pattern and found this one. I'm going to try starting it today and see how it goes.

I DID IT!!!

2008-10-27T01:00:11Z

I finished my first marathon today!!! It was the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC. My overall time was 6:21:24.

My main goal was to finish, which was a struggle at a few times because of stomach problems. What's important is that I didn't get pulled off the course at mile 20 (the only time checkpoint).

I plan on writing a marathon race report tomorrow, so I'll post that here, too, tomorrow. I'm just excited at wanted to tell everyone tonight. :)

Weekend Report

2008-10-19T23:33:44Z

We had a good weekend this weekend. The weather has got colder here - high of 60 yesterday and today - but not too cold yet.

On Saturday, we went to Dominion Shooting Range. We started with a 12-gauge shotgun and sport ammunition. It has less recoil than buckshot. The guy at the shooting range asked what we wanted and asked if I had shot a shotgun before (no). He suggested this instead of buckshot as a place to start. He was unconvinced when Andy just said we should get buckshot. I thought that was kind of funny. He spent awhile explaining how to load the gun and hold it so that it doesn't hurt your shoulder. Apparently, they are more friendly to unexperienced girls. :) I wasn't really prepared for the shotgun. Really loud, recoil, etc. Buckshot was definitely worse than the first shells. I'd have to spend a lot more time with one before I felt comfortable with it. But, I've done it once and now I can keep learning. Also used a Walther P99. It's a 9 mm pistol. I'm not a bad shot with a pistol. I didn't particularly like this one. The trigger pull was too long for me. I'd squeeze to where I thought it should go off and there was still more to go. That was annoying to me.

Got home from that and played Unreal Tournament 3 in co-op mode for awhile. Kind of fun, but the modes were really strange. It was more fun to play together than had I tried to play myself.

Today, I spent most of the day at the Yarn Lounge (a local yarn store). I finished my first sock!! I also found yarn to make a lacey wrap for myself. It'll be nice for having with dresses since I have to go to a wedding at the end of next month and upcoming holiday parties.

Here's a picture of my sock:

Closer to being a real scientist

2008-10-09T14:59:07Z

I am a co-author on a paper that has been accepted for publication in Science!! Yes...THE Science!

It hasn't been published yet, but I'll post a link as soon as it is up.

Yeah! It's Taper Time!!

2008-10-06T18:08:57Z

I have survived all of my really long runs. I did 18.6 miles on Saturday. It was supposed to be 20, but I got run off the road and rolled my ankle and didn't want to take any chances. The ankle is feeling ok today.

I am looking forward to the much shorter runs! But, I'm super nervous about actually running a marathon! I can't believe I'm doing this.

Sock Progress

2008-10-02T01:55:10Z

I've been through two weeks of sock class. I started with the ankle in a 2x2 rib for 3.75". Then I worked on the heel flap, which is the part that goes along the back of your heel.

Here's what that looks like so far:

Next I worked on the heel, which is the pocket that goes along the bottom of your heel:

I have class tomorrow to work on joining the back of the sock to the top and knitting the park that goes on the top of your foot and then knitting the toes.

In general, not as hard as I thought, but I am definitely glad I took the class so that I had the opportunity to see things from the person teaching the class.