repurpose

The blogging thing has obviously fallen to the wayside, even after a blogging challenge from a friend. That being said, I'm going to tenuously keep this sucker alive by temporarily re-purposing it as a wish-all-of-my-friends-a-happy-birthday site.

And with that I bring you...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLEY!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE!

He's the one on the shirts.

baby steps

My friend over at The BernOut has challenged me to write a post a day during the month of December. And to that I say... no.

But... I will post. Not sure of the frequency, but I will return. A 3month hiatus is enough, right?

Anyway, my first official return post will be to wish my dear friend Dave a wonderful birthday.

So wish that:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVE!

inevitable

[Conversation via gchat.]

[In response to "Laura's" comment on a friend's blog.]

ME: to add ash's blog to reader... open the page and up in the address bar click the orange square subscribe button. it will then give you an option to add it to your feed.

LAURA: wha? 

[Pause for confusion.]

LAURA: haha was that meant for the other Laura B!?

ME: hahahaha. yes!

LAURA:  LOVE IT.

[See here and here for background.]

laura b.

I want to create a series of posts in which I highlight my friends. Nothing intense nor too trip-down-memory-lane-ish. Just a quick anecdote that comes to mind when I think of them. 

This time we have Laura. The other Laura. The original L.B. in my life.

It was Christmastime. In high school? College? Perhaps I was in college and Laura was in high school? Really, it could have been anytime between 1999 and 2002.

We were alone at her house and admiring the holiday decorations. Well, not so much admiring them as remarking at the juxtaposition of the standard-shelf-adorning items and the holiday accoutrement. Namely, there was something about a cannon (non-holiday item), a Christmas village, and a Santa figurine that that was larger than the largest house in the village. So you know, a towering 3.5inches tall.

For some unknown reason we began creating a little scenario for the "characters" above, with voices and all. I don't remember the exact storyline, but I believe it somehow involved Santa entering the village Godzilla-style and dominating the cannon. What is important is the following dialogue:

Santa to Cannon: Say my name, bitch.
Cannon to Santa (in wavering, fearful voice; shaking): Santa! Santa!

Oh did we laugh. HARD.

A bit later, one of Laura's friends (Adam T., mayhaps?) came over and we decided to recreate the exchange. Oddly, he did not find it as amusing as us.

Whatever. I'm still laughing.

laura (nee s.) b.

I want to create a series of posts in which I highlight my friends. Nothing intense nor too trip-down-memory-lane-ish. Just a quick anecdote that comes to mind when I think of them. 

I want to start of with my friend Laura.

Also, just to avoid confusion, I have 2close friends with the same initials: L.B. Hell, not even the same initials, but the same first name: Laura. The Laura I am referring to here is from graduate school. The B. is actually a result of her marriage, so I'm also referencing her maiden name as clarification, hence the (nee s.) above. 

That's probably way more explanation than necessary. Sorry about that.

Now, no one else get the same name/initials. kthxbai.

Back in the summer of 2009, Laura, having recently graduated with her masters, was job hunting in the barren wasteland that is Oxford, Ohio as her husband took one final year to finish up his degree. One Friday, during happy hour at 3Trees, Laura and I were sitting across from each other at a large clustering of tables. There were maybe 8people in attendance.

I received a text message and noticed that it was from Laura. With some confusion - I mean, she was sitting right there - I opened the message. It read: I got a job!

I look up to see her smiling at me.

I reciprocate the smile and - still confused - ask aloud, "Is this a secret?" at which point the table's conversation descends on my seemingly random question. [No, it wasn't a secret.]

And thus, the group had something new to which to drink that afternoon.

I don't know why, but I love that she shared her news that way. Bravo, Laura.

mike b.

So Mike was here for a couple of days as our department's colloquium speaker. It was good times. Some events of note:

(1) It was just great to see him. I miss Ohio people from Ohio a lot, so it was great to experience part of that life here in Maine. We spent a lot of time talking, catching each other up on life, and just genuinely having a good time. I saw him last in October, but that was only briefly, when both of our attentions were divided among many people. But having not truly hung out since June, it was like we hadn't skipped a beat. Awesome.

(2) Friday morning, as I just finished making breakfast, Mike was talking as I was trying to delicately put the pan and lid back on the stove. Ultimately, I was trying to make sure that it all didn't tumble and make a ruckus. So I "shushed" it. Mike immediately said "sorry" and started to speak more softly. I paused - confused - and then started laughing. Mike thought I shushed him. And trust me, this is funny.

For those of you that don't know Mike, it's an understatement to say that he has very little volume control. And I say this with only love... but the kid is loud. Very loud. It is not unusual to hear someone ask him to quiet it down a little bit. His default amplification of course serves him well when teaching or presenting. But in a small conversation? Not so much. Though he's pretty good about turning it down once made aware and is well-primed to take even the smallest cue to decrease his volume. So the combination of him obeying my pan-command, plus the rudeness of the situation (had I actually directed it toward him), was pretty funny.

(3) Mike came to school with me on Friday and met with the faculty and ended the day with his colloquium presentation. The students were the most engaged I've seen them in any of our colloquia this year. I think a combination of Mike's research (social ostracism and physical pain) and just Mike himself really got them going. I was really impressed. In turn, he got some excellent questions, and I think he walked away being impressed with our students.

(4) That night we got some good brick-oven pizza and ice-cream before heading out to see a movie. This is where things went horribly wrong. We decided to see Your Highness. We both had the impression that it would be a good movie for a laugh, though not necessarily a good movie. I was picturing a funnier, "cult" version of A Knight's Tale, perhaps. A reviewer had hoped that it would be a contemporary Princess Bride. It was neither of those things. It was just... bad. Bad plot. Bad writing. Mostly bad acting. It ultimately led to disappointment that actors like Natalie Portman, James Franco, and Zooey Deschanel would even be in a movie like that. They must have been paid a lot. And to top it all off there was a very prominent, and unnecessary, minotaur erection. We were hoping for a laugh, and left just in utter disbelief that such a movie was made. Though if I had to experience such train-wreck, at least I was there with a friend who easily validated my own reactions...

(5) Mike opted to stay with me instead of a hotel, which just made the whole thing that much more fun (slumber party!). I only had a pull-out couch to offer him, but he assured me it was glorious, given that sleeping there meant he could get uninterrupted sleep away from his 6month-old daughter. That being said, he was obviously ready to get back to her (and his wife!) when he left. 

So I had a good time. I'm pretty sure Mike did as well.

Now just to see the rest of my friends...

 

san anthatwasawesome

Last Thursday I began a 79mile, white-knuckled drive down to the airport. Was there a lot of snow? No. Was there just enough to make the roads slip slip slippery? Confounded even further by rush hour traffic? Yes. And Yes.

But it was well worth it because I was on my way to San Antonio, TX for a conference. And now a list of reasons it was just all around awesome:

1. I stepped off of the plane and it was warm. WARM. It was 65-70degrees all 3days I was there. Know what that means? No snow! Glorious.

2. I got to see my Miami people. Well, not all of my Miami people, but most of the social psychology ones. Had a great time sharing a room with John Paul and Mia. Enjoyed catching up with Liz, even though we left it until the last moment. Made ridiculous comments with Don during presentations. Even had potentially productive research discussions with Isaiah. And, of course, seeing everyone else throughout the weekend. It was interesting to observe and join the Miami dynamic as it is still the same... but has changed. Or I've changed now that I'm no longer an official part of it. To be fair, I've probably only changed because I'm not in the situation anymore. [Social psychology dork alert: It's a person by situation interaction!]

3. JEAN!! I had a mini-CC reunion with Jean my first night there. We made plans to meet up Thursday night and it all quite easily fit into place... My friends and I randomly chose to eat at a restaurant that was only 3minutes away from her school, so it was pretty easy for her to join us. Then we all walked to a 24hour Mexican bakery with 73,000 (yes, I counted) pinatas hanging from the ceiling. It looked as if Jean was overwhelmed by the sheer number of confectionery delights (there really may have been 73,000 of them) (okay, that's still probably a gross overestimate). We wrapped up the night by sitting in her car talking before she drove me back to the hotel. I haven't seen Jean in over a year and a half, so it was great to catch up and fill each other in. Plus we discussed trips to EUROPE this summer. All around win.

4. Friday I had lunch with Heather and Eric. A 2+ hour lunch. Yes, technically Miami people, but it was an event unto itself. The guise was that Heather and I were going to talk about research... which we did for about 5minutes. The rest of the time was just catching up. I've noticed before (when Heather came to visit in October) that our relationship has changed since I've graduated. We're more open about various things now that we no longer have the official advisor-advisee labels attached to our relationship. Sure, she'll always be my advisor, but we share more now. Oh, and to top it off, I got to watch Heather act like, well, Heather when it comes to Eric. It's hard to explain, so I won't, but it is always amusing to see how Heather and Eric interact. They should sell tickets.

5. The food! Some of you may know that I'm mildly lactose intolerant, so after eating Mexican the first night, I boldly declared that I would not be eating Mexican anymore this trip. Guess what... that's all I ate. And it was wonderful. 2 of the restaurants were just kind of generic and nothing to write home about, but they had tequila so that more than made up for it. The other 2 though? Delicious. At lunch, Heather and I both had chicken enchiladas covered in a white wine sauce. I wanted to lick the plate. (I'm pretty sure Heather did also). Dinner the final night consisted of free appetizers (due to a reservation snafu), chicken mole, and blood orange mojitos. I don't think I've ever had such good Mexican food.

6. And finally, the conference. There have been years when there just hasn't been anything "interesting" to attend. Not so this time. There were plenty of sessions that I wanted to attend and I even got excited about some new research. So much so that on Monday, the day after I returned, I submitted a proposal for a new series of studies. Hopefully, I can begin collecting data on that soon. Our (Isaiah, Heather, and my) poster was also a success, even though one guy got laughably belligerent over a miscommunication (well handled, Isaiah). There was a steady stream of visitors, and I even had some interesting conversations with this one guy, and later his graduate student (though they took quite the cognitive effort given their heavy French accents).

Another SPSP over. Next year: San Diego.

south lakes seahawks...

 ... clap * clap * clap * clap * clap

--

I enjoyed high school. It wasn't without its frustration, but overall I think fondly of those 4years. I wasn't popular, but I wasn't unpopular either, and I always had a good circle of friends.

I had my 10year high school reunion this past weekend. 

Um... awesome.

I spent the reunion with 4distinct groups of people:

1. Those I knew were coming and see fairly regularly,
2. those I knew were coming, hadn't kept in touch with but were uber excited to see,
3. those I haven't thought about it years, which made seeing them even more exciting,
4. and those I never knew in high school but met and talked with at the reunion.

I was initially ambivalent about returning for the reunion (between the traveling and cost), but seeing those people made it well worth it. I can't even describe how much fun it was (Rosa does a good job of describing the atmosphere that night). From the reunion proper, to the impromptu bar crawl after, all was decidedly well worth the effort.

I'm already looking forward to the next reunion. 5years? 10years? Too long.

--

Plus I got to see my family, both immediate and extended. They're good people.

zum geburtstag viel gluck!

A big happy birthday (yesterday) to:

Jack 

Ryan

and Maddie!!

***

And a big happy birthday (today) to:

Dean!!

***

It's hard to believe that the little guys are a whopping 2years old and that Maddie has been here a whole year. And I still find it hard to believe that all of these birthdays are right on top of each other... Anyone else born on October 17/18 that I should know about? Geesh.