We have had a lazy few weeks, not doing much besides working and cleaning the apartment. The fires are again quite bad, but we are out of harm's way. Besides all the smoke in the air and trying to help those who were affected, we have not had any problems. So I thought I would give you another sampling of bus stories.
I've had two "screamers" in the past few months. The first one was panhandling as I got on the bus. Since Jay was kind enough to get me an iPod, I mostly just listen to it to drown out all the crazies. So I didn't realize at first that he had ask me for money (rather, mumbled at me for money) so I sat down in the seat across the aisle. He was dressed all in black, eyes dilated, and rather scruffy. As I sat down, I pulled out my cell phone to text Jay and let him know I was on my way to work. The dude immediately started screaming at me, "Are you calling your f*@%$in' credit card?!" over and over again. I kept ignoring him, and he finally got off a stop or two later.
The second screamer was on a trip home. I again was wearing the iPod, but the battery was dead. Nevertheless, it makes me more comfortable ignoring people when I have it on, so I was wearing it. I had sat in the first seats on the bus, near the driver, facing forward. Dude gets on, and starts an argument with the bus driver, since he does not have the fare. The drivers here are incredibly patient, and will often let you ride without fare if you give a good sob story and aren't obnoxious. While obnoxious, the guy was flashing a hospital ID bracelet and claiming to have just been discharged minus his wallet. Okay, bus driver lets him on. He sits in the seats directly in front of me, however these seats face to the side and he can turn and look at me. Which he does. He then begins a very loud rant about being forcibly admitted to the hospital, but he told "those f*@%ers he was not staying, he was leaving," etc. The story continues at the top of his lungs, profanity included, the entire time he is on the bus, which isn't long because the bus driver put him out a few stops later. A lady across the aisle then slides into the seat next to me, and all the way to my stop proceeds to complain to me about people on the bus who cannot behave, and try to make you listen to them even if you don't want to. Yes, I am still wearing my iPod...
Today's dude was at least funny. He showed up at the bus stop this morning, singing at the top of his lungs. When someone looked at him, he screamed at them, "Yeah, I know I'm off-key! I've been off-key all my life, motherf*@$er!!" He didn't get on the bus, luckily, he went into the McDonald's, still singing. I don't know if they threw him out, as the bus appeared just moments later. Always something on public transportation!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Happy 6th Anniversary!
Today marks six lovely years together. It is hard to believe that it has been that long since we marched down the aisle. I am looking forward to seeing what the next six years has in store. Love you sweetie!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Why we appreciate our friends...
I know that some of you may be feeling a big neglected - believe me, we feel like we have neglected many of our best friends. It has really been on my mind lately, and something that I feel terrible about. While I don't believe that there is any excuse that forgives this behavior, I hope that you all will continue to be patient with us while we get through what looks to be another overly-eventful year.
We just found out that Jay's mom has a very serious illness, as does my aunt. My family has still been struggling with the loss of my step-father and uncle, and Jay's family has been plagued with very serious health problems among other things. We have both been over-worked and overwhelmed with living 3000 miles away while all these things are going on, and adjusting to the first year of a post-doc life has not been easy for me or for my poor husband. We have been so fortunate to be able to attend the weddings this year, and see many people as they come through, but there are others who are very dear to us that we have not seen or spoken to in quite a while. Please know that we love you and think of you all very often, and hope very much that we will be back in touch soon.
I think the last three years have been the most exhausting and eventful of my entire life thus far, and things just don't seem to be slowing down!
We just found out that Jay's mom has a very serious illness, as does my aunt. My family has still been struggling with the loss of my step-father and uncle, and Jay's family has been plagued with very serious health problems among other things. We have both been over-worked and overwhelmed with living 3000 miles away while all these things are going on, and adjusting to the first year of a post-doc life has not been easy for me or for my poor husband. We have been so fortunate to be able to attend the weddings this year, and see many people as they come through, but there are others who are very dear to us that we have not seen or spoken to in quite a while. Please know that we love you and think of you all very often, and hope very much that we will be back in touch soon.
I think the last three years have been the most exhausting and eventful of my entire life thus far, and things just don't seem to be slowing down!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wine Country
There are some real perks to living in Los Angeles. (Of course, there are some real downsides too, but since we don't have much choice right now, let's focus on the positive, shall we?) Two of my favorite things involve, shockingly, food and alcohol. First, the food.
The farmer's markets here are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Jay and I try to go at least every other weekend. And there are two within biking distance of our apartment. We can pick from an enormous variety of produce, free-range chicken eggs, homemade cheeses and breads, sausages, flowers, soaps, etc. One of our favorite stalls is that for Avila and Sons, Farms. They bring dried fruits and nuts. Have you ever had fresh almonds? We can't eat them from any store again. When we do, we look at one another sadly and lament. What generally happens is that we end up eating seasonally. Right now the stone fruits and squashes are ripening and coming to market. Soon the root vegetables will be back, and then we will begin to see the winter fruits and vegetables. The variety is just incredible. I could go on and on.
And now, the alcohol. Good god, wine country. I have found some of the California wines to be utterly stunning. We have had one trip to Napa (if you go, visit Arger-Mertucci Vineyards). About a 3 hour drive away is Santa Ynez Valley (just see the movie Sideways). We visited two weeks ago with our new friends Helen and Alias, and their toddler son Elijah. We visited Curtiss Winery and Bridlewood, then headed into Solvang for visits to the tasting rooms there. The white wines at Curtiss are Rhone varietals, and they are so delicious. We are wine club members at Bridlewood (excellent Syrahs) and at Gainey Vineyards (Riesling) and get bimonthly shipments of wine from these wineries. Now, every night involves a glass of wine and relaxing with my hubby. (Lately this also involves watching an episode of the British sitcom Greenwing. Bless Helen for introducing us to it.) Oh, the vino.... it makes even writing grants seem somewhat relaxing.
We will post some pictures of our picnic at Bridlewood once we get our computer up and running again!
The farmer's markets here are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Jay and I try to go at least every other weekend. And there are two within biking distance of our apartment. We can pick from an enormous variety of produce, free-range chicken eggs, homemade cheeses and breads, sausages, flowers, soaps, etc. One of our favorite stalls is that for Avila and Sons, Farms. They bring dried fruits and nuts. Have you ever had fresh almonds? We can't eat them from any store again. When we do, we look at one another sadly and lament. What generally happens is that we end up eating seasonally. Right now the stone fruits and squashes are ripening and coming to market. Soon the root vegetables will be back, and then we will begin to see the winter fruits and vegetables. The variety is just incredible. I could go on and on.
And now, the alcohol. Good god, wine country. I have found some of the California wines to be utterly stunning. We have had one trip to Napa (if you go, visit Arger-Mertucci Vineyards). About a 3 hour drive away is Santa Ynez Valley (just see the movie Sideways). We visited two weeks ago with our new friends Helen and Alias, and their toddler son Elijah. We visited Curtiss Winery and Bridlewood, then headed into Solvang for visits to the tasting rooms there. The white wines at Curtiss are Rhone varietals, and they are so delicious. We are wine club members at Bridlewood (excellent Syrahs) and at Gainey Vineyards (Riesling) and get bimonthly shipments of wine from these wineries. Now, every night involves a glass of wine and relaxing with my hubby. (Lately this also involves watching an episode of the British sitcom Greenwing. Bless Helen for introducing us to it.) Oh, the vino.... it makes even writing grants seem somewhat relaxing.
We will post some pictures of our picnic at Bridlewood once we get our computer up and running again!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
A busy LA weekend
Well, we said goodbye to our last houseguest early Friday morning. I headed into the lab at 6 am (yes, you read that correctly) to finish up a hydrogenosome prep that had to be completed before 5 pm. Now, just so you know, the organism I work on produces hydrogen along with some chemicals very similar to putrescin and other nasty smelling molecules. So I spent my Friday mostly gagging. Jay headed into his job in downtown LA, and by Friday night we were exhausted. But we didn't take any time to relax, oh no, not us! We were off and running on a busy weekend full of fun stuff.
Saturday morning found us fighting the crowds at the university laundry room. We won (probably because I had Jay as backup. I've found that the annoying Russian guy won't even meet my eye when my hubby's around, much less yell at me) and got four loads of laundry washed and dried and the apartment cleaned out. Back to pre-guest status. That afternoon we headed out to Hollywood to meet Dan and Gretchen for a baseball game. We took the train to Anaheim (there is some public transportation in LA) where we had great seats for the Angels vs. Twins match-up (thanks Gretchen!!). We got back to LA at about 1 am and I got my first view of Sunset Strip at night, as it is meant to be seen. The place was packed, the lines for the Rainbow Room and Whiskey-a-Go-Go were around the block. There were huge limos everywhere, and probably lots of famous people whom I would never recognize. We also passed a private bash in Bel Air that, as it turns out, was attended by such as Christina Aguilera that night. Sadly, we couldn't even sneak in through the back servant gate :(. I guess post-doc status does not immediately mean you are A-list.
The next morning we missed the farmer's market so we could go to the California ScienCenter. The ScienCenter is currently hosting BodyWorld3, and it is leaving soon. I have wanted to see this exhibit since I first heard of it. For those of you who may not know, it is an exhibit of plastinated human bodies. Yes, real human bodies. All the bodies on display were donated with this knowledge. Many people find this disturbing, because they are posed. In this exhibit, most were posed as atheletes of some type, either acrobats or gymnasts. The exhibit hall was absoutely packed with people. I loved the exhibit and found it fascinating. Not surprisingly, I was especially interested in the exhibits that showed the diseased states. I would be really curious to see specimans that contained parasites, but I imagine the ick factor involved in that would really turn off the public. At any rate, we both enjoyed it, and I personally thought that the bodies were treated in a very artistic and non-degrading fashion and had no problem with any of the ethical concerns that others have brought up. In fact, I recommend it to anyone who wants to be inspired to take care of yourself. I felt so encouraged to take care of this fascinating body that we all have.
Afterwards we went home and absolutely collapsed on the sofa. We're exhausted and ready to get back to what passes for normal around us.
Saturday morning found us fighting the crowds at the university laundry room. We won (probably because I had Jay as backup. I've found that the annoying Russian guy won't even meet my eye when my hubby's around, much less yell at me) and got four loads of laundry washed and dried and the apartment cleaned out. Back to pre-guest status. That afternoon we headed out to Hollywood to meet Dan and Gretchen for a baseball game. We took the train to Anaheim (there is some public transportation in LA) where we had great seats for the Angels vs. Twins match-up (thanks Gretchen!!). We got back to LA at about 1 am and I got my first view of Sunset Strip at night, as it is meant to be seen. The place was packed, the lines for the Rainbow Room and Whiskey-a-Go-Go were around the block. There were huge limos everywhere, and probably lots of famous people whom I would never recognize. We also passed a private bash in Bel Air that, as it turns out, was attended by such as Christina Aguilera that night. Sadly, we couldn't even sneak in through the back servant gate :(. I guess post-doc status does not immediately mean you are A-list.
The next morning we missed the farmer's market so we could go to the California ScienCenter. The ScienCenter is currently hosting BodyWorld3, and it is leaving soon. I have wanted to see this exhibit since I first heard of it. For those of you who may not know, it is an exhibit of plastinated human bodies. Yes, real human bodies. All the bodies on display were donated with this knowledge. Many people find this disturbing, because they are posed. In this exhibit, most were posed as atheletes of some type, either acrobats or gymnasts. The exhibit hall was absoutely packed with people. I loved the exhibit and found it fascinating. Not surprisingly, I was especially interested in the exhibits that showed the diseased states. I would be really curious to see specimans that contained parasites, but I imagine the ick factor involved in that would really turn off the public. At any rate, we both enjoyed it, and I personally thought that the bodies were treated in a very artistic and non-degrading fashion and had no problem with any of the ethical concerns that others have brought up. In fact, I recommend it to anyone who wants to be inspired to take care of yourself. I felt so encouraged to take care of this fascinating body that we all have.
Afterwards we went home and absolutely collapsed on the sofa. We're exhausted and ready to get back to what passes for normal around us.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Yeah, I know. It's been almost two months...
So we have been busy, okay?
Since the last post April has been back to the MBL for a week to set up BOP, and I was there for a couple of days. July 4th weekend was pretty lazy, one day at the beach in Malibu, bust mostly just sleeping late and doing nothing. We have also been up to the Bay Area for Mike Cipriano and Rose Mill's wedding (it was great fun) and a day in Napa with Shanda and Patrick (also tremendous fun, we will be back!)
I have taken many photos, and I will get them online this week. Next week will be very busy, my brother flies in from Texas on Thursday for the weekend, his daughter gets here from Montana on Friday, and she will be here all next week!
More to come...
Since the last post April has been back to the MBL for a week to set up BOP, and I was there for a couple of days. July 4th weekend was pretty lazy, one day at the beach in Malibu, bust mostly just sleeping late and doing nothing. We have also been up to the Bay Area for Mike Cipriano and Rose Mill's wedding (it was great fun) and a day in Napa with Shanda and Patrick (also tremendous fun, we will be back!)
I have taken many photos, and I will get them online this week. Next week will be very busy, my brother flies in from Texas on Thursday for the weekend, his daughter gets here from Montana on Friday, and she will be here all next week!
More to come...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)