This week I learned

1.  Trying to put out a flaming piece of tape with an ethanol soaked tissue = not a good idea

2. Leaving a graduation ceremony early ensures that you will get first dibs on the free food

3. I am not motivated enough to get my lazy ass out of bed to work out in the morning.  Help! Anyone!?

4. If you leave crumbs on the floor for several days ants will find them. lots of ants.

5. Attending other people's graduation ceremonies is fun because it reminds me that I will graduate. One day. eventually..

Overall a very productive week indeed :)  Now its time to go play in the woods for a week!

Picnic Day 2008!

I'm not sure why this never got published but anyway here goes:

Saturday (like a month ago) was picnic day and it was so fun! We spent the morning wandering around looking at stuff- I got my free plants (tomatoes). The viticulture people were giving out grapevine plants. I really really wanted one but couldn't think of where I would plant it so I passed. I spent the afternoon at our lab's poster in BAE and the Biotech exhibit. I was pooped by the end of the day. I also carried around my camera for the entire day and didn't take a single picture..

Also, my computer is having issues- it has downloaded Windows (XP) updates but won't install them. I click on the yellow shield to install, it thinks about it for a minute and then tells me that the updates were not installed. No error message or anything. Does anyone know whats wrong? Do I have a virus or something?

Another one for my stupid file

At the beginning of the quarter I registered for a swimming (PE) class and got waitlisted. I was like 23rd on the waitlist or something crazy so I didn't think I would make it in and didn't think any more about it. I happened to log in to myUCDavis (the student portal website thingy) for the first time since that time and noticed that I was registered for a third course besides my reasearch and conference classes. hmm.. thats odd...

...

...

OH CRAP! I must have gotten into the swim class!

...

OH CRAP! I was supposed to be going to class since the end of March.

OH CRAP!

Ahh the joys of being an absent minded crazy person! :)

I emailed the instructor and I'm sure he got a good chuckle. Or he was just annoyed. Anyway, he pretended to be nice and said he would give me credit for the time I missed and to start coming next class. Everyone else in the class is going to be like "who is this random girl adding in the middle of the quarter?" Oh man, good times..

Grad school is hard

Every morning I wake and wonder if I can really do this.  And every morning I have to convince myself that I can or at least to just get out of bed and go try.  Almost every fiber of my being says quit, run away to somewhere that is safe and comfortable.  But where is the fun in that?  I don't want to look back on a safe life.  I want to look back and know that I pushed my limits and put myself out there, whether or not I was actually successful.  I'm not really sure how I ended up here so I just have to trust that God put me here for a reason.  I don't know what the reason is but I don't think it was to quit and run away :)

Updated Lab Picture

Yesterday we had a going-away-yay-you-got-a-job- lunch for Rowena and Harrison. I am so happy for both of them, but I will miss them! Especially Rowena since I am now the only female (not counting Dr. Zhang of course). So anyway, here we are:



Back: Iain, Xiguang, Dong

Front: Yi, Baoning, Me, Rowena, Harrison, Josh

Missing: Chris and Dr. Zhang

I want

this
Too bad we just bought a new car.

Anyway, today I finished my last. class. ever. It feels good. I cannot say that I took my last exam, however, because I still have the daunting task of passing my qualifying exam ahead of me. This week I must finish my proposal. I must. If I don't, there is a good chance that I will have to go on vacation before I take my quals and that will just suck. I would much rather be able to truly relax for a week!

Yesterday Derrick and I went out and flew our new kite! We got it at COSTCO. Its a seahorse- our compromise between the blue angel and the pretty bird. Anyway, we found this open field on campus and started romping about. Our seahorse wasn't very good at flying, maybe because he's actually supposed to swim. He kept crashing down on his head. oops. We did get in a couple good flights, though. We will try again when the wind isn't so gusty.