Emuzines

Quick post. I received a very, very good grade on my statistics midterm and I am so proud of myself. It was a tough one. Let’s just say that if there were A+++s, I would have one!

Things are also going really well at work. Finishing up an article draft, and finalizing my coding scheme for my own project. Sally and I ran through some videos using it today and it went really well. We also have an analysis plan in the works thanks to an incredible research scientist who helps me out a lot, Greg.

I’m heading to LA tomorrow and I am super excited. Lots of good plans, and I’ll get to spend some quality time with my mom, Mandi, Logan, Danny, Melissa (a frequent reader–hi!), and Mark. Happy!

I have spent most of the weekend studying for my statistics midterm on Tuesday. It is so different from what I normally do/study/think about, so it has taken some getting used to…but I am understanding it and think I will do well on Tuesday. Now I just need to incorporate this knowledge into my research project and actually use it for the analysis…

I have also been walking almost every day. Usually I take JoJo, but not if I am going at a peak dog-walking time. She just pulls too much and I spend more time tugging back at her than relaxing. But sometimes she can be great, and she sniffs all around and doesn’t pull. There are all kinds of trails around here, and creatures and windy paths. The fall leaves crunch under our feet and the trees are getting very orange. It’s easy to get turned around and lost in the neighborhoods here, because they wind all around and loop back on themselves. I like getting lost in the neighborhoods and checking out everybody’s Halloween decorations and gardening. I have been learning a lot more about the neighborhood, too, and we get lost less…

Nik and I had a “night out on the town” Friday and last night. This is in quotes because Davis is such a small little town, and the downtown consists of a grid with streets 1-4 and A-G. On Friday we went out to Pasta?, an Italian restaurant, for dinner, and last night we went to the movies and then to a late-night dinner at Pluto’s. Both nights we spent some time walking the grid, people-watching, looking in the bookstore and shop windows. Nice fall evenings.

Off I go to help finish making chicken parm for dinner…

I have been so exhausted for about a week!  I thought that I was “crashing” from my stressful midterm that I studied for for many, many, many hours.  It was immediately after that that I became a zombie!  I was nearly useless for a whole week.  Making myself get off of my butt helped a bit, but still I felt exhausted.

Then, I went to Ciocolat with my friend, Maciel.  This is a chocolate/pastry/brunch/coffee/tea shop in downtown Davis.  Since I was sick a few weeks ago and missed a get-together wherein my friends ate CAKE without me, Maciel wanted to take me out for dessert.  What a perfect plan.  I had a gigantic slice of carrot cake and a vanilla latte, and Maciel had a gigantic slice of lemon poppyseed cake and a Mexican hot chocolate.  They were all delicious, and the trip snapped me out of my funk.  I came home with plenty of energy, and have been great today (even despite being woken up very early this morning by construction noises…can’t wait to move…).  Thank goodness for friends and dessert!

Today I finished a major portion of  my chapter (and got a big fat A on my genetics midterm), so I felt like a celebration was in order.  That, and Nik said “dog park” in front of JoJo, so we took her to the dog park.  It’s been raining here for days, so it was muddy and very fun.

Jo had a wonderful time.  She likes to run alongside the dogs who chase balls, but she will not touch their toys.  Once in awhile she’ll get there first, but she just sniffs it and steps aside.  She made a few friends.  She made the meanest dog in the park love her by inviting him to play in the largest mud puddle with her.  He layed down and rolled, but she looked at him like he was crazy and she dug holes and splashed around.  We all had a great time and laughed really hard.  She was a DIRTY PUPPY.

Hi!  Lately, I have been more buried than usual in work and school stuff.  I have a genetics midterm on Monday, which I decided to devote all weekend to getting ready for, so I’ve had to do a lot of work for my other class ahead of time, to clear out the weekend (for fun and excitement, like MAOA, tetO, housekeeping genes, and stuff like that).  Well, this was designed as a post to talk about exciting things, and that was quite sarcastic (although I admit I really do enjoy the genetics of autism), so here are some things I’m excited about:

Nik found this for me: http://www.scrapncube.com/  I doubt I’ll go with that company for a scrapbook area, as it’s really expensive, but I thought it was so sweet that he found it for me!  Once we get a house, my scrapbook stuff will have a home besides shoved into closets and on high shelves out of reach.

CHICAGO!  I wanted to go to IMFAR, an autism conference, but I also really wanted to spend Mother’s Day weekend with…well…my mom!  It happened to fall on that weekend, so I invited my mom along.  We’re extended it into a nice little trip and we already have lots of really, really exciting plans.  We’re going to see Mary Poppins, eat at great restaurants, go to Navy Pier, and go on a dinner cruise.  I am beyond excited.  And I keep forgetting about IMFAR, which is also something that really makes me happy.  Sally says I’ll be presenting there next year, so I better get ready!

LAS VEGAS!  This is coming up really, really soon.  I am going to meet my mom, Aunt Debbie, Memere, and Pepere there, like we have been doing every year for…3 years now?  Nik isn’t going this year, so it’ll be a girl + Pepere week.  Great food, a show, the spa, and Vegasy stuff.  As you can tell, food and good company make me very happy.

HOME!  I am going home in 2 weeks!  It’ll be a very, very short trip, but I’m happy about it.  Mark and I are going to take Noah to the park to feed ducks, I’m going to go out to dinner and a hopefully girly movie/illegal sweets with Gaby, and have breakfast with Melissa.  Should be a nice, quick trip.

VALENTINE’S DAY!  Nik and I cooked in last year, so we’re going out this year.  We wanted to try something new (although, most things are new up here for us, still).  We have reservations at Ruth’s Chris.

DENVER!  This is happening in April.  The primary reason for the trip is another conference, but I’m going with David, Abby, and April.  We’re going to have a lot of fun together!!  I am more than lucky in meeting these friends.

Finally…relaxation…I’m giving myself the night off.  So off I go to eat lasagne and watch a movie!