Summer fun coming to an end : (

Big summer this year. I'm sad to see it end, but this semester should be really good. I've shaken some things up in the lab. Actually, I've changed labs. I am now a member of the Robertson Lab! This means that this might me my last semester teaching at Berkeley, because hopefully, come spring time, I'll be funded by Lynn. But even if I'm not, this change was much-needed and is very much a happy thing.

I'm finishing up an EEG project... or trying to. Why are there always problems with my data? Argh. I'm confident this study will wrap up in a good way, it's just taking longer than I anticipated. This fall should see its completion and a manuscript submitted. Then I can focus on a new track of research in my new lab.

Nathan in the EEG cap

Nathan and I spent all day yesterday rearranging our apartment, because we got a foosball table. A friend of a friend is going to be wandering about the country for a year doing doctorly things, and so we're storing his foosball table. So it's only a loaner, but still pretty cool. Do you know how many ways you can improperly put together a foosball table? Well, I do! After much time spent constructing and reconstructing the table yesterday, Nathan and I played a best of 5 tournament. I killed him in the first match (think 10 to 1, booyah!), but sadly, and I swear through illegal means, Nathan beat me in the next 3 matches. Alas, I lost the tournament. And I ended up with a sore elbow, acquired no doubt through overly- excited and turbo-charged playing.

Whoo-hoo Foosball!!!

The apartment looks really nice now. Nathan and I have created an office space in part of our living room that was previously a box storage spot. So now we've got a desk set up at a window with a fabulous view of the Bay, Cesar Chavez park, Alcatraz, and Berkeley. The foosball table is quite a bit bigger than I was expecting, but we made it work. I actually really like the way we rearranged the furniture and I'm going to enjoy our "new" apartment. In fact, I think I'll get to that now while I celebrate the last day of my summer with a cup of coffee in my Berkeley mug and some Little People, Big World : )

Desk area

View from desk

Sleepy time

I love to sleep. I hate to get up in the morning. Thank god for coffee or I'd never get out of bed. You know who else likes to sleep? Animals. Animals like to sleep. Pandas, puppies, kittens, my cats especially. I love to watch my kitty boys sleep too, they're so cute and furry. Check out all these adorable sleepyheads.





And the kitty boys de resistance...

Upside-down kitty head in all its glory.

Harry Potter...this shit just got real

I'm all for short blog posts these days (if blog posts happen, period). This one is about revelling in the upcoming release of the new HP movie. Nathan and I just bought our tickets last night, and we can't wait. Sadly, we missed out on the midnight show's tix, which we usually attend.

The last time a new HP movie came out, I, in true uber-dork form, knitted us some Griffindor hats. Thankfully a shred of everyday-garden-variety nerdiness still lived in us and we successfully suppressed the urge to actually wear these hats at the movie. We were still nerdy, don't get me wrong, we went to the midnight release. This being said, I do have a fake HP wand that came with candy lightning bolts in it, which I might have to sneak into the new movie. We'll see what Nathan has to say about that. He'll probably try to steal it from me to use himself. Oh, I just remember that my mom got me a time turner necklace...so many possibilities. I wonder how far Nathan would let me go in my pursuit of dorkdom...I'm guessing far.

And our orange-haired tabby cats are named Fred and George. And they're twin brothers. And, no, it's not a coincidence.

A new post

It's summer vacation and I've survived another semester, another year really, at Berkeley. Nathan and I have a beautiful new apartment with a window ledge for our kitty boys to sit on. We took an awesome vacation to Disneyland and Tempe. And right now we're both on our computer waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. The agenda for today: Coffee, reading (for fun!), Monopoly, and a game night with some friends. All and all, I think it's going to be a pretty good day.

I so very much enjoy my out-of-school time, I just wish I could channel more of this enjoyment into my research. Graduate school is an interesting entity. You begin a program knowing that you have an interest in this field; knowing that you would like to work in this area and figure out things that no one else ever has; knowing that you're ready to make a huge commitment to your education. How are you welcomed into this program? With a spirit-crushingly strong hug of toil. After two years in my program, my sharpened interest has been whittled down to an almost-dull point.

I haven't written on my blog in so long that I just wanted to post something here. I should make the effort to post some new pictures, but I'm too lured by the aroma of coffee in the kitchen.

Ok, just a few. These are pictures from my mom's visit in March when we spent a super fun day wandering around San Francisco.

Time to put on my business socks

I'm getting down to business today with the help of my handy dandy business socks of flying monkeys. Check it:

I love socks. I never wear plain white socks and I like to match my socks to my mood or goals of the day. Today's socks, though, are inspired by a website I just discovered. An old friend from back in the days of first grade and onward is a Flash animator and has a web cartoon of Space Monkey Mafia. It's really cute and quite hilarious. So my socks today are about flying monkeys.

Flying monkeys aside, however, I am getting down to business, hence the business socks. I'm going to dig into statistical analysis (delicious) and dive into a journal article for class (everyone needs exercise). In addition to the help I will be receiving from my socks, I've also got two kitties to help me along.

Fred's business is sleepy time. Where's he going? Sleep. Sleepy town.

I hope I don't doze off looking at the cute guy's cute face.

Time for another panda post

Due to the looming semester on the horizon of tomorrow, I felt that posting a bunch of cute, fluffy, happy, chubby panda pictures would cheer me through this dark day. Let's delve right in, shall we?

This guy is in a bind, but you gotta love that fluff butt.

There's nothing better than yawning in a tree.

When my boys stand like this, I call them gopher kitties. This guy looks more like he's doing tai chi.

Geez, these frickin' guys are cute, and helpful.

More cubby panda butt.

To me, this guy looks like he's doing a dangerous downhill cartwheel.

Just how much chubby cuteness can you stand? Because I'm almost at my limit.

Oh for crying out loud.

This guy looks sad to me. All alone with a ginorm bootab.

I like this dude's nosicles.

And finally...? I don't know what's happening here, but it reminds me of The Mystics from "The Dark Crystal".

Back from vaca, the weath was great

I save actual seconds each week abbreviating words. It's phenom!

Nathan and I are back from our trip to AZ and Disneyland. It was pretty fun, and I've got pictures to prove it!!! I believe I shall do this in snippets, because there are many pictures from the many phases of our trip.

Phase 1 - The drive to AZ, Jan 1st, 2009

As much as I often detest this place called home, AKA the Bay Area, it really is quite beautiful.

It was soooo foggy on our drive that morning. All the way from our home in Berkeley to just before LA. Fog fog fog fog fog. Kind of scary in some places actually, because we'd be driving up a mountain with very low visibility and people would still be zooming around. Dangerous a-holes.

Wide open and amazing. Get a load of that vanishing point!

Yup, that's snow. This was somewhere still in CA called Tehachapi. We visited a fine establishment in this town. You may have heard of it, Walgreens.

Phase 2 - The fam, Jan 2nd to Jan 7th, 2009

From left to right, mom, Piggy, Nathan.

Awww, Piggy loves Nathan. Frickin' adorable!!!!

Oh, poor old Floppy. She's got no hearing, hardly any vision, but a strong sniffin' snout. This old puppy loves to mooch, and the habit has gotten more aggressive with old age. Perhaps she thinks she's alone in the room since she can't see or hear us, and so she thinks, "Why don't I put my cute little puppy paws on this table and try to get Allison's food? She'll never know it was me. Woof!"

Mom and G-ma. My mom insisted on getting some family portraits taken when we were in town. They turned out pretty funny because my mom has her mouth open and laughing in all of them (I'll have to scan in a couple maybe). In her defense, my nephew Daniel, 2, was cracking her up the whole time.

My little Pigglet. Piggy loves laying on laps. It's probably her favorite thing in the world. Other favs of Pigglet include chasing the Trash Truck Monster, barking at hot air balloons, mooching, sleeping, and barking at the neighbor dogs. Oh Piggy, you're so cute!

Phase 3 - DISNEYLAND, Jan 9th to 11th, 2009

Here I am outside of Splash Mountain in Disneyland. Nathan got the brunt of the splashing that day, but out of the shot my pants are soaked. I didn't mind, it feels nice when you're walking around in the sun. Yes, it's warm to hot even in January. Add to that my sissy-hood when it comes to heat. Equals, SPLASH FUN TIME!

Big Thunder Railroad broke down when we were on it. Not just temporarily either. We were stuck sitting stopped on the tracks for a good 10 or 15 minutes and then had to walk through the attraction to get out. There were two pre-teen girls sitting in front of us who kept talking to us and were pretty funny.

We had a very delicious lunch in Downtown Disney at this place called Naples. It was pretty expensive (thank you, greedy corporate such-and-suches), but did I mention delicious? It was delicious. There was a really creepy chef/clown thing projecting out from the restaurant that this picture is supposed to show. But you can't expect too much from a random person taking your photo, at least they got me and Nathan in it.

I'm sad here because Nathan didn't want to go where I wanted to go. I don't remember where I wanted to go, but it was somewhere, I know that much. You can see Nathan trying to worm his way into the photo, heh heh. I also like that you can see the big ship in the background and all the crazy people.

Here we are on Space Mountain. I love riding this ride with Nathan because he giggles the whole time. Giggling is funny any time, but Nathan giggling is hilarious. He sounds like a mixture of Mickey Mouse (no joke) and a giddy schoolgirl. And for some reason, this ride in particular elicits the giggle fits from my goofy dear. He always looks so funny in these pictures that they take on the rides (here he is making sure nothing falls out of his pockets), while I look calmly happy.

Beautiful Disneyland. It really is beautiful too. The amount of details they have around the place is just amazing. You don't even need to go on the rides to enjoy the place, just keep your eyes open for unexpected decorations around the entire park.

This is over in the other park, California Adventure. Nathan doesn't like this side as much because it's not so Disney oriented. But I love it because it has the biggest roller coaster, California Screamin'. This, however, is their newest attraction, which is the 3D Toy Story Midway Mania. For your line-ly entertainment, Mr. Potatohead. Potato Potato, Potato Potato.

One of Nathan's favorite Disney movies (the favorite?) is Pinnochio. We found this little restaurant within a part of the park we'd never seen before, tucked away in behind the Dumbo ride and some random princess stuff for little girls. I really like this picture, because as Nathan pointed out when looking at it last night, it looks like his thought bubble.

This is in CA Adventure again heading into the Hollywood side of the park, which houses the Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror. We finally decided we were going to do this ride though it frankly terrifies us just to look at the building. It's a tall hotel looking building with a flickering neon sign. Our friend Richard and his new lady friend were at the park with us this day, and they were going to ride it together, even though she gets motion sick. Nathan and I thought, if she can do it, so can we. So we did. I was so scared waiting in the line and walking into the elevator where the ride actually happens. But it wasn't too bad at all. The ride shoots you up real high in the elevator and drops you, up, down, up, down, in various stages and heights. BUT, you're inside a building and can't really tell how high you are. The scariest part for me actually was when you get to the very top, there's no wall between you and the outside and you can see just how high above the park you are. THAT was the scariest.

Every time Nathan and I go to Disneyland, we each buy one pin for our lanyards to mark the occasion. This was our 5th trip. I first took him to Disneyland to celebrate his graduating from ASU. He hadn't been since he was a little kid, and was very excited. Needless to say, he loved it! So, when we moved to Berkeley and he started working at a coffee shop, I started saving all of his tip money to fund two year-long passes for us. He made pretty good tips, we bought the passes, and we've been 4 more times. We'll probably only make it back one more time before they expire on June 4th, boo. Anyway, the point in my telling this story is that Nathan's pin for this trip was sorcerer Mickey and we found this statue in CA Adventure of sorcerer Mickey. Picture needed. Picture taken.

If Nathan were here right now (and not on his way to his first day at a new job, to be described at another time), he would say that this is an epic blog post. Yes.

The end.

The handmade homemade christmas present extravaganza

Since the completion of my semester, I've been a-craftin' up a storm. I've made a hat and scarf for a cold friend in Michigan, started a new super-secret scarf project for an unnamed beneficiary, painted a box for Nathan, painted a box for my grandma, painted some holiday thingies for me and Nathan, and painted a Noah's arc thingy for my nephew. I've been working on these things for probably 5-8 hours a day, no joke.

Here's the hat and scarf I made. I wanted a picture of them before I mailed them off to the midwest. I'm still waiting to hear if they've been received and dutifully loved.


This is a Christmas thingy that I started painting years ago. The last time Nathan and I were in AZ, I found a tub full of my old craft supplies and decided to bring it back to Berkeley. I was digging through it a few days ago and found this half-painted thing and decided to finish it. Below it is the box I painted for my grandma, who I will be seeing in AZ in just a few days. Grandmas always love little knickknacks, right?


I just finished this present for my nephew Daniel last night. I think it turned out pretty cute. My brother has some weirdly strong urge to decorate the kid's room with Noah's ark stuff, so I guess this should fit in nicely.


I'm looking forward to giving out all these presents. Nathan and I are leaving for AZ on Thursday, but we're not having our replacement Christmas celebration until Saturday. So I've got a few more days to wait. In the mean time, I've got about a million things to do around this place before leaving, including coming up with some new way to thwart the invasion plans of the ants that live in our crawl space. (If it's not a raccoon it's another thing.) I'm really looking forward to our trip though. We're going to be staying with our friend Richard in his new house, and then Richard and us are going to Disneyland!!! Anyway, fun times ahead, I'll post about them when I'm back.