Jane Austen -- finally I understand the hype!

I've been hearing for years how much everyone loves Jane Austen's books, but I had never read them. Now, I have still not read them, but I have finally watched three related movies: Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and Becoming Jane.

I absolutely loved these movies, although I loved Becoming Jane the least. Since that movie is about a fictional version of her life, I guess it shows that she was better at creating good stories than the writers for her pseudo-biography. For Sense & Sensibility though, I watched it twice in 2 days, which is something I very rarely do with movies. I would have happily done the same with Pride & Prejudice if I had the time when I rented it.

These movies really entertain me because they are not only interesting, but they also create a tangled mess of relationships that is slowly sorted out by the end. Of course I had my suspicions on how everyone would end up, but I could not have guessed the paths that would lead them there. The characters were extremely engaging, most likely due to how different they were from each other (both female and male characters). There were also strong female characters, who always keep me engaged. As far as movies based on love lives of a group of people go, these are much deeper than most newer movies.

If you haven't seen these movies, I definitely recommend that you at least see Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility. After you have watched them, if you are hungry for the same type of movie, then by all means watch Becoming Jane, but don't expect as intertwined of a plot as exists with the other two.

JK Rowling Gives Harvard Commencement Speech

Sorry, I'm a little behind on the news it seems! But perhaps not all of you have seen this speech yet.

Both the video and transcript of her speech

Today I ran across a link to the speech that J.K. Rowling gave at Harvard's commencement this spring. Among other things, this speech gives insight into why her characters are the way that they are, and why the evil characters are evil in the ways that they are. It seems that she values empathy and compassion above many things, mostly due to her experiences working at Amnesty International while in college. It was great to see the speech that she gave, both because it echoed many of the thoughts I have had over the past few years and because it helped give insight into who she is besides the author of the Harry Potter books.

Movie: Sex and the City

Last week I went with a few female friends to see the Sex and the City movie. I was never a big fan of the show, mostly because I have never had HBO, although one of Tim's housemates used to watch it regularly so I watched a few episodes with him the last few years. Thanks to that I at least knew the characters and what the show is about.

One of the people I went to the movie with was an avid fan of the show when it was on originally, so she explained much of the backstory after the movie. However, I was never lost throughout the entire movie and actually enjoyed it! Although knowing the backstory made the movie a little more rich in plot, I think it stands fine by itself. Granted, it was not one of the best movies I have ever seen, but it was not the worst either. It was entertaining despite some cliche lines and the obsession with certain clothing brands, especially as it really hit home on the fact that strong independent women sometimes do want what less career driven women desire as well (such as marriage, a nice wedding, etc).

One of my favorite aspects of the movie is that the personal assistant Louise the main character hires halfway through is an African-American female Computer Scientist (played by Jennifer Hudson)!! Not only is she portrayed as smart (she fixes the main character's website, is able to organize her life, and gets the main character back on her feet), but she is also beautiful, and interested in "girly" things like fashion. With so few women and African American computer scientists, I hope that this character helps to subconsciously remind girls and women that they too can succeed in our field. Too bad she wasn't doing something stronger computer-wise (websites can be fairly basic when compared to other types of computer work). It's also sad that she was one of the few non-white characters in the entire movie, but I suppose that is something for someone else to write about.

Overall, it was entertaining and fun to watch, even if it was a weakly done chic flick.

College Kid, hmmm?

I was recently reminded that it is typical for people who understand the reality of some experience to view it much differently than those who merely look in on it. Although after living in some world (such as grad school) for many years, it can be easy to forget how others view one's own world.

To me, graduate school (for computer science at least) is defined by learning and working at the same time, although those two parts can be both symbiotic and in conflict. Graduate school is mostly about research, with the most useful learning not coming from classes but from reading papers, interacting with other researchers, and working. Not only are graduate students learning some small part of their field in detail, they are also beginning their careers by publishing their work, attending conferences, and networking. In a sense, graduate school is almost an apprenticeship where in the end no job is guaranteed, but is still likely to be found. Graduate students are often living their lives as normal adults, sometimes with families but often without, participating in their community, taking vacations, etc. The only main differences between graduate school and an industry job are that graduate school pays substantially less, expects you to work longer hours more frequently, and has more flexibility overall. We don't even pay tuition at many schools, but instead it is waived.

I have recently been reminded however, that many people who have not attended graduate school themselves view it more as "being in college again." As far as I can tell, it is viewed as following the college/university model very closely with just harder classes than are taken at the undergraduate level. As you have hopefully gathered from my previous paragraph, this is very far from the truth in Computer Science! Yes, it can be close to the truth in other disciplines, but even in liberal arts programs the graduate students still take fewer classes than undergraduates, have some form of stipend that pays them to work for the department in some capacity, and usually do some form of research at some point in the program. For instance, I know in Mathematics graduate students generally focus on classes for the first few years and are only then ready to actively participate in research.

I think it's also important to note that there is a different focus in graduate school than in undergraduate education. As an undergrad, one usually learns a very broad range of information including general education requirements. Students learn a large amount of background knowledge that could be necessary in their future careers. In graduate school, this background knowledge is of course assumed, and thus graduate students focus on the area they are most interested in pursuing. More is expected of students overall, as only truly interested and motivated students ttend graduate school (although of course many people who are as interested and motivated in the field choose not to attend).

The department's building is the graduate student's place of work, their work community, and often practically seems like a second home (as sad as that is). Graduate students are generally on a first-name basis with professors, and their opinions are generally valued. Graduate students are often the mentors or teachers for undergraduate students, which may be why grad students often call undergraduates "kids" when talking with other graduate students, even when they are almost the same age. Or maybe we call them "kids" because after a few years of graduate school it's hard to remember being "so juvenile" or "so lost."

Personally, I think at my school the biggest difference is that many undergraduate kids are noisy, obnoxious, and inconsiderate of other people. But then again, I suspect the graduate students at my alma mater probably feel the same about their undergrads.

But either way, do try to remember when talking to graduate students that they have done their time in college and have moved on. They are usually no longer living the college lifestyle except for the fact that they may live in a college town and don't make very much money. They are career focused, independent, and soon to be college/university professors teaching "those pesky college kids."

Richland WA - Desert or Not?

I spent last summer in Richland, WA. For the record, this is not near Seattle! It is actually across the mountains in the eastern part of the state, where it is much more arid. From what I understand, it was originally desert but has been irrigated enough over the years to now be able to support plants (such as trees and grass). It is part of the Tri-Cities area, which also includes Pasco and Kennewick.



There are many great reasons to go to Richland, besides working at PNNL (my reason for moving there). Many of the roads are extra wide so there is plenty of room for bikes, making it very easy to bike around town. There is also a fabulous (paved) bike path down the Columbia river that has just enough hills to make it interesting without being too tiring. Downtown there is a place that serves afternoon tea in a Victorian setting, there are craft fairs during the summer, and cherries are both very cheap and very tasty for most of the summer. Not to mention that there are many local wineries, at least one of which has a very delicious restaurant with homemade cheese (among other foods).





Richland is also fabulous for its wildlife. There are birds, deer, and coyotes (supposedly they were around PNNL in the evening but I never saw one) to name a few. In July I went on an afternoon river tour, where I saw most of the wildlife in the area. We also saw a few orchards and farms growing on the slopes near the river. The tour was fabulous as it started in the afternoon (bright sun) allowing us to see great scenery, and then ended around sunset, allowing us to see that same scenery become transformed into another beautiful setting.



In the summer it rarely rains in Richland; it rained twice while I was there, once was a light sprinkling and the other was actual rain for less than a day in August. Despite the incredibly hot temperatures, this makes the summer quite enjoyable as long as you believe in sunscreen, drinking water, and A/C. If you get a chance to go there, I highly recommend it.

A new writer to keep in mind

A friend of mine from undergraduate is about to finish her MFA degree (Masters of Fine Arts) in children's literature. I've had the pleasure to "beta-read" what is likely to be her first young adult fiction book, which is also part of her Masters thesis. The current title of the book is Arion, and I have to say that it is absolutely fabulous. This book is in the fantasy genre, so she has created her own world in addition to her own characters, plot, etc. It's so amazing reading a book that is so well done when I personally know the author!

I would love to share a link with you, but she is still in progress on making her website. However, I can tell you that her name is Kathleen Foucart, and as soon as she has a published book I will be posting again to let you know! She is definitely going to be a great writer if you can appreciate YA books, and I'm not just saying that because I know her!

Surprise!!!.....Surprise!!!

On May 17th we threw a great double-layered surprise party for a fellow graduate student (her boyfriend, another graduate student, actually organized it). Her birthday was that day, but as both her and her boyfriend were traveling to a conference the next day, they decided to just celebrate the following weekend (or so she thought). However, her boyfriend had actually organized a group of us to meet them at a local restaurant for dinner (her favorite restaurant that they frequently eat at). The eight of us managed to get there about 10 minutes before they arrived, and they managed to get into the restaurant before it started pouring rain. When they walked in and saw us, she was so surprised I don't think it registered for a few seconds that we were eating with them. Before they got to our table though she was all smiles and saying how she couldn't believe it. She was actually very surprised, which is amazing because many of our friends have had surprise birthday parties/dinners organized by their significant others in the past year. According to her, her boyfriend is very bad at planning this type of thing, which made it even more surprising for her as she'd never expect it.

I had also posted on her facebook wall earlier that day wishing her a happy birthday and asking if she had any plans. I also suggested that we go to one of the local bars if she didn't have plans to celebrate. Right before they left for dinner she responded to me (I found this out at dinner as I had already left at that point) saying that they were not celebrating until the following weekend. I wish I had a picture of her face when she remembered this wall post during dinner, she was both amused and mad all at the same time. I think she said something like "YOU!!!" while pointing at me (I was sitting right across from her). It was so hilarious seeing her so mad at being duped so well.

The best part of the entire thing though is that dinner was only a decoy. The ACTUAL surprise was karaoke after dinner (as discussed in my previous post). Her boyfriend had organized us so that less than half of the group came to dinner, and everyone else went straight to karaoke. So of course the next challenge was to get her to the karaoke place. Luckily we are all conniving individuals, and through suggesting and shooting down other ideas for awhile toward the end of dinner we actually tricked her into suggesting karaoke herself! As I am not a fan of karaoke I protested at first (otherwise it would have been way too suspicious!), but was eventually "convinced" by her that we should go there.

When we arrived at the karaoke place, she waited for my car to get there as we were the last ones out of the restaurant parking lot and I had told her we didn't know where to go (only partially true). This gave everyone else a chance to get inside and find out what room the rest of our group was hiding in. My labmate's wife stayed out front and pointed us to which room we were going to have, and my labmate opened the door so that the birthday girl could enter before him. The lights were out and two birthday cakes had candles lit on them. She just stood in the doorway so I gently pushed her in since I was right behind her, and everyone started singing "Happy Birthday." She then blew out her candles, and we told the people there that we had managed to make her suggest karaoke at dinner, which then again caused her to be "mad" at us one more time. Although everyone knew she was really just incredibly delighted.

She sent us all an e-mail a few days later, here is a shortened and edited (names removed) version:

Dear friends,
...I want to thank you all for being a part of what may have been the most awesome birthday party ever. I had an amazing time! Special thanks go to [her boyfriend] for being a sweetheart and planning such an incredible evening, those of you who helped him organize it (for some reason I don't really know who did what :p), and all of you for coming!

It would be understatement to say I was surprised. If I looked annoyed, it was simply because I couldn't believe how [her boyfriend] managed to keep it all a secret and how you all tricked me, but it was a good annoyed :). ...

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much!

Karaoke...?!?....Suuuuuuuuure....

I've been against karaoke basically my entire life. I don't consider myself a good singer, and rarely if ever sing around other people. The one time I sang karaoke was at my high school after-graduation party, and it wasn't exactly my best performance ever.

However, last Saturday was a friend's birthday and she wanted to go to karaoke. So I gave in since it was her celebration and not mine. The karaoke place in town gives each group their own room, so you aren't singing in front of strangers. At first I was a little hesitant, but everyone was basically singing along with the people who had the mikes so I joined in as well. I even sang 2 songs with the mike, because they were songs I knew really well and most other people didn't know them! So I'm patting myself on the back for getting over my dislike of karaoke and having a good time. I'm actually a little excited about going again! Guess that goes to show that you should give things you don't like at least two chances.

Wow, I never thought that would happen to ME!

So I just experienced one of life's little ironies for the first time: I started being healthier and gained weight. I now weigh 10lb more than I ever have before; yes, 10lb is not that much, but it's a start to something I don't want to continue.

It's ironic because it coincides with the academic year where I've been trying to cut out corn syrup (especially high-fructose corn syrup) by not buying foods with it in the ingredients, eat more organic and natural foods, eat fewer unhealthy snacks (replaced with fruit), and actually exercise. In fact, since January I have been exercising exponentially more than I have since coming to grad school.

Of course despite my good intentions there were weeks where we were just so busy that there was no time to cook dinner and instead we ate out or ate processed food (although we did try to buy processed food that was less bad than most processed food). I was also so stressed out for a month or so that I probably ate when I wasn't hungry. But these types of events have been occurring since I started undergrad so they can't by themselves explain the sudden weight gain.

The good thing is that the weight is not particularly noticeable to anyone else (in fact, someone asked me about a month ago if I had lost weight). This gives me hope that at least some of it is muscle mass from my increased exercise (softball, volleyball, tennis). But although it annoys me, it amuses me as well since I always hear women complain about gaining weight despite their good eating or exercising habits (and sometimes both), and I could never relate....until now!

I guess this summer will be a good one to test my theories on healthier living occurring during the summer instead of the school year for graduate students.

The Legacy of the Block of Wood in my Car Door

"I'm sure someone my landlady knows has a table saw..."

Or at least something similar to the above statement is how the "fixing the car window" adventure of last summer began. The breaking of the car window occurred earlier that afternoon, when my officemate put down the rear right window on our way to lunch. As usual, the window hadn't worked well for a few months and I had put tape over the window switch to keep passengers from putting it down. By "hadn't worked well" I mean that you could put it down, but it would take at least a day or two until the motor would agree that the window should be allowed to go back up.

Of course it was entirely my fault that it happened: I didn't warn her not to put the window down, and when the problem had last happened I hadn't unplugged the switch from the window so that no amount of pushing the button would make it go down.

On the way back from lunch we stopped at 2 gas stations to get some WD-40 to try to lubricate the motor (the first gas station had NOTHING useful, and the second one only had a "WD-40 pen"). Richland apparently doesn't believe in these sorts of products.

We then worked on the window in our building's parking lot. I'm sure multiple people looked out their windows at some point and wondered what the heck we were doing taking a car door apart, but no one bothered us (hmm... is it a problem that no one cared about suspicious/odd behavior in the middle of a government lab's land?). We tried again later at my officemate's house.

Unfortunately, our efforts failed completely. Not to be out-smarted by a door, we came up with a plan: prop up the window with something. Our something became a piece of wood, but we needed a saw (and some wood). I bought some scrap wood for about a dollar at the home improvement store, and my officemate talked to the lady she was staying with about who she knew that might have a saw. Turns out someone just down the road did, so we went there after I returned with wood.

Well, the man down the street with a saw didn't like the block of wood I bought as it was a bit too big and needed to be cut (but a bit too big I mean about 5 times too wide). Luckily he had some other scraps and quickly cut them to size for me, along with a notch at the top to hold the window in place. We needed two separate pieces to be able to get it in the door, so I held the window up while he screwed them together. We then zip-tied the wood to the metal rod in the door. To put the inside of the door back on we had to trim the Styrofoam blocks attacked to it to fit around the wood.

This was supposed to be a temporary fix, since it was near the end of the summer and I would soon be driving across country to get back to New England. Well, until this morning the block of wood was still there, working every day and night to keep my window appearing to be normal.

About a month ago the window started to noticeably move down, such that a small opening appeared at the top of it. I opened up the door to check on my trusty block of wood. It was moldy! How gross. I assume the mold was eating up the wood enough to make it shrink or shift at the bottom of the door. Not having much time and a headache, I closed it all back up.

Today it was still relatively chilly in the morning, so I thought I'd see if I could get the motor to work. It has been finicky since around the time I bought the car (5 years ago...), so there is always a 50/50 chance on whether or not it will work on any given day. Amazingly, after plugging it back in the actual window support moved up when I tried the switch! Thus began about 20 minutes of taking out the moldy wood (with gloves) and putting the window back on its originally intended support. Another try, and window moved all the way up!

This time I unplugged the switch from the motor so that no one can put the window down. I left the tape on to help remind people not to bother trying, but at least now no one will erroneously feel bad about putting down the window.

You may want to ask why I just don't take it to a repair shop to get it fixed; well, I did that about 4 years ago when it first became a big problem, and about 6 months later it broke again. So I'd rather not waste my money.