1. I've spent much of this week in a clean room up at JPL. It's been educational, though not terribly exciting. Plus, the clean room bunny suit makes me look like an Oompa-Loompa. Also, I'd like to point out that "one size fits all" really means "one size fits the largest guy who works here."
2. I went to a swap meet last weekend that was really fun. A friend of mine organized it and we all brought the stuff in our house we don't want any more. (All the leftover stuff got donated to a local charity.) It was great, we cleared out some space in our apartment and I got a new pair of shoes, two books, and file organizer thing.
3. The new iPad came out today. Bradley worked both yesterday and today. He told me that people started lining up around 1pm yesterday for the 10am release this morning. That's just silly. I like me some Apple products and I would still never consider waiting overnight, outside in the cold, just for a piece of electronics.
4. This is the last day of finals for the undergraduates, after which they have a two week spring break. While I don't get spring break, being a grad student and all, it'll be nice and quiet in the house for bit.
5. Doctor Who is my new favorite thing. (They've got all the episodes up on Netflix.) I've just started on the fifth season and we only started watching at the beginning of January. Yes, it's a campy sci-fi show (not that I have a problem with that, I loved the original Star Trek), but it's a well-written one with extremely clever dialog.
6. I recently read and then watched Water for Elephants. I was unimpressed. The book was fine, and movie was pretty awful. There's one character in the movie that they've clearly dubbed over all his lines and it's really distracting. I also felt Reese Witherspoon was miscast. Eh, save your time and money.
7. I went to a talk by Stephen Hawking this week. It was entertaining, I suppose. Honestly, I feel a bit odd about "rock star" scientists. There are so many other scientists doing brilliant work who never attain that status. It seems contrary to the meritocracy we all pretend exists in science.
8. Hooray Friday!
Friday, March 16, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Numbers Games
I attended a financial seminar over lunch today as part of a campus women's group. I didn't learn anything I didn't already know (thanks Dave Ramsey), but it did remind me that we've been a little lax with our finances lately.
Since becoming RAs and Brad getting a job, we really don't have to pinch every penny the way we used to. We've been paying about 5 times the minimum payment on Brad's student loans, which is about what we were paying in rent before. I thought we were doing pretty well, even if we weren't saving/paying down our debt quite as much as we could be.
After the seminar today, I sat down and ran a few numbers and figured out that, at the current rate we're paying, it will still take us 15 years to pay off the student loans. Ouch. However, doubling our payment wouldn't just halve the time it would take us to pay off the loans, it would cut it down to six years.
Unfortunately, doubling the payment is hard. Doing so would amount to spending more than 60% of our income on the student loan. Even without rent, that doesn't leave us much to live on.
This brings me to my next thought. In the Dave Ramsey class we attended, he recommends that you go all out to pay off your debt as quickly as possible. I like the idea in theory, but in practice that turns out to be a lot harder. Going bare-bones for a month? Easy. Six months? Still not so bad. Six years? Ooof.
You can forgo buying new clothes for a year, but for six? No eating out or movies or trips or anything for six years? At some point, it doesn't even sound worth it. Am I willing to live like a monk for six years in return for being debt-free? We don't have extravagant tastes, but eating with our friends and going to movies and taking vacations are what make our lives rich and interesting.
So I don't know. We'll probably start being more careful about our discretionary spending and increase the student loan payment until it's a little uncomfortable, but I'm not convinced that living like a monk is worth it (unless, of course, you are forced into it by necessity).
Since becoming RAs and Brad getting a job, we really don't have to pinch every penny the way we used to. We've been paying about 5 times the minimum payment on Brad's student loans, which is about what we were paying in rent before. I thought we were doing pretty well, even if we weren't saving/paying down our debt quite as much as we could be.
After the seminar today, I sat down and ran a few numbers and figured out that, at the current rate we're paying, it will still take us 15 years to pay off the student loans. Ouch. However, doubling our payment wouldn't just halve the time it would take us to pay off the loans, it would cut it down to six years.
Unfortunately, doubling the payment is hard. Doing so would amount to spending more than 60% of our income on the student loan. Even without rent, that doesn't leave us much to live on.
This brings me to my next thought. In the Dave Ramsey class we attended, he recommends that you go all out to pay off your debt as quickly as possible. I like the idea in theory, but in practice that turns out to be a lot harder. Going bare-bones for a month? Easy. Six months? Still not so bad. Six years? Ooof.
You can forgo buying new clothes for a year, but for six? No eating out or movies or trips or anything for six years? At some point, it doesn't even sound worth it. Am I willing to live like a monk for six years in return for being debt-free? We don't have extravagant tastes, but eating with our friends and going to movies and taking vacations are what make our lives rich and interesting.
So I don't know. We'll probably start being more careful about our discretionary spending and increase the student loan payment until it's a little uncomfortable, but I'm not convinced that living like a monk is worth it (unless, of course, you are forced into it by necessity).
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Deep Blue Funk
Not just a great band name!
I've been so blue for the past few weeks. Not depressed, more like actively miserable.
My lab work was highly frustrating and felt pointless. For example, a few days ago I spent an afternoon trying to make a square piece of plastic into a circular piece of plastic. I started out thinking, "I got a college degree for this?" But then my circular piece of plastic turned out not so circular (turns out it's hard to make round things on a bandsaw), so then I start thinking "Some good that fancy college degree did; I can't even make square things into round things." It turned out okay. It's round enough to fit in the mounting bracket and that's what ultimately matters, but still, totally disheartening.
Bradley has been quite sick for the past month as well. He's finally on the mend, but it was rough when he wasn't feeling well. I was trying to care of him and not get sick myself. Plus I had to do all the things he usually does because he was sick. It also made me feel really lonely because even though he was home, he wasn't really conversant most of the time. We also had a bit of a debacle with his health insurance, but that worked out okay in the end, too.
There's also been some RA-related stuff that I've found frustrating and/or concerning, but I'm not going to put any of that on the intertubes.
Anyway, I'm blogging again because the funk is lifting and I'm feeling much more like myself this week. (I'm sure everyone around me really appreciated my two weeks of acting like a crabass.) It's pleasantly rainy outside today, I'm feeling full and sleepy from lunch, and we're going out with some friends this evening. It's turning out to be a pretty happy Wednesday.
I've been so blue for the past few weeks. Not depressed, more like actively miserable.
My lab work was highly frustrating and felt pointless. For example, a few days ago I spent an afternoon trying to make a square piece of plastic into a circular piece of plastic. I started out thinking, "I got a college degree for this?" But then my circular piece of plastic turned out not so circular (turns out it's hard to make round things on a bandsaw), so then I start thinking "Some good that fancy college degree did; I can't even make square things into round things." It turned out okay. It's round enough to fit in the mounting bracket and that's what ultimately matters, but still, totally disheartening.
Bradley has been quite sick for the past month as well. He's finally on the mend, but it was rough when he wasn't feeling well. I was trying to care of him and not get sick myself. Plus I had to do all the things he usually does because he was sick. It also made me feel really lonely because even though he was home, he wasn't really conversant most of the time. We also had a bit of a debacle with his health insurance, but that worked out okay in the end, too.
There's also been some RA-related stuff that I've found frustrating and/or concerning, but I'm not going to put any of that on the intertubes.
Anyway, I'm blogging again because the funk is lifting and I'm feeling much more like myself this week. (I'm sure everyone around me really appreciated my two weeks of acting like a crabass.) It's pleasantly rainy outside today, I'm feeling full and sleepy from lunch, and we're going out with some friends this evening. It's turning out to be a pretty happy Wednesday.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
I just don't want to.
I'm in quite a mood today. Somewhere between balky and stubborn. All of the tasks that I need to finish today are frustrating and nit-picky. And you know what? I just don't want to. I don't want to be at work. I don't want to stare at my code. I don't want to put another anti-reflection coating on our lenses.
This is when being a grown-up sucks, because no one cares that I don't want to. They expect me to suck it up and do it anyway.
That doesn't stop my inner child from having a serious pout, stamping her feet, and whining about it all.
Hurmph.
This is when being a grown-up sucks, because no one cares that I don't want to. They expect me to suck it up and do it anyway.
That doesn't stop my inner child from having a serious pout, stamping her feet, and whining about it all.
Hurmph.
Friday, January 20, 2012
England, again!
My craptacular Tuesday/Wednesday managed to drive out of my head the most important thing I did on Monday - book another trip to England! This time, Brad gets to go too!
We have some friends who are getting married in London in June, so we're flying out for a week to go to the wedding and see the sights. I loved England; I'm so excited to share it with Bradley.
The best part about taking a vacation is the anticipation. I'm already thinking about the things we should do while we're there. Definitely the British Museum, even though I've already been, I didn't see all of it and would love to go back. I never got to any of the fine art museums (like the Tate Modern or the National Portrait Gallery). Maybe the opera again? So many choices!
We'll be gone from June 13-20, which will be right after the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and right before the Olympics. I wish we could stay longer, but it will be right in the middle of a critical testing phase for Spider and I'm not sure that Brad can take more than a week off from Apple anyway.
I'm also happy that we'll get to see our friends get married. I love weddings. And England. And vacations.
We have some friends who are getting married in London in June, so we're flying out for a week to go to the wedding and see the sights. I loved England; I'm so excited to share it with Bradley.
The best part about taking a vacation is the anticipation. I'm already thinking about the things we should do while we're there. Definitely the British Museum, even though I've already been, I didn't see all of it and would love to go back. I never got to any of the fine art museums (like the Tate Modern or the National Portrait Gallery). Maybe the opera again? So many choices!
We'll be gone from June 13-20, which will be right after the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and right before the Olympics. I wish we could stay longer, but it will be right in the middle of a critical testing phase for Spider and I'm not sure that Brad can take more than a week off from Apple anyway.
I'm also happy that we'll get to see our friends get married. I love weddings. And England. And vacations.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Is today done yet?
The past 24 hours have been... long. It started yesterday, when Bradley got a pretty gnarly flu bug. He spent most of yesterday sleeping and I spent most of yesterday trying to get fluids into him. (High fever, aches and pains, all the good stuff. Luckily no barfing.)
I decided to sleep on the couch in an effort to not get whatever it was he had. Not to mention that the chills/fever combination made it impossible for him to sleep without tossing and turning.
I'd been asleep for about four hours when two of my students knocked on my door, both of whom were violently ill (either from food poisoning or the flu). One of them was in rough shape, so I eventually went with her to the the urgent care facility.
While at the urgent care facility, one of the (young) nurses thought I was my student's mother. So glad to know that I look old enough to have a 19 year old child. (My sister reassures me that I look my age and that women in their early 20s tend to be a bit clueless about anyone older than, say, 25. I like this theory.)
By the time I got home, I had enough time for a catnap before work.
Work was fine, but then shortly after lunch I took a spectacular fall on the sidewalk and scraped up my hands and knees. (Word to the wise: Don't try to walk while looking at your phone.) Did I mention that I managed to do this in front of a large group of people?
So now I'm way tired, a little bruised, and so so ready for today to be over.
I decided to sleep on the couch in an effort to not get whatever it was he had. Not to mention that the chills/fever combination made it impossible for him to sleep without tossing and turning.
I'd been asleep for about four hours when two of my students knocked on my door, both of whom were violently ill (either from food poisoning or the flu). One of them was in rough shape, so I eventually went with her to the the urgent care facility.
While at the urgent care facility, one of the (young) nurses thought I was my student's mother. So glad to know that I look old enough to have a 19 year old child. (My sister reassures me that I look my age and that women in their early 20s tend to be a bit clueless about anyone older than, say, 25. I like this theory.)
By the time I got home, I had enough time for a catnap before work.
Work was fine, but then shortly after lunch I took a spectacular fall on the sidewalk and scraped up my hands and knees. (Word to the wise: Don't try to walk while looking at your phone.) Did I mention that I managed to do this in front of a large group of people?
So now I'm way tired, a little bruised, and so so ready for today to be over.
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