two years later...

My Scholarly Paper has been sent to My Committee!

I know that might not sound like a huge deal, but this means that it has been approved by advisor.

approved.

the rest is technicalities.

it's about freakin' time!

photo dump

Today, I had a doctor appointment at 8a with the neurologist and then nothing else on my schedule. I planned on being in slacker mode all day. After my appointment, I was preparing to commence slacking when I got an email asking me to attend a meeting this afternoon. This shattered my mood and sent me under the covers of my bed to ignore the world. When I woke up there was an email saying the meeting had been canceled. Sweet. I really appreciate the universe for understanding that I could not handle a last minute meeting today.

It's possible that I should work on dealing with last minutes changes to my schedule.

Anywho, the neurologist was fine. She gave me a new prescription that's supposed to keep away headaches. I've graduated from drugs also used to treat depression to drugs also used to treat seizures. I would like to graduate to drugs that actually work.

Here's photos of the cats. I really love the shot of all their feet entwined. Even if they spend hours chasing [maus] and hissing [roja] they still fall asleep together and end up a mass of fur and toes.





This is the ceiling of our bedroom. The post-its mark where we heard the bat.



This is our bed in the living room because I don't want the bat to suck my face off while I sleep.



This is last week. Two days down due to headaches.



Sunday should also say "finish s.p." with a great big CHECK!

perhaps he'll die

This is maus swallowing a fly.

a joke in progress...

in ten years...
me: hey, remember those obnoxious rainbow spinners on the macs?
you: heh, yeah, those were the worst. they act all cheery and friendly, but really they make your head roar.
me: seriously. I think I could have written a dissertation in the amount of time that I spent watching those things.
you: I can't believe we had to deal with that, it's almost as ridiculous as world hunger!
me: Ha! World hunger! I'm so glad those days are gone!


It's still pretty rough. Feel free to edit or give suggestions.
I think it might be trying to be a joke about too many things at once.
It grew out of the anger that I feel toward my computer. Then somehow morphed into world hunger.

what? you're not ready for winter? well, too bad for you.

Winter has arrived and kicked fall out on its ass.




Is this a better photo? [thanks, you!] I may still need to perfect my lighting technique.


I made this messy note two nights ago when I was searching for good luck charms on etsy.
I think any legibility issues steam from my penmanship (and lighting), not the camera.

I think Garry Trudeau reads my blog

I'm so ahead of the times, I've been listening to pandora for YEARS

this is my brain on paper

I've decided to start posting some of my lists. My world is wallpapered with lists on post-its. I think I might explode if I had to stop making lists. If I can take whatever is bouncing around in my brain and put it on paper then I feel less crazy. I'm able to relax a bit because I don't have to hold it anymore, this friendly post-it will hold it for me.

I think I may have inherited this from Dad. He always has a list in his shirt pocket.

I have "to do" lists, "to bring" lists, lists of songs I like, lists of food in the fridge, lists of things to read, lists of interesting conversations to analyze for work....

A billion years ago, when I broke up with Randy (y'all remember Randy, right?) I made a list of all the things that reminded me of him. It was the best thing I could have done for myself. I put them on paper so I didn't have to hold on to them anymore. I did it because I just had a need to, I didn't realize how cleansing it was going to be.

My mantra has become "PUT IT ON THE LIST!" If we're out of toilet paper, "PUT IT ON THE LIST!", if I need to do laundry, "PUT IT ON THE LIST!", if I'm worried about getting work done on my paper, "PUT IT ON THE LIST!" If I can put it on a list, then I'll be able to take care of it. I think it gives me some space and lessens the urgency of things. I don't have to do it right now, because I can put it on a list, and then deal with it when the time is right.

This first list is just a list of things that I wanted to remember to bring to Thanksgiving.


I clearly need to find a better way to photograph post-its. The camera doesn't know how to focus on handwriting.

The first three things on the list are presents. The rest is food. I made all of it except the chapstick, water, and pumpkin bread, which was a gift from Amy.

thank god thanksgiving is over--i can start bitching again

Don't live on the top story of an old house.

There are mice in our walls and our heater doesn't work. We moved our bed to the living room so we can't hear the vermin trying to claw their way into our bedroom. Also, I'm thinking about baking cupcakes. Not because we need more dessert--the pumpkin pie and pink fluff is more than enough, but the oven might take the chill off.

The biggest problem, from a practical perspective, is that maus will not stay off my keyboard--it's apparently the warmest spot in the house.

Happy Thanksgiving!

we went to our friends' house for thanksgiving







we are thankful for the good friends (and random guy from Spain) we have found

pandora and FreeRice

So, I just wanted to tell y'all about two websites that you probably already know about. But they kick ass, so I'm going to tell you again.

First is www.pandora.com
It's an internet radio site where you get to customize your stations and there no commercials between songs. This first thing I do when I turn on my computer is load up pandora (well, after I check my email, of course). We could be pandora buddies. We could share radio stations. The only draw back to that is that I like some pretty crappy music.

The other website is freerice.com
So, I don't really enjoy this website. It makes me angry about how few words I know. See, it's like a vocabulary quiz, and for every word you match to its synonym they donate 10 grains of rice to United Nation World Food Program. So I make sure I go there once a day.

because the alternative would be getting work done...

Ok, one more post, but this really better be the last for today.

So I have this cool silk screened fabric, but I don't know what to do with it.



Right now it's hanging on the bedroom wall, but I think it deserves more. Also, there are actually two of them (right now it's folded in half).

The fabric is linen, and the poppies are kind of scratchy, so I don't think it's suited for a blanket or pillow or clothing.



What would you do with it?

because it's fall

And here's some fall color. It makes me gloomy. Snow is in the forecast for next week. For brief moments, I'm a bit excited about the first snow. But then I just get gloomy again.



I do, however, like my living room/office. It may be a little cluttered, but I'm ok with that.



and now, no more posting. Because three posts is enough for one day.

t-shirt blanket

Here's the front (or back):



and here's the back (or front):



and here are the cats (and fish):

leave your boy so far from home

Here's me on Halloween:



I'm like Dorothy before she went to Oz.
Somebody took my kodachrome away. (Actually, I heard it was Alpha who took it)

I sorta stole the idea from 3-hole-punch Jim

I'm very proud of myself.

I found my low-key, oh-so-clever, halloween costume: Grey Scale Wendy.

I make sure that everything I wear is a shade of grey. I've got silver jewelry, black hair clips, grey tights, black shoes...

This year I don't have a wig, but next year I plan on adding a grey or white wig.

If you don't like Grey Scale You, you could do Sepia You. Then you could wear gold jewelry.

Maybe I'll find someone to take my picture, then you could see just how clever I am.

crafty

I made a quilt yesterday. Well, it's not actually quilted, so maybe it's just a blanket.

I cleaned out my drawers and I found over 20 t-shirts that I never wear but can't part with. So I turned them into a blanket.

I started by cutting two 14"x14" squares out of the middle of each shirt. Then I sewed the squares in to strips of 5 squares. Then I sewed the strips together into two panels of 20 squares each. Finally I sewed the panels together, back to back.
So I have a nice sized, two sided, throw blanket.

[I'd show you pictures, except my camera is out of batteries.]

If I was to do it again I would put all the squares with designs on one side and all the plain squares on the other, so that one side was all soft.
I would also try to put the shirts in chronological order.

I still might do some sort of quilting to connect the two panels.

maus has a new play house

Roja is tooth free and loving every minute of it!



see? doesn't she look happy?

senile felines

This little sweet one has to go to the vet tomorrow to get a tooth pulled. I'm worried about her. They have to knock her out to knock her tooth out, and she's going to feel super crappy afterward.



Think healing thoughts.

writer's block

I've been having trouble writing lately.

where's wendy?

My 10 year high school reunion is today.
Here's us 10 years ago:



Click on the photo to see it bigger.

For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great

Take that citicard!
I owe you NO MORE MONEY!!!
You too, Bank of America! I owe you NOTHING!


YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME

bats!

There was a bat in our apartment last night.

We were asleep and we heard the "clicking" of the bat, and roja jumping around, trying to catch it.

Kayin chased it around the house and then knocked it unconscious. Then he got the fish net to scoop it on to a pile of paper plates and let it loose outside.

The cats and I hid in the bedroom.

death in the family

This is a link to an interview that my friend Amy and her sisters did to talk about their brother.
http://www.wbur.org/news/2007/67191_20070516.asp

On one hand, this is a very personal loss to their family, but the death of every soldier needs to be mourned by the country. I'm glad people know that he was killed and that he will be deeply missed.

fucking war

My good friend's brother was killed yesterday morning in Iraq.
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=10871
I'm so angry--it's such a waste. I spent yesterday and this morning crying with her. This shouldn't be happening. People should not be dying this way.

artistic license

This is the photo that the portrait is based on.

my internet alterego

Here's the final version of my portrait. I like her. Especially because she matched her lips to the background and her sweater to her eyes. And she has a nose ring--not a zit. I'm worried her boss may say she needs to loose the nose ring. I am disappointed in her choice of hair ties. A universe of possibilities and she chose black. ah well.

dress up

If you were going to dress up as yourself for halloween (or just for fun), what would you look like?
Would you need to buy new clothes? Would you need to get back a piece of clothing that has been separated from you?
Ok, so you might say, "I'd just wear the same thing I wear everyday." But, (with very few exceptions) no one really wears the same thing each day. You might always wear jeans and a t-shirt but which jeans are The Jeans? Which shoes are The Shoes? What season would it be (yeah, so if it was halloween it would be fall--but what if you could choose)? Would you need sunglasses? a hat? a scarf? How would you wear your hair?

Ska Star

Actually, I think I'm more of a Ska Star.

Now this rude girl is going to dance around the livingroom.

Rock Star!

I passed my prelims today!

I've already forgotten how unfun it was to write them. I am overwhelmed with the joy of being finished! I am incapable of being upset about anything!

Today rocks. I rock!

WOOT!

Here's another portrait possibility. What do you think?

prelims

I get my prelim questions tomorrow.

I'm not too worried.

I got my lapdesk in the mail yesterday, so I'm ready to turn our one and only living room chair into a home office.


(photo curtisy of levenger.com)


This might actually be fun.

new pic and link

Here is a newer version of the picture, and a link to Mindy's website. Mindy is the artist who made these wonderful portraits.





http://www.umich.edu/~steffenm/

who's that girl?

My picture and bio for my research project website. What do you think?






Wendy Rose
Graduate Student, Mathematics Education, University of Michigan
Research Assistant, Geometry Reasoning and Instructional Practices

MA Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles
BA Mathematics, University of California, Santa Cruz


Wendy’s research interests are geometry instruction and classroom social dynamics, as well as qualitative research methods and the use of animations to co-construct narratives of instruction with experienced high school teachers and their students. Within the context of ThEMaT she has worked on developing these animations, planning and leading study groups of geometry teachers, and studying our corpus of data. She is also a graduate student instructor of mathematics courses for pre-service teachers, and interested in questions of what knowledge is needed to teach mathematics.
Wendy grew up in the foothills of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, on the brim of California’s Central Valley. She studied mathematics in Santa Cruz, California and Los Angeles, California before she moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan to study education.

I had a wonderful trip to California.

I can't wait to live there again.

slimed

Ann Arbor got slimed last night. Sometimes I think it looks more like glass and sometimes I think it looks more like snot.


It's been raining and freezing for the last couple days so everything has been coated in half an inch of ice.


I took these pictures on my walk to school this morning. As the sun was warming things up whole messes of icicles would fall from trees and power lines.


It really is beautiful. The whole town shimmers. Each blade of grass, each leaf, has it's own casing of ice.

fun with squirrels

I was worried that the cats were bored at home alone all day so I invited the squirrels to come over. It took ten minutes from the time that I put peanuts out on the balcony until the first squirrel showed up. And man! Did we have fun then!


See how smart Maus is? He put his ears flat so the squirrel won't see him behind the windowsill. Not that the squirrel cared. He was eating peanuts so he couldn't care less about the big mean Maus on the other side of the glass.




The fun lasted for about 2 days. Now the cats are bored again.