Nirvana and Against Me!

So I just napped in the quiet room of Benedum Library - something I haven't done since college! It's nirvana in that room. I can take my shoes off, sprawl out, and it's absolutely silent. Only con is that it's surrounded by windows so every engineer and their brother (...or sister) can watch my sleepy time habits.

People I am fed up with:
1. Dr. Federspiel - just a play on words here, although I am FED up with him and his math homework assignments
2. MEDCO - I am trying to get my prescription mail ordered to me so I don't have to pay $45 every month and go to CVS and wait on that dumb red couch, but everytime I call to work it out there's an issue. Either I have to get my pharmacy to fax the prescription AGAIN or their computers are down, or my phone dies (ok, so that's my problem but still...)
3. Construction workers at Benedum. As if you could possibly fit any more skeezy men into this building, they go and hire 50,000 construction workers to gawk at the females, piss on the co-ed toilet seats, and chatter outside the classrooms all day. Also, I have come to the conclusion that a construction workers day consists of 10% construction work, 70% eating lunch, and 20% going to the bathroom.

That's my rant. Obviously I am a little cranky when I wake up from naps. I have to go to Fed's class now and BS my homework assignment.

Take care, cyber kids.

OH! And guess what?! Against Me! is playing at Garfield Artworks, literally a block from my house! If anyone out there is an Anarco-punk fan looking for some fun, let me know and I'll get ya tickets! Show's Nov. 23 (sorry, Ved).

I got my mind on my money and my money on my mind

Hello folks,

So let's talk stock market. As an uneducated investor (only the best kind there is), I'm feeling pretty helter skelter about this debacle. 5 months ago, I invested the only large sum of money I have ever been able to call my own. Today, it is halved. I don't want to look at my portfolio because I am a "long term investor" but frankly, I am scared of bottoming out. It's like if I have enough to last through this tough time, I know it'll grow again so that's why I want to stay in, but I just don't know if my money will last through it.

Different forecasters are positive about the correction of the problem, but they also predict that this isn't the lowest the market will go. In fact they are calling for an ultimate low of -30% by 2010. Awesome, just in time for me to be an adult.

And on the flip side, what if I decide to grow a set and actually look into buying more stocks now while the market is low?

Basically, this is a decision that has no "sure thing" answer. Please add your two cents (or 15 grand if you're feeling up to it...) to my poll that I made.

Damn it feels good to be a grad student

PAYDAY!! Whoop thaaa raaa (thats my slur of "whoop there it is"). Besides being stuck in 1992 as my post today has proven, I am also soooo happy to have made bank. This is my first pay check in awhile and crap, I just realized something. Like as I was typing I realized something that sucks. I was all stoked cause my pay was huge! But I realized that it includes my last month of pay from the Lupus Center so I won't be getting this much every month. Eh well, at least this month looks good.

I want to take this time to let you guys know what I do everyday that you don't see me. I am really proud of the work I have been doing and I'd like to share:

Class 1 - Mathematical Methods in Chemical Engineering
This class can be defined as the area under the hard as hell curve. But I'm still going, falling behind I promise you, but moving just the same. Fun fact about this class: Dr. Federspiel took us all out for an end of the month happy hour to Hem's where the beers were on him. Fun right? Oh yea and guess what else? Thanks to a Miller Light promotion, Dr. Fed's bottomless generosity, and Craig's skeezy way of including himself in the party - BOTH Craig and I were selected from a raffle, individually, and left the bar with $600 total to go on a spring break trip. Look out, JAMAICA!!!!

Class 2 - Cardiovascular System Dynamics and Modeling
This class is the definition of bioengineering and I absolutely love it. All of our assignments have been intense programming and modeling of the cardiovascular system as an electrical circuit (makes me wanna get a tattoo real bad). I want to show you my code but an anonymous reader has told me that was lame.... Oh well, EFF them:



OOOHHhh, check out that human input impedance spectra. Doesn't seeeeem impressive BUT I had to perform fourier transforms into the frequency domain and then convert back to time domain for analysis. If you don't know what I am saying, you're cool, stay that way ;-)

Now there's a sexy plot! The clinical curve is real human arterial pressure data... the dumber looking bottom curve is what I did! Haha, it's actually good though, since that curve was modeled after a circuit composed of only 2 resistors and a capacitor arranged in parallel. Who's laughing now?! Hmm, no one is, good point, let's change the subject...

Lastly, is my TA class. How I love people who are just learning MATLAB... so frustrated, so hateful, if only they knew MATLAB is the language of technical computing. No really, it is, look here. It's fun.

So I don't ride the 54C to school anymore since my lab has a parking lot. This means I don't get my daily fix of Pittsburgh's best characters. When a door closes, however, a window always opens -- my gym is a gold mine of weirdos! I won't elaborate now but trust me, sweaty, middle-aged nurses and business women make for great talking points ;-)

Tow Jam

Yesterday sucked. In every possible way. Yet I sustained a fantastic mood throughout the day. I love when I do that.

I brought my Netflix with me to mail and left them in my lab which I didn't return to until 2 so missed a damn day with no flix.

I got to my first class late and made a racket getting to my seat.

After class I printed a 231 page document on the color printer in the bioengineering lab which is uber unallowed.

I went to hole punch about 70 of these pages at once and encountered my first jam of the day. This wasn't your typical, "Oh silly me" kind of jam, oh no, this thing was clenched. And I wouldn't give a damn except that my only options were 1)fix this thing or 2)throw away the stupid hole punch and reprint pages 1-70. Well anyone who knows Eric, the nazi of B63, knows #2 was absolutely not an option. At first I went at this punch thinking, ok, this is no biggie I just need to release the punchers and free the paper. Jesus Christ, people, I had to dismantle the whole thing. 15 screws, a busted spring, and myriad small paper circles later, I had released my document. What a waste of time...

Next I go to return my library books that I find out are 8 days overdue. Total = $3.70. Bite me.

I return to my vehicle to find 2nd jam of the day. My key no longer feels like it has a place in my ignition, I guess. I jiggle and jaggle and jerk and twirk but nothing, not a damn thing. And I really don't have time for this. I have to tutor stupid ass freshmen how to multiply [1 2 3] by [1;2;3]. So luckily, my shining knight is studying at Hillman and comes to relieve me from the jerking and twirking. He couldn't fix it either.

I fainted in class cause all I ate was a bowl of Italian Wedding Soup for lunch and went to the gym for a long time. Luckily this happens to me all the time, so I pretended I was tying my ballerina flat and put my head between my legs till I came to.

8:30 - My TA class is over, I return to the car, and still nothing. I guess it's AAA time. I call, they promise me an hour at most. I ring em back after an hour twenty and they say, "Sorry, babe, give it 30 more" Now this sucks, I haven't been home, Craig cooked a dinner I can't eat, and I'm just so sad.

I go to get a snack at 7-11 and see the lovely Lauren Anglestein! We chat, she lifts my spirits and as I am checking out, I get the AAA call! I was too excited, I didn't even complete the transaction, I just ran out of there after throwing my Cheez-Its at the cashier.

Ole Danny Boy from AAA fixed up the car... Guess how - BY JERKING AND TWIRKING! What does he have that I don't have?!

I'll never know. But at least I got home and didn't have to call a tow truck and wait another hour for that. Oh man, what a day.

~ Sinusoids ~

I realize it has been awhile since I updated my blog, but my readers should note that summer Jamie Neutron and fall Jamie Neutron are very different isotopes...

I'm swamped...

But in the most fantastic way! I absolutely love where I am going with graduate school. My classes are damn near impossible, but I am so intrigued by the subject matter and, to my surprise, I am getting it! I'm taking Cell Biology, Cardiovascular System Dynamics and Remodeling, and Mathematical Models in Chemical Engineering. All of my professors are world renown and they are so unbelivably good at lecturing. I wish I could speak like they do :-/

Also, it is so good to research again. Getting down and dirty, knee deep in Matlab code...it's where I belong. Yesterday was weird though. I wrote code to plot 2 constituve equations that measure the amount of strain energy on mouse small renal arteries against each other to see if using one model over another would make any big difference. I didn't expect that it would since one model derived from another but my result was weird as hell. I got a sinusoid!!?! Jigga what?! Take a look:



God damn sinusoids...

I have a lab meeting today at 11, hopefully a more advanced mind can interpolate what this little magic carpet even means.

I had dinner with MickyHane last night. She's so cute, we had fun. But, quite honestly, when I was visiting her dorm, I started to pine for days gone by. How freaking amazing was freshmen year?? I feel like an old fart, but really, college was the best. I walked into her dorm room and the TV was on while her roomie was doing homework, there was a laundry drying rack in the middle of the room, pictures from high school all over the wall, and random people popping their heads in the door to say hey. That experience was like nothing else, I want it back...

Alssooooo, Craig and I went to Myrtle Beach last weekend. It was perfect, such a great time: Beers on the beach, all you can eat meat buffet (this has nothing to do with the fact that I was staying with 4 guys), lounging by the pool, road trip with Matt, and MY MORNING JACKET! Take note, readers, this band is going to explode, they are by far the best live act out there and their energy is only out beat by their amazing music! I'm on my work PC, but when I get home, I'll upload the footage I took at the concert, unbelievable.

So this isn't quirky and silly like my other posts but I really feel different these days. I'm getting really serious about school and I am excited to do big things this year...

Let's still get drunk tonight, though.

Ka,oe

I bet you are wondering what the title of my blog means. Well Ka,oe (pronounced Kapoot, in my opinion) is the stupid thing I type when I am trying to type my name too fast. This happens at least 3 times a day, usually while logging into gmail and I need to re-enter my login. So I am going to take this on as my new alter-ego: Ka,oe - just a fast girl in a fast, fast world.

Ok, anyway...

School starts on Monday, here are the reasons I know I am off to a great start:

1. Two of my classes (out of the 3 grad classes I scheduled) completely overlap times. Hear that, Professors? Better impress me or its your class I'm gonna be skipping everyday.

2. I sort of, kinda, told my work I'll stay on full time for one more week. Hmm, it's going to be busy...

3. As a graduate student I will go to class 50% and work in a lab 50%. Isn't it great that my lab is located at the bottom of Bates hill and I'll be hiking up and down that S.O.B. everyday???

4. I'll be missing classes on Friday and Monday in liu of a little Myrtle Beach road trip with Craigger. Eh, first classes are just going over the syllabus anyway, right?!

But on the upside, Little Micky Hane Hane is coming to Pittsburgh in 1 week! I can't wait to have that kid around. I'm going to love watching her tackle her freshmen year. Nobody buy her booze ok? Make her work for it (ew, not like that, Dallas, c'mon).

So let's take Summer '08 out big ok? Let's have a great time this weekend, all together.

Peace and Love,
Ka,oe

fif-tee fore sea

So another Monday finds me riding the 54C to work. By the way, my office moved from dirty south oakland (past the BLVD!) to Medical Arts which is conveniently right on 5th. Also, we have a nice kitchen that's always stocked. I consider that a promotion.

Anyway, the bus ride today was typically atypical and here's why:

Elderly and handicapped does not equal fat. Remember this. I completely agree that we should turn over our seats to the elderly and the handicapped, however, fattness is not a handicap and I hate when a big ole fat lady asks me to forfeit my seat so she can relieve her ankles. This happened to me today, obviously. Who cares if she was holding a baby and 2 bags of groceries?!?

I didn't really mind moving to the back though since I was sitting next to Asstastic's boyfriend and she was across from him and they were dirty talking to each other. She kept mouthing, "I don't know what I am gonna do with you..." Ew.

I liked this though, someone scratched off part of the decal that was on the window that said, "A little farther back please" so that it read, "A little fart please"

hehe

9-12 Workday

I'm going to take a half day today. Here are the reasons:

1. My afternoon job boss is moving her office and I doubt there will be anything for me to do since she'll just be unpacking all afternoon.
2. I didn't have coffee today since the delicious French Vanilla creamer was replaced with Cinnamon Vanilla Cream. "Um..what?" says I when I see that a swap has been made. Sorry but I don't want my coffee tasting like Big Red.
3. I picked up my bike from the deep catecombs of 342 last night and I want to work on it this afternoon.

I'm excited, I got new wheels and a nice comfy new seat that I found in my aunt's old junk. I'm going to put those on and then clean her up and get he shining like new :-)

For some reason, all of my shirts have little holes in the same exact spot. The location I would describe as just below belly button and smack in the center. They're small holes but none-the-less annoying as H. I have some theories for this:

1. I buy cheap ass clothes
2. I have moths (this would also explain why my room smells like moth balls, although I brought this up to Craig once and he told me that moths don't smell like moth balls)
3. Somehow the friction between my jeans and my shirt is bifting a whole

I will settle with a combination of 1 and 2. Sucks though, I mean I can't just not wear pants...or can I??

Get a Grip

How beautiful it was to see Sir-Nods-a-Lot and Asstastic sharing a bench on the bus today! Yes, I said bench, you know the kind to normally fit 3, but since Asstastic has an ass of 2 grown humans, it became a loveseat.

Some things I don't think I'll ever understand. Despite my engineering degree or my unyielding common sense, I just can not grasp them. For example... now I know this may be a shock since you all think I am a genius, but I can't understand fax machines. Yea, I know, I read the wikipedia post and I've thought about it but I'm still stumped. If it's so much like a copy machine, then how come there's no bright scanning light? And I get the concept of sending information through binary to code for black and white, but how does it (the fax) know when to code a zero or a one? I know I know, the scanner tells it...but that takes me back to the copy machine! Oh well, it works so I'll go with it.

Next up, car rear view mirrors. What is happening when you flip the switch at night and the mirror transforms to make lights not as bright. What's going on there? Is the mirror warping its shape? It seems like your facing it more upwards but then how come it isn't mirroring the ceiling? I want to investigate further but every time I think of it, I'm, well, driving!

I just overheard my boss say, "Well, money doesn't grow on trees." Whoever thought of that phrase must have been joking because money DOES grow on trees. It's paper.

When I came into work today at the lupus center there was book sitting on the counter and I really liked the title, "Get a Grip: How to take control of your arthritis"

Oh wit!

Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why would I want to be anywhere else??

Lovely day here in Pittsburgh, PA. As my title suggests, the sun is shining and the yinzers are just as crazy as ever. As some of you may know, I make the daily commute to work via the 54C (54-sizzle) and today's post will introduce you to my comrades on the commute, or as I lovingly call them, the crazies. Of course, I know nothing about any of these people, not their names, their careers, their life ambitions. Occasionally, I learn more than I'd like to about their sex life, or their most recent post-nasal drip; but their identities remain a mystery.

The Villain -
I don't expect that he is actually a "crazy" since he works everyday and is always dressed nicely and well kept. He stands out none the less since he looks like an evil villain. I suspect he lives on my block since I creepily walk behind him on the way home everyday. It's not my fault that we get on and off the bus at the same time and have very similar gaits! Anyway, to assist your illustrative imaginations, I provide two images below that if blended form the very image of The Villian.




Big Voice, Little Person -
BVLP is truly an original, also probably not crazy, but I make assumptions, ya know? Well BVLP earned his name by repeatedly fooling me that he was a 7 foot tall black man while he actually stood as a 5'4 caucasian. For some reason he is always behind me on the bus and always talking to someone and I am ALWAYS surprised when I turn around to see his little body producing such a booming voice!

Sir Nods-a-lot -
Now Nods-a-lot, I believe, really is a crazy. He gets on the bus at the stop right before I get off in the mornings. Hence, I assume he works some sort of night shift at the hospital. From the second he gets on until I get off 2 blocks later, he is nodding away at me and other ladies and saying, "Hello", "Good Day", "Hi" or any combination of the aformentioned. Bless his heart, he's the kindest guy, at the same time, he'll always be known to me as Sir Nods-a-lot.

Ass-tastic -
Now, I know I'm not one to judge since I've been told once or twice that I have a ba-donk-a-donk...BUT! This thing is big, like real big! I think Sir-Mix-a-Lot said it best, "red beans and rice didn't miss her". I started out thinking Ass-tastic was a crazy since the first time I saw her she was standing in the middle of Liberty Ave., despite the construction men yelling at her cause she was blocking the way of their cement truck. But the more I learn about Ass-tastic (ie. the more I overhear her holler about) the more I think that she isn't clinically crazy, just a total nut! Either way, it's entertaining.



Yesterday, Craig and I were having dinner on the porch and wouldn't ya know it, we almost witnessed a TOTAL WRECK! Now this is nothing new at Gross Friends (our pet name for our house) since there are terrible road signs that direct traffic near the park we live across from. Well, imagine if you will: a 2 lane road with traffic going in opposite directions, cars parked on both side. Well a crazy POLICE CAR! comes barrelling through and the poor cars in his path try to get over but there's no where to really go since cars are parked on either side. So the loonie cop somehow manages to make it THROUGH the two cars going in opposite directions. This means that at one point, there were 5 cars on the road between the 2 curbs!! 2 parked, 2 driving, and the loonie cop. Craig and I were holding our breath and I nearly choked on my cauliflower!

Oh, it's a crazy city, we live in, ladies and gentlemen. Lily Allen, portrays the idea very nicely in her song, "LDN" which I have included below. It's a song for city folks, like us, who's days are enhanced by the random crazy city nonsense we get to see...free of cost!

Listed Sister

Well, another Thursday finds me in front of the data entry computer and hungover. Last night was "Hump Day Happy Hour" with the work gang that turned into an all out bar crawl.

Anyway, I'm up and running, onward and upward, I always say. Not really though.

As I was walking to work today from the bus stop, my mind wondered, as it often does. I was thinking about words that I mess up alot and I compiled the following the list:

Words that I confuse and coincidentally look ignorant:

5. Anthology with Anthropology
4. Affect and Effect (I know this happens to everyone but normal people learn how to correct this and I just never will)
3. Eccentric and Eclectic (even as I wrote this I began to write "Ecclentric", like what's up with that??)
2. Stain and Strain (now this one is just stupid, but my mind just cannot decipher the two. Ask Craig or Dallas - or just wait for me to talk to you about the "Andromeda Stain")
1. This is a good one, a phrase: GOOD RIDDANCE (I never knew that this was a somewhat bad thing to say, all my life i would just exchange it with GOOD LUCK! So people would be leaving and I'd be like, "See ya and good riddance!")

I make lists in my head all the time. Literally, everything I think about it listed in my brain. Why is this? Is it onset schitzophrenia? Like even right now, my mind is thinking "Things I list..." and making a list! I don't really mind it, I kind of like the way I entertain myself but if you hear anything like this is an early symptom of mental disease, please let me know.

TTFN = "ta ta for now", a Maggie Haney-O'Leary favorite

Fast and Loose

I tried to fast yesterday. It was Craig's idea to DETOX after the week's events of binge drinking, eating, hookah and other patriotic past-times. I figured I wouldn't eat all day Sunday or Monday. This would allow me to digest all the damage I have accumulated over the weekend and start fresh.

It's not that I couldn't handle it cause I could! I was just bored as hell and cooking a large Sunday dinner feast seemed to be the answer. It was great, I made spinach and provolone stuffed pork loin and homemade mashed potatoes.

>> This blog blurb is being entered from the MAC store! I am picking up my broke ass Mac Book and playing around on the Mac Air. Everyone here is very nic <<

I had to X out the window cause the guy who was helping me was coming back.

I don't have a lot to say today but I feel bad cause I have only blogged twice so far and I need something to do while my computer installs MATLAB. I just got it fixed and now I am going to blow its RAM with the mega-MathWorks. Also, how bout that, me getting back into MATLAB, ah I am so excited. Be prepared for frequent screen shots.

I will leave you with this list I thought out while I was walking from my house to the MAC store:

TOP 5 MOVIE SEQUELS THAT ARE BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL:

5. The Mighty Ducks 2 (some may know it as D2: The Mighty Ducks)

4. Star Wars 2 (which is Return of the Jedi, I think, if I am wrong, than this entry is void because Return of the Jedi is the BEST! But all the old Star Wars are awesome, that's why this is only entry #4)

3. Each progressive Harry Potter is better than the last, however, none of them are better than the books.

2. Back to the Future 2 (We get to go to the 50's and to the future to see Biff!)

1. X-MEN 2 (So good I didn't even want to see the first one!)

Bono Fide

As I sit here entering clinical research data into a medical database, my mind casually wonders to events, conversations, arguments, and food stuffs of the past week. To name a few:

THE BURGLAR, THE BITCH, and THE BOTCHED DEGREE (aka my graduation party)

This little illiteration pretty closely sums up my college graduation party haha. Well I was home this weekend for a party in the honor of my high school graduate sister and me, the college grad. Freaking great party, really it was, but in retrospect there were some foul plays and some mysteries left unsolved.

INCIDENT #1 - FRIDAY NIGHT - Rowdy teens and instigating 20-somethings decide to "party like rap stars" by boozing and causing a raucus in my parent's hot tub. 3 hours, 2 cases, and myriad pruney body parts later the party moves into the house. I decide it's a good idea to beat my little sister with my college diploma that arrived in the mail that day. Ruined it. Damn. 4 years of engineering work for a piece of paper I destroy... This is why I'm hot.

INCIDENT #2 - SATURDAY AFTERNOON - I get word that my family is planning a relay race for me and my sister to compete in. Being the competive and uber creative competitor (competitive competitor?) I decide to go upstairs and plan out an outfit to distract Micky while also dazzling the crowd. After 30 minutes, I come down stairs decked out in leggings, tie died shirt and shorts, dread locks wig, Rocky Balboa headband, war paint, and shin guards. I strut my stuff downstairs acting cocky like I'm some sort of superhero... I see Micky and wave and she storms up to me, shoves me, and says "YOU RUINED MY PARTY!", "uh what?" I retort... She runs out of the room and I am left standing in front of all the guests looking like a complete tool. I changed.

INCIDENT #3 - SATURDAY EVENING - Some little punk stole money from my graduation gift box. Not alot but probably like 50 or so. Jerk.

NEXT THOUGHT ----> Why does everyone hate Bono?
Now I'm not going to go on and on about this but I would just like to make a point. Or, I guess, a counterargument to all those people who hate Bono cause he is humanitarian and coincidentally very famous.

If I stand on my little soapbox and say, "Hey all you people, get smart! Start taking care of the planet and she'll take care of you!" If I do that, some guy will just hand me a buck and say, "crack kills, kid, get yourself a coffee." INSTEAD, we let Bono do it and things actually are getting done! What's wrong with someone famous letting the word be heard?!? Ok, this is going too deep already, just wanted to make the point.

I am listening to Kimya Dawson right now on my new iTouch and I like this lyric:
"They think we're disposable, well both my thumbs opposable
Are spelled out on a double word and triple letter score"

YAY SCRABBLE!

My next blog will be a dateline-esque investigation of the Recycling Initiative in Pittsburgh.... or LACK THERE OF!

Till then, I am most sincerely yours ;-)

TGIF

It's blog time, ladies and gentlemen. I have tinkered in the blogging arena a few times before but never really kept up with it. The benefits to beginning this committment, for me, are threefold -

1. I have something to do at work
2. I can (hopefully) recieve feedback on the little ventures I take on
3. well the obvious one.. I can become FAMOUS!

It's Friday afternoon,

I am at job #1 (there are about 5 jobs I am holding right now, see list below) and I finished the work that is supposed to take me 4.5 hours in 15 minutes.

This is why I sleep in everyday.

MY SUMMER JOBS (in no particular order):
1. Data entry person for the Women's Hospital
2. I train college freshman/budding scientists the art of mouse dissection and tissue processing
3. Courier
4. I'm helping to plan a chef competition benefit event
5. I'm beginning my graduate work by debugging a MATLAB program that calculated the strain energy function of arteries based on biaxial load data
6. Homemaker

Haha, not really a homemaker, although, I just moved into a new apartment and it's alot of work.
So for today's post, I would like to present to you a unmistakeable resemblance that is as complex as it is engaging. I came upon this interesting observation because I have become consumed byNetflix and back seasons of The Simpsons...

I think Homer Simpson looks just like Bruce Willis! See below:


Questions, comments, thoughts, concerns?

(NOTE: my statistics TA would say this all the time, like 4 times per recitation, and it drove me nuts!)