I have a word stuck in my head.
"Biomerieux"
It's the company that makes a nucleic acid isolation machine.
We had all been pronouncing it By-Oh-Mer-Ooo, like it rhymes with kangaroo.
But recently the company rep stopped by for maintenance and we learned it was pronounced "Bee-Oh-Merry-Ooo".
So now I say it over and over in a snotty French accent and laugh in a snotty French accent.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
I want
A car that runs on recycled vegetable oil
A compact and long lasting battery for my electronic thingies
Good Mexican food
A compact and long lasting battery for my electronic thingies
Good Mexican food
My boring life
For the past two days at work, we have been moving our lab from two spaces on the upper level and the lower level to one consolidated area on the lower level. We had been sharing space with other departments and now we have our very own. It's funny because I have moved in all three labs I have ever worked in. I think I will have to add it to my resume: "experienced laboratory re-locator and organizational specialist". Or something like that. Unfortunately, I only know the workings of maybe 1/3 of what goes on in the lab, so I can't really say for sure what can go where, so I spend half the day wondering what I should be doing. At the same time, we still have to try to get our real work done because it can pile up really fast. But of course, we first have to make sure everything is working correctly in the new space. So, it's been a bit stressful.
To combat stress in general, I've been trying to find a place to learn more yoga. They offer yoga at work, but it is held once a week in the middle of my shift. So if I am busy that day, I can't go. But I'd like to see how it is and plus it's free! I was planning to go today, but since the lab is still an unholy mess, I didn't. However, on Saturday I am planning to go to a place in Virginia that is on the way to work. They offer Ashtanga yoga but I'll be attending a variations class which probably means it isn't strictly Ashtanga, but it should be fun and not too hard. And last but not least, there is now a YMCA in Ft. Washington (near home) that offers yoga and I plan to check that out on Monday morning.
Today was week 3 of Weight Watchers. I skipped week 2 because I was feeling fat and lazy and slept in. But I'm losing weight, albeit Sllllooooooowwwwwly. I'm down 5lbs, a ton to go. But it's not so bad considering my gluttonous four day weekend, going out to eat on Monday, and the bbq we had this past Sunday for my dad's birthday. And it's not so bad considering I am still terrible about keeping track of my points. I really hate counting Points or Calories. WW has two programs:1)the Point system where every food has a point value based on Calories, fat, and fiber and you are allowed a certain number of points a day based on your sex, age, and weight, and 2)the Core program which has a list of foods you can eat (bread is NOT one of them) and you eat as much as you want but have to be more conscious of when you are full (i.e. a 3 on a scale of 1-5, 5 being "Thanksgiving full". I hate counting points because it makes me obsess. Plus, shouldn't I try to learn to stop on my own, and not when my calculator says I am done? But also I hate being deprived of certain foods. It only makes me want them more. However, the one thing both methods have in common are the rules for healthy eating that is basically the recommendations the FDA hand out: don't skip meals, drink lots of water, eat fiber, dairy, protein, good fats, at least 5 fruits and veggies, and fit in at least 30 mins of cumulative exercise each day (I may be forgetting a couple more rules, but you get the picture). It's stuff you hear all the time (and really I learned how to fit it all in during my stint with JC. Granted, it is tons harder to not overeat when nobody else is pre-portioning every bite). Many people abuse the Points system by thinking they can eat just junk food as long as they stay within their Points. I am sure (and the idea is even supported by the WW rep) that as long as I follow the basic rules that everyone is supposed to be following anyway and keep mindful of when I am full, I can lose weight, even if it is slow. Going to the meetings to get weighed-in will be my motivation to stick with it. And this way, it hardly feels like a diet.
In other news I made a pair of earrings and a necklace for myself, a necklace for Grace, a two necklaces for my mom. Photos soon.
To combat stress in general, I've been trying to find a place to learn more yoga. They offer yoga at work, but it is held once a week in the middle of my shift. So if I am busy that day, I can't go. But I'd like to see how it is and plus it's free! I was planning to go today, but since the lab is still an unholy mess, I didn't. However, on Saturday I am planning to go to a place in Virginia that is on the way to work. They offer Ashtanga yoga but I'll be attending a variations class which probably means it isn't strictly Ashtanga, but it should be fun and not too hard. And last but not least, there is now a YMCA in Ft. Washington (near home) that offers yoga and I plan to check that out on Monday morning.
Today was week 3 of Weight Watchers. I skipped week 2 because I was feeling fat and lazy and slept in. But I'm losing weight, albeit Sllllooooooowwwwwly. I'm down 5lbs, a ton to go. But it's not so bad considering my gluttonous four day weekend, going out to eat on Monday, and the bbq we had this past Sunday for my dad's birthday. And it's not so bad considering I am still terrible about keeping track of my points. I really hate counting Points or Calories. WW has two programs:1)the Point system where every food has a point value based on Calories, fat, and fiber and you are allowed a certain number of points a day based on your sex, age, and weight, and 2)the Core program which has a list of foods you can eat (bread is NOT one of them) and you eat as much as you want but have to be more conscious of when you are full (i.e. a 3 on a scale of 1-5, 5 being "Thanksgiving full". I hate counting points because it makes me obsess. Plus, shouldn't I try to learn to stop on my own, and not when my calculator says I am done? But also I hate being deprived of certain foods. It only makes me want them more. However, the one thing both methods have in common are the rules for healthy eating that is basically the recommendations the FDA hand out: don't skip meals, drink lots of water, eat fiber, dairy, protein, good fats, at least 5 fruits and veggies, and fit in at least 30 mins of cumulative exercise each day (I may be forgetting a couple more rules, but you get the picture). It's stuff you hear all the time (and really I learned how to fit it all in during my stint with JC. Granted, it is tons harder to not overeat when nobody else is pre-portioning every bite). Many people abuse the Points system by thinking they can eat just junk food as long as they stay within their Points. I am sure (and the idea is even supported by the WW rep) that as long as I follow the basic rules that everyone is supposed to be following anyway and keep mindful of when I am full, I can lose weight, even if it is slow. Going to the meetings to get weighed-in will be my motivation to stick with it. And this way, it hardly feels like a diet.
In other news I made a pair of earrings and a necklace for myself, a necklace for Grace, a two necklaces for my mom. Photos soon.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
4 day weekend
Today is the last day of my 4 day weekend. I had been working Sunday to Thursday but I am beginning my regular schedule of Tuesday to Saturday. So I had Friday to Monday off this week. I don't yet accrue vacation time so I had to take full advantage of this minivacation.
Friday I went shopping for summer tops. I got a lot of good deals so it was lots of fun. And I got my dad his Father's Day present of a couple of weekend shirts.
Saturday, my parents and I went to Rehoboth Beach, DE. I had never been before and it was very nice; not too big and very cute. The weather was good but the water was still too cold so we just walked around. There are a lot of neat little shops near the boardwalk and I'll definitely go back sometime soon, probably when the water is warmer (and I'm with people who actually want to go into every little cute shop with me).
Did I mention that I had funnel cake and a hot dog and pie and greasy delicious pepperoni pizza? After being good and eating healthily for the past week and a half or so, I was totally nauseas from overeating.
So what did I do on Sunday? I had dim sum. Because, you know, I'm disgusting.
Thankfully, today, I got back on track and even made myself some baba ganoush. I'm a little worried about stepping on the scale on Wednesday, but oh well, such is life.
Today I also went to a bead shop in Rockville (Rockville's got everything, I tell ya). Oh SO NICE. It was a little weird at first because you aren't allowed to take your purse inside the store. You have to leave it in the front room in a locker. And since I've got the memory of a gnat, every five minutes I'd panic and think, "Oh my God, where's my purse?" But the selection and the prices are very good. I think I'll go to this Rockville store for my supplies that I don't buy online. You know, every time I go into a bead store I hate the bead store I worked at more and more. Ridiculous markup there, I tell you whut. But anyways, I bought some silver and other miscellanous supplies for the multiple projects I have waiting for me. I wish I had more time to just veg and make stuff. LOL, a 4 day weekend just isn't long enough!!!
Friday I went shopping for summer tops. I got a lot of good deals so it was lots of fun. And I got my dad his Father's Day present of a couple of weekend shirts.
Saturday, my parents and I went to Rehoboth Beach, DE. I had never been before and it was very nice; not too big and very cute. The weather was good but the water was still too cold so we just walked around. There are a lot of neat little shops near the boardwalk and I'll definitely go back sometime soon, probably when the water is warmer (and I'm with people who actually want to go into every little cute shop with me).
Did I mention that I had funnel cake and a hot dog and pie and greasy delicious pepperoni pizza? After being good and eating healthily for the past week and a half or so, I was totally nauseas from overeating.
So what did I do on Sunday? I had dim sum. Because, you know, I'm disgusting.
Thankfully, today, I got back on track and even made myself some baba ganoush. I'm a little worried about stepping on the scale on Wednesday, but oh well, such is life.
Today I also went to a bead shop in Rockville (Rockville's got everything, I tell ya). Oh SO NICE. It was a little weird at first because you aren't allowed to take your purse inside the store. You have to leave it in the front room in a locker. And since I've got the memory of a gnat, every five minutes I'd panic and think, "Oh my God, where's my purse?" But the selection and the prices are very good. I think I'll go to this Rockville store for my supplies that I don't buy online. You know, every time I go into a bead store I hate the bead store I worked at more and more. Ridiculous markup there, I tell you whut. But anyways, I bought some silver and other miscellanous supplies for the multiple projects I have waiting for me. I wish I had more time to just veg and make stuff. LOL, a 4 day weekend just isn't long enough!!!
Friday, June 08, 2007
Loser
Remember back in September of 2005, I started Jenny Craig? It was the first time I'd really made a sincere effort to lose weight. It worked. I lost nearly 30lbs.
But then I got lazy and gained 25lbs back.
The first 10lbs I wasn't too concerned with. Then the next 10lbs came on really fast. Too much Dessert Gallery! The last 5 came back on rather slowly and I've lost it again and gained it back again.
I kept telling myself that "when I get a job, I'll start a diet. I will be able to afford JC if I want to join back up again". Which is ridiculous. Why should I wait?
So I now have a job and no excuses. I joined Weight Watchers at work on Wednesday. I only found out about the meetings on Tuesday. It was much like how I joined JC. Just all of a sudden, I decide to go on a diet. I don't wait until Monday. I just sign up. Plus, the WW meetings at work started a new 18 week session on Wednesday and I assume I'd have to wait 18weeks if I wanted to join the next session, and that's way too long to wait.
Unfortunately, since I joined up on a whim, I am so ill prepared. While I do want to lose weight, I'm not all GUNG HO! (what the hell is a gung? I know what a ho is, but I don't think that applies here...) Perhaps it's because I don't have a diet buddy. The meeting at work is attended by a rather large number of people and I felt kinda lost. But I'm confident that will change. However, I totally have not done my homework on this whole Points system. It's math that is more complicated that adding. With JC, it was all about keeping it under a certain number of Calories. They made it super easy because they provide almost all of the food and you don't have to think. But with WW you have to think on Day 1.
So far, I'm just following a JC kind of diet. Salads with lunch and dinner, keeping the bulk of each meal under 300 Calories, lots of water, trying to get in some milk and remembering to take my vitamins and omega-3s. But the part I'm really working on is learning to stop eating when I'm satisfied. Not when the food is all gone. Not when I'm "Thanksgiving full". I'd really like to learn to eat and it's really why I didn't go back to JC, I think. But I'm going to take today and tomorrow to figure out the point value of everything, so hopefully I can follow WW how it's supposed to be done and see how well that works.
In any case, I think the thing I want to get most out of going to these WW meetings is getting weighed in every week. Shame is my motivation. LOL...*sigh*.
So far, after two days, even after not being too watchful of what I ate, I lost about pound. So what if it's just water?!?!?! It's still a pound!
But then I got lazy and gained 25lbs back.
The first 10lbs I wasn't too concerned with. Then the next 10lbs came on really fast. Too much Dessert Gallery! The last 5 came back on rather slowly and I've lost it again and gained it back again.
I kept telling myself that "when I get a job, I'll start a diet. I will be able to afford JC if I want to join back up again". Which is ridiculous. Why should I wait?
So I now have a job and no excuses. I joined Weight Watchers at work on Wednesday. I only found out about the meetings on Tuesday. It was much like how I joined JC. Just all of a sudden, I decide to go on a diet. I don't wait until Monday. I just sign up. Plus, the WW meetings at work started a new 18 week session on Wednesday and I assume I'd have to wait 18weeks if I wanted to join the next session, and that's way too long to wait.
Unfortunately, since I joined up on a whim, I am so ill prepared. While I do want to lose weight, I'm not all GUNG HO! (what the hell is a gung? I know what a ho is, but I don't think that applies here...) Perhaps it's because I don't have a diet buddy. The meeting at work is attended by a rather large number of people and I felt kinda lost. But I'm confident that will change. However, I totally have not done my homework on this whole Points system. It's math that is more complicated that adding. With JC, it was all about keeping it under a certain number of Calories. They made it super easy because they provide almost all of the food and you don't have to think. But with WW you have to think on Day 1.
So far, I'm just following a JC kind of diet. Salads with lunch and dinner, keeping the bulk of each meal under 300 Calories, lots of water, trying to get in some milk and remembering to take my vitamins and omega-3s. But the part I'm really working on is learning to stop eating when I'm satisfied. Not when the food is all gone. Not when I'm "Thanksgiving full". I'd really like to learn to eat and it's really why I didn't go back to JC, I think. But I'm going to take today and tomorrow to figure out the point value of everything, so hopefully I can follow WW how it's supposed to be done and see how well that works.
In any case, I think the thing I want to get most out of going to these WW meetings is getting weighed in every week. Shame is my motivation. LOL...*sigh*.
So far, after two days, even after not being too watchful of what I ate, I lost about pound. So what if it's just water?!?!?! It's still a pound!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Naked people and fire
Goo and I had a great time in Richmond yesterday. We arrived at Grace's in the afternoon and walked to Carytown. We visited the always amusing World of Mirth where Goo got some wind-up chinese food. We also stopped by the very hip yarn store, The Yarn Lounge. I loved that their knitted samples are wee little sweaters. And of course, we went to the bead store, Bangles and Beads. Oh My Goodness, what a fantastic store. They had lots of great stuff at really good prices and it was just awesome in there. I have a lot of beautiful projects to work on, which I'll post once they're made into something!
We met up with Andrew and Grace's friend Erin and Erin's friend Jennifer for dinner at the New York Deli. It's a fancy deli and I had a delicious plate of vegetable ravioli with a creamy walnut sauce. The desserts were good, too. Goo had a very dainty creme brulee that he ate as manly as he could.
After dinner we went to our main event for the day: NAKED PEOPLE! It was the Disrobed 2 event at Gallery 5. There were roughly 25 people painted and on display. There were a few performers? (they were just standing there) "dressed" in work clothes. They looked like they were wearing clothes so they didnt' seem naked to me. Actually all of the people fully painted gave the impression that they weren't really naked. Most of the performers were part of this huge living mural with industry represented on one side and nature on the other (I don't know why industry is always represented as evil; that sort of annoys me). It was strange to me that as soon as a performer wanted to take a break, they would immediately wrap a towel around themselves and scurry off stage. I suppose it is all relative to where you are. Like, you can wear a bikini at the beach, but not in the office. There was one woman who was completely painted, except for her left breast and that seemed very naked. One display that I found really interesting was where three women on a stage were also being projected live on a tv screen above them. It felt very taboo to watch them on T.V. but I was comfortable seeing them live in front of me. In real life it's art. On video, it's porn.
Either way, it was a really neat experience, I had a good time, and very glad I went. It was really nice to go to an art event and discuss it.
Outside the gallery fire dancers performed. The line to get inside Disrobed was somewhat long so it was nice to have entertainment. The coolest fire dancer was the girl with the flaming hula hoop.
While that was cool and all....
Today Goo and I went to the Southern Maryland Pow Wow in Waldorf, MD. We got there just in time to see the Samoan dancers. I was surprised but delighted to see that there weren't just area Native Americans performing. The Mosquito dance where the men slap themselves all over was pretty funny. But the BEST was the fire dancer. He had a 4ish foot stick lighted at one end and lit the other end WITH HIS HAND. He brought one end to his mouth and HIS TONGUE WAS ON FIRE!!!! He twirled that flaming stick so fast and threw it soooo high up in the air, it was unbelievable.
There were also other plenty of dancers in fantastic Native garb with feathers and bells and it was so fun to watch. There were also lots of vendors and I bought a hand painted sarong from the Samoans. I even helped make it! We ate fry bread tacos that are basically incredibly good Chalupas :)
So I had a great weekend. I think next weekend will be a lot quieter since Goo is going back to Cleveland tomorrow. Anyways, I have so much jewelry to work on...
We met up with Andrew and Grace's friend Erin and Erin's friend Jennifer for dinner at the New York Deli. It's a fancy deli and I had a delicious plate of vegetable ravioli with a creamy walnut sauce. The desserts were good, too. Goo had a very dainty creme brulee that he ate as manly as he could.
After dinner we went to our main event for the day: NAKED PEOPLE! It was the Disrobed 2 event at Gallery 5. There were roughly 25 people painted and on display. There were a few performers? (they were just standing there) "dressed" in work clothes. They looked like they were wearing clothes so they didnt' seem naked to me. Actually all of the people fully painted gave the impression that they weren't really naked. Most of the performers were part of this huge living mural with industry represented on one side and nature on the other (I don't know why industry is always represented as evil; that sort of annoys me). It was strange to me that as soon as a performer wanted to take a break, they would immediately wrap a towel around themselves and scurry off stage. I suppose it is all relative to where you are. Like, you can wear a bikini at the beach, but not in the office. There was one woman who was completely painted, except for her left breast and that seemed very naked. One display that I found really interesting was where three women on a stage were also being projected live on a tv screen above them. It felt very taboo to watch them on T.V. but I was comfortable seeing them live in front of me. In real life it's art. On video, it's porn.
Either way, it was a really neat experience, I had a good time, and very glad I went. It was really nice to go to an art event and discuss it.
Outside the gallery fire dancers performed. The line to get inside Disrobed was somewhat long so it was nice to have entertainment. The coolest fire dancer was the girl with the flaming hula hoop.
While that was cool and all....
Today Goo and I went to the Southern Maryland Pow Wow in Waldorf, MD. We got there just in time to see the Samoan dancers. I was surprised but delighted to see that there weren't just area Native Americans performing. The Mosquito dance where the men slap themselves all over was pretty funny. But the BEST was the fire dancer. He had a 4ish foot stick lighted at one end and lit the other end WITH HIS HAND. He brought one end to his mouth and HIS TONGUE WAS ON FIRE!!!! He twirled that flaming stick so fast and threw it soooo high up in the air, it was unbelievable.
There were also other plenty of dancers in fantastic Native garb with feathers and bells and it was so fun to watch. There were also lots of vendors and I bought a hand painted sarong from the Samoans. I even helped make it! We ate fry bread tacos that are basically incredibly good Chalupas :)
So I had a great weekend. I think next weekend will be a lot quieter since Goo is going back to Cleveland tomorrow. Anyways, I have so much jewelry to work on...
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