R&R

The semester is finally done, with some much needed rest and relaxation for me. Even though I was only taking 2 classes this seemed like an unbelievable long semester. And it's done. Grades are not in yet, but hopefully I did decent. And better yet - I'm only taking one class next semester!!!!

Katsu is very busy studying for his quals - they are Jan 3 and Jan 11. Between the written and the oral parts, it's like 14 hours long or something! And everytime they ask him a question he has to cite at least 5 papers to explain his answer with authors, names, and dates!!! Good thing my quals were not that intensive or I would never have passed.

On a side note, I went shopping today and got new clothes! Yeah - a Christmas present from me to me. Nothing exciting, but who can not appreciate getting new pajama pants and only $10 - they were all on sale at Old Navy.

And glorious news - no more dial up. We finally decided to break down and spend some $$$ on high speed internet. It better be worth it ... but probably more posts (and pictures?) are upcoming.

Crazy week

This has been an absolutely crazy week!!! First, on Mon. we went out to eat with one of Katsu's high school classmates and her husband. They live in Ann Arbor, too, which is weird to me. What are the chances of his graduating class of 30 from SWITZERLAND that one lives down the road from us. Anyways, it was fun.

Then, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we were ushering for the Royal Shakespeare Company (yes, the one from England) which has been in town the last few weeks. People are going crazy about it here - esp. since Patrick Stewart (a.k.a. the bald man in XMen or in Star Trek) is acting in two of the shows. Anyways, so besides school (9-5), we were at the theatre from 6-11 to usher and see the shows. Tuesday's Tempest was awesome, esp. since I really didnt enjoy it when I saw it previously in Dallas. They did it in an Alaskan tundra kind of theme ... which was unique, to say the least. Wednesday was a very long Antony and Cleopatra and Thursday was a very bloody Julius Cesear. I am now almost sad that we didn't see one of their shows when we were in London, because the company is SOOOO good. It makes Shakespeare really easy to understand and enjoyable because they can act.

So, our lonely cat Joe sure got himself into trouble while we were gone. He attacked our parsley plant leaving parsley and dirt EVERYWHERE and then proceeded to throw up the parsley everywhere! YUCK!!! But he is redeemed because today (well, last night actually) he found a mouse and is keeping guard to make sure it doesn't come back. A guess a cat might be worth it all after all ....

Nothing much to report

Life is still the same here ... grad school and just hanging out with Mr. Joe, our cat. I have been sick with a cold for half of October. But it's finally gone away and it feels beautiful not to be sick and to be able to think again.

It is very cold here in Michigan. Everyone says it will be a cold winter ... we will see. It snowed in October and has been snowing the last couple days. I just hope our car runs all winter. Last year on the day after Thanksgiving it was very cold and we couldn't get our car to start for several hours until it warmed up. Katsu was very sad because we missed all the really great sales at Best Buy. Hopefully, we won't have a repeat this year. This Thanksgiving we will be with friends in West Virginia - no cooking for us! Yeah!!!

Katsu finally got his permenant permanent residency (aka - his real green card), so we went to Canada the first weekend we could. Granted it was just across the border to Windsor for dinner and then back home again for only a few hours trip total, but hey - we were out of the country, right?

Other than that, we are just your typical boring graduate students ....

So it's been a while ...

Life has been ... well ... interesting here in our household to say the least, but it's time for a little post, I guess.

Today was the first snow of the year. It didn't snow for very long (maybe an hour) and it didn't really stick, of course. I love the first snow of the year. The hush and quiet it makes outside. Of course, come March I'm ready for all snow to be gone. But the first one is always nice.

Also, I have posted some new pictures from our summer trips with Katsu's brother to - Kirtland & Cleveland and to Chicago (also the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore as well as our trip to Greenfield Village in Detroit. Maybe soon we'll get some pictures of our first U of M football game, too.

Check out amandatsu.dell.shutterfly.com.

July ... the first half

July has been marching right along. It is hot here in Michigan ... ick! I should be used to this as an Okie (sorta Texan), but the humidity is much higher here. It's not too bad, but still not too much fun after the 25 minute walk to work.

We mostly have just been working this month. We did take a few little trips here and there. The fourth of July weekend, we went and saw the Holocaust Memorial Musuem in Farmington Hills. We really enjoyed it. It also contained a lot of Jewish History and Culture first before the Holocaust part. But the part of the museum I enjoyed most was the very end. There were displays talking about human nature - what parts of us are good and what parts of us are bad. What makes us do good things and what makes us do bad things. It used books to talk about this - To Kill a Mockingbird, Atlas Shrugged, and others. I really enjoyed that perspective. Afterwards, we went to this "museum" according to AAA - Ha! It was called something like Marvin's Marvelous Machine Museum. It was really just a room of lots of arcade machines, including old ones. Like a spanish inquisiton one where you could see little puppets heads chopped off. Not exactly what we expected ...

We also went to the Detroit temple a couple weekends ago. In order to entice us further to go, we decided to go visit the Cranbrook Science museum afterwards. The Cranbrook complex includes some private schools from elementary through high school as well as a graduate art school (someone in our ward attends there). They also have an art museum and a sceince museum. It is like 5 minutes away from the temple, so we couldn't resist. We did an 8 am session at the temple, so we were at the museum at 10:00 just as it opened. The science museum was VERY well done ... and believe me - I have seen a lot. Funny, it was really only Katsu and I there. But we enjoyed it and even learned quite a bit. I highly recommend it.

We also have started attending an Institute class on the book of Revelations. I find it fascinating and am really enjoying reading this book. It doesn't seem very hard to understand at all now and I feel like I am getting so much out of it.

We also have been experimenting with some new recipes. I like to try a new one every week or so. Yesterday, we tried a Moroccan dish I found online called Couscous Marrakesh. Since we couldn't go to Morocco when we went to Europe last summer :-( I just had to try it out. It was very tasty and a great thanks to our friends who gave us some of their very expensive saffron! The dish wouldn't have been complete without it. I also checked a vegetarian cookbook out from the library. We enjoyed the Mexican lasagna very much! And Katsu even liked the lentil "burgers" I made at my first try with veggie burgers. Not bad, if I say so myself.

It's been a pretty fun summer and hopefully it will keep getting better!

On Citizenship

For all those who don't know - Katsu is not a US citizen. I have, of course, always known this and it did not seem to make much difference to me when we were dating. Marriage, of course, always changes things, but most especially in a bureaucratic sense with two governments involved. Let me dispel a common misconception which is unbelievable false - when you marry an American you DO NOT automatically become a citizen. Nothing is automatic in the entire process and if you do nothing, the only thing that automatically happens is that you can be deported. After reams of paperwork, Katsu received a temporary green card 2 years ago, and after another ream of paperwork, Katsu's application is hopefully being finished up with and he will really recieve a permenant permenant green card shortly.

But as for citizenship, we are not sure if we will apply for Katsu and when. This surprises many people, especially at church. Many just assume that he would desperately want to be a citizen. As people have told him, "but you're like an American already" - a thought that makes my blood boil or at least simmer.

Obviously, there would be some benefits to Katsu being a citizen. Wills, inheritance, and sticky legal matters would be simpler. His passport wouldn't be checked as vigoursly in other countries (aren't Americans so lucky). We could live outside of the country for an indefinite period of time (the major plus for me). We wouldn't have to register things both in US & Japan (marriage, children, etc). He wouldn't have to constantly notify NCSIS or whatever they are called everytime we move or update his green card. And he could vote.

On the other hand, those are all paperwork kinds of things. None of those reflect what country Katsu would like to be a part of. And I don't think USA should be the default, but rather Japan. If the others didn't enter into the decision at all, I would prefer if Katsu were a Japanese citizen because it is his heritage, his mother tongue, etc. Japan is a beautiful country with generally kind, good people. His entire family (excepting siblings) live there and have for ... well, for ever.

I think citizenship should be on some level an emotional connectedness and not just a beaurcratic-ish decision. Otherwise, what is patriotism? I feel connected to America, but that doesn't mean that Katsu should be. And I personally don't see America as the best place in the world. There are many other wonderful countries that have good people and good governments, that are not oppressive, that allow for individual and religious expression. And in that case, I think I can celebrate them all. America can be a land of opportunity, but then, can't other places be? Not everyone needs to or should be an American citizen. And I am and will be proud of having a Japanese national for a husband.

Book Reviews

While I am waiting for a simulation to run ... let's hear it for book reviews. I tend to read a lot (let's say at least a book or two a week ... sometimes much more), but I also tend to forget a lot. My memory is quite poor, in my opinion. So, when we selected books to read at book club last month, I could only think of books I had read recently - the Flu by Gina Kolata. I do have to say I enjoyed it, but I'm just not sure the rest of the group will. Good thing I didn't remember the other book I was reading about at the time was about Sotheby's. That would have been an even bigger hit.

So, some recent books I've read or mostly read and my quick thoughts.

The Flu, by Gina Kolata - (non-fiction) this talks about the 1918 influenza, one, if not THE worst, natural disaster in recent history. What I think is sad is how nobody even knows about this part of American history. Parts I esp. enjoyed was learning how the government tried to steal a guys research project and then make it classifed (!!!) as well as how malleable the public is and how they can't interpret statistics. And other things. A good book.

Reading Lolita in Tehran - (non-fiction) not quite finished, but I enjoyed learning more about Iran & the Revolution there. I guess I'm really out of current events, but I had no idea how much Iran is anti-Western and how terrible the situation is for women. But besides the oppressive setting, the author was an amazing English teacher who really made me want to read the books this book is loosely based around - Lolita, books by James, Pride & Prejudice, & the Great Gatsby. A real thinker.

An Ordinary Man - (non-fiction) if you've seen the movie Hotel Rwanda, you should really read the book which just came out. Another thought provoking book on disasters, tragedies, and good people. Also interesting thoughs on the US and foreign policy. Short, but very interesting and not at all graphic like I was worried about.

The Swarm - (fiction) this is a new book, at least in English, which has sold 1.5 million copies in Germany at only 2 years old. I am half way through and am really fascinated by this environmental thriller. I used to hate environmentalism (too many assemblies on the rainforest and recycling in elementary school) but I have to say that I am started to get worried and concerned about waste. Really - think of how much garbage we throw away ... where can it possibly all be going?

Cage of Stars - (fiction) I had to read this book because it's about a Mormon!!! In conventional fiction!!! Her two younger sisters are murdered randomly when she is baby-sitting them. It's about her and her family trying to cope with it in this small Mormon community. I really thought it was interesting ... esp. since I'm Mormon.

Hope someone enjoys some of these books!!!! I did.

Inquiring Minds Want To Know ... What Do I Do?

To anyone (if there is anyone) who has ever wondered - what the heck does Amanda do? - I am here to answer your question.

To anyone who doesn't know, I am a graduate student at the University of Michigan in the department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. The program is HUGE. There are 90 faculty, 800 undergrads and 700 graduate students. So, it is further subdivided into Systems, Normal Electrical Engineering (I don't know what that one is called), and Computer Engineering. I am in Systems. That is further subdivided into 3 categories - Signal Processing, Control, and Communications. I am in Signal Processing. And in that, I work in the Image Computing Lab. So, to reiterate

UMich -> College of Eng. -> EECS -> Systems -> Signal Processing -> Image Computing Lab -> Me

Contrast to Katsu who is in the Divison of Kinesiology and there are like 10 graduate students.

So, now you know where I am located, in the hierarchial sense ... but what do I do???

Well, until this summer, I was solely going to classes. But now, lo and behold, I do DO something - research. No, I do not get to wear a cute lab coat like Katsu. I work at a computer or at a desk by myself. Here is a short run through of what I am working on ...

I am working especially in the world of Medical Imaging - think CT, MRI, Ultrasound, etc. These medical images are complicated to make (no, I can't read and diagnose them). I have to learn about the physics of how they make these pictures. Unfortunately, the images aren't perfect - they have noise in them (think static on the radio or a TV) and they are often blurry. And in addition, sometimes we take tons of 1 and 2D images together to make a 2D or 3D image like ultrasound or CT. Using this knowledge, I use statistics to make better pictures. To understand how to combine all those images to make a CT and how to do it fast (because doctors hate to wait). To understand why the images are noisy and blurry and how to get rid of it. Or at least how to manage it.

So I use PHYSICS + MATH (probability + calculus) + ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING SYSTEMS = better medical images!!!

Katsu - the cute Research Scientist

To anyone who has ever wondered what Katsu does (not that this will clear it up for most general folks out there, but at least you can see what he does for a 8 or so hours a day) or if you just want to see cute pictures of Katsu as a scientist in his white lab coat, check out the web page for his lab:

http://www.kines.umich.edu/research/cxr/mbl.html

On Where to Live

We have some friends who could theoretically live anywhere in the country. As a nurse, he could find a good job in most any city he desired. Of course, that makes for a lot of choices ... and the more choices, the poorer decision you make and the more difficult it is to make that decision.

So, here is a list of states we would like to live in, would not like to live in, and neutral/unsure. Of course, I have no idea how much choice we'll really have in the matter ... so, we'll see.

Good list - Colorado, Conneticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington

Bad list - Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennesee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

? list - Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah

Major concerns - I don't want to live anywhere completely desolate (North Dakota or Wyoming, for example). I would prefer not to live somewhere really hot (though Katsu loves Disney World, so I put Florida on the list). I don't want to live somewhere ridiculously expensive (like California ), I would also prefer to live somewhere with 4 seasons which is why I just can't put Texas on the yes list even though I want to live close to family.

Of course, just watch - we'll live in everyone state on the "bad" list.

Confession – I didn’t go to BYU and I turned out okay.

In fact, I even got married to a nice returned missionary after three years of college. And (here’s the shocker) I still go to church, every week, in fact, and hold callings and read my scriptures and do all that good Mormon stuff.

Now, doesn’t that sound ridiculous? And yet, as my little sister graduated from high school this year and she goes through the same battle I went through (and after reading this post click here …), I decided to reflect back on my senior year.

I did not want to apply for the Ivies – I thought they were over-prestiged and over-priced and I thought it was silly all the articles about how “My daughter just has to get into Brown or she will die”. So, I didn’t. I thought about MIT, but after seeing their lack of academic or non-need based scholarships, it was out, too. See, practical senior that I was – I saw no sense in spending lots of money or loans to go to these schools when cheap schools were just around the corner. I lived in Texas, for goodness sake, with some of the best public universities around.

I also didn’t want to be crazy and apply to 15 or 20 schools, so I applied to 5 – BYU, University of Texas – Austin, University of Texas – Dallas, Texas A&M, and Northeastern University. The last was completely random. They had sent me the world’s easiest application – fill in test scores & GPA & name & one paragraph … just one page long – and it had no application fee. Plus, it was in Boston where I had always wanted to live. But otherwise, they were all pretty much practical choices.

I visited each school. I went to special programs at all but Northeastern, often especially for engineers because I wanted to be an engineer. UTD was out – I just wasn’t positive that I wanted to be an electrical engineer and the choices of major were slim pickings and too close to home. UTA was huge … and while Austin was beautiful, even our student guides admitted it was hard to make friends and kind of isolating. BYU was similarly huge and the campus seemed bewildering to me. In addition, the engineering program seemed very non-user friendly … the flow charts just to figure out what classes to take looked like they would require a PhD to figure out. And they couldn’t even get enough girls to fill the spots at the little honors visiting program for engineers I went to. I really enjoyed A&M – very friendly, very good engineering program, they definitely tried to “wine and dine” me in, good co-operative education (interships) program. And Northeastern was great – fun, in the city, and great engineering program with the country’s best co-op program. (I had decided that just in case I got married and had kids right off like my parents it was essential that I get internships while I was in school so I got some real world experience).

Luckily, I got scholarships at each school. The amounts varied a bit – tuition was covered at all of them. Room & board was covered at all but BYU (though A&M’s scholarship system was a mess to figure out). And UTD would have even given my monthly checks for living expenses. I had it made. And after a long decision between Northeastern and A&M, I finally chose Northeastern because I wanted to take the chance to live in a big city in another part of the country. I couldn’t bear the thought of spending the rest of my days burning up in Texas.

So, all in all, I have to say that I made a pretty informed decision. And not to worry, I considered the church aspect as well. I checked out the institute programs at all the respective schools. That was a clear factor against UTD because there just weren’t enough LDS young adults in Dallas with good futures in my opinion. The rest seemed very good. In Boston, my Dad and I even attended an Institute event and took a tour with another fellow Northeastern LDS sister. I figured that everywhere but Dallas I would have an opportunity to meet & hang out with other LDS people.

Then, the preaching, the harassing, and the haranguing began. My ward just couldn’t get over my decision. Each school I was considering (except BYU) was a “party school”. I would never meet anyone, never get married, and would fall away from the church. People told me over and over again what a bad decision it was. My friend (who also attended an East Coast school) and I were badgered about it constantly. Why weren’t we going to “the Lord’s university”? Some people specifically told me they were appalled that I wasn’t going to accept my scholarship. That I had, therefore, stolen that money away from other deserving students who would now not be able to attend BYU. Now, keep in mind, that I did call BYU and explain that I would not be attending and that they could give the money to another deserving student. But BYU, unfortunately, couldn’t actually record that decision or do anything with the money until I didn’t enroll in the fall.

Overall, I think I had a good experience at Northeastern University. I enjoyed my college years (which are still continuing in graduate students here in the great state of Michigan). I was very very happy with the academic program at Northeastern. Socially, it was somewhat difficult at school as I did not want to go clubbing, drinking, etc. every night which was a main event. But I had friends at school. And I had tons of friends at church. I worked internships for 18 months while I was there and got valuable experience at Tek Microsystems and Sun Microsystems and made upwards of $20/hr. I had great friends at church who roamed the city of Boston with me, a city I grew to love. I attended dozens of Institute classes, graduating from Institute several times over in four and a half years. I even met a great man at Boston University and married him. It was a great experience for me.

I don’t think BYU is a bad school. I don’t hate Utah. I think there are plusses and minuses to all schools. I have good friends who went to BYU and I have good friends who didn’t. I saw friends go inactive or do sinful things that went to BYU and who didn’t.

I do, however, have a problem with members who think that BYU is the only right school, with BYU-Idaho and BYU-Hawaii and, unfortunately, sometimes even UVSC a close second, and all the rest of the schools not even in the running. In an age when not everyone can go to BYU, when BYU is pruning its majors and does not offer everyone’s desired major, and when there are other good universities with good environments, good people, and good institutes, then people should let others make their own decision without ridiculous heckling and harassing. Even when meant to be good natured, it is not appropriate.

Too often, whether in choosing a college or a career or other major or minor life decisions, people try to force other people to do what they think is right. And in the end, it doesn’t make anyone happy. So, for all you Mormons out there – let people choose their own college, BYU or another other good option. Why not? I survived.

Garden

Not much word on the radishes yet, but our patio garden has grown lettuce - our Mesculin mix and some Romaine is ready for dinner tonight! Yum!!!

Sunday Alone

Katsu is out of town this weekend at the American Diabetes Association conference with his lab in Washington D.C. I hope he has fun ... so far I have just received a picture from his in email ... ha ha ha. So, needless to say, I am home by myself this weekend. I also, unfortunately, have a cold.

So, we've almost been in Michigan a year and we really like it. It feels so green and outdoorsy compared to anywhere else that I have lived. And, best of all, it's not too hot. Even though our air conditioning is out for a couple weeks, we don't need it because it just isn't that hot here. I love it!

Our garden is doing pretty well, I think. Katsu is dying for our tomato plants to actually grow tomatoes. We'll see if that really happens ... but we have flowers, so I am hoping that is a good sign. The lettuce is growing and mesculin mix tastes pretty good. And we get to harvest our radishes when Katsu gets back. They are French Breakfast radishes, though I don't know anyone who eats radishes for breakfast. Overall, not bad for first time gardeners on the porch.

Our cat, Joe, is learning new tricks. Usually we leave our glass porch door open and just have the screen door shut. Joe has cunningly learned how to open the screen door. Yesterday, I was in the bedroom reading when I hear the screen door opening. Lucklily, I ran to the living room and found Joe letting himself out and about to run under the apartment building. Silly cat. He probably opened the door at least 15 times yesterday! But we like him ... he's a keeper.

Otherwise, we just keep plodding along. Research for the both of us.

Happy Anniversary To Us

Today is our anniversary - 3 years. I can't believe it's been that long! But we are very happy!

And especially happy with our present! We finally found a curio that was in our price range and the right size in the town of Frankenmuth, a Bavarian town an hour north of here. It's perfect and we can finally take our Japanese doll out of the box!!!

Here are a couple pictures - more on our picture link.

I passed

I passed my quals!!!

And we'll be at the Red Sox game tonight. Nothing else note-worthy to post.

Waiting in the lab

Sunday evening. Before going to our friends for a nice roast dinner, Katsu had to drop by the lab really quick to "fast the rats" so he can do experiments tomorrow. Giving me ample time for a post.

Michigan is really pretty in the spring and summer. It is really really green here. Especially after all the rain we've been having. It's quite a bit different from the meticulously watered and very nicely mowed lawns in Oklahoma or Texas. Here, it's like half the yards are errupting with flowers and weeds and who even knows what else. I am sure it has to do with the neighborhood we live in ... mostly old houses that you can distincly identify by decade - oh, that one was definately built in the 60's. I like it - a little messiness and not the cookie cutter suburban neighborhoods I've always lived in.

This has been a relaxing week ... sort of. I started my research. Which is basically reading papers, thinking, and writing equations. All by myself. And only talking to my advisor every now and then - once a week or so. I am sure it will take a little getting used to. It is so much more free-form than any job I've had before (excepting the other time I did research, but even then it was a very well-defined computer programming task) and definately more so than Katsu's research which is a 9-5 doing lab experiments kind of gig. We'll see if I like it. For anyone interested - I am researching the phase wrapping problem coming in imaging problems, especially in MRI applications, and developing a more statistical framework for solving the ill-posed problem. Exciting stuff, eh?

Church today (and yesterday) was Stake Conference. It was our first of those "broadcast" kind because we were out of town when they had one in Boston. So, all of Michigan and Pennslyvania stakes got to hear from Elder Perry, President Monson, Elder Tingey, and a sister from the Primary with a Japanese name. It was interesting ... I still don't really enjoy Stake Conference. Ward or general are more my thing. And it was interesting, because they called new stake presidency members and new bishops and counselors for one of the wards all during the adult session on Saturday night. And so on Sunday, we were with the University ward which seriously must have an average of at least one baby per family making for a very noisy meeting.

We want to take off on some small road trips this summer. Katsu's research has been a tad frustrating and he needs to get out of town and relax a bit more. And hopefully Tomo will come visit us this summer. SO that should be fun.

Another week of life

My quals are done, so it's time for another post. I don't know how I did on them ... maybe 50/50 whether I pass or fail. But, I figure it's good to do things every now and then that you are 100% completely scared of. And oral exams would definately go on the list. Especially when they are supposed to cover more material than I think I could possibly fit all in my brain. But - the key point being - they are DONE!!!

I am going to be starting my research today. Usual concerns - research ... don't you need to have original ideas for that??? Ha ha ha ... but I'm sure it will go just fine.

Last week was hard. Besides having these three oral exams, our home-teacher passed away leaving behind a wife and three Primary-age children. So, I also attended my first funeral last week. I hope the best for his wife and family. I don't know them that well beyond being the primary pianist. But there's still this strong desire to help in any way I can, which of course, everyone in the whole ward feels, so there's not much that I can do right now.

We also had our last ushering assignment last night for Dave Brubeck (sp?) which we really really enjoyed. It was busy and crowded, for the balcony, and wearing a skirt and running up and down the stairs is always a bit of an adventure and of course there's the walking home in the rain with dress shoes for a couple miles or so part. Katsu and I just sat on the steps for the whole performance - we couldn't see any of the action, but sometimes I think it is more enjoyable to just listen anyways. We really want to usher a lot next year, especially since the Royal Shakespeare Company is coming - only stop in the US - and we really want to usher that. Besides, that guy from Star Trek is playing Antony; how cool is that!

Also, I bought a new book; I know, as if I could possibly use a new book. But I had money to spend from sitting for a friend's dental boards and getting a cavity filled. So, I deserved something fun, perhaps. I bought the new Oxford Book of American Poetry. Poor Katsu has been putting up with my, "Oh, don't you want to hear this one?" or "Surely you've heard this one before" or "Oh, this poem is very funny" or "I had no idea this was actually a Sonnet!". By the way, did you guys know that Emma Lazarus's the New Colossus was a sonnet - not I.

So, now hoepfully it will be a fun summer. Research by day, fun by night. Maybe a few road trips. Options - Kirtland & Cleveland, Chicago, Mackinaw Island, Toronto, various other cities in Michigan or Ohio or other nearby states. Stay tuned for more updates.

Wow ... it's been a while

Wow ... I can only say that it has been a long time since I've written. Or Katsu. Ever since spring break and our fabulous trip to London, life has gotten messy. My group project for Image Processing had ... interesting group dynamics - suffice it to say that I did not get along with someone in my group. And the whole class crammed at least 75% of the work into the second half of the semester. Simultaneously, my estimation and detection class started a mad rush to get everything covered ending with a 48 hour take home exam. Icck. And my Medical Imaging lab suddenly had each weekly lab from 5:30pm - 10:30 pm at night at the hospital, making me grumpy for the rest of the week. And I have my qualifying exams (for the PhD) looming upon me next week. No biggie - if you fail, forget getting a PhD. And the funny thing is, I don't care so much about failing - i would be fine with just a Masters, but the idea of making a bad showing and embarrasing myself in these three oral exams terrifies me.

So, that's my life. And Katsu's has been busy. His experiments haven't been going so well at work and he switched over to some different ones. But honestly, I don't see how he does it. He puts all this time into the experiments, does them seemingly the same each time, and then half the time, for some unknown reason, they don't work. Ahh ... science.

So, the summer has begun - in terms of work load. No more classes. I just have my quals and then we will both be working our research jobs this summer. Hopefully it should be relaxing - no homework, just come home and play with our cat and sit on the porch and walk around the town and go to Farmer's market and try out some new meals. Should be fun.

Pictures from London

We have posted pictures from London for all to enjoy. Also some older pictures ... from Utah and from when we were dating.

http://amandatsu.dell.shutterfly.com/

Enjoy! And don't expect a real post soon because life is a mess here for the next couple of weeks.

Amanda

London

We are in London right now - surprising I know that I would take time to update our blog, but Katsu is watching a futbol (soccer) game right now that I am not really even mildly interested in with his brother and his brother:s roommate full of their Japanese interjections. So, an update is in order.

We have been having a blast (despite the cold I seem to have). It has already been a lot of fun and action packed. And I promise to post pictures when we are home. This is what we have done

Saturday - arrive. Go to Chelsea (futbol) store to buy Katsu the team stuff. See Tate Modern and the sights (St Paul and Westminster) at night.

Sunday - church in Britania ward. Then afternoon with Kiyo and girlfriend Hiroko at Victoria and Albert (decorative art museum) and the Natural History Museum.

Monday - day bus tour of Windsor castle, Stonehenge, and Bath - my absolute favorite so far.

Tuesday - See Tate Britain (British art museum), Celtic concert at a church downtown, National Gallery (art museum), and then evensong at St Pauls (that is the evening service - they sing the entire thing ... the cute little 9 and 10 year old boys and adults).

Wednesday - visit friends (Domikes) who live in village outside of Cambridge. Visit Cambridge - including King:s College Church and the Fitzwilliam (?) museum. Visit British Library.

So, you can see we are having fun. The weather is cold ... it actually snowed a bit today but sunny and not wet at all. So, it really is delightful touring weather. The English countryside is so beautiful - all green, even in the winter with cute little villages and lots of sheep everywhere. In fact, believe it or not, we actually saw a fox running across the street in the middle of London which is quite rare I am sure. London is very big and quite crowded but is so cute with little shops and restaurants everywhere and enough sights to keep anyone busy. Bath was especially lovely - I am sure my parents would love it.

So, here is our cute little travel update! Enjoy! We will be back soon ... but not without more fun!

Tired

You would think after ... let's see ... at least 17 years of taking tests, I would no longer get nervous or anxious over tests. Especially tests that I think will not be too hard or even worth worry about. Apparently, my brain hasn't gotten the memo about that one.

Instead of watching the rest of the Men's Figure skating competition last night - which was great based on the part I saw - I went to bed early at 10 to be ready for my test today. And yet, I tossed and turned worried that my alarm clock - actually 2 alarm clocks wouldn't go off. Silly, silly.

When I got to school today after walking through the freezing cold which will just colder (could they really be using the Fahrenheit scale when they projected the a low of 5 tonight or a high of 12 tomorrow!), I was tired. I felt like I had jag lag. Which is just ridiculous. It reminded me of the first few days we were in Japan. No matter how hard I tried, I would be wide awake at about 4 or 5 in the morning. We'd walk over to the Funai's apartment by 6. It was ridiculous. And though you are wide awake - it's fuzzy ... the whole world feels fuzzy. Like how the world sounds different when you yawn really wide because you can hear the sound in your body. Just like that, exactly the whole world feels that way - bathed in a weird light. I'm hoping it's not like that to or from London. I don't think I had jetlag in Paris ... and when we came home ... well, I was way too sick to remember.

February

January was nice and beautiful ... warm all the time, no need for coats and lots of sunshine (opposed to the 7 minutes of sunshine in the previous month or something like that). Alas - it could not last and February has come. The month when it's cold outside and dark and you wake up and just want to keep sleeping and never get out of bed. So, there doesn't seem much to report. Katsu and I are both really busy. We seem to have something going on all the time. And I'm kind of tired of it. When we get back from spring break, I want to limit our social obligations to the most possible. We need more "us" time. And who can believe that spring break is so soon! We are excited about that.

And of course, our kitty Joe is still lots of fun!!! He cracks us up, mostly. He always wants to play - brings his toys over to you and just gives you this look.

That's us.

Third way into the semester

Hi. This is Katsu and this is my first post in this blog. I'd check this blog once in a while to see what secrets of our lives Amanda have been revealing to the public.

It's been busy for both of us, but that's not a news to anybody. We don't intend to be busy, but the world sometimes forces us to. Amanda and I try not to conform to the way world sees how we should be/appear successful, and since the world makes us work harder than what we think we really have to, we usually get away with not doing as much as others may. For example, neither of us have ever studied overnight. We are not lazy, we just don't do it unless it's worth it. Anyway, even then, right now we are busy.

At the end of this month, we have a research grant that is going to be submitted from my lab, so I decided that I am going to halt my project for a week and help get data for the grant. For a reason I rather not explain, today I find myself not much to do until 2pm. Thus I write this post.

I report that Amanda has been busy, mainly because her lecturers are retarded. Well, at least one of them is. As I explained before, we are both hooked into not submitting to being busy, and one way of doing this, is by doing the assignments right away. Amanda does her homeworks right away, too, but basically her lecturer (by the way this lecturer is a professor by title but by intelligence not one, therefore I classify him/her a lecturer) makes mistakes in the questions that makes the homework incomprehensible that even post-docs of Nobel Prize Winner (remember that Nobel Prize Winners don't actually do their work) cannot solve. For example, this moron made 9 corrections in 8 days. Do you know what this means? This means that probably your email box was filled more with his emails than the numbers of spams when you get back from your visit to China. I can't believe this incompetent moron is allowed to teach in psuedo-prestigious institution. On top of it, he gives her take home midterm over the weekend. It is going to be posted on Friday night and is due on Monday morning. Hallo~? What happen to some of us keeping sabbath day holy and use Saturday to run errands, spend time with family, prepare for sabbath? In fact we are performing service that Saturday to local middle school as Science fair judges. You can let us know that these things are happening maybe at least one month in advance? I think these professors (by this I mean, not just this moron but all professors) assume that when a student is a student, he/she is always student. We have commitments, too? I am going to shoot Cuban missile to them next time I see them pull out this crap. Oh sorry, not PC.

I used to post on livejournal, and my posts were long. You can stop reading here if you want to. I had a final this Monday and I think I did okay. The class was a female dog, and they made us come to the class on MLK day by saying "you are not required to come, but it is very important that you do", given that there were several African American students in the class. Of course everybody shows up, and the professors decides to go half an hour over, because she knows that nobody has a class on MLK day. The class content was good, and I learned a lot about things you will never care about in million years, but are useful in my currently non-existent career. That class is now finished, but now a second modules started yesterday and go till the end of March and third module go to the end of semester. I hate that word now, "module", oh, wow you are so smart, next time I am going to register for a class I am going to bring my blue encyclopedia just in case I am going to encounter some ambigiuos terminology.

We are going to London in 2 weeks and we are certainly excited. I am mostly excited to see my brother, chill out and have a good time watching Amanda excited to see all kinds of places, and buy Chelsea souvenirs. I have been saving my fun-cash for last several months (our fun-cash is $20/mos) so that I can spend it on Chelsea shirt. If you don't know what Chelsea is, go away. Anyway, I think we are going to Bath and perhaps Cambridge, too. Because we just have an abundancy of money that we don't know what to do with. Oh, and we are also planning to go to a pub and get into a fist fight with bloody hooligans about how Liverpool fans are all criminals. Amanda doesn't know about this plan yet.

In contrast to what I have said in my second paragraph, I am too lazy to correct the old link to my website on the right, so here it is: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/kfunai

This semester

Grad school seems so much bearable this semester. I guess it's just the learning curve getting into it. I am taking 3 classes and a seminar this semester. So far, they seem interesting and not too hard. Lab can be a huge commitment - more so than I thought. I am taking a Medical Imaging Lab. We meet for one lecture a week (1 hour) followed by a 4 or more hour lab then writing up a 20+ page lab report with our group plus pre-lab questions, etc. It's pretty nice though because we are really learning how to use all of the medical imaging modalities. Right now, we are working on MRI. Now, we are not taking MRI's of ourselves ... he he he ... though that would be fun. Unfortunately it is just a vial of water, but it's still fun learning how to program and work all those really big magnets and magnetic fields. Later, ultrasound, xray, computer tomography (CT), and nuclear medicine. It should be fun! Besides, I have decided the best way to do school is to take each class twice, sort of. This is my second round of medical imaging. And Image processing is sort of a second round of medical imaging and DSP - which I really need to review before quals. And estimation and detection is sort of a second round of probability - at least it reviews it. So, hopefully, I can pass quals in May ... eek... not to mention finding an advisor.

But besides grad school, we are having fun.

We love our cat Joe - he is so much fun to play with. We just got to figure out what to do with him while we are in London .... I just want him to not miss us too much, but I'm afraid it will be inevitable.

We also have been ushering again - we went and did Take 6 on Monday for MLK day. We really enjoyed them. The UM Gospel Chorale performed before them and I really liked them, too. It was a fun way to spend a day off.

We are planning to go to see the Plymouth Ice Sculpture Festival and the Detroit car show this weekend, so that should be fun. I still am not sure about actually paying to see cars ... but it is like a huge North American show and we live in Detroit so I guess we better get used to it. Seriously, I had no idea how car-centric life is out here. The news, even the TV shows on PBS are all about cars!

So, we're good.

And We're Home Again

Back to ol' Ann Arbor with all our Christmas presents in tow.

We came back on Tuesday and already we have a new cat and have started classes - it's been a busy week.



We love our new cat, Joe Black. He is mostly black and about 1 1/2 years old. He is a cutie. He was a little shy when we first got him, but has really warmed up to us. He wants lots of attention though. He is always following you around, bringing you his toys to play with, laying around and rolling around to get you to pet him. We both love him! He has a few infuriating tricks up his paw ... like instead of drinking his water, using it to splash and wash himself with ... and crying when we won't let him into our room at night. But all in all, we love him.


I have been reading a new book the past couple days - Tolstoy's Anna Karenina which I am really enjoying, oddly enough.