The perils of being a graduate student

Oh, the one career you think would be safe - a graduate student ...

Unless it's bitter cold and ...
they don't keep the building warm enough ...
and your advisor happens to have a corner office which is especially cold ...
and a pipe freezes ...
and the weight of the water collapses your advisor's office's ceiling!



Thankfully no one is hurt, though a good part of the building flooded and was evacuated on Monday and he is banished from his office for all of the foreseeable future.

Welcome to my life.

Greetings from the North Pole

Just kidding, but it might as well be. Just thought I'd take a minute of thawing before starting dinner to show what I look like after my 20 minute walk home in very very cold Michigan. I haven't gone there personally yet (hmmm - maybe this weekend), but I bet Hell is frozen over.

It's Cold Outside

Yeah, it's cold. Really cold. Bitter cold. It had been such a lovely winter and now its week without the high getting above 20 FAHRENHEIT! Yikes. Tomorrow, the high is supposed to be like 5 degrees and the low below 0 and that is not wind chill. We are talking wind chills of 20 below!

So, unfortunately, I have cut down a bit on my walking to and from school. Seriously, I am started to get somewhat concerned about frostbite and such on a half hour walk. And Monday after working out in the morning and walking to and from school I was so exhausted I could hardly move ... maybe 1.5 hours of exercise in chilly chilly weather is too much for this pregnant woman to take. Oh, well.

We've had a nice weekend so far. Thursday night we went to the local creamery for a couple pints of delicious ice cream - Mackinaw Island Fudge and Michigan Black Bear (or something like that) and then watched hilarious Doritos commericals on line.

Friday we had a nice dinner and then went and the saw U of M's symphony band play about 7 or 8 pieces. At first, I wasn't sure how great the show would be, but they really had a nice eclectic mix from Strauss to circus music to some new modern music (which I really enjoyed). It was a lot of fun.

Today we went and finally had our first sandwich at the very famous, very good, and very expensive Zingermans. We split a $12 Reuben sandwich - but oh, is it divine. With homemade bread, homemade cheese, and heck - the best meat ever, we loved it. Then we went and checked out a soccer store. We drove down to Dundee with so much swirling snow our visibility was very very low to go buy chocolates (Russell Stover's outlet) and beef jerky (Beef Jerky Unlimited). Then, back to Ann Arbor and we finally bought a car seat, plus some other miscellaneous stuff and then back home. We are babysitting for friends tonight.

Well, that's a week in our exciting COOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLD Michigan life.

Two Good Books

I've had a dearth of good books lately, but finally read a couple that were worth sharing.

Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway - this was an excellent book, though according to my mother hard to get at her library. Its a non-fiction account of a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali and her two years spent working with a midwife there. It definately gave me an understanding of what pregnancy and childbirth and just general living is like in an African village and the challenges there. Man, I wish I could be a Peace Corps volunteer - it really sounds like such great service.

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok - this fiction story is about an Orthodox Jewish boy growing up and becoming an artist, must to the chagrin of his family and the grief he goes through for it. It was one of the most well-written books I have read in a long time - I had no idea how well a book could help you understand what being an artist is like, and describe art so powerfully without pictures. I loved it!

Back to the library again today for three books on hold - hopefully some of these are good!

CONGRATULATIONS to Katsu

After weeks of studying and studying and memorizing gazillions of citations (alright, maybe only 200 or so, but still ...) and not even taking Christmas, his birthday, or New Years Day off, Katsu has passed his PhD qualifying exams after only eight hours of written tests and a few hours of oral exams. Now, no more classes, no more tests, just lots of research, a proposal and a dissertation.

Yeah, Katsu!!!

New Christmas Traditions & Decorations

We got a really cool countdown to Christmas calendar with big pockets - a must. Each day had candy for both of us (M&M's or a package of dots or Reese's PB cups) and a scripture to read. By the time we filled it up, the calendar was so heavy, Katsu had to rig some rubber bands to get the whole thing to stay up. A favorite tradition.

We also bought a new nativity set this year and are planning on adding a piece each year as a tradition. Enjoy!

Christmas

It is so nice to be able to spend Christmas without having to fly half way across the country (or the world) as I have since 2000! (And probably longer for Katsu). So, even if Katsu was studying the whole time, we still had a lovely Christmas with stockings, presents, decorations, and yummy food.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Charleston, West Virginia with our friends' family. It was fun even though they (not Katsu or I) all got some sort of flu. We did have some nice walks along the riverwalk.

Windsor Canada

Being only an hour drive from Canada, we couldn't resist visiting with friends earlier this year as soon as Katsu got his permenant permenant residence! So, we took a trip to friendly ol' Windsor right across the river from Detroit. Here is a picture of us and Detroit (from Canada) and also a picture of Canada. Even if it is no gem we got some good food and enjoyed being in another country for a couple hours.

The Big House

Well, in an effort to postpone my Japanese studying, I uploaded the pictures from our camera all the way back from September. So here are some pictures (for more just check out our shutterfly site).

First, we went to our first University of Michigan game way back in September. This was a great season all though the last game was a bit disappointing (and boring).

Here is the big house and us cheering!