Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts

Thursday, June 13, 2013

AWK

Oops. I totally thought I had posted twice in May, but alas, 'twas April. So I skipped my birthday month, but I'll cut myself a break because last month I finally finished my PhD candidacy paperwork, finished classes, and moved to Richmond!

The first two are major accomplishments because it means I get to focus more on research and less on paperwork and random coursework. However, I will say that I did not realize how much I learned from those classes until after I moved to Richmond. That being said, the third item (moving to Richmond) has been quite a reverse culture shock. I should have expected something like this to happen, especially with my woes of moving to Quarryville back in high school. But I figured Richmond wouldn't be that bad (I had visited for a high school summer program before, although I didn't remember any of it...could have blocked that out...), and I would get a chance to meet some new people and get connected.

AWK aka AWKWARD, which is the new story of Panda's life. This. town. is. so. HIPSTER.

I have nothing against hipsters (okay, I have everything against them), but seriously, I have not met one SINGLE person (that isn't in my lab) that doesn't have a tattoo on some part of their body. I suppose because the university in which I am researching now is a pretty highly ranked arts university that everyone is super in touch with themselves, but I just really want to meet another intelligent, OCD person that loves Lupe Fiasco as much as I do. And speaking of hip hop, which is my newfound passion (Big K will appreciate this), along with The Boyf's recent trip to Chicago (Lupe's hometown), I have reconsidered my disdain for wind and deep dish pizzas and we may or may not have agreed to move there at some point in the unforeseen future.

So I've been here a few days more than one month. Dr. Zebra has come and recently gone, so we are now in recovery mode, which means vegetation for a few days and then stressing out and overworking to catch up. Ah, grad school. Sure beats the living daylights out of working at McKinsey, where I could have been making bank and traveling and meeting intelligent people and...wait a minute! Industry actually sounds ideal...

Let me shake some sense back into myself. It's definitely research for the next 3 years for me...so let's make it work! Our new lab space, although supes fresh and clean, is still under construction for some wiring, office space, chairs and accessories, etc. It's just slightly awkward to come into work and run a fluorescent staining protocol to the sweet sound of hammers and drills. Mmmm. Lupe would make this into a beat.

This weekend will be a fun and busy one! The Boyf and (newly graduated) Dr. Haan will be visiting. The Boyf's birthday is tomorrow, so I have made a B52 cheesecake in memory of our fondness for the similarly named delectable at Cafe Intermezzo in Atlanta. Brother Big K's birthday is on Sunday, for which I still need to get a present, and Father's Day is also on Sunday! Since I am closer to home now, I'll need to visit Padre more often. Unfortunately, it seems all the Chinatown buses are full and I may have to take (gasp) an AMERICAN ONE. Megabus is actually pretty nice, but the ticket prices for July 4th weekend (obviously) are pretty expensive. Although my alternatives (train and air) are even more so. And since when did train tickets start being so darn expensive? Weren't they supposed to invent teleportal systems by now?

Alright, it's time to go! Updates soon, my dears! For now, enjoy this extremely photoshopped photo of me and The Boyf from the future Dr. Roudi's wedding!

Oh, and I'm officially 24. AHHHHHH AWK.


Friday, June 22, 2012

Unfortunate Panda Goes to a Mosque!

Well, well, well. Look who is updating her blog in a timely manner! This iPad really is fantastic; I am typing up this post whilst flying 10,000 feet in the air, on my way to an Indian Islamic wedding. Who would have thunk it?

A few pretty exciting updates since my last update, mostly birthdays and special occasions. One pretty poopy (trying to remain civil for the Internet world) occasion today, but we will get to that soon enough.

The Boyf, my brother, Big K, And my roommate, Jacky Fabulous, had their birthdays last week. It was also Father's Day, so there was a lot of celebrations and presents flying across the US.
I had the toughest time thinking of an appropriate and awesome birthday present for The Boyf (like I do for almost every holiday). After endlessly searching on Google for random presents, I stumbled across the private clubs of the business and socialite world. I had thought these only existed in the movies, but apparently every other high rise in the city houses one of these exclusive clubs. Not knowing at the time, I think I still did a pretty good job of selecting a good one. Since they are pretty pricey (even though we got a sweet dal for the young executive membership), I could afford afford six months. But it is pretty fantastic, and The Boyf is really enjoying his time there so far.  The complimentary valet, personal gym locker with laundry services, awesome concierge, beautiful facilities, free wiFi and food and drink soecials are great, but then I realize we did pay a huge chunk of money in advance. For us, it Is like a special thing we can treasure because we are totally not used to this type of luxury. But it is still weird meeting CEOs and other super important business people who actually LIVE this lifestyle. During this week's orientation, we got to rub elbows with some pretty rich people. I thought they would be pretentious (interestingly, only the ones who weren't that successful were ridiculous), but we ended up having a great time with a couple of them. The one thing about business, though, is that you move on quickly. Networking with so many people is fun, but only if you get to see them and hang out again afterward.

To celebrate the birthdays of The Boyf and Jacky Fabulous, we hosted a dinner party. Since Jacky and I moved in together about a month ago, we have been hosting get togethers almost every weekend. The space is perfect for entertaining, and parking is easy and free. Our location is also right in the city and by school. Also, I can finally cook! Having a nice kitchen lets us and others be able to make whatever we/want. Anyway, the party was great. Unsurprisingly, everyone brought some variation of fried chicken. The Boyf's cousin was in town, so we went out afterward, but Jacky stayed in to work on his thesis...he is defending very soon!

As for the family that are across the country, I sent my brother a gift certificate to Texas Roadhouse, an inside joke in our family that, sadly, is not really a joke. We love Texas Roadhouse! Unfrortunately, he has not gotten his card yet, which makes me suspect that some mongrel is creeping on my outbox and stealing birthday gift certificates from innocent bystanders. I also may very well have just forgotten to send it...Alton that means I must have also lost it too. Oh well...hopefully those Inge don't have an expiration on date!

Padre got a huge thermos and a travel mug, with some vitamins and tea for Father's Day. I wasn't really sure what to get him either, especially on such a tight budget (not every gradhate student can afford a full pirate club membership AND an iPad), but it always ends up working out. Hot water (not beverages, like tea or coffee, just water) is another one of those inside jokes that is actually real in my family. Padre still has not given up the Chinese way and continually drinks hot water despite the 100 degree summer weather and the gallons of distiller spring water we keep in the house. He will actually boil the spring water and then drink it. Plain. Long story short, he liked his gift.

And speaking of birthdays, a bunch of people at turning the big 3-0 this month! My brother, two friends from school, a pair of twins that we know randomly, and another dude! So come to think of it, it is only men. Perhaps women just are ageless. Well, except for all those women who have done me wrong in this life. They are all crackheads. Maybe also the 400 pound lady sitting next to me on the plane...I SAID IT.

And speaking of crackheads and foolishness, the bad news arrives! Today I was suspended from the cleanroom! Everything was going well this week until this morning. I finally as able to schedule a piece of equipment that had been down for over a month. But some hoe caused the fire alarm to go off last night, so they had to shut down the cleanroom as a orprecaution, even though the mishap wasn't even related to the cleanroom. I was originally scheduled to use the equipment from 7-10 this morning, but due to the shutdown the cleanroom would not be open until 8. I could have easily finished my work in three hours, and I would barely scrape by in two hours. But upon my arrival, none of the buttons worked on the machine! I started to panic and called the person I charge of the equipment. Lucky me and fugging TMobile, I didn't have service in there. So I used the cleanroom phone to call the equipment guy. I called his cell phone, his office phone, then another guy's cell phone, then both staff offices to figure out what I should do. He cell phone redirected to sme random guys phone, and no one else answered. I decided finally that I could still salvage my experiment if I tried restarting the system by venting and then pumping down the system. Halfway through pumping down, the system gives an error and just quits doing anything.

Freaking out at this point and contemplating whether or not I should just pull the emergency alarm and cause another big scene like last night, I decided to forgo the experiment and instead work on a different one while waiting forthe trainer to arrive (he had a training session scheduled for that morning). Deciding to wait outside for him so as not to pay extra for the time I was inside but not using the equipment (yes, we are charged by time, it is slightly ridiculous), I run into him on the way out. Now it looks like I did something wrong and am trying to escape before getting caut red handed, even though I was just trying to save money. Then I tell him what happened, and that I was sorry and tried calling him but no one answered their phones. But APPARENTLY you have to dial 9 first when calling outside of campus. Fugging poop. So now I look like a careless imbecile. I had no idea 'venting the system' meant FUG WE ARE DEAD, but apparently it does. So I guess there are a lot of chambers, and usually it ny vents a few of them. But venting the system causes the whole machine to shut down. Strike three. Now i just look like an idiot. And, trying to maintain my composure and not seeing the trainer going into an epileptic fit, I decided  it would be fine after all. So I told him to call me if he had any other questions and that I really was flustered this morning. Strike four, if that was even possible

I managed to patch things up slightly during the day. Because it is a time course experiment, I could do the experiment sometime next week and still make it work in the general time frame. I even sent an urgent email to Dr. Zebra, my advisor, to ask for extra time to compete the experiment. He responded, which isIsraelis, considering has has been ignoring my other emails for about three weeks now. I rescheduled the equipment for Monday evening. It was pretty late, but ate least it was still available. So far, so good.

Around 7pm, I get an email letting me know that I have been suspended from the cleanroom for one week, what can I say? I guess I was more angry before I started writing this, but after goings through everything that happened, I could see this coming. Even though I never did anything but bad intentions, sometimes the cards are just not cut the right way. So I guess I can just take it with a grain of salt, and suck it up and send another apologetic email. Hmm...I guess it was a good thing I decided to write this blog.mi was really worried I wouldn't get over being angry enough to enjoy one of my best friends' wedding weekend. It's funny how we lose perspective of things sometimes. Although I h although I will never forget this and will be bitter about it probably forever. But atleast I'm over it for the rest of this weekend.

Alright, I should probably turn this thing off soon! We are landing in a little bit and in less than 24 hours Yashmak will be a married woman!

Ok announcement just came on. I'll post this tonight!