New Year, New Panda!

My dearest cheese curls and corn puffs:

Today is the first day of 2014! Can you believe it is already 14 years past the end of the world, and 2 years past the apocalypse?! And yet, the Megabus still has crappy wifi. Oy vey! Humans will soon be equipped with live wifi via Google glasses or something, although I personally am against the whoring out of information for social networking pleasure. 

The holiday break was long (10 whole days!) and pretty exciting, for The Boyf was finally able to spend time with Padre! YOU  NEVER THOUGHT THIS WOULD HAPPEN! More on that later, since I am currently in the mist of pissy-ness toward The Boyf and am trying to avoid thinking about merrier times together. This should pass soon as it always does, but if it doesn't then I will be soon looking for a new Panda Boyf!

Now, onto bigger and better things!

PANDA'S NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS FOR 2014:

1. Publish! Submit at least 2 first author  manuscripts, and publish at least one this year. Hopefully will also publish as co-author on collaborations. 

2. Read the Bible! For the past 7ish years, I have read the bible cover-to-cover each year. Some years I read chronologically, some years I read both old and new testament together, some I just read from front to back. Last year, I used the YouVersion bible app and it was so much better than lugging around a 5 pound leather bound book (although missing the "Did you know?" type of things that I usually enjoy in the student versions). Previously I would read whenever I could, and if I couldn't read one day, I would catch up on the weekends. Last year my resolution was the read the bible EVERY DAY. And I did! But many times it would be at the end of the day, when I was delirious and not really paying attention to the text. So this year, my resolution is to read the bible every day, IN THE MORNING, or at least during the day and not right when I'm going to bed. I'm also reading the King James Version and following the Robert Roberts (I know, say no more) plan, which will cover the old testament once, and the new testament twice! 

3. Getting to work and started early! This follows with my last point, and also leads to an overall resolution of living healthily and happily. While living with The Boyf in Atlanta, it was necessary to be up early all the time so we could drive together in the mornings. Now, I have been dragging my feet in the cold weather to get to work by 8am. I am hoping to be able to SLEEP EARLIER (really, this is the key point...perhaps my resolution should be more like "limit extensive online shopping right before bedtime") and get rip rarin' to go in the mornings, hopefully to get to work by 7:30am and have my cup of coffee, read the bible and read the news before everyone else gets in. I also like coming in for a little bit on Saturdays to plan things out for the week, aside from the hectic activity of all the other labmates during the week.

4. Be a values oriented panda! I have to admit, with graduate school and moving around and everything, my panda head became quite big and I have been complaining nonstop and having a hard time being nice to everybody! I have been thinking about this, and hopefully in conjunction with my previous resolutions will be able to be a happy panda this year, and pass on that love and happiness to others! Earlier in 2013 I resolved to do the things I enjoy (even if they are by myself), and I will continue doing that. But it will also be important to connect with people and network (obviously that was going to come up, you know me!), but make sure I am still in line with my values and treating people with respect and honesty! Because at the end of 2014 and for the rest of my life, I want to say I was able to make the world a little better, and sincerely mean it! 

Well, that's it for my glowing review of the brand spankin' new year! What are your new year's resolutions? 

Love,

Panda

P.S. I also have a ton of Christmas cards left over! Send me your address if you want one, you silly cheese curl!

Panda Goes On Vacation

CHEESE CURLS AND SUNSHINE! Such was this past Labor Day weekend. Thank goodness for Labor Day, because I can break out all my white clothing and become the fashion faux pas of the autumn season. SO FANTASTIC!

To celebrate, I went out with my awesome labmates to Daytona Beach, FLORIDA! This was my first time to Florida, and I was definitely kind of disappointed. I don’t know what I was expecting, but Daytona Beach turned out to be a small town redneck feel. If you live in Daytona, I don’t mean to offend you. But the whole town seemed dead, and it was Labor Day weekend! There weren’t even OLD people around. You KNOW it’s bad when you can’t find old people in FLORIDA. It wasn’t like people had many other options. Originally we planned on going to New Orleans, but apparently it was in a state of emergency due to the tropical storm in the Gulf. 

Anyway, we ended up on the beautiful beaches of Daytona. We stayed right on the boardwalk, in the HILTON! It was surprisingly affordable, most likely because the town was deserted except for the six of us. We rented a car and drove the SEVEN hours from Atlanta (no surprise that the two guys got the front seats). I know I’m complaining about the beach, but it was actually beautiful there. We spent all day on the shore and the water was so salty! We tanned and even rented a body board (even though the boys monopolized it, fail). At night, we had dinner at the Oyster Pub and then went bar hopping along the ONE street in Daytona. Actually, I ended up talking to a group of girls that turned out to be really cool. We hung out with them for a little bit, mostly because one of the guys from the lab is obsessed with blonde girls and I had to play awkward third wheel for a minute. All in all, I still had a great time. We bought wine and beer and drank it on the beach at night, and avoided the patrol car driving past.

View of Daytona Beach from the back of our hotel, right on the boardwalk.

The next day, we went crabbing. BAD IDEA. This, of course, is what happens when you have two men in your group who feel like doing outdoorsy things to accentuate their manliness. What was supposed to be fishing and crabbing ended up being lowering a net into the a creek, no crabs, and almost dying in a rented canoe because we got lost and tired of paddling for two hours straight. In other words,

“We are PhD students! We only know how to paddle! KEEP PADDLING!”

And forgot to stop and enjoy the view.

This was later termed the “PLACE OF DANGER”, after listening to a song on The Game CD that was found in our rental car. The sweetest, most innocent exchange student from Peking University was soon corrupted and singing, “Gangsta Boogie” nonstop. 

We arrived in Florida late Friday night, and left on Saturday evening. We had dinner in Jacksonville (NOT at Hooters, despite desperate pleas from the boys), and returned to Atlanta early Sunday morning, but not without stopping at Krispy Kreme (PANDA LOVES TO EAT). 

I am now home and cramming to finish my homework for tomorrow! The past week has been pretty low key. I am still getting my training in for microscopes and such. I still have to interview faculty in the department, and so far I have 3 of 4 signatures on my sheet. Mass transfer is starting to f me in the b and I am not enjoying it very much.

I don’t remember the last time that I posted, but Big K left last Tuesday and now I am alone in my apartment. Alas, I do not have a tendency to walk around naked. HOWEVER, I do sometimes pick my nose in front of the window. So maybe instead of boobs you’ll just see boogers. 

This Saturday is the whitewater rafting trip with the graduate students! Oh, and before I forget…

I GOT PAID!

NSF has not forgotten about me after all. But after paying off all my expenses from August, I only have $400 left to last me the rest of the month in September. Good thing I blew $200 on the trip to Daytona and another $300 on clothing and a guitar while I was online shopping last night. 

As you can see, I am making all the right decisions in graduate school!