organizational mayhem

I'm organized in my work. I know exactly where things are and what they mean...I have supreme mental organization. Unfortunately, this does not carry over to my desk. It amazes me that I'm able to keep everything straight, when i live in a world of ever multiplying piles. The piles used to have purpose, now they're rather vague. There's the "daily pile" (a few papers placed directly in front of my computer when i leave...aka, the "first thing i see everyday" pile), the "kinda important" pile (consisting of things that need to be done, but no pressure), the "I should read this" pile; the "I could read this, but don't have to" pile, and about 5 miscellaneous piles. I used to think computers would help this, but it really doesn't. On my computer I have the same thing...only in folders. SOOOOO many folders. It's amazing. I started thinking about this today as I cranked up the 'ol blog. This blog is my little land of organizational bliss. Even if I tried, I couldn't disorganize it. Plus, it's just so darn simple. Thoughts listed in chronological order, with a few neatly organized links and publications on the side. BRILLIANT (think Guinness commercial on that one). I'm really gonna try to be an organizational wizard in a more tangible way when i start my new job though. I think it's time to simplify things as much as possible. We'll see how that goes.

It's Official

I took the job. I'm moving to New Haven. Yup, i shall go and learn the ways of brain imaging at Yale. It's so strange to leave this job, and this town. I've been working here (UPMC) for almost 4 years...and it's been a great experience. But alas, it's time to move on. I'm all Pittsburgh at heart, but it's time to get out there and explore. Meanwhile, I already have about 4 weekends in Pittsburgh planned out. heh. I GOTTA come back for some snowboarding and biking. There's nothing like home terrain. It's cool I'll get to explore New England though (NO,I WILL NOT CHEER THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS - PHOOEY ON THEM!! GO STEELERS!!)...so i can report on some new bike trails. Plus, I'll only be three hours from Mt. Snow in Vermont. Now that is pretty cool. I think I've even found an apartment...a reaaally nice one. When i actually live there, I'll show pictures. I'll probably show pictures of EVERYTHING. I've never lived outside of Pittsburgh (except the 4 years i spent in Amish land while at Westminster college...but that doesn't really count). So that's it...in about three weeks i'll be a hybrid pittburghian/connecticutian (but really just a temporarily transplanted Pittsburgher).

Here we go...to the next season

So they lost. Yes, there will be no Pennsylvania Super Bowl. urgh. I most likely will not watch the Super Bowl now....no to be a bad sport or anything, but it's just not the same. Alas, a good season ending in heartbreak...atleast we have a fresh young quarterback with a year of playoff experience under his belt to look forward to next year. So chin up...the Stillers will come back hungry to get to the big dance again next year. To me, last year was so terrible that I can't help but have faith that this taste of success will fire 'em up for next season...and Big Ben will be ready for redemption.

On a jollier note, I had a fantastic weekend of riding at Seven Springs. I've definately improved from novice to a solid intermediate level snowboarder. The first few times I went this season I was baffled by people that would do five or six runs in a row...i was beat after 2!!! But now that I don't fall and I actually flow down the mountain, I could go for hours...what a good feeling. It's like the first time i road my bike up a big hill without having to stop.

It's kind of surreal to fly down the same mountains we climb up on 2 wheels. I haven't really climbed the steepest though. There's this one hellish climb on the front face that they had in the 24 hours of Seven Springs race (i watched the race, jake actually rode in it). I watched so many people look like they were about to die riding up that thing. Good 'ol Cortina Trail...a ton of fun in the winter, and a whole lotta pain in the summer :o)

'burgh-lock

I should have made it an early morning. I definately should have known that snow in the forecast would inevitably lead to a gridlocked parkway and impassable side streets. Now, it's always nice to have 4-wheel drive in this kind of snow...the roads have packed snow, not ice - so i can just cruuuiiiise. BUT, what doesn't help is the people that aren't aware that the roads really aren't all that bad, and thus drive like imbeciles. So i'm home. I took one look at the parkway east (jammed from the Squirrel Hill tunnels to the Turnpike), and one look at Penn Ave (backed up all the way to Greensburg Pike) - and turned around to arrive back at my domacile. 2 hours or more in a car to get to my office just wasn't looking to be a good idea. Add to that the several too-fast-driving cars that were sliding up the hill a little too close to me, and it seemed all too clear that i was meant to be in my house today.
So, I'm working at home. Working at home is nice. No desk clutter, no phone calls, no door knocks. I don't have access to the UPMC PET network from home, so i can only work on already created data sets, and edit papers. This is nice. This means I'll make it all the way through the papers i need to edit, plus i can catch up on some recent articles i printed this week. weeeeeeeee! PLUS, i can brew as many pots of coffee as i wish. I guess 'burgh-lock isn't so terrible when you're not stuck in the middle of it. My first adult snow day!!!!!

i'm half tempted to forget the whole work thing and head to 7 Springs, but the prospect of doing work uninterrupted at home and getting paid for it is just too nice. Plus, it's supposed to snow saturday and sunday...2 full days of real snow on the slopes. I can't wait.

Here we go...

Talk about your nail-biting, hair-pulling, twitching, yelling-at-the-tv football game. I've watched every Steelers game this season, and saw 2 at Heinz field, but not one gave me indigestion like saturdays game against the Jets. Between me, my brother, his wife, and Jake...we were all bouncing around like banshees. I was clutching a throw pillow so hard i think my knuckles went white. 2 missed field goals, and the Steelers are still alive. UNBELIEVABLE. There's something so great about being able to call yourself a Steelers fan. A true blue, born and bred Stillers fan. So next week we face the Patriots. What a brawl that should be. I think i may have to start drinking beer earlier next week.

sick, again

yup, i'm surfin the wave of sickness for the second consecutive time. Is there no end to this madness?? Last week it was a random allergic reaction. This week - a head cold. Dizzyness, shakiness, light-headedness, sore throat, stuffy head...i sound like one of those commercials. hrm.
Anyways, I made it to work today cuz that's the kinda girl I am. But, I've realized I'm too sick to be here and will probably only make others sick...so i really need to go home and lay around like the sick ball of goo I am. So that's what i'll do. I think my body is having a violent reaction to this insanely unseasonable weather. If this continues, and I'm not sick this weekend...the mountain bike is coming back out (I can't very well snowboard on a melted mountain, but i can bike on one!!!!)

um, a whole lotta nothin...

i sometimes like to write hybrid lines of poetry/prose for no reason other than it's soothing to think in terms of brief notions and feelings rather than cohesive thoughts. another tribute to my stream of conscious mentality. plus it helps that i'm also delerious and would rather create something than stare blankly at a computer screen... (i could go home, but traffic deters me...) one more thing... i like elipses...

awakened with
grains of indecision and a
felt-tipped heart burn.
coffee. turbine of
morose fatigue. face drawn
in sketches. pencils without
color trace the edging. lips taut
without shading.
ingestion. amalgamation


in plain english:

i'm tired and have too much
on my mind. Plus...i'm tired.
And cranky too. i feel drained
and cranked up at the same time.
coffee does that to you. this is
getting too long. did i mention I'm
tired? i started this fragment in
reference to the above quasi-poetry
thoughtlet with the intention of
being sarcastic. oh well. no one's
perfect. i guess i suck at
humor when i'm tired.
the end.

altruism in the rain

I woke up this morning (after snoozing for an entire hour), got out the door in a reasonable amount of time (i tend to poke around in the morning reading the paper, drinking coffee, or participating in other such distractions to prolong the pre-work home relaxation time)...and was confronted with yet another rainy morning...a rainy, warm, and all around nasty morning for december. This is annoying (i'll avoid using the word depressing becuase it always makes me think of clinically depressed people, and I never really feel that bad about anything, especially the weather - though inclement weather can definately be disheartening). To top off the rediculous weather, I got to work and took a peak at the 7 Springs website. The mountain is MELTING. that sucks something fierce. No snowy refuge for me. hrm.

Besides that downer, the day started off in a rather interesting way for me (well, after the hour of traffic due to our lovely flooded Pitttsburgh roadways). Upon arrival in the Oakland area, good parking karma kicked in and I happened upon a prime space just as someone was leaving. This is always a good way to start the day. Then, I hadn't even taken the keys from the ignition when a gentleman knocked on my window. This was interesting...who was this man standing at my window in the rain?? I opened the door and he started telling me about his truck breaking down and being towed, and he left his wallet in the truck and he needed to get himself and his tools to a job within the hour. He need $22.50 for a cab ride and only had $14. He told me he'd repay me, mail me the money, etc etc. But, feeling like this man was in a pickle and even though i have about $80 to my name until payday, I reached into my wallet and handed him a $10. Just like that. I hope he wasn't a con man. Either way, I feel good about hopefully helping someone make it to work. I didn't help a poor or homeless person. Life wouldn't have ended if he didn't make it to his job on time...but it just felt like a good thing to do. I told him not to worry about paying me back. I'll probably be poor some day because i give too many random people money. oh well, atleast I'll be happy...and always have good parking spots :o)

It's funny. That's the second time someone has approached me on that exact street corner in Oakland asking for money. Both times I gave it up without even thinking about the how or why of it. altruism is particularly thick in my blood these days.

Happy 2005 (delayed reaction)

I enjoy reading most anything . This has definately been the year of the blog for me. I can't really remember how I stumbled here and created one. A friend's livejournal gave me the idea, and somewhere around the time when my actual pen and paper journal writing started to fall into a pattern of stagnation, I found the simplicity of making word soup on a web page to be an idea worthy enough to constitute the birth of my very own blog. So I made one, and I also started to read others. Of those I read, some are random people that I've just happened upon and check back with once a week or so. Some I know personally. Some read my blog and I also read their's (there's something very comforting about another individual allowing you to take a peak into their daily life without reservation and in turn taking an interest in yours). Just a happy thought as I do my late- morning web perusal. Happy 2005 to all. I feel merry today (in spite of the allergic mess of a person i might be).

Holy coffee bean!

I just realized that I haven't had a starbucks coffee in over 2 weeks. Amazing! This is not to say that I haven't been drinking my fill of caffeinated beverage (because ohhh, i have)...but i've been noticeably more conscious with my dollars and cents, and not giving in to the consistently delicious starbucks latte. So the addiction is at a cease-fire for the moment. Well, the starbucks portion of the addiction anyway... i'm drinking coffee as I write: it's a mug o java from home, Green Mountain Breakfast Blend...good stuff. Since my lovely allergic reaction I've definately been drinking an obscene amount of tea in comparison to coffee though. One of my bestest high school friends sent me a variety of tazo tea for Christmas, so i've been drinking it non-stop. Usually a couple cups when i get home from work...it helps counteract the benedryl, and prevents the jumpiness that too much coffee at night tends to cause. If not for the tazo, i'd be asleep by 8 every night this week.
So that's my morning reflection. I should be at a meeting right now, but the weather, along with my still slightly stupified state of mind, makes the meeting seem rather pointless. You know i'm sick when i willingly miss a meeting. Only 2 more days of steroids and I'll be back to my old tricks.

nature via nurture

Every year mom buys me a book for Christmas...it's one of those things i always look for, and get rather excited about. So this year Matt Ridley wins the elusive Christmas book prize with The Agile Gene. The old story of nature vs. nuture...but Ridley is very thorough and very up my alley when it comes to his research. We are not a product of only our genes, or only environment (i know, i know - DUH!)...and here he describes that indeed it's Nature VIA Nuture. His metaphors forsake the old "genes are the blueprint for building a human" story... and instead describes how genes are more of a recipe. We may share the same ingredients as a variety of species, but the activation and ultimate expression are very different. I can't begin to simplify it the way he does...
Anyway, I read Ridley's GENOME my senior year in college. So it was nice to meet up with Ridley again...he's an informative man, with a sense of humor. So i dropped Angels and Demons (and added it to my ever growing pile of half-reads), and hopped into the Agile Gene. Angels and Demons isn't bad by the way, I just got tired of it. The same thing happened with the Da Vinci code - I read half, put it down for a few months, then picked it up and finished it. I'll get back to Angels and Demons eventually, when curiosity gets the best of me. hrm. I have a rather eclectic collection of half-reads going at the moment. Some are collecting dust, others i pick up on a weekly basis. Here's a run-down of the last five or so half-reads and complete-reads i can think of (...i'm wondering if there's a pattern to my odd book-reading habits)

The Half-Read Collection (these are generally strewn on night-stands, and other areas where there are always visible and might be re-kindled)

1. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (almost done with this one, i stopped near the end when Hunter S. Thompson's Rum Diary caught my eye - finished that one)
2. Watership Down
3. In a Sunburned Country
4. Modern Man in Search of a Soul
5. Angels and Demons

The started and finished collection

1. The Beast in the Garden
2. The Sex Lives of Cannibals
3. The Food Revolution
4. The Da Vinci Code
5. Narcissus and Goldmund

Nope, no real pattern. I guess i just read how i think - stream of consciously. Not a bad thing i suppose.

The taming of the allergy

So i'm home from work today...in recovery mode from what started a few days ago. At 6am Friday morning I rolled out of bed stumbling for the light as I scratched myself silly. When I finally flicked the switch and saw what I'd been scratching, i was not amused. It seems a family of hives had set up camp on my forearms. Large, bulbous, and spastically red hives. BLECH. An allergic reaction. I'm not sure what i fed myself to deserve this immune response, though Eckerd brand ibuprophen is the prime target. 3 tablets ingested minutes before bedtime, hours after eating anything. Yes, the culprit seems clear enough. At any rate, I've been under a steroid and benedryl induced spell for several days - resulting in more hours spent asleep than awake...and all awake hours consisting of me looking significantly altered in appearance and demeaner. Steroids make you loopy, and benedryl makes you sleep - so this was nothing short of a winning combination (sense the vehement sarcasm). I seem to have regained my composure though...and for the first time the hives are fading and not coming back even worse. Could it be that my drug cocktail was actually worth it? I guess I can be a bit less cynical today than yesterday. Plus, a new shipment of green mountain coffee arrived this morning, so i have mocha java to ease the pain. Simple Pleasures. A fresh cup of java and a non-itchy forearm.

In short, 2005 is here...and i was delerious through the entire process of it's arrival. Like i don't have enough issues trying to date things correctly when the new year begins.