Memorial Day wknd
Hubby is out of town so I'm being a total slacker, except of course for laundry and gardening and dogs and dishes and feeding myself. I watched a whole lot of Veronica Mars and played a lot of Sims, and hid from the nasty hot muggy weather. Feels like August!
- posted by Diane @ 9:16 PM | (0) Comments

 
Randomosity
1) Last Friday evening we saw a deer walking down our alley. Not far behind it was a dork on a cell phone going "Dude, there's a deer in the alley! Here, deer! Here, deer!" Shockingly, the deer did not come when it was called.

2) Walking home from the El yesterday, I passed two cheerful black men. One said something like "Happy Asian Week!" and tried to hand me something. "Go ahead, it's free!" he said. He looked so happy and harmless so I held out my hand and he dropped a tiny plastic bag containing an American flag rubber bracelet. "Thanks...?" I said. "You know it's free or I wouldn't (something that I didn't catch)." I nodded and smiled and continued on. Inside the bracelet it says "Made in China". I guess that's the Asian tie-in.

3) Saw a guy driving a very expensive-looking BMW on Canal St. yesterday. His license plate said "WMD". So that's where the weapons went!
- posted by Diane @ 8:16 AM | (0) Comments

 
Retrieved from the other blog
Friday, May 05, 2006
Yesterday when I let the dogs out, there was a white bird in the grass. I managed to keep the dogs from noticing it long enough for it to fly to the fence. I walked toward it slowly - it was *very* tame. Turned out to be a grayish-white parakeet-like bird, a little bigger than a budgie, no markings at all, and a white band on one leg. I got close enough to catch it, but I was so wary of hurting it that it flew away. It didn't fly far but once it went into someone else's yard, I couldn't get to it.

That's the second pet bird in our yard in the last year. I hope he's okay - he's so tame, and there are so many cats (and dogs) around. The band confuses me, though. Could it be a wild bird? Do pet stores/owners band their birds?
- posted by Diane @ 3:09 PM | (0) Comments

 
More birdy goodness
Sighted on Sunday in the neighbor's tree: probably Blackburnian warbler. Also, a possible Nashville warbler in our arborvitae, but it was hard to get a clear look at it. Plus, several catbird sightings in the yard over the last few days.

Collared-doves still hanging around but less so now that I've run out of seed. :P
- posted by Diane @ 1:12 PM | (0) Comments

 
A dog's life

- posted by Diane @ 1:03 PM | (0) Comments

 
cheery spam
Spam subject line of the day:
Suicide is the most sincere form of self criticism.

!!!!
- posted by Diane @ 3:05 PM | (0) Comments

 
HOO-ah!
We just had a HUGE hailstorm. It blew through like Armageddon, and minutes after that, the sun was shining. Hailstones not quite the size of quarters - maybe nickel-sized is more realistic. However, the emailed weather warning I received just as the storm hit us (nice timing, guys!) said golfball-sized hail. Which I of course misread as "goofball-sized". Duh.

Anyway, I ran out and took these before the ice melted:

- posted by Diane @ 5:41 PM | (0) Comments

 
Birds
Two new birds were added to my neighborhood list this weekend: American redstart, a friendly little guy who was actually on our porch roof as I looked out the bedroom window; and two Eurasian collared-doves.

Also: two sightings of catbirds in the trees between the El station at Peoria St. and Harrison, the birches and crabapples that form an allee towards campus.
- posted by Diane @ 10:45 AM | (0) Comments

 
*gack*
Black Pepper Jack Doritos: *not* good. Not good at all.

Had to guzzle a bottle of water and eat a peanut butter cup to get the taste out of my mouth. Oh, heck, I'd better have another peanut butter cup, just to make sure.
- posted by Diane @ 12:20 PM | (0) Comments

 
Woo!
Am going to Seattle in June to learn population genetics!!
You're probably thinking "YAWN", but really it's cool, and I've never been to Seattle before so hopefully there will be time to get out and see stuff. Airfare to Seattle: a LOT. Yikes.
- posted by Diane @ 5:25 PM | (0) Comments

 
Random Friday
1) Learned a new, awesome word: commentariat.

2) Stupid Amazon!!! Hurry up with my "congratulations on surviving the semester" gift to myself! Ships in 24 hours my _butt_.

3) First PCR after finals: failed failed failed. Has the bintgoddess lost her touch, or are her primers bad? Sigh.

4) Laughed (and cried) at the Answers In Genesis review of the Field Museum's new evolution exhibit. They implied that the Museum Powers That Be are nervously biting their nails because of the creationism museum being built a mere five hours away, in Kentucky (of course, where else would it be?). Also, creationists don't charge for parking, so clearly creationism is right and evolution is wrong. Also, apparently AIG is a young-earth creationist site, which makes their arguments even funnier. Carbon-14? A divine practical joke, apparently. That God, he's a funny guy. Yes, I believed in creationism and missing ribs and arks full of pair-wise animals, too, but then I turned 11 and got an education and stopped believing in fairy tales. Come ON, people!! If only the children of America (and elsewhere) were force-fed science on a weekly basis instead of being force-fed religion. Oh, wait, isn't that what the schools are supposed to be doing?

5) Finally worked a bit in the garden yesterday, and hopefully will some more today. I need to document which plants did and did not survive the winter, so I can buy replacements and rearrange some things. It looks like the Filipendula and the Silphium are very well established now. The sunflowers are crowding the little bluestem and I'm not sure which one will be easier to divide. Baptisia looks great and maybe this is the year it will flower! The new lilacs are fantastic - I can smell lilac when I go up the front stairs. Mmmmm. The five zillion columbine seeds I sprinkled everywhere have resulted in, as far as I can tell, *one* seedling. Prolific? Hrm. I'm wondering if I should revive my idea of a gardening blog, just to track what happens during the season.

6) Semester is done!!!!!! And, oh, making multiple versions of an exam in order to trap people who copy off the person sitting next to them? WORKS. Ha!!
- posted by Diane @ 12:01 PM | (0) Comments

 
Sublime
Stumbled across an article on Transcendental Liouvillian Functions. I was tempted to read it but I know that theoretical math just makes me cry.

For lunch today: granola bar and a 20-oz Mt Dew. SO sleepy! For breakfast: cake :)

Attempted to convince the nice furnace guy that our furnace makes a horrible banging sound that echoes throughout the house every time it kicks on. Of course, while he was in the house, the furnace was on its best behavior. I just *love* when repair guys assume I'm insane.

My semester is done, except I have to give the final exam to the undergrads. Read a comic at PhD comics where the TA is about to hand out the final, looks it over, and says "Wait, are you sure this is an undergrad class? Even I can't answer these questions!" Then he chuckles evilly to himself and hands it out. :)

Today: catching up on some reading, cleaning my desk, putting away the semester's materials. The rest of the week: beginning my summer. Just wish I weren't so freaking *sleepy* ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzZZZzzzzzz...
- posted by Diane @ 12:25 PM | (0) Comments