I couldn’t figure it out

So, I’m on the elevator leaving for the day. A woman gets on with a black messenger-type bag with a big flap on it (you know, to protect the zippers and pockets and such). On the flap is a collage of pictures.

Pictures of race cars and race car drivers.

At first glance I thought “Oh, she must have a family member who is a race car driver,” because people around here do that sort of thing – plaster themselves (via their clear ID badge protectors, buttons, etc.) with pictures of kids or other relatives doing their sporty thing.

Upon closer inspection I noticed that all of the cars were different, and all of the drivers were different. While I’m at it, check out how all of the drivers are sitting at autograph signing tables.

Huh.

Maybe she’s just a racing fanatic?

In the middle of this collage is a web address for, let’s say, “Kikisphotography.com”.

So, is this bag an advertisement for Kiki? Like, “Hey! You want to hire me for all of your racing photography needs!” Or, “I’ll help you stalk your favorite driver!” Or, “I’m here to support your groupie needs!” Seems to be targeting what I believe to be a narrow audience.

Did this woman hire Kiki for her own racing needs? Did Kiki say, “Look, I’ll make this bag for you, but you have to let me put my website on it – you know, in case someone else wants one, too.”

Was this Kiki herself? Advertising herself, on herself? With race cars? And drivers?

It’s been 2 days and I still can’t figure it out. Maybe I should have asked her.

Is it spring already?

Seems I get inspired to write every time I catch a cold. Lucky for you.

The last half of winter went pretty well. F was interviewing for a new job (and wow, did he have to meet with lots of people – so glad I’m not in business). He did get the job and is very happy there. He’s working very hard, learning a lot, but enjoying it.

Took F to see Joel McHale for Valentine’s Day – that was awesome. We’ve been watching The Soup for a while now and were curious what his stand-up would be like. We were not disappointed. We still laugh about certain bits.

Work has been going well, more or less. Very productive, great relations with coworkers, not always the results you’re hoping for, but the data is what the data is. It is an exciting and interesting project. We just have to nail down some usable data and “make a story” out of it. The boss is currently on his annual 3 week vacation to Hawaii. Not that I see him terribly much when he’s here. I’m looking forward to macadamia nuts when he gets back.

Work related: I’m going to the AACR meeting in Denver next month. Super excited to see Doc Who there! We’ll even be rooming together! Hopefully it’ll be even more fun than the Keystone Symposium in Utah. I’m presenting a poster of a paper we’re in the process of polishing up for submission. Nothing about what I’m currently working on. That’ll be presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in (you guessed it) San Antonio in December.

We’ve had lots of houseguests this month. My stepmom stopped by for a night while she was doing sales calls out this-a-way. My favorite aunt and uncle came for a weekend – had a lot of fun with them. Old friends of F’s spent the night a couple of times (appts. at Mayo the next morning) and we had nice visits.

A friend that I’ve had since 4th grade had her baby shower last weekend. So awesome to see her. She looks great and I’m so excited for her and her husband. One of their gifts was a new video camera so I’m pushing for lots of video updates when the little one is born.

Finally made an appt for a massage (my Valentine’s Day gift from F). I had my appt last night. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but it was nice and relaxing. I probably should have just kept quiet but felt a little awkward so I started chatting and ended up getting the masseuse’s life story. [sigh] I’m good like that. I’m seriously considering signing up for membership to this place – the dues cover a monthly 1 hour massage at a discounted rate (very discounted rate, even more discounted since I work at Mayo which = awesome). We’ll see. My yoga teacher quit the old yoga studio and hasn’t officially started teaching elsewhere yet, perhaps in April or May. I definitely want to get back in that saddle. So we’ll see where the budgeting leads me.

In other news: my taxes are done and filed! Yay me!

Now to just get over my cold. I’d like to kill it by the end of the week so it doesn’t ruin or otherwise hinder my weekend plans. Wish me luck!

It’s pseudoephedrine or nothing (phenylephrine is useless!)

I had been so proud of myself, effectively staving off the attempts of 2 loved ones to infect me with their plague. I washed my hands, they washed their hands. They were good about only kissing me on the cheek. I was eating healthfully and drinking plenty. Alas, I succumbed on Christmas day.

Now, last year I had a rather awful bout of plague that lasted approximately a month. At the time, my physician had “re-educated” me to the fact that colds *used* to last 7-10 days. In these fast-paced times colds now last an average of 14 days. If I’m not feeling significantly better by the weekend I’m going in. I’ve had enough.

Granted, on the scale of cold-related annoyingness, this one scores comparatively low. I don’t think I have a fever. I don’t have a terribly runny nose. I coughed before bed the first few nights. My chest is clear. But my ears do pop. Occasionally my sinuses hurt. Biggest complaint: my ass is dragging. I feel like I could sleep for 3 days straight.

Per the suggestion of some MD friends (ahem, thank you for the free med advice!) I got myself some Sudafed PE right off the shelf. Little did I know that they kept the good stuff in the back! Off the shelf has phenylephrine as the active ingredient. I’m not sure what enzyme I need to metabolize this stuff, but I obviously don’t have it. It’s done nothing for me. [By the way, if any of you do happen to know why this wouldn’t work for me, I’d be interested to know without having to do any research on my own, of course].

Today, after much convincing by my coworker, I obtained the good shit. The pseudoephedrine they keep behind the counter. They had to copy down my license number and I had to sign a form and everything. I took some today and felt *much* better. I’m almost excited to see what tomorrow brings!

I also restocked on my NyQuil. Love that stuff, too. Aside from hard liquor it’s one of the few things that I can actually feel warming my esophagus and stomach as it goes down. Kinda creepy and kind of cool at the same time. Always makes me shiver when I drink it.

Any other cold remedies you recommend?

And so we begin again

December was pretty much a blur. Gifts were bought, sorted and wrapped. Trips were made to WI. We had all of F’s children for Christmas. It wasn’t perfect, but we all survived. We’ve watched lots of movies and new DVDs. We’ve been fighting colds. The drier broke and has since been fixed. A mountain of laundry was done. We had an amazing dinner for New Year’s Eve. We did not stay up to ring in the New Year, but did put on funny hats, blow horns and attempt to use indoor firecrackers (total let down). We’ve taken down the lights, and packed away all of the Christmas décor.

I could really use a nap right now.

I still have a few items to get for Christmas – a DVD for F that doesn’t come out until later this month, a scarf to match his pea coat, and table linens for my college roommate, K. We need to do a massive house cleaning – even I agree that things are getting pretty gross. I need to catch up with some friends that kind of fell to the wayside during all of this holiday hub-bub.

All in all I’m looking forward to getting back into our routine and getting over this cold.

Here’s hoping all of you had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful new year!

Is it just me?

I have a coworker who says that she "doesn't like music." This astounds me. With all of the different genres of music, how could a person not find something that moves them? This seems wholey unnatural to me, people need music on some level or other. She can listen to talk radio until her ears fall off, but rankles at the music played by myself or other labmates.

Today she walked into my tissue culture room and turned off my Christmas music. She only had about 5 minutes worth of work to do in there with me, but couldn't tough it out for that long. I found this rude. If she would have asked, I'd oblige. As she's leaving, she says "I'll be back shortly" which I heard as "Don't turn the music back on because you know I don't like it."

Do you know anyone like this? I find it completely strange.

Huh

So, I'm updating my info with my insurance company online. They know that I moved, but still had me down as a student. So I'm perusing the rather extensive list of choices for "occupation" and come across 3 choices I didn't expect to see:

Dancer

Dancer (exotic)

Dancer (oth non-exotic)

Good to know the girls can get some good insurance.

C'mon now

This morning as I was riding the elevator up to my floor, a man in a suit got on and stood in front of me. Chances are that he is some sort of clinician. Half of his tie was over his shoulder - the skinny part, not the fat part that usually hides the skinny part. Now, I would assume this guy can afford a decent wardrobe. I'm not asking for anything fancy, but at least decent and in good working order. The back of his tie was coming apart.

And he chose to hold it together with Scotch tape and a small safety pin.

This is what he was displaying over his shoulder. And this is the kind of person who would look me up and down and make a comment about how I "must" be in research because I was wearing jeans.