To Christmas and Back (or why I despise Delta)

Christmas was in Buffalo this year. We drove. It was nice to see all my family again. I did not manage to get wings this time, but instead ate a lot of pizza and Mighty Taco. On Christmas Day, we had a traditional dinner of roast beef on weck, which was as tasty as ever.

I flew out a couple days before New Years. I flew Delta. I hadn't flown Delta for 10 or 15 years, and then they lost our luggage for a few days, but I figured as long as I only took a carry-on, it would be fine. I even found a way to get the coffeepot and winter boots I received for Christmas into my carry-on. (And yes, you can get a coffeepot through security.)

Unfortunately, it was a very stressful flight, because (allegedly) no one showed up for work for Delta at the Buffalo airport, and everything was a disorganized mess. There was confusion about what gate we were supposed to leave from (even the pilots didn't know, so they figured out which gate had a plane outside it, and everyone just followed them, reasoning that the plane couldn't leave without the pilots). There was no boarding agents at either gate. After the flight was scheduled to depart, one boarding came over from another gate and let the pilots onto the plane, then boarded everyone. We boarded quickly and took off about 45 minutes late. It was pretty crappy. I barely made my connection, and the whole situation was really stressful.

I don't think I will ever fly Delta again.

Ohmygawd, there's a rat in my tree!

Sometimes lately, we let Pico roam freely in a restricted part of the house. I was in the next room this weekend, and heard the sound of Christmas tree ornaments clanking together. I found this:


Actually, that's not totally true. He was playing in the inner branches of the tree, and I had to call him to get him out of the middle so I could take a picture. He stuck his head out, climbed back in and climbed down, and ran over to me. I felt bad for ruining his play, so I gave him a chocolate chip reward. He didn't seem to mind.


He looks like a bizarre ornament in the second photo.

A Strange Sighting in Buffalo

I wonder if it drives?

More Photos of Cute Pets

Pico is getting older and calmer; he doesn’t get into nearly as much trouble as he used to. He still will find his way to the top of my closet occasionally, but when he was younger, he would survey my room from the top of the doorframe every time I let him out. 

He was a terror when he was young. He got everywhere (behind the dishwasher, inside my printer, between panes of glass in a sliding window, under a bookshelf, and he could even open my sliding closet door sometimes in college). But now, he’s more obedient. Previously, when I couldn’t find him, I knew he had stolen food and was stashing it somewhere bizarre. Now, he’s usually curled up in a pile of blankets. 

Since his rat buddies all died, he’s been all alone, and I this is how I found him when I came home. The black ball is Pico, and the brown thing is a stuffed animal. I think he misses his friends.

The girls are getting bolder, and they love their warm, fuzzy pouch/hammock. Here is a sleepy Rosie.

And here Rosie is exploring. Epi is more hyper and is really difficult to get sharp picture of.

My First Christmas Tree + Life Update

My family went out to a Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving.. They got a (10-foot) tree for them, and I got a 6-foot tree for my apartment in Chicago. I took my childhood ornaments from my parents (my mom kept the life milestones like the baby carriage and the elementary school picture/craft projects), so the tree is a little heavy on the horse ornaments. There are also soccer, girl scout, and woodland creature ornaments providing a little variety, ha.

I don't have anything for the top, yet, or a tree skirt. Charlie promised to make an origami star for the top.

In other news:

-It is finally below freezing in Chicago. It was 25F outside this morning and was snowing a little yesterday morning (but the snow didn't stick). My parka is an obnoxious light blue color, since I've had it since junior year of high school and it was an OK color for when I was 16. Now I'm getting teased about it. Le sigh. Time to watch for sales? But it (mostly) gets the job done.

-Since it is now cold out, I feel justified drinking warm mead (a honey-wine: http://www.realbeer.com/edu/mead/). It is delightful, especially spiced.

-I'm trying to cut back bread/gluten products. I have 98% less stomachache. No constant stomachache is awesome, but it is a pain in the butt to not eat gluten, especially if I don't pack lunch and try to get food at a seminar or buy something on campus. It's in everything! Fortunately, I don't feel really really awful if I eat a sandwich in a pinch, as long as I have been behaving lately. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

-I am trying to write my Ph.D. qualifying exam, in which I propose my interdisciplinary thesis project (my research for the next few years) and defend it to my thesis committee (my chair, both PIs/research advisors, and another professor). Writing it is really tough.

-Roommate Felipe is going to Spain for the winter quarter, so we're trying to find a subletter to replace him for 3 1/2 months. It's an interesting process. Lots of interesting people; some obvious mismatches. We'll see who we end up with.

-Does anyone want to go see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in January? They're playing Tchaikovsky 6 and they're playing the score to a Hitchcock film. I want to see both. Student tickets are very affordable.

Baby Rats

I got two little baby girls. I wasn't really planning on getting more rats until after New Year's at least, but I was in Petsmart and these girls called me out on being a sucker. They're still a little shy, but curious.

Here are pictures of the night they came home (11/11/10):


This is Epi (Eppie?). She's named for epifluorescence, a microscopy technique. Also, Eppie is an old lady name, so it works two ways. She was at Petsmart for a couple weeks in the back (the story is that she was a little sick, but nothing to be concerned about in the long term), so she played with the employees a little, so she's a little older and a little bolder than Rosie.


This is Rosie, hiding on the left. She was being really shy at this point, so this was the best picture I could get of her. She likes food more than Epi, I think. She was smaller than my palm when she came home. Pico was just MASSIVE in comparison, which is pretty funny since Pico was always one of the smaller boys.

She's named after Rosalind Franklin, who took the X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA, which Watson and Crick used to figure out the structure of DNA. She died of cancer before the DNA Nobel Prize was awarded, but many think she would have gotten the Nobel if she was still alive.

They're getting bolder as they get more used to me. Here they are playing on my bed:

It's hard to take good pictures of fast-moving, small animals.

They also (I have no idea why) love my keyboard. They just loooove prying off keys and running off with them. Perhaps it is an attention-seeking behavior? Fortunately, the keys pop back on easily. Here's Epi, trying to hold on to my tab key.

I am working on training them to not eat my computer.

Now (12/2), they're much bigger, maybe 6 inches from tip of nose to base of tail for Rosie and 7 inches for Epi. They eat about maybe 3 or 4 times as much as Pico does in a given day. They are growing like little weeds.

They came home to my parents' for Thanksgiving, and I think all the noise, chaos, and attention helped bring them out of their shells a little. They run around and play with me now, sit on my shoulders, and beg for attention. Now, they seem to look forward to coming out of their cage to play and run around. They also recognize their names and will come when they're called. Maybe I'll let them play on the floor soon, now that I can call them back. Also, it's time to start learning tricks!