Sundried Tomatoes

It was the sundried tomatoes that did it. I blame them. That's what finally pushed me over the edge. I had a pretty lousy day, but I managed to keep it together for the most part. By dinnertime I realized that there wasn't actually any food in the house. So I got my recipe together for a salad that I had seen on FoodTV over the weekend and headed to the only grocery store I have found so far. I got everything that I needed except the sundried tomatoes. The store literally has jars of pickled pigs feet available for purchase, but no sundried tomatoes. I don't understand it because sundried tomatoes are not uncommon; it's not a though I was looking for organic kefir. Yet according to the grocery person I asked (and my own thorough search), they don't carry them.

And so right there, in the canned fruits and vegetables aisle (and ostensibly over one missing salad ingredient), I had a little meltdown as quietly as I could. I couldn't possibly have been more embarrassed at that moment, but I also couldn't really do anything about it by that point. So if you ever hear an urban legend about the girl who started weeping over the lack of sundried tomatoes, it's quite possible that the storyteller is talking about me.

Insomnia

I can't sleep. That's why I'm sitting in front of the computer at nearly 1 am on a Saturday night. I've done every sleep inducing task I can think of (short of drinking warm milk because I simply find that foul): I read my book for nearly an hour, I put on some soft lulling music, I closed my eyes and tried to will myself to sleep.....alas, no. Here I sit.

I wish I had something terribly insightful to say. Some terrifically funny or ironic story of the past week to share with you, my 1-3 readers. But I don't. It's been a normal week. I've gone to work during the day, I've come back to the apartment for dinner, I've done some more work at night. I've spent quality time pondering my future, my lot in life, and why there have been no good sitcoms on the air since Friends ended. I've done my laundry, gone to the gym, and made both healthy and non-healthy meals. It's just been another week that I've crossed off the calendar. It makes me kind of sad to have had another 7 days go by and feel like I have nothing tangible to show for it.

Happy Day!

It was a good day. Blow Out is back! Whoohoo! :)

I have no idea why I love this show, but I do.

American Idol, Chemistry-Style

I have to preface this post by saying that my new office is in a chemistry lab. I'm not physically in the lab, but I am in the office space next to one. And the door between my office area and the lab leaves about a 2 inch gap at the floor. So I can hear (and smell) everything that goes on in there.

Which brings me to the conversation I overheard earlier this week.

Several graduate students were in the lab and I thought I heard a guitar. I took my rather painful earbuds out of my ears and confirmed that yes, indeed, there was a guitar in the next room. A guitar in the lab, in fact. And not just one guitar, but I believe there were two. And horror of horrors, there was singing. Bad singing. By Chemistry graduate students. When the singing stopped, the discussion of the merits of the previous night's episode of Americal Idol began. A little more guitar strumming started before I threw my headphones back on and turned up the first thing I could find in iTunes. I'm pretty sure this now emcompasses my own little first level of hell: Chemistry students (badly) singing (bad) pop songs in the lab while accompanied (poorly) by other graduate students on the guitar.

Gifts!

I also wanted to mention that as always, I have some of the greatest friends in the world. I don't thank them nearly enough. Two of my best friends from Duke sent me a package last week with some Duke gear to put in the apartment. My favorite piece? The Coach K bobblehead, of course:


I like to think of him as sort of my own personal Magic 8 ball. Ask Coach K a question, tap his head and he'll answer 'yes' or 'no'. He really can only answer those yes or no questions, though.

I also received a Duke apron which was promptly hung in my miniscule kitchen:


So yeah! New Duke gear always makes my day better. (Oh, and so does another ACC tournament championship...)

As Promised

It was almost two weeks ago that I last posted, I know. So here are the pictures I promised.

My car had a bit of a milestone on the way here. We rolled over to 100,000 miles. Woohoo! I sometimes like to photodocument my trips, so I took a picture to commemorate the occasion.

Alas, that's pretty much the only picture I took during the road trip. It was more of a destination-focused trip and less of a "World's Largest Ball of Twine" trip. Although I do want to see that someday. :)

I used to share a little office with a friend of mine. We didn't have a lot of room, but we got along well. And we had both a door and a window. I was more interested in the door at first, but I grew to enjoy having a window to the outside world. Here's the view from my old office:


I now share a larger office with 4 other people, only one of whom is not an undergraduate. Luckily, things have gone well so far. I get the impression that orders were given before my arrival that they were to be quiet and not bug me. (Which is fine with me!) I have the desk in front of the window and the natural light is nice, but I don't have quite the view I used to:


As to my apartment.... well, I am renting a furnished apartment. And it's great that I didn't have to bring any of my own furniture. But, I still kind of feel like I'm living in someone else's house. Or one of those long-term hotel rooms. I did completely reorganize everything when I first came in. I spent my first few hours here hauling furniture from one room to another. I moved my desk into the den (and out of the bedroom) and am using the kitchen table as more of a storage area than an eating area. But all in all, things are good. Here are a couple of shots:



I can certainly live here for a few months. I do miss home, though.