completely and totally unmotivated

me = ready for a really long break with no resemblance of work

that break is just a few days away, so I'm trying (and not very well) to push through and get some good work in before friday which is officially break time. So right now I'm currently in the lab "working", waiting for my computer to catch up and do something.

what I really want to do is sit on the couch, eat cookies and watch Emma. And I'm totally going to do that, but it can't come soon enough!

Toilet training....for cats.

yes. its quite an adventure. I had heard that it was possible to toilet train cats, but had never really thought about doing it until I met The Litter Box.

Mr. Litter and I do not agree on many issues.

Number 1, Mr. Litter likes his space. His space inside our blue litter box AND he likes to spread it out all over the immediate area and apartment. I like to walk around in our apartment without shoes, since after all it is our home, but every time I go in the bathroom that dang litter sticks to my feet. yuck.

Number 2, Mr. Litter stinks. After all, our cat, Phelps, poops and pees on him.

Number 3, Mr. Litter does not clean up after himself. Despite spraying his business all around the box, the poo and pee remains for us to clean up.

So after sweeping large amounts of litter off the floor for the 50 billionth time, I decided time to toilet train. Here's a little intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I79-BnwbE_g

More to come...

5K -ill-a-thon

Nick and I ran in our first 5K last weekend. This had been a goal of mine since this summer, when I started doing my from "Couch to 5K" training schedule. I had never been a big outdoor runner; I really enjoyed running on a treadmill in the gym being able to watch tv, listen to music, and not think about anything. But with no treadmill of my own and a busy schedule, I wasn't getting any work out time in and adding a few pounds on.

So I decided to take it easy, start from scratch, and learn to enjoy running outdoors. At first the transition from treadmill to cement was tough, my toe-striker running style wasn't very comfortable in longer runs. I adapted my style, kept running, and wah-la! 5K.

My stellar husband finished right around 21-22 minutes, with a great ~7min/mile pace. I, however, finished in a slow and steady 32-33 minutes. The entire race I fought my fierce internal competitor, let people pass me at their faster paces, and reminded myself that this was for ME. My goal wasn't to have an amazing time; my goal was to finish the race and to have run the whole time.

And I did it. I did it. On the last home stretch, I held back tears that symbolized: I DID IT!!! All those training sessions (although there probably should have been more of them) when I pictured running the 5K paid off.

And even though I wasn't the fastest or the first place of my age group and I got passed by several people, I'm still really proud of myself for completing a life goal.

Next race? Maybe a 5K in December...we'll see....

first firsts

Today I'm wrapping up my first business trip. The last 3 1/2 days I've been in Atlanta helping Georgia tech with some circuits work. It hasn't been the most successful trip, but its been an adventure. Its so different traveling all by yourself.

I ordered delivery food for dinner 3 nights in a row and I feel so gross. The food was pretty tasty, but I just have that feeling like my stomach is always sickeningly full. I'm ready for some normal (even though I'm not looking forward to cooking it) food.

Nick and I have looked over the rest of this month and next month, and we have a fairly large event every week until the new year. I mean seriously? It seems like this semester has been nothing but go go go. Where are the Christmas breaks of elementary school? When you are basically dieing to go back to school?

Better pack up! I'm soo ready to be home!

where does the time go?

This week was another crazy week. I had a midterm on Friday, conference paper due today, and volunteered to make a birthday cake for a costume party on Halloween. Almost every day this week flew by. Usually that's a good thing, but man, I needed every second. Every hour off the clock reminded me of how MUCH i needed/should of/could of gotten done.

Thankfully, Friday night offered a little bit of fun and break from the grind. Nick and I decided to be Night and Day for our costumes and whipped them up friday after work and while mine was drying I was finishing decorating this:


For those of you who are totally out of touch this gaming obsession, its a Guitar Hero guitar cake. Not perfect, but I always try to remember that's its just going to get eaten so enjoy it while it lasts.

We did make it out to the Buffalo River to see the leaves. The colors weren't terribly impressive, but it was refreshing to be in the wilderness. And those 15 or so roasted marshmallows didn't treat me too badly either. yummm.

Here's to hoping that the next couple of weeks will be less stressful than this one. I'm looking forward to a breather!

what a week

you know that phrase: sh-- hitting the fan?

Yeah totally me this week. It was mostly all centered around my research work at the UofA, but suffice it to say that I'm so glad that this week is over. At the same time, I don't have any reason to believe that the stress won't carry over for the rest of this month and next, but I'm just going to enjoy every little bit of relief that I can.

I'm really hoping that Nick and I will be able to sneak away for about 48 hours in the next week. The leaves are changing (ooh, I love Fall soo much!) and I would really LOVE to go camping near the buffalo, do some hiking, smore-ing, and breath in the smell of the coming winter.

Last year (above) we JUST missed the true colors of Fall. Hopefully, this time, we can hit it at just the right time this year.

maybe if I want comments, I should update....

I keep coming back to my post looking and hoping that someone, anyone has finally commented... so here's to hoping that I've got tons of readers but no commenters.

This summer I was blessed to have the opportunity to do an internship with Texas Instruments. And no, I was NOT working on calculators. Although that is what everyone always thinks. I WAS working with hard disk drives. I won't drag you through the details, but I really enjoyed my experience there.

It was especially refreshing because I had been so frustrated and disheartened by my previous year in graduate school for my masters in electrical engineering. Last year I often found myself wondering if I was even cut out to do this kind of work or if I would even enjoy working as an engineer. Starting at TI was nerve racking and desperately important; I viewed as a way that I could see if this was the life I wanted or should I drop everything a pursue and different field and career. But TI did not disappoint, I came home almost every day saying, "Man, I really am enjoying this. I like my job!" I can't even begin to explain how refreshing it was.

So Nick and I have decided that we'll be moving to Dallas next summer where I'll be starting my "real" life in a career at TI. Very exciting, but first....first I have to make it through my last year to grad school!

speech and southpaws

Where did I get off trying to impress people with my writing? I'm an engineer after all. I took no English classes in college, but I sure did take 4 semesters of calculus. I have always seemed to struggle with the literacy side of things. I was in speech therapy the majority of elementary school. When my mom told me that I would have to start speech lessons, I cried pleading that it was just because I didn't have "my wo fwon eeth" (that's two front teeth). I eventually asked people to start calling me Kim instead of Kimberly because I couldn't say it ("Kimbawee"). Of course this made me a really cute little kid, but my family and friends could hardly understand me.

I am also a terribly slow reader. Later in high school, after I got the speaking thing cleared up, I spent a weekend at a Dallas clinic taking a comprehensive aptitude test that would tell you what you would be truly happy doing in life when I discovered that I'm cross dominant.

"Cross dominant," you might be thinking, "what the heck does that mean?" Well, I guess back in preschool when you get separated into left-handed and right-handed, I got put in the wrong group. So the aptitude guy revealed to me that my unbelievably slow reading speed, and maybe even speech problems, stems from the fact that I'm supposed to be left handed because I'm left eye dominant. Basically it all boils down to the fact that I read mostly with my left eye (and right side of my brain), but when I learned to write with my right hand, all my letters got stored in the left side of my brain, so my brain has to do all this cross talking to actually comprehend the material.

The aptitude guy said that I might be able to correct this by learning to write with my left hand. Have any of you ever tried this? I don't even know how I did it the first time around with my right hand.

After all my experiences with this, I would really like to teach my kids (in the very far future) to write with both hands. Now, THAT would handy.