Pi Day

I just got off the phone with Becky who called to wish me a happy Pi day (3.14). I got her this Pi by numbers sweatshirt a couple of years ago, and although Pi is infinite it uses many, many of its numbers to create the shape. Anyway, she works with a 7th grade math class and wore it today in celebration. I was honored :) The class got to celebrate by measuring things and dividing by the diameter, along with eating pie that they brought for themselves. Becky was a little nervous about a potential food fight mainly because it was just herself and a sub. I am really excited that Becky is pursuing this path, whenever she talks to me about her time in the classroom she sounds so jubilant. I have felt that she would make a great teacher for some time now and it is neat to see someone embark on a path that is so perfect for them.

In other news, my brother-in-law is in a band called Buffalo Beard that just released their first EP. I ordered the CD from here and it just arrived on my doorstep today. I immediately opened it mainly because I am so excited for them, but also because I really have not seen a new CD in a LONG time. Any new music I get is in mp3 format. I forgot how much fun it is to paw at that tight plastic wrapping trying to get at the juicy goodness as quickly as possible but it is never fast enough! I am listening to it as I write and really it is so so good. I know I am probably biased but hey at least I get to say I knew them back when...I knew them way before YOU! Oh that reminds me of this shirt from boingboing:


I also have a meeting with my thesis chair this afternoon at approximately 2pm which I am really not looking forward to. I am still in the beginning stages of this entire process and the frustration of wanting to be done with this stage of my life is really starting to get to me. I still cannot see the light at the end of tunnel which makes it difficult to continue to trod forward in the dark. The draft that we are going over today is not even close to as long as it is supposed to be but I hope she will be able to inspire me to complete a larger chunk of it for the next go. It is sad how disappointed in myself I am in regards to this whole process. Perhaps this will be another step in my ongoing growth that will make me a stronger and more effective human later in life.

In more exciting news, today is Vickie's birthday YAY! Also, Shannon is celebrating her own birthday tonight with a little Phil Shane at Alex's down here in Long Beach which should be fun and tomorrow I get to celebrate Meishya's birthday at the Blue Dalia Cafe in LA. So many March birthdays! I am a little sad that I don't have any awesome St. Paddy's day plans this year. Since Meishya's birthday is actually on March 17th it has been quite nice to go where she tells me and essentially celebrate both events. I suppose it will be nice for her to not have to wear green at her party this year, but I will still miss her on St. Ps!

Ok I think I have done plenty of procrastinating for one day, time to prepare to get scolded by my chair for not doing well!

Two things

1 - I got a new shiny phone that rings and plays music and other cool stuff, but the key here is that it rings which my other phone has not done since August 2007. I was waiting until I was eligible for a free phone upgrade and I finally was this weeked so I got this: The first thing I did with it was take a picture of Layla, of course:

2 - I love the change in time. Now when I leave work a little late I don't feel like I have lost my entire day; look how bright it was for my drive home yesterday at 6:30 :)

Something I Look Forward To

On April 19th Matt and I are embarking on a week long getaway to enjoy each other with no distractions before he begins the academy for a not-yet-allowed-to-name city. We have decided to do something simple and relaxing while trying something that neither of us has done before. We find that doing new things together is actually difficult, especially stateside, because I have apparently been EVERYWHERE with my family at some point.

Anyway, even if no one is interested I am so excited I really wanted to share our itinerary! The first three days we will be in San Luis Opisbo. I am not sure how many of you are aware of a spectacular little place known as the Madonna Inn but it is somewhere I have always wanted to stay and now it is finally happening! We are torn between the Madonna Suite with its custom made carpet and rock bathroom:

Our other top choice is the Old World Suite which also has a Rock waterfall shower and fireplace:

I think the overall appeal to this place is fairly self explanatory but in case you are not yet convinced here is a picture of their Steak House:

Once we have spoiled ourselves in the lap of over-the-top luxury and kitsch we are heading a little further north to Big Sur. I have driven through and admired the beauty there many times, but I have never had the chance to spend the time required to truly appreciate it. We are staying at a super cool place called the Treebones Resort which has walk in camp sites and things I have never heard of before called Yurts. They are round little hut like structures that are a cross between a tent and a cabin. We will be here for two nights:

How amazing is that view?!? There is a dome on top so you can stargaze while lying in bed. The resort itself is pretty amazing as well. It is off the grid using propane fueled turbine to power everything and drinking water comes from a well. Here is the layout of the site:

We are staying in Yurt #16 which is the farthest one on the right. Although it is farther from the showers and restrooms the added privacy and full ocean view will be entirely worth it!

We will be heading back down to Long Beach on the 24th just in time to get ready to head to Coachella! Not a bad way to spend a week if you ask me!

Thesis Update

How is my thesis going you ask?

Well, I have always found visual aids to be helpful when explaining things so here is the update:

Academy Awards

Perhaps we will get some exciting moments like these on Sunday:

Fail

I couldn't resist, I really liked this one:

8 is Great

1 - Why do movies, tv shows, and some radio shows have credits? I understand crediting the performers simply for the audience to reference, but why the behind-the-scenes people? I mean when was the last time you bought a car and it came with the credits of everyone on the factory line?

2 - I need to visit Cuba and soon.

3 - Did McCain have an affair with the female lobbyist?

4 - I feel for the Serbian minority in Kosovo. If my state made a unilateral proclamation to be independant of the country I identified with, I would be frightened and angry too, regardless of promises of safety from politicians.

5 - I am sick again. This will be the fourth time in a period of 6 weeks. I think I am doing something wrong.

6 - I want to be somepalce warm laying in a hammock by crystal clear waters in a bikini I am not ashamed to be wearing.

7 - My main motivation in life is sleep and vacation. Which explains why my thesis is far from done (or should I say started).

8 - A woman from Costa Rica, one of the healthiest democracies in South America, was intrigued by how intimately voters in the United States feel they need to know their candidates. She viewed this as a strength in our democracy. I am not so sure I would see it as a strength, since banal questions regarding personal perferences can overshadow a particular candidate's platform on relevant issues. I have an anonymous example regarding this: an United States voter I know went to votehelp.org and was matched on the issues with Obama. When this voter was asked to rate the character and personality of the candidates it actually outweighed the issues and brought McCain up as the forerunner.

Why we aren't "growing up"

Just when does an adolescent transform into a mature, responsible adult? Some parents who are still cooking, washing and picking up after their 18 year old offspring may suspect the answer is never. These parents may feel vindicated when they hear of two Dartmouth researchers who claim that a person's brain continues developing toward adult maturity well into their early twenties.

Researchers Abigail Baird and Craig Bennett say their research, appearing in the journal Human Brain Mapping, has helped them achieve a better understanding of when key structural changes cease in the brain, and the physiological onset of adulthood begins.

Their research consisted of examining the brains of 18-year-old Dartmouth freshmen students who had just relocated themselves in order to attend the college. To achieve comparative results, a group of older students, aged 25 to 35, were used as a control group. "During the first year of college, especially at a residential college, students have many new experiences," says Baird. "They are faced with new cognitive, social, and emotional challenges. We thought it was important to document and learn from the changes taking place in their brains."

The team's experiment returned results that were consistent with their initial hypothesis; that there are significant changes taking place in the brains of people beyond age 18. The researchers say that the changes were localized to areas of the brain that integrate emotion and cognition. These areas of the brain are important, and in combination act as the interface between our internal emotional world and our perception of the external environments in which we live. "The brain of an 18-year-old college freshman is still far from resembling the brain of someone in their mid-twenties," says Bennett. "When do we reach adulthood? It might be much later than we traditionally think."

The team's accomplishment is an important addition to a mounting body of research committed to the period of human development between adolescence and adulthood. Research such as this may one day inform parents about what their children are going through psychologically as they grow toward the responsibilities of adulthood, and, more importantly, when and how they are likely to get there. Is it possible that "protecting" adolescents from worldly experiences may actually stunt their progress toward adulthood? Perhaps this research should come as a warning to parents that wrapping kids in cotton wool will not ultimately help them develop their mental faculties as much as sending them out into the big-bad-world will.
Source: Dartmouth College

My thoughts: Sure I have gotten married, but I am living in the same apartment I did during grad school and have not changed my lifestyle to represent being an adult in any other way. Although, since the wedding I do own a large amount of expensive kitchen accessories, some of which I am still not sure about the function they actually serve. I feel as though a lot of people in my circle of separation are experiencing what we see as setbacks. We are no longer sure if we want to work in the field in which we earned our BA (or BS), we are getting ourselves into serious debt that often requires the assistance of our parents to recover from, and the majority of us have had to move back home while we 'get back on our feet'. Now, what I do not understand is how so many people from stable families end up 'off their feet' in the first place. What is happening within our society to cause this?

Of course, I am not putting all of the blame on the ever popular scapegoat that is society, but I do think the fact that this is so widespread indicates that it has more to do with some sort of institutionalized system rather than individual differences or character flaws. There is also this luxury element that comes into play which allows us to be picky. We were told by our parents that we could be whatever we wanted when we grew up, and all we needed to do was go to college and the world would be ours! What an exciting sentiment, which was possibly true for the generation or two before ours, but is certainly not true today.

Yet the promise of being able to do what makes us happy still lingers which makes settling for a stable job increasingly difficult. So what do we do? We go back to school. Perhaps that Master's degree will do what the Bachelor's could not. Perhaps more doors will swing wide open for us and our soul searching will finally end and we will be 'happy'. I think this is a possibility, but I also worry that this is simply another way of setting ourselves up for disappointment. Once we get the next degree and start the new job will we remain happy? Of course not, there are always going to be days, weeks, months, and even years when we despise our jobs or superiors. I think this is part of our problem though, we have been told that we will find this elusive happiness and that we have every right to continue to search for it. This will continue to be our downfall. Our parents learned to suck it up and go to work every day, sometimes at jobs and places they hated, because they understood their adult responsibilities and obligations. Whereas we have somehow managed to simply have our happiness to be concerned with...