Humbert is a big boy now, so I bought him a treadmill appropriately-sized for his body (too-small wheels can permanently damage a hamster's back). This one's a "Flying Saucer" in "Battlestar Blue." Humbert is now a sci-fi fan (Battlestar Galactica, anyone?). Even just a few minutes after I recorded these two videos, his saucer-running skills had improved. I'll have to record him going full-speed one of these days once he really figures it out.
Enjoy~
Friday, September 30, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
What does my weekend say about me?
Over the last few days, a both novel and common sense thought struck me: The activities that people engage in on a day-to-day basis, and maybe, more particularly, on their "days off," can tell us a lot about those people--what socio-economic rung they're in, what gender they identify with, what's important to them, and so on. I know, I know--like I said--it seems like a common sense concept. But I think what really got me thinking about it in a critical way was the group project I had my students do last week: I split them up into five groups. Each group was given a magazine to analyze--to look for demographical indicators in ads, stories, and design. At the end of about ten or fifteen minutes, each group had to describe the target demographic of the magazine, and construct a stereotypical person that would fit into that demographic. Then, after every group was done, I had them play a guessing game: Which of the five magazines (Better Homes and Gardens, Game Informer, Wired, OUT, and Marie Claire) did not belong to me? (note: I borrowed 75% of this assignment from the NCA's "Assign This"). My (albeit, new) teaching instincts made it clear that the exercise got my students' heads a-turnin'. And it got mine a-turnin', too.
So, what follows is a pretty standard "No, I Am a Cat" post: Some pictures and a bit of text underneath each picture to explain it. But here's my challenge--one that will, I think, be fun for both people that know me well, and people that do not: Look at my pictures. Read my text. Then think: What do the things I did this weekend say about me? About my socio-economic level? About my education level? About what I think is important? And so on.
Friday
Jake and I spent Friday night in: Doing homework (reading reading reading), listening to Crystal Castles, eating Papa Murphy's pizza, watching The Daily Show, and drinking Schell's Oktoberfest and Woodchuck Cider's Fall release. If you've never experienced the latter, I suggest you haul ass to the nearest liquor store and pick some up. It sells out very quickly, and for good reason--it legitimately tastes like you would think fall would taste, if it had a taste. It mixes cinnamon, nutmeg, white oak and is honestly the best-tasting drink I've ever had.
Saturday
I've been to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival about a dozen times before, but this year was the first year I dressed up in costume for it. Lily lent me her green tunic (I wore a brown long-sleeve shirt as a base layer, a mustard yellow tunic under the green sleeveless tunic, knee-high brown boots, brown leggings, and a brown satchel), Alan's costume was ridiculously awesome (and hand-made, of course!), and Lily worked at the Fest, playing trumpet during jousts. Lily even invited us up to the secret upstairs of one of the pottery shops, from which we dropped a fake spider down in front of people. We had good beer, mead, and oh-so-fatty-and-delicious cheese curds. I bought a mug, too, as a thanks to the pottery shop people for letting us go into their upstairs and drink their beer for free. Jake didn't dress up, but this year was his first year attending, so it's OK. He said "thank you" to me (I bought us our tickets as a date) for about four hours straight, and he welcomed the idea of going again next year, and dressing up, so, needless to say, I think he had fun.
Jake and I did a bit more homework when we got home, and immediately after my homework (though, honestly, my homework never actually ends--I just stop doing it for the night), I played around on Pottermore (I finally got my wand and got sorted! I'm in Gryffindor!...wait what? Is this just because I'm ballsy?). Then, later that night, Jake and I busted out my new (to-me) copy of Ico, the precursor (but spiritual sequel) to The Shadow of the Colossus, one of Jake's and my favorite games.
I did homework most of the day, but I took a study break mid-afternoon/evening to make a run to the Seward Co-op, pick up some yummy fresh, organic fruits and veggies (and a new box of tea--this one to help me with my mystery respiratory/heart problem), and home-make some chili and applesauce bread (with added raisins and walnuts) for dinner. Both dishes were a big hit, and Jake sure appreciated them after his three-hour Sunday class with Augsburg's Dean of the College.
Sunday night, I played with Humbert for a little bit (I think he's actually growing to like being pet!), and did my Japanese homework (a 100+ character essay--I wrote mine on the classes I'm taking this semester).
So, what follows is a pretty standard "No, I Am a Cat" post: Some pictures and a bit of text underneath each picture to explain it. But here's my challenge--one that will, I think, be fun for both people that know me well, and people that do not: Look at my pictures. Read my text. Then think: What do the things I did this weekend say about me? About my socio-economic level? About my education level? About what I think is important? And so on.
Friday
Jake and I spent Friday night in: Doing homework (reading reading reading), listening to Crystal Castles, eating Papa Murphy's pizza, watching The Daily Show, and drinking Schell's Oktoberfest and Woodchuck Cider's Fall release. If you've never experienced the latter, I suggest you haul ass to the nearest liquor store and pick some up. It sells out very quickly, and for good reason--it legitimately tastes like you would think fall would taste, if it had a taste. It mixes cinnamon, nutmeg, white oak and is honestly the best-tasting drink I've ever had.
Elmo, Devi's family's dog, who stayed at our house for the week. He's old, arthritic, and incredibly spoiled, so he gets away with a lot, and the entire time Jake and I were eating, he kept sticking his face through the hole between our armpits and our bodies trying to sneak a taste.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| 9/13/11 in :60 Seconds | ||||
| ||||
Saturday
I've been to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival about a dozen times before, but this year was the first year I dressed up in costume for it. Lily lent me her green tunic (I wore a brown long-sleeve shirt as a base layer, a mustard yellow tunic under the green sleeveless tunic, knee-high brown boots, brown leggings, and a brown satchel), Alan's costume was ridiculously awesome (and hand-made, of course!), and Lily worked at the Fest, playing trumpet during jousts. Lily even invited us up to the secret upstairs of one of the pottery shops, from which we dropped a fake spider down in front of people. We had good beer, mead, and oh-so-fatty-and-delicious cheese curds. I bought a mug, too, as a thanks to the pottery shop people for letting us go into their upstairs and drink their beer for free. Jake didn't dress up, but this year was his first year attending, so it's OK. He said "thank you" to me (I bought us our tickets as a date) for about four hours straight, and he welcomed the idea of going again next year, and dressing up, so, needless to say, I think he had fun.
Jake and I did a bit more homework when we got home, and immediately after my homework (though, honestly, my homework never actually ends--I just stop doing it for the night), I played around on Pottermore (I finally got my wand and got sorted! I'm in Gryffindor!...wait what? Is this just because I'm ballsy?). Then, later that night, Jake and I busted out my new (to-me) copy of Ico, the precursor (but spiritual sequel) to The Shadow of the Colossus, one of Jake's and my favorite games.
Ico
SundayI did homework most of the day, but I took a study break mid-afternoon/evening to make a run to the Seward Co-op, pick up some yummy fresh, organic fruits and veggies (and a new box of tea--this one to help me with my mystery respiratory/heart problem), and home-make some chili and applesauce bread (with added raisins and walnuts) for dinner. Both dishes were a big hit, and Jake sure appreciated them after his three-hour Sunday class with Augsburg's Dean of the College.
Sunday night, I played with Humbert for a little bit (I think he's actually growing to like being pet!), and did my Japanese homework (a 100+ character essay--I wrote mine on the classes I'm taking this semester).
Jake drew a smiley face on my nose
Hall
Kant
That's all for now. Enjoy my little challenge to you, peeps! And don't hesitate to ask the same questions about yourselves--what do your activities, the places you go, the people you meet with, the things you eat, say about you?
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Grad school, nbd.
I'M IN FECKING GRAD SCHOOL. O_O!!
That's how I feel.
As I have only about fifteen minutes to spare before I have to book my tush over to Folwell Hall for Japanese class, here's a brief rundown of my last few days, my first two days of grad school:
That's how I feel.
As I have only about fifteen minutes to spare before I have to book my tush over to Folwell Hall for Japanese class, here's a brief rundown of my last few days, my first two days of grad school:
- Teaching. Is. AWESOME. So awesome. I am teaching my own class, people--COMM 1101: Introduction to Public Speaking. I am responsible for the degree to which twenty-seven undergrads learn good public speaking skills. SO. AWESOME. I taught my first class yesterday, and it was seriously baller. That's pretty much all I can say.
- Classes are hard. I mean, I'm taking Japanese pass/fail, but if you've ever taken a language course, you'll know that even undergrad-level language courses can kick your ass. I have Japanese ever day for one hour (which means I have new homework every day)--which is pretty normal for undergrads, BUT, as a grad student, I'm also expecting approximately 200-300+ pages of reading assigned for every class. Every. Class. EVERY. WEEK. Just yesterday, I had my COMM 5211: Critical Media Studies course, and I've got a couple hundred pages of dense reading (see: theory) to do by Tuesday of next week. No big deal.
- I have got to start making my lunches ahead of time again. Food on-campus is waaaay too expensive to get every day. Homemade chili that lasts me a good two weeks, here I come!
- I have a wicked cool boyfriend. Jake has been extremely supportive of my busy busy busy schedule the last few weeks. Having that support is really important, as my life will get only busier as I start submitting to conferences and applying for fellowships (not to mention, writing term papers and grading my own students' work). Jake also tends to be considerably less OCD/neurotic than I am, so he's a good reminder that sometimes, spending quality time with the people important to you is a better use of your energy than reading the last fifty pages of a book.
Edit: I actually had to take off for Japanese before I could finish this post. BUSY BUSY BUSY. So here's the rest:
- There's actually a difference between a T.A. and a G.I. (or G.S.I., depending on where you attend school). A T.A. is a teaching assistant, which means the student assists a full professor/teaching faculty with his or her class. A G.I. is a graduate instructor, which is a graduate student who teaches his or her own undergraduate course. I'm technically both--I'm a G.I. because I teach my own COMM 1101: Introduction to Public Speaking class, but I'm also a T.A., because in the spring, I'll be assisting a Comm. Studies professor with his rhetorical fictions course.
- Though I joke that I look younger than most college first-years (and I probably do, judging by the questions people ask me--"Where's your ID?" "Where are you going to school this fall (implying undergraduate school)?"), I have noticed that I'm at least growing in years, because I'm beginning to be able to recognize first-years from the rest of the pack of undergraduates. Does that make sense? It's hard to tell you look young when you're a first-year, because what you look like is the norm. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can tell that at least my technical age (if not the way my body looks) has grown beyond the lower-class undergraduate. I'm not sure if that means anything in particular, other than that I can tell I'm getting older. Just an observation, I suppose.
- Now that school's officially in-session, I'm eating like shit again. Gone are the days when Jake and I made meatloaf and marinated chicken and homestyle fruit salad! Now, my evenings are filled with breakfast food and V8 Fusion to make up for my fruit/veggie deficiencies.
That's all for now. Clearly, there's more going on in my head, but sometimes, it's hard to unpack all of that.
In other news, Humbert is doing well. He's still terrified of me, but I managed to pet him the other day while he was in the bathtub! I realized that if you approach him while he's got his back to you, he'll let you (oh-so) gently stroke his back. He'll jump a little, like it still scares him to be touched, but it's almost like, if he can't see you, he just pretends you're not really there. Silly Humbert.
OK, that's really all for now. Sorry for the lack of pictures this blog-around. My phone's internet isn't working, which means I can't upload anything I take. Never fear, though! It'll be fixed soon enough, and then I'll be able to snap snap snap away.
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