Road Trip!!

On Friday evening, after a couple of very disappointing experiences at Bed, Bath and Beyond, Amy and I ventured on our road trip to Austin. It was pretty funny cause along the way, we stopped at a BBB and a Lowe's to try and get my Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer, but to no avail, I didn't end up getting one. Then, we also stopped for dinner at Chili's where I found out the queso they serve with their tortilla chips actually has BEEF in it. Yes, that's right, queso has MEAT in it...who knew, heh. I tasted a cow for the first time in 6 years, I think. But I spit everything out, absolutely no swallowing at all.

Upon arrival to Austin after 4 hours of driving, Amy so graciously dropped by 6th Street so that I could see Austin's party scene. I was a bit too tired to venture on out to the bars though (yes, I know, I'm lame) so we just checked into our hotel and went to bed.

On Saturday morning, Amy showed me around town, first starting off at the CO-OP, the official UT store. It was amazing there! I think think their store is bigger than Berkeley's by at least a 1/3 if not a 1/2. So much school pride, dudes. I don't think I've ever seen that much longhorn merchandise before. It really only makes sense that the UT mascot is a longhorn though. I will say that Cooper, the longhorn, is adorable! J9ners, you'll really love the store! Even cooler, two doors down is the CO-OP outlet store, dudes! Like seriously, they have an outlet!

After all that shopping, Amy and I had to plunker down for lunch since we worked up such an appetite! The Mellow Mushroom had some really great pizza, I gotta say. Their crust was crispy and cheesy...hmm...yummy! To burn off our calories after such a fulfilling lunch, we headed across the street to the UT campus, and I have to say that it is extremely similar to that of Berkeley. The city itself is really similar in terms of the streets around campus resembling Telegraph Ave. and the likes, but the campus itself is so similar to Berkeley's! When I stepped onto the campus, it was as if I was transported back to Berkeley--the landscape, the green, the buildings--just too cool, dudes. I do think, however, that the campus is a bit larger than Berkeley's (makes sense though, right, since everything is bigger and better in Texas?). Amy was a great tourguide because despite the fact that she attended Texas Tech (yes, that's right, Kent, I know a couple of Red Raiders here!) she was still able to point out a lot of things to me.

UT's campus has something similar to Sproul and the Camponile with the exception that they are located right next to each other. I believe the inscription on the Main Building says, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Very beautiful buildings...

From the main entrance to the university, Amy and I walked to the State Capitol of Texas so that I could take pictures and whatnot. Of course, with our luck, just as I was starting to take pictures of the building, it started thunderstorming. We ran into the Capitol, and dudes, it's awesome inside! If you thought the outside was pretty, you've gotta see the Rotunda. The Senate and House of Representatives rooms' were gorgeous, and the portraits of the govenors in the rotunda was amazing too. After the rain lightened up, we went to the visitor's center and raided the gift shop. If you want Texas memorabilia, you've gotta go to this store, dudes. Seriously. It's really after the visit to UT and the Capitol do you really feel the pride Texans have in their state.

Back at the campus now, Amy and I try very hard to find the Longhorn Aquatic Center so that I could take a picture for J9ners! =) We passed the School of Social Work, the rec center, and also the football stadium, but we could not find the swim center! We finally spot a map and find out that the swim center is right next to the School of Social Work. It was really funny, but we ended up going back the next day, and I took a sign of the sign. I wonder if Brendan Hansen was there. Hah.

From UT, we ventured back to our hotel to get ready for our night out as well as just chil-ax for a bit. That night, we went to the Cool River Cafe to watch one of our co-workers, Miguel, perform with his band, Vertigo. Let me tell you, the food and drinks there are amazing! I had the best grilled chicken panini ever--the aioli definitely made the sandwich! I really need to get a panini grill now. Heh. But yea, Miguel was a very gracious host, coming by to talk to us during every intermission. I think we both had a lot of fun, especially with the cameras and the drunk lady. So Amy, I guess we need to "shake it", eh? Fat chance.

I am going to stop boring you with the gory details of our Sunday, but I will say that Amy took me to the outlet mall in San Marcos. Dudes, seriously, if you are an avid shopper, you have got to go there sometime. They have EVERYTHING there, and there are actual sales that qualifies the stores to be outlets. So if you ever come visit me and want to go there, just let me know! I am down--

Thanks, Amy, for being such a great hostess, and for such a great road trip! We really did have a road trip and not just rushing to get to our destination. I think we definitely need to eat at Chili's next time we go on another road trip, and if we take the I-10 back, we need to stop off for some TORTILLA chips!!! Haha! I really had a lot of fun, the best time since I've been in Texas, I think. So yea, thanks for such a great time! I really appreciate it!

Lastly, I just want to say that I have gained a newfound respect for Mr. David Beckham. I've never quite bought into his popularity or the frenzy that seems to encompass him everywhere he goes. I will say that I do understand where it all comes from now. Good luck to you, Mr. Beckham, and I hope you enjoy your time in LA.

Filibusters

I'm going to make a quick disclaimer: I am usually not all that interested in politics, per se. I find it to be a very frustrating and aggravating topic, especially when you're talking to people who don't agree with you.

That being said, I have a fascination with filibusters. Don't know why nor do I care enough to figure out why, but the word itself is just cool. Filibusters don't happen often, obviously, and when one comes up, I always get really excited! I'm not exactly sure I like the reason why they are filibuster-ing this time, but at the same time, I just want it to happen because it's a filibuster! Seriously, dudes, how awesome are they?!

I remember learning about filibusters in Mr. Zatkin's government class (I still can't believe I passed that AP Exam--I was so NOT prepared. Of all the AP exams I've taken, I was least prepared for this one and Spanish, though with those after school oral prep sessions, I knew what to expect with Spanish. I completely winged government, I'm telling you. Consider this, I took the honors class instead of the AP one b/c I didn't want to do all the projects involved with a one year class, and I could still take the AP test with the 1 semester class. Only problem was that they assigned the class to me in the fall which made taking the exam even more difficult. You swear I could remember all those facts half a year later while taking Doc's and Mr. C's classes. Oh and who can forget Mr. Morlock's church history class? =) Anyhow, I think I was coerced into taking the exam, and miraculously, I passed. Wow. I totally digressed, dudes. My bad!). My next encounter with filibusters was with that episode on The West Wing. I don't remember what it's called, but that senator literally read a book out loud. I don't think he even stopped for a drink of water cause aren't they not allowed to go to the bathroom? How crazy insane is that?! Does anyone else not see how intriguing and humorous this is?!

Semi-Homemade with Jennifer Lee

I cheated. I'm going to admit it straight up. It's not that I've never used cake mixes before, but I never use boxed mixes for birthdays or gifts. I love brownie mixes, and I believe most of them turn out better than my own brownies (except for that time when I made something inedible in high school). My mom actually threw out the brownies because she claimed they were so nasty that she had no idea what they were, basically, just black gunk. heh. But for those of you who know me, you all know that I'm a totally from scratch kinda gal. Hell, I even make my own pie crusts and pizza dough! This weekend, I just made some green onion pancakes, from scratch, with flour and scallions. But for Lina's birthday, I actually made this cake from the box. I did add stuff so that the cake is fluffier and more moist, but it's still not from scratch. Don't even get me started on the frosting. I totally did the whole Sandra Lee homemade touch to frosting, but I know and you know that it's not my frosting. I gave into temptation today. With apps looming over my head, the about-damn time personal statement inspiration, and work being so crazy and constant, I'm just tired. I'm more than tired. I'm EXHAUSTED. You also have to take into account that this is my first year of work. I've been at this since last April, and I haven't really taken a vacation since. I miss school and the vacations that come with it. I miss not having a set schedule with class times varying at all hours of day. Hell, at this moment, even those late evening classes (Kustu's lab, anyone?) sound good if I didn't have to work 8-5. haha.

Last week was tough. I love my job. There you have it. I think infection control plays a huge role in a hospital functioning properly, and I'm not saying this simply because I am an ICP. Think about this--if the rates of nosocomial infections are as high as the community-acquiredrates, then we're pretty screwed, heh? You'd be safer at home. So yes, I enjoy what I do. But, there is caveat to all this--there are sometimes those very very frustrating days when everything happens at once, and you're constanting putting out fires. I'm so fortunate to have a very experienced and smart ICP who trains me, but it just so happened that she was on vacation last week. Let's just say that some issues came up, and I had no idea how to deal with them...thanks to my director and risk manager who guided me along the way. Much appreciate to all the other ICPs in my company for answering my phone calls and helping me. So yea, there are days when I feel that I have this job under control, but then things happen (and let me tell you, in a hospital, NOTHING is impossible) and I'm back to barely hanging on. I know that in time, I will be able to handle things calmly, but until then, I wonder how I can ever do this job by myself.

Anyhow, as tough as last week was, my friends once again pulled through and made me smile. First, I received an email from Tanya during the middle of the week. For those of you who don't know, Tanya and I were advisor-buddies in grad school. Ironic, isn't it how they paired up a Stanford and a UC Berkeley grad to share an advisor. Heh. Anyhow, we hit it off the first day of orienatation, and we've been fast friends since. Tanya listened to my whining and problems all throughout the two years of our program. We also studied together a lot, especially for 260A&B. Those study sessions were short but crazy. We memorized a shitload, didn't we? I really do need to go back and see how many infectious diseases we had to memorize for Drs. Swartzberg and Riley. heh. I gotta say though, the one year class is my most favorite of all time--not to sound nerdy or lame, but infectious diseases are really really cool! I'm not ashamed to admit it, but MICROBES REALLY DO FASCINATE ME.

But yea, Tanya emailed me during work last week (in the middle of a crisis), and she just totally put a smile on my face! It's amazing how words from a friend can make everything better, so thanks Tanya! I miss you so much! It was hard our second year when we barely had any classes together, but now, I don't even get to see you on campus...I really need to work on my keeping in touch skills!

Then, on Thursday night, I found out that Hiu's engaged to Kent! =) How totally awesome is that?! Seriously, so so cool! You have to understand, I witnessed the whole relationship take place, from the beginning! It's so awesome--two of my best friends are now engaged! Whoo! I miss hanging out with them--Hiu and I have done some pretty crazy stuff. You should see us during midterms and finals time. We're absolutely psycho; it's almost as if we were smoking crack or as if we were drunk...it's amazing that there is actually someone in this world who can put up with my crazy-ass antics during exams. Good times, I'm telling you. Good times. How many all-nighters have we pulled? My most memorable final was when we literally only had 24 hours after soil micro to study a whole semester's worth of biostat. I'm so glad we share a love for infectious diseases! Anyhow, CONGRATS, and my best to you guys! I will definitely be back next summer, and if I get into Davis, I want my room! March Madness would just be awesome, Kent! Can we please go to see a UK game one of these days? go 'cats! Hell, I'll even go to a Duke game in exchange. haha.

All righty, back to my ps...wish me luck! And I thank God that Jen is back!