Things I am doing that are not grading assignments

1. Hitting refresh on facebook
2. Looking up all the Glee cast members' twitter feeds
3. Looking up Jodie Sweetin on Wikipedia (she just had a baby, guys!)
4. Thinking about making dinner
5. Discussing the characteristics of a good spatula with Tory
6. Looking up cute cookie designs
7. Checking out texts from last night, which resulted in me finding the most incredible 404 page ever. I took a screenshot for posterity:

Smartphones! Horrifically drunk and useless! Signalling that the site is down!
The site where you can read texts people send when they're drunk and useless!

Obviously, procrastinating does not lower my standards for amusement in the slightest.

Redesign?

List of things I can commit to, in order of the length of time I can stay committed:

1. My favourite article of clothing (white skirt: five years and counting)
2. My cell phone plan (it's you and me for the next 2.66 years, Telus)
3. The layout of my bedroom (two years ... maybe)
4. The design of my blog (four months? did I make it that long?)

Really, the old moody photograph in the background and dark design didn't suit me. I'm not a gunmetal grey kind of girl, even if the accent colour was my favourite shade of lime.

5. My favourite colour (about 30 seconds)  

So here's a new design, that I think suits me a little better. For the next few months, anyway.

If I were ever looking for something to do with my free time...

I just came across the Cognitive Science Millennium Project listing of the 100 most influential works in Cognitive Science. I've heard of many of them, but there isn't a single one I've read more than excerpts from. Most, I know only by reputation or have heard referenced in lectures.

 If I'm ever developing my personal science library, I think this will be a good list to remember.

Things to do on a lazy Friday

1) Drink tea

2) Snuggle someone

3) Keep up-to-the-minute on Twitter and your RSS reader

4) Ignore work email

5) Edit old photos

6) Chat, plan the future

7) Look at photos of luxury hotels online and dream

Things I Learned Today

Today I went on a field trip to the botanical gardens to take pictures of textures. I did get lots of textures, but I also took some fun photos for my own enjoyment and learned many things along the way. For instance:

1) Bonsai are cool. Bonsai in a Chinese courtyard are cooler.

2) I'm going to feel like a tourist when I'm taking photos in a tourist destination whether I'm a local or not.

3) My parents have at least three poisonous plants growing at their home: lily of the valley, rhubarb, and fool's parsley.

4) This is what hemlock looks like. Ladybugs like it.

5) Socrates probably died with stomach pain, convulsions, and increased pulse.

6) Nightshade is really poisonous. However, it's the unripe berries that are the worst for you.

6) This is what a lotus looks like. They're beautiful, and they can grow at enormous sizes.

7) It's possible to grow lotuses in Montreal outdoors.

8) I can indeed get a sunburn on a cloudy day.

9) There are lots of beetles in the world.

10) I weigh 3 250 000 ants.

11) Beer and vanilla lip-gloss tastes gross.

Road Trip Tunes

Dave and I spent the last week on the road to and in Prince Edward Island. We made an effort to compile a good collection of songs, and then tested them thoroughly over the 20+ hours we spent on the highway. For your use, I present the playlist:

Liz and Dave Approve of Cranking it Up

1. Going the Distance -- Cake
2. Short Skirt, Long Jacket -- Cake
3. Come On Eileen -- Dexy's Midnight Runners
4. When the World Ends -- Dave Matthews Band
5. 500 Miles -- The Proclaimers
6. If I Had a Million Dollars -- Barenaked Ladies
7. Stand -- R.E.M.
8. Life is a Highway -- Tom Cochrane
9. American Pie -- Don McLean
10. Jack & Diane -- John Cougar Melloncamp
11. King of Spain -- Moxy Fruvous
12. Free Fallin' -- Tom Petty
13. Sweet Emotion -- Aerosmith
14. I Only Wanna Be With You -- Hootie And the Blowfish
    

Liz and Dave Approve

1. T.N.T. -- AC/DC
2. Smile -- Lily Allen
3. Into the Great Wide Open -- Tom Petty
4. Right Here Right Now -- Jesus Jones
5. The Difference -- The Wallflowers
6. When the Rainbow Comes -- Shawn Colvin
7. All You Need is Love -- The Beatles
8. Sharp Dressed Man -- ZZ Top
9. La Grange -- ZZ Top
10. I Go Blind -- Hootie and the Blowfish
11. Cells -- The Servant
12. Higher Ground -- Red Hot Chili Peppers
13. Orange Crush -- R.E.M.
14. Happiness and Disaster -- Stabilo
15. New Soul -- Yael Naim
16. Pianoman -- Billy Joel
17. We Will Still Need A Song -- Hawksley Workman
18. Stuck in the Middle With You -- Stealer's Wheel
19. Runnin' Down A Dream -- Tom Petty
20. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For -- U2
21. Roll Me Away -- Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
22. Magical Mystery Tour -- The Beatles
23. There She Goes -- Sixpence None The Richer
24. Learning to Fly -- Tom Petty
25. Beautiful Day -- U2
26. I Kissed A Girl -- Katy Perry
27. Highway to Hell -- AC/DC
28. When the Night Feels My Song -- Bedouin Soundclash
29. The Rest of My Life -- Sloan
30. Summer of 69 -- Brian Adams
31. Come Together -- Aerosmith
    

Liz Approved, Dave Tolerates

1. Jealous of Your Cigarette -- Hawksley Workman
2. April Fools -- Rufus Wainwright
3. If You Can Afford Me -- Katy Perry
4. Make a Memory -- Bon Jovi
5. Pocketful of Sunshine -- Natasha Beddingfield
6. Waking Up in Vegas -- Katy Perry
7. Striptease -- Hawksley Workman
8. Grace Kelly -- Mika
9. Brand New Low - Treble Charger
10. Stop This Train -- John Mayer
11. Piano Blink -- Hawksley Workman
12. Easy Tonight -- Five For Fighting
13. Jessica -- Allman Brothers
14. I'm A Believer -- Smash Mouth
15. Semi-Charmed Life -- Third Eye Blind
16. Have a Nice Day -- Bon Jovi
17. Teenage Dirtbag -- Wheatus (barely)
18. Wish I were You -- Patty Smyth
19. Walking on the Sun -- Smash Mouth
20. Time -- Hootie and the Blowfish
21. Only the Young -- Journey
    

Dave Approved, Liz Tolerates

1. Mary Jane's Last Dance -- Tom Petty
2. Here I Go Again On My Own -- White Snake
3. Rubysoho - Rancid
4. On My Way -- Rusted Root
5. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon
6. Blister in the Sun -- Violent Femmes
7. Lowrider - War
8. Taking Care of Business -- BTO
9. Brown Eyed Girl -- Van Morrison
10. My Best Friend's Girl -- Cars
11. Papa's Got A Brand New Bag -- James Brown
    

Dave Approved, Liz Whines

1. American Music -- Violent Femmes
2. Gone Daddy Gone -- Violent Femmes
   
3. No Sleep Till Brooklyn -- Beastie Boys
4. Cecilia -- Simon and Garfunkel
5. Say it Ain't So -- Weezer
6. Island in the Sun -- Weezer
   
7. Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
8. Sweet Home Alabama -- Lynyrd Skynyrd
9. Casey Jones -- Greatful Dead
   

Liz Approved, Dave Vetos

1. Any Other Day -- Bon Jovi
2. Texas Flood -- Stevie Ray Vaughan
3. Crossroads -- Cream
4. Glorious Day -- Weezer
5. Mister Big Time -- Bon Jovi
6. Remember Me -- Journey
7. Lost Highway -- Bon Jovi
   

Duds

1. Who Says You Can't Go Home -- Bon Jovi
2. Ordinary -- Stabilo
3. Behind the Mask -- Anarchy Club
4. Tush -- ZZ Top (I think we just had too much ZZ Top)
5. Ask the Lonely -- Journey
6. Any Way You Want It -- Journey
7. Summertime -- Bon Jovi
8. Alone Here -- Hawksley Workman
9. Revival -- Allman Brothers
10. Midnight Rider -- Allman Brothers
11. Ramblin' Man -- Allman Brothers
    
12. Don't Believe it All -- Treble Charger
13. Walk Idiot Walk -- The Hives
14. Bad Day -- R.E.M.

Much thanks to Courtney, Pat, and Tory for the suggestions!

Observation of the Day: Writing a Paper is like Cardio...

It breaks down into the following stages:

1) Easy stamina: "I can't believe I've gone 5 minutes already, and I'm not even winded!" OR "I can't believe I've written 6 pages already - I've still got so much to say, and I haven't even added the figures!"

2) Fear of what's to come: "I'm at 10 minutes and I'm starting to feel fatigued... it's only getting worse ... I'm going to die here!" OR "I'm only at 11 pages and I'm through half my arguments, but only 1/3 of the way through the minimum page count".

3) Depression: "I can't take one more step - I have to stop before I keel over/sweat publicly, and I still have 7 minutes to go!" OR "I'm never going to finish this! I have nothing else to say, I've added all my figures, and I still have 7 pages to go!"

4) Sheer willpower: "Must..keep... feet...moving" OR "Must... keep... fingers... typing..."

5) Endorphins: "Only 30 seconds to go! I can do this" OR "One page left, and my discussion can fill it!"

6) Satisfaction: "I'm in so much pain, but I'm healthier for it" OR "I am so exhausted, but at least I'm not going to fail out."

Stay tuned for the graph version when I'm not feeling guilty about procrastinating (which can occur at all these stages in the paper timeline). I'm still at step 3, pushing step 4.

When the extra rent of a nice building is worth it (an illustrated guide)

(1) When a large fissure in your ceiling forms and starts to leak water into the hall.

(2) When enough water drips from said fissure to fill your largest mixing bowl.

(3) When the damage spreads to your roommate's bedroom wall, the bathroom ceiling, and the living room ceiling.

(4) And when a large portion of the wall experiences separation anxiety.

The maintenance people were super-prompt, and have been really polite and great about fixing everything. The upstairs neighbours... not so much.

And (5) They're putting in a gym. That we can use for *free*. Hurray!

Reasons that public transit shouldn't run early in the winter

#1: If you miss it (as you are liable to do), you're sitting out in the cold until the next one

#2: If the margin of "it could be early" is more than five minutes before it's supposed to come, you're sitting out in the cold for long enough to get cranky and frostbitten. 

#3: If you happen to be almost early enough, you can't run for it because the sidewalks are covered with ice so even a slow walk is perilous

#4: If the bus in question runs less frequently than every 15 minutes, this escalates from being annoying to being a reason to go home and get back in bed.

If the city wants to encourage more people to take public transit, make it less of a trial. I know they can do it. 

33 things I did before getting to my productive week

1) Went back to sleep

2) Emailed Dave about sore post-workout arms keeping me from being productive

3) Started cleaning my room

4) Finished the last chapter of "bright lights, big ass"

5) Finished cleaning my room

6) Fiddled with itunes

7) Checked my email

8) Checked facebook, started a group

9) Checked my RSS feeds

10) Checked my email

11) Started making a bagel for breakfast

12) Cut up cheese to melt on said bagel (mmmm)

13) Looked at nutritional information on cheese for a 1/4" cube, and then at my 2"x"1/2"x1/2" rectangular prism of cheese and decided a heart attack is worth a melty cheese bagel.

14) Resolved never to look at nutritional information of cheese again.

15) Ate cheesy bagel while on facebook and feed reader

16) Decided to print off weekly calendars

17) Decided to dust cat hair off printer first

18) Dusted printer, radiator, and window sill. They are still covered in cat hair.

19) Created calendars

20) Print function doesn't work

21) Reboot

22) Pet Twiggy, try to keep her claws out of my thigh

23) Print function works - but my printer list is gone

24) Realize that my sexy new operating system (Leopard) won't speak with my un-sexy (but very useful) printer.

25) Do a bit of internet research to make sure that's the case

26) It is the case, as far as I can tell.

27) Check my email

28) Go back to my room to draw up a list of things to do without the assistance of my calendar printout.

29) Join online knitting community "Ravelry"

30) Draw up list of things I should be doing

31) Decide to make tea

32) Think about how many things I've done that haven't been productive

33) Start a blog about it

.... am I ever going to graduate?