Yoga

I love yoga. I've been doing it for a few years now and each time I start a new session of classes, I am reminded that I don't belong where I am. Nice isn't it. By this I mean my life goals and plans. Why am I doing what I am? Wouldn't I have been happier doing something else with my life? I'm sure every individual goes through this, but the funny thing with yoga is that at then end of it all, I feel good about not caring. Not caring about grad school. Why? Because it is giving me an ulcer and it's seems to not be worth it. On the whole I enjoy grad school; the people are great and I do love science, specifically research. But is it worth going through mental and physical deterioration just for the edification of myself? See the terrible, but great things yoga does? But like I said, at the end of a class I leave feeling like all the stress and worries are ok and that it's ok to hate it all. 'Cause in the end, it really doesn't matter. In the end, I will finish my PhD and it will merely be a drop in the bucket along with the many different trials and errors of my life. At least I have someone with me who is going through the same himself :)
So yoga is great. It keeps me in check; making me always think about the simple things and minimizing the complex. And of course, it's always nice to be able to do this. For strength training of course ;)
Off to Fez . It's been a long day in lab. Some deep breathing and a few drinks, everything will be better tomorrow and if it isn't, I will make it be better.

Finally, down time in NYC

Now that the wedding and stuff are all over, I can resume my normal life. Friday night, Mike and I watched The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I thought the movie was great, quirky and creative, but more than anything I loved the music. Another item to add to my Amazon wish list. On Saturday, Mike and I rode our bikes down the Hudson River Park Greenway. We can hop right on to it from our apt (okay, really you have to ride your bike down the block and on the overpass, then your on the greenway.) and ride all the way down to Battery Park. The ride down was great and is about 24.5 miles round trip. There were also free kayak rentals along the way, something we will have to do next time. The weather was great and riding our bikes amongst all the people out was exciting (annoying sometimes; I mean really, do you HAVE to walk 4 abreast?). For me, the smells, sounds, and views of NYC always comfort me and make me feel so happy to be a part of all of this; to have this as my home. I think Steve Reich captures it very well in City Life. Check it out! Also, it's always tons of fun seeing the the apt. building I grew up in. Hi Mom and Dad!
When we got to Battery Park, we saw there was a Culture Festival which is all part of the River to River events. Of course there was an Indian food stand and this made our PB & J, apple and granola packed lunches look sad. Nonetheless, we ate our lunches by the river, saw an incredibly ripped guy (Seriously, this man could take down a tiger without a problem. Mike could see his muscles without his glasses.) doing acrobatics, and walked around. Mike broke down and got a plate of vegetarian samosas. We rode our bikes back and got ready to go to KaShan and Cisco's house for a BBQ. It was a great time and excellent food.
This morning I got to do something I haven't done in so long and it made me incredibly happy. Mike and I got breakfast, sat down to eat at home and read the Sunday Times. It was wonderful. We then went to the farmers' market at Columbia's main campus. We are trying to buy most of our vegetables and meats there since it supports local farmers and free range happy animals. Plus the prices are better.
Tonight if the weather stays nice, we will make dinner and walk up to the Cloisters and have a picnic dinner. Then I will read scientific papers and cap off an excellent weekend.

I want to believe

I don't know if you have heard about the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but if you haven't you definitely should. This makes so many scientists I know so happy. It's hysterical, but true. After all, he does state all the scientific evidence supporting the existence and power of His Noodleness. And it has the backing of soooo many PhDs. How many creation theories you know have the support of that many accomplished scientist? And of course, any belief system that recognizes pirates and the key role they play in the development of our biology, ecology and society receives my upmost respect. For an overview of the FSM and its influence on our society check it out here.

Oh yeah, I went to the mouse house. Nothing like three hours at the mouse house.

Procrastinate, v.trans. To postpone till another day; to put off from day to day; to defer, delay

This is how the Oxford English Dictionary defines procrastinate. I think it should read: Hyunmi's reason for not having gone to the mouse house.
I haven't gone. I am a bad person. I say everyday that I will go, and I haven't. I hate that place, but once I get there it isn't bad. It's like going to eat Chinese food for dinner again for the umpteenth time only to find that you never really get sick of hot and sour soup or in my case, bridal showers. So I HAVE to visit my mice tomorrow. If I don't...well...nothing really will happen...See, in there lies the problem.
Ok, I have just made sure that Alex in my lab needs mice from me. If I don't go, neither one of us will ever graduate and what remains of our souls will surely perish. This means I have to go. But I had a good reason not to go today. I had to go lift weights and then go home to watch the rest of Sin City.
Tonight Mike and I dine on penne with homemade basil-mint pesto with summer vegetables and homemade rosemary tofu/turkey meatballs. A nice bottle of white, some Sin City, and of course a pickle or two, makes for an excellent end to a non-mouse house day.

What it feels to walk to work...

Everyday I walk to work. On the way I have to walk past a park. I don't walk past this park on my way home because of the amount of cat-calling I encounter. It's usually your regular comments that are said. For example, "Hey hot mama, what ju' do'in lata?" Or, "Mmmmmm, ju' lookin so good." I don't appreciate this. As a result, I always walk on the other side of the street. Strange how it seems to not infiltrate the other side of the street. That's what I always thought until this morning. I walked out of my apt. wearing a black fitted tank and straight leg dark blue jeans and sandals, Keens to be exact. I had a sidepack and was wearing my glasses. Nothing different than any other day. But the minute I get to my corner, there is a guy standing by the Starbucks and he says, "Baby, lookin good. How about a nice hot coffee for your nice hot body? Looking good in those pants..." What the hell is that?! This continues the entire 14 blocks I walked to work today. The best/worst being from two incredibly obese men, one with a walkie talkie phone thing (I HATE those things). Man X says, "Hey sexy, those pants be looking fine." Man Y (with the walkie talkie) says, "Hot mama; (then into his walkie talkie) I am looking at a fine thing in some NICE pants." What's up with the pants?! And why is there a person on every street making a comment today. Why it has expanded beyond the park is my main question. Being that I am never one to let unwelcomed comments go, I made a disparaging remark. They seemed un-fazed. Hmph!
However, I am giving my neighborhood a bad reputation. It's not bad, just...colorful.
Take a look for yourself.
Things going on in and about Washington Heights
Movies- Mad Hot Ballroom and Washington Heights

Climbing

I had an excellent weekend. It was so fantastic that I didn't mind missing the half marathon. I had my departmental retreat this weekend which was held at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa instead of its usual location. The Hudson Valley Resort is very close to the Shawangunks which means climbing! So Mike went hiking with Joe and Vijay and left me with the car (Boy do I HATE driving. My dream is to be able to bike, run, walk or take the metro everywhere for the rest of my life.). This meant Josh and I could get to the cliffs during our free time. After Josh gave a great talk about BMP signaling in the developing spinal cord, we suited up and drove away. We decided that we would climb Drunkard's Delight. This was a great three pitch climb led by Josh where I had to do some crazy heel hooking (involving my feet to be at the same level of my hands to make it over the roof). It's been SO long since I have climbed that I was hurting after we were done. Bloody hands and a tight calf, but it was excellent. Josh did an excellent job with gear placement.
On Sunday when the conference (a dept. that views drinking as a key element to scientific progress can only be great!) ended, we were planning to climb and meet up with Mark, another Columbian, but I was very hesitant. My hips were bothering me and not to mention a sore bottom from climbing! In the end, I popped three Alleves and decided to climb. It was great. We climbed a hybrid of Nice Crack Climb (5.7) and Black Fly (5.5), then Ken's Crack (5.7) which was tricky until I did a lay-back. Then Josh and I finished up the day with Bunny (5.4). By the time we were done, I was rappelling as the sun set. We packed up with no headlamps (that was dumb) and headed to meet Joe and Mike. As it turned out, they had been drinking for a while which always makes things...amusing :) The best part was when Josh asked Joe what he thought about the vegetarian falafel platter and Joe's advice was to get a meat dish. Mike and I looked at each other and knew that we had entered a bizzaro dimension. We topped the night off with ice cream at Cookies and Cream (and learned that Joe cannot do math) and stayed the night at Joe's as we were too tired (or too buzzed) to drive back.
As a result of climbing, I am having difficulty typing with my sore and bloody hands (I hand jam WAY too often) and have some nice bruises on my legs. It's a reminder that I need to climb more. No wimps allowed.

Danger Mouse

I just read this article from CNN and thought, "Hmm...this is very bad." Working in a lab, this article made me think about all the things that can go wrong with labs. I won't expand on these. However, I will point out that my favorite part of the article was, "Federal officials said the mice may never be accounted for. Among other things, the rodents may have been stolen, eaten by other lab animals or just misplaced in a paperwork error." Well now, this is no consolation (unless they were infact eaten by other animals which DOES happen). Animals were stolen? Misplaced by paperwork? Come on! Animals like these aren't you basic furry friends in the mouse house. Perhaps these individuals responsible didnt know what the bubonic plague was. Either way, the situation is absurd.
On a similar note, we have a furry friend in the apt. Mike and I heard it while in the kitchen one night and we immediately checked the source of the noise. To our dismay, we found a few mouse dropping (I am an expert in identifying mouse droppings if anyone needs any help). So we set up mouse traps. The kind with deadly springs. We are using peanut butter with a bit of cheese as bait. No luck yet, though I did get my toes caught in one last night. Hopefully we will catch Mickey and his gang pretty soon. But I hope no mice with Hanta virus were reported missing recently!

Hello, this is my musband...

This has been a long week and it's only Wednesday. I keep boycotting a trip to the mouse house and I am dragging my feet at making my poster for the Dept. Retreat this weekend (at least it's in New Platz and will be able to climb a bit). Mike and I have been really into making great dinners. Well, I have to say that I generally cook and come up with the menu, but he is quite the helpful kitchen elf.
While buying our groceries the other day in Whole Foods by Central Park, we saw Conan. I didn't notice him, but Mike did and continued to ogle at him over the pineapples. He was over by the red plums and so I rolled the cart over by the apples to see if it really was him, and it was. So once he left (he is quite tall), I went over and picked up some red plums, probably the same ones he indented with his thumb. I felt bad for him because many people were doing the, "I love your show!" bit. I bet the guy just wants to buy his food in peace.
Today for the first time I had to refer to Mike as a husband and not a boyfriend. The transition is pretty bizarre. As a result, when I was talking to a new student I started to say, "M....usband....And I live on 181st." I wanted to say Mike or boyfriend, but the end product was MUSBAND. She looked very confused but I think she assumed I was not a native speaker of English or had a speech impediment and so did not ask me to repeat. I quickly repeated. "HUsband...HUsband..." and wound up sounding like Rainman.
Oh well...I would like you to meet my musband....

Work, Wedding and Washington

It's been a while, but nothing really to mention. Work is work. The days are generally long, but made bearable by the intermittent shouting and bell-ringing (obviously every work force needs a bell to indicate someone has just been terribly insulted). However, the best part of work is the amount of STUFF I leave in lab...Just in case. The following items can be found in my locker and around my desk:
1. Bathing suit w/ goggles, ear plugs, cap and quick dry towel
2. Yoga bag and mat
3. 5 person tent
4. 3 pairs of shoes (sneaker, slip ons (for radiation work), and boots
5. Three pairs of pants, three shirts, two sweater, one hat and two scarves
6. Two pairs of underwear and socks (both clean) and running shorts (dirty)
7. Shampoo and conditioner, face wash and deodorant
8. tupperware and about 6 stuffed animals
9. Stacks and stacks of CD's
10. Food. Mostly rotten.
I think I am accumulating more things in lab than at home. Usually it's the first sign of a relationship-problem when one half starts to relocate, but this is me just being a pack-rat/workaholic. Either way, a lot of my stuff has been very useful for Katie.
That being said, I just got married. Yay! I had a great time and I think most who attended did as well. My favorite part was finding out that Mike's chest was caving in as he said his vows. hehe...Actually the best part was going to Harvest Moon afterwards and then to the Grease trucks. Of course by this time I had become quite the inebriated bride, but when you're the bride people tend not to get angry at you. Like when you spit a piece of a Fat Darrell in Alison's face, laugh then try to hide. It was also awesome meeting Chris Lane, Mike's best man. All in all it was excellent and we are very happy. It was the best day of my life.
After the wedding, we spent the next day at Vijay's (Vijay...What can I say...You did not act quickly...) then headed off to Mt. Rainier National Park in WA. It was incredible out there. I could have hiked forever, but our hut was really sweet and so did not mind going back to an outdoor private hot tub. We spent a few days at the park, then headed to Seattle. Nice city, good weather. I am always shocked with cities' skyline. I guess since Seattle is a metropolitan area, I thought it would be like NYC. Of course I was stupid to think this, but I think it's a by-product of having been around NYC my entire life. We had a great time.
Well, we had the WORST flight home but made up for it by going to the Central Park Zoo later that day with Dan (and running into Alison and John).
So nothing like coming home and going back to work. The mouse house awaits me. Also, the half marathon I was looking forward to is not happening. I mean, it is, just not the gang. No Hyunmi and the gang. All for very good reasons (except Joe and Vijay, you losers) and so there will be other races. I just think its funny that the worst runner was the only one still interested. At least now I can go hiking with the guys...Oh wait, no...I have a science conference to go to instead. I think running the race was my ticket out of the meeting...FOILED AGAIN! Katie and i will now have to hide in our hotel room playing Trivial Pursuit. Once you sell your soul to science, you never get it back. Oh, and I take back the "nothing to mention" stated earlier.