The Landlord

Life's Little Victories April 2007

April is almost over and I haven't had a chance to do my victories and gratitudes for the month. For awhile I couldn't come up with anything, but once I got started, it was easy. So, here goes....Life's Little Victories:

• Dog sitting.....all the pleasures and joys of having a dog without the expense and fifteen year commitment to scooping poop!
• It is Friday morning and you've just submitted your time sheet-and then your boss tells you to leave work early! A free Friday afternoon without a cut in pay!!!!!
• You throw a birthday party for your husband and nice people come and have a good time : )
• You bought something for cheap off of Craigslist and it works!
• You get a chance to practice and learn a second language (हिंदी) (Hindi)!
• Your favorite fancy soap is on sale! Mmmm, now I smell like coconuts : )
• Getting a compliment from your boss : )

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Americans: Day 6

Slurp!
Originally uploaded by nanodudek.

"Today was my sixth day with the Americans and I pulled out my first mean trick. I woke them up at 6:53AM and begged for breakfast. Those two are so lazy. They said something about it being the weekend. Whatever, I don't care. So, the lady let me out into the yard to do my morning business. Then I pulled my trick! I ran around the side of the house and cried and whined at the back door. But she was waiting and shivering in her nightie at the front door! Bwha ha ha! She couldn't tell where my whines were coming from. By the time she figured it out she had to swing around the side of the house and let me in the back. Hee hee, she was all puffy and confused-looking. Maybe tomorrow morning I will knock over the garbage can!"

Monsieur Doodle

Monsieur Doodle
Originally uploaded by nanodudek.

Every since college I have had a thing for dry erase boards.

I can not walk by a dry erase board and not leave behind a doodle. I might draw a tiny bird if I am pressed for time or stay up late just so I can finish off a cartoon dog. I can only draw silly copies of other people's work, but I get a great big kick out of it : ) !

Monsieur Doodle is a copy of a mustachioed gentleman I saw on a Canadian Tire coupon. I think my guy is cuter!

Look close at the world around you.... you might find inspiration in the mundane.

The Americans: day 1

The Americans: day 1
Originally uploaded by nanodudek.

"Today was my first day with the Americans. It wasn't what I expected. I thought they would feed me burgers and cokes, but all I got was water and dog food. But they are pretty lazy. The Americans are immune to my begging face. I tried my best full-on beggar eyes but the lady put me out in the yard. I'll try again tomorrow. Only 17 days until Jean comes home!"

हिंदी!

क्या भात है!

अभी मेरी ब्लोग हिंदी मे अवैलाब्ले है!

Oh my!

Now my blog is available in Hindi!

Blogger has a transliteration tool that automatically transcibes into Hindi. So, you can write the word samosa समोसा in English and it will automatically be typed into Hindi. Plus, it has spell check. Here are some fun Hind words and phrases:

Namaste
नमस्ते

Who's your daddy?
आपका पिताजी कवन है ?

I will be President someday.
कबी दिन मई प्रेसिडेंट होगी।

I have one billion neighbors.
मेरी पास एक सौ करोड़ परोसी है.

Extra chutney, please.
ज़्यादा चुत्नेय दिजेये।

This one time in band camp....
एक बार बंद कैंप मे.....

Kudos to blogger and Google for designing an accurate and easy to use transliteration tool!

Quadruple Overtime

Earlier this week the Vancouver Canucks won a quadruple overtime game against the Dallas Stars.

Not just one overtime period, but FOUR. These two teams gave it their all for over six hours. About one third of their stadium fans had gone home. The remaining fans were either sleeping in their seats or in a fatigue-induced fanatic dementia. TV affiliates in the US had switched off the game for an infomercial. But the Canucks played on and they won.

It made me think about all the times in my life when I went through quadruple overtime, here's just a few:

• A Saturday morning genetics final when all my friends were already packed and on the road back home
  
• Writing my dissertation in California and flying back to Idaho for my defense
  
• Being the last person to quit in a dysfunctional work environment
  
• After a month of packing, finally loading up the U-haul the day I left for Canada
  

What does it take to make it through quadruple overtime?

• I love school, so showing up at 8am on a Saturday for a genetics exam is like my personal Stanley Cup.
  
• Preparing for my thesis defense was part of the dissertation game.
  
• I was committed to my projects at work and felt determined to complete them, despite the insanity.
  
• I adore my husband, so sleeping on a bath towel amid a pile of boxes was a thrill.

So, what does it take to make it through quadruple overtime?

You really have to love the game.

If you care to share, what was your personal quadruple overtime?

It's NOT in my DNA

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who was raving about their favorite baseball team/handbag designer/gourmet chocolate and heard them claim that their love was deeply embedded in their DNA?

That comment always irked me, and now a genome scientist has called them on it.

Claiming love to be part of your DNA is silly, but my real pet peeve is when someone claims hate to be in their DNA. Hate for Republicans or animal activists or tight shoes, whatever, I can feel my temper rise when I hear someone insist that their hate is 'in their DNA.' It implies that their hate is beyond their control.

The saddest part is that hate IS heritable, not in the genomic sense, but in the sense that it is passed on socially between generations. The truth is, we can root for a new team and change political parties anytime. Thankfully, there is hope, while your genome stays with you your entire life, your feelings of love and hate are not entrenched.

Stanley

I'd like you to meet Stanley. She is the first sweater I have ever knit and she is so cool and awesome that she deserves a man-name like Stanley.

I named her after the Stanley Cup, because a sweater is the Stanley Cup of knitting. You can read technical details about her creation here.

I have been away from my blog because as I came close to finishing this sweater it was hard for me to put it down. It was like a tinderbox on fire!

Lessons that Stanley has taught me:

• Purple has a positive vibration (in fact, the yarn company named this color 'Excite')
• I can apply my analytical skills to just about anything
• Stanley was born on graph paper, sketched out so that every inch of her was carefully engineered (one inch per square)
• I did a pilot experiment (test swatch), washed it and shrunk it, so that the finished sweater would fit properly
• Accuracy and precision are essential, I counted every row so that the front/back and arms would be equal
• Posing like a mannequin makes you feel silly but look thin
• Having a husband who takes your measurements accurately and doesn't complain about going to the yarn store with you is a blessing