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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Snow Days

It's been crazy for the past few days- the snow finally decided to come, and now it won't stop! It's been snowing since Saturday and won't let up. We woke up Sunday morning to find a few inches of snow on the ground and more snow coming down. We didn't think much of it, so we shoveled the driveway and sidewalks then headed to 9 o'clock church. Ironically, despite all the snow and the unplowed streets, we made it to church in record time because no one was out that morning. The church was also empty. Our bishop was just finishing up some meetings and told us they had decided to cancel all the wards. So, we headed back home. I was glad to have a break from teaching primary, but that also means I have no new kid stories. Sorry.

Work and school has gone on, along with the snow. We now have close to a foot and a half of snow accumulation. We'll get a break from the snow tomorrow, but then it starts back up into the weekend. Kevin went and bought another snow shovel so we could decrease the time it takes us to dig out each morning. South Bend is still up and running, which is a miracle since they refuse to plow and salt the streets. There is only one road in town that is cleared so you can actually see some pavement, but it is also a state road. The rest of the roads in South Bend are in very sad shape and will only get worse with temperatures plunging into single digits tomorrow. No one can figure out what happened to all the snow money.


Other happenings...we went to a Harlem Globetrotters show on Friday. We went with a church group and some friends (hey, the tickets were free!). It was bearable. All I could think of the entire time was how everything I was seeing tied into a Simpsons episode somehow. As for school, I still don't like my GLOBES class. I am now learning how the stereotype of professors (aloft, arrogant, out-of-touch, pompous) came about. Our class is from 6-9pm; I get to school at 7:50am and stay there the whole day. By the time 9pm comes around, I'm very ready to go home. Our professor, however, showed no signs of stopping by 9:15pm. Kevin was picking me up and waiting outside, but the professor kept yammering on and on. I got mad and started putting my things away (non-discretely), pulled on my coat and gloves, walked all the way across the room, and left. I don't know how much longer the guy went on talking. I really don't mind staying longer for a class (I did last semester for our other 6-9pm class- once until 10pm!), but this professor is just interested in hearing himself talk and wasn't adding anything useful. Maybe I'm just rude, or it's hormones, or the fact that I've been in school for 20 years is making me grumpy! But I don't want to set a precedence for the rest of the semester for this guy. Nine o'clock means we should be going home.

Some good news- we found a Korean market just a few minutes away from us. We found it by luck. While we were couch shopping, I noticed a lot of Asian-looking people driving out of a parking lot next to the furniture store. I figured there must be an Asian market there. So, when Kevin wanted to make bulgogi, we went back to the area and found the market. Kevin's always a hit with Koreans. His Korean is still excellent, and he impresses everyone he talks to. I love how Koreans always insist on talking to me even though Kevin is the one who answers them. Anyways, enough for now. Stay warm and dry! Hopefully we won't get snowed in!

Friday, January 26, 2007

What's the matter with kids?!

I'm not having any luck at all with kids lately. Last Sunday I was teaching my primary class consisting of 5 year olds when I had a little girl try to steal from me (yes, I'm in primary- go ahead and laugh). I had CTR rings (ironically it stands for "Choose The Right") for each of the ten kids in my class. I explained to them I only had enough rings for each to have one for the entire year. Four kids weren't there, so I had four extra rings. One girl was very adamant about passing the rings out to everyone, so I let her. After she'd gone around the room and given everybody a ring, I saw her quickly stuff the four extra rings in various pockets. She then handed me back the empty box. When I asked her where the extra rings were, she said that there weren't any other rings. I told her there should be four extra rings for each of the missing class members. She then reluctantly pulled one extra ring out of a pocket and handed it to me. I asked her where the other three were, and she finally pulled them out of her various pockets and handed them back to me. This isn't the type of behavior I'd expect from a 5 year old. Maybe this next Sunday we'll have a special lesson on honesty.

As for other things in life, it's only the second week of classes and I'm already falling behind. I'm only taking two courses but am afraid they'll be my only preoccupation for the semester. I'm taking a great genomics class taught by Dr. Ferdig. I'm really enjoying that class; it's a bit scattered right now, but Dr. Ferdig really tailors the class to the students' needs. My other course is required for my GLOBES fellowship: it's called 'The History and Philosophy of Human Health and Environment,' which means it's about anything and everything and no one has a clue what to expect. It's every Monday from 6-9pm. So far, it's horrible. We are required to read 300+ pages of text every week plus 2 write-ups and other weekly projects. When we students brought up the heavy reading load, we were told to, "Man up and just do it." The instructor is a history professor, not a biology one. They read a lot in history, but in biology we read what we need to and spend a great deal of our time doing lab research. When some GLOBES biology professors looked at the syllabus, they got angry. They said 6-8 hours of reading a week is fine, but 40 hours is too much. They said they'd talk to the instructor about the coursework load. Hopefully it changes.

As for lab work, I've started working in Dr. McDowell's lab studying sand flies that transmit leishmania. They've really immersed me in the lab work: I've been spending a lot of time there and learning tons. I'm isolating RNA and making cDNA libraries of the salivary gland of the sand fly. It's exciting because I've never done RNA work before. Once we create a library from the different sand fly populations, we'll see if it's possible to create a vaccine against sand fly saliva and, hence, leishmaniasis. If I stay in Dr. McDowell's lab, this will be part of my project.

Not much else is going on. It's finally snowed enough to cover the grass, and it's gotten very cold. I've also decided not to invite that
woman with her ill-behaved kids back to my house. I have to deal with other people's kids every Sunday, and that's plenty.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

More complaints

Sorry to be such a whiner today, but I just had some people come visit me, and one of them brought her two children. Her little boy is 3 and her daughter is 1. Kids aren't my forte, but I like them well enough. I love my nieces and nephews and don't mind them, but other people's kids are something else. Especially when they are not well behaved. The visit started off well enough except for the boy standing on my new couch with his snow boots on. After a while, both kids decided to go through the things on my coffee table. After drawing on things and pushing every single button on my remote controls, they headed to our fish tank. The little boy was entranced with the fish, but the girl got bored and decided to climb onto my kitchen table and play with the things up there, throwing some things on the ground. Her mother made little 'tsk'-ing noises (which did nothing) and would occasionally retrieve her daughter and place her back on the couch. The kid would stay there for a couple seconds then beeline it straight back to the kitchen table. After a while I noticed a foul smell coming from the little girl. I kept watching the clock, hoping they'd leave soon but didn't say anything. When the little girl (still at the kitchen table) started playing with my cell phone and our $600 GPS unit, I told her mother that she needed to get down. After fetching the girl, the mother said they should get going. Hallelujah! But first, she wanted her son to use the bathroom since they'd be driving in the car for 15 minutes (is that a super long time for kids?). I directed her to our guest bathroom where she shooed the boy in. The boy left the door wide open while he went and came out a while later with no 'flush' sound following. He ran back into the living room and started playing with one of our flashlights. His mom told him to put it back because they were leaving. The boy ignored her. She told him to put it back again. He ignored her. She started counting, "One...two...you don't want me to get to three..." The boy, unfazed, continued to play. The mom finally just snatched it from him and herded him toward the door. After shutting (and locking!) the door behind them, I looked back toward the guest bathroom, wondering what I'd find. The boy had put the toilet seat back down, so I slowly lifted it up. Yep, nice yellow water with matching pee all over the seat. He never washed his hands either.

So my question is this: What is the proper etiquette for handling ill-behaved children in your home whose parents can't control them or don't seem to care?
This isn't nearly as bad as some other experiences I've had, but I'm starting to see a rather disturbing trend. I know some people will say, "Just wait and see how you do when you have kids!" But I would hope I'd have the courtesy to wipe up the pee my child splattered all over someone else's bathroom.

I know we all have stories like this; post them if you'd like. I'm also thinking of buying the book shown in the above image by Adrianne Frost. I've thought about buying it before, but now it's a must-have. That's all for now...I've got pee to clean up.

Why can't an ivy league school make online registration work?

I just need to release a bit of frustration- it's really lame that Notre Dame has so much trouble with their online registration. Actually, they have a lot of trouble with anything online. But their online registration is especially messed up. I was supposed to be able to register for classes back in November, but you can't register for a class unless you have special permission by either the instructor or the department. Most professors tell you to wait until the first week of classes to register so it can be handled all at once. So, you show up for the first class, put your name on a sheet of paper, the teacher takes that list and gives it to another professor in charge of manually entering in each student into the computer system, then the student goes and registers online. I honestly don't know why they won't let you take any graduate courses without special permission (graduate students also can't take undergraduate courses without special permission). The whole process is unnecessarily convoluted. By the second week of classes I should be registered for my classes.

My other complaint is why do I have to have a professor signed add/drop card to return a textbook I bought from the ND bookstore. It makes no sense! I have the receipt! Another gripe is the enrollment issue. You have to enroll every semester; this is different from registering. Enrollment is a signed document telling ND that yes, you will be attending the university that semester. Even if you somehow managed to register for classes, you still have to fill it out. Otherwise, you are thought to be a dropout and are booted from the university and have to reapply to get back in. Notre Dame's system is in dire need of a makeover. Who knows, maybe it's 'tradition' that makes them keep their crazy system.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Our New Purchase


After a year of research, looking, more research, and more looking we finally got up the determination to follow through with buying a new car. We bought a 2006 Toyota Camry.

Both Becky and I feel like we got a good deal on the vehicle and plan on having if for a long time. Sure its nothing fancy but it will be reliable and has a very smooth ride. Plus it will be nice to have two cars again so Becky does not have to ride her bike everywhere. The car (yet to be named) seems happy to join the Miller family and we look forward to driving it for now on. btw, the head lights are not stickers. :-)

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Car Woes

We've had a bit of car trouble for the past week. Of course, the car started having trouble while I was driving it. Part of the clutch went out while I was running errands, and I got stranded in a shopping center parking lot. Nobody was around to give me a ride and Kevin wasn't answering his phone, so I hoofed it the 2.5 miles home. Walking usually isn't such a big deal, but I had injured my foot a couple days before and with all the walking it swelled and started to really hurt. Luckily a friend was able to pick up Kevin from work and drive us to our stranded car. It turns out the car repairs weren't major and the car was easily fixed once the parts came in. We ended up renting a car for a few days while the car was in the shop. All in all, we were very lucky but were forced to acknowledge our car's waning health. We have now started looking for a new car-something more practical than a two-door sports car.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Home Owners

In helping with Kevin's New Year Resolution, I thought I could help catch the blog up. We bought a house in South Bend and are really enjoying being home owners. The yard needs a lot of work, but the house itself is in great shape. We love being able to turn up the music and watch movies late at night without worrying about the neighbors upstairs. It's a cozy three bedroom house which gives us plenty of room for guests!

Notre Dame is going well--it has been a bit of an adjustment, but I'm liking it. The GLOBES program is progressing but still has a long ways to go. I'm currently rotating through Dr. Ferdig's lab which studies drug-resistance in malaria. I love it there. My next rotation will be through Dr. McDowell's lab studying leishmania. I have a feeling that the next semester is going to keep me really busy. I officially graduated with my master's from BYU this December. Doesn't feel like much of an accomplishment since I'm still in school.

We got season tickets to the Fightin' Irish home games. It was a totally new way to experience college football for us. We're still learning all the traditions and are planning to get tickets again next season. Hopefully the football team will live up to expectations next Fall.

Kevin is working as a computer technician at an accounting firm downtown. He's really good at it and is doing well there. He has to work weekends but we're making the necessary adjustments. We'll see how it goes with tax season ahead.

Thanksgiving was spent here in South Bend with friends. We bought a fresh organic turkey from the local farmer's market and cooked it ourselves. I was nervous about messing up the turkey and ruining Thanksgiving, but everything turned out delicious. It was a great Thanksgiving, and we were glad to spend it with friends.


We flew back to Utah for Christmas and bounced between families and different activities. It was hectic but a lot of fun. We really enjoyed seeing everybody again although it didn't feel like we had ever left. We ate out a lot. Next time we'll come up with another way to socialize.


Hope everyone is doing well! Happy New Year!

Saturday, January 06, 2007

New Year, New Resolutions


First I'd like to apologize to everyone for being such a slacker and not keeping this updated. It is one of my goals to make posts more then I have the last 5 months. Look for post to come with updates about where we are now and what we have been doing.

I just wanted to do a quick post to congratulate Todd and Jenny Miller on their new baby boy, Ian. Way to make the front pages and top news of Seattle. Quite the story. Talk about life in the fast lane. You must click the link to read the story and watch the video.