FDOT Project: So, we've been having all kinds of fun running the field study for the transportation safety grant I'm working on now.  The testing facility is an abandoned trailer park out near the airport.  We have to have a police officer on site any time we are running participants.  Also, the sign apparatus we are using for the study is a little dangerous, so we wear hard hats when changing the signs.  After all, open head injuries aren't any fun.  So far there has been nothing exciting going on with respect to the project.  However, yesterday some people from the City of Tallahassee came down and said they saw people hunting in the general vicinity.  This is not good.  People should not be hunting this close to a street.  Of course, it isn't like rednecks care about these things...so anything is possible.  Now I get to add "getting shot" to my list of possible work hazards.

Yesterday there was another annoying thing going on when we were trying to run a participant.  There are at least 3 experimenters at any given time and we are hardly ever working within shouting distance.  We use radios to keep in touch during the study.  Anyway, some kids had a civilian band radio scanner and kept busting in on our channel and being idiots.  Finally they got bored and went on to do something else.  Still, it was frustrating.  Hopefully they won't do it again.  I hate kids.

We also saw a really freaky guy walking along the street toward our test site yesterday.  He was wearing a leather jacket with tassels, jeans, big aviator sunglasses, and A TOP HAT.  Oh, he was also carrying a large can of beer.  The guy definitely ranked up there as one of the strangest characters I've seen in public.  Since the guy was obviously a freak, the two of us decided to call and give the other experimenters a heads up.  Good thing the cop was still around.  Actually, in retrospect, I think this is the look the guy was going for:

http://www.bighairmetal.com/Outlaw%20Country/Bocephus.gif

Cats:  Like any other healthy cats, my cats periodically like to bring home "gifts".  Around Thanksgiving they brought in a live garter snake.  I say "they" because I don't know which cat is doing it.  I'm pretty sure it is Alex, but Neo is also quite the little killer.  Most of the time, the stuff they bring in is easily identifiable.  However, the most recent "gift" was very puzzling.  It was a white, furry chunk of meat.  I call it a chunk of meat because I have no idea what it was.  I got two other opinions and we never did come to any consensus.  At first, I thought that the "meat" was just a mouse or shrew, but it lacked a face, tail, and legs.  For the most part, mice should have these things.  If they've been chewed on there should still be infrastructure for these things.  The piece of meat in question seemed to lack any evidence of infrastructure.  It was basically a bloody stump at both ends.  During one inspection, we thought that it seemed to have a claw attached to it.  The "meat" was definitely just the right size to be a paw.  It wasn't Neo's paw because he was sporting all 4.  It was too large to be a squirrel paw.  The hair wasn't right for it to be a possum.  It could have been the paw of another cat or of a small dog.  A rabbit would be another possibility.  It seems unlikely that my cats would chew the foot off of a cat or dog...but a rabbit would be plausible.  Finally, after a good bit of inspection, I took the meat chunk and tossed it out the back door.  Then, some time later I decided that the cats would just bring it back...so I tossed it into the neighbor's yard.  After all, they have cats too...so I'm sure they are used to finding that sort of thing around.  Yes, I am kind of a jerk.  It was a pretty small object anyway.  There's a good chance it landed between the two fences and no one will find it.  At least it isn't my problem now.  I am still puzzling over what it may have been.  Rabbit foot is my best guess at the moment.  I guess I should probably go look for the rest of it today, before it gets dark.

Tags: bocephus, cats, dead stuff, experiments, fdot
Current Location: FSU - My office
Current Mood: sick

Well, this might not end up being 10 things.  This seems like the kind of task where other people would be able to come up with more things than me.  I don't think I do anything strange.  Everything I do is well-reasoned and has a logical purpose.

1.  I like to say things that others may or may not find amusing, then laugh at them myself.

2.  I will put Tabasco sauce on nearly any food...including canned tuna.

3.  I wear a bra 99% of the time.  Seriously.  I sleep in bras.

4.  I cannot stand the sound of certain noises.  While the noise of the vacuum is horrifying, I particularly despise "flesh noises".  "Flesh noises" are when dry skin rubs against other dry skin.  For example, if you need lotion and then rub your fingers together, you have made an accursed "flesh noise".

5.  If glass is broken anywhere near me I will spend at least 10 minutes checking myself for injury.  The absence of blood is not enough to deter this behavior.  I think this fear came from this one time where someone dropped a bottle and it actually did injure me, requiring 7 stitches in my shin.

6.  I cannot look at my own injuries.  If at all possible, I will have someone else look at the injury and describe it to me a bit at a time.  This person must not make comments such as "oh no" or "that looks pretty bad".  They must limit the commentary to answering my specific questions.  I think I do this so that I can control how much of the stressful injury situation I expose myself to at once.

7. Anytime I get a headache I think I have meningitis.  This is obviously irrational, but I am still very afraid of having meningitis.  I am also afraid of flesh eating bacteria, heart failure and arrhythmia, and particularly virulent strains of strep. 

8.  Although I know it is unreasonable, I believe that one of my cats has conscious experience.  He's very smart.  Can you tell I'm grasping at straws here?

9.  I don't like air to blow on my face.  This means that I cannot drive faster than 25 mph with the windows down.  I also cannot sit near an A/C vent or in front of a fan.

10.  I don't like buying shoes.  Whenever possible I replace my shoes with the EXACT same type of shoes that I am currently wearing.  I will continue doing this until I absolutely cannot find the same shoes anymore.  My record is 3 pairs of identical shoes.  My favorite shoes used to be Adidas Response Trials, but I haven't liked the most recent ones.  Now I am on my second pair of ASICS Gel-Kahanas.  Did you know that ASICS is an acronym for some stupid, Latin phrase?  It is.

Feel free to post any strange habits that I might have missed.

Current Location: Lab
Current Mood: apathetic

Video 21 is a video store in Tallahassee.  It is the most awesome video store I have ever been to.  The store is FULL of movies, old and new.  It has a gigantic collection of cult stuff...including asian cult cinema.  So, last night we went a little crazy renting stuff.  Here's the list:

1.  Weeds, Season 1
2.  Shaolin vs. Evil Dead (with the subtitle "Everyone was zombie fighting!")
3.  Vitus (some Swiss movie about a kid who is a piano prodigy)
4.  Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit, and the Era of Predatory Lenders (this one seemed to have won a lot of awards)

Movie #5 was one of those that you can't believe is real.  Behold, it's name is "Doggy Poo"!
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=348

Seriously, leave it up to the Koreans to make a movie about the lifelong struggle of a pile of dog poop.  The poop even cries!  It is easily the strangest thing I've ever seen.  You know I had to rent it.

Now, these videos are all due back on Friday by 11.  The question is...will I make it?  Late fees x 5 = Sadness.

Tags: asian cult cinema, doggy poo, indie movies
Current Location: My Cube at FSU
Current Mood: tired

I logged in to my MySpace page to find the following ad staring me in the face:

http://www.getsurro.com/index.html

For some reason I found it just disgusting.  I have no idea why.  I guess it was at least partially because the average age of people on MySpace is probably like 16 or 17 years old.  What kind of person decides that they'd be willing to be pregnant for $18,000?  It sounds miserable.  Gross.  I'm grossed out.

Wow, it's been a while since I posted.  There has been a lot going on, but I don't think that any of it is particularly interesting.  For starters, I have now officially relocated to the US.  The DL and I spent several days setting up my new room/nerd cave.  The most notable addition to my possessions is this little guy:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665192800

The TV is totally sweet and fits neatly at the end of my bed.  It is doubling as a computer monitor as well.  I guess I justified this purchase because I didn't end up having to replace my car and I felt that I deserved something for my Germany ordeal.  Some of my saved up stipend money paid for the TV.  Now I can practice my Guitar Hero skills in the privacy of my room.

Right now I am in Long Beach, CA for a conference.  It ran from Nov. 15 to Nov. 18.  The conference was pretty nifty and now I have to spend some time consolidating the stuff I saw there.

I also made my first professional conference presentation at the International Association for Metacognition conference on the 15th.  Up until now I have always done posters, never talks.  This year I presented my master's research.  The talk went really well.  Some people even came up to me and spontaneously complemented both my talk and the research.  Although I was the only graduate student presenting, it was said that my talk was one of the best.  Cool.

Today the DL and I are heading up to visit his mom in Pismo Beach.  We'll hang around there for a few days and then will drive up to visit his dad on Thanksgiving.  Then, on the 26th, the DL returns to Germany and I will go back to Tallahassee.  So far I have been avoiding thinking about that reality.  It makes me pretty miserable if I think too deeply about it.  Hopefully he will get to come back for Christmas, so this first bit of time apart won't be very long.

Yup, that's about all that is going on.

Ever thought to yourself that beer and coke might taste good together?  No, me neither.  Well, guess what...the Germans are pushing the cutting edge of mixed drinks.  Even though Germany has lots of delicious beer, people actually buy this:

http://www.cab-drink.com/

Not only that, but there are several other "beer mix" products.  Warsteiner even has a cola + beer drink.  How long before this catches on in the US?  I hope that it never does.  I tried the Cab drink.  It was narsty to the max.  However, I plan to try the Warsteiner variant very soon...just to make sure it is nasty too.  I wouldn't want to miss out on something delicious.

Apparently energy drinks are as big here as they are in the US.  Red Bull is everywhere, even in the snack machines at the S and U-Bahn stations.  I guess they have to be in the snack machines because the cans are an odd shape and size and don't fit into drink machines.  There are some fun Red Bull knockoffs too.  So far, my favorite has to be Power Bat.  I love the blatant ripoffness of it.  Red Bull...Power Bat.  Descriptive word + interesting animal = energy drink name. 

Check out the Power Bat site:  http://www.powerbat.ch/

Finally, we have Black Bastard.  I haven't tried this one either.  In fact, I think I am going to have to give up energy drinks altogether, but that is another story.

http://blackbastard.eu/

The DL and I are taking off tomorrow.  Hopefully I will have some new pictures.  This may be my final set of Germany pics for a while since we are leaving to go back to the US on Friday.  That should be fun...2 cats...long international flight.  What's not to love?  I hope Neo refrains from laying any massive deuces like last time.  That cat stays locked and loaded at all times.  This time we will not have the benefit of fine American products like Dry Fur crate pads and kitty wet wipes.  I'm planning to try and wet the ones we have leftover from the trip here...either that or get some baby wipes.  As for crate pads, I will be looking for some kind of substitute product tomorrow.

I finally beat "Play With Me" on Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80's.  If I do say so myself, I totally rock.  It has taken quite a while to get through that last part.  Because I am awesome, I had to beat it on Expert with the hyperspeed code activated for the victory to "count" in my mind.  Now I feel that I can take on Guitar Hero III with a clear conscience.  GH3 is going to be released on the 28th of this month and my copy will be waiting for me at Mom's house when I get to the US.  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Here's something odd.  For some reason, my copy of Rocks the 80's will only play in French.  My copy of GH2 plays in English.  What gives? 

My newest pictures are posted on Facebook..  Some are of our apartment and others document my awesome Guitar Hero accomplishments.

I'll post a link when I get them on Google.

Current Location: MPI
Current Mood: Defiant

The German government has my passport!!!!!!!  We sent our passports to the visa office with the MPI's driver.  Now I am scared that I won't have it back in time to go home!  They told the DL that we would have them back Nov. 1.  We are supposed to fly out of here on Nov. 2.  These people have not been good about doing what they say they will do in a timely manner.  I do not trust them.  The DL demanded them back by Oct. 30th.  I want mine now.  When he gets home today I will see what's up.  I think I will go to the embassy tomorrow or Friday and ask for another...just in case.  At least I can find out if I can get back into the US without it.

All I want is to go home.  Do you think they will let me back in without it?  I am not so sure they will.  I have my birth certificate, maybe that will help.  Besides, we have been an illegal immigrants since the 17th of this month.  Now I have done it all.  When was the last time any of you were illegal immigrants?  It is less fun that I thought it would be.  I feel naked without the passport...scared.

Current Location: Internet cafe
Current Mood: nervous

Remember a few posts back when I expressed anxiety about having to reveal some "news".  Well, to use yet another trite cliché: The cat's out of the bag.

All my resignation letters have been sent and I am going back to FSU!  Although the decision was tough, the DL and I believe that this was the right option for me.  Like many things in psychology, this decision was multiply determined.  I think the worst thing about this decision has been that there are things that will seriously suck about either option.  It was hard to decide which would suck the least. 

Worst thing about leaving: Being away from the DL. 
Worst thing about staying: Becoming clinically depressed and ruining my career.
Best thing about leaving: Returning to a somewhat normal life, getting strong again, and getting my Ph.D.
Best thing about staying: I get to continue to be with my DL.

See how the options are frustrating?

I had expected that people would bother me more, but they didn't.  For the most part, the people here that I've talked so far to have been pretty nice.  The other students I've told have been supportive and totally understand since they suffered the atrocities at the Jena school with me.  As for the higher ups, I probably wouldn't go so far as to say "supportive"...but I'm fine with "not mean".  The worst thing that has been said to me so far is "Well, it's your life".  At first, because I am slow with such things, this didn't register as a negative comment.  However, in retrospect I think the phrase generally has a negative connotation.  I imagine it being used in a context such as that:

Me:  Science isn't really working out for me right now.  I was thinking that I'd get my entire body tattooed in a leopard pattern and join a traveling circus as "Leopard Woman".

Listener:  Well, it's your life.

See how well it fits there?  Of course, if that is the worst insult I suffer then I am happy.

So...the die has been cast.  Let's see what the next few months hold for me.



In other, happier news, the DL's birthday present finally arrived.  I got him Alan Greenspan's new book from amazon.com.  It was ordered well before his birthday, but it just arrived a few days ago.  The big adventure was obtaining said item from the post office.  Here's the sequence of events.

1. A few days ago we get a slip in the mailbox with my name on it.  This usually means that I have a package and have missed the postman.  Of course, we can't read the slip, so we take it to work to get someone to read it for us. 

2.  I forget the slip on the DL's desk for several days. It was on the desk as a memory cue because we have no Internet at home and we need Google maps to locate the post office.  For some reason the package was at a post office that was very far from where we live.

3.  Today I decided to try and get the package.  I knew that the post office was near the penultimate stop on the U9 line heading toward Rathaus Steiglitz.  Wow...I finally found an occasion to use "penultimate"!

4.  I arrive at the appropriate U-Bahn stop and emerge on the street.  However, I have no clue which way to go from there.  Google maps is not so precise.  The bizarre shaped building that was to be my landmark is not visible.

5.  I decide to walk down a ways.  My choice of directions was based on a very slick deduction made from the bus route running down the main street.  After a bit of walking, I discover that my deduction was wrong.

6. I turn around and walk the opposite direction.

7.  I'm hungry, so I stop and get something to eat.  It was a döner platter...just meat, no bread...with fries and salad.  Pretty tasty.
 
8.  I resume walking, in the correct direction, and finally arrive at the post office.

9.  Crap!  The post office is also a bank.  I do not read enough German to tell if there are distinct bank and post lines.  I use social referencing and pick a line.  Since there are people in the line holding mail and packages, I assume it is right.  The line is very, very long.

10.  I arrive at the counter.  The attendant is old, so she probably doesn't speak much English.  Since I am shy in admitting I speak no German and enjoy trying to be slick and fake it sometimes, I greet her politely and hand her the slip.  Much to my surprise, I understand her response because it contains three of the 10 or so German words that I know!  She said "klein moment, bitte"...which means "just a minute, please".  Then, after a klein moment, she returned with a package.  I thanked her and was on my way.

11.  Now...I need to find the bus back to the institute. 

12.  I fail to take into account that multiple busses leave from the same stop and get on the wrong bus.

13.  I get on another bus and return to the stop I left from.

14.  I actually read the sign and get on the right bus.

15.  I arrive at the Breitenbachplatz stop and walk to the institute.

This ordeal took maybe an hour and a half.  I really miss back when I was able to read the little slips the postman left and that all it took to get my package was to drive to the nearest post office.  Lesson: Life is small American towns is less complicated.

Current Mood: calm