I've heard back from another school

I got this email from UT Austin this morning. They must think I'm psycho.


I am a Professor at UT-Austin in structural dynamics in aerospace engineering. I'm looking through your application to our graduate program and trying to figure out what you are interested in. You put a "1" by structural dynamics as your "Intended Area of Study", but I'm not sure that's what you intended to do, judging from your Statement of Purpose. You say you plan to enroll in the ME program (not ASE?), and that you are interested in the interaction between mechanical design and electrical design, which may not be related to structural dynamics. Also you say you're interested in the Center for Space Research, and they do not do structural dynamics work. You mention your interest in control systems, and talk about inspiring the next generation of stargazers.

So here's the work that I'm doing--let's see if this aligns with your interests.
(Blah blah blah about his research)

This work is very computer/numerical algorithms/programming oriented, and involves a fairly high amount of interaction with industry. Maybe you are more interested in hands-on work rather than this rather theoretical work. Anyway, please let me know more about your interests. If this suits you, then I can probably arrange for an opportunity for you to visit here. If not, and if you are really interested in another area of ASE or in ME, then I can pass your folder on to the appropriate group here.

It seems like they are interested in me too and are willing to fly me out to Austin. Now is going to be the time when I try to work my magic and get them to send me out the same weekend my friend from school is getting married in Austin. That would be great.

Why I will not be seeing Ring 2

Somewhere I heard that when you are dreaming you are in the stated closest to being awake. That is why sometimes you can guide your dreams where you want them to go.

Friday night I went to the movies. I saw the trailer for Ring 2. It FREAKED me out!

Friday night I had nightmares about being in the Ring. Samarta was coming after me and the ear doctor and I was TERRIFIED. I had to sing church songs about God to help calm me down inside the dream. I derailed the dream with songs but it kept coming back 3 times. I had to get up, get out of bed, get a glass of water and avoid looking at the TV screen.

Why do movies have to be that scary? Honestly.

I think I could get used to this

This weekend the ear doctor and I had an argument.

It happened on Saturday when he asked me something, I took offense to it and ended up asking him to leave at around 9:30 so I could think.

I thought

Sunday morning I saw him at church. We sat together and I held his hand and I was over it.

After church I apologized for over reacting and he apologized for hurting my feelings. He even had brought me a chocolate chip cookie as a peace offering.

That's how a fight should be. Over quickly and never brought up again. That's my style.

Why is everything in this relationship so easy?

I need a trip

My officemate isn't here today and won't be here tomorrow because he is going for a long weekend to Mexico for a wedding. Not fair at all. The place he is going to actually called the "Mayan Riviera." This is the same guy who spent 3 weeks in Australia over Christmas.

I sit here in our poorly lit office looking out onto a foggy cold Colorado morning and think of how much I'd rather be disembarking from a flight into a warm, humid Mexican airport. The idea of white beach sand and a new bottle of sun screen in my hand is almost alluring enough to propel me through this day and help me push to the weekend.

The closest actual trip that I have the chance to go on comes with a pretty crappy dilemma. I've been invited to fly out to Penn State on an all expenses paid trip to check out their grad school. The only sticking point is that it is the same weekend that my best friends here have decided to go spend a long weekend at a cabin in Durango. I'm torn.

I know I shouldn't have a problem deciding between the great opportunity of grad school at Penn State and a weekend trip with people I see every day of the week, but I do.

Falling asleep

I have a bad habit of falling asleep.

Everywhere.

For some reason I just am not one of those people who can stay awake all hours of the night.

You can wake me up at 5 in the morning and I can function fine, but get me past 11 and I'm toast.

I can stay awake if I'm moving around or dancing or whatever, but if I'm just laying on a couch cuddling and watching a movie, I'm out for the count.

I never thought anything of this until the ear doctor and I started dating.

He HATES it when I fall asleep. He thinks it is rude because I don't have the common courtesy to stay awake when he is there.

It drives me nuts that he won't fall asleep too because I like to cuddle together.

Then, when he wakes me up to say goodbye I am completely disoriented, confused, and usually do someone mean/thoughtless.

There needs to be some kind of compromise here, but we are both pretty stubborn on this issue.

Dear Ear Doctor,

Thank you so much for the lovely weekend. It will rank up there with my most memorable/pleasant of my life.

Dear Animal Control,
Thank you for catching and putting down the stray rotwiller that attacked my mom's little doggie Quinn. Quinn has really become my surrogate sister since all of my mom's real children have left that house and I don't know what my mom would do without her.

Dear Maker of Quinn's Shampoo,
Thanks to your new aerodynamic shampoo bottle design my mom was able to hurl your product so hard, and with great precision at the attacking rotwiller. Thereby, she was able to stun the offending canine into dropping Quinn from his maniacal clutches.

Dear bff Sarah,
Thank you so much for going out to breakfast with me on Saturday and listening to my problems. Sometimes I have a hard time opening up and letting other people help me deal and it means so much to me to know that you're there. Oh, and don't worry, the wedding plans will all work out ok....I know it. If you want I'll go to your dinner and make a huge fool of myself thereby diverting attention from you.

Dear work,
Thanks for letting me come in at midnight on Sunday to get something done for a presentation tomorrow morning. It reminded me of the weird schedule I kept in school and revealed how much I like doing things at weird times.

Dear God,
Thanks so much for the people in my life.

Dear DJ of the "easy listening" radio channel,

Thank you so much for playing Wilson Phillips "Hold On" for me this morning. That made the one-handed hair drying process a little better.

Dear Hair stylist friend Amy,
Thanks for coming to my rescue last night when I called to tell you that I got a big gob of epoxy stuck in my hair. Not only did you cut it all out, but now my hair has that wonderful "fly from the barber shop or fresh from the beauty salon" bounce.

Dear Co-worker,
Thank you so much for moving my model and giving me a hear attack when I came into work late this morning and thought that the cleaning people broke/hid/threw it away. That was really nice and so thoughtful of you.

Dear Program that ordered pizza for lunch,
It was awesome to have that fresh pizza sitting unguarded for me to steal to sustain my arduous work load this afternoon.

Dear Manager,
Thanks for letting me take Friday afternoon to spray paint our models. It will be a great way to spend this beautiful sunny 70 degree day.

Dear God,
Thanks for the weather.

My wonderful boyfriend

So I don't know if he's alright with me posting this, but it just made my day and I want to show him off. This was the email he sent me this morning:


Katie,

Good morning! I don't want to take you away from the models for too long. However, as I was getting ready today I "happened upon" some pictures of you in my room (ie, all over my room / I couldn't get away from them if I wanted to). They each made me excited to think that you were my girlfriend. All of them reminded me about how awesome (and beautiful) I think you are, and how much I appreciate our relationship and the potential that it holds.

That's it - have a great day!

See you tonight? (hope so)...

Tuesday morning rant

I have this great friend. She is awesome. She just exudes energy and life. Everywhere she goes people want to get to know her just because of the vibe she sends off. I love going places with this friend.

The thing I HATE more than anything is that she uses dumb IM-talk when she text messages me. For example: this morning she texted me this message:

"Do u have plans fri night?"

I texted her back and told her that the ear doctor and I might be going to the nuggets game, but if she had a better idea I'd love to hear it. She responded:

"Haha i have 2 tickets to the game n was going 2 ask u!"

I don't know why that irks me so much but it does. How hard is it to type "you"? Does she not have that kind of time to dedicate to me? How can anyone be in such a rush?

Honestly now, does everything need to be automated?

Last night the ear doctor and I went out to the movies. We got there really early, so since I had the time I thought I'd go to the bathroom.

After I'd finished my business, I was beginning to stand up to zip my jeans when the jet engine below me began to rev up. I was startled by the powerful vortex forming below me and jumped back hitting my head on the thoughtfully provided purse hook. The water in the bowl was moving so fast that it violently sloshed out and some pee-water splashed onto my pant leg. Horrified by the experience, I was stunned into momentary shock. When my brain regained connection with my body I zipped my pants and hurriedly vacated the stall.

A bit flustered, annoyed and confused by the toilet I went to the sink to wash my hands.

I was again presented with one of man's modern marvels. The was motion activated. Usually, I really like this, but this one I was disappointed with. I waved my hand in front of the sensor like an idiot waiting for the stream to appear and when it did it was only three little trickles; hardly enough to work up a good lather.

The conclusion I arrive at from this experience is this: when did going to the bathroom turn into a technological experience. I mean, seriously, people on the other side of the world are able to manage it with a dirt hole in the ground. Also, is it really necessary to use such swishing force the bowl. What if a small child fell in? Another thought that came to me: why does it have to flush the second you are done? Could there not be a slower timer installed that would delay that tsunamic oversplash effect long enough for me to get out of the danger zone. Maybe someone should put a sign on the stall reading: "Caution, senseless amounts of power have been used so that your poo will completely disappear within a nano second. The result of this is a propensity to splash nasty used water out of the bowl in a 12" danger zone so be careful if you a wearing dry clean only pants"

So I've decided I need a theme song

Something that I can just start in my mind when I get annoyed or frustrated and it will change my mood. Something upbeat. Something that has no attachment to any romantic relationship or inside joke. Something that will always work. Any suggestions?

I needed it for my work meeting this morning. Yesterday I was given a really cool, medium sized design responsibility and today it was taken away.

I hate feeling like I'm being babied.

Things to try at home if you're bored

So since my left hand has basically been immobilized I have found a few every day things to be quite a challenge.

So far today these are the things that have been surprisingly difficult for me:

shampooing my hair....IMPOSSIBLE with one hand. I could get a pretty good lather going on on the right side of my head, but the left was a epic struggle that I just wasn't up to. As a result one side of my hair look fabulous and shiny today while the other leaves something to be desired.

Putting on my bra. Alright, so it's not hard to take on off with one hand, but virtually impossible to put one on. I think I spent about 10 minutes in my closet this morning and at one point had to take a break from the full body contortions. I even considered wearing a big baggy sweater to work sans support, but i just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Talking on the phone while driving my standard transmission Altima...in a blizzard. So I know it is a really unsafe and bad thing to do, but whatever. Luckily the plaster splint on my hand can delicately cradle my phone. I figured out a way to wedge it between the splint and my hand to allow for excellent control.

Typing this post. Originally I was typing like a normal person with the keyboard laying flat on my desk, but I found that the thumb part of the splint kept hitting the spacebar an d mak i ng wor d s come o ut a ll wro ng. It wa s VERY anno ying, so I used my trusty stapler and set it up at a 45 degree angle. This solution just illustrates that I was meant to be an engineer/problem solver.

Great News!

The first of my responses to grad school came back today.

Penn State made me a pretty enticing offer to move out there and study at their fine establishment. I was really surprised by how promptly the offer came. It made me feel really good...like I'm not crazy for thinking people will pay me a load of money just for my brain power.

I need a break

So my model just crashed my program loosing the entire day's work. I feel like throwing my computer out my 5th story window just to see it explode on the asphalt below.

I went skiing this weekend and somehow managed to bugger up my left thumb. Because it was swollen to the size of a garden hose and turning a lovely shade of eggplant I decided to go to the doctor and get it looked at. She took one look at it and thought it looked broken. Lame. I went and got and x-ray and it turned out not to be broken. My doctor now thinks it is probably a ripped ligament, which could be even worse. She put a HUGE splint on my arm and told me to come back in a week when the swelling and tenderness is less so she can bend it around and see if I'm really screwed and need surgery to reattach it. I'm hoping I'm just being a baby about the whole thing and nothing is really wrong and I can ski the rest of the season. She said it probably meant I can only go on green runs the rest of the season. To me, the 2 hour drive up to the resort isn't really worth only skiing greens all day long. So is anyone looking to buy some really cheap lift tickets to copper mountain, because I may be willing to make a deal. If I don't ski, what am I going to DO all winter?