I had an unplanned day out today. I called Liquid this morning to make an appointment for next week, and it turned out they had an opening today at 3:30, so I decided to go today and spend the rest o...

I had a good dinner tonight: Orzo with Shrimp, Feta and White Wine. The only changes I made were adding in some green onions and using peppercorn feta instead of plain. I was going to make som...

All sorts of stuff happened today! First, I met with Anne (yes, again! She can't get rid of me lately), and she said she thinks I'm done with my lab work! This is of course assuming the surface a...

I wore my happy striped capri pants today (that picture is from almost a year ago, when I bought them). They remind me of the beach and California because that's where I normally wear them. It's...

Vacation recap: Saturday: We started out our Saturday by going to Filoli, which I'd been wanting to visit for a long time. I think I was expecting it to be more like the Arnold Arboretum, all s...

So I went out to dinner in Harvard Square with Mike Rust and Seema tonight. It was my first time meeting Mike, even though we both went to Mudd, and he graduated only a year before me. He and Seema ...

Picture time! First, when I woke up this morning, I looked out my window and saw this: The construction guys had spray-painted "New England Patriots No. 1" on some piles. By the time I left m...

Yesterday, I wore my pajamas all day. Patrick almost did too, but then he got a craving for pearl milk tea around 10 pm, so he put on real clothes to go out and get us some. Life with Patrick is goo...

One of the things I don't like very much about myself is how self-conscious I can be. I try to tell myself that nobody really cares how I look on a given day except for me. But I still walked around...

I'm back home and in a bad mood, as usual (compared to relaxing with Patrick in California, being back at MIT sucks every time). I didn't do much today, other than being sad that I had to leave Patri...

We had a full day today! First, we went to brunch at Centro. According to the sign on their window, it was their first brunch ever, and we were the first customers--unfortunately, brunch didn't star...

(this is Part 2 of my story; read Part 1 first) Friday: So Friday was when the wedding stuff started in earnest, and since Patrick was the best man, he was involved in most of it (and I was lucky ...

I went out to dinner with my research group tonight. We were celebrating Juan's marriage, and Anne took us all out (she's so nice!). We went to an Irish pub in Kendall Square, and they had lobster f...

I forgot to mention that last night I made Eggplant and Apple Pasta for the first time. It's one of the mysterious recipes in my recipe binder that I transcribed into Notepad and printed out; I have ...

Okie doke...all pictures are pop ups. Look out, this entry is looong! If you just want to look at the pictures, they're in my Boston photo album. Friday: We had breakfast at Miracle of Science, a...

I got the best surprise in the mail today! My Auntie Nance sent me this picture, matted and framed (but the one she sent me is better quality): That's one of my favorite pictures of little Cai...

Wow! How'd it get so late all of a sudden? This afternoon/evening, I was at our research group party. We were celebrating the graduation of three of our members, plus saying good-bye to our visitin...

I really really like my new shoes! Today it was pointed out to me that they are velcro shoes, and that reminded me of Curtis (Curtis was a Mudder who wore velcro shoes--he was also late to the final ...

I was away all day at a Sidney-Pacific house government retreat (because I'm the assistant webmaster, you know!). It was at MIT's Endicott House, which is a mansion that MIT rents out to people for c...

The weather was great today! It was the perfect day to leave work early, rent some movies, and eat ice cream. So that's what I did :) See, Anne (my advisor) took the day off, so we didn't have gr...

It's all rainy and thundery today. Boston weather is crazy! I got work done in lab today, so I feel good about myself. But the actual process of doing the work isn't so fun. It's totally monkey wo...

So my apartment gets kind of cold, what with it being so horribly wintery outside, and I don't like turning up the heat too much, since it dries out my skin. So I was thinking of fashioning some sort...

I finally took pictures of my office! Pop-ups: • A picture of my desk. Normally, I'd be proud of keeping my space so tidy, but at work it just makes me feel like I'm not being productive. I thin...

Our dorm fire alarm went off at 3:30am last night. Apparently, some drunk jackasses discharged a fire extinguisher on the 7th floor just for fun. At least it wasn't too cold outside, but it still wa...

This morning, I woke up, realized I had the beginnings of a cold, looked out the window, and saw snow and gloominess. So instead of slogging through the snow to sit in my office and read journa...

It's been a long day! I went to all three of my classes (all of which fell in the gray area between awful and spectacular), plus did three hours of research/work. I'm tired and hungry! I'm going ...

I like my new hat! I wore it today, and it kept my ears nice and warm, and nobody even laughed at me for wearing it. It's a keeper... I had a good day today. It was relatively warm out, and ther...

So I happened to turn on the TV today (what a shock!), and our local public TV station was having a pledge drive. They had a local chef on, and apparently, earlier today, they had Joanne Chang, the o...

Today I worked on the journal article for my undergrad advisor (deadline is Monday, which is good, since classes start Tuesday). Then I watched Amelie and had a good cry. It's a beautiful movie. I ...

First day back at research, and I'm trying to be a good worker. Despite this, I went to the mall while my 3-hour polymer synthesis was proceeding and bought the coat (in black--I figure it's more pra...

Patrick's on his way back to California right now. Vacation's all over. But I don't start classes right away. MIT has something called IAP (Independent Activities Period), which lasts all January. ...

I finished Patrick's hat, and it's actually nice. No glaring flaws, and I think he'll wear it and like it. Hooray! Patrick gets to try it out this weekend when he visits! This hat worked...

Two things making me happy right now: my stripy socks and my new pajama pants. For more stripy Old Navy socks, visit jenandtonic. I just ate too many rolls at Bertucci's (an Italian restaurant...

I'm having a very relaxed weekend. I haven't left my room much, which is fine with me. I hope people don't think I'm depressed or something; I just like having time to myself. I do miss Patrick tho...

Today was registration day, and now I know my schedule for the upcoming semester. I'm taking 4 classes, which is more than I'd expected to take as a grad student, but since I have an external fellows...

I saw a girl around my age knitting on the subway today. People like Bonne Marie talk about doing this, but this is the first time I'd seen it. I wouldn't want to do it because I like to concentrate...

I finished the first of four parts of my Boston Hostel Shell! I bet you thought I'd never mention knitting again...I'm not getting much knitting done because it's pretty hot, and there are so many ot...

We're back! Boston was fun and MIT was pretty impressive, though it didn't suck me in like Mudd did when I visited back in 1997. It was depressing to fly into LAX and be surrounded by brown ever...