My SIM family

It's currently the middle of the night and I am still in the lab. I have been in the lab for basically every spare moment this week and it's starting to get cagey in here. I'm running on 11 hours of sleep since Monday and it's not looking like there will be any improvement before Friday (and even then the improvement will be small). On the bright side I am "stuck" here with my team who has fashioned itself into a family. No really. We are calling Jeff "dad" because he keeps bossing us like our fathers would. We also call Brant dad because he was the one who mandated that we wouldn't be leaving for dinner until everyone reached a stopping point (which didn't happen until 8pm). Yep. We have two dads. Two "gay" dads. They aren't so fond of this. Like I said...we're not functioning at our peaks here people. Kevin, Ruth and I are pretty good kids and we're trying to be obedient to the team leaders but we tend to drift. We took a "family trip" to Dara's (the gas station across the street) for late night sodas and snacks and a boost in team morale (Kevin's personal mission on this project is team morale so we try to do things to uphold it often).

Which brings me to my next barely coherent point. My diet is abysmal these days. Well during the day it's fine. Emily has even fed me REAL DINNER twice this week. But after about 10 pm I try to be strong and fail. I either eat whatever candy I can find, drink a pop, or eat a baked good Jordan brought in (she did some baking and we are all reaping the benefits). I've just resigned myself to the fact that I have to get energy from somewhere and late night food (CAFFEINE!) is my only option (sleep just doesn't make the cut). It is what it is. I keep telling myself that after finals I'll try to reign myself in. It shouldn't be too hard because I'll go into a temporary coma once I finish everything and I'll sleep through the sugar jonesing that would pull me off the wagon.

The things keeping me going at this point besides coffee: Christmas music, Greek yogurt with honey (discovered it at Dillon's the other day and it changed my outlook on life), Kevin's morale boosting efforts, Tweeting all the ridiculous happenings of the lab, and short naps.

If you don't hear from me in the next two weeks (or for a few days after that) it's probably fine. I'm either holed up somewhere trying to furiously iron out four projects simultaneously or I've fallen into that coma I alluded to.

Countdown

to the end of this project: 1 day (technically 2 but we're pretending otherwise so we can go to the pub crawl)

to Christmas break (end of finals for me): 15 days

to actual Christmas: 23 days

People... good things are coming. At least that's what I keep repeating to myself in hushed tones when I get more assignments and tasks added to my list...

Thanks Dr. Wu...

Proctoring an exam again today. It's so fun. By fun I mean boring. Watching students think (and sometimes sweat) is about is thrilling as watching your lawn grow.

Kate visited this weekend to play rugby (Go Saints!--2-0 for the day!) and while she was here I learned that she loves when I make lists of things. Apparently that's when I'm at my funniest. I can't disagree but lists have to be organic (not pesticide free but flowing from a naturally creative place). I'm going to try to force a bit of inspiration here and make lists about my weekend.

People I saw this weekend (warming up here...don't expect much):

--Mom (came through Thursday which in college is the weekend with Al and Dad for Al's college visit-a-palooza)

--Dad (see Mom)

--Aly (see Mom. She was the reason for the road trip so we hope she's be included. Could make for an awkward college visit if you don't bring the kid...)

--Kate (came and stayed with me Friday for rugby-palooza on Saturday)

--Amanda (came with Kate...and by that I mean Kate came with her or whoever has a car)

--Hallie (see Amanda/Kate)

--Neesha (sp? See Amanda/Kate/Hallie)

--Andrew (Came up Friday just because he's a big shot engineer and he can do that. Stayed on my couch Friday night)

--Work Friend Of Andrew Who's Name Escapes Me Just Now (She came with Andrew and also slept on my [other] couch)

--Jen (Came up for the Texas game and is now back in Houston gloating about how we OWN Texas)

--Ben (Also here for the came... came up with Jen)

As you can see my weekend was crammed with fun people, a good sign for a weekend. Bad sign for my productivity but that's not really the point.

Reason this weekend was awesome:

--I saw all the aforementioned people for at least an hour each (most of them considerably more)

--We own Texas. If not in the Legal sense of the word then in the Pride sense of the word.

--I ate Korean food with Emily and Andrew. Pusan may be nestled deep within the armpit of Junction City but it is a shining beacon of velvet-painting-clad goodness.

--The BC Saints beat both K-State and Nebraska's rugby teams. Best of all I kind of knew it was happening while I watched. I'm catching on to this rugby thing...

--I won a Wildcats Forever travel mug on Big XII Friday. I love travel mugs. Especially such nice, purple, large ones.

--I found $20 on the ground in Aggieville. It was filthy as it had been run over by a car but it spent the same as if it was crisp and new. Free Early Edition breakfast for me!

--I had Early Edition for breakfast/lunch with Scarlett. It was delicious.They really know how to rock some Banana-Nut pancakes.

As a result of all this awesomeness my week will probably be hell because I have a SIM project due Friday and I just feel like I'm never going to finish it. I blame not working on it all weekend but honestly... I probably wouldn't be much farther ahead at this point anyway. If anyone out there knows anything about ARENA (I'm using version 13) and more specifically transporters and their relation to MOVE blocks, feel free to shoot me an e-mail explaining the finer points of AGV's.

It's come to that point in the semester when I'm pining for Thanksgiving break like children pine for cake. I want it NOOOOOOOW. So thus begins the countdown to Thanksgiving and other awesome things:

End of Project 3 (SIM): 4 days

Thanksgiving break: 11 days

Christmas break (END OF THE SEMESTER FROM HELL): 33 days

I think I can hang on that long. I think...

Apparently I'm broke

So what happened this week... huh... not that much really. School, grading, some hanging out with friends. Nothing huge. Oh I signed up for Mint.com this week. Apparently the fact that there is any money in my accounts is basically a miracle. Like a serious, write-to-the-pope-to-get-this-validated act of God. Mint is basically budgeting and money managing software online. It reads your bank account and categorizes your spending. It sets budgets based on your spending habits and shows you at the end of the week how you're doing. It seems as though I've had no concept of my spending up to this point. Hopefully we'll get that under control.

Wednesday I had a birthday dinner at Olive garden with a group of my people. Leslie, Kristin, Stacey (and Mike), Carrie, Scarlett, Emily, Robbie, Brant, Jeff, and Ed all came. I felt so loved! :) It's always fun to sit down with you're people to break bread.

Speaking of hanging out with your people, we decided on a new Friday ritual--Friday FroYo at 5! There's a new self serve place called The Orange Leaf and it's awesome! Go check it out online (you can see a local perspective at thescoopmanhattan.com) and then promptly go there to experience it! This week we followed up our desert with dinner (just Robbie, Scarlett, Sarah, Ed and myself) at Pat's and then Robbie, Ed and I spent a night in (as opposed to spending money out and about) watching that old classic film, Mystery Men.

Today I mentored for a GROW event (because of the aforementioned lack of cash flow) in spite of having a weird vertigo type feel all day. I bucked it up and toughed it out and it got better enough to go to Emily's for a chilly dinner (which was spectacular to say the least). I still feel just a little wonkey but I think I'll survive. Hopefully I'll shake it enough to be productive tomorrow.

Oh and finally the highlights of Chicago! Enjoy!

The big city lights... as seen from the Hancock Building.

My drink at the Hancock Building-- so pretty!

Free hat at the Sox game in honor of 1/2 way to St. Patty's day!

Dinner at the Sox game--as good as(or better than) it looks!

Postin' up at the bean in Millennium park. Possibly favorite part of Chicago.

See? I rock the Sr. Pics at the bean...

Crew at that classy silver bean again...

Adam walks on water sometimes... whatev.

In the new viewing boxes that hang out over Chicago in the Sears (Willis?) Tower. I am breaking ground in the field of fake Sr. pics here people. Check me out!

And that red thing... I forget what it's called. We checked it out though. Also very cool. :)

There are more up on the Facebook and even more on SnapFish. These are just the ones that struck my fancy enough to make it into the blog...