Weather.com: -13 degrees C and snow. Feels like -19 degrees C.

Even you Clevelanders can't tell me that -19 is common.

Today we're having a wintry rain/snow mix. In other words, I'm really questioning my decision to leave CA. On the plus side, I'm all for excuses to shop. Here are some things I actually need:

1. Some awesome house shoes since the ones I got at Elephant Pharmacy died last March. I cannot find a similar pair anywhere.

2. One or two tops along these lines

3. Practical snow boots. I just ordered some Uggs from Zappos.com

4. More warm socks

5. Flannel pajama pants + top



Then there are the things I just really really want:

1. Expensive boots that are impractical for snow but look like the epitome of winter coziness

2. Silk is hardly practical for the lab, but I wish it was for always

3. Because I have some weird notions that I'll need a cardigan for the Opera

Dear New York Times Readers,
Just because something works in Switzerland does not mean it will work in the United States. I've seen the poor Swiss people. They are nothing like the poor Americans. Switzerland is a small country. The United States is not. Do you know how much a simple Nutella crepe costs in Switzerland? Do you know how much the average boat floating on Lake Geneva costs? I love Switzerland but their lack of public option does not convince me we should do the same.

P.S. Forgive the rawness of the argument. It am tired, I have no food, and I just discovered that Saturday is a national holiday and I can't buy anything all weekend. It's all I can do to still care about the issues back home.

I just had the nicest weekend I've had in a long time. I want to tell everyone all about it, but my thoughts are a jumbled mix of English, German, and French, and Malhereusement, ich glaube que das ist pas possible.

"'It's a Wonderful Afterlife' is an upcoming Indian/British/American comedy film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay is by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges and it centered on an Indian mother who takes her obsession with marriage into the world of serial murder."

Thank you, Wikipedia!

My New Room

You can also check out the apartment under the set titled "WG".

And I am now homesick.

I have a few viruses on my computer. One is jebojope.dll and another is also a dll only both are hidden so I don't know how to delete them. The university and my lab only provide Symantec which clearly sucks, although I have all the latest Windows updates and have done a complete Symantec scan. I also periodically get a warning that internet explorer has stopped working which is odd, considering I only use Mozilla. My computer should be completely backed up. Anyway, what to do? I really need to fix this problem in the next 24 hours.

Megan Follows was a guest star on tonight's episode of Brothers & Sisters!!!

Here is their latest quiz, along with my answers and their evaluation:

Are You Destined to Succeed?
1. A family friend offers to introduce you to a person who has your dream career. You:
Call within 24 hours and ask for the contact's number so you can reach out to her yourself.

2. Your boss invites the staff to an industry event on a Friday night. She says it's not mandatory, so you: Cancel your prior engagement, then make it a point to spend face time with her at the event.

3. A few of your coworkers just got laid off unexpectedly. You feel: motivated to work harder and network more--this is no time to slack.

4. You get into a great grad school hundreds of miles away from your serious boyfriend. You: download skype on your computer. You can have a modern long-distance romance.

5. When making a big decision, you: collect information to inform your gut instincts.

Aggressive Achiever. Babe, you're a sharp one. But so are those claws you're using to get ahead. "Focusing on how others can help you--or get out of your way--comes off as pushy and selfish"...A team-player attitude will make people respect you...and ultimately reward you.


My Evaluation:
Question 1 was definitely a gray area. Depending on the person offering to set up the contact, I might give them some time to contact me first, or just send them a chatty email with a friendly reminder within a few days. Even as I chose my answer, the "within 24 hours" part seemed problematic. Questions 2 and 3 seem obvious to me. Not because I'm a workaholic science-robot non-human as my cousin seems to think, but because the economy is bad and it just seems like common sense. Question 4 is an honest answer based on personal experience. Also, I resent the fact that a Men's Health quiz (do those exist?) would never include such a question. Why shouldn't the women be the one to dictate location? As for Question 5, of course I ask family and friends, but despite all that talking, I do ultimately make informed gut decisions. The friends and family are there to support what I already want to do.

It's not that I mind being labeled "Aggressive Achiever". But "claws"? Seriously?! This is not a case of cutesy language. It's Hillary 2008 all over again.

I've been reading a lot about gender-specific education initiatives. A group of 10 year-old boys responds well to baseball analogies, a group of 10 year-old girls are called "honey" and "shining stars". As a result, test scores go up, and participation in after-school activities does as well. "Whatever works" is the general motto. How sad.

In 4th grade, we sat in groups of 4-5 students. Our groups changed periodically, and while co-ed, I'm sure our teacher tried to balance rowdy kids with the so-called "conscientious" types. For a few weeks, I sat next to Jean-Claude. He listened to Guns 'N Roses and liked dirt bikes. We had nothing in common. But within a few days, I knew the names of all the band members of GNS and he thought making pioneer dolls for art class was "cool". Our grades didn't change one way or another, but our attitudes did.

Years later, my senior year of high school, I reluctantly gained a few male acquaintance friends who weren't in my regular math club group. They were smart and also in my AP Calculus and AP Physics classes, but they weren't deemed "gifted" in the humanities, so I didn't know them as well. Sometimes they smelled, and often they discussed the military, which is still a topic that doesn't particularly interest me. Yet somehow we bonded in our resolve to not study for math tests. We would finish our calc homework in class, because after one or two examples, we understood the concept of the day and got bored. We pushed each other. When we spoke about the subject matter, it was about why the answer was "x" and not "y". When my female friends in class called me for help, it was all about memorizing formulas, or memorizing example problems step-by-step. I'm sure some of them thought about the theory behind the formulas, but none of them would actually talk about math that way. In the end, the girls' method was more full-proof. They rarely made careless mistakes, unlike me and the boys. The girls got the higher grades. But I gained more confidence about my intelligence hanging out with the boys than if I had gotten the top grade on every test. And I think a couple of the boys improved their math grades.

In the working world, I agree that women do deserve some "special treatment". Maternity leave, lactation rooms, these are important and necessary. But acknowledging gender differences doesn't mean they have to be emphasized/exaggerated. Especially when we're talking about young minds.

Even the new clear fancy ones, are not comfortable. And as I'm no longer a teenager, I no longer view some random orthodontist as an authority figure. I mean, how much are my teeth gonna move really?


In other news, today was a truly wonderful day.

I no longer have a permanent retainer on the inside of my bottom front teeth. My tongue is having a field day because for the first time in 12 years, it feels teeth and not wire.

In other news, I played Chandler's game from "Friends" where you have 6 mins to write down all 50 states. I forgot Wyoming, Delaware, and Maryland. The odd thing was that I knew geographically where my missing states were. I think it's all that time I spent staring at the map before the election. I really should've gotten Maryland but frankly, I don't even think about Wyoming and Delaware when tallying electoral votes. I don't think I've ever met anyone from one of those states.

I just watched the NYT video on the Taliban in Pakistan's Swat Valley and how they are threatening to attack girls who go to school. Yes, I know the Taliban's attitude towards women is old news. But if Akbar educated girls in Fatehpur Sikri back in the 16th century, then this kind of misogyny is obviously a modern invention, completely independent of traditional Islam. I just can't understand why women are so threatening, or why the sick pleasure derived from oppressing other human beings can offset the guilt of knowing, deep down, that you are killing people's souls.

Because half an episode of "The Cosby Show" is better than none.

Claire: "I don't know why we keep planting roses and getting weeds. Sondra's in the wilderness, Denise is in the jungle, and Vanessa's doin' the locomotion."

The end of tonight's episode = SO HOT. And I don't even like Dan Humphrey.

In other news, I went to my first spinning class today. Which means I'm off to bed in about 20 minutes. I'm exhausted!

Now I'm not saying Texas doesn't drive me crazy sometimes, but all the coastal and midwestern snobs need to take another look at the new South. Once you add in affordability, delicious food, and reasonable winters, it's better than many cities in California and New England.

The more I hear about how tomorrow will be a "proud day for all Americans", the more I feel sorry for illegal immigrants. This is not a complete thought. I am aware.

I had my first of 3 meetings with a personal trainer yesterday and now it is highly comical to watch me walk. Uncomfortable as it is, the pain just makes me laugh.