library

Another post!?! What is this madness???

In all reality, I just want to show off the fact that we have bookshelves build into the wall by our pretend fireplace. I wish we could use it, but Weigand says we can't, and you never upset Weigand. House rules.

When I'm a real adult and have my real adult house, I'm going to need a room that I can just fill with books. I'm not sure what kind of books yet, but I want lots of them. I'll put really comfortable chairs and those mini hot plates you use to keep your drink warm in there. Put that will my ALL THE COUNTER SPACE and large back yard with giant garden, me looking for a house is going to look like the scene from Time Traveler's Wife.

Walk in, "nope. next."

"Don't you want to see the rest of the house."

"No, this doesn't have enough counter. Next"

"Nope."

"Nope."

"Nope." ".... YOU HAVEN'T EVEN GONE INSIDE YET!"

"There's not enough room for trees AND vegetables. Next."

Yesterday I was part of a research study my advisor is doing that compares muscle activation of a Curve (self-powered) treadmill and a normal treadmill. The Curve claims there is greater Glute Max and calf activation than a regular treadmill.

I haven't seen the compiled data yet, but I can tell you that self powering a treadmill is HARD. Because of how my ankles move (or don't move really) I had to run on my toes the whole time to hit the belt high enough to run as fast as they needed me too. So I was on a good uphill the whole time.

I can't tell you how much more my muscles were activated, but it took the same amount of effort, measured both by heart rate and my own perception of how hard I was working, to run 5.5mph on the Curve as it did to run 7.2mph for ten minutes on a normal treadmill.

I had 5 transmitters the size of tick-tak boxes put on 5 different muscles (under the blue tape): Glute Max, Quad, Hamstring, Calf, and Anterior Tib. Then there were 8 reflective markers on each leg: toes, both sides of the ankle, shin, knee, leg, pelvis in front, and pelvis in back. And athletic tape totally covering my shoes because they have reflective bits on them. Stylish, I know.

I mentioned I was interested in helping with research and not just being a guinea pig so I talked with the guys running the experiment for a while after. They showed me the results, which was awesome. In the lab we were in, there were about 12 cameras picking up the motion of those markers. Which they turned into a 3D stick image of my legs running on the computer. It was like how they show movies being made when people stand in for mythical creatures and such, but it was MY LEGS RUNNING! Awesome.

Even better than having my own skeleton on the computer, was that my advisor mentioned that he would look into seeing if they needed any more help with the study once they got all the data. It would just be analysis and plugging numbers into Excel, but at least it would get my foot in the door as far as research positions go.

Which would be freaking sweet to see all the research my professors are doing on body mechanics and stuff.

Grandma Dee's Rum Cake

Nailed it.

I think this is actually my Great Grandma's aunt's recipe. Which means that it has that "passed down" delicious factor that you just can't get in anything else.

Having said that, those ladies were not counting calories, I suggest you stay away from this cake if you are. There's a cup of both butter and sugar in the glaze alone. :D

You should probably also stay away from this cake if you are pregnant. The 3/4 cup rum in the cake bakes out, but I put an extra 1/4 cup in the glaze after I took it off the heat.

That's how we roll in this apartment.

The glaze didn't coat the cake as well as I would have hoped, but the glaze is hard. My mom's been making this cake for as long as she's known my dad (36 years) and it's still hit or miss with her. But this is supposed to be a bunt cake, and the glaze is supposed to go on before it comes out of the pan, then cool and harden to the cake in the pan. I didn't have a bunt pan, so I think I improvised pretty well, putting a layer of glaze on the bottom, between layers, and on top.

It just needs some vanilla ice cream. Yummy!

This was the first time I've ever had a "beater" [don't have a mixer so it was technically a whisk] from this batter. I now understand why my mom didn't let us have them as kids, even though with every other recipe there was, my brother and I each got a beater and she got the spatula.

Now I just have to make sure I don't eat the whole thing myself before my roommates get home.

Check out the awesome water bottle I got at the Career Fair last night:

For the past four years I have been going to the Health Sciences Career Fair to get the free stuff: water bottles, pens, highlighters, magnets, more pens, some candy, chapstick, ect. The kind of free crap that people just love to print their name on and give away. This year, I actually expressed a slight interest in some of the companies that had clinics in Phoenix, and I may have actually found a clinic that I would like to spend some time at. It is specifically a Sports Medicine clinic and is directed by an Athletic Trainer, although they do see other general outpatient clients too. However, I found out that I don't get to do as much outpatient as I thought, and in order to pass my Board Licensing Exam (scary) I have to do so much Acute and SubAcute Rehab. Bleh. Acute rehab is like post stroke and old people. Geriatrics? DO NOT WANT.

Next year I suppose I will start asking what they like to hear in an interview and about the interview process in general (ex. Is it appropriate to ask what your salary will be?).

One good think I learned though, if you get further specialized (which I plan on doing) in either Orthopedics or Manual Therapy (the two I am thinking about) "You pick where you want to work and you name what you will be paid."

But the moral of the story is I now have a snazzy aluminum water bottle.

Look at all the things I did this weekend. I feel so productive!

Does the fact that this is the second picture post within a week mean I'm going to get back on track with my posting?

No.

No it does not.

Last year, my cosy little studio apartment was never cold. Heat was included in my rent, so not only could I have the thermostat set however high I wanted, but I also had neighbors to the left, right, and below who were also doing the same thing. I was on the top floor, and in these buildings that were apparently built before the invention of insulation, heat rose into my apartment quite nicely.

This year however, is not quite the same. Not only do we pay for our heat (thus it is set at 62*) but we also have a very large apartment. A large apartment with lots of windows. Lots of windows that are probably older than I am and although they are weird and have two sets of glass (storm windows anyone? Yes? No?) they do NOTHING as far as temperature regulation. They are also coming out of the runners, so there is a lovely draft charging into every room of the house (except the bathroom - I might have to take over when it gets colder. I will make my own flag and everything) through the windows and two outside doors we have. We generally have a lot more outside wall then I did last year.

So what do you do when your house leaks cold air?

You plastic wrap it:

And let me explain, this is not some brilliant idea that roommate Nichole came up with because she is from Green Bay and her family figured it out. Oh no. This is just commonly accepted here. Giant plastic sheets show up at the store with the Halloween decorations. Marquette always puts out flyers for a service day to help "Winterize homes of the elderly in Milwaukee." Like it's normal.

...

This is not normal.

I am using double stick tape to attach shrink wrap to the walls of my apartment and then using a hair dryer to make sure it's in place so I don't freeze to death. HOW IS THAT NORMAL?! WHY WOULD ANYONE CHOOSE TO LIVE IN A PLACE WHERE THAT IS NORMAL????????

As a note, I have no idea if the newspaper is a normal thing. But after last Tuesday it seemed like a good idea and I don't really care how it looks.

Last Tuesday was the day that reminded me of why I hate it here. It had been SO NICE up until now. I had been having a good time with the roommates and classes (for the most part) I can put up with. I was ENJOYING MYSELF. To the point where I may or may not have forgotten that it will get miserably cold.

But then we woke up on Tuesday. It was cold, and raining, and windy. I sat in my room trying to do homework and I couldn't feel my toes. It was the kind of cold INSIDE OUR APARTMENT that makes it so you can't think about anything else except not being cold anymore. I'm currently sitting here, in two pairs of socks, a shirt, a long sleeve shirt, a hoodie, wrapped up in the blanket my aunt crocheted for me, and I am still cold. I've got two layers of plastic on each window so far and I'm about to add another. Nichole told me that last year they had to do 5 layers for my room and the one at the other end of the hall - the ones with two windows and a full facing outside wall. Nichole and Marie only have one window each and are much better protected as far as how the building is set up.

So maybe I'm not becoming a Pagan. I'm about halfway through one of the books Mohale gave me and I just can't take it seriously. No, I'm not getting myself a wand and a dagger and a pendant necklace and drawing up a circle in the living room. When they spell magick with a K i can't take them seriously.

But I'll finish the two books and be completely open to whatever their religion entails of them and continue to be interested. I'll celebrate solstices with them and the seasons and be merry with yummy dessert wine.

Also, it's fall now. It seems that happened sometime in the four days I was home last weekend.