Home for Christmas

Hey guys, just a quick note that I'll be in town Dec. 18-31!

Oh, and I rollerbladed on the Boardwalk for the first time yesterday. Went North instead of South, so I don't have any crazy stories about Venice Beach, but I'm sure I'll make it down there some other time. It was really windy, but the view was nice!

That Speaks Volumes

I just learned today that I was born during a year of great controversy between the US customary units and the metric system. No wonder I'm so stubborn... only 3 countries on the entire planet have not officially adopted the metric system for measurement, and we're one of 'em. Thus, the title of this entry... pun definitely intended.

So, I've been doing my thing... working, eating, sleeping and other necessary daily functions. Been eating a lot of donuts; I just have a craving for those powdered sugar or powdered cinnamon ones lately. Add a glass of milk and YUM! The roof is being replaced on my building, so I am relegated to finding a spot on the street, which is a challenge at best. Of course, I forgot about street cleaning and got my first L.A. parking ticket: $50. I sent the check but included a bitter letter about how crummy it was. I can be cranky, oh yes, I can.

Saw my first movie actress in Santa Monica (when I was getting the worst hair cut ever... I've actually been depressed over it), though I didn't know her name. I just recognized her. If I figure it out, I'll let you know. It was cool to run into someone who didn't look like someone -- she wasn't wearing any make-up or the latest fashions and had a bruise on her shin. It made me feel normal.

A couple of new things and one old

It's been a while since I last wrote. Lots going on, and I actually started some new art this evening!! First attempt since I moved so that's exciting.

So this week I did two things I've never done before, which I think is what happens when you move to a new city because you don't know what else to do: took some shoes to have them repaired, and then took 4 pairs of pants to have them shortened. These may seem like mundane things to you, but it felt good... like I was being inducted into adulthood... 11 years behind schedule.

Americans completely lack the whole right of passage thing. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be left in the middle of a desert with a stick of beef jerky and a magnet and told to find my way home where, if I don't end up as bleached bones, I will from then on be seen as a woman instead of a girl. No sirree bob. But a little something special would be nice, like a trip to get some shoes repaired and some pants hemmed.


Anyway, I've had these dress shoes I really love for a while now, but recently discovered I lost the rubber bit on one of the 'spikes' and haven't been able to wear them. It was sadly gnarled, so I walked them over to a little shoe doctor and asked how much it'd be to get 'em fixed up. "$10. Can't replace one without the other." (I think these guys went to the same school as the car tire guys...) OK, sounded 'reasonable' so I handed him my shoes, and he handed me my pink ticket for Thursday pick-up. All the while, pessimist that I am, I'm wondering if I looked any different, would I have been quoted a different price? Just my lack of faith in human beings shining through. Thursday rolls around, I walk over to the shop to get my shoes, and do you know what happens next? The woman in front of me had the same thing done to her shoes, and he charges her $8. I get mine, and he charges me $10. I didn't have the nerve to say anything right then but what the heck was that? I know, I know, there's probably some reason for the discrepancy, but I can't imagine what. Any cobblers in the house to shed some light on the subject?

Today, I went to a cleaners I found on Yelp, a review site on the Internet, and had four pairs of pants pinned for hemming. The place had good reviews, so I gave it a shot. I brought two different pairs of shoes, one flat and one heeled, to figure out where to hem the pants. Of course, if someone would just invent extensible and retractable pants, we wouldn't experience so much grief over the matter, but ah well. I kept trying to get the guy to tell me how much it would cost, but he kept evading the answer by joking that it depended on how much I paid for the pants. Funny guy, eh? So, we get 'em all pinned and he tells me $34 and change, and they'll be ready Tuesday. Not bad, I thought, for four pairs of pants. Then I say, "Oh, I forgot to mention that one of my legs is longer than the other. Is that gonna be a problem?" He just stares at me for a second, then looks down at my legs. "I'm just kidding you," I say laughing, and a big grin forms across his face. He then tells me he's had customers with that very issue.
I don't doubt it. One of my feet is longer than the other, and only eight of my toes touch the ground.

The old thing? I went roller-blading this afternoon.

Visitor for a week - written 11/5

This past Thursday my friend (and previous co-worker/lab manager) flew in to help for a week with organization and lab flow. It's been fun to have Angie around again -- we were partners in crime in St. Louis -- and just to have someone to talk to! I think Friday, she told Dwayne I hadn't stopped talking since she got here :) Oh, my... I'm writing this on a train with pencil and paper (11/5) for later publishing (now), and I actually drew that smiley face on its side. It's official; the Internet has taken over my life.

So, Saturday we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway, also called Highway 1, ALSO called the King's Highway or 101 in places, but anyway... We drove up past Pepperdine University, a green mirage surrounded by scorched land from the recent fires, and on up to Ojai, a kind of artsy community. There were all sorts of hand-made artistic works, pottery, jewelry and clothing.

BUT, the coolest thing I will remember? The name Ojai is actually Chumash, which all of you Buffy fans should recognize from one of the funniest episodes ever: the one in Season 4 where Xander falls down into an old Chumash Indian burial site unleashing some unhappy spirits on Sunnydale, and Spike, Buffy's most annoying vampire nemesis is so desperate for something to eat (due to the "Initiative's" placement of a computer chip in his head that prevents him from hurting anyone), that he goes to the Scoobies (Buffy and her crew) for help. All this in the midst of Buffy's first attempt at hosting Thanksgiving dinner... with unwanted frozen peas and not enough condensed milk... The episode ends after a climactic bow and arrow attack by the Chumash spirits with everyone sitting around the dinner table, including Spike, who is tied to his chair, as he is throughout the entire episode.

Ok, so back to the trip. We drove past lots of trees and irrigated farmland full of peppers, tomatoes, strawberries and some avocados. We actually saw some horses, too, which was fun for Angie (she has 2 at home).

After Ojai, we continued up the coast to Santa Barbara, home of the soap opera in my mind, and went out on Stearn's Wharf. It was rather foggy but still nice to see, and definitely chilly out on the wharf. I almost bought a pirate flag, which I'm sure I will at some point, but resisted for the time being. There were lots of shops and restaurants and some guy doing sand sculptures for donations. Angie and I went on a walking tour of the 'downtown' area, which was a lot like an outdoor mall but with beautiful Spanish architecture. The highlight, though, was definitely a 30-something mom sporting some serious Hammer Pants. I've seen lots of colorful high-top Velcro sneakers out here, but that takes the cake.

Sunday, I tried another church and really enjoyed it. The big surprise was that the Longs attend there. I had been trying unsuccessfully to get ahold of Jaime to let her know I'd moved out here (she's a screenplay writer and he's a counselor; they used to go to G&P). So, it was great to find them, and I'm sure we'll see more of each other.

After church, Angie picked me up and we drove from the coast through Beverly Hills and Hollywood on Sunset Blvd, where we discovered the Beamer is actually the Toyota of the region. We had lunch at a nice little Italian place and then set out to find the Hollywood sign (my request) without any real directions. We ended up stopping for help since we didn't know what we were doing, and we were directed through a labyrinthine neighborhood where we eventually were able to catch a view of the sign. I amused Angie with my excitement, but she took a picture too, so she has nothing to say about it. Although, she didn't make me take a picture of her posing in front of it in some clever way... I of course, couldn't resist.

With 2 days of sightseeing under our belts, we decided to go home to be mundane for a while, run some normal errands, get some gelato and finish off with an episode of Firefly. I'm trying to win over a new convert.

Outlaws

So, yesterday was full of unpacking and organizing the lab AND humor, so I consider it a great day. It took me a while to get the mailroom/mover guys, Humberto and Vicente, at work to loosen up and get used to my silliness. Well, part of it is the language/cultural barrier, but I kept at it. Now, Humberto's cracking jokes left and right and giving me all sorts of grief, so it's a blast. Vicente's a little more mature in years, so he'll probably stay more reserved, but he's very enjoyable. He tells me he's been riding the bus to work for 6 years, and Humberto carpools with four other UCLA people, so he only has to drive one week a month. These guys know what they're doing.

One of the things I like to do is catch complete strangers off their guard by making them laugh. So, on my bike ride home, I was sitting at a stoplight when a motorcyclist pulled up along side of me. I waited 'til it was getting close to the light changing and then shouted over to him, "Hey! I'll race ya!" He smiled and nodded, then left me in the dust... (I laughed the rest of the block... cracked myself up...)

My boss' family invited me to dinner at a restaurant called, "Outlaws," which was supposed to be very family friendly. Big flat screen TVs in every room doesn't count as such in my book (or theirs), but what can you do? We all ordered, and when the plates came out, the servings were huge, but mine was ginormous. We're talkin' one of those oval plates that's about the size of 2 large dinner plates. I had half a chicken sitting in front of me. Dillon, a Kindergartner this year, just stared at me like, "are you really gonna eat all that?" I made a few dents here and there and made plans to eat the leftovers for the rest of the month. Everyone else did pretty well. You see, Dillon's family has a rule about emptying your plate before you get anything sweet. So, he looks at me and points at my plate and says, "you don't get any dessert!" Funny guy.

Pretend it's 10/22, cause that's when I actually wrote it

Today I made my first visit to the UCLA emergency room. The doctors were very nice, and they told me exactly what I already knew: that what I had was probably a spider bite and that the streak mark creeping up to my heart meant blood poisoning. A week of 2 butt-kicking antibiotics and an anti-fungal cream (just in case -- bite is 'satellite-y' and a little shiny) should do the trick. The hitch? Now I gotta wonder if the 8-legged fiend is camped out in my cushy brown chair or in some other item I had in storage and shipped. Believe it or not, this is the THIRD time this exact thing has happened to me in the past 3 years. Bite, streaks, emergency antibiotics. I'm beginning to think I must have really ticked off some arachnid along the way, cause the whole lot seems to have it in for me.

Other than the 2 vampire-like punctures in my epidermis, things are going great. I finally have a mattress for my bed, so no more camping on the floor in a sleeping bag. Yay! I bought a plant and some of that dried bamboo roll stuff for a little privacy on my balcony. The apartments here are so crammed together. With over 10 million people all living in the Los Angeles metro area, it's inevitable. Yet, it's very lovely here, because there's so much greenery throughout the city. They really love their landscaping out here, and I do too.

Now, imagine over 10 million people all driving cars at the same time. It's unbelievable. I took the bus to work the first few days, but quickly determined we just weren't meant to be -- I can't read in moving vehicles, and being a despiser of inefficiency (perfectionist alert!), I decided to try riding my bike. I would at least get my exercise in during the commute. Just under 5 miles by bicycle doesn't seem like much, but throw in the California hills and the fact that UCLA sits at the foothills of some mountains (the ride IN to work is at a constant incline), and that spells YOWSA!! It really is uphill both ways. I'm gonna try to keep it up as long as I can, and I'm hoping it gets easier over time (update: It's Thursday, and I've decided to take the bus in to work but bring my bike so that I can have it on campus with me and bike home. So, I avoid the agonizing incline but still get some exercise and have a way to run quick errands. Brilliant, eh?). Oh, and thank-you Jeff Lutjens for the idea of attaching a plastic crate to the back of the bike. It's a life-saver!

Overall, I'm really enjoying L.A. I love it that you can walk a few blocks or so and find just about anything you might need AND food from all over the globe. MMMmmm... Like food... The only down sides so far, are that I really miss the on-line DVD/video checkout system of the UCity Library, and that I can't find toasted ravioli anywhere.

1, 2 skip a few...

Last week was my first week at work, though we didn't quite have a lab space yet. Another lab that works mainly with frogs and that we'll be collaborating with, let Dwayne (the boss man) and I set up camp in one of they're rooms while our lab floors were being redone and the space thoroughly cleaned. It was really gross -- Dwayne said the previous lab had been there for at least 20 years, and it probably hadn't been cleaned in that time. I can't say for sure how long it'd been, but if you could Photoshop out all of the actual lab, you'd never know the difference, because a thick mask of grit and grime in the shape of it would remain.

Dwayne and I spent the week discussing what equipment needed to be purchased, particularly a new laser scanning confocal microscope and -80˚C freezer among other things, and he asked me to create a plan for where everything in the lab would go... how we should organize it all for a good work flow. Daunting? A bit, but I like organizing things, so it's kind of a fun challenge for me. We also have to write and post job descriptions for the people we will want to hire, most urgently someone to do the animal husbandry and a sort of general technician/helper. We think we have a post-doc lined up (as soon as she finishes her thesis, which as those of you Ph. D.s out there know, rarely happens as swiftly as intended), and we'll probably get an undergrad too. So, it's a small team at the moment, but we're working on it.

Back to the fancy microscope, they can run more than half a million dollars, which of course you aren't going to just find in your couch cushions, so we've narrowed it down to 2 systems. One of them will be demoed at this year's Neuroscience meeting in San Diego the first week of November, so we'll be driving down for a day of the week-long meeting to give it a whirl. There will be 20,000+ scientists there to present and/or listen to the latest findings of researchers in the field. I won't have to go to a single lecture! Ahem, hem, I mean, gee, it's too bad I won't have the opportunity... Seriously, it is interesting and amazing what various labs around the world are doing, but my brain can take only so much information. Our bi-weekly departmental presentation at Wash U was enough for me, and I sometimes walked away from those a bit dazed... though, I guess it could have been the take-out...

Dwayne, his wife, and their 2 children have had me to dinner 3 times already, which is much appreciated, especially considering the fiasco with getting my stuff dropped at my new place. A story for a rainy day perhaps, entitled, "Aubrey opens up a can." Anyway, my boss and his wife want to make sure I'm doing ok. The little one, D'Nae says my name constantly when I'm over, to which I don't really know how to respond. I say "yes, D'Nae?" and she speaks some D'Nae-ish then calls on me again. Over and over and over. It's like an Abbott and Costello routine (I'm beginning to wonder if Finley Wyllie put her up to it, just so I'd feel at home). Anyway, Dwayne tells me that I'm the first person outside of the family who's name D'Nae says. It's an honor I don't know how to comprehend, I guess, or maybe it means nothing at all. Right place, right time sort of thing. Hmmm... I can still remember the first full day I spent with the entire Holden family, helping the youth with last year's talent show, and little India Holden suddenly called my name (for the first time) and wanted me to play with her. I had one of those brief moments where time stops, and you feel the weight of a revelation of sorts. This little person who I barely knew wanted to play with ME, and I remember thinking how amazing that was.