The Exciting Life of the Graduate Student

This has been a very, very exciting week!

Highlights: I found my final project for this quarter incorporating both classes, I will be submitting an abstract to a conference based on one of my course papers from last quarter, I will be networking with students in Norway, I finished the editing for the DC project and I leave for DC Jan 31st, I caught up with an old friend and former teacher, and I spent some time with Blake.

Current Mood: Cloud 9

Current Book: Snow Crash

Details:

Final project: I am taking a class on phonology and another on research methods, so my final project for both classes will be a research design for a project on categorical perception in neutral space in ASL. Basically, the study will use different signs occurring in the neutral space (area in front of the signer's torso) and I will film them at different heights in that space to see when signers perceive the signs as real and when they perceive them as non-signs. I also will see what adding a non-dominant hand as an anchor does to the perception of signs. It should be an interesting design, and if I can get Dave's approval to work on it as an actual study, I may begin working on a study of my own as early as next quarter!!

Abstract/Networking: I received an e-mail from my syntax professor from last quarter and he encouraged me to submit an abstract from my term paper on ASL and LFG from his class to the LFG conference. I haven't yet looked into this in depth, but the abstracts are due February 15 and I will be working on one with his feedback and guidance. He was also contacted by a professor at a university in Norway where a colleague of his has a student interested in studying LFG and ASL, and so he is connecting me with them so we can collaborate on this project. I was not expecting to do anything with syntax ever, but I have this opportunity pounding on my door and can therefore not ignore it. I have never been one to turn down opportunities. Stay tuned to see what comes of it...

DC: On Friday, we finally finished editing the stimuli footage for Eva's study, and not a minute too soon. She left for DC yesterday. I will be flying out to join the team on Jan 31st. I am excited about collecting the data for this study, because, well, the actual collecting of the data is the most fun part of the work! I will likely be managing paperwork and scheduling when I am there, as these are my forte. Incidentally, I have Monday, Wednesday and most of Friday off from the lab this week since I have been working so much overtime to complete the project for Eva to bring to DC!

Old Friends: My friend Alexis from Jr. High and High School sent me an add request on Facebook and I found out that she is still in Washington DC, so we will be hanging out when I go next week!! I am very, very excited about this. Another Triber, Jim, moved to DC a couple years ago to pursue his PhD, so he and I will likely get together for dinner at some point as well. I also started thinking about one of my former English teachers- Mrs. Kaman- and so I googled her and found her e-mail address!! I sent her an e-mail and am eagerly awaiting a response, as she was one of my favourite teachers.

Time with Blake: I had date night with Blake on Thursday, and he took me out to dinner. We spent yesterday cleaning and sorting some of his stuff so that he can continue with the Great Comic Book Organization Project and can also set up an area to work and write. His mom is having surgery on Thursday morning so I will be going out there this Thursday instead of his coming out to Davis. We will be having lunch on Feb 7th with my parents, brother and sister-in-law when they are on their way down from Seattle, the day after I get back from DC.

And now I am off to measure the average vowel length of the diphthong /ai/ in words such as "high" for my phonology class. Don't be jealous. You know you want to spend your time off work looking at spectrographs too.

New Year, New Quarter

Highlights: trip to LA for Christmas and New Year's Eve, new quarter with new professors, Arrested Development and dinner with Midtown, lots of fun activities with Blake.

Current Book: Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson

Details:

LA: I spent two weeks with family and friends at the end of 2009. Blake was with us for the first week, and was able to meet or get to know most of my people there. I saw my Squirt!!! I was able to go to Tribe a couple times and to see Becky, went to A Christmas Carol and celebrated Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve with my family, had a cuzen's lunch at Mimi's with VERY SLOW service but A LOT of fun conversation, had Indian food with Nicky and Eric, and Blake finally got to go to Bob's Big Boy. All in all it was an excellent two weeks, and I enjoyed seeing everyone. I will be sure to upload photos next weekend. When I returned from LA I spent a day putting away clothes, gifts, and cataloging new books so that my room and school things were ready for the start of the quarter.

Winter Quarter: I began a new a quarter on Monday with all new classes and professors. I am taking fourteen units- advanced phonology, research methods in SLA, Greek 2 and New Testament Greek. I am also interpreting 11 hours a week and working 20 at the lab, so I have a full schedule. However, I anticipate this quarter being lighter in outside-of-class work due to the reduced quantity of required reading. My phonology professor is a stout rudy German. He looks like a garden gnome and can be described only as "jolly". If only he had a pointy hat! My research methods professor is not nearly so much fun as a character sketch, nor, unfortunately, as a professor. Both of my Greek classes are taught by the same professor, a knowledgeable but scatter-brained man whose speech patterns remind me of a tightly wound coil: "So x causes y. X causes y. X. Okay x? X causes y. Y, okay? Y." It takes awhile for the point to come around, but he really knows his stuff.

In the lab, I am working now on several aspects of Eva's study in preparation for our data collection trip to Gallaudet Universary. I have been quite busy there!

Midtown: On Tuesday nights, Midtown Friends meets at Becky's to watch Arrested Development and to have dinner. This week we also went out for coffee afterwards. I had a great time catching up with everyone! I will be hostessing a Seder on the Thursday night of Holy Week, so I will be missing the first Thursday and Friday of Spring quarter in preparation for it. (Possibly Wednesday too)

Activities with Blake: With my schedule as it currently stands, I am done with school at 3:00 on Thursdays, so Blake and I have designated that our weekly date night. I made garlic herb chicken (thank you shake n' bake) and twice baked potatoes. For dessert I used the desserts cookbook Ira and Amanda gave me to make an apple streusel cake. We watched an episode of Top Gear and one of my new movies. Thursdays are going to be awesome! As it happens, this has been a busy Blake-and-I weekend. On Friday night his best friend had a surprise birthday party, so we went to that. Surprise, surprise his friends are nerds (hooray!) so we watched First Contact and the newest Star Trek film. I found out that Dave, one of the guys, has a deaf cousin at Fremont (a residential school for the Deaf). Then, last night we went to Blake's friend Blake's house for a game and pizza night with Blake's family (not my Blake- friend Blake). I also got to meet friend-Blake's daughter Ember, who is a lot like my-Blake's little sister. It's been a fun weekend! And now for studying...

I'M DONE! I'M DONE, I'M DONE, I'M D-O-N-E DONE!!!

Dear Readers,

I have done it. I have finished my first quarter at UC Davis! Now, with all of my newfound freedom, I remember those of you who still remember I have blog (Mom) and am updating it with all of the details of the holiday festivities which have commenced since before my birthday.

The Highlights: My parents and sister visited for my birthday and we stayed at an AWESOME bed and breakfast, I spent Thanksgiving with Blake's family, Blake took me to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's holiday concert, Blake, Emily and I went to the Dickens' Christmas Fair, I finished my first quarter at Davis, and I am hosting a Chaunukah party tomorrow night.

The Details:

My Birthday Weekend: I arrived at the Bed and Breakfast before my parents and checked us in. The steward (named Stewart I think- you can't make this stuff up!) brought coffee and chocolate chip cookies to my room to snack on while I finished my Greek homework. After my parents and sister arrived we talked for awhile, and then retired to our rooms where I spent no less than half an hour submerged in the largest whirlpool tub I have ever seen, much less had the pleasure of soaking in. On Saturday we had breakfast, lingered awhile, and then went into Davis. I hadn't yet set my alarm code, so I could not get my family in to the lab to show them my desk, but they were able to see my house and the campus. Mom kept the Davis economy going with Aggie gear purchases in the bookstore. Saturday afternoon was spent playing Scrabble and double solitare with Mom and Blake, and then Saturday night we went to Piatti's for an incredible meal. The chef shared his recipe for short ribs and I intend to make them! On Sunday we had breakfast and lazed around until it was time for my parents and sister to take off. Then Blake and I browsed in a couple of comic book stores in midtown.

Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving dinner was at Blake's house at 2:00. I made a cake with a Dalek and turkey on it (look up Daleks if you have no idea what I am talking about), and have only afterwards reflected that, had the Dalek exterminated the turkey, it (the turkey) would have vaporized and we would have had no turkey for Thanksgiving. After typing that sentence I realize why Greek has so many cases and word endings- that sentence would have been so much more clear if there were a way to make "the turkey" and "it" agree in gender number and case, or if there were a "ho de" to change the subject of the second clause...but I digress... Where was I? Oh! Thanksgiving. Blake's mom made an amazing squash dish (I still need to remember to get the recipe) and after we ate we went to the park and took some pictures. Yes, Mom, I will send you copies soon. You too, Squirt. You too, Ira. Amanda by extension. And Grandpa, if you are reading this I will make sure you get them too. Anyway, then we all walked back to Blake's and played Quiddler (like Scrabble and Phase 10 had a love child) (yes, Squirt, I just said "love child"- no, I am not turning into a hippie), Poker and Monopoly. I won Quiddler and Poker, but Blake won Monopoly. Clearly, Blake and I are more brilliant than his other family members, even if Jessie's potatoes did win the potato contest. Your potatoes were so much better, baby! Did I forget to mention that Blake and Jessie had a mashed potato cook-off? Technically Jessie won, but hers were the only leftover potatoes. She puts sour cream and scallions and ranch dressing and other unholy things in her mashed potatoes. :-/ It was a great Thanksgiving.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: On Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend, Blake took me to see the Trans-Siberian orchestra at the Arco Arena. The light show was amazing (of course) and the music was wonderful. They had a reader whose voice was like James Earl Jones'- deep, rich and full. Blake leaned over and told me he would listen to that man read the newspaper. One woman sang a melody in a freakishly high voice, but she sounded incredible. It was a wonderful evening. The best part was having Blake hold my hand during the whole concert. We were dressed up and looking fabulous. Again, pictures were taken and, again, yes eager family members, I will send them to you.

Dickens' Fair: Last weekend, Blake, Emily and I went to the Dickens' Faire. Yes, my dress was lovely, and yes, I will send pictures- though Em has a shaky hand and several of the pictures of Blake and I were blurry. We walked about for a bit, and Emily took me into a harp store where the men let you play the harps. I sat down and began to pluck out "Deck the Halls" by ear. The harp master came over to chat with me and began the conversation by saying, "So, you've had a few harp lessons", and I said, "Um, no. I've never touched a harp before in my life!" He looked taken aback and proceeded to tell me that the way I was holding my hands when I plucked the strings is how harpists are supposed to hold them, and that he usually spends a month teaching his students to hold their hands that way, so when he saw me playing he assumed I'd had a few lessons. :-D I did eventually pluck out most of the melody of Deck the Halls. How cool is that?! after that Em spent awhile in Feziwig's Warehouse dancing and Blake and I sauntered around looking fabulous and commenting to one another on the costumes, identifying the various characters from Dickens' novels and the various scenes they were acting out. He got pictures with Charles Dickens and we snuck one of Scrooge at one point. I had a roast beef sandwich for lunch (would have had bangers and mash had there been room for it in my corset) and Blake had yorkshire pudding and roast beef. We were sitting across from a couple whom I decided would be Blake and I in 30 years (he said more like 50)- they were a riot to listen to. Then we browsed shops and at the end of the night I had a pocket of chesnuts and Blake and I watched the dancing at Feziwig's. He wasn't up for a turn about the floor but I danced a couple of times. They have several trained dancers there- male and female- who lead people in the dances. There were very few set dances and a lot of waltzing. The costumes were wonderful. I met one woman named Jane who had the most beautiful dress and hair there. A couple other women had hair to their thighs, thick the whole way down. Another awesome thing about Blake being Blake? I could share all of these observations and he would reciprocate since he actually has an appreciation for the Fair- he didn't just go to "make me happy". I think he actually told me about it last Summer. It was a lovely day!!

My First Quarter: Well, after a Greek final and three term papers this quarter has come to close. I know I have an "A" in my SLA class because the professor already sent back my paper with my course grade, and now it just remains to be seen how I do in my other classes. I have books to return to the library still, and I just got my textbook list for next quarter. I am just glad my time is my own again for a little while.

Chaunukah: Happy Chaunukah everyone! I will be making latkes and soup and knaidel tomorrow for colleagues, church friends, and friend friends- whoever wants to come and unwind after a very stressful quarter. On Sunday, Matt, Rachel, Blake and I will be going to Apple Hill- at least we will if Matt can still go after having part of his finger re-attached. Don't ask. I have no idea what happened.

Well, that is all for now. I will be leaving for LA a week from tomorrow to stay there thru New Years' Day.

Ciao!

a blog post

Dear Readers,

November 10, 2009, is a momentous occasion deserving of careful documentation in the anals of history. I, Debba, have succeeded in that triumph of life afforded so few fortunate souls- that sweetly searing thrill which trancends the doubts of even the most suspicious and wary of persons. For on that day, I saw with the help of science a marvel of God's genious to behold.

This experience all began with a tape measure. I found that my head, though small, contains a mighty electric machine. I was fitted with a red cap reminescent of a WW2 pilot's cap full of holes. The holes were for gel, and into those goopy puddles sensors were clipped- so many sensors as to create dredlocks of wire where I once had shimmering, long red locks. Then, with the flip of a switch...

...basically, I was plugged into a machine that scanned my brainwaves. So there you have it! I have a brain, and it works. It was so cool! I was helping Mike run a pilot of his study. I am officially a lab rat!

Debba

P.S. My super, stupendious, scintilating, scientific sister Squirt will be gracing me with her presence this weekend. So will my parents.

P.P.S. In other news, I have the best boyfriend on the planet. He took me to a chick flick and then to Chick-fil-A for my birthday. Last weekend he took me to Old Town Sacramento, and we looked at various shops including a miliner and a Victorian costume shop. We are planning an awesome cake for Thanksgiving. Plans for LA are firming up. Expect us Dec 19th-26th- I'll be staying until Jan 2nd. I am SO EXCITED about all of our holiday plans. Seriously. Best. Relationship. Ever.

Colorless green ideas

Hello readers! I know it has been far too long since I have made available my wit and charm for your amusement and edification. Wait no longer!

Highlights: I've been going to school, I've been going to church, I've been watching Dr. Who, things are going well at the lab, and my parents are comming to visit me for my birthday! I am planning social events! I am also sick again. :-/

Current Mood: relaxed

Details: School has been comming along. I am working on a paper for my syntax class on LFG and how it explains suprasegmentals in ASL, focusing on negation. I am 5 for 5 A's on Greek tests, including a midterm, and also got a perfect score on my SLA midterm. Good stuff!

I have been enjoying Midtown Friends these past few weeks. They have had several styles of service and each of them has been beneficial, and provide good fodder for conversation with Blake. The group tends to have dinner together after services and I think I'm going to start attending. Church is done early enough that I should be able to go for a bit and still get enough sleep.

Dr. Who is awesome- witty and evocative. If you have not seen it and enjoy science fiction...what are you waiting for??

I have found my groove at the lab. Currently that means coding signs for a database for an experiment. Today is an exciting day- we are filming the stimuli for a project in which I will be involved. I will be learning how to use Final Cut Pro and also how to do a little bit of programming.

Next weekend I will turn 27, and my parents and my sister will be comming to visit!!!!!!! I have a lot to do in preparation for their stay so I don't have to work the whole weekend, so I will be a busy bee this next week.

I am also working on my costume for the Dickens' Faire which, when completed, should be rather stunning provided I got all the measurements right, etc. If I have time I will make a fur-trimmed cloak to accompany it. :-D Blake and I will be going Thanksgiving weekend to the faire. He is also taking me to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra that weekend. I am SO excited!! Then in early December, we will be going on a double date with Matt and Rachel to Apple Hill. I will also be hosting a Chaunukah party, complete with latkes and dreidel, at my house after finals. Blake took time off work so he can spend a week at Christmas with me in SoCal!!!! We're working out trip logistics, but I am beyond elated that I get to share this special season with him.

I have a cold again, which is a bummer, but this too shall pass and hopefully not lead to bronchitis.

Time to code, so farewell, dear readers!

random bits o' news

Highlights: There was a pretty wicked storm last week, I went to a new church on Sunday and loved it, have been keeping up well with school, and am trying not to lose it at the lab.

Current mood: blah

Details: Last week Davis was hit by a serious storm system. We got a few inches of rain in 24 hours, all blown in sideways from 15-30 miles an hour. It was incredible, and impossible to stay dry. My waterproof jacket, though, lived up to it's function. I was only soaked from mid-thigh down.

I finally went to Midtown Friends on Sunday and I immediately felt at home. The church meets in a small office space, but has been set up to feel like a living room. The music is led by a single guitarist, and there are elements of art, discussion, scripture reading and teaching woven into each service. On the fourth Sunday of the month they "put feet on the gospel" and do something service-oriented. This Sunday we'll be making packages of food and some will go out on the streets to pass them out, and some will stay behind and pray or make more packages. I also found out that Midtown Friends is a church plant of a Quaker church in Sacramento.

I am 3 for 3 A's on weekly tests in Greek, and the midterm is this Friday. I am also getting a take-home midterm on Thursday in Second Language Acquisition, so this will be a busy weekend.

I am still getting used to the way things work in the lab. Evidently, tasks are not presented clearly the first time, and very rarely is everyone on the same page. This has been the source of more frustration than I care to tolerate, but all I can do now is realize that I should ask a LOT of questions up-front. Tasks are presented like country roads with three or four forks. You don't know until you get to the town a few miles down whether or not you took the right fork. This past week, I have taken one wrong fork and one right fork. Needless to say, my confidence is a little shaken. I like to "have it all together" and am still trying to be okay with it when it is not so. This is a huge reason why I need a church that feels like home. I need a place to rejuvinate lest I be sucked in by the vaccum of academic disorientation n'er to return to the threshold of sanity.

Academic Avalanche

This has been a fun, but busy and very academic week.

Highlights: I had another test in Greek (results Monday), I re-arranged my schedule to accomodate more lab hours, I started on several projects at said lab, I saw a movie with Emily when I played hookie from studying and had a rare mid-week dinner with Blake. I attended a workshop yesterday, the first of the year hosted by our graduate group. There was a party with Thai food afterwards- yummy! Today, I will be going to a party of sorts with him to meet his crowd of married friends (though I think not "smug marrieds"). In all, I'm learning how to manage my schedule and the workload so I don't go mad.

Current Mood: Chipper

Details: So as you can see from the "highlights", this has been a rather full week. I will seperate the details by paragraphs. Feel free to skip over the details you don't care about to get to the good stuff.

Greek test: I can now translate from Greek to English and from English to Greek a wide variety of sentences pertaining to a farmer, his lazy slave, and his oxen. Not only can I do this with ease and finesse, but I can do so in several cases. My current favourite Greek word is the plural accusative form of "the oxen", used when oxen are the direct object of a verb, usually "drives". It sounds like "tous Bous", and that is, in fact, the correct transliteration. So if your children are oxen (that COULD even be metaphorical), you can say, "I herd tous bous". Alternatively, just walk around saying "tous bous" like I do and you will instantly appear more intelligent. All that to say I think I got an "A" on my test.

Schedule re-arrangement: David wanted me to be in the lab during hours more ammenable to his schedule, so I asked my Greek professor if I could attend her early section of Greek on Tuesdays and she said that would be fine. My new lab hours are Mon 7ish-11, Tues 7ish-9:20, 11:20-2:20, and Fri 7ish-11, 2:30-5:30. I am already quite busy with projects.

Lab projects: There are several things going on at the Corina lab, and I have my fingers in most of them at this point. I am helping create stimuli for a project looking at semantic (meaning-based) locations for signs in ASL, I am gearing up to kick off a new project with Sarah and David regarding infants and toddlers with cochlear implants, I have reviewed stimuli for another project on semantic processing in native signers, and some other stuff I can't remember right now. Oh! Yes. I am creating a database of participants grouped by age of acquisition of ASL so in the future we can more easily contact people to run new studies.

Playing hookie: I have figured out the amount of actual reading and work required for each of my classes, so I don't feel quite so overwhelmed every night. On Tuesday, Emily goes to see movies for $5, and I decided to drop what I was doing to go with her. (Picking up this narrative on the following day) We saw "The Informant". It was pretty good. We also made a schedule for housework to make sure everything gets regularly cleaned. Huzzah! I'll be vaccuming and cleaning the bathroom counter/mirror.

Dinner with Blake: On Wednesday night, Blake came over bearing Dr. Who and Mountain Dew. I had crockpot bbq chicken and potatoes for dinner and cookies for dessert. Blake had cookies. We watched Dr. Who with Emily (who is also a fan), and it was one of the most enjoyable weeknights I've had in a long time. He will be comming over this Wednesday for steak and potatoes. Mmmmmmm!

Workshop: I attended five sections of the first graduate group workshop on Friday. The first three were relevant to my work at the lab- related to ERP's (event related potentials) and specifically N400 studies. For example, if I say "I like my coffee with cream and ________" you probably automatically fill in "sugar". That would not produce an N400 peak (measure of brain electrical activity). However, if I say "I like my coffee with cream and mud," that semantic oddity would cause your brain to fire in a different way, producing an N400 peak. Another presenter spoke about eye-tracking and body-movement tracking to see how language is processed. If you have a piece of candy and a candle in front of you, and you're told "pick up the candle", in the miliseconds before the "le" comes out for "candle", your eyes will have briefly looked at the candy. If it is a pickle and a candle, your eyes won't go toward the pickle at all because it doesn't begin with the same phonemic cluster. Cool, huh?

Party afterwards: The graduate group hosted a gathering with Thai food. Yummy! I sat around and talked with a neat couple and with Elaine, the woman who keeps the department running. We had a good time relaxing and chatting, and only talked a little about work.

Tonight Blake and I will be checking out a church midway between our houses. I had a great time last night meeting his friends, and I'll post details about that later. Suffice to say for now that they're like his second family and are some really neat people.