this 'n that

so the past couple weeks have been full of a lot of this 'n that.  in many ways i've felt like the new kid on the block, which i guess i still am.  this has led to me not feeling very grounded, so i'm grounding myself by remembering some of the fun, the funny, and the funky from the past two weeks.  Below is my attempt at remembering a highlight or lowlight for each day...
today: a hug - i wrote a letter of rec for a student to our nursing program.  she popped by my office to say she had been accepted and to say thanks for writing the letter - the hug caught me off guard, but her excitement over this acceptance made me smile :)
sunday: finished this baby bib for my sister in law's baby shower next weekend (i love looking at both the front and back of the pattern)

saturday: i've gotten some friends addicted to Settlers of Catan (the trick really is to go easy on them the first couple times so they can win - then amp up your game ;) )  one of them had the largest army i've ever seen - 8 soldiers!!!
friday: i made some pumpkin and black bean soup - yum!  also rented and finally watched the movie "slumdog millionaire"
thursday: "offended"
- i totally put my foot in my mouth in front of the chair of the engineering department and offended him as he thought i was insulting his department and engineers in general - i MUST learn to think a bit more before speaking... i did not at all mean to demean his students!
- that evening attended a faculty forum to discuss discrimination on campus and the "campus climate".  it was disturbing/astounding/frustrating to hear how much people used the word offended.  it seems to have a way of shutting down discussion rather than leading to understanding.  i also think if we are looking for offense it is easy to find...
***i have remembered many times over the past couple weeks how i've been told that "dead things aren't offended and that as christians we are called to die to ourselves daily" - so i think we should be very slow to be offended (as we should also be slow to anger) - i desire to not offend others and to not jump quickly to be offended (but instead listen with grace and listen to the heart behind the words spoken)
wednesday: got to have a great talk with one of my students after my lab class - he is such a gifted student, but has some learning disabilities that we got to discuss.  he wrote me later to thank me for the great "chatski"
tuesday: seems my animals had a bit of a wasabi craving!  (they did all that work to get inside, but it was actually empty...)

monday: departmental meeting to divy up the summer research students and funding... i'm thinking it might be analogous to the nfl draft ;)
sunday: snow snow snow (after it had thawed away and i could see the ground for the first time this year)
saturday: got to watch the sunset over frozen lake michigan

friday: opened my hungry mouth (because i hadn't eaten lunch), uttered an opinion to the chair of the department (which happens to be the opposite of his opinion), got an excessively long email sent to half the department addressing the issue i brought up (in which it states i will send an email representing my opinion)...
lessons to be learned - 1) eat lunch, 2) be careful what topics you broach over the coffee pot, 3) think more before speaking
*also went to a really great lecture about "prophetic imagination" - i should blog about this soon
thursday: students square dancing to represent olefin metathesis reactions - "cotton eye joe" was played and there was much knee slapping - surprised at how much they enjoyed it!
wednesday: first day "back to work" after winter break on monday and tuesday...  i spent a good portion of those days grading lab reports - lot and lots of green ink
tuesday: Wallace and Gromit for the first time...  the rube goldberg machines were so fun
monday: visited the Dr Seuss art exhibit at our tiny Holland Museum (free admission to  locals on Mondays!)

giving thanks - day 7 of 7

the lake deep and wide
frozen beyond the eye can see
beautiful beyond imagination
i sought it out

the sky blooming

clouds aflame

transient and fleeting beauty 

it sought me out 

giving thanks - day 6.5 of 7

You know how you squint your eyes on a sunny day when the rays are bouncing off the water's waves or the piles of snow.  You know how you avert your eyes downward when you come across a couple engaged in an intimate embrace...

I experienced these responses combined today when i encountered an act of generosity while standing in line to checkout at the grocery store.

The story actually begins in the international food aisle.  I overheard a mother explaining to her daughter the difference between a necessity and a want.  I smiled as I thought that i'd just encountered a teachable moment.

After completing my shopping, I chose the shortest checkout line and pushed up my buggy.  I was the third person in line.  After a moment, I realized there was some delay as negotiating was happening between the checkout clerk and the same mother I'd seen previously.  There were still items sitting on the counter and the mom was trying to figure out what to put back from her bags in order to purchase a few more of the remaining items.  You see she was holding cash and only had so much.  I could sense the desperation beneath her calm exterior.  Between this mother and I was another women, she stepped forward and offered to pay for the remaining items.  The mother at first said no, but the other woman again said she'd like to.  The mother said that she didn't have a way to pay her back, but the other woman said she'd like her to just pay it forward.  The mother said to the clerk that she didn't know what to do or how to respond.  The clerk told her to simply say thank you.  I had to back away and look down, eventually picking up a magazine.  This moment was so bright and so beautiful that I could not look at it or intrude upon it.  You hear people tell this type of story, but witnessing it was extraordinary.  I know that none of us left that aisle unaffected.  I listened to the clerk and the woman who paid for the groceries exchange details about their children.  I played with the young boy who was loading his mother's groceries behind me.

As I left the grocery store, I was reflecting on that moment.  My thinking was interrupted as I heard someone hollering at me "M'am, M'am - you left this".  The clerk had run out of the store after me, wearing her short sleeves work shirt and carrying a bag containing a two liter of soda and a container of salad dressing.  I couldn't believe she'd done that and for a bag with hardly anything in it.   At least from my perspective, those two things in the bag are hardly worth all that effort.  What a stark contrast to the mother that had checked out 2 people before me.  She was having to keep track of each penny to get all of her necessities.  Whereas I could so easily leave behind some non-necessities (like her daughter had been asking for in the international food aisle).   I'm struck by my abundance.  I'm aware that I have much for which to be grateful...

giving thanks - day 6 of 7

sunshine

giving thanks - day 5 of 7

wasabi

don't know why, but i've been craving it this week

i popped by 2 stores earlier in the week to find wasabi peas to satisfy this urge

turns out the third time is the charm

today i found them and splurged

my need for wasabi has been met and for that i'm thankful

giving thanks - day 4 of 7

i'm thankful for coffee

mixed with a little bit of cream

when i first get up in the morning

oh it smells and tastes so good

but it is even better

when shared with another

in my kitchen, my office, a coffee shop...

i'm thankful most for cups of coffee

mixed with conversation

giving thanks - day 3 of 7

giving thanks - day 2 of 7

So today, i'm going with the simple irony that is...
i am thankful for words of thanks and encouragement

Below is an email I got from a student today.  I had her in lecture last semester and today stood in for her lab professor because he was out of town.  I didn't do anything unusual or special for her today and there is no advantage for her to sweeten me up.  Her simple words of thanks were my highlight of the day.  I'm thankful that my words encouraged her and so grateful for her words of encouragement to me!

Hello there Dr. Anderson!

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed having you in lab this morning.  :) You did a great job of keeping me encouraged, because Chemistry is truly NOT the easiest thing for me. I just really appreciated it. Thank you!

Claire

 

 

...and yes, words of affirmation are my love language, both in the giving and receiving (quality time is pretty high up there too)

giving thanks - day 1 of 7

i've decided it is a good exercise for me to write about one thing i'm thankful for each day for the next week

so, this one that boggles my mind and is a very good reason to give thanks
i'm not hating the snow
or more positively stated
i'm surviving the snow

in years gone past in PA - i'd be dreading each prediction of snow and cranky with all the freezing temps
but something is different
even though there is more snow, more often and lower temps with more wind
i'm not miserable :)

now why is this?
i've come up with 3 reasons - each worthy of thanks
1) my neighbor, Ron - he uses his snowblower to plow my driveway - not having to shovel is awesome!
2) a garage - not having to dig out my car or sweep away snow or scrape off frost is amazing!
3) parking lot behind my building - i don't have to venture out and about much in the winter wonderland - having just a short jaunt from my car to office is great!

mercury drops and polka dots

mercury drops and polka dots
these are representative of the lows and highs of my lab these days

i'm learning that there is no use crying over mercury spills
(due to thermometer breakage),
although it seems there is use spending big bucks to buy expensive alternatives.
the silver little droplets splayed across the lab floor are shiny and fascinating,
but chasing them around to sweep up tis not so fun

so exciting to see visible polka dots appear on my substrate
nanoparticles assembled on "invisible" chemical spots on the substrate
i may have squealed when i saw them and for sure have showed them off
proof of concept experiment yielding results tis quite fun