Random happenings

Lots of random stuff to stay updated on!

• The snow I was hoping for didn't really come.  We got an inch maybe total, and at any given time, there was only the tiniest amount that actually stuck.  So much for the great storm of 2011.  Bet those bus drivers felt silly for putting on chains and driving through a light dusting if anything at all.  We did see cars coming into the city with several inches piled on them... probably coming from Tacoma or somewhere else.  Lucky bastards.
• Did the initial testing for the sugar sweetened beverage study I mentioned earlier.  The fructose tolerance test went well, just waiting to make sure there's nothing weird about my blood sample that the lab finds.
• The pipes under my kitchen sink started leaking this weekend.  It was a slow leak, enough so that instead of dripping on the floor, it clung to the walls and kinda slid to the floor, if that makes sense at all.  So basically I couldn't catch it in a bucket or anything.  I would leave for an hour or two and come back to a puddle on the kitchen floor.  There's an emergency pager for the maintenance people my leasing company has, but no one responded of course.  They finally came by today while I was at class. The note they left says they replaced the faucet and pipes.  The faucet definitely looks different, the pipes I can't tell, but it's not leaking anymore, so I believe them. 
• I have a small file safe I keep important stuff in.  Last night, the latch mechanism on it broke in such a way that even though the safe was unlocked, the latch was still engaged, and I couldn't open it.  After trying to pry the safe open with no luck, I tried to pry off the latch/lock mechanism instead.  5 minutes later, I was in.  And the safe was destroyed.  What's the lesson here?  Don't buy a Sentry filesafe.  If you know how to, they are far too easy to break into.  And the fact that the latch broke in the first place isn't too great either.  
• On campus, we have this big ol' fountain, kinda like the one on Sproul Plaza but much bigger.  Earlier in the year, when daytime highs were in the 20's, the whole thing froze.  It was awesome.  But I didn't get any pictures!  Been waiting for it to freeze again, but no luck.  This weekend, it partially froze and I got this shot: 

• It's half frozen!  Probably the best we'll get till next winter.

And where would we be without a parting cat picture??

Time for a quarter life crisis!

So it turns out 3 of us had birthdays in the span of 4 days, so we threw a big joint party in honor of everyone getting old together.  Katie and Greg hosted, and there was plenty of beer and home made pizza to go around!

Always seems like there's someone not paying attention doesn't it?

I tend to bring out the best in people when I have the camera out.  Either that or the weirdest.

Pizza #2? 3?  Coming together.  I missed the first one because I was in the other room.

Easy to be happy when you're not being thrown into a 300+ degree oven....

And then being sliced apart.

Followed by cake with a match as a candle!

Followed by more stabbing.

Went out to play pool and bowl for my actual birthday since the planned snowboarding trip didn't work out.  Luckily, I didn't take any pictures then because I did really badly at both games.  Whoops...

This has nothing to do with anything else, it's just evidence that the cat likes to steal my seat when I'm not looking.

Wish I could get away with doing nothing but lying around all day.

Oh, and where's my damn snow?  Snow has been forecasted for the last few days but I haven't seen any yet.  Forecast calls for more snow the next few days, so keeping my fingers crossed, mother nature better not let me down!

Proof that he does more than sleep

I just realized that if you follow my blog, it looks like all Pip does is sleep, sleep, and sleep.  After all, 99% of the pictures I post look like this:

Or this:

Or this:

But rest assured, he does much more than sleep!  He also eats:

And cleans:

 And occasionally ambushes people in the bathroom:

Looks like I managed to spread our cat loving ways to some classmates also....

Amanda and her new friend, Zane!

Busy busy busy...

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, it's crunch time at school now...got midterms to take, papers to write, data to analyze, stuff up the wazoo to do. 

I did sign up as a test subject for a sweetened beverage study.  If I pass the physical screening, then for three 8-day periods, I have to drink a large amount of (provided) soda sweetened with either glucose, fructose, or a sugar substitute.  I get fed free food during those 8 days also.  At the end of the 8 days, they do labs, and then a 20 day washout period starts before I do the next sweetener.  Sounds like fun, plus it pays, so hopefully it works out.

Other than that, not much to report.  The Super Bowl was good, fun to see Aaron Rodgers win it all.  Might go snowboarding again in a few weeks, once this madness settles down... cross your fingers!

It's been so busy, I've had a hard time getting good cat pictures.  This mediocre one will have to suffice in the meantime.