Helen's Random Thoughts

Harbinger of Spring (and other good things to come)

2010-02-15T12:40:00.001-08:00

Being a pathetic baseball fan (pathetic mostly because of being a die-hard Red Sox fan), I spend my late fall and winter (aka baseball offseason) following the Celtics and Duke basketball (who only play a few times a week and even fewer, respectively) and desperately checking MLBtraderumors.com for any updates on the baseball offseason (trades, free agent signings). Those, especially the big and exciting ones, usually happen in December or early January, so by this time of the year, after enduring 4 snow storms in 10 days, I'm growing more and more restless for baseball, which also means warm weather, heading over to the Nationals Park or Camden Yards to catch a game, and hanging out at a ballpark eating junk food and cheering on my teams/players. It also means another chapter in the Boston Red Sox baseball saga, for which I cannot wait. A few days ago the Boston Globe part of the website dedicated to the Red Sox news began to have more posts than in the past few weeks, which could only mean that Spring Training is almost here!!! Some of the Sox players are already in Ft. Myers beginning their preparations for the season (we even got a few pictures to prove it). I can almost smell spring and can't wait for the baseball season to start.

Why 2009 was a horrible year in sports

2010-02-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

Still being bitter after the Celtics' demolition on TNT by the Orlando Magic (hey, they do have (young) Superman), it's time to write down the account of some of the painful sporting events that happened last year. It is one thing when someone else, other than your team, wins. However, it is a totally different ballgame (pardon the pun) when it is your most hated rival who gets the ultimate prize. So, here are the reasons that I would like to forget 2009, in the order from worst to bad:

1) Reason 1: The New York Skankees (otherwise known as the best team half a billion dollars can buy) winning the World Series. This also means that everyone on that team that I utterly despise (A-roid, Texeira, Godzilla (Hideki Matsui), the Traitor (Johnny Damon), and yes, even Jeter) got a ring in the first year of the new stadium (oh btw, the attendance at the new toilet was down from last year while Fenway is always sold out---take that!)...Anyway, before I get into a long tirade about how much I despite that organization and how bad it hurts that they bought themselves a World Series, I'm stopping here.

2)Reason 2: LA Fakers winning NBA Championship. This means that Kobe got his fourth ring, Phil Jackson has more rings that Red Auerbach (Celtics legend), and the ugly Europeans with greasy hair (Pau Gasol and Sasha something) are NBA champions. Why, oh why did KG get hurt last year?

3) Reason 3: Carolina winning the NCAA championship. Since I moved away from NC, this hurts a bit less, but I am still a Duke fan at heart so this was very unpleasant.

4)Reason 4: other teams that I rooted for, to win the Superbowl(Arizona Cardinals) and the Stanley Cup (Detroit Red Wings), also lost. At least, these are not "my" teams.

One ray of sunshine last year: my newly beloved UConn women's basketball team winning the championship---you go, Huskie girls!!!

Here is to a better 2010! It is already off to a good start---congratulations, New Orleans Saints (reason for supporting this team: not a fan of the Manning brothers).

New Year's resolutions

2009-12-31T04:23:00.000-08:00

Since I am a check-mark type person, I decided to make some New Year's resolutions this year and to make them public to ensure that I will actually do them:) Here is my to-do list for 2010:

1) Blog more: I'm making this blog more "public" and will try to post more to keep track of all the random things that occur in my head or around me (btw, facebook will never replace blogging:). Unfortunately for those who would once in a while glance at my blog, blogging more will involve blogging more about sports:)

2) Get rid of my VCR and VHS tapes (that have been sitting idle for over 2 years now): I know that it sounds like a very simple thing to do---just pack it all up and toss it. Well, not in Montgomery County where you are required to recycle your electronics---I have to find out where and how, untangle the VCR from all the wires and cords, move around my DVD player, etc....(this is why it has taken me so long to do it).

3) Not to get too stressed out when the Red Sox and/or the Celtics lose (both regular season games and in the post-season): I am getting a little tired of boycotting ESPN when my teams lose. For example, the Celts are without KG, Paul Pierce, Marquis Daniels, and Big Baby Davis, have lost 3 straight on the road, and have ceded the number 1 spot overall to the LA Fakers---I'm just trying to stay relaxed. The Sox have yet to sign a productive hitter while pushing the luxury tax threshold---I'm learning to trust the front office to make wise decisions. Both of these are very difficult to do, considering how horrible 2009 was for the world of sports in the US*, but I will try to learn:)

*A separate post will be dedicated to lamenting the outcomes of sporting events in 2009.

More life's randomness

2009-07-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

Couple of random things that have occurred in the past few weeks and have kept me entertained:

1) I have finally found my candy kindred spirit...And even though he plays for the despicable LA Lakers, I can never ever hate Lamar Odom: the man loves his candy! (I'm, of course, not as bad as Lamar, but I do love my sweets. New favorite: salt water taffy from Rhode Island)

2) A few weeks ago I stopped at Border's on my way home and had a major "nerding out" incident: I was already on my way out of the store when I saw "Dictionary of Mathematics" on a shelf near the door. Even though I was a bit embarassed about taking it to the register, I was absolutely excited about the find! On the way out of the store, I realized that I just took my nerdiness to another level.

3) More pearls from my officemate. Once a month we have an institute-wide lunch and a short meeting introducing new staff and sharing updates. Last month they ran out of food pretty quickly, leaving half the institute hungry and disgruntled. My officemate described the blunder in a succinct way: "They did a headcount estimate circa 1995."

Life's randomness

2009-06-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

For some reason, yesterday was one of those days when people said really random, but utterly hilarious things, which are worthy of a blog entry (even though they may only seem funny to me). I can't remember half of them this morning, but here is a sample:

~~~My funny officemate (telling me about her recent Kenyan safari): "They expected me to tip for toilet paper---of course, I didn't!"

~~~My ride to last night's bible-study (talking about a friend of ours who recently started dating a guy): "I basically told her that in order for S.R. to date her, he needed to grow a pair. When they finally talked about starting the relationship, S.R. grew a pair in, like, 2 seconds."

~~~A friend during Bible-study (sharing his impressions about the only luau he's ever attended): "There were a bunch of Mexicans dressed in Hawaiian costumes."

Homeward bound

2009-03-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how our plans can change in a matter of minutes. Yesterday, I had barely got into the office and turned on my computer when a co-worker came in and excitedly said: "I think I know of something that might interest you." He then proceeded to tell me that apparently American Airlines had made a mistake on their website and that there were flights to Moscow from Reagan airport for around $230.00, roundtrip! Of course, I didn't believe him, but after going to the website and actually seeing the fares for myself, within 10 minutes I had a ticket to Moscow for end of April on hold for me for $233.20. Of course, it took me a while to calm down and realize that I am going home in 6 weeks. Well, the "cheap tickets to Russia" craze took over the office, so in a matter of an hour, another co-worker next door had several tickets on hold in addition to the co-worker who had found the fare (him and his buddy are going to Moscow for a weekend). Then the fever began to spread beyond the office when I started calling the Russian diaspora in DC. A bit later that afternoon, my friend Meg had a ticket on hold for her as well to join me for a few days. While I was thinking about who else to call, the airline realized the mistake and changed the fare back to the normal rate by about 3 pm. So, by the end of the day both Meg and I had tickets to Moscow for April 30, all sorts of plans for what to do once we are there, and an utter sense of disbelief that Im going to see my family for less than it costs to take a round-trip train ride to NYC.

We are moving!!!

2009-03-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

Finally, after 2.5 years at my institute, I am moving to a window office, together with my awesome officemate!!! This is indeed exciting on some many different levels. Our new office, besides having a window, also has its own heating/cooling unit, so no more fleece blankets in the summer and sweating in the winter. Moreover, since our current office is right across from the conference room, we have been subjected to all kinds of noises, be it meetings, cell phone conversations, and people congregating to talk and laugh. No more loud people and noises. All our office possessions are packed, and we are ready to go. We have big plans for our new digs, including plants and possibly even a mini-fridge (to give our head of facilities an early heart attack:). Ahh, the benefits of seniority.

The Office

2009-02-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

Even though I usually don't blog about my work, this past week has been sort of exceptional, which merits at least an honorable bulleted mention. Once a year my institute does a week-long program review with all the staff gathering in the DC office for a week of meetings and discussions on how our work is going. Even though it gets a bit hectic with lots of people roaming around the usually quiet halls, in retrospect it was quite an interesting week:

~The never-ending food supply: during these reviews, they usually cater several meals and snacks per day, so there is such an abundance of (free) food that by the end of the week, even those who are always hungry like myself couldn't stand the sight of another (albeit delicious) sandwich, bagel, fruit salad, cookies/brownies, and other snacks. One of the newer staff members from Uzbekistan couldn't believe his eyes---when I ran into him, all he could muster besides a "hello" was "Does this feast ever end?" The feast culminated during our division retreat on Thursday with cake being served for one of our colleague's birthdays around 10am (that's when you know your day is off to a bad start) and then incredible pumpkin cheesecake served at lunchtime for desert.

~On Tuesday, being "high" on all the food (and sugar) and tired of being locked up in a meeting room, I got a bit hyper and literally chased down the facilities guy who was delivering mail and packages because I thought that I had seen my Banana Republic box in his pile. This was a new low, even for me, especially since the package ended up being for someone else---oops. (In my defense, they usually are for me). I think I scared Glen a bit, and he is going to be avoiding me from now on.

~Best part: sneaking out at 4:00pm on Friday with 6 other co-workers to go to the movies. I think by Friday afternoon we were all so collectively unproductive that we decided that it made more sense to contribute to the GDP by paying the movie ticket fees than by sitting at our computers doing nothing.

Too bad that good things have to come to an end. Oh wait, tomorrow is President's Day---yay for another day off.

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown

2008-12-08T17:25:00.000-08:00

For some time now, every Christmas season I have watched "Charlie Brown Christmas," and every year I have found new (and same) things to laugh and enjoy in the movie. This year, I decided to document some of my favorite moments:

~When Charlie Brown is announced as the director of the Christmas play, everyone boos him, including Snoopy who actually howls at the thought. Charlie Brown walks by him and resentfully says, "Man's best friend."

~Conversation between Shroeder and another little girl:"Beethhoven cannot be that famous. His face has never been on the bubble gum card."

~The movie, despite being a wordly (i.e non-Christian) production, actually reflects the true message of Christmas. It denounces the commercialism of modern-day Christmas ("This commercial dog is not going to ruin my Christmas!":), and in the words of little Linus and his reading of the Nativity Story, it brings back the true meaning of Christmas---the birth of Jesus! (Im surprised they haven't banned this movie as politically incorrect!)

~And, of course, the song!!!

We are the champions

2008-11-16T14:37:00.000-08:00

Even though I basically never keep my New Year's resolutions, this year I did manage to keep one of them, which was to run an 8K race before the end of the year. A few weeks ago, my friend Rocio and I went out to the West Potomac Park at 7am on a Sunday morning to participate in a race called "Run Geek Run." It was a surprisingly mild November morning, with just a slight breeze, which actually made the run quite pleasant. Of course, at about the 4th mile I started wondering why I was doing that race at all, but once I crossed the finish line, I felt great and had a sense of a profound accomplishment. To add to the excitement of the day,I also jumped my first fence in about 20 years---it was about 4 feet high, and I managed to climb it up with encouraging prompts from Rocio (and also watching a family of 4 with young children and a stroller jump the same fence). Both Rocio and I did better than expected at the race, with even better timing than our last 5K. More races to come next year!

Finding joy in simple things

2008-09-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

After a looong week of endless mind-numbing mathematical proofs, the Sox getting pummeled by the Yankees last night, 19-8 (yes, I know it was a throw-away game, but it still hurts for many reasons), and dreary, muggy, rainy weekend, two great things happened this morning on my way back from the gym that brought a smile to my face:

1) I figured out the origin of the word "brunch"!!! I was thinking about what to have for lunch and decided to have an English muffin. I remembered the episode of Scrubs where they talked about brinner ("breakfast for dinner") and thought that it would be a good thing to have a name for "breakfast for lunch"---that's when it dawned on me that it already exists: BRUNCH! (And to think that for all the years since I have been in the US, I always wondered where "brunch" came from).

2) I had to stop by Staples to get some more of my beloved Papermate twisty-bottom pencils and got sooo excited to be there: I forgot how much I love the smell of school supplies, so I spent about 15 minutes wondering around the aisles, playing with fun paper clips, looking at different types of pens, and being completely amazed at the scientific achievements that led to the creation of clicky-top Sharpie markers.

(Yes, I do realize this post makes for a major nerd-alert, but oh well...that's me!)

Helen vs the Flying Beast

2008-07-07T07:21:00.000-07:00

Imagine my horror last night: I was watching a great movie after a relaxing (3 hour nap) and productive (nice workout) day when I saw a huge roach crawling on top of my TV. Having an uttermost fear of giant roaches (and this one was the size of my pinkie), my brain immediately kicked into gear trying to devise a plan to overcome my fears and kill the intruder. Since I didn't have any bug spray (will own a can of the deadliest stuff by tonight for sure), I grabbed the only of the two sprays I had, the Green Cleaner, and a running shoe, and embarked on operation Kill the Roach. To my surprise and utter horror, this wasn't your regular slow-crawling bug---this was a flying and a very speedy one that managed to crawl/fly under the fridge after about 10 minutes of me spraying and chasing it around the apartment. I had to resort to doing other things until it re-emerged from hiding, at which point I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep or stay in the apartment with the bug in it, so I HAD to kill it. Not knowing what to do and still being utterly terrified of getting too close to it (the thing could fly!!!), I called the one person that has practical ideas for all situations: Meg. Her basic advice was to smash the thing, which, of course, was what I couldn't bring myself to do. Her roommate then got on the phone and devised a great plan which involved switching the organic cleaner spray to Windex (the only other thing I had in a spray version), careful positioning of all the tools in my hands, and strategically stunning the bug with Windex so that I could smack it with a magazine. He concluded the strategy session with an encouraging "just smash the @#%$! out of it." I must say that the pep talk really helped, and after another 15 minutes of waiting to see what the bug does and working through my fears, I DID IT!!!
So, the final score is: Helen-1, nasty flying creeper-crawler-0. In fact, he has been washed down the toilet, so I'd say that his score is somewhere around -10.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

A public service announcement about fireworks safety brought to you by Big Papi:
"Just sit back, relax, crack open a beer and let someone else light the fuse. So long as it's not Manny. Oh, and watch the eyebrows."

***For the uninitiated: Big Papi, aka David Ortiz, is a Red Sox designated hitter from the Dominican Republic who recently became a US citizen. Manny, aka Manny Ramirez, is another Red Sox slugger who is famous for his scatter-brained but hilarious ways. This is probably funnier if you know these characters, but I thought that everyone could benefit from the fireworks safety tips.

Helen versus Clogged Sink: Round 2

2008-07-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I was having a friend over for dinner on a Saturday night (I cooked something...gasp!), and my kitchen sink decided to get clogged about the time my friend was getting there. The next day I, armed with the most potent de-clogging stuff Target had and a plunger, attacked the clog, and after several hours, I won the battle! The sense of empowerment and personal satisfaction can only be compared to the time when I used an electric drill to hang up a towel rack in my bathroom.

This past Saturday night the sink decided that it was time to get clogged again. This time, the countless attempts to attack it with a combination of the potent Liquid Plumr and energetic pumping with the plunger did not yield the desired results. I tried for about two days, after which I had to gather up my pride and call the apartment building maintenance crew (who, of course, fixed it with some magical tools---not sure how, I was at work).

So, if anyone is keeping score...Round 1: Helen-1, Clog-0; Round 2: Helen-0, Clog-1. I wonder if there is anything more potent than Liquid Plumr Foaming Pipe Snake on the market so that I can prepared for the next round (which hopefully won't come for a while). Of course, I could just call my resident friendly maintenance crew, but I refuse to go down without a fight.

One exciting accomplishment

2008-06-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

A few minutes ago, my boss and I submitted a book manuscript to our institute's Publications Review Committee. Wow...this has been a long road, including multiple hours of brainstorming and writing, collaborating with people from 10 different countries, a major conference in Uganda, a productive week in Boston, sending a gazillion different emails, and copyediting about 120,000 words of a manuscript. To many people, this would not really be all that exciting, but to a major nerd like myself, this is a great day. Of course, the book now has to go through several rounds of revisions, more back and forth with the authors, and more nagging emails (Im getting quite good at this). So, I will probably have more gray hairs by the time it comes out (probably at least a year from now), but at least today I can celebrate!

I Love Red Sox Nation

2008-05-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

How great is it to be a part of this great community of fans! You can strike a conversation about your beloved team anywhere and with anyone who proclaims to be part of the great Red Sox Nation. About a month ago, I was on my way to the elevator when I ran into a colleague from a different division who is always very busy (hence, spends very little time socializing) and who I knew was a Red Sox fan. We said the usual quick "hellos" when he suddenly said, "How about Dice-K last night?" (For the uninitiated, Daisuke Matsuzaka, or as everyone lovingly calls him, Dice-K, is a Red Sox starting pitcher who left the game early the night before this conversation with pain in his shoulder leaving the Nation terrified of the potential injury and stint on the disabled list). Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to express my concern about our beloved Japanese import, and we spent about 5 minutes talking about it. It was a unexpectedly great break during a monotonous day at a research institute, and Im grateful that I have a compatriote in the same building in case something else exciting or terrible happens with our beloved team.

Saved....by TI-89

2008-05-13T09:00:00.001-07:00

So, once again my beloved calculator saves my sorry neck. Yesterday afternoon I had my dreaded linear algebra final---dreaded not in terms of the complexity, but in terms of annoyance. The test as well as the class itself wasn't superbly difficult, but my poor aging mind apparently can't handle simple algebraic computations, so my beloved TI-89 (otherwise known as the best $150 Ive ever spent) came in and saved the day (and the test) in terms of making sure that all the computations are correct.

Random pearls of wisdom from my officemate

2008-05-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

This really should be a running list, but since I don't know how to incorporate it into the blog template, Ill have to settle for posting a weekly update of the gems that come out of my officemate's mouth (with a serious expression on her face for most of the times).

Christina gem #1:

Another friend from the office stopped by to invite us to go camping over the weekend.The following dialogue happened:

Mandy: "It's going to be 6 girls all in one tent."
Christina: "That must be one big tent."
Mandy: "Yeah, it sleeps 12."
Christina: "Oh wow, it must be designed for a Mormon family."

Signs that you are jetlagged (and disoriented)

2008-04-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

1) It takes you several tries to fill out the immigration form that you have filled out about 20 times before

2) You cannot remember your house number---to the point that you start wondering if you filled out the aforementioned immigration form with the correct (oh gosh, I really hope that I did!)

3) You have to take several intentional mental step backs during the day to remind yourself what day of the week it is (i.e. what things you have to do on that particular day)

Things to pack when traveling

2008-04-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

Lessons learned the hard way:

1) Alarm clock: Trying to wake up by setting the alarm on your iPod after calculating the time difference only to realize that there is a reason for the headphones jack on the iPod (i.e. it doesn't make a sound without either a speaker or headphones)

2) Imodium, esp if traveling to Africa ('nuf said)

More gems from "Scrubs"

2008-04-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

New addition to my vocabulary of expressions: "I squat and surf" (hint:look at the picture). Meg, this one is for you:)

A monkey can do it

2008-04-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

Interesting article about the Russian space program involving monkeys...and a hilarious picture of a monkey in a simulator. As an animal lover, I have mixed feelings about this, but it's neat to see that we still have interesting and rigorous research going on in the Motherland.

Sweet Caroline

2008-04-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

What a game...Sox-Yankees, 4-3, over 5 hours with rain delays in the 8th inning at the climax of the game...wow! Best of all---FOX showed most of the game, despite the rain delay!!! Plus, my favorite pitcher pitching---makes for an exciting afternoon, lots of jumping up in the air and trash talking the guys in the striped uniforms (stupid Yankees) for me this afternoon.

SCRUBS is back!!!

2008-04-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

My second favorite show (after Friends, of course) is BACK on NBC (after a superlong writers' strike). And already, Im picking up more words to add to my vocabulary: Brinner (=breakfast for dinner). I do love brinner!

Awesome book

2008-04-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

My officemate and I often talk about how we have become a kind of food snobs: we prefer certain restaraunts to others (and really snubb those we don't like), avoid HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) like the plague, and only shop at Trader Joe's (I do cheat with Safeway once in a while). She recommended Omnivore's Dilemma, and since I have started reading it, Im afraid Im going to stop eating half of the food at the supermarket. I highly recommend it, especially for those on the health nut track.

Cultural differences

2008-04-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

My first post is about cultural differences between Russia and the US. The other night I was coming back from work on the metro. I usually take the elevator out of the metro to the street since it "drops" me off closer to where I need to go (i.e. home). Usually, people nicely line up in front of the elevator since it can only hold a certain number of people. On that night, I was the first in line for the elevator, with about 4 other people lining up behind me. Then, all of a sudden, this man walks up to the elevator door, right past me, and becomes the first in line. Of course, everyone in the line is shocked and starts looking at each other. When I mouthed to the others, "Should we say something?", everyone started shaking their heads, saying, "No, no." This is where I realized that this is America: people are so nice that they will not reprimand a common-law breaker. On the contrast, Russians do not let things like that go...perhaps, because we are used to standing in line, but we never let people get in front of us in a line without a good exuse (i.e. pregnant, disabled, etc). Had this situation occurred in Russia, this man would have been booed out to the back of the line. But, only in America, rule breakers just get scorning looks. I love this country.

Welcome to my randomness

2008-04-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

Since I have so many random thoughts running through my head with the speed of million miles an hour, I decided that it is time I started putting them on paper (or the webpage)instead of unloading it all on my poor officemate every morning:). This is going to be a collection of VERY random ramblings and observations that amuse me on a daily basis. Of course, there is going to be some Red Sox thoughts involved since I have become an avid fan of the 2007 World Series Champions.