Thought For The Day

I'm addicted to "This American Life" podcasts. I always miss the radio program on Friday nights, and was so excited to discover they have free podcasts of all their shows. I was listening to a show today entitled "Testosterone," a broadcast that I think women, especially the mothers of boys, should listen to. The opening act was a manly man who, due to some undisclosed illness, suffered a complete depletion of all his testosterone. He talked about the effect that had on his personality, who he was, or who he thought he was, and he said this:

"I grew up in a culture, like all of us, that divides the soul from the body, and that that is your singleness; that is your uniqueness, and nothing can touch that. And then I go through this experience where I have small amounts of a bodily chemical removed and then reintroduced, and it changes everything I know as my ‘self.’ And it violates the sanctity of that understanding. That understanding that who you are exists independent of any other forces in the universe, you know. And that’s humbling. And it’s terrifying."

I have to think on this a little longer to figure out why I find this so profound, but I instinctively love it. Maybe it's the neurobiology training, with all the study of brain chemicals, and learning how their deficit or presence can elicit emotions like fear. Or maybe it's that little bout with depression that I experienced, and along with that experience, the absolute understanding (and I was REALLY a skeptic) that depression is not anything other than CHEMICAL in nature, unlike what so many arm-chair psychiatrists think (that means you too, freaky Tom Cruise).

If you want to listen to the program, go to www.thislife.org and find the February 28th show. You can no longer download it, but you can play it on your computer!

Fancy Fairy

My friend and Nbio classmate Lara has some pretty remarkable talents. She's an aerialist who started and runs her own business (check out the video tab on the website to see a sample of her work), and also performs with another company she helped start up (Circus Contraption is really popular in Seattle, and although I've not seen any of their full performances, I've heard they're fabulous). The Aerialistas perform a free show every year at Seattle Center's Winterfest. The first time we went to see them, the theme was of the ethereal woodland fairy variety and ever since then Zoya has desperately wanted to be one of them. She was 3 at the time, and when we came home from the performance, everything that even resembled a rope was something she tried to climb and perform on. After we came home from this year's performance, she discovered that one of the posts on her bed served as an adequate substitute for ropes. She now makes up and performs various "fairy tricks" for us (I think she's up to 21 of them - all different poses). I think when she's a little older I'll have to enroll her in Lara's school! Here are a couple of pictures:

~o~o....G-I-D-D-Y....o~o~

To begin, I've been going to school to get my undergrad degree since April 2001. If my mental math still serves me, and I hope it does since I need it to get my last physics class off my back, that would be 7 years. (I'm not actually counting the fact that I really started my higher education career in the fall of 1992, because if I did it would be more like 15 1/2 years and that's just embarrassing! But I digress.) So 7 years to do what many (most?) people do in 4 or 5. Now granted, most of that time I was going part-time while I played mommy in my other life, and I did take a couple of quarters off to do important things like give birth, but still...7 years. And I have to register that I am really, REALLY sick (and tired) of being in school. Nonetheless, I have been diligently and more recently grudgingly taking my classes one at a time, trying to get through so I could finish. Up until yesterday, I thought that was going to take 3 more quarters and 13 more credits.

And then I talked to Tom. Turns out my trusty adviser had left a couple of transfer classes out of my degree progress report since I transfered to the UW. With the corrections he made yesterday, I have only ONE organic chem class (3 credits) and ONE undergrad research stint (2 credits) left to graduate.

♪ a a a a a a a a a h h h h h h h h h h h!

That's the sound of the angels singing! So, provided that I can make it through O-chem (I took the first two classes in the series 4 years ago, so it might be a challenge), I will GRADUATE in JUNE!!!

Funny that one of the things I'm looking forward to most when that happens is that I can change my blogger profile to read, "Neurobiology GRADUATE" instead of whatever it says now.

Ode to Fifth Grade Band

I don't think this needs any commentary :)

*Footnote to previous post

I feel the need to clarify something about that ranting in the last post. As frustrating as it is to have to wait on hold and not have your needs met by customer service people because they don't understand you and vice-versa, I would never, ever be angry with them or nasty to them. I feel a lot of compassion towards employees in India and other poor countries who are exploited for their cheap wages (careful there, Wendy, no soapboxes), who have to deal with impatient, nasty americans who treat them poorly because of the language issue (and I know that happens a lot to them!). Also, I really don't think the woman at bestbuy was stupid. I was just a little hormonal, or something.

I feel much better now.

The rest of the story...

In that last post I just really needed to vent. Amy was right, there is a story. I was on hold with DishNetwork for the hundredth time, catching up on blogs and what-not on the computer so I wasn't dwelling on the fact that those stupid people were ignoring me AGAIN. I was so ready to get all Grandpa Sampson on them and start placing calls to the CEO (assuming, of course, that I could find his contact information somewhere). So here's the rest of the story:

I ordered DishNetwork last week (switched from directTV, the reasons for which I will explain at another time, perhaps an occasion when I feel my blood pressure is getting dangerously low) and set up a time for installation. Wednesday between 12 and 5, because unlike normal people in the world, satellite installation technicians are incapable of making REAL appointments (ie., 3pm on a Tuesday, or 1:30 on Wednesday). NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, they must give you a range, so that you are held hostage in your own home until they decide to show up. Anyhoo, on Wed. I raced home so I could be there at exactly noon (they called that morning to say their schedule was packed, so don't be late or they would leave). I followed all their directions (move very large, very heavy entertainment center into middle of room so they had room to work), and then sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Now, on Wednesday it really wasn't that bad because I was studying for an exam anyway - no big deal, until they called at 4:30pm to say that at the rate they were going they wouldn't get to me until midnight, so please call and reschedule. Fine. I did. Waited on hold for 30 minutes. Talked to non-english-speaking customer service rep in phillipines. I made a Friday appt, but gave explicit instructions that there was NO WAY I could be home before 1pm. They said no problem. Moved very large, very heavy entertainment center out of middle of the room. So Friday comes, and again moved very large, very heavy entertainment ctr into middle of room. Went to take nasty, nasty physics test. I drove into the driveway at 1:01pm. And there's a phone message left at 11:50am saying technician will there in 10 minutes. At 12:00. Not 1:00. Huh. Called dishnetwork, waited on hold for 30 minutes. talked to non-english-speaking customer service rep in phillipines, am told the tech is ON HIS WAY (from where, I don't know. Maybe south africa. on foot.). Held hostage again in own home for another 5 hours, and tech is, again, a no-show, only this time no calls. Called dishnetwork, waited on hold for another 30 minutes, talked with non-english-speaking customer service rep in phillipines. She gives me phone number of installation company, and am told that either a technician or an area manager will call me that night. Leave msg at phone number I'm given. Wait for call... and..........nothing. Move very large, very heavy entertainment center back against wall. At this point I'm considering not having TV at all, as it's not worth the frustration.

Saturday morning rolls around, and I can't deal with those people anymore, so go out to Best Buy to return a memory card and get the right one for Dylan's new camera (birthday gift). Take camera in to BestBuy customer service rep, show her the memory card that we need (I mean, she actually HAD IT IN HER HAND, AND READ THE SPECS ON IT), and am given a different box by woman, with assurance that it's the right one. Wait in line for 20 minutes (with impatient children in tow) to exchange the damn memory card. Make transaction successfully. Go to bank to open savings accounts for kids. Wait in lobby with impatient, HUNGRY children for 45 minutes (!!!!!!) before being helped with banking business. Drive home. Open new memory card from best buy to install in camera, only to find out that it's the WRONG ONE (in fact, it's the SAME ONE I HAD JUST RETURNED!!). Utter some VERY colorful language, directed at stupid woman at best buy. Scare my children with said colorful language (oops, did I say that out loud?!).

Later in the afternoon, decide I can deal with dishnetwork again (still no call from tech or area manager), so call, wait on hold for 30 minutes, talk with non-english-speaking customer service rep in phillipines and request a chat with her manager. In the process of transferring the call, she disconnects me. Think to self, "DEEP, CLEANSING BREATHS, SELF. YOU CAN DO THIS WITHOUT BURSTING A BLOOD VESSEL OR USING SAME COLORFUL LANGUAGE THAT FRIGHTENED CHILDREN ON POOR NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REP IN PHILLIPINES!"). Call back, wait on hold for 30 minutes (which was when I wrote previous post) and FINALLY got through to helpful, southern-accented Bill, who speaks fluent english and is NOT in the phillipines, who credits my not-yet-established dishnetwork account $80, sets yet another 12-5 appointment for Monday, and comes across as if he genuinely feels sorry for me (I so needed some empathy at that point). Feeling somewhat satisfied, poor big glass of wine and hang with my babes before getting very restful sleep so I can face another day of dealing with all the incompetents in this world.

As for the satellite, really, if they screw it up tomorrow, I'm done. No TV in this house, and my children will grow up to be all the better for it. And they'll have a mother who is sane.

And somewhere there is a prozac pill that's screaming my name...

Something that makes me see red and pour angry steam from my ears...

...PEOPLE WHO WASTE MY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!