End of March Roundup

Who's got two thumbs and wrote two blog posts in the month of March? This gal!

Again, all I have in me is a list of things that have happened this month. I intend to write soon about swimming in the Masters Provincial Championships, but you know, promises, promises.


1. It's still Winter...kind of. 



Some of us are more fazed by it than others.

It helps if you have a warm nest next to the heating vent.

I'm now supposed to be going for "fitness walks" in order to strengthen my foot for physical therapy. Last weekend BoBo and I headed to Springbank for a wintery walk. It was cold but we made it 2 miles!

BoBo still doesn't really get selfies.

2. John and I tried out a new cafe in town - Edgar and Joe's Cafe -  located inside the Goodwill local headquarters, adjacent to an actual Goodwill store in the same building. It was a pleasant place to study with lots of space, natural light, and free wifi. We'll definitely be back. Also, if you're London: breakfast all day.

3. Another one of my Interlochen classmates is getting famous. Allie X (or, my classmate formerly known as Allie Hughes) lives in Toronto and also, now, L.A. She released a couple of singles and I think they're  pretty fun! You can listen to them here. I should dig up some old photos from us in our Halloween costumes in junior year of high school. 

4. The Triathlon Club had a girls' night a couple weeks ago. It was wild - WILD, I tell you! Actually it involved dinner at Mongolian Grill and then froyo. At the froyo place I found this board game: 

I regret so much that we didn't play it. Also, it turns out that all those ladies train so much that by 8:30 we were all too tired to do anything else so we went home to go to bed. In all seriousness, I love that there are so many fit and strong ladies in the TriClub. The executive board is almost all badass chicks.

5. We also had the Triathlon Club end of the year banquet last week. There were elections for next year's board, a fun side show, and pad thai! And, I won the (female) swimming award! I was so touched by this. My coach, Alex, has made an enormous difference in my swimming this. And so has my lane-mate, Dan. I've gotten faster just by trying to keep up with him!

6. Please enjoy these promotional videos for Calgary ("Hello Calgary!") and, separately, Ontario ("There's no place like this!"). "This is Ontario, Y'all!" That made me laugh so hard. I heard about the Calgary one on This American Life and it immediately made me think of the Ontario commercial. It also makes me think of the time Fort Wayne commissioned of those new town mottos. They came up with this: "Fort Wayne - Still Room for Dreams."

7. A few weeks ago I joined a group called Barley's Angels, a group for women who are beer enthusiasts. I attended a group event at Brewhaven where we made two different kinds of beer and learned about the beer making process. I loved it! As a music theorist with a composition background, I'm very accustomed to male-dominated environments and I often feel comfortable in them. But it was nice to have an all-women group that was led by a women who knows a lot about beer. There was no mansplaining to endure. My friend, Grace (below), introduced me to the group. Brewhaving also seems like a neat place. It's out of my price range to go there as an individual but as a group it was pretty great. It also convinced me that I would never want to make beer at home. WAY too many variables and it's too easy to contaminate something and screw it all up. But I enjoyed going through the process with their equipment and expertise!

Here's Grace stirring the malts in our brown bitter.

The tank from above. The grains are in those bags hanging from the side. The malt and syrop are in the center/strainer looking thing.

In one of the storage rooms they had this cool medieval print of a monk making beer.

We finished the day with a canning demo. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the canning day, but I'm going to pick up my beer soon. I'm looking forward to trying it!

 8. I'm one chapter away from a complete draft (though early draft) of my dissertation. Here's Rameau's signature. I think it looks a bit like a bird looking through a hoop, if you look at it just right.  I've been outlining it like mad and editing chapter 1. I'm still not sure if I can defend in the summer or the fall, but I it will become clear in a couple of months (or rather, it has to, if I'm going to defend in the summer).

The temperature highs are supposed to be above 30F all this week! Fingers crossed that Spring is actually coming!

Four

I guess I'm down to one blog post per month (or less...it's March). 

Guess who's birthday it is! 

It's Morgan's birthday! I wish we were in Memphis to celebrate it with her. 

Also, it's Bobo's birthday. She is four today.

"Bon Anniversaire à Moi." 

(Not enjoying this birthday selfie)

Bobo got to celebrate her birthday with her favorite things: an extra long trip to the dog park (that photo is from a different day, but you get the picture) followed by an extra long nap and then a special doggie "cannoli" from the Village Tail. 

In other news, winter continues to be the worst.

Western has taken to dumping all the snow from the parking lots into the field between the music school and the gym. I tried to take a picture of it with my face in the foreground for scale but it doesn't really communicate how snowy it is. John said it looks like a scale model of the Alps and I said it looks more like the Aggro Crag. 

A couple of weeks ago we ventured to Indiana for the IU Graduate Theory Symposium. I gave a paper that I made out of various chunks of Chapter 4. It went better than I kind of expected. Successfully answering questions about my dissertation always gives me a lot of hope - it turns out, I know more about Rameau and 18th century French science than the average person. Or even the average music theorist.

We've been doing various things to take respite from the cold. Last night we met up with our friends GK and DK for some beer tasting. GK prepared this lovely fruit and cheese plate. Nothing like tropical fruit to help us feel like summer!

I got my hair trimmed today for the first time since the summer. I've decided to grow it out while I write my dissertation and then cut it off after I defend. I'll post some updates along the way. Maybe if it gets long enough I'll donate it afterward. That way something positive will come of my dissertation time either way...right? 

Going to the gym with John in the Winter is pretty great. He wears a lot of fun clothing combos. I think he was really happy on the inside that I took this photo.

A few weeks ago I went to Toronto with some members of the UWO Triathlon club to participate in the Hart House Indoor Triathlon. I'm still injured (long story for the next post...in, like, three months), but I was able to put together a relay with our spin instructor and her boyfriend. I handled the swim leg and it was really fun! The indoor tri deal was that you were given 15 minutes per event and they kept track of how far you went. I was able to complete 950 meters in the 15 minutes and I was really  happy with that. Having never done an event like that before, I decided to shoot for 800 meters and just see what happened. So 950 was pretty great! Here's a photo that one of my teammates grandma took. Those two on the left are Michelle and Mikaela, kindly cheering for me as I swam along the wall. 

I only have a few weeks until the Ontario Masters Provincial Championships in Windsor! I may have 4 of my 5 total chapters written by then! That would make me want to swim extra fast to celebrate. 

2014

Hey there, blog. I took a not so little break during Christmas and I've been dragging my feet when it comes to blogging. And basically for no good reason. I finished Gym Christmas with a swimming work out that never made it onto the blog and then I enjoyed several days in a row where I barely touched my computer.

Christmas at my parents' in Indiana was great, as usual. I spent a lot of time with Mr. Tobes and a lot of time doing nothing. But because of the timeline for SMT submissions,  I also spent a bunch of time editing a conference paper and an abstract that were both due in early January.

Other highlights: Mom took us to an IU game!

BoBo decided that my parents' fireplace is her favorite spot in the world. 

My mom graciously offered to help out with some dental bills I had in the fall, so I got a crown for Christmas! Not wanting John to feel left out, she got him a paper crown, shown here. 

She also got us this large bottle of tequila and we had margarita Christmas once again. Never gets old.

Dave and Carla came to town for the day. Naturally, we began with a visit to the Spoon, then a walk around campus, and finally, board games with fancy beer at the house.

John's grandpa came to visit and at the end of his trip, we took him back to catch the bus in Indianapolis. Mom suggested we take in a museum and have lunch at Three Sisters in Broad Ripple. We had a nice time visiting Indy with Mom. It made all three of us want to go back again (to the NCAA Hall of Champions, perhaps?). Here's John modeling his "I <3 actual="" christmas="" for="" got="" he="" hot="" p="" sauce.="" shirt="" some="" sriracha="" that="" with="">

Nearer to the end of break, we rang in the New Year with Mark and friends, including Amanda. She was dressed the sparkliest so she descended the stairs at midnight, in place of a glittery ball in Times Square. 

And since then, lots of other mundane but good things have happened. I will deliver the current 2014 highlights in a conveniently lazy list format. 

1. I decided to join the whole TriClub (rather than just the swimming) with the hopes of being able to run at some point in the next few months. I now think the expectation of running so soon was unrealistic (a topic for another time), but I'm really enjoying the rest of the club. I can go to spin class on Monday and Friday, swim three days a week like before, plus they also do strength training and a mystery workout on Wednesday. I don't typically make it to all that, but it's nice to have so many structured work outs available. Also, I'm having so much success with massage therapy that I really haven't had one of my motion sickness episodes in a while, and spin class doesn't make me motion sick! 

It turns out, triathlon club members get up VERY EARLY, so I'm still trying to get adjusted to that. But I think that it's actually going to help me graduate. I get up early for the work out and then I'm up.  I get in 2-3 hours of solid dissertation time before lunch, or a solid single hour before I teach. It's pretty awesome. Of course, I also fall asleep around 9:30 every night. 

I'm going to an indoor triathlon in Toronto in a couple of weeks to swim as part of a relay and I hope to post about what that's like. In general, it is so nice to have a group of people to spend time with who have no idea who Rameau is. 

2. Speaking of Rameau, a week or so ago, I went to Tallahassee, FL to talk about Rameau. I presented a chunk of Chapter 4 at their Forum, a conference run by grad students. Even though it was "cold" for Tallahassee, it was nice to get a break from our weather and enjoy some 50 degree days. I also go to catch up with Little Gillian, a former UWO student who's now ABD (time flies!) at Florida State. 

Side note: I have two friends named Gillian/Djillian/Jillian. I met them both at Western, neither of them goes here now, and both have attended FSU. Both currently live in Florida. Yet I don't think they've ever met. This is not the premise of a riddle. 

I also get to present "Rameau and Friends/Frenemies"* at the IU student conference during "spring" break. I'm lucky to have gotten on two fairly economical conferences - one where I could stay with a friend, and one in my parents' town. 

3. And speaking of my dissertation, I actually felt really good coming back to school and starting 2014 because THIS IS GOING TO BE THE YEAR: I am going to finish this dissertation, come hell or high water. My current plan is to defend late in the summer, or, if everyone important is still out of town, in the early fall. Of course, I'm meeting with my advisor this week and he may put the ki-bosh on all of that. Still, I've got a lot of stuff written and I feel good about the progress I've made. I've also learned that writing and presenting conference papers on my dissertation topic is, on the one hand, more efficient than on unrelated topics, but ultimately still a time suck. After the IU conference, I'm done for the school year. 

4. While stuck on the tarmac on the plane coming back from FL, I read most of Rachel Dratch's book, A Girl Walks into a Bar. And it's great! If you liked Bossypants by Tina Fey, or Is Everyone Hanging Out without Me? by Mindy Kahling, you will probably enjoy this book. Parts of it made me laugh out loud and others were simply touching and clever. I highly recommend it. Have you read anything by a woman comic lately? If so, please send me the title! Also, when is Amy Poehler going to write her own hilarious and brilliant memoir? All the cool ladies are doing it!

4. It's cold here, like it is everywhere else, apparently. Western canceled class on Day #2 of the semester and I think they vowed never to do it again. But, you know, it's Canada. It's colder than in previous years, but enduring the cold winter is a point of national pride, so they don't complain the same way Americans do. They seem especially excited about the cold because of the upcoming Winter Olympics. If you have a few minutes to kill, check out #WeAreWinter on the twitters. You'll see what I mean.

5. I signed up for the Ontario Masters Provincial Championships swim meet in March. There's no minimum qualifying time and it's in Windsor (about 2 hours away), so woohoo! I'm doing the 50M, 100M, and 400M Freestyle (400! What am I thinking!!), and the 100 IM. It's so exciting to have an actual event to train for. I'm sure I'll post here about the weekend in Windsor after it happens.

And with that, it's 9:30. I've been up since 5:15! Time for bed!

If you're reading this, then I hope your Near Year has been great so far!

*Not the real title. In case you're curious, the real title was, "Rameau, Voltaire, Castel, and Public Image in Enlightenment Music Theory."

GYM CHRISTMAS Day 9: BoBo Time

Yesterday for the 9th day of GYM CHRISTMAS I celebrated "Animal Time." Spending time with my parents' dogs has always been one of the highlights of the holidays for me, and this year my excitement is 100% bigger because of BoBo's arrival (though it is more than a little diminished by Molly's departure). 

BoBo is fortunate in that we spend a ton of time with her. Unlike a lot of greyhounds, she gets to go to work with us most days of the week and we often take her with us when we go places. So for Animal Time, I made an extra effort to take her on a real walk during the noon hour, instead of just taking her out for a bathroom break. Of course it was extra cold on the the day I chose to give her a longer walk.

She also hung out with me all morning while I worked and then all evening at school while John gave his students' their final. Having her has made this semester so much better. At the end of the day, her lack of sympathy is kind of nice. BoBo doesn't really care how much writing I got done or how bad I think it is. She still needs to go to the dog park and let loose, or she still demands affection at certain times. It's a good reminder that my problems aren't that huge.

Here are some recent BoBo pics. Not that this blog is lacking a lot of photos of her.

Staring at food she can't have.

Looking quizzically at my computer. I was watching a video of puppies learning to howl and the noises fascinated her.

Even though BoBo time is pretty much all the time at our house, it felt good to single her out for a special day during GYM CHRISTMAS.

Today is December 13th! If you still want to participate in Gym Christmas, you can start today and you'll still be able to complete it - and receive a sweet prize from my friend the DJ.


Here is my GYM CHRISTMAS list now:

Go for a Pre- or Post-Dinner Walk.

Yuletide Cheer

Make a Game of Household Chores

Crank Up the Music and Boogie Down

Hazardous Waste Removal

Regular Water Consumption

Investigate and Share

Sneak a Work Out into Another Activity

Turn TV Commercials into Fitness Breaks

Muscle-Building/Strength Training

Animal Time

Seven-Minute Work-Out.

GYM CHRISTMAS 2013 is here! Day 1: Pre-Dinner Walk

Today marks the first day of Gym Christmas 2013! I've already written a bit about the details for this year as it is somewhat different from previous years. And today, the DJ posted a more thorough explanation of each task on her blog. You can read it here.

I've started a list of how I'm going to accomplish each task and I'll blog about each of them as I go. Today's is #1 on the list (chosen arbitrarily - you need not complete them in the order above): Go for a pre-dinner walk. DONE! 

Bobo and I took a 30 minute stroll around the neighborhood this afternoon. I could have also counted it as Animal Time, but I know that one will be easy to accomplish because I spend most of the day with Bobo. 

Yuletide Cheer: This is meant to be a random-acts-of-kindness kind of thing. Since none of my students read this (to my knowledge), I'm going to surprise them with a baked good on our last day of class.

Make a game of household chores: I'm not sure how much of a game it will be, but I'm going to sweep the whole house and mop the kitchen floor (date TBD). I always work up a sweat doing those things anyways.

Crank up the music and boogie down: Self-explanatory. But I do have a similar activity I like to do this time of year called Nutcracker Yoga. Also self-explanatory.

For Hazardous Waste Removal, I had planned on emptying all the trashcans in the house plus cleaning out the fridge, but then the DJ explained that it's more mental - eliminating something bad from your inner self. I still I'll still do the cleaning task and by extension consider what kinds of mental clutter I could rid from my mind. Our house feels more comfortable and relaxed when it's clean. 

Regular Water Consumption: I'm going to keep track of how much water I drink on a particular day, evaluate it, and then try to improve it on another day (if necessary). 

Investigate and share: I thought about writing a bit about my dissertation research, but I may look up something interesting about Christmas to share instead. So something either Voltaire or Christmas related.

Sneak a workout into another activity: I've already sort of begun this one, but i'll probably officially count it one day this week. I've stopped using the elevator in Talbot College. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but I spend a lot of time in John's office (with the dog) and then occasionally make trips up to my office - that means walking from the basement to the 3rd floor. If I have to make more than one trip, I can really feel it in my quads! 

Turn TV commercials into fitness breaks: We don't have cable, so as the DJ suggests, I'm going to get creative with this one. My plan is to commit to foam rolling while we watch TV at night and I have to do it 3 times before completing this task.

Muscle-Building/Strength Training: I do this regularly anyways, so I'll either do a normal workout at home or at the gym.

Animal Time: Easily done. I walk Bobo at least once a day. 

Seven-Minute Work Out: I may turn this one into a 7-minute AMRAP (or three components, 2:20 AMRAP for each), sandwiched between a warm up and cool down.

In order to participate, you simply complete these tasks per DJ's instructions and tell her about it, either on facebook, or on her blog. At the end, she mails you a button! 

November, 2013

I thought I'd take a break from telling you about my terrifying dreams to write a little recap of the past few weeks.

1. I've participated in a few Triathlon Club events, including this one where we walked around campus with bags of Hershey's HUGS and randomly handed them to people. We also took pictures along the way. 

I love the TriClub, even though I feel old enough to be everyone's mom. It's nice to get together with them outside of swim practice, since I never have my glasses on and everyone is wearing swim caps.

2. A couple of weeks ago we got a decent amount of snow and Bobo went NUTS over it. 

For some reason she really wanted to get it all over her face.

And she loved laying down in it, but she was always poised to strike.

3. I saw this random box of sweet potatoes in Talbot College. Its smiley face makes me so happy!

4. On Friday night we went to Gen Pop. Here's a picture of some music theory classmates of mine, breaking it down.

5. And then it snowed some more! We got almost 2 feet last night. 

Bobo is a tall dog and even she was in it up to her chest. We had to double up her sweater and her coat because it was only 18 F. when we got up this morning. She seems equally excited and perplexed by the snow. She doesn't know where to go to the bathroom, but she likes jumping in the snow like a porpoise. 

One more week until our Christmas decor goes up! I've resisted putting it up, even though our yard looks like Christmas Town from Nightmare Before Christmas. Instead, we're just listening to a bunch of Christmas music to get into the holiday spirit.

6. It's almost time for Gym Christmas! I'll post a lot more during it, and I have some specific goals in mind, but you can read the DJ's preliminary post here (<-- 12="" a="" baby="" bit="" but="" christmas:="" christmas="" complete="" cute="" different="" dj="" explanation="" for="" forthcoming="" gym="" here="" info="" is="" mommy-hood.="" more="" need="" of="" p="" photos="" reflecting="" s="" short="" tasks="" the="" there="" this="" to="" transition="" we="" year="">

You need not be a personal friend of the DJ to participate! Gym Christmas always adds greatly to my December. 

IAA "Reunion" Day

On the second day of our trip, we headed to campus to wander around and sit in on some classes with our former teachers. 

We walked down to the lake from the Academy side, a ways away from our cabin.

Seagulls hanging out on top the dance building.

The fall colors on campus were stunning.

Main campus, between the dorms, cafeteria, and classroom buildings. 

We attended Mr. McCall's Early American History class on the slave trade. Mr. McCall was definitely one of my favorite teachers and it was fun to chat with him about the class material, and to pick his brain about the shutdown, the 2016 election, etc. 

(Me, Kira, Mr.McCall, Tracy)

Only a few of us registered for the reunion, supposedly the reason it was canceled, so we easily fit into a group photo. 

 We wandered around the concourse where our academic classes took place.

Saw some old faces...

and some new flyers for theory tutorial and the Chamber Singers concert.

We saw the new (to us) library in what used to be the gym. When we were there, the music library was very much like a dungeon underneath the cafeteria. But now it's a swank, college-style building with the internet and everything.

Kira and I also attended Dr. Van Maanen's first year music theory class and participated in the day's lesson on second species counterpoint. Woohoo!

 The day ended with a trip to the photo archives where former Academy conductor, Byron Hanson, hauled out a bunch of containers of Academy photos from 2002-2003. It was a perfect thing for us to do, and we almost definitely wouldn't have gotten to do it if lots of people had attended the "real" reunion.

If you'd asked me ten years ago if I would want to teach at Interlochen, I would have said definitely not. It's so cold and isolated in the winter, and I couldn't imagine wanting to endure that indefinitely (little did I know we would move to Canada, so the joke is on me). Now, though, I'm in my 7th year of teaching (!!!) and I would totally jump at the chance to teach at Interlochen. The kids are engaged, the institution supports creative work, and it's prestigious, so famous people visit on a regular basis. I might not want to live in Northern Michigan forever, but I would happily sign up for a winter there if it meant I got to teach in such a vibrant, intellectually stimulating place. And the winters are the price for what are a pretty beautiful summer and fall. Not that they have a job opening or anything, but I may keep my ear to the ground now that I've visited as an adult and witnessed the great teaching that takes place there. It makes me realize how lucky I am to have been a student in such a place.