Strange things in the sea

20 March 2013, 2:23 pm by Giggles
Categories: Learn Something

Friday night we learned a little more about sea cucumbers. I saw an article from National Geographic and made the mistake of reading it. And then Brett and I had this conversation:

Lisa (in the kitchen): I just learned something I don’t think I wanted to.
Brett (in the front room): What?
Lisa: Sea cucumbers eat with their butt.
Brett: Just a second (turns off music). What did you say?
Lisa: What do you think I said?
Brett:  (doubtfully) Sea cucumbers eat with their butt? :what:
Lisa: That’s exactly what I said.

I didn’t know bipolar feeding was a thing before. Probably could’ve gone my whole life without knowing that and been just fine too.

In more pleasant news, it’s little snippets of conversation like that (and many more we haven’t written down), that make being married to Brett a lot of fun. We keep each other on our toes.

3 Shared thoughts

Looking at US from outside

18 March 2013, 11:57 am by Giggles
Categories: Life

My sister-in-law sent me the following message:

I’m writing yet another paper for my English class and I wondered if you could help to enlighten me. The question posed to me was “How does traveling outside of the US make a difference in how you see your community in the US?” I know you lived outside of the US so I can imagine you might see the US from a totally different perspective than I do. I am interested in your point of view on that question.

Off the top of my head, I was raised to be patriotic. I always stand during the National Anthem, and sing. But ever since living abroad I get misty-eyed during the National Anthem. I was living in Mexico in September 2001. It was absolutely incredible to go to the grocery store there after the attack and see so many American flags.

Living abroad helped me see how other people see us. I was in Brasil during the 2000 election. They got a big kick out of the fact that we couldn’t figure out who our president was. It was like they were seeing the US wasn’t perfect and the land of promise like they thought it was. I read the BBC for the same reason. I think a lot of people who have never left the States are a bit egocentric (some more than a bit), they see our country as the center of the world.

Food changed for me. It took me over a year to like eating again when I got back (it took me that long to figure out how really cook). I’d gotten used to fresh prepared food without all the mass produced processed food. And there’s really no going back after that. My own cooking today reflects that. America in general has no idea how to eat.

With all the differences, one of the thing that travel teaches you is that we really aren’t as different as we might initially seem. The details change, but the underlying values and principles are the same.

My brother has lived abroad for over 3 years total. His answers would be more in depth. Living abroad gives you a different perspective than simply being a tourist. When you are a tourist you can be isolated from a lot of the local realities, seeing only the shiny side they want you to see. Like when you clean up the front room of your house when company comes over but don’t necessarily fold the laundry piled high on your bed. But when you are living in a place you’re going to see the back rooms, the day-to-day happenings. You get a more real feel for what the place is like. If you put for the effort you can see all that as a tourist, but it isn’t automatic, most people never see that.

5 Shared thoughts

Not exactly news any more

16 March 2013, 12:26 pm by Giggles
Categories: Books, Education, Exercise, Health, Learn Something, News, Science & Tech

With the impending demise of Google Reader, I decided I need to go through all those articles I starred oh so long ago and save the ones I really want. So while none of this is news any more, I still felt like commenting on it. Expect more of these posts in the near future. I’ve marked a lot of items.

This week is the Scientific American edition.

Okay, that’s a good start. I’ll have to do another Scientific American edition of things I found interesting later. I hope you found something interesting here as well.

2 Shared thoughts

Pi and Ides

14 March 2013, 7:25 am by Giggles
Categories: Education, Happy Things, Relationships

It’s Pi Day!

We’re going to try our hands at making a chicken pot pie for dinner tonight. We’ve rounded our Pi Party to the nearest Saturday again so that will happen this weekend. I’m even going to see if I can’t make a lemon meringue pie for it, one of my favorite pies.

Tomorrow is the Ides of March, so we’ll be having Little Caesar’s Pizza for dinner in memory of the dead emperor.

Also, I’ve decided I’m glad I’m defending my dissertation next Friday and not tomorrow. Defending on the Ides of March really doesn’t seem like a great thing considering the historical significance of the day. I’d rather not face my committee on a day known for being stabbed in the back.

In other non-calendar related news, I was a guest writer for A Practical Wedding again yesterday in a piece called “Reclaiming Wife: Meant to be?!” And yes, we are meant to be together. It was actually kind of fun for us to think of all those differences.

2 Shared thoughts

My normal is different

13 March 2013, 6:29 am by Giggles
Categories: Health, Infertility

I had always heard women get cramps when they menstruate. And I knew women who had to take prescription medications or take sick days at work because of cramps. My cramps weren’t that bad. Sure I would hope my bad days would hit during the weekend. Sure I was taking lots of Ibuprofen. But I didn’t think to bring it up with a doctor because I didn’t think it was that unusual. It was just normal for me. I didn’t realize it might not be normal for everyone. And no doctor ever asked me how bad my cramps were.

Well, no doctor until we went to a fertility specialist. And by then I was starting to suspect a few things on my own. After getting my history at our first appointment, including how painful my cramps were, the doctor told me he could pretty much guarantee I had endometriosis.

The uterus is lined with endometrial tissue. It’s the tissue that grows and swells each month to make a nice comforting spot for a blastocyst (the ball of cells that grows to be an embryo after implantation) to land and implant, but bleeds if no blastocyst touches down.

Endometriosis is when endometrial tissue is growing where it’s not supposed to, i.e., anywhere but the inside of the uterus. So that means it can be on the outer side of the uterus, around the fallopian tubes, around the ovaries, on the intestines – anywhere inside the abdominal cavity. Just because it isn’t in the uterus doesn’t mean it knows that. So every month leading up to ovulation, that tissue grows and swells, oblivious to its location. And at the end of each cycle it bleeds as well, only with no place for the blood to go. And that causes pain, bloating, inflammation, bowel issues, scar tissue etc., including infertility.

The only way to diagnosis it is with surgery. And while it’s being diagnosed it’s possible to remove all the errant tissue. Unfortunately, as long as you are ovulating, there’s no real way to keep it from coming back though.

There are theories as to what causes it, but nothing firm. There are theories about why it causes infertility, but nothing firm.

My first cycle after my first surgery I took a total of 6 Ibuprofen. And I finally counted how many I had been taking before – over 45 over the course of 4-5 days each month. Not normal.

I got mad that no doctor had ever asked me the questions before that would’ve revealed that what was normal pain for me wasn’t normal pain for everyone, that the pain I’d been experiencing for over a decade could’ve been taken care of a lot earlier, perhaps keeping it from impacting my fertility so badly as well. I’d never heard of endometriosis before we started suspecting fertility problems. So I didn’t know what to bring up with a doctor either.

March is “Endometriosis  Awareness Month.” I am VERY aware of it now. I just wish I’d been more aware of it before.

5 Shared thoughts

Almost at the end

11 March 2013, 7:46 am by Giggles
Categories: Education

Wednesday and Thursday last week Brett became the first person to read my dissertation from start to finish. Everyone else who’s read the whole thing (myself included) has read it in chunks and certainly not in order (chapter 2 was written first, then 3, then 1, then part of 5, then 4, then edits for 3, then finish 5, you get the idea). I officially submitted it on Friday so he was doing a grammatical read through for me. I really appreciate his edits, but it was also fun to hear his comments as we briefly talked about different things he was learning or having confirmed from his own experience. And since he is NOT a night owl in any sense of the word, I have no words for how much I appreciate him staying up till 1am on Friday to make sure he read the whole thing for me. That’s love.

All the forms for graduation were moved online last year (they like to change the format of forms when I’m in the middle of them, the ethics board did that to me two years ago). Which means that I get email confirmation when they are approved.

On March 1st I got an email about my last form, my announcement of final oral defense form. The first two lines of the form email really stood out to me:

The Announcement of Final Oral Defense was approved for:
Lisa Dennis, Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology

That was the first time I had ever seen my name like that. I’ve known that’s what I was working for. But to see it like that, that’s something else.

That final oral defense will take place at 9am on March 22nd. For the first 20-30 minutes or so I will be giving a public presentation about my research. That means anyone who wants to come listen to me talk about the achievement and self-efficacy of third- and fifth-grade students in multiplication can come. My dissertation title is “Multiplication Achievement and Self-Efficacy in Third- and Fifth-Grade Students: Effects of Cross-Age Peer Tutoring and Skill Training.” If you are in the area and interested, let me know and I’ll tell you exactly where.

After my presentation the public is dismissed and my committee asks me whatever questions they want. It’s assumed that the questions will be related to the research, but if they wanted to ask anything else they probably could.

When they have asked me all the questions they want they ask me to step out and vote. After the vote I go back in and they tell me what the results are. And then Brett and I go out for steak, or whatever we’re in the mood for that day.

Final count:
– 190 pages
– 30,565 words
– 5 tables
– 5 figures
– 93 pages of appendix
– 11 pages of 67 references

4 Shared thoughts

Small world

9 March 2013, 4:04 pm by Giggles
Categories: Meme

My parents got their first email address when I went to college. Email was a rather new thing. Everyone I emailed were people I’d known previously.

After college I got involved with a online forum. It was the first time I interacted with people I had never seen before. That opened up a whole new world for me. Some of those people are still dear friends today. It was kind of fun to go to different places so I could physically meet my friends. I was starting to see how the internet makes the world a much smaller place. Since then I’ve been part of several other forums off and on as well, forums for quilting, running, reading, even health issues.

Some of the friends I made on that forum started using a website to meet people, and were finding some real characters. To check out some of these strange guys they were interacting with, I joined the site too. And met the perfect guy. After talking for a couple of months we finally met. And the rest is history.

Last year I “met” a friend I’ve made through blogging, Meg, when Brett and I met her train while she was doing a book tour. That was a first for me. My world has become a lot smaller since I went online.

A few months back, through the world of blogging, I made another friend, Whitney at Southern Hope, who also met her husband on the same site I met mine and who is working through some of the same health problems we are dealing with. Small world indeed!

Liebster AwardA month ago she gave me a Liebster award, an award bloggers bestow on others they admire. Ah sweet! So now I get to:

  1. Share 11 facts about myself.
  2. Answer 11 questions the awarder asked me.
  3. Nominate 11 bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers.
  4. Create 11 questions for the next group to answer.
  5. Link back to the person who gave me the award – Go Whitney!!

So here we go, 11 facts about me.

  1. I’m an introvert.
  2. I have frequently been known for my inability to cook, which makes my current food adventures all the more meaningful to me.
  3. I don’t like getting my face wet.
  4. I love elephants
  5. I played the flute from 4th grade through 10th grade.
  6. I have never officially broken a bone (I suspect I cracked my nose once, but it was never confirmed).
  7. I love yoga. Brett can tell when I haven’t done it in a while and will remind me to do it.
  8. The only thing I put salt on is cucumbers.
  9. I try to only grow plants that serve a purpose and make their existence worthwhile, so I pretty much never consider annuals unless they are food plants and I can eat them.
  10. I love bird feeders.
  11. I would go hang gliding but not sky diving.

And the answers to her questions.

  1. What is your favorite quote?
    That’s an easy one, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, live the life you’ve imagined.” It’s guided me for a long time now through many dreams.
  2. If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose?
    Also an easy one. My online name for years was the name of a fictional character – Eilonwy from the Chronicles of Prydain. Read the books. You’ll see why.
  3. If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?
    I don’t think I would change it since I believe I picked it to begin with.
  4. If you could witness any event, past, present, or future, what would it be?
    Most past events were rather brutal. Perhaps I’d like to see my own funeral in the future. Or maybe I’d like to be on Apollo 11. Can I participate in the event or do I just get to watch it?
  5. What was the last experience that made you a stronger person?
    Infertility. Hands down.
  6. What was the last book you read?
    As of this writing it is My Sister’s Keeper. If you aren’t reading this right after I write it though you can check the current correct answer on my Book Log.
  7. Have you ever met a famous person?
    What defines famous? I’ve met people who were famous in certain circles, but nobody that is famous enough to be in People.
  8. Why blog?
    I’ve been a big journaler since I was young. Blogging is just an extension of that for me. I blog to update family that lives far away (Hi Mom!). I blog because I think I have something good to say, even if my mom and husband might be the only ones who agree some times.
  9. Which is your most favorite place?
    Gardens. Nature (but I want to sleep in my own bed at night still). The temple. Curled up with my husband.
  10. Where are you right now?
    On the couch, watching my husband watch “Cupcake Wars” for the first time. He just now realized that there are actual cupcake places and it wasn’t just a made up place like Underpants Etc. in Chuck. It’s hilarious. The French judge especially is cracking him up.
  11. Got milk?
    Always!

Here are 11 bloggers I admire and read regularly.

  1. Book Guardian
  2. Heidi Aphrodite
  3. Montreal Zen
  4. Feigning Fertility
  5. Ohleo!!!
  6. People May Leave Looking Confused and Annoyed
  7. The Mackelberries
  8. 7 Cooks In A Kitchen
  9. Pondering the Scriptures
  10. The Cook Book
  11. How Lucky We Are

And 11 questions for them to answer.

  1. Who in your life inspires you the most?
  2. What is your favorite dessert?
  3. When do you do your best thinking?
  4. What do you like in your salad?
  5. Where would your ideal vacation be?
  6. What toy did you sleep with as a child?
  7. Why do you like your favorite color?
  8. What is your autobiography in 6 words?
  9. Where is your happy place?
  10. What book changed your life?
  11. Why do you blog?

It’s fun to shrink the world with the internet.

4 Shared thoughts