What, me random? No...

Once again, I have no "theme" for this entry - just a bunch of miscellaneous stuff that happened this week. Pretty much all good stuff actually!

1) I had my first article accepted for publication on Thursday! I am so, so happy about this. When I read the e-mail I actually jumped out of my chair and ran around. I grinned like an idiot for about an hour, and could not stop clapping my hands. It has taken almost 3 years to get this published I think, and many, many rewrites and reanalyses. I think it has even made me cry on more than one occasion. It is going to be published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, probably sometime in May. My lovely parents sent me these:

(again, poor quality = laziness + camera built into Macbook)

2) I am not sure if any of your have seen the movie The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. Definitely targeted at teenage girls, so I should probably not be admitting to having seen it. But I enjoyed it, and after I watched it I decided I wanted to check out the series of books that it was based on. They are written by Ann Brashares, and are about a group of four friends who find a pair of pants at a thrift shop that miraculously fit all four of them. They all travel that summer and mail the pants back and forth to one another. The first book was definitely better than the movie, and there have been 3 written after it. The fourth and last one just came out a few weeks ago, and last weekend I picked it up.

Yes, I paid full price for the hardcover edition. Am I sorry? Not at all. I loved it. Best one since the original one I think. I read it in two sittings and could not put it down. So, if you like the type of book (and I know not all of you do), I highly recommend it. For those of you who don't, you can laugh but I will not hear you :-)

3) We've started soccer again. I am playing twice a weekend - Saturdays on a co-ed rec team, and Sundays on a girls comp team. Not sure how my lungs and knees will hold up, but I am hoping (I sound like I am 78 instead of 28). I am also going to try to go to cycle class more this term, which should help with both. I love indoor soccer so much. It is such a different game from outdoor soccer - much faster. And it doesn't hurt when you win either :-) Started off as a 0-1 game, and we tied it up just before the half. Then things really came together in the second half and we all started playing very well together - end result was us winning 3-1. Not too shabby considering most of us hadn't had much exercise since the Fall season ended. It was really fun - even if I did end up on my butt 4 times. Not sure how playing a second game tomorrow, in the comp league, is going to go. I may be crippled by tomorrow night. But I will I stop playing? Nope.

4) Stephen Colbert had Bill O'Reilly on his show on Thursday, and he was also on O'Reilly's show. I hate, hate, hate Bill O'Reilly, but I thought Stephen did a pretty good job with him. If you do watch the clips, make sure you watch the Colbert Report one right to the end (the bit with the microwave is the best part!) So great night for the Colbert Report. The Daily Show was also particularly funny this week, especially this clip of Jon Stewart seducing Condi Rice. Hilarious I say. I love it when either show makes me laugh out loud. I also found this picture of Jon, which made me very happy.

(heehee!)

5) I went to a lecture on Friday afternoon, given by a researcher who is interviewing for a job here. He is interviewing for the Stats position, so in addition to his job talk, he also had to give a lecture that was supposed to be an introductory "class" for graduate students, on a current statistical topic. I thought he did quite well. I missed parts of what he was saying, but I think that was more me than him. But the best part of the talk in my opinion, was the question period. His lecture went a little long, so there was really only time for 2 questions, but the way he answered the second one was fantastic. In my opinion, the most stressful part of any lecture or conference talk is the question period. Answering questions well is a skill. And answering questions well in the type of situation is a very important thing. He nailed this question. Firstly, it was asked by a prof in our department who has a thick accent, so he is difficult to understand. He didn't even have to ask for clarification. He started off a little shaky, you could see that he was trying to work through the question while he was talking. But once he got it, he was excellent. He came up with a relevant example on the spot, wrote on the board, was clear, and made the audience laugh. I was in awe. I can only hope that if I get a job interview (fingers crossed everyone!), I do half as good a job on the questions. I did not see his job talk, so I am not really sure if he is the best fit for the department, but I am kind of hoping he gets it. The thought of my actually going through a similar experience makes me feel slightly ill though. Maybe I will get the postdoc with the CRLMB instead. Montreal baby :-)

6) This is so cool: www.pandora.com. You type in a song, or band, or artist that you like and it creates a personalized radio station just for you. It starts by playing a representative song by that artist, and then looks for other songs that have the same musical qualities. I was listening to is this afternoon and it was playing some really, really cool music. You can also mix a few of your "stations" together. I highly recommend checking it out. But be prepared to spend some time procrastinating :-)

Alright folks, it's off to bed for me. I have to make some lectures tomorrow (to avoid finishing them at 2:30am the night before - not that I ever do that...), and then do some groceries. Next post..maybe some knitting?

Happy weekend!

me and julio (who is back from his adventures in the 'jax!)

P.S. Check out my cool new link over on the right side of the page...but watch out, that comic is addictive!