Walking Dead Season 3 finale

Spoiler alert for Walking Dead: Welcome to the Tombs

I need sleep

Awhile a grad student friend told me that s/he sleeps when stressed, just takes naps all day and sleeps in.  I thought that was weird, how can you sleep and so much when you're worried.  But guess what.  It's happening to me.  I finally understand it.  When you're stressed and worried all the time it becomes so draining that all you can do is sleep.  It's escapism...except when you're dreams reflect your worries. I guess this extreme worry and anxiety also precedes big spurts of progress for me.  I get so tired of feeling worried and anxious I decide to finally get that monkey off my back and get the job done.  It's so tiring finishing up revisions, writing my intro and conclusion chapters, and looking for and applying to jobs. 

Go Joe!

I watched the new GI Joe movie today.  It was better than the first one.  Better story, better action and fight sequences.  I especially enjoyed the mountain fight sequence.  Very well choreographed and executed!  Oh, and people should learn, never mess with a ninja!... or the Rock.

TGIT!

Finally, the week is over!!!!  I have not been sleeping well lately.  I need finish my chapter 3 revisions and my intro and conclusion so I can stop worrying about that.

Rants and randomness

I need another vacation.  Also, I need people to stop asking about what I'm doing after graduation...I mean it's not like I'm not looking or like I don't want a job.  But between finishing the dissertation, getting ready to defend, and working, I don't have a lot of time to find, organize, and apply to jobs.  I think I need to spend more time on managing my time so I can do all that.  I'm tired, I'll do that over the weekend.  Nitey-nite!

Some bed time reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Peter_Pumpkin_Eater
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeper_Weeper

TV update

Updated Spring TV schedule in effect after finales of Walking Dead, Spartacus, Neighbors, and The New Normal:

Tuesday

8pm: Hart of Dixie CW

Wednesday

8pm: Arrow CW

9pm: Supernatural CW, Modern Family ABC, New Girl FOX, 9:30: Suburgatory ABC

10pm: Psych USA

Thursday

8pm: Vampire Diaries CW, 

9pm: Office NBC
9:30pm: Go On NBC

Friday

8pm: Nikita CW, Happy Endings (2 episodes) ABC

9pm: Grimm NBC

Why did they have to change the night for New Girl?!  :(  Now it will overlap with Supernatural and Modern Family.

Once Upon a Time: Selfless, Brave, and True

Spoiler alert for Once Upon a Time: Selfless, Brave, and True

HJB marathon

So I didn't work on my chapters :( I just enjoyed my Spring Break and caught up on sleep and watched Archer and Bob's Burgers.  Basically, I had an H. Jon Benjamin (voice of Sterling Archer and Bob Belcher) marathon.  

Archer memorables

I finished watching season 3 of Archer on Netflix.  So many memorable quotes!  This site has a collection of all memorable Archer quotes: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Archer_(TV_series)

ALMOST DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally heard back from my outside committee member about availability for my defense!  I'm going to have my defense in 5 weeks!!!  Yahoo!!!!!!!!

Oz the Great and Powerful

I watched Oz the Great and Powerful today.  I really enjoyed the visuals and the world the director created.  I felt really bad for the Wicked Witch, too bad there'll be no happy ending for her.  I usually like James Franco's acting, but I thought he was just ok in this movie; same with the others.  The acting was a bit over the top, but then again I guess it kind of needed to be to match the fantastical aspect of the film.

I don't want Spring Break to end :(

I finished the second season of Archer and I took a nap!  I had a good day :)  I'm still sleepy.

Archer marathon

I started marathoning season 2 of Archer, best quote so far:
Cheryl: Sometimes I feel like adopting a bay so I can abandon it at the mall.

Ah Cheryl, a girl after my own heart :)

Once Upon a Time: Welcome to Storybrook

Spoiler alert:  If you haven't watching Season 3 of Once Upon a Time up to the episode Welcome to Storybrook, this post might contain spoilers

Boo restaurants :(

It's sad when restaurants sacrifice quality for a buck. Today I went to a restaurant that used to have really good chicken katsu, the best in town, but now they have the worst katsu in town.

Exercises and randomness

Some lower ab exercises:
http://health.yahoo.net/articles/fitness/photos/6-easy-lower-abdominal-exercises#0

And some exercise log ideas:
http://www.diyplanner.com/taxonomy/term/26

On another note, I don't know if I'm in the mood to catch-up on 4 episodes of the Walking Dead before tomorrow's episode :-\  blllleeeeeehhhhhhh

The joy of doing nothing :)

I slept in and did nothing all morning!!  My Spring Break is off to a great start!

Perspective

I never thought I'd say, "wow, my advisor is comparatively not that bad!"  Maybe I've got Stockholm syndrome.  But a student told me today about the shit that the student's advisor has done and that maybe me think, well my situation ain't that bad!  

I want my Sam and Dean!

Well, maybe not Sam.  But I want a new episode of Supernatural!!!  Two weeks without new Supernatural!  :(

Break out the champagne!

My advisor gave me his/her availability and told me to start scheduling my defense for late April!!!!!!!!!!!!  Woohoo!!!  I'm breakin' outta there!  I also found a new committee member to replace the one who is going on leave soon :D  Looks like that marathon revising session over the weekend really paid off!!  Everything's comin' up Milhouse!

I'm pooped!

I did a marathon session of five revisions this weekend and today I relaxed :)  And it was good!

The Flying Dutchman

I went to another opera this weekend!  I went with a friend who had never been to the opera before, we saw the Flying Dutchman.  The opera was created without an intermission in mind, so it was 2.5 hours of opera without intermission.  I was a little worried about that but the time just flew by!  I was really surprised at how I was so engaged in it!  I mean liked the other two operas I had seen but I don't think I could ahve gone 2.5 hours without a break, but this one was different.  I also really liked the set design and costumes   

I miss the train :(

I had to drive to campus for the past two weeks due to construction at the train station.  I am soooo glad it's over!  I hate traffic and looking for parking and paying for parking at the meter if I can't free parking and then having to watch the clock to feed the meter again.  Why would anyone be opposed to public transportation??

More recipes

I tried some more kale recipes, so far I've tried:
kale and fried rice
rice with lentil soup, sausage, and kale
gnocchi with kale and sausage
lentil with sausage and kale

Those recipes, and more, can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/kale-chips-recipe-baked_n_2398474.html#slide=2139358

My favorite, as far and ease and taste are the fried rice and the rice with lentil soup.

Weekend!!

This has been one hell of a week!  Not tough necessarily, but I'm just so tired, more mentally than physically I'd say.  I can't wait to sleep in!  It will be sweet!  Also, I need to get a massage or go to the spa this weekend, my neck and shoulders are so tight.  Of course, the work of a grad student is never over and I have revisions to do, but at least I don't have to go into the office :)

Life...and I'll be published soon!

Well, I was right, life got in the way of my exercise DVD one night this week.  I found out that my first author manuscript has been accepted by the journal (yea me!!) so I went out to celebrate with a couple of friends and didn't get home in time to do my DVD :(  But, a minor set back doesn't have to lead to a major one, the week ain't over yet!

Routines :)

I'm back to doing my exercise DVD, Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.  3 days so far!  It feels nice doing the DVD, I'd forgotten that feeling, but man are my muscles sore!!  I also like her Ripped in 30 DVD, but I injured my foot doing it last year and it took 5 months for my Achilles tendon to heal completely, so I'm starting slow.  I plan on doing the beginner version of 30 Day Shred for a month, then the advanced one for a month then moving on Ripped in 30 beginners for a month (and NOT injure my foot) then advanced for a month.  So I've got my next 4 months planned out, now let's see how well I stick to it :)  I've stuck to 30 Day Shred really well in the past, but I was also not as busy, so we'll see how it goes.

Kale with rice and lentil soup

I made another kale dish, kale with rice and lentil soup, tonight.  Super unbelievably easy to make and really yummy!  Here's the recipe:

Cook 2 cups white rice (use 1 cup water to 1 cup rice)
Steam kale (about 7 min. or to taste)
Heat 2 cans of lentil soup, *add water to the soup or let the water evaporate to taste* (optional: add sausage cut in thin rounds, I added garlic and herb chicken sausage from Trader Joe's), add minced or pressed garlic, add kale last if you want it to be a little crunchy
Serve the rice and pour the soup over it

If you have a rice cooker, this dish becomes even easier to make, because you can just set it and forget it until the rice is done; heating the soup doesn't take long.

Here's a link to the recipe:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/lentil-soup-with-kielbasa_n_1056848.html

Kale

I bought a lot of kale yesterday because I want to make kale chips and to start using it more in cooking.  Today I found 25 recipes for kale and tried out a couple of them (below).  I think I'll try to cook one kale dish every night this week.  Here is what I made tonight, both are super easy and quick to make:

Kale chips:
Preheat oven to 350ºF
Wash, cut, and dry the kale as best you can
Toss the kale in a bit of olive oil (add salt, etc to taste)
Place on a backing sheet
Bake at 350ºF for 10min on each side or until done

Serving suggestion: sprinkle on some nutritional yeast after serving

Fried rice and kale:
Cook brown rice (1.5 cups water to 1 cup brown rice)
Steam kale (about 7 min or to your liking)
Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and add minced garlic, stir for a couple min.
Add the kale to the pan, stir four a couple min.
Add the to the pan, stir for a couple min.
Add soy sauce to taste, stir for 30sec.
Serve
Serving suggestion: sprinkle on some nutritional yeast after serving

The above recipes, and more can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/kale-chips-recipe-baked_n_2398474.html#slide=2139358

Sleep

Sooooo tired.  I need to my bed so badly.  I can't believe how much not sleeping in 3 days/week affects me.

3 down, 2 more to go :)

Woohoo! I finished my formatting for a journal submission!  Three submissions down, two more to go!  And, I took a nap today!!!!!!  That was the best part of my week!  And I filed my taxes!  Can't wait for my return; I need to replace a couple gaskets.