Beginning 2008

Hi there, my three loyal readers!

Sorry for my long absence, I have not had much time/been in the mood to blog lately but I though I should fill you in on my corner of the world before the semester gets crazy and I cannot keep up with anything. I have a lot to say that I have been storing up so I apologize in advance for the really, really long post.

First, to follow up on my last post, check this out, upper right hand corner:

Caption: Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gets a kiss from a supporter as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa takes their photo after her speech at California State University Northridge, Thursday January, 17, 2008, in Northridge CA. (Hans Gutknecht/LA Daily News)

It was so exciting and fun and thrilling. Also tiring, 5 ½ hours on bleachers waiting for Senator Clinton to arrive with stage lights glaring down on you is really tough. And you know what? Even if you are not a Hillary fan, it is still really cool to be a part of the political action. There is even footage from the event on TMZ. Wish I could send you the link but I can't figure out the html to make it work.

So, that is that adventure. If you will indulge me, lets jump back in time so I can share what I did during winter break.

I had the chance to do some cooking and baking. From Vive La Vegan I have cooked the Lemon-Herb Tofu (p.65 and in the oven right now), Three-Bean Curry Tomato Soup (p.79), Roasted Tomato Bean Stew (p.78), and the Chipotle Corn Black Bean Soup (p. 74). All have been yummy and all way too much food if I were on my own. When I am out in my own place, I will have to invest in some Tupperware to freeze portions of these dishes for later use.

From Vegan With a Vengeance, I have baked Sparkling Ginger Cookies (p.192), Crunchy Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies (p.199), Buttery Lemon Cutout Cookies (p.201), Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies (p205), and Raspberry-Chocolate Chip Blondie Bars (p.210).

See, I had this brilliant idea that I would bake and put together Christmas baskets since for the first year ever, I have more couple friends that single friends. I am not sure how I feel about that BTW… Any who, I think that I got good reviews on all the goodies although I was not happy with the blondie bars. I need to try that one again with the correct dish size. I don’t think it baked all the way through. Still, I have two baskets left to deliver, although I think I would need to rebake the goodies as I do not know if they are still good. All the recipes make a lot of goodies. The only one I would not retry is the Lemony cutout cookies, I could barely roll them out and I followed directions. Although the feedback I got was positive, I though they were rather gross and wouldn’t inflict them on anyone.

I also made a double batch of Red Velvet cupcakes for a pot luck that didn’t happen due to a power outage in December at the University that cancelled the event and Mint Chocolate Chip cupcakes for the rescheduled event in January. Both from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (VCTOW).

Sorry, I have no pictures. I thought I had at least taken pictures of the Mint Chocolate Cupcakes at least but apparently not. The cupcakes were yummy and eaten up quickly. Here is a gratuitous Cupcake picture to tide you over.


In school news, I got the grades I expected but worse that I had wanted to get last semester. Does that make sense? I also discovered that even if I got straight A’s from here on out, I will not be able to graduate with honors. I just can’t get to the GPA that is required. Ah well.

I got a new boss at the Union in the beginning of December and let me tell you, she is awesome. We have the same sense of humor, the same response to what is going on and even though I am her employee, in many ways she treats me like an equal, which, as great as my previous boss was – I never got the same feeling. She is really trying to bring the department together as a team and to make our processes as smooth and collaborative as possible. She has us each meeting and networking on campus at least one person a month. Pretty cool, even when I think – ‘gee, I have the time for this.’ I have one more week to meet with someone. Thank goodness I have to do outreach for my other job and can combine these efforts.

We are a better team already. We have expanded the team to include the 3 graduate assistants and we meet once a week to share and trouble shoot and check in with everyone. The GA’s also are going to meet for a coffee half hour, on the clock, to form our own support group to discuss the challenges that we face as para-professional staff and graduate students as well. Organized by me so we have not met yet. Next week I think we will start.

I also am now going to be supervising two undergraduate workers. One is still to be hired but I helped streamline the job description and get the interview questions over to HR for approval before we start posting. I will be involved in the job search. I like the job search stuff, I did several last semester and over the summer.

I am also on four committees at the union, working on creating the 08-09 budget for the department and planning a day long training for the BOD this Saturday. This is on top of my usual duties, which include paying invoices, requesting checks for the BOD, clerical work, scheduling meetings and managing the turn over on the BOD. Yeah, we have one new member joining us this week, an official resignation of another today and two more people whose status is up in the air. Yay! All my job to manage the revolving personnel.

Speaking of my other job (several paragraphs ago), today was the first day that I taught. I have the same schedule, as last semester so in some ways this is old hat. In other ways, it is a brand new adventure. I am still playing catch up although now that I have done it once, it is a little easier. I wasn’t shaking in front of the class nearly as much as I was at the beginning of last semester. It’s crazy, I have 25 students per class and a waiting list of at least 6 for each class. And everyone showed up today. Man I am hitting the ground running.

I also had my first class on Tuesday night, Performance Studies Seminar. It is going to be a lot of work but very informative. I have to conduct an ethnographic study this semester in a community. I plan on either working with Dress for Success or MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity). Both are awesome charities and Dress for Success is something I have wanted to get involved with for a couple years now. It will have to depend where they are located, when they operate and who is open to allowing me to participate in their community. I shall let you know how that goes. Also, our first assignment, which is due next Tuesday, is to go to a bar to conduct an ethnographic study. You have to love Graduate School. Now if only I could figure out a way to make cupcakes for a class project…

For my department service department, we met today to divvy up the work that needs to be done. We have two- three performances to publicize and get money for this semester. I fear that I will be screwed because the new TA who shared this assignment is notorious for allowing others to do her work and being real cozy with the instructors. And she is very close with both the head of our department and the advisor for the performance group. She is doing an independent study with the advisor to adapt



“The Barbie Chronicles” as the show for the group to perform this semester. She is going to adapt and direct the show. So guess who will get to take care of all the publicity and logistics for the visiting artists and all events? Yup, lit’ ol’ me. She already tried to say that she would put up the new display case by herself and leave all the flier work to me.

Nuh uh, no way chica. I said I would work on the fliers, yes but I very calmly said that I would like to help on the display as well. I phrased it as two sets of hands are better than one to help her vision come to life and made a decorative suggestion which she likes. She agreed that we should decorate the board together and then started complimenting me on how creative I am and how great a project I created last semester, so detailed, blah blah blah. Yeah, I am proud of my project and am creative but she laid it on a little thick. She is known for this kind of behavior. I hate to be this suspicious but I have to CYA this semester. I am going to start logging the hours I work on this service assignment so that if anyone tries to say I have not worked my max 5 hours each week, I can prove I did. And I know that I can’t say that Chica is not pulling her weight, she is much beloved by the staff involved. I just have to keep in mind and always phrase it as we are both so busy and could really need an extra set of hands. I can’t ever let anyone hear me say that she isn’t doing her job. I just think that the lines between her independent study and this service assignment will conveniently blur.

Oh and the kicker? The advisor is finishing her thesis this semester, trying to graduate with her PhD. So there is a lot that I think will be allowed to slide here. Whoopie.

This will be my last Wednesday night home for a while. The group will met at 7 on Wednesday nights. Ah well, no one else is home. Mi hermano is visiting with the cousins, mom will be out to dinner with a colleague each week and Pops is teaching a night class on Wednesdays this semester. He is going to be so tired but maybe we can figure out a way to carpool so he is not driving home by himself at 10 each week.

I have a Comm Theory class Tomorrow night which is going to be intense. I also am coding responses for a professor on campus for a research project. Paid and a good Curriculum Vitae builder.

I have a lot on my plate this semester, all this and two very intense classes. I really have to be on the top of my game. But I survived last semester, so I know I can do it. So if you don’t hear from me often, all of the above is the reason. Can you say:

Whoa Becky!

Okay, first I finished my paper I last wrote about on time and got the grade I expected in the class.

Second, I plan on writing more later but in the meantime....

Tomorrow I am vying for one of 56 spots to be on stage with



I kid you not. I promise I will let you all know what happens and why I have this opportunity. So excited!

Son of a...!

Here I am, it is 3 on Tuesday and I am stuck at 16 pages on a 15-18 page paper. At this point, it is not even about making the page limit, it is about writing a coherent paper that will help me retain my grade describe the poor performance I turned in for the final a week ago. And even more than that, this is the paper I submitted for consideration to one of my associations to present in the Spring of 2008. Augh! This is what I want to write about but I am just stuck! I don't know if it is because I don't have enough information or if I am trying too hard or if I really need to rethink my topic, which I just don't have time for. So here I am, venting in this space and trying to motivate myself to get done in one hour so I can proofread and bake cupcakes as my contribution to tonight's celebration.

oh, and here is a little hint on what my paper is about....

Yes, that is right, I join the rest of the world in writing about J.Lo's butt. My paper is titled, “Butt” What Does it all Mean? The Performance of Latinidad in Popular Culture and its Effect on Latina Identity. of course, this is the third title I have created...

get er dun, part II!

Well, this weekend is starting differently. I just finished everything I need to get done for the classes I teach. I graded all of the final lab assignments(45), the last of the speeches(24), and wrote my final exams (2 versions to help prevent cheating). All I have to do is copy the exams for my classes today at some point and grade the scantron tests and prepare the test key before Wednesday. Easy, breezy, done!

Woo hoo! On the home stretch. I have a paper due Tuesday evening that I need to get working on and I took all day Tuesday off to prepare. Next on the list, X-mas shopping!

get er dun!

i turned in my final and i presented on the paper that i still need to write which is due on tuesday. still have lots of grading for my classes i teach and getting sick again. i just got well from a cold at thanksgiving and here i have a bad headache and feeling queasy. bleh.

Primal Scream

[insert here]

I have a final due at 7. What I have written so far is not good but I have four out of five questions answered. One more to go and then research and present my final paper in class tonight. I can do this in 2.5 hours, right?

big sigh.

It's been a while

Since I did a music blog. As I am taking a break from finishing my final exam.





Soundtrack of my life

So, here's how it works:

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool

1. Opening Credits: Bodels by 311

2. Waking Up: If I Could by Seal

3.First Day At School: When I Look into your Eyes by Andre 3000

4.Falling In Love: Rainy Days and Mondays by The Carpenters

5.Fight Song: If you Could Only See by Tonic

6.Breaking Up: Too Little Too Late by Barenaked Ladies

7.Prom: baby Hold On by Dixie Chicks

8.Life: Girl by Tori Amos

9.Mental breakdown:Blue Jean by David Bowie

10.Driving: PJ & Rooster by Outkast

11.Flashback: Sixteen by No Doubt

12.Getting back together: I Love You by Sarah McLachlan

13.Wedding: Ready to Run by Dixie Chicks

14.Birth of Child: 125 pt. 3 (Connections) by Joell Ortiz

15.Final Battle: Intuition (Todd Terry Radio Remix) by Jewel

16.Death Scene: Pulse by Ani DiFranco

17.Funeral Song: American Angel by George Michael

18.End Credits: Come Original by 311


Wow, some of those are strangely appropriate, at least with the song title I did not change anything up, I swear, I just hit party shuffle in iTunes and started typing.

Okay! Back to work!

As Requested via Email

Hey Lucky,

I was going to give you the Mac n' cheese recipe straight out of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook since that is the one I use all the time but in typing up the recipe, I realized that I don't use that one at all. I will give you the recipe as best as I remember, the noodle size is an estimate, I usually just use one package and fill the dish, if there is any extra - I'll eat it or put it in Tupperware.



Marz' Mac n Cheese

Ingredients:
16 oz. pkg Elbow macaroni
Approx. 1/4 Lb mild cheddar - shredded(or what ever amount looks good to you)
Approx. 1/4 Lb jack cheese - shredded

White Sauce Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter (or margarine)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350.

Follow the package instructions to boil the noodle. Drain, and rinse noodles. Place half the noodles in the casserole dish and half the cheese on top of the noodles. Or, you can put half the noodles in the dish and then mix half the cheese into the noodles. Keep the other half of the noodles and cheese within reach for after making the white sauce.

For White Sauce: Using a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once it is completely melted, add in the flour, salt and pepper. Stir the ingredients together; you should end up with a kind of paste at the bottom of the pan (your rue). Caution, be sure to keep stirring so this paste does not burn. Add the milk in, it is best to add it a third at a time, stirring the paste into the milk so you don't end up with lumps, although you can add it in all at once if you really want to. Keep stirring constantly until the sauce starts to thicken up. It will feel like you are stirring forever and then all of the sudden, the liquid will start thickening up. You want it to a consistency of cream.

Immediately pour half the sauce into the casserole dish. Add the rest of the noodles and most of the cheese, reserve a little of the cheese for a decorative topping. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the noodles and cheese, covering the dish as evenly as possible. Use the last of the cheese to sprinkle in the middle of the dish.

Put the casserole in the heated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and you have a nice light browning of the top.


So, that is the basic recipe. Sometimes, for a little bit of a kick, I use cayenne pepper in place of the black pepper. Just eyeball the amount, you don't need a lot. Or if I am feeling gourmet, I use white pepper so you can't see the flecks in the white sauce. I also tend to double the white sauce recipe I gave you above so that the dish is extra creamy (2 cups of milk, etc.). You can also put half the noodles in the dish, then a layer of cheese and then a second layer of noodles and cheese and then make the white sauce and pour it over the entire dish at one shot. The sauce will drip down through the dish and it is easier to construct that way. I like to be sure that the sauce is all the way through the dish using the method I describe in the recipe above since once I let the sauce get too thick while stirring and it didn't sink in and the casserole had a weird layer of sauce that baked into it. My brother liked it but I wasn't too crazy about it. But that only happened once.

Hope you enjoy!

Love,

Marz

Shoot me...

shoot me now. I realized that I am listening to speakers in my classes, both the ones I teach and the ones I am in, for the next two weeks straight. And there are very few good speakers, even in the graduate classes!

Bleh

I am suppose to be working on my final due tonight (not really, officially it is but we can turn it in later) but all I want to do is mess around on the internet, reading blogs and pulling research for my paper due in 2 weeks, research that I have no time to read all of it but is fascinating all the same. This is why I took the morning off of work, to sleep in, try to get over the cold I got for Thanksgiving and catch up on my work.

So far I have the page formatted and one sentence written. Too bad it is suppose to be a 10-15 page paper that answers 5 questions in essay form. Maybe writing this will get me motivated.

Hmm, not even I believe that. I am going to take a shower and get my butt in gear. I have 2 hours before I have to be at school.

Oh my...

I leave tomorrow for Chicago for a conference. Here is the weather forecast:

high/low
Tomorrow - 59/32
Thursday - 46/28
Friday - 44/32
Saturday - 50/35

I am packing a coat and thermals and warm socks. I hope it is enough. Wish me luck!

they wax and shine the red sky yet cannot take it with them.

This is the line of magnet poetry that faces me at my desk everyday. And I am procrastinating from writing my 2-3 page paper that is due tonight at 7...


As my father would say, 'animo!

Lordy..

It's October and I haven't posted this month yet. It's crazy. It's not that I have bitten off more than I can chew, it's that I an juggling so much, I don't have time for much else.

To my 3, make that 2 loyal readers - so sorry. I don't even have a cupcake picture to post since I have not baked since mid-August. Right now, I am trying to stay afloat, not get sick and keep my sanity. Sometimes it feels like my priorities are exactly in that order.

How about a picture from my trip to Mexico?

Ah, that's better. I was there! Climbed it too. Later!

Okay...

Lemmee 'xplain.

The office I work out of is a big room with 12 tables for the Teaching Associates and one sort of cubicle for the part timer. Any who, I am the oldest in the room by one year, by the calender. The divide is much greater than that.

If someone is in office hours, the door is open. If no one is, most of the time the door is shut. The problem comes from the really inappropriate, nasty, sexual, sexist and general immature conversations that go on no matter if the door is open or closed.

I just completed my training at the other job for harassment, both the not how to harass and how to handle harassment as a supervisor. Oh My God. It has really been bothering me. I mean, its bad, really bad.

I mentioned it to one of the other TAs when we left to get food and she asked what she could do to help. I came up with the idea that we all needed to be responsible for our office hours when the door is open.

It happened today. When someone is telling a story and is repeating what happened, which involves screaming "She's a cum-sucking whore", yeah, I had to step in. So I used my, 'the door is open, maybe we should watch our language.' It worked.

Then it happened again this afternoon. I always start with, "Is someone in office hours?" I try to point out that I am not being a stick in the mud, I am trying to make sure we are not opening the office up to harassment allegations and more importantly, we look professional. So I used the maybe we should watch what we say line... It didn't work, they quieted down for a moment and then started back up again. And I had to go to my other job so I grabbed my bag and left.

So there is the story behind my comment early, delivered when I returned to the TA office from the other job. Its frustrating. I don't have time nor the energy to deal with this kind of crap. Its so juvenile.

Sometimes...

I really hate my life. I am the policeman of my office. More later.

Okay...

I'm still planning a real post, maybe with pictures of my various trip and B-day. However, considering I am writing this while I am still at work on a Friday night at 7:23 p.m., it may be a little while.

Ah, I love grading papers.



Gratuitous cupcake picture from the Seattle trip.

starting upper left, Blueberry Creme, Cherry Creme, Chocolate with Amarula flavored buttercream, Cookies and Creme, Tiramisu

Hi

I'm still alive, just overwhelmed. Hope to write a little something soon.

Friday

Super tired, preparing for class last night and didn't sleep much. Now I don't want to do anything but haven't finished my hand out for class tomorrow.

Tomorrow night should be fun, right now I am more tired and have too many things to get done to be excited. the Jessica will be there - yeah!

later. And happy 30 to me, tomorrow at 10:00 sharp - when I begin class (hee hee).

Short and Dirty

- Spoke with Ms. S today - finally! My fault, I have had her name next to "call" on my to do list for several days now.

- First day of training for teaching. Yawn inducing and still no lesson plans for first few classes.

- Had a lovely dinner with Meesh last Thursday. She came to campus to buy her books, we had a lovely chat and dinner at Veggie Delight.

- As I mentioned to Ms. S, I have already received some lovely Birthday gifts, Plet helped me organize the party - doing all that icky call around for prices and locations, Ms. S is staying in Vegas and taking care of business - which is exactly where I want her to be right now (there are other years), my big sis hosted me in Seattle and Ms. B sent me "Vegan with a Vengance" (Book love from far away, I love it!)

- Speaking of Settle, I am still planning on posting but until I do, here are a couple teaser pics:
Tiramsu Cupcakes (Sorry T3, they have coffee and alcohol in them!)

Marble cupcakes with an almost perfect yin-yang shape on the bottom, the dot in the top is actually where a bubble and therefore a hole formed in the cupcake, I haven't done anything to this cupcake other than bake it and peel the wrapper off. And yes, that is my chubby hand holding the cupcake. Nice nails though right?

More to come.

Whew Becky!

Okay, will post all about my Seattle trip soon. In the meantime, here are some highlights:

- Ate vegetarian Vietnamese food with my big sis - new favorite! Nothing like a good Pho and spring rolls.
- Went to the Experimental Music Program - amazing.
- Had an almost vegan cupcake and Champagne party with my sis and her friends
- walked everywhere


I like Seattle, not sure if I could live there but love to visit. So green and I love that there is art everywhere. I will post more later with photos. Oh - my sister lives in the Queen Anne neighborhood so we were able to walk to the space needle. Didn't go up since the lines were horrible, I'll have to do it next time.


Okay, I am suppose to be working and since it is my boss' last day, I better get going! (tear)