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gabelai
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Name: Gabriel
Gender: Male
Interests: 1) Maintaining Cal pride - Go Bears; 2) Staying alive at Johnny Hopkins in East Baltimore, MD; 3) Longing for my native California (San Francisco Bay Area!); 4) Free time
Expertise: Prolonging graduate student life...
Occupation: Grad student
Industry: Research
Message: message me
Member Since:
1/3/2003
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| I wanted to post random thoughts and figured it would be better to break it down on another post.
1) Agh! It's August and I still have so much to do for my thesis!
2) Gee... what's with the weather? In Maryland, we've been getting
weird thunderstorms here and there. In fact, last Friday around 5 AM,
Janey & I woke up to some random raging thunderstorm -- most likely
reminiscent of a raging thunder/lighting god (Zeus or Raiden; take your
pick). For about 20-30 minutes, we had hail, and thunder and lightning
NONSTOP -- there was lightning and thunder practically every 30-60
seconds!
3) People -- let's go over some grammar lessons. Actually, no, I won't
this time. But I'll be picking at random people's blogs over their
spelling and grammatical errors... AGAIN. (All you "alot" when it's
supposed to be "a lot" and misplaced "it's" when it's supposed to be
"its" will know who you are!)
4) Please let there be a nice postdoc position waiting for me somewhere... around DC. =P
5) Olympics are about to start.... isn't opening ceremony in China
going to happen at 08/08/08 at 8:08 PM China Standard Time? Doesn't
that make it like 8:08 AM on the East Coast and 5:08 AM on the West
coast? When are we going to watch it here in the US? Like... 12-15
hours later during our 'prime time' viewing??
6) I really really really liked "The Dark Knight". Great job to Bale, Ledger, and the rest of the cast... I'm glad they made Rachel's character more solid and her role has so much more meaning too...
Recently I've been going nuts
over comic book storylines that have inspired Christopher Nolan and the
direction of these new Batman movies. I've also been playing certain tracks
from "The Dark Knight" soundtrack over and over... props to Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.
7) The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality earlier this week posted their formal recommendations that men over age 75 not be recommended to have prostate cancer screening. Good job whoever did that work... methinks prostate cancer is being overdiagnosed and too many men are getting treatment for a tumor that most likely will have remained indolent.
8) Why can't I think better as a graduate student?! I need a better analysis plan.
9) People don't comment as much huh...? It's ok, I need to be better too... I'll try!
10) Hmm, is that because they've all migrated to using blogspot or Facebook? I know I've turned down many Facebook invites....
Oh well... I'm tired. Time to rest and relax...
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| After having slept approximately four hours, Janey & I proceed to slowly arise from our most-needed sleep shortly before 4 AM. As we prep for our trip to Baton Rouge, I realized that my sister is still online, nearly 1 AM in California. I obviously envy her (highly likely) opportunity of a future 6+ hr slumber...
In any case, Janey & I are now in Baton Rouge... and boy, after having gotten used to East coast humidity, the weather and sun are truly a powerful pair here in the Gulf region. I sincerely don't envy Janey's sister Cindy. She just arrived from Taiwan to began her grad school studies at Louisiana State University and we're here to help make her transition as smooth as possible. In any case, we hope to enjoy ourselves here in Louisiana -- a New Orleans trip is on our calendar this weekend!
Posts on random thoughts to happen on another post...
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| So what brings me here? Why I write this when I write so rarely? I suppose it is not only a matter to inform others of what I am doing but really a record for myself.
People (not many nowadays...) always like to ask what's up or what's new with me... and though I do not have much to offer in terms of an answer, it's usually the same: "Working on my thesis... doing some analysis and trying to write. I'm trying to be good and productive."
These few words, though not untrue, unfortunately fail to capture the general struggles of what I am doing... the thinking, the going back & forth of my analysis, how to accurately capture various variables in my modelling, the intricacies of writing, the going back & forth of my writing between me and my advisor. It's a long and somewhat slow process... and one that I do look forward to finishing.
So if people are ever wondering what I generally do, that's what I do!
But outside of that, what else is happening? Ha... nothing much else to report there. Going out is a somewhat uncommon event for me & Janey -- not to say we do not. But that our time to go out is limited by what we have to do for our research work, more on my part than it is on hers. Yet, when we do go out (besides running errands), it is a treat and I am thankful for it.
As a follow-up from my entry about 5 months ago, the cruise that Janey & I took was a lot of fun. We enjoyed ourselves at the different ports (Belize, Cozumel, and Key West). In Belize, we saw some Mayan ruins which were ok. In Cozumel, Mexico, we basically went rafting a bit -- however, Janey & I were definitely slower in our rowing... hmm.... In Key West, FL, we just walked around a lot and went to the "southernmost" point of the United States. I place the word southernmost in quotes because from what I understand, it's technically not the southernmost. Regarding meals, we ate a lot. For dinner, we were fortunate enough to sit across from an older couple who were very gracious in sharing their wine.
Overall, we had a great time. But we both agreed that if we can, our future trips would be done in the company of friends if possible.
Anyhow, more to come later... I hope to be more consistent.... fingers crossed! Take care all.
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| Well, since growing 'older', what's been going on? Definitely, too much laziness on my part to update my weblog - c'est tout. In a nutshell:
1) Getting thesis work done! I'm making progress and submitting abstracts and small little tidbits to either cancer- or epidemiologic-related conferences.
2) CA winter break trip -- that was fun. Seeing family and friends back in CA. It again conveys to me & Janey how many people we know out there and how little time we do have :(... Anyhow, I'll write about more stuff later because...
3) Janey & I are headed on a cruise to the Caribbean tomorrow! We're excited though we always get the jitters of making sure we have everything. It'll be good for both of us to get away from our respective research stuff. I know that I'll have plenty more on my plate when I get back... (need to finish editing paper...).
In any case, I'm quite impressed by a # of people who are able to keep writing about stuff... not that I don't have time for it but perhaps it's still an amazing thing to just... 'blog'. Oh well, again, it's laziness on my part. I definitely can type away... it's just that I'd rather do other things more often than not!
Cheers to all, and take care :).
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| Oh boy - nearly 3 months and what has happened? Um... seeing people marry, getting married, missing other weddings, hearing about other weddings, etc...
Needless to say, I'm very happy Janey & I finally tied the knot :) and that it is done. The bad thing was that Janey got sick earlier in the week, resulting in her getting tired during the reception. People said she didn't look sick but Janey's energy was draining from being ill, from the fever the night prior to the wedding, and the subsequent lack of sleep since she had to get up early! After the reception, a lot of folks were tired including us and never again will I look at marriage planning the same. I empathize for all married couples and upcoming engaged ones... unless you're tying the knot Vegas-style, a wedding is quite the day to wait for... it's almost like a 'big exam' where you almost just want it to happen especially after having waiting for SOOOOOO LONG.....
However, we both enjoyed the ceremony and we are very very glad that the reception has come and gone.... thanks to all who helped and thanks to all who came and thanks to all who prayed for us and/or thought of us :).
I shall also look forward to repaying the 'honor' that my best man and groomsman bestowed upon me that day... I can't wait.... *rubs hands evilly....*
Other things going on? I have crossed the threshold of the 20s and am starting my 20-"10" years as of today.... OY.
I want to write more and I feel somewhat bad about not willing to write more (lack of momentum... lack of enthusiasm....) but school still looms for me and what I generally wish now besides a happy and joyful marriage is a shorter school period -- which generally means I have to work more on my analysis and subsequent writing... boo.
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