Dreams

In honor of the craziness of my recent dreams and Anne, who blogs about her own dreams, I thought I would post mine here. Normally, I have no memory of dreaming. I can go months without recalling a single dream. When I do remember them, they are usually vague and ordinary. But no. Something is seriously wrong with my brain:

1) Two nights ago, I dreamed that a friend of mine, who is a grad student in another department, was leading a bloody coup to assassinate the current president of the ASA in favor of another. In my dream, the current president was a member of our department, but was not anyone who has ever been an ASA president. The new choice was from our department as well. In my dream, I felt that my friend and her co-conspirators were being a bit extreme, so I tried to talk her out of it. Still, as most of the attendees of the conference were seated in a large, outdoor stadium waiting for the president's speech, the current leader was murdered (outside the stadium) and the new president prevailed. It was all very Julius Caesar-esque.

2) Last night, I dreamed that I was grieving over an old friend's death. This friend, according to my dream, had been about to embark on a cross-country race that involved running, biking and swimming (like an ironman, but across several states) with some other college friends (Elana, that includes you). The details of my friend's death were hazy. When we arrived at her home, however, she was actually alive. Stricken by relief, I volunteered to join my friends on their race, only afterwards realizing that I didn't bike or swim well and that my running was hampered by recent injuries. This is where it gets weird. Our race was not marked, so I was running along streets and inside buildings while other runners passed me, heading in all directions. I had no idea where I was going. At what point, I began to run up a down escalator, when a herd of unicorns descended the same escalator and began to attack me. Shortly after this, our running/biking/swimming group went to dinner, where the bathroom consisted of a series of sinks in the kitchen of the restaurant. At this point, I woke up.

So, those are my dreams. Thoughts?

Analysis

I miss stata.

At the moment, I am trying to wade through 61 interview transcripts (which is equivalent to over 3,000 pages of text), searching for common themes. Do they exist? Probably. But as soon as I think I find something meaningful, I read more transcripts and everything becomes muddled.

I am beginning to suspect that qualitative research involves a lot of guesswork, and too many of our own prejudices. Which does not mean that I favor statistics, necessarily. Reading through transcripts is also a good way to realize that one's first, shorthand answer to a question is not always the best representation of a person's attitudes and behaviors.

Back to the grind...

Goal: Eat greasy food and watch 30 Rock

Status: Accomplished

My whirlwind tour of San Fran and Baltimore is over. San Fran was lovely. We partied with the bride-to-be on Friday night until the wee hours of the morning, drinking vodka, eating donuts and fries, and taking wacky pictures of Elana, Debby and Dani wearing animal-print robes. Then there was a wedding which may have been my favorite of all time (tied with Michelle's). Although Dani's wedding included an Elvis impersonator, which may have put it over the top.

I then headed to Baltimore, where the audience for our presentation was indeed small. Which made me angry about missing the rest of the reception. Although I did eat awesome crab cakes and a basket of fries for lunch, partially making up for my disappointment.

Then I returned home to amazing cookies, thai food, a fun guest, and a night of 30 Rock.

When I was younger, I didn't understand why people complained about traveling. But in the past few years, I have completely caught up. It sucks. Vacations are fun. Traveling is not. I am so tired of planning, packing, and commuting to somewhere every two weeks. I can't wait to live with Alison in one place, where neither of us have obligations to a second location. The good life...when will it be?

(Also, I should mention, a salary would be nice).

Never submit an abstract to a conference

...Because then you will find yourself, months later, spending many frantic days writing, culminating in an an all-nighter, in order to send a pathetic draft of a paper whose data you are not done analyzing to the session discussant. Then you will spend two and a half days procrastinating because you are wiped out from the mad rush of work, only to realize that you really do need to get that presentation written. And now you (okay, I) look forward to another long night of work before heading out of town.

Let this be a lesson to you. Do not submit a unwritten papers to conferences! Especially when they are small regional conferences whose audience will likely be miniscule.

I would have more time to work on my presentation, but in the 56 hours between Friday at 7:30am and Sunday at 3:30pm, I am taking a train to Baltimore, then flying to San Francisco via Philadelphia (I know--huh?), hanging out with friends, going to a wedding, leaving said wedding mid-reception to catch a red-eye to Baltimore, giving a presentation in Baltimore the same morning, and then taking the train back to Philadelphia.

At which time I want to do nothing more than eat greasy take-out and watch 30 Rock.

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

These are a creation of mine, culled from three separate recipes for the cake, frosting, and caramel. A small amount of the caramel goes in the batter for the cake part of each cupcake, with another dollop on top of the cupcake after they are frosted. The caramel blends into the cake batter itself, but it does add to the taste.

Caramel
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

-bring first three ingredients to a boil, then bring to simmer
-simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often
-remove from heat
-stir in vanilla

Cake
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
1.5 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup hot coffee
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

-melt the unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler, over simmering water
(fyi, if you don't have a real double broiler, put a small amount of water in a pot and sit a metal bowl on top, not touching the water)
-sift the dry ingredients
-whisk the coffee, sour cream, and vegetable oil
-add the eggs to the other wet ingredients, continue to whisk
-add the chocolate to the other wet ingredients, continue to whisk
-add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring

Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

-place softened butter in a large bowl
-gradually add sugar by sifting a small amount over the butter, stirring
-beat hard with an electric mixer until icing is pale and fluffy
-you can add food coloring, milk, or fruit juice for variety :)

Cupcakes
-Preheat oven to 350
-Fill each cup with batter to almost 2/3 full
-Add small amount of caramel (@ 1/2 tsp?) to each cup
-Add small amount of batter to each cup
-Bake 20 to 25 minutes
-Allow to cool, then frost
-Add a dollop of caramel to each cupcake

Voila!

The News, In Brief

Sorry I haven't posted. I have many things I want to post, which the problem--it's overwhelming. And I have a paper due for a conference on Sunday. So, I will just summarize here. Elaborations are coming, I promise:

1. I accepted a postdoc at Penn State. This means a Facebook page is imminent. I'm busy right now (and scared to join, I admit). But I promise, it will be done!

2. Alison and I went to Miami for three days. We had a fabulous time, and I wish we were still there.

3. I made yummy chocolate-caramel cupcakes for Alison's birthday last week, and I keep meaning to post the recipe. Also, I plan to post my "secret" chili recipe soon.

4. The spot in my mouth was a freckle, in case anyone was curious (for those who don't know--I had to get a biopsy of a dark spot on the roof of my mouth).

5. I have injured the arch of my foot. I have no idea what's wrong, but it hurts, and is preventing me from working out. It is driving me crazy.

6. I bought tickets to Beijing, and I am psyched!

7. I am obsessed with stories about ponzi schemes & Amanda Knox. There is something wrong with me.

I think that's it. See you all soon!

I will not be unemployed!

I received an offer for a postdoc position yesterday. Yay! It's a great fit, so I'm very excited. I'm now waiting to hear back from other postdocs before I make a decision, but now I know I won't be sticking around grad school for another year. Yay.

Speaking of (un)employment, this really sucks. Having been unemployed for a (thankfully short) period of time, I empathize.

Conferences

In the next six months, I am attending 5 conferences and presenting 6 papers. This is one of my least favorite aspects to being an academic. While I enjoy attending conferences and talking about my work in an informal setting, I find academic presentations scary. I am not good at captivating an audience, or working without a script (in my discipline, reading from a paper is a no-no--I circumvent this by memorizing my talks). Answering questions on my research is also intimidating.

My next presentation is at the end of March, and unfortunately, submission to this conference required only an abstract. I am now a week away from needing to send a paper to my discussant, and I am still at the abstract phase. I think I will be able to put together a decent paper, but I hope they do not publish our submission abstracts in the program. I cannot deliver on the promises of those lofty goals.