23.10.08

I'm back!

Long time no posts.

I've been busy.

I'm older, too.

And S lives here now.

I know, big changes.

And for no particular reason at all, two videos from Youtube.

It's not January 16th yet, but I can still indulge in any and everything that has to do with Battlestar Galactica!

Because we all know John McCain is a cylon.

And because my best buddy sent it my way and it makes me laugh:

2.6.08

life

The dog is learning a bit. He actually sometimes sits now when you tell him to sit. So that's good.

I have to leave in a few days. I'm ready to get back to my life, but I am not ready for S to not be there yet. It's weird, I feel like I have 2 separate lives - the one I have here and the one I lead there. Here, I'm wealthy, surrounded by family and my work is mostly a mystery. There, I'm a poor grad student whose closest family is a day's drive away and who lives and breathes work, and doesn't see a lot of people who don't understand what she does. It's odd.

But the most important difference is where S is. Hopefully in a few months we'll be together again.

27.5.08

Katty vs. the dog

Round 2

I'm mad at Polo and at people who should train him to behave. Still. Because I'm the person home in the day, I get to be the one who deals with him having 'accidents' and scratching/biting my feet and legs. He still thinks its a game, but it's not and it upsets me, frustrates me, reduces me to angry and frustrated tears.

So, S, we aren't having a dog. When I called my suegra for advice and she was trying to calm me down, I actually said, "I hate dogs."

Because in the place I'm living? I do. This doesn't mean that I don't generally care about their welfare or responsible pet ownership. It just means that I don't want one anywhere near me or my living situation.

And the worst part of all is that the dog isn't at fault at all, but everyone gets mad at him. So even though I don't want to be anywhere near him, I get frustrated on his behalf. It sucks, basically.

18.5.08

News

So good news on the S coming to live in the same country as me front.

But bad news in that his Tata's brother (who was only 59) passed away Friday night/Saturday morning. I went to the burial today with my in-laws, and S couldn't go because they wouldn't give him off work. And that sucked.

It's sad for me for several reasons.
1. I actually knew this great uncle, he was at our wedding (for those that read this and recall, he was one of the drunk uncles)
2. He is so young!
3. Tata is really upset about it, and his wife's health isn't great so that makes me worry also.

During the burial I was holding the hand of one of the five year old twins, and he was kind of confused as to what was going on. He asked me things like, but aren't there two Tio Omar's? So everyone is sad, right? What do you say to a five year old? I told him that yes, we are all sad, Tio Omar is in heaven now and what he needs to do is show his granddad lots of love. I think it worked OK. But it's still sad.

11.5.08

ash and pollution

S told me I should post something, so that I move that thing that didn't link correctly down the page, because I'm too lazy to click a few boxes and make that post disappear.

The volcanic ash from Chaiten supposedly arrived over Santiago sometime today, but very high up in the atmosphere. The pollution is actually quite bad, I can barely see the mountains right behind the house and I can feel less of a difference between the air quality in the centro and here at the house. So that's unfortunate.

Everyone here thinks I'm crazy with my interest in (and knowledge of) volcanoes. Whatever, they're losing out! ;-)

8.3.08

how well do you know your world

This was totally fun:

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brought to you by TravelPod, the World's Original Travel Blog ( A TripAdvisor Media Network partner ) 


Beat my score of (ok well the "IQ") 120... though some of the stuff is random. And they have Concepcion, Chile on the wrong place in the map. Like, where Valparaiso is. Someone doesn't know their South American geography...

3.3.08

what the frak is going on?

SO COOL.



And yes it's a commercial. I don't care. I love Battlestar Galactica. It's still cool.

26.2.08

travels are fun

So. Long time no post. I know.

The spirit hasn't moved me.

But the spirit has returned, in the form of my lovely sister who is living in the Netherlands. She just set up a blog and I'm looking forward to reading it. And for those of my readers here who have um stuck around, you should check it out. Because my sister is cool.

8.1.08

another great piece by gloria steinem

Women are Never Front Runners, by Gloria Steinem

I'm voting for Senator Clinton despite my brother's attempts to change my mind. I'll defy my demographic by NOT voting for Senator Obama. And with this article the New York Times has started to make up for their hiring of William Kristol... but they aren't quite there yet.

7.1.08

space + earthquakes + chile

I don't usually have a lot of time on the computer while I'm here, but since I was waiting up for S to get back from work, I found myself reading a lot of, well, random stuff. However, this is really cool - a view of northern Chile from Space:

(from solarviews.com)

And then I started reading about theories about how the Andes were formed, the Peru-Chile Trench, and more about earthquakes! What is too bad is that most of the information out there is really basic (that is, stuff I've known since I was little) or very specialized, that is, pages full of seismographic data that I don't have the tools to make sense of. Why is there no middle ground? I don't have the background for the specialized stuff, but the basic stuff is, well, basic. Alas.

2.1.08

ah 2008

New Year's at the beach and wedding anniversary celebrations are fun.

In case you were wondering, of course.