Happy New Year 2009

Happy New Year! It's another start to another year. I'm hoping this year means many good things, such as a new job and less stressful days. Of course not sure if those two coincide very well.... My New Year's Eve is one of dual importance, it is not only the fresh new start to a plethora of possibilities, it is also my anniversary with Jeboleth. Yup, 2 years ago we met on the eve and I haven't looked back since. One of the first things he said to me, which caught my attention and nearly made me choke on my food, was this little conversation: Him: "So what do you do?" Me: "I'm getting my Ph.D." (waiting for him to run to the other side of the room.....) Him: "Oh really, what in?" Me: "um... (pause to breath....) viral ecology...." Him: "What's that about" Me in my head: "okay is this guy for real??? And the answer, a resounding YES!!!! I explained it to him, and he continued to talk to me and later that evening give me the most wonderful kiss. :) He's pretty awesome.

I've enjoyed my two weeks off from work, but have been rather busy. We've had to do a bunch of things, Jeboleth moved apartments, we went to NY for Hanukkah, we're going back to NYC this weekend, we went to the NYE party, and we spent Xmas Eve with our traditional group of friends. I got to sleep in today, funny, my first day to fully sleep in since my time off, or at least it felt that way.

I hope that next week, when work begins, and life has to deal with all the frustrations and dealings that must come with the stresses that one cannot control, I will be able to navigate and manage the waters so that I can maintain the calm that I've developed during these two weeks. Wish me luck. I'll leave you with a pic I got from the ship, its not mine, I think it is from Ms. Ed, the Education coordinator. But it makes me have that calm but ready feeling that I hope to keep with me.

No more Xmas music please!

I went to the mall today. Why? my roommate thought it would be a good idea and there were lots of sales. Um, yeah. Bad idea. I have NEVER seen the mall that crowded, ever! It took us forever to find a parking spot and the parking was all the way out to the boonies area where I normally would park when I took a trip to the mall. You know the area, where no one parks..... Needless to say, we walk in, and it is crowded beyond our expectations. Almost like Canal Street during lunch rush hour in Manhattan. Anyway, we pushed through Macy's, which didn't really have a sale. I'm sorry, but a purse originally priced for $300 on sale for $200 is not really a bargain in my mind. We moved on to Banana Republic, where I did find a nice shirt, only $23 (that is a sale!) and then we wandered out towards the door, avoiding the mass crowds. I was disappointed in the fact that the "great sales" were lukewarm at best and some stores didn't have a real sale to save them selves. Really.

As far as the holidays are going, have gone, etc... all is well. I am tired of hearing the Xmas music by this point, and am hoping that this is the LAST day they feel the need to play Jingle Bells. At least for the next 300 some days.... It gets to be a bit much after a while and you just don't want to hear it again. Of course there will always be that house on some street that won't take down their decorations until like February.... Oy....

We did get a chance to relax and go out Xmas eve. A few of us have made it a tradition to go out to dinner somewhere for that night. This year we topped it off with some s'mores! Timothy's of Newark has this on their menu, a huge fav of mine. We enjoyed our dinner and then played with fire at the table, I'm sure our waiter thought we were crazy, but we had fun. :D What else can you do with that much chocolate and marshmallows?

Happy Holidays Everyone, Whichever one you celebrate, or all of them if you so choose, Enjoy!!

The Holidays Have Arrived

So yes, The holidays have arrived. All of them at once, Yule, Hanukkah, Xmas, the whole lot of them. I only did a little shopping this year. I hate feeling compelled to buy things for people but at the same time I feel like I need to do something to let them know that they do indeed mean something to me. I sent off Ms. B's and Mr. B's presents, they got to them on Saturday. Since they were technically Yule presents, I told her she could open them, but she insists on waiting til Xmas... not sure why? Tradition I guess. I opened my Yule/Hanukkah present from Jeboleth Sunday. It was the Firefly DVD collection. A very nice gift. I got him a new pair of sweat pants (his were from his high school days) and some Bacon Salt. He is a bacon fiend so this was a fabulous gift for him. I got some chocolates (sugar free) from Ms. and Mr. B. in the mail today, yummy.

And my roommate got me a bunch of Joie eggie products, yes, I'm an addict now, I must own all the eggie products!!!! I have the Yolky Egg Separator, the Yolky Egg poacher, the L'il Flip Egg Spatula, Kitchen Timer "Mech-Timey," Kitchen Scraper "Scrape-Ease," Mini Fry Pan "Small Fry," Whiskie Egg Whisk, and the Omelet Ease Flip pan. There are more to be had, even some that aren't listed on this web page that I've seen in Marshall's or on Amazon. I *must* have them..... And she cannot complain about this addiction, because she bought me my first eggie item, thus she created this addiction. :) I tell you, I must own them all!!!


Continuing on.... Its cold here, 22F right now. It was 16F this morning. I haven't ventured out, no reason for that today. I stayed in and made a German's Chocolate cake. It turned out pretty darn good, but it takes quite a while to make! And there are so many eggs in this recipe! I'm glad I used healthy cholesterol reducing butter and Splenda mixed w/sugar to cut some of the badness to the cake. I'm sure it will still taste yummy! I followed the "original" recipe that I found from the Baker's chocolate website. An interesting note, the cake has been incorrectly called "German Chocolate" cake for years, but it isn't German at all, read Here to find out its history. I like to know a bit of the history about things, my cooking, my science, you name it I'll delve a little deeper to find out why something got named this way or that way just because of my own curiosity.

And yes, in case you're wondering, I did indeed take my camera in for cleaning. It will be out for the next 7 - 10 days getting its CCD chip cleaned and inspected. :( So I just have my little point and shoot, well, also my other non-digital SLR, my underwater one and I think I have anther digital hand-held somewhere around here too.... I was looking online at some new lens, drooling, and also checking out some tripods too. I may be doing some investing after the new year in some new toys to expand my hobby. :) It will be my present to myself!!!

Thanksgiving Day

The entry tonight is the one I wrote for the ship's website (with a few edits). Since its been a long day, and I'm tired, I didn't really feel like writing two separate posts for two different websites for tonight. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Sea Team


Land Team




Today was Thanksgiving Day. That great US holiday where we stuff ourselves with mashed potatoes, turkey and pumpkin pie. The football game is turned on and people relax in a comfy spot and let the day just go by. But when you are on a research vessel, doing vital scientific work and have deadlines to meet, the holiday relaxation doesn’t happen. We were very lucky that our kitchen staff made fabulous mashed potatoes (yeah, more potatoes), turkey and yes, even pumpkin pie for dinner. But there was no time for football, fun and relaxation. Yet today, sixteen of us out here also took time for a very special event that was taking place in two locations for one cause.

Each year I participate in the annual Thanksgiving Day Run/Walk for Multiple Sclerosis. I also serve as the Team Captain for a team for the annual MS Walk earlier in the year. But the Thanksgiving Day walk was just me, it was my private time to walk for my friend Ms B. Ms B. and I have been friends for countless years, and for much of this time I had known she had MS, but had never seen the full effects. One winter holiday I went to stay with her and her husband for a few weeks. It was during that time that I saw Ms. B get pretty sick. It was painful to watch, and even worse, I felt utterly useless and helpless to stop the pain she was experiencing. When I got back to Delaware, I searched for something, someway to make me feel like I could help. That's when I started participating in the walks. I’ve now been doing this for over five years, every year.

But this year's Thanksgiving Day walk was going to be a big problem for me. Since I was scheduled to embark on the cruise during November this year, no Thanksgiving Day walk was going to be possible for me. During a conversation with Jeboleth, he simply said, "Why don't you just walk on the ship?" And that's when things began to come together. I really wanted to do this so I called the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and asked if they minded if I walked out here instead. They were quite thrilled with the idea and I decided to go ahead and form up the team again. I even got one of my former team members (and former cruise participant) Dirt Doc to design our t-shirt backs. We divided up the team into the Land Team and the Sea Team. We had three official members on Land and four official members on the Sea Team. We were ready!

Once I got to the ship, I thought I’d ask if anyone would like to join us for the walk day. It would be difficult since science is the priority out here and it would require a bit of time away from that work. I put out the request that anyone who wanted to walk with us show up at the bow of the ship one night for our team/group photo. I was so touched, and really moved when I saw not just my little team of four people on the bow, but 16 people, all willing to sacrifice some of their day to help me in this walk event. I was truly moved and am thankful to each one of them.

And so today, Thanksgiving Day, my Land Team stepped off and walked in cold and dreary temperatures while here on the ship, the Sea Team stepped off next to the Alvin hanger in a crispy and sunny day. We walked up stairs, around exhaust fans, up more stairs, around a paint locker, and up even more stairs. We navigated around chains, around people working, around the zodiac boat and back around to do it all again. We walked around the steel decks of the ship, 4 decks, 15 times for a total time of 1 hour and 6 minutes. I know that typically it takes about 1 hour to walk a 5K, so that’s what I decided to do since we didn’t have a pedometer or measuring tape, and that we did.

It was a very good day, the sun was shinning, it was cool, the water was calm and very blue. Some people jumped into the walk part way, others had to duck out due to work obligations. But we still walked, and kept it going for the whole time. One walker told me that she had only planned on walking for about 3 laps, but was so getting into it that she decided to keep going with me. She even did a 16th lap with me to go collect and remove all of my arrows for the walk path. You have no idea how much that meant to me.

When we finished our final lap and came to the end at the Alvin hanger there were several crew, and scientists standing around. They were actually waiting for Alvin to come on deck with their samples, but when they saw us completing the walk, they cheered and clapped for us. Making it feel like an appreciated end to the walk.

So what do I hope to have gained from all this? My biggest hope from all of this is to spread awareness about Multiple Sclerosis. I’m always surprised by the number of people I speak with who know someone or have a family member with MS. It is my prime goal to have as many people know and become aware of MS, and of course raise donations to help the research efforts to find a cure.

Thank you all for any and all support, you made Thanksgiving Day one of more thanks than you could have thought possible for many, many people.