Took this picture last night. I kind of like it.

The weekend's here - hurray! Other than playing with Ramya, I need to
- buy some winter clothes for her
- try and apply for her passport
- read the pile of C&E News
- write!

I have been toying with the idea of doing some science writing. After listening to Debra Rolison, I am fired up to read on nanotech and write something about it. Well, if I'm going to take a shot at a faculty job, I need to come up with a proposal. A lot of money is being pumped into this, so it could be lucrative. However, I have no experience in STM and other microscopy techniques required to study such processes. Well, fertile ground for learning anyways.

Food for thought

Debra Rolison from the Naval Research Laboratory was invited to give a diversity lecture on Wednesday. Over lunch, she gave a talk on the societal impact of nanotechnology. She addressed issues such as the need to ponder the impact of nanoscience beyond the immediate scientific goal, ethics in conducting such research etc. She gave a couple of examples of potentially dangerous uses of nanotechnology - one example was the use of cadmium selenide quantum dots for drug delivery. However, Cd2+ is very toxic and was observed to leach out in some studies. In the evening she gave a talk on whether "Title IX can do for women in science, tech, engg., and math what it has done for women in sports". Interesting talk. Her basic contention was the presence of very few women as faculty in class I research institutions when so many of them receive Ph.D's is a sign of an unhealthy environment in academia in the U.S. Some spirited language.
Then yesterday she gave a scientific talk on aerogels (about which I learned for the first time). Apparently H spoke to her about me on Wed and she had offered to speak with me yesterday evening. We met up after her seminar. I had a very nice talk with her for about 40 minutes. She is a very inspiring scientist - well rounded and very well read. Got me thinking on what I want to do with my life. More on that later.

Neet to remember this ...

-Call Lalitha for numbers
-Mummy's bday on 27th.

nice weekend

V and A came over for dinner saturday night. had a quiet evening with them.

i am reaching new heights in forgetfulness. S and I had decided to go out for dinner on saturday. I get this call at around 7:00pm from Geetha R asking me if I was coming or not. I could not believe that I had forgotten that she's asked me to dinner the previous weekend. I had not written it down and so had forgotten. I was sooo disappointed that we couldn't have a quiet dinner that I cried. I just didn't want to be with anyone but S for an evening. The evening wasn't so bad though. After a flying visit to Brinda's place for vethalai pakku, we went to Geetha's place. They have a beautiful, huge house. All the people they'd invited were much older than us (except for her kids). But the food was excellent.

I had a nice quiet Sunday. I watched The Sure Thing on TV. John Cusack was very young and cute. We went to Olive Garden for dinner. Had a glass of wine after almost a year. I totally enjoyed the dinner.

Chinnu is getting more playful. She's adding to her vocabulary - the latest addition being Ew.

I did group meeting this morning. DF complimented me on the work. I was surprised and pleased - he doesn't do that often.

Wonder what's going on with R and P. I wrote to P. She said there's a problem but does not want to talk about it yet. Whatever it is, I'm glad I wrote her; it's out in the open at least.

Breathing ...

again. But my throat feels a bit scratchy. I can't afford to get sick because of Chinnu. She's 3 months old today, and growing in a hurry. She's a darling and I completely adore her - but of course I'm the mom. The way time's flying is scary.
What will I do when my MIL leaves in Jan? The cost of daycare is insane. Goddard school charges $950 a month. I want to find a babysitter so she wont have that huge a transition from doting grandmom to stranger. I wonder if I'll be OK - right now I can't even imagine the scenario.

V and A are coming over for dinner tonight and Michelle too, to see Chinnu. I've been meaning to bring Chinnu over to the lab, but it's such a hassle.

Finished reading The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler - typical Tyleresque family drama. Very enjoyable, very warm. Need to return books to the library. And get some more. Or maybe I'll finish the Order of the Phoenix which I started when I was around 8 months pregnant. I was advised not read it because it is apparently very disturbing. It's strange - the state of pregnancy. I used to get such vivid dreams. I wonder if this is the reason pregnant women are advised not to read/see disturbing and violent stuff. So while on the subject, my hormones must be going crazy again. My hair which used to shed quite a bit before I got pregnant, looked great and thick for 10 months. Now, all of a sudden, I have started shedding like crazy again. And my forehead is breaking out in painful zits. And the amount of milk I pump at work also seems to be doing a hormone like act. Somedays I pump 6 oz without any effort, somedays it's 4 with Herculean effort. I wish I could find a pattern.

what a busy weekend! a birthday party friday night, a navarathri pooja saturday night, and hordes of visitors at home all sunday, not to mention sanjay sub's concert sunday evening. we took ramya along just to see if she'd scream or not. she was very good - she was quiet and awake for about 30 minutes and then fell asleep. all in all, she was calm for 2 hours after which she started to fuss a bit perhaps because it was close to her feeding time. i wonder what goes on in babies' minds.
the concert was a disappointment for me. after all the rave reviews, this concert was very ho hum and sanjay's voice was is pretty bad shape. it's unfortunate that both carnatic musicians and perhaps the elitist rasikas are overrating ideas rather than execution in a concert. I mean how much can a performer leave to the rasika's imagination? sanjay's voice was so bad that there were numerous sruthi slips and none of his akarams were clear.

We're going to have a music night on Wed. It's kind of nice - the idea - but with Ramya nad it being a weekday, I have a feeling i'm going to get a bit stressed out. Trust G to come up with something like this without asking me first. and then sheepishly asking me if he shouldn't have after the fact. i hope they're good.

Wasteful Friday

I have not done an iota of useful work today. It's been a while since I whiled an entire day off. It's awful outside - grey, cold and uninspiring. Thought I'd start a blog - let's see if I keep at it.

Right now I feel stubbornly not wanting to do anything. I have a few dozen "things" to do which I've been putting off. Let's see -

- Paperwork with the tax office
- Paperwork for buying a new laser/CCD equipment for the lab
- Send my Ph.D transcript
- Fill out a form
- Pay a credit card bill
- File away bills/paperwork
- Cancel the NY Times subsciption
- Organize the basement

Is it just my life that is so full of paper??
Right now the only paper that looks not repulsive is the book "The amateur marriage" by Anne Tyler.

This weekend is crammed with social events. Right now hot coffee, quiet reading and spending quality time with Chinnu seems to be the only thing I want to do.

Would like to be here ...
Last year was the year of good vacations - this one in Kumarakom, Kerala. A rare oasis of quiet.