Todsy's dinner plans: Wienerschnitzel, mashed potatoes, fresh tomatoes, a glass of Gewürztraminer. Yum.

Tomorrow before noon: Need to make it to dry cleaner's and the shoe repair. Spring is officially here, which means I need to take all my winter stuff to be cleaned and pack it up for the winter...

Over the weekend: Clean everything. I promised, therefore I must. Finish writing Personal Statement. Do my taxes.

Ideally, I shall make it to the store to see if they will take the boots back since they failed after I only wore them a couple times... and maybe check out some new sales. We will see... better do any out-of-the-house stuff tomorrow, though, as it's supposed to rain on Sunday. Not only do I intensely dislike being rained on, but I just had my car washed today, and the last thing I want is have it spotted all over again.

In other news, I like the idea of going to Quebec for a couple days in June more the more I think about it. Fly out to Montreal on a Thursday night, spend the Friday in Montreal, take the train to Quebec City on Saturday morning, overnight there, and take Sunday morning train back, and fly back to New Jersey. Yep, I do like how that sounds.

PS Schnitzel turned out divine. I was ready to complain that the meat had too many fasciae and fat on it, but I cut off the worst offending parts, and it tasted really, really good. Of course, I also switched my frying oil back to mild olive, which helps. I am happy. :)

I have grand total of 56 mutual friends
Of those friends, only one I have not interacted with outside LJ
One I have known since long before I have even heard the word "internet"
I have met in person 8 of my LJ friends
Of those I haven't met in person (yet?), there are 18 others with whom I have exchanged snail mail

So with almost half of my LJ friends I have interacted outside the online world. That's encouraging. :)


Lots and lots to do today,
- write my slides for tomorrow's business plan review (eek!)
- write surveillance report, at least part of it
- update my resume (no, I am not looking for another job yet, that's for going back to school)
- write my personal statement
- clean up my kitchen (stove badly needs cleaning!)
- do some ironing should time permit

For the next weekend:
- I am sure there will be some work that follows me home, but that remains to be seen
- finalize the personal statement and other application materials
- do full cleaning
- sort out the papers
- polish my shoes
- do my taxes
- check any warm weather shoes, if any need to be taken to the shoe repair shop in anticipation of the warm season

For when it gets warm, (it can't be far away, I can smell the spring in the air):
- organize the closet (aka take the winter stuff to dry cleaners
- take the winter boots and shoes to get fixed for the next season
- wash all windows

Updated travel list:
- March 7-8 - Washington, DC (taking a train for the first time)
- mid-March - Orlando - most likely not happening due to budget cuts at work
- mid-April - Chicago - not happening due to budget cuts at work
- May 6-9 - San Diego - in doubt
- May 22-25 - Omaha
- late July-early August - Russia (Yekaterinburg, Kostroma, Moscow, St. Petersburg) - two weeks between July 24 and August 22
- early December - Las Vegas - not happening as there no longer is a legitimate business need for me to be there
- mid-February 2010 - Vancouver, Canada - yep, confirmed tickets to biathlon for February 18, 2009

Well, the whales didn't quite show themselves yesterday - I only got to see their tail fins, dorsal fins, and those little fountains they let out when they breathe.

But the luau was very interesting. I loved the traditional dances from all over Polynesia (and yes, I did volunteer to go on stage for a hula lesson myself), and the pork cooked traditional way in the underground oven was to die for. I ate two large helpings. The scary white jelly-like substance, on the other hand, I less than enjoyed - I think that was tapioca pudding, but it was tasteless, sweet, scary stuff. The coconut cake, on the other had, was decadently delicious. And I got to wear a dress I haven't gotten out for a while... Did I say I gratuituously overpacked this time around? I normally pack just enough, and wear everything I pack, but this time I overpacked to have a choice, to feel more resortish, and (since my previous experience on a tropical island was having to change three-four times a day) to have enough clothes.

As I just learned, the palace is not open on Monday, so in fact this morning I need to catch up on work a little bit, and then I go off to the helicopter tour (I paid $280 for it, and it better be worth it!), and then I will go enjoy the beach and the sun. I did get a dash of tan yesterday, though my nose of course got sunburned. That's the downside of us white people, our noses stick out too much for tropical sun...

So, today it will be helicopters and beach and massage and facial. And tomorrow morning I will go on a 6 am hike to the old, extinct volcano crater, then I have the lunch symposium to attend, and then go to the palace, and then to the dinner symposium.

And Wednesday, Thursday and Friday it will be non-stop work from 5:30am to 7pm, unfortunately. Unless some sessions prove completely useless. But that's life... and if I am to charge the company for my flight, I gotta do it. :o

One interesting thing about Hawaii, I never quite got the tropical thing before... but I think this place is getting to me. I think I still prefer mountains and castles, but the ratio did go down somewhat. I will make sure to come back to Hawaii for a proper vacation for two or three weeks to hit all the islands and see and do everything I am not getting a chance to do this time, like go up the active volcano, hike up to the waterfalls, go to the pineapple plantation, go parasailing, and so on.

Well, friendses, I am now in Hawaii and throughly enjoying it. Yesterday it was just walking around the shops and the night beach, completely deserted. Today it was beach in the morning (and yes, there will be slides) and now I am off for the whale watching tour. Later it will be more beach and the luau. Tomorrow - yet more beach (are you seeing a trend there?), an hourlong helicopter tour around the island, a visit to the palace and massage and facial. There are many things I am not getting a chance to do due to time limitations, but I think I am going to have a great time. More later.

Random note #1. I think I finally got the idea for my "chinese variation" dish. The main things I learned: if I cook the chicken with the lid closed, then it's nice and moist and juicy, then I just open it for a few minutes before adding everything else, to brown it up a bit. Basically, that's the quintessential "I catch it, I toss it in the pan" dish inspired by my undergrad cafeteria (speaking of which, I have been hunting for a sauce they had for the last eight years, and I still haven't found one that would be as good).

( Recipe and the photo of the final dish under the cut )

My father always liked to joke that a regular person can come up with three names for a dish, a cook with ten, and a chef with a hundred. I only came up with four, and they are all in Russian and hard to translate. :D
- Китайская вариация (рабочее название)
- Осенняя поэма голодающего студента (перевести на китайский для псевдо-классического звучания)
- Кто не спрятался - я не виновата (в смысле, продукты какие под руку попали, те и в сковородку полетели)
- Буржуй в эмиграции (курица вместо рябчиков, морковка вместо ананасов - тяжело живется...)

In other news, I will be going to Hawaii January 24-31. Basically, I am loosing the whole day of the 24th and the whole day of the 31st just flying. Dammit. But it's OK. Conference really starts on the 28th for me, so I have three days to relax and soak in the sun. One regret is that I won't be able to fulfill my long-time dream of climbing a volcano, since that's something I would prefer to do in a company. Yes, I know all about the tours, but I think it's better to have someone looking after you personally on dangerous routes. :o

And on the final note, I was again happy and squee-y in the law update presentation today, so people started suggesting I go to law school. I have considered it for a while... but today I did some looking around, and a university in Newark offers a program which is not JD, not intended to practice law (something I don't care about) but instead is a Master's program in healthcare law. And it's also available part-time. Squee? I signed up for their open house on February 7th to see what it's all about. I might actually consider doing that... two years of my life will be killed off studying again, but may it be worth it eventually?


Actually, on the final-final note, I am looking for a nice art print to buy for my office.  I have a strong affinity for mountains and lakes/mountains and rivers type of landscapes.  In fact, all three pieces of art I own in my home/my parents' home are all that.  Should I branch out?  Or should I hang up a nice mountains  and waterfall picture?  

The good:
- My flight was perfectly on time and even landed some half an hour early, so I was home at the decent time, just past 4pm.
- When I got home, there were two packages waiting for me, one from the Netherlands (belko_camuray, thanks!) and one from Italy (some books and DVDs I ordered online) so I had a nice time unpacking and enjoying.
- There were some cards waiting for me.  Thanks, oksani , karaotter , and helga_b (you did get everything right, twin!)
- There was enough food to hold me over until tomorrow, so I didn't have to drag myself to the store today

The bad:
- I brought over some old games that I had at my parents house, but they are apparently not really compatible with Vista, not that I expected it
- I did not get to see a very dear friend of mine when I was in Omaha, since there was ice rain on the day we planned to meet
- Since I was gone all through the holidays, I didn't get a chance to clean up my place and my apartment is a mess
- I didn't get nearly all the things done that I wanted to get done for work

The ugly:
- There is nothing worse than going back to work after a really nice, long vacation (since it really was pretty much a vacation).  There are no worse days that the Mondays after a vacation... I want to cry, but instead I have to cram in some work time tonight.  

My New Year's resolution shall be as follows:  Within the next ten years, I am going to become rich and not have to work anymore, unless that's something I want to do for personal enjoyment/interest.  Amen. 

Dear friendses, the gifts are also out. That was some most impressive speed-packing, I must admit. Half an hour to pack four boxes, sign the cards, and race out to the post office.

Also, lovely card fromeowyn_unquendor</lj> came in the mail yesterday.

In other news, I have passed the ACI exam and I am now officially a certified competitive intelligence professional.  Fear me.

I am flying to visit my parents in Omaha tomorrow morning, so today shall be a very, very busy evening.  Ever celebrate Christmas Eve on your hands and knees scrubbing bathrooms?  I thought so.  Everything happens for the first time some day, though.


Have a very Merry Christmas, or whatever else you may be celebrating right now, and I shall be back to wish you all a very Happy New Year when the time comes.  Cheers. 

Latest thinking on "where in the world Anna's going to be in the near future":
- December 25, 2008-January 4, 2009 - Omaha
- January 27-31 (plus/minus a couple days) - Hawaii
- mid-April - Chicago
- mid-March - Orlando
- early May - San Diego
- late July-early August - Russia (Yekaterinburg, Kostroma, Moscow, St. Petersburg)
- early December - Las Vegas
- mid-February 2010 - Vancouver, Canada - In a couple weeks I should learn whether I have won any tickets out of those I ordered for the Vancouver Olympics...

Having heard the horror stories about long wait times, I planned to work from home tomorrow. That way I can vote on some off-time, like 10am or something. I am also lucky that I can walk to the polling place - parking would be an issue there, though I guess they could use the grocery store parking lot, it's right across the street from there.

I shall vote Democrat this time... I am much more Republican in ideology, but the modern NeoCon Republicans just scare the heck out of me. It's like they all barbecued their brains and zombified themselves. I see a lot of religious fundamentalism, a lot of sheer stupidity (of which Sarah Palin is the perfect example - the woman is dumber than my shoes, I am surprized she can put the spoon in her mouth and not her ear), and none of the traditional Rebuplican common sense and economic prudence. I lived in Nebraska for 8 years, and I do really like Nebraska Republicans - Hagel, Terry, Heineman, Daub - though I really like Nebraska Democrats - Nelson, Fahey - also. However, this all seems lost in the Washington. Pity that Chuck Hagel was too damn smart to run for office, I would have voted for him in a heartbit. I still had my doubts this season, but McCain made it easy for me after he named Sarah Palin. As much as I mistrust Democrat ideas and expanded taxes adn welfare and all that crap, I mistrust Sarah Palin A LOT more. McCain not being a spring chicken, she is very likely to become President when elected, and I am scared shitless of the thought of such a twit at the head of a nuclear weapons-possessing country. I cannot even express how disgusted I am with that woman who is DUMB, DUMB, and ugly like mortal sin.

I shall have the TV on all day tomorrow waiting for the results...

Summary of today:
Castles visited - 2
Cities wandered in - 3
Getting rained on - 2
Proper meal - 1
Chocolates tried - 2
Beer tried - 1
Danish herring tried - 1 (disappointing, I must say, and it is only for my mom that I am trying it anyway)
Attempts on my life - 2 (a swan first growled! and tried to bite me, then tried to eat my shoe right off my foot)

Tomorrow I go to the Rosenborg Castle in the morning, and then I leave for Stockholm at 2 pm. I cannot miss Danish treasury, it's enough that I had to miss Dutch.

Overall, I must say I liked Denmark and I would like to come for a longer visit some day.

Yesterday it hit me that it is already 2008, and that means it is time to start thinking about summer travel plans. I do understand that the job search is still to come, and so on, but by the time I am negotiating contracts, I should already have options in mine, with hard numbers. My original idea of the Netherlands-St. Petersburg-Finland-Sweden-Norway died under the heavy weight of reality. These plans are just too Napoleonic (plus Baltic geography got a bit misaligned in my brain, I thought the Netherlands would be a lot closer to Russia than they are), and the prices are much higher than I anticipated.

( Revised plan under the cut )


Итак, вчера я вдруг осознала что 2008 год уже наступил, а значит о летнем путешествии уже надо задуматься. Понятно, что впереди еще поиски работы и т.д., но варианты уже надо себе представлять на тот момент причем с цифрами. В общем, моя начальная идея Голландия-Питер-Финляндия-Швеция-Норвегия загнулась на корню перед лицом двух печальных фактов: планы чересчур наполеоновские (плюс география Балтийского побережья в моем мозгу оказалась малость перекошенной), и печатного станка у меня тоже нет.

( Детали )

I am going to Philadelphia tomorrow. Well, technically, later today. The conference is 9:30 to 4:30, and then I am free to explore the city. I think I will go to the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall, and go to the jewelry district (I cannot miss that without loosing my right to call myself a girl from the Urals!). Then I will have a dinner with a colleague and go back. Should make it home by midnight if everything goes smoothly - it's about 1,5 hour drive if there is no traffic...

Well, I am back. I have submitted applications to both places, and I will wait for the replies and then decide.

Also, I went $62 over my budget of $1000 on the trip to New Jersey. That's because of transportation - taxi from the airport to the rental (rather than renting at the airport, which I should have done, since NJ Turnpike is not as bad as they say, and GPS is the best thing ever). And the damage waiver (which I didn't need in the end, but for my peace of mind I decided to get). Oh well.

I know now what I want for my birthday - the GPS system. It's on sale at Best Buy for $350. :)

As far as other issues, getting licensed in New Jersey is going to run me $1000. That's what they told us at school - to budget at least $1000 on licensure fees... I need to go get fingerprinted, too.

Furniture is going to get expensive. Very, very expensive. I will take my bedroom set, and probably the office chair. But I will need:
- dining table and chairs
- new bed
- sofa, and I want a sleeper sofa, for visitor's sake (maybe now that I will be close to New York, guests will come?)
- TV
- TV stand
- desk (with drawers)
- bookcase
I can live without coffee table, end table and that stuff. Still, that will run me several thousand dollars... and I need money for deposit on the apartment, and the first couple months rent, until I start getting the stipend checks. At least, I have been saving for a while, and have a nice sum, so I can afford that.

I am not feeling to stellar - I am hoping it's just the extreme heat outside, not cholinergic toxidrome from pesticides - I have been spraying my mom's plants to kill a remarkably ugly crowd of caterpillars. And don't tell me that a doctorate AND practice in a toxicology center should have taught me to wear gloves when working with a deadly poison. :D

I made the decision. In June, I will go to Raritan, NJ to accept the postdoctoral fellowship positing in Business Intelligence with Ortho-McNeil/ adjunct faculty position with Rutgers University School of Pharmacy. It breaks my heart to say no to the guys at the other position, but in the end, I have to think about MYSELF, and this position is better for me.

It will be fun. A lot of opportunities, and a lot of risks... This is a position which can make or break my future. As far as dreams go, I would like to move into New Business Development in the next couple years, then get an MBA by 10 years from now, go on a couple international assignments, keep a Rolodex with cards of everyone I meet (I shall turn into Horace Slughorn, and even being adjunct professor next year try to notice and entice promising students), and then in 15+ years start my own consulting business. We shall see how much of that comes true.

I will probably get there June 20th or so, get settled and find the apartment and get furniture. Then on June 27th my parents and I will go to Niagara falls, as I want to celebrate my birthday (June 28th, 11:45 am) holding a glass of champagne over the roaring water.

BTW my graduation is May 5th, 2007 at 10 am. Just 96 days left!

Busy, busy, busy... I don't even remember the last time I could just sit down and take care of everything I needed. The last few months have been insane, and now I can finally see the light in the end of the tunnel. A few days of madness, and everything will go back to normal. My interview at the FDA is tomorrow (my flight leaves in a few hours) and then I will come back, tie a few loose ends, and then on Monday I leave for the small town of Broken Bow, where I will be able to relax, regroup, and catch up on my sleep.

My feet aren't thanking me. I would like to see any sports star out there try and beat working 9.5 hours on my feet, in 2" heels, with only a half-hour break. It took 4 hours for my feet to stop hurting.  Everyone always compliments me on ability to work in heels, but I really miss my super-comfortable hot pink shoes.  Besides, I was always complimented on them wherever I went - I was surprised to learn that most women don't own a pair of pink shoes.  I have two pairs left, at one point I had four...

Still, I am making over $800 in these two weeks, that should console me. If I indeed don't have to pay for any interviews (well, first I have to be invited to any, of course), then I can very well afford a very nice vacation between graduating and doing whatever I will be doing next year. In addition to the trip to Taiwan in August (I am definitely taking time off for the post-congress tour, if I am spending 20+ hours in flight, I might as well enjoy all the sights).

I am not working tomorrow, so I need to set up and decorate my Christmas tree, decide what cake to bake and bake it, sort the photos, and resume cleaning out and organizing my desk. January is going to be crunch time and I need everything in order. I just realized that it will be the first year I won't be filling out FAFSA in years...  Also, I need to decide what to buy my dad for New Year's (since that's when Russians exchange gifts).  I am getting my mom a gift certificate for massage, and my mom & I got my dad a shiatsu seat cushion.  Now I need to figure out what else to give him...  Maybe a bottle of a good wine... 

lefali, thanks for the lovely card!  I just got it today!

Hellga's Christmas/New Year's Wish List:
1) Fellowship position with BMS, Ortho-McNeil or FDA.
2) A couple extra hours in a day or a time-turner.
3) Pink tourmaline jewelry (earrings).
4) Incredibly comfortable hot pink shoes like the ones I used to have and wore through.

Packing day yet again. I can pack up a bit later... this time I can fill up my entire car, so there is not that big a problem, but I am a bit anxious. This isn't a "enjoy the civilized part of the world" kind of trip, this is a "work your butt off and try to get a job offer or at least a recommendation out of it" kind of trip. Eli Lilly is a major company and I heard that they are a very nice employer...

On the other hand, setting up the apartment with the company Lilly recommended has been nothing but pain. I have resorted to talking to them like they are dirt under my feet, and that seems to be the only way to get something done, but it makes me feel like I desperately need shower. I am not nearly as arrogant or bitchy as I sometimes seem to be. I seriously feel like I am interrogating a captured enemy, it takes them forever to return calls/e-mails and every little bit of information has to be pulled out of them. Grrrrr.

Tomorrow it's 10 hour drive, and I hate longs drives because my shoulders start aching and I feel like the lower half of my body turns to lead. Then I will have to figure out my way in the city I have never even visited before. The places for which I need to learn the exact location and the best way to get there:
- my apartment
- my workplace
- the closest Walgreen's to my apartment
- the closest supermarket to my apartment
- the cheapest gas station in the area
- the closest Panera (since they have free Wi-Fi and my apartment won't have internet connection)
- what other cheap places to eat exist in the area

Once again I wish I were earning money already. Everything is so much simpler when you can afford the basic necessities and don't have to spend time figuring out all these things...

I just learned I have been placed in Munich between June 15th and July 30th (though I have to be back in US by July 20th since my Indianapolis rotation starts on the 31st and I need to prepare for it - it's one very important for my career). So, travel opportunities, here I come. Since it is in the southern Germany, most likely I won't be making northern countries such as Sweden and Finland (leaving them for future trips to Europe). Looks like Austria and northern Italy to me. Maybe Switzerland on the way. So, I need to start planning itinerary and review German. I have forgotten so much, I feel like I can't say anything beyond the simplest things like "Ich heiße Anna" or "Ich möchte __, bitte".

I will probably have to travel before settling down in Munich, though I would hope I have a chance to drop off my luggage there, since I don't want to be running around Europe with two suitcases and staying in hostels with a laptop.

Need to finalize the bilateral agreement too. And no one cancelled schoolwork... I have a paper, a presentation, a couple exams and a ton of reading to do in the next month and a half (I can't believe I have merely 28 school days left (which expands to 52 total days until the start of rotations). I will be done with exams and pointless unrealistic exercises and cases and papers forever!

It's snowing hard, and I am glad we all made it home OK. Road that usually takes me about 35 minutes took me almost 2 hours today - one mile alone was 25 minutes. My mom says there was a six-car accident in one place - I didn't drive through that street, I took a U-turn when I saw the jam stretching for over a mile and took the other street down. I was desperately hungry, too, but I made it to gas station anyway, I didn't want to risk running low in weather like that. I was driving very, very slowly but still I lost control on the last stop sign, less than 30 meters from my home. A rainwater drain stopped me, I aimed for it, kind of. Probably, I added a scratch on the bottom of my bumper, but it's insiginificant, considering the big dent I have had in it for well over a year...

Among good news, I got approved for the exchange, so I will be spending large part of June and July 2006 in Europe. I will be requesting placement in Germany, with the intent of visiting Austria and Italy along the way, and possibly also Scandinavian countries depending on the schedule, the city I will be placed at, and the rest of my rotations. However, the money should not be an issue. I have been taking out as many loans as possible, in order to be able to take the rotations I want to take rather than the ones I can afford to take.

Among other good things this week:
- it wasn't as sucky as I thought, as we worked up the case quickly - though that's good I started writing this entry here, I remembered we didn't add the "prescriber education" section and fixed it quickly
- Eric's wife translated the skit so that's something I didn't have to undertake.
- the lab tomorrow stars at 10 for my group, not 8, and there is no lecture, so there is more study time.
- my best friend's husband is coming to the US for three months to the college about 2,5 hours away from us on a contract, so he will be bringing some things and I can send gifts with him. Also, there is a chance that he will be offered a long-term contract (he is a physicist), and then she will come over as well.

The bad thing is the cardiology exam. And it sucketh mightily, not the least because I can't concentrate at all. I don't retain information anymore, I am just simply burned out.

Good news:

- A lady came to talk about Rural Community Service program, which can compensate me for rural rotation expenses if I agree to do 3 hours of community service a week. Of course I would. That means I don't have to limit myself to the rotations with housing, I can go to that rotation in Imperial. That means I can see the Chimney Rock, and drive over to the Rapid City to see Mount Rushmore one day, and maybe even go to the Yellowstone if I can talk my preceptor into a three-day weekend. That would be incredibly exciting! :) Or if it's in winter, I could go skiing in Colorado... Or any number of things. It's 7 to 8 hours away from Omaha, though, so I would be completely cut off...

- I got my first official invitation to interpret at an elementary school next week. I am excited. That's an experience I can put down in my CV! Unlike my translations of Tolkien-related stuff for various websites.

- Some company was giving out their drinks in the cafeteria for free. I got two cans. Will try them tomorrow.

- My allergy is pretty much over. Yay!

News/Plans:

- I need to think of/write a skit for my Italian class. I am the only person out of five in my group who is capable of doing it. And we need to plan a time outside of class to rehearse, probably. Since I know two girls are out of state and don't really know anyone here yet, that would also give them some chance to hang out with someone they know...

- I need to apply to Eli Lilly as soon as I hear from our HR lady about my CV and make adjustments accordingly.

Bad News: N/A :p