For Want of News, a Blog Was Lost

So, in her e-mail this morning, my mom passed on a message from a First Pres. lady (who shall remain nameless) saying that she checks my blog daily for updates and would love to see a new post soon!  Seeing as I haven't been on here in a month, that has to be the sweetest, politest guilt trip I've ever been on, and it worked.  So wonderful First Pres. ladies who shall remain nameless,

This one's for you.

And now it remains for me to come up with some news to share with you.  Well...I bought a magazine in the grocery store today.  (This means nothing to most people, but my Tech roommates and probably my mother just felt a subtle shift in the balance of the universe.)  It was a movie magazine, and for those who would like to know, the first part of The Hobbit is coming out on December 14, 2012.  It looks AWESOME.  They're even putting in some of the concurrent events that don't get mentioned in the book, like the White Counsel storming Dol Guldur...*ahem*...sorry.  I just finished re-reading The Lord of the Rings, so I'm on a bit of a Tolkien high right now.

The past few weeks have been very pleasant, in between the return of productivity in lab and the chance to go out and do a few fun things.  Lab first: right after my last post, all my experiments were put on hold while I attempted to find a source of dirt in the lab that was making all my samples...well...dirty, shockingly enough.  We (the postdoctoral researcher and I) never did identify the source, but we altered and replaced enough things and tightened enough cleaning protocols that we did get rid of it...after about three weeks.  So this week and last week have been wonderful in that I've actually gotten to do some of my research again!  The first draft of my dissertation is due tomorrow, and while it's not a great draft, it does exist, and I think it's a good start.  I have 10,000 words without even including the actual results (which I don't have yet) and discussion, so I'm set as far as the length of the paper.  But then again, when was verbosity (or the lack thereof) ever a problem for me?

This summer I've gotten involved with a group of--I'll call them "youngish professional and/or student-type" people at my church for a weekly meeting that's sometimes a Bible study, sometimes an organized discussion group, and once a Fourth of July barbecue (there are a lot of Americans in the group).  We take it in turns to lead the study/facilitate the discussion, and I'll be leading Ecclesiastes 3 next week.  I'm really enjoying the time spent making friends with this big group of people, all of whom are very different and have very different professions and outlooks on life, and the thoughtful, intelligent discussions we have every time we sit down together to study.  It's been challenging for me, too, particularly in my interactions with the other physics student in the group, who is a quantum field theorist, well-read in every area of philosophy and theology that I haven't "gotten around to" yet, and whose intelligence generally intimidates me.  It's revealed to me just how much my self-esteem depends on my ability to think of myself as "the smart scientist," and it's led me to think and pray a lot about how I identify myself.

The various members of the group are a lot of fun, and I went with a handful of them (including Mr. Quantum Field Theorist) to see the last Harry Potter movie.  It was a lot of fun to be with them and at the midnight opening, but the movie just didn't do the end of the book justice.  I'll spare you my rant (well, no I won't, but I will try to make it short), but basically (see?), they cut out so many of the supporting characters and side threads of the plot in the earlier movies, that when they got to the end, it had been totally robbed of its power.  And...nah, I'll leave it there.  The Potter Geek was not pleased.  But it was still fun to go.  I most definitely had my wand in my bag (a modified paintbrush, for those of you whose eyebrows are steadily rising past your hairlines).

The weekend before that, three of my friends from Tech came into town, and we went hiking in the Highlands, up Ben Vorlich (a mountain, most of which are "Ben Something" in the Highlands) by Loch Earn.  I have to specify Loch Earn because, as it turns out, there are two Ben Vorlichs, a fact we neglected to take into consideration when we booked our B&B for the night after the hike, which was, of course, at the Ben Vorlich by Loch Lomond.  So the owners of a quaint little farmhouse at the base of the Loch Earn peak were very surprised when four backpackers showed up at their door, asking where they were going to stay, but they then proceeded to overwhelm us with the most astonishing hospitality I've probably ever encountered.  No, they did not put us up for the night, but the lady did let us use their computer and phone to sort out what had happened; she also got on her cell phone and called all the hotel and B&B owners she knew, as well as the village shopkeeper (no joke), to see if he knew of anyone with a room; she also let us leave our bags in the hall while we hiked up the mountain (might I add that I was humming walking songs and poetry from Lord of the Rings the entire way up?); and when we got back, her husband drove us to the hotel she'd found for us in the one-street town of Stratheyre.  AND she let us play with her dog's one-week-old puppies.  I could not possibly have gotten a more heartening impression of everyday rural Scottish people on my first "real" trip into the Highlands.

Now, before you ask, I have no pictures.  I forgot my camera.  If I ever figure out how to dump my friend Erin's pictures from her Picasa album onto my computer, they will turn up (eventually) here and on Facebook.  However, on my honor, I swear I will bring my camera when I go to Germany in a week to visit Erin (who is doing an internship there this summer).  It'll be a lightning-fast weekend trip, less than 48 hours, but I'm extremely excited about it.  Not only will I be with one of my best friends on my birthday (which means, by way of implication, that I won't be in lab on my birthday!!), but I get to visit Germany and Belgium with someone who knows where she's going and can sort of speak the language!

I think I'm going to get going now.  I probably ought to proofread my dissertation before sending it to my advisor, and I'd rather not do the whole thing tomorrow.  Two chunks will be better.  Bye, everyone!