Big Words

This Google Chat conversation requires no introduction (except to point out that the rules or grammar and correct spelling do not apply in chat world), but it does need to be shared:

me:  So this GRE vocab is ridiculous

no one is ever going to encounter most of these words in their life EXPECT on tests like these

friend:  example?

 me:  assuage

 friend:  i think i know that word

 me:  to ease or lessen; to appease or pacify

 friend:  don't those come in links and/or patties for breakfast?

 me:  haha

Exigent

urgent, pressing; requiring immediate action or attention.... pretty sure anyone who ever needed to use this word would just say "urgent"

 friend:  i think you are right

haha

 friend:  i am goign to try and use tha word today

do you have a sentence?

 friend:  i would use "urgent" just to asuage you

 me:  have you been sitting there thinking about how to use that word for the past 10 minutes?

 friend:  uh...um...no....um....because i didn't think it was exigent.

or an exigent matter....

 me:  hahahaha

 friend:  challenge accepted and completed.

 me:  Now you're just trying to equivocate so that you sound erudite.

 friend:  duh

 me:  Equivocate.  Erudite.

I will obviate you.

hahaha

I'm a nerd.  I need to stop.

 friend:  that would be mean to obviate me

 me:  You're right.  It would be ingenuous of me to extemporaneously fulminate or obviate you.

 friend:  oh lord

ill pull google fro that one

 me:  fulminate?

to attack loudly or denounce

 friend:  ye

ah...

friend:  now you are just being grandiloquent

me:  Possibly.  However, I laud you for being so magnanimous and not being irascible.  If it would not be too onerous, I would compose a lucid paean for you.  But you would probably consider it a parody.

 friend:  Sesquipedalian even

 me:  you're cheating.

 friend:  well..you have GRE words in front of you!

you have GRE words in front of you!

 me:  hahaha

 me:  you're very perspicacious

while I continue to prattle

 friend:  dang...that is the word i was trying to think of!!!

perspicacious...

it slipped my mind.

 me:  you were trying to think of it because I make you think of perspicacity, don't I?

 friend:  yes....of course....your wits can't be matched

you pull it off..while i come across as pedantic

 me:  I just stupefy everyone.

 friend:  in numerous ways

 me:  Your solicitous and sporadic neologism is perfunctory.  I have qualms about your aberrant alacrity and reticent perfidy.

 friend:  whoa...i don't know where to start on that

 me:  Okay, that one may not actually make sense beyond that fact that the parts of speech agree

solicitous - concerned and attentive; eager
sporadic - occurring only occasionally or in scattered instances

neologism - a new word, expression or useage

 friend:  oh you think i am perfidy

 me:  perfunctory - cursory

perfidy is a noun.  so, no, I don't think you're perfidy; however, I was falsely accusing you of committing perfidy

 friend:  when do people talk like this

 me:  btw, aberrant, I think you know.
alacrity - eager and enthusiastic willingness
reticent - quiet; reserved
perfidy - intentional breach of faith; treachery

never

 friend:  i have no doubt i could send my dad these sentences and he would reply in kind

but....not normal people

reminds me of what i might see in a victorian era movie

 me:  He would reply that I'm employing effrontery and then he would censure me for using these words so incorrectly.

 friend:  for certain

 me:  I hope some big brother at Google is reading this conversation

 friend:  haha...you will start getting weird ads on your pages

in gmail etc

 me:  yeah, for mental institutions

There's Nothing More Precious Than a Baby Kitty

Okay, maybe human babies are more precious, but in my book, baby kitties are a close second!

This is Champ.  He is one of a litter of five born to a feral momma cat in my good friend Brandi's neighborhood in Richland Hills, Texas.  Brandi and I have been keeping an eye on the litter so that we can take them to a shelter to be socialized (become un-feral before it's too late) and get adopted once they are old enough to be removed from their momma.  Last Friday, when we checked on the litter, everyone looked good and healthy except for this guy.  His eyes were sealed shut with gunk and, when I picked him up, I could feel all his little ribs and his spine.  His breathing was rattly and he wasn't interacting with the other kitties. 

I took him to the vet where he got an exam, a little bath, a de-worming, a B-12 shot and some antibiotics.  When they weighed him, he came out to a whopping 7 ounces!  They said that he was malnurished and dehydrated.  To have a chance at survival, he would need to get his weight up and get some hydration.  They sent us home with some antioxidant food, an immune booster supplement and some Neosporin-like stuff for his eye.  I've been feeding him the antioxidant food mixed with pedialyte every 4 to 6 hours and cleaning up kitty messes multiple times every day and night.  There is a constant cycle of Champ's towels in the laundry!

Five days later... We have an active and energetic little boy with a mighty appetite and big, clear blue eyes!!!  We are working on the concept of the litter box, sometimes with luck, but most of the time with lots of messes.  My fingers are crossed that we can get him back to good, full health so we can find him a loving home to be adopted into.  Know anyone that might be interested in becoming a kitty parent?  Send them my way!!!  And keep coming back here for more updates along Champ's journey back to health!

Thoughts on Grad School

I started studying for the GMAT and looking at MBA programs because it feels like the practical next step to moving up the corporate ladder and making more money.  But now I'm very seriously considering taking the GRE instead and really following my passion and true interests.  I'm looking into the International Political Economy graduate program at UTD.  It feels like a delicious dream to think about getting back into social sciences academia.  There's so much to weigh and consider, from what kind of job I can work while going to school, what kind of job I'm likely to get once I finish an IPE program, whether I'll be able to make enough money in a post-IPE program career to make it financially "worth it," whether the program at UTD is any good, whether I'll be able to find a job in IPE that is challenging and high-level enough to satisfy what I want out of life/my career AND stay in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, etc....  My heart is totally into taking this path - in a way that my heart hasn't been into anything school or career-wise in a very, very, very long time.  I'm thinking and praying (something that I don't often do - I do know that, after all, I am still the one who has to make the decision) a ton.  It's hard and scary, but I may just need to leap.  I've never felt this tentative about something that I am so bursting-at-the-seams sure about.  I know that I feel tentative because being an "adult" and making these kinds of decisions is so much different than it was even just 3 and a half years ago!  Being financially independent from my parents, being married, having bills to pay and having a future family life to think about and plan for really does change things.  I don't want to say that I've always been impulsive (maybe I've SEEMED impulsive to others but I've never seen it that way...), but I've always had passionate instincts and I've always jumped to follow them.  It's so strange having these impulses now and having to stop and really, really consider them from so many angles.

Race Results: DRC The Loops 5K

Time: 8:19/m
Pace: 25:53:31
Female 20-24: 1st place
Female Overall: 5th place
Race Overall: 40th place

In the Oven: Quick Bread from "The Peach Tree Tea Room Cookbook" by Cynthia Collins Pedregon

My husband won't be home from work for another hour or so, and since we're picking up dinner at Eatzi's tonight, I don't have any dinner to get ready for us. I've just been enjoying the semi-fall afternoon paing through cookbooks on the back porch (I'm not sure if you can really call a 17th floor balcony a "back porch," but it sounds much more cozy and southern, so I'm going with it).  I came across a bread recipe called "Quick Bread" in one of my favorite cookbooks, saw that I had all of the ingredients on hand, and decided to try it out. 

"Quick" is definitely an appropriate title for this bread!  Mixing it up took about 5 minutes and baking it took about 15.  I don't have a good loaf pan right now, so I used a muffin tin, which shortened the suggested baking time.  A warning: the shortened baking time didn't allow for the corn meal in the batter to fully soften.  There are little bits of crunch in the muffins because of this.  I kind of like the crunch, but it might bother other people.

These hearty looking Quick Muffins just came out of the oven and I'm enjoying one with a slathering of fresh butter.  They taste like a wheaty corn bread - very hearty and satisfying!  Here's the recipe, with my comments added:

2/3 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (I used Almond Milk, original flavor)
1 egg
3 tablespoons oil (I used Canola)
3 tablespoons molasses or honey (I used clover honey)

1. Combine first 4 ingredient.  Using a wooden spoon, combine remaining ingredients and add to flour mixture.  Mix only until blended.
2. Bake in a greased loaf pan (as mentioned, I used a muffin tin) in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.