In Honor of Dad

My dad, he is awesome, as most of you already know. He gives generously of his time and money whenever he can and at no time is he more giving than during the holidays. In honor of his generous spirit, two lucky children, ages 4 and 11, will be receiving books this year.

The bookstore I work in has an angel tree each year. Local non-profits provide our children's manager with the names, ages, and interests of children who for any number of reasons, might not be receiving much under the tree this year. That information, first name only of course, is then placed on an angel ornament and hung on the tree. Customers can then pick an angel off the tree and buy books appropriate for each child. After they buy their gifts they can choose to place a star on the tree in place of the angel. On each star is either the gift-buyer or the person in whose name they have purchased the gift. The gifts are later wrapped by volunteers, and store-employees, and delivered anonymously to the children. It is a wonderful program and the people who participate in it are great. A family came in today with 3 children who were very excited to get to pick out books for other kids. Their father had heard about it in the paper and they came downtown after school because they didn't want all the angels to be gone. In fact, we are almost out of them, truth be told.

I picked a 4 year old boy who loves superheros and an 11 year old girl who loves mysteries and adventures. I figured it was best to buy for children whose interests matched my own after all. Each will be receiving 4 books and a star now hangs on the tree with my father's name on it. Merry Christmas Dad. I couldn't think of a better gift to honor you.

Code Monkey Like You

Molly was having a blue day a few weeks ago and I had the perfect fix for her, Code Monkey. Then I made one of my managers at work listen to it too and she then played it for her 3 yr old son, who apparently couldn't get enough Coulton and just kept dancing away to his songs all night. So check out Jonathan Coulton's website for yourself. He is a Brooklyn musician, singer-songwriter, and internet superstar and he recently undertook the challenge of writing and podcasting a song a week for a year. Not surprisingly, once you listen to him, he is good friends with John Hodgman. (They went to Yale together - it makes so much sense, even if I never met anyone half as fun during all those weekend trips out to CT to visit Irene.) You can see them on YouTube touring together to promote The Areas of My Expertise. I first heard Coulton on a knitting podcast called Cast On about a year ago. Who knew podcasts about knitting would become my new favorite source for music, particularly irony music? Anyway, you should check him out.

You can listen to all his music for free, and download quite a bit of it gratis. I highly recommend Skullcrusher Mountain and Code Monkey. Code Monkey is sure to draw you out of your funk. But explore other songs as well. His version of Baby Got Back is worth a listen and American history buffs might enjoy his song about the presidents. He also has quite a few songs for the math geeks out there.

In summation, Jonathan Coulton, You Is Awesome! (Sometimes I get a perverse joy out of using my student's grammar. I assure you they do not leave my class with that grammar, but plenty of them come in with it.)

I am just as miserable at pool as ever

I went to a work gathering tonight to say farewell to employees who have opted for non-bookstore employ in recent months. It was out of the house and therefore interesting. It helps that my fellow employees at the bookstore are interesting folk. Afterward a small group of us headed out in search of one more drink, it was early yet, but as I had feared, most of the downtown bars remained closed on a Sunday evening. Eventually we found an open bar with an Internet jukebox and some pool tables. I got into an argument about teaching and the Midwest and then played an embarrassingly bad few games of pool. Every few years I play a game just to remind myself that games involving the shooting of small balls into targets and me don't mix. I was awarded most improved player of the night. I hate that award. I won it once in high school. It is like getting a pat on the head for learning how not to trip over your own feet when everyone else knows how to ball-room dance. Oh well. It was a fun night anyway, even if I was the oldest person there at the end of the night. By the way--this post counts as a Sunday post because it isn't midnight here in the far west, even if we have set the post time as EST.

Why is there no good cheap take-out in this town?

Spokane lacks many things but one of the main problems, at least for us, is the utter lack of good cheap take-out. It is sad really. There was a semi-decent pizza place but it never stayed open past 8 o'clock at night and its employees were lazy and not-to-bright, as in they could never remember what was on their menu, no matter how many months they had been there, and reading it themselves seemed to only confuse them further. It is now closed. This is not really a surprise, but it is a disappointment. They may have been frustrating but their pizzas weren't bad and they had a very tasty salad. Aside from the pizza problem, the biggest problem is the utter lack of Chinese take-out. This town has Chinese buffets and a P.F. Changs (with plenty of Chang sauce) but no inexpensive Chinese take-out. This makes me sad. Matt has gotten quite good with the wok, and sometimes he makes things like this for us.

These things are always tasty, but on nights like tonight, when we are both exhausted and just want to collapse, call the Chinese restaurant around the corner, and veg out, these things feel impossible. Very sad.

I Really Have Nothing to Say

It's true. Other than ranting about the state of the world, the state of national politics, and the general assery (I made that word up but I like it) of a good chunk of the people I see around me on a daily basis (can you guess what kind of a mood I am in?) I have nothing of use to share with you, or me. I do know that mostly I am simply talking to myself here, but at least it gives me someplace to let it go. I am drowning in what feels like a sea of grant applications, but is sadly only one at the moment. The fast approaching deadline makes it feel much larger. Can one application be a sea? I am feeling anxious to get started on my fieldwork but even best-case scenario that can only happen several months into the spring. I am trying to distract myself with fun reading, ridiculously long runs, chocolate cakes, and knitting but it isn't really working. I want to be doing something productive. I want a job that matters. I want..........something more. Any ideas? Any at all? Let me know.

1st Week of Marathon Training Down

September flew past me so fast I can't quite believe it is over. I'm not sure what has been going on with me lately. In some ways I've been getting lots of work done, writing work, which is always a good thing, but in other ways I feel like time has been flying by me and I have remained still, stuck in some sort of artificial calm brought on by exhaustion, watching life slip by with a glazed expression on my face. I should never be allowed to read essays in the New York Times magazine by people with whom my brain can imagine a tangential relationship. It makes me wonder what I have been doing for the last six years, besides graduate school. This week had an essay by a man from Corpus Christi, another Texas Gulf Coast town that I know well, and one from a student who was at Columbia at the same time I was. The Corpus Christi piece was especially poignant, for me at least, not surprising as it made me think of home and my own childhood. Did I mention it was written by the Director of Creative Writing at Harvard, who only graduated from college 2 years before me, even if he was older than me when he started. Seriously, what have I been doing with my time?

The piece on the ethnic studies strike at Columbia in 1996 reminded me very specifically of my time there. I remember that strike, but I had a very different experience of it. My mother always talks about how her older sister always remembered their childhood so differently from her. What my mother remembers as happy events my aunt recalled as embarrassing and unwelcome affairs. Not that my experience of Columbia during that year was so drastically at odds with his, more that I saw things through a different lens, experiencing my own isolation through circumstances based less on color, language, or ethnicity and more on finances, regionality, or perhaps merely the habit of feeling alone.

But even as this entry reads a bit like a pity party, or at the very least as the ramblings of a semi-exhausted self-aware(centered?) graduate student, I have decided it is time to hitch up the proverbial pants, take a deep breath, and remember that I may not be writing essays for the Times, but who is to say what the future will bring, provided I keep working at it. I may be feeling somewhat trapped and sorry for myself, but as my father likes to remind me, there are no situations from which you cannot extricate yourself. After all, you got yourself into them. And there are worse things than living in places that force you to take a good long look at yourself. Now if only I can find a way to turn this into a nostalgic essay for the Times.

Oh, and I finished my first week of marathon training yesterday. Wow, am I out of proper running shape. This is going to be a long one my friends.

Christmas Around the World Knitters Swap Questionnaire

1. Are you religious?

I wouldn't call myself particularly religious. I believe there is something beyond us all and that we are all accepted and welcomed by whatever, or whomever, that is.

2. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider yourself a Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced?

I have been knitting regularly since 2001. My grandmother taught me one summer when I was a child, but as I grew up in south Texas, there wasn't a lot of call for knitting. While in graduate school in New York, I rediscovered knitting when a family friend opened a yarn shop. I wanted to support him and he talked me into buying needles and a yarn to make a scarf rather than purchasing a finished item. One night I picked up the needles in an effort to relieve some stress and I haven't put them down since, except to buy more needles and yarn, oh and to read and cook and run, but you get the point. I guess I would consider myself Advanced Intermediate.

3. Do you have any other hobbies besides knitting?

I read obsessively, but I think this goes beyond the level of hobby. At this point it is a lifestyle. I also run. My sister and I try to run one marathon a year with each other. We start training for our 3rd one at the end of September. I also love to cook.

4. Favorite color(s)?

They change with my mood but I love rich saturated colors. I wear a lot of reds, blues, and greens. Orange is also a particular favorite. Also the ubiquitous black and white. See what I mean about not being able to pick one.

5. Do you collect anything?

Does my yarn stash count as a collection? I also collect books of fairy and folk tales.

6. Are you allergic to any fibers or animals?

No.

7. Do you have any pets?

We have 2 cats and I long for the day I can get a dog.

8. Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate?

All three actually. I have tea everyday. We have several teapots and a drawer of loose tea. I indulge quite regularly in hot chocolate every winter. I treat myself to coffee as well, but more rarely, although I do love it.

9. Cookies or Sweets?

Love to eat them and love to make them, although perhaps I love cookies a little more than candy.


10. Do you knit socks?

I always have at least one pair on the needles. I'm working on cabled knee socks at the moment.

11. If not socks then what? (tell us about your favorite knits)

I also love to knit sweaters. Sweaters and socks, I work at extremes. Of course I knit other things too, but sweaters and socks are my favorite.

12. Do you put up a Christmas tree? If not then what do you do?

My family always has a big tree up at home. It goes up just before Christmas Eve and stays up through the 6th of January every year. In my own apartment we get a small living tree and put a few tiny ornaments on it. Our apartment wouldn't really accommodate a larger tree at this point.


13. Favorite holiday treats?

Cookies, candy canes, Christmas TV specials (I love them all, even the super-sappy ones.)

15. Favorite holiday smells?

pine, cinnamon, snow, nutmeg, family cooking and baking

16. Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional or unconventional way? Please elaborate.
We celebrate in a traditional way for us. I'm an anthropologist so my definition of tradition is somewhat skewed. What I mean by it in this instance is that my family has their own traditions and we practice them with glee each year. Sometimes traditions fade. There was a very labor-intensive Santa cake that has faded in popularity over time, well to be honest, I just haven't had the time to make it each year. I still get requests. But we dig through our stockings in bed each Christmas morning and then follow up with breakfast before we open presents. After presents we start preparing the dinner feast and put out 3 times as many appetizers we could eat. The rest of the family and friends arrive and we toast each other with my grandmother's eggnog recipe, open more gifts, and turn up the speakers on the stereo. What can I say, it is traditional for us.



17. What are your favorite holiday traditions?
See the above list of my family's activities. I always have a great time baking cookies too.


18. Finish the sentence: “For me Christmas is all about....”
family, friends, love, and fun.

19. If you were a Christmas ornament you would be…….?
I don't know, I will think on it. Something fun and sparkly?


20. What was your favorite gift you've ever received? Or given?
Some of the most fun I've had in the gift-giving arena as of late has been making my own spa kits. We make bath salts, soaps and candles. We match up the various scents and ingredients and everyone gets a package. As for gifts I've received, I usually like anything anyone gets me.

21. When do you start your Christmas?

We start getting ready after Thanksgiving, but only in the sense that Christmas music can be played in the house after Thanksgiving, but never before. We tend to start the real celebrating much closer to Christmas Eve though. Shopping and baking and making presents starts much earlier, however.

22. Do you send Christmas cards? Do you make them or buy them?

I like to send holiday cards but I am not always on top of that particular chore. I sometimes skip years. I buy the cards.

23. What is your favorite Christmas dish?
This changes every year. I like to experiment with new dishes but we always make my grandmother's eggnog and pumpkin pie. We have also become particularly found of a butternut squash soup with prosciutto.


24. Carolers are at your door. What do you do?

I am very surprised. You don't get a lot of carolers in south Texas.

25. When do you open presents? Christmas eve or Christmas morning?

We open them on Christmas morning, but sometimes we open one present each on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve presents are often pajamas.

26. Do you celebrate with family or friends or both?

Both, but generally the friends who are over are an extension of family. All are welcome, however, we love to have a good crowd to feed.

Another August Come and Gone

August is my birthday month, so it is a milestone month for me, a way to mark time so to speak. And even though I enjoy it, I am always surprised each year that another August is here and even more surprised when it has passed on. I am not sure why this manages to surprise me each year, but it does. August was always so exciting when I was a kid. It was the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year, full of possibilities and promise. In a way August is still a month of hope for me, even as I have to remind myself to count each year as a blessing and focus on what was accomplished, instead of on what was not. I have been struggling over the last few days to hold on to the feeling of possibility and promise that each new year in my life brings and I think I am winning the battle. I am consumed by thoughts of new creative and scholarly projects and I can't wait for the chance to begin my fieldwork this year, even if it is still months off. I have writing projects, both for school and for myself, that I want to spend most waking minutes with. I have new books to read for work and fun that promise me both new knowledge and pleasure. I have a new marathon to train for, a sister's wedding to prepare for, and new knitting and cooking projects to try out. I am blessed with an abundance of possibility and I am thankful for that. So here is to a new year, one full of both possibility and promise. To a year of regaining the magic and hope of childhood. Let us make this a year to remember.

I welcome you to break bread with me and rejoice, for every year is one worth living, especially when you figure out how to make this. It tasted good too!

Grad School is S'More Stressful Than I Would Like

The past few weeks have been unbelievably stressful due to an upcoming proposal deadline. I have been rather blue and very very stressed out and it has not been cool. Luckily, I love food and food can make things better, although not necessarilly slimmer. For that I turn to running. Luckily I love running too. Food and running, at least they balance each other out. Between food and running I have actually managed to not implode from the pressure and not to explode from the snacking.

But last week, sometime, I think it was Wednesday, I managed to break down a little in the supermarket. I went there for milk. They were out. Turns out the leaking container in my fridge was not just a fluke. They had pulled it all. Foiled in my quest I decided that what I really needed was some ice cream. But what kind. I decided I wanted vanillla, but did I want it for a sundae or did I want to make a coke float. Either would work but I would need some coke for the float, but maybe I wanted a root beer float. Not being able to decide I picked up a small bottle of each. But maybe I wanted mint ice cream. Why not get some mint chocolate cookie ice cream just to be on the safe side?

But wait, perhaps s'mores are really the answer. Yes, s'mores. So all I need are the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. Oh, and a bottle of red wine. And a peach. I want to be healthy after all.

Oh well, sometimes s'mores make everything better, or at least a little easier to take. Behold below, the construction of an indoor s'more.

Post oven bake.

Yummy chocolate, soon to be melty.

Once it was a sweater

So, during the aforementioned attempt at getting my shit together I hauled a sweater I had knit several years ago and just like the Mission Falls Cotton sweater, it was too big, not due to gauge but to an improper assessment of the size needed. Ah well, I am trying to correct that little problem. This sweater wasn't actually for me, but for my grandfather and I had measured it to a sweater he gave me for just such a measuring purpose. Unfortunately he has lost weight since the time we picked out the sweater and it was too large a size to begin with. As much as I love Jo Sharp's patterns, I think they are often over-sized and I didn't realize that at the time of either the cotton sweater or this one. Both were Sharp patterns. Oh well, it isn't like I mind knitting and both sweaters helped me get better. Lessons learned and all that.

That being said, the sweater had to be unraveled as Matt claimed it was over-sized not just for Hosmer, but for Shamu. Harsh but probably true. So unravel it I did but I am determined to reclaim the yarn. I love it and I must make it into a sweater. I am making it into a sweater for me though as Hosmer has already put in a request for "a nice cabled sweater" and picked out the yarn for that project. But before it can be a sweater it had to stop looking like this

See all those kinks, not good for the new sweater. So I put it back on my swift,

and then soaked the skeins in lukewarm water with a little conditioner, squeezed out the water and hung it up to dry in my shower. The hangers help to straighten it out a bit without overstretching it. And now it looks like this

New crewneck sweater here we come, but not before I finish the cotton raglan, I swear.

Finding a Favorite Summer Meal Right Downstairs

Today was a nice day, a rare day off from work of both the paying and unpaying variety. I am in a rare interlude between deadlines and I wasn't scheduled at either of my part time jobs so I felt a day of relaxation was in order. Well, okay, more like a day of cleaning up the apartment in preparation for the days ahead when I won't have time, but relaxing none the less. I managed to make it to an afternoon yoga class, always good to stretch out and find some balance, ran an errand or two and straightened up my office in anticipation of the work ahead. I also cleaned out the refrigerator, but couldn't bring myself to make a grocery run. On of the hardest parts of living in downtown Spokane is the lack of a local grocery store, even an over-priced under-stocked bodega. Ahhh, how I miss New York.

Anyway, without a stocked fridge dinner could have presented a certain problem, but I had a plan up my sleeve. One of my all-time favorite meals at anytime, but particularly in the summer months, is a bowl of steamers and an ice-cold beer. I usually throw in a salad just to be on the responsible side. Lucky for me I live above an Italian restaurant that very conveniently serves quite a nice app of steamers and very frosty beer. So I headed downstairs at the appropriate time with a book, my camera, and a healthy appetite. I was not disappointed. It turns out they even serve schooners of beer so I was able to indulge in a beer and a half, something I miss terribly from Ireland. When two is too many and one not quite enough, a half pint will always do you.

I didn't get a picture of the schooner, but doesn't that icy beer look refreshing?

Next time I will remember to get a picture of the bar at Luigi's. It is quite the cozy little haven and its website does it no justice at all.

Works In Progress (WIPs) Part I

Time to start whipping my knitting into shape and what better to inspire me than a little Noro?

So I thought I would get things going again with some current knitting projects. I came to the realization lately that I just have too many projects going at once, and not just in knitting. I have been in all sorts or non-completion ruts lately. Since my orals I have been flailing about in all directions, starting book after book without finishing any, or almost any, beginning knitting project after knitting project, only to leave most of them floundering on the needles while I move on to the next shiny new project, making plans for one exercise program after another, only to lose interest before any real results can be achieved. And these were just my hobbies. Hobbies should be helping me relax and focus on my work, not causing more flailing. Something needed to be done. So I made a list, and boy do I ever have some cleaning up to do. The list worked though, at least in terms or motivating me to get some projects completed. There are quite a few though, so chances are good this will continue to be an on-going topic. I am happy to report, however, that I have been working steadily on my grad work, meeting deadlines (only a few days behind schedule) and I started a novel and finished it up and am well on my way to the end of the next one. Wish me luck. By the end of 2007 I want to have my grad work and my hobbies well under control.

So about those WIPs, I thought I would start with a project I am rather proud of, and it is very fitting for opening this topic. When I was going through all my unfinished projects in order to make a real assessment of my knitting situation, I brought out this sweater from the back of my closet. I had knit a sweater out of Mission Falls cotton several summers ago while I was on a fieldwork research trip. I finished knitting the pieces on the road and then tossed it into a bag in my trunk because I didn't have the space on the road to seam it up. When I got home the bag went into my closet where it stayed until I moved the next summer. It has traveled with me through 3 moves and gotten no closer to being a sweater. I was determined to finish it. I laid all the pieces out, only to realize that I had clearly been in some sort of a body-image funk at the time because it was about 3 sizes too big. While it was supposed to be a baggy-knock-around short-sleeved sweater, it was clearly still too big for me. On top of that, my style has since changed as far as sweaters go and even if this had been the right size, I was never going to wear it. I took a deep breath, pulled out my ball winder and frogged the whole thing. I was proud of myself.

But what to do with the yarn, should it go back into the back of the closet, only to languish unloved for another 4 summers? I still loved the yarn. Something had to be done. I remembered a pattern I had purchased in order to stash bust and I pulled it out and cast on for Knitting Pure and Simple's Split Neck T-shirt. It is knit in the round, so no seaming problem and it was simple enough that I could work on it as my "I am too exhausted to knit, but I am too anxious not to" project. While it isn't done yet, it is almost there. The body is finished and I am halfway through the first sleeve. I even got to add my own little touch with some striping. Go me! Hopefully I'll be wearing it later in the season, when the temperatures are down from the unreasonable 105 degrees Fahrenheit they were last week.

Pictures anyone?

Raglan Sleeve ShapingBottom Ribbing with Stripe Above
It looks a little uneven in this photo but not too bad in person and certainly nothing a little blocking won't pull into proper shape.

Clearly this was not working

Okay,

So clearly I have been a horrible slacker in the blogging department. I have no one to blame but myself and while I have been busy busy busy as of late, the problem has really been a lack of focus. I am aiming to correct this, not just on this blog, but in general. This week will be a test for me. I have been getting my grad work under control, but the rest of my life has felt a little spread out. So time to refocus. That being said, I have also decided that this blog will not be just about food for now. It will also be a place for me to talk about another hobby, knitting. Other stuff mostly goes on the blog I share with the other women in my family, Red Peonies. Although I have been embarrassingly absent there as well.

As far as cooking goes, things have been slow lately. We rearranged all the furniture in our apartment recently and I am still looking for half of the items we displaced. But I have some actual days off week so I am looking forward to trying out a few recipes from a book I picked up on a recent trip to Portland, OR. I have wanted Nancy Silverton's Pastries from La Brea Bakery for years now and I finally broke down and treated myself to it. My father gave me her book on Bread a few years ago and I have made several tasty loaves under her direction. Later this week, pastries and a new bread recipe, although it will probably not be a Silvertonesque loaf as in all the life chaos I let my starter die. Sad times.

Knitting has been more productive because it helps me clear my head between grad work. I can't find the camera at the moment so pictures can come later. This was more just a, I'm still around, more details later post. If all things go right, I'll be back soon.

Spicy Peanut Noodles and Delayed Gratifications

Okay, so sorry about the delay. I know I promised frequent posts and then disappeared for nearly a week but all I can say is, I'll try to be better in the future and take pity on me, my left knee was mysteriously swollen to twice its normal size for no apparent reason and I was mildly preoccupied with this phenomenon. I am not above playing the sympathy card for physical injuries.

Now while I might not have come back to post about it, I did make the bread and pizza dough as promised last Thursday. Both were reasonable successes. I'll post more about the pizza this week as I will be repeating the adventure this Friday, hopefully to slightly more success. There was a moment where I forgot I was working with pizza dough and overworked it slightly resulting in a tasty, but almost personal sized pizza. Luckily there were two balls of dough and thus two pizzas or we might have had to forage for a second dinner in the pantry. Actually, come to think of it I'll post about the bread later too. I haven't gotten around to downloading those photos and I'm about to run out the door for a drink with Matt.

Instead, I'll tell you about the spicy peanut noodles I made for dinner last night. Mmmm, mmmm, tasty, but then I have always loved peanut noodles. Why wouldn't I, after all, they are peanutty, spicy, and involve noodles, almost always a positive.

I found the recipe in Joan Nathan's The New American Cooking. I was browsing, we had the ingredients , or close enough, and it struck my fancy. My fancy remains struck. It turned out we didn't actually have all the ingredients, but since I rarely have the discipline to stick to a recipe, I remained unfazed. You will have to check out the book for the actual recipe but I spiced it up with some garlic pepper chili paste and red pepper flakes and upped the peanut butter. It couldn't have been easier. You toss all the ingredients for the sauce into a food processor and blend until completely smooth and then combine with freshly boiled noodles. I must admit that after I boiled the noodles I did treat them to a little pan frying in peanut oil, but that still only added a minute or two to the cooking time.

I had to substitute Japanese rice noodles since we only had one serving of soba noodles. I would go with the called for buckwheat soba noodles next time, but keep the other changes. Matt was a bit skeptical about the added spice, but as I predicted, the noodles cut back on most of that heat. leaving only the tasty spice behind. Served with a simple romaine salad with tomato and avocado and it was the perfect mid-week meal.


While you can't taste it with me, you can take a look.




Shortly after this was taken I dropped the dish on the floor, but luckily nothing broke and all that bounced out of the bowl was the cilantro and scallion topping, easily replaced. I ate that serving though. I thought it only fair.

And so it begins...

By way of introduction let me just say that my orals are over and I passed. Now is the time to be buckling down and writing those pesky funding proposals so of course I decided to start a blog about food. Not exactly related to my current project, but not exactly unrelated to my work either and a great way to get back into the habit of writing daily, or at least frequently. I don't want to start off with promises I can't keep.

So welcome to my kitchen. It has always been the warmest room in my home and I would love to share it with you.

Tonight is all about the dough, both pizza and bread. I'm off to get them started. I'll post pictures tomorrow, but for now, here is a sample of some past loaves.

This is my first loaf of sourdough bread. The picture is somewhat overexposed but the bread itself was very tasty.

Orange-Cardamon bread from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. I treated myself to this book early one summer after my first year in grad school and I haven't looked back since.