Friday, April 30, 2010

Protons = Positive; Electrons = Negative... Anti-protons = ??

Right after S gave his defense, Dr. Ahmad (his thesis advisor & mentor) took us out to eat at a very tasty restaurant specializing in Indian cuisine. Unfortunately, Dr. Ahmad's wife was back in Bangladesh at the time, but maybe later we can meet her. Stephen & Dr. Ahmad kept the conversation at the human brain level so that I could keep up. (Fortunately, no mention of anti-proton beams floated in as topics...)
Another thing that is really neat about S's defense is that the head radiation oncologist at OU came to watch (which never happens) and he left with the comment, "Wow. This is incredible. Great work."
We praise God for giving Stephen understanding of those crazy protons! :o)

Monday, April 26, 2010

Anti-protons, attoseconds, & an A+


Not that I expected to understand Stephen's thesis defense, but....I definitely didn't! After his trial run, I was trying to think up a good question to ask him to be a good mock audience and...I decided to just stick with some pure encouragement and give him an A+ ;o)

I understood the presentation only good enough to understand that it was in another universe located above my head. :o) One slide had the word "attoseconds" in it = not in my daily vocab list, but if you guess small, you're right...10 to the neg 18th power! My non-detailed brain filters that into the really small category....details, details...

Anyhoo, massive cheers for Stephen today! You're amazing! xo

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Back in the saddle again...literally!

Good news: A likely possibility that I might [slightly] sweat today!
I got the go-ahead to power-walk...zoomzoom! Watch out :o)
If I feel fine after that, I get to do a 30 minute road biking adventure. 

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Peanut Butter Perfection

Our rec for (not) buying a juicer just reversed because of this discovery - the best PB we've ever had, and the only ingredient is unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts! De-lish!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

A birthday "getaway" & the Juicing Lab...


The birthday "getaway"...
To celebrate tax day, I asked Stephen if we could trek up to Tulsa to explore the options for shelter...little did we know the adventure it would become.
On the way to Tulsa, our coolant container decided she was 10+ years old and it was time to crack and call it a life, SO we ended up on the side of the toll road since we wanted to avoid blowing up. We soon found out that stopping there (speed limit = 75, meaning that everyone = 85mph) was probably as dangerous as the car blowing up! Anyways, blah-blah-blah...we eventually spent the night in Tulsa which was not the plan, but ended up great because we found the perfect house to rent the next day! It was definitely a(nother) blessing in disguise. :o) 
Speaking of blessings in disguise, I'm hoping to call my injury a blessing in disguise in the near future, although right now it still just feels like an ongoing pain in the neck. Unfortunately, I've now broken into the double digits for the # of days on my Grandma's Workout Plan. 
Juicing: not a fan...
Today, Stephen and I had some fun borrowing a friend's juicer...we made some amazing concoctions, although they weren't tasty enough to convince us that we need a juicer...In the pic, Stephen is trying out the celery juice. If you've never had celery juice, it (predictably) tastes a whole lot like the smell of celery sticks in liquid form...mm, mmm blaahhhaak! 

(hint: Veggie froth is not as desirable as its cappuccino counterpart.)
The veggies were too gross to choke down alone, so at the end we decided to make some pretty outrageous cocktails...At the time of this pic, I hadn't tasted the mixture of celery, spinach, cauliflower, grapefruit, apple, pineapple, sweet potato, radish, and anything else in our fridge that was juice-able! (I'm probably forgetting some ingredients to this concoction). After a couple gulps, I had to just chug it or else it was bound to taste worse as it got warmer...
Here's our summary of juicing: 
Vegetables = Gross (!) ...or..."not incredible" ;o)
Fruits = Yum (!)
Cocktails = if the fruit:veggie ratio is ~ 50:1, it tastes good, but if not, save yourself time & effort while keeping your taste buds happy - throw ranch on those veggies & keep the roughage! :o)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Idioms & Truths...from an ex ESL teacher


You're getting on my nerves! You're such a pain in the neck!
If I made the definition of those idioms, I'd make the connotations much stronger than "irritation" or "annoyance".


Last Wednesday, I pinched a nerve in my neck, and boy have I been feeling horrible. The past week, I've had the same exercise schedule as my 92 year old grandmother. I feel like I'm a cat who's getting picked up by the scruff of my neck and every few moments, I get a huge electric shock going from the middle of my trapezius into my brain. That's what it means to get on my nerves, literally!
 

This pain in my neck affects my entire body, my schedule, and if I let it, my mood. It reminded me of 1 Corinthians 12:26 (below)...the nerve in my neck is forcing my entire body to suffer with it! haha. 

...there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Graduation Present?!?

It's no secret that one of Stephen's many hobbies is to make mead, wine, and beer. If we ever live in TN, I'm sure he'll have to try out goodole moonshine! (joke.) Actually right now in a closet sits a big carboy of black raspberry mead that should be ready to celebrate with this summer!

Anyways, my parents and cousins (and precious godchildren!) just bought this meadery! haha...or at least we're laughing until they send us an email that says they weren't kidding! ;o) (Although, if you know my parents, they're always up to something (interesting) with property!)

Wish we could be with yas! xoxo

Friday, April 9, 2010

Some people...

have a way of leaving a lasting impression! Jennifer (on right) is one of those people. It's fun to get a pic from her every blue moon...I last saw her in Hohhot when she was a freshman, and now she's out of school and has been working for almost a year already! :o)

Monday, April 5, 2010

Cheers for Stephen!!

Last Friday, we trekked on up-n-over to our neighbor city, Tulsa....where Stephen had his 3rd interview with a group there.

I'd never dreamed of living there...but I never thought I'd live in Hohhot nor OK City, either, and I know that the Lord's ideas are so much better and more exciting than anything I could try to imagine! (Ephesians 3:20)

I was excited that Hillcrest Med Ctr invited me to tag along at Stephen's 3rd interview! I was a little nervous at first, but as the day went on, I was having so much fun! They took me on a grand tour and showed me all the machines and described the techniques and...stuff...that he does, and I couldn't believe it! It was incredible, really. The past couple years, I've looked at some of his Medical Physics HW (that looked like alien code) loaded with formulas inside fat textbooks. Even the pictures of the machines looked crazy! Seeing everything in person & described to me by someone else is something to write home about.  ;o)

After that part, they took us out to lunch and showed us around the city. Once again, I was delighted by what I saw - it'll be great to live there! Too bad we forgot our camera...
We're so thankful for the Lord's provision!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Thank You, Lord!!

This picture shows how I always want my heart to be towards the Lord for His goodness, faithfulness, and Love...

Thankful to the Lord for His perfect life...Death for me...Resurrection. Christ has Risen!!! Hallelujah!!!