Hump Day

Wednesday = Hump Day.

This is the day when you can find me muttering to myself, "if I can just make it through today everything will be okay". And this is very true. My weeks tend to be heavily front loaded. Tuesday may be the toughest. Statistics for two and a half hours followed up very quickly be a lab meeting. My mind is already mush after stats so it is a real fight to stay alert at lab meeting, which yesterday didn't end until 5:30. And then I had to finish grading papers before I could go home. Poo. This aint no 9 to 5.

Thursdays are a bit rough too - an assessment workshop where we learn how to use different intelligence and personality tests and then right after Intro to the Profession of Clinical Psychology. Both of those classes are a bit laid back, so it is not so much mind numbing as hunger inducing. If you don't bring your lunch, you are screwed. Unless you are one of those skinny bitches that can go for hours without eating.

This Thursday, I'm adding one more thing to that string of events and heading over to the Wellness Center right after class to try and observe an intake session. I'm pretty pumped about it because there is only so much you can understand from reading about clinical interviewing.

Fridays are probably the best, because I have no class. Yep. I'm lucky. Every other week I have a brown bag I have to go to between 12 and 1, but other than that no standing meetings. Just lots of time to catch up on the reading :)

Mondays aren't awful, except for the fact that they are Mondays. I have the lecture portion of assessment for two and a half hours. And that's it. Why do they suck? I always have hours and hours of reading to do for that class.

It's interesting, class doesn't really take up too much time. Its the work they give you outside of it that is the tough part. Last night I think I read about 100 pages in a text book, 3 journal articles, and then researched the controversy of psychologists and torture for a class presentation I have to give on Thursday. Monday, I spent waaaay too many hours grading. That was mind numbing. For lab next Tuesday I have to prepare synopsis of the literature on two methodological issues. I don't even know how to go about doing that. shhhh. All I know is that is will for sure take about 20+hours.

Anyhoo, I didn't intend to turn this into a rant. The overall message is supposed to be positive. If you can make it through hump day, then everything will be okay.

corn and kale

Farmer John's Corn and Kale Salad
Serves 4 to 6

2 quarts water
4 ears sweet corn
1 large bunch kale, stems removed (about 1 pound)
2 teaspoons salt
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 large tomato, diced
1 small sweet onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1.5 teaspoons cajun spice seasoning*

1. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot; add the ears of corn. Turn off the heat and let the corn cook in the hot water for 5 minutes. Set the ears aside and reserve the cooking water. When the corn is cool, slice the kernels from the cobs.

2. Return the corn water to a boil and add the kale and 2 teaspoons salt; cook until kale is just tender and still bright green, about 5 minutes. Transfer the kale to a colander to drain and cool. When the kale is cool enough to handle, squeeze out the excess liquid with your hands and then finely chop.

3. Toss the kale with the remaining ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. Season with salt to taste.

*If you don't have a cajun seasoning mix, you can make your own by combining 1/4 teaspoon salt and a big pinch of each of the following: cayenne pepper, freshly ground black pepper, dry mustard, crushed fennel seeds, and dried thyme.

I just spent an hour making this salad. You should too - it is delicious.

never pay full price

I don't know if I'm late to the party, but I stumbled upon this great website - retailmenot.com. The basic idea? Never pay full price! i can get down with that! I found it when looking for promo codes to use for restaurant.com. I also heard somewhere that J Crew offers a little publicized student discount of 10 or 15%. That could very well be internet gossip, but retailmenot.com and restaurant.com are the real deal. (pun intended)

What are your favorite websites to find great deals?

So graduate school . . .

There are 6 people in my class total, including myself. Let me introduce the players.

1. There is me. We all know me.
2. There is Edna, who I actually knew prior to this because she volunteered at NRS.
3. There is Daniel. He is from California and has that west coast nice guy vibe
4. There is Devin. She is from the D.C. area and went to Emory.
5. There is Amanda. She went to undergrad at Loyola.
6. There is Lea. She is from boston and moved to Chicago a year ago because her husband is at Northwestern's medical school.

6 people. We have every single class with each other. And no one else. (well in one class, there is some random social psych kid).

As you might imagine, there is a lot of pressure to get along. And to have these other people like you.

And I'm pretty sure everyone already thinks I'm weird. ::sigh::

Not weird in the smelly girl who has a tick and talks about power rangers. Not that weird. Just a little weird.

And if they are reading this, which I don't know why they would be, they will think I'm even weirder.

thoughts?

What do you think about this?

weekly problems

Wednesday night....9 pm....what is a girl to watch? Top Chef or Real World? Ugh. It is so hard to choose!

yipeeee

Happy 4 year anniversary to US! What a wonderful wonderful wonderful life! By this time next year we will be husband and wife and I will be Mrs. Miller!

Neill, you truly are a wonderful man and I feel so lucky to have you in my life. Thanks for everything.

love,
alisha