Happy September!

Highlights of the first day of the best month:

- realizing that my birthday is three weeks from today

- finally thinking of a birthday present to ask for*, and then buying it myself (purse; got it at Payless)

- forgetting to buy Lysol for the tissue culture water bath (crap!)

- surprising my supervisor by actually getting things done without her realizing (bwahaha)

- not being able to access Gmail and frightening myself by how much I rely on it

- clearing out completely my entire Tufts student email account (sad!)

- finding some stuff I'd sent to Rob while performing the above action (yes, I still had "sent" emails from 2007)

- meeting the really nice new member of the lab!

- working at the institute for three months

- running 0.7 miles on the treadmill (0.6 solid) after an intense working without having my calves go crazy

- almost puking during my work out and run because I ate too soon beforehand

- dunking Loki in the tub (not to scare him, but he's like a cat when it comes to baths, and this is the only way I can get him to--accidentally--take one).

- finished the rainbow cake!

- was asked to cross-post "Language" at DeeplyProblematic (seriously, this was the highlight of my day, above the 0.6 miles)

Not bad for the first day of the best month.

* Recently, I've begun to sit and think of exactly what I want for gift-giving occasions; I don't like to ask for anything I don't need, or that I want, but won't really use. I think last year, I asked for a gift certificate to Whole Foods, TheraBands for my shoulder, a flash drive, and a 4th gen iPod Nano, which I explicitly stated was the last thing on the list, since I already owned two iPods.

This year, I've considered asking for a toaster oven, a George Foreman/-esque grill, a new mattress, or a massage appointment, all of which I've decided are not things I want. I realized on the way home that the pleather straps on my (free with $75 purchase) Frederick's of Hollywood tote were actually going to break off soon--one in particular is hanging on by some threads. The purse isn't useful anyway; I can't find anything that goes into it. But I needed a new one now, not in three weeks. Maybe I'll ask for one anyway (maybe Vera, but I hate Vera ... why is Vera so useful and terrible at the same time?!); this Payless one is bound to fall apart soon.

Oh, wow, I went nuts in my footnote. OOPS.