I really hate Mint.com for telling me my net worth is -$XX,XXX.  It’s depressing to actually know the figure. 

http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2008/08/read-what-they-read.html

At the web site above, you can subscribe to the feeds of Barack Obama and John McCain, but also political journalists like Arianna Huffington and others.  The idea is that by reading what they’re reading, the general public can get a better idea of what is newsworthy in the current political climate.  But what I found most interesting, however, are the sites that the candidates have on their feeds.  Obama keeps up on the Daily Show, and McCain checks out JibJab.  Hilarious.  My jadedness of the political machine, however, makes me pretty darn certain that some low-level staffer compiled the feeds for the candidates, and that Obama and McCain probably have little to no idea that it’s out there.  I also doubt that McCain even knows what RSS is, but that’s another story for another post.

Thanks?

I told her that that was a strange compliment to receive, and she laughed and pointed out that when you work in reproductive health, you often have to deliver bad news, or point out areas of difficulty to patients. She says that because of that, she likes to deliver positive feedback whenever she can. I thought that was a great attitude to have, and I can see it being important to her, personally, to be able to celebrate the good stuff while helping people work around the bad. So, it was an unorthodox compliment, but its context was quite touching.

I finished the appointment and went on my way.  The results of the bloodwork came back with an all-clear, so on Monday I start birth control pills, as does the recipient mother.  By the end of the month, we’ll be on the same cycle, at which point, then I start the hormone treatment.

Answer each of these twelve questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to do when you grow up?
10. Who/ what do you love most in life?
11. Choose one word that describes you?
12. What is your Flickr name?

For each question, enter the answer into the Flickr search bar. Choose one image from the first page of results and enter it into the Mosaic creator. Voila - your own mosaic!

Thanks to Mark for the link - I like how it turned out!

I try to not take any day at the zoo for granted, even on days when it would be really easy to write the whole thing off.  I am able to write, engage my inner science-geek and even ham it up a bit.  I remember thinking that my best career expectation would be finding something that met one, hopefully two, of those criteria.  Sometimes I find it really shocking and serendipitous that I am where I am; I can remember being in Sea World with my family when I was in junior high and watching the Shamu presentation.  My sister was fascinated, and proclaimed how cool she thought it would be to work as a marine trainer when she grew up.  Of course I agreed, but some part of me was much more focused on the show’s narrator.

My senior year of high school, I had finally decided I didn’t want to be an astronaut (math and physics had started to seriously kick my ass) but I briefly entertained the notion of Zoology, even doing a shadow-day with a wildlife rehabilitation facility.  Towards the end of the year, I switched to acting as a prospective major. I wound up studying journalism.  Life’s ironies are kind of funny; sometimes things really come full-circle.

Most everyone found out about this decision at me and Grant’s housewarming party, and I think I should clarify why I decided to make this choice. And I’m going to try to chronicle this experience here on the blog for my own sake, and for any potential donors that might be googling and needing more information on the process.

I first became interested in donation because grad school and a certain Toyota Prius set me back financially quite a bit, and while working two jobs during grad school and during the last year has helped, I could use a boost. Egg donation through the organization I chose is $7k, so it was an attractive scenario. I decided to make an appointment with the nurse to find out what goes into the process. Fascinating stuff - its too long to go into here, and you could probably Wikipedia it or something, but the science really intrigued me.

What really made me decide I want to do this, though, is when the nurse talked about how, for the recipents of the donated eggs, this is the last chance. They’ve tried IVF, they’ve tried getting pregnant the natural way, and nothing has worked. They are desperate to start their family, and need a guardian angel to give them that gift. I’m not a religious person, but the idea of that guardianship really struck me. Not to be flip, but I’m sure not using those eggs (the way a woman’s cycle works, the eggs that will be harvested are actually eggs your body would have naturally reabsorbed into itself - dud eggs that the hormone treatment kind of bulks up). Anyway, if someone else can use them, needs them, why shouldn’t I give them? I can’t imagine the sorrow, the disappointment, of failed IVF cycles. As a woman, even if you don’t want kids at the moment, you understand how it would feel to want them - and not be able to have them.

Throughout my consideration of donating, though, I thought most about my grandmother. As many people know, my mom, aunt and uncle are all adopted. My grandma could not have children, so she and my grandpa adopted. More than once, we have been at family gatherings, and I have caught a glance of my grandma looking around at her family. Her expression is one of complete gratitude. I know having a family was so important to her, and were it not for the adoption system, it wouldn’t have been possible. I know that the mothers who gave up my mom, aunt and uncle were likely simply unable to raise them, and so giving them up was probably at least partially selfish. But I like to think that also, it was a gift to an unknown stranger (and a gift to my mom aunt and uncle). Because of someone else (three someone else’s) my grandma got something precious that she really treasures.

It was with those thoughts that I signed the donor contract, and I’m really happy that I did. I found out that my recipient couple has tried IVF 4 times, and now they’ve turned to donor eggs to try again. They’re so hopeful and yet so scared, they asked the nurse to call me once more to make sure I was one hundred percent committed to the process. And I am. I feel some pressure, hoping my fertility levels are good, my eggs viable, because I really want this to work for them. I will never meet them and never know their names, but I already feel bound to them.

So, I will do my best to describe the process here, but it won’t be all eggs all the time. So keep reading - if nothing else, it will probably be interesting!

• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Whedon, Fillion, N.P. Harris and Simon Helberg (Wolowicz of the Big Bang Theory). Need I say more?
• While I’m at it, The Big Bang Theory.
• Mint.com, a way to manage your spending and investing all in one place. Plus it updates you on your financial status every week or month, based on your preferences. Like a personal financial advisor, but with a cuter logo.
• Wil Wheaton’s blog. I love Wil Wheaton and his writing more than any of his characters, which is saying a lot considering when I was little I wanted to be Wesley Crusher’s best friend. Is it sad that I have Wil Wheaton’s autograph and Neil Armstrong’s autograph, and I prize them equally? I think not, friends. When I grow up, I want to be like Wil Wheaton. Seriously.
• Funny cats who use invisible props, do not want things and fail, epically.
• Blood!
• We can solve it, a grass-roots environmental and climate change organization.
• Nintendo A Capella. Tetris never sounded so melodic.
• For hilarious out-of-context comment, faux paus and idiodic observations, Overheard in the Office and its various counterparts.

In living with a boy, there are always impossible barriers of communication and different points of view.  We need only click the post category “Living with Boys” for evidence to this fact.  Living with a boyfriend has its similarities, but you also have the added bonus of really liking, and hopefully loving, the person of the opposite sex. So, the dumb stuff seems less dumb.  Still, funny observations:

1. Grant insisted we buy window fans right away because it was so hot in our apartment.  I insisted we buy picture frames right away because it was so dull in our apartment.

2. I leave my makeup on the dresser.  Grant leaves his pajamas on the bathroom floor.

3. As much as I hate stereotypical gender roles, we seem to have fallen into them.  Grant does do the cooking, which is flippin’ sweet, but I wash the dishes.  And after work, he sets himself to doing wiring and door-fixing.  I clean and organize and beautify.

4. I don’t know why any one person needs so many socks.  Grant insists many of them aren’t his, and he must have accidentally taken some of his brother’s and dad’s socks, but I am suspicious.

5.  Grant eats breakfast and I drink coffee.  Unfortunately for me, the dishwasher, he loves to make himself omlettes in the morning.  But it could be worse.  I could have to make the things.

6. Grant whines.  I am lazy.  These things we knew before.

So, so far things are happy and good.  Couch gets delivered tomorrow, at which point we will hang artwork.  That is very exciting.  My next task will be remembering to clean the coffeepot before leaving for work.  I think grant’s next task will be finishing the setting up of his desk.