Simonica

Thursday, 15 March 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

Ok, so I won't be using this page anymore.
Monica will be using our new website from now on and I will remove this site next week.

Monday, 12 March 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

Monica and I have a new webpage. It's not completely finished, so I will keep this one until the other one is all ready, but you can check it out already. its at: www.people.cornell.edu/pages/mv82

Saturday, 10 March 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

We are in the process of creating a new Weblog. We want to make something more personalised, with more photos, movies and updates. Hopefully we will have it up and running within a week and we will send the link when we are done!

Thursday, 08 March 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

Got my new computer yesterday. I have a mac now and as Monica has one also, she has mac'd out the house by networking everything on an apple hub. Monica loves playing around with gadgets, so our printer and external hard-drive are all connected wirelessly now on our own network.

this weekend maria and florindo are coming up. we don't have any plans, but i am looking forward to a few bottles of red with florindo. its snowing now, but by the weekend is meant to be 11C, the warmest we've had in a long time.

Sunday, 04 March 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

Sorr, I haven't written for over a week.

I have been really, really busy the past week. The first half of the week I was having all sorts of computer issues. Trying to recover my data etc and getting used to working on a new machine. In the end I had to fork out the cash myself for a new computer, which I should be getting later this week (a Mac), so once again, will have to transfer all my data.

The second half of the week I was really busy with work. Rose wants a draft of a paper I am writing on Monday. We plan to submit in the next few weeks, so am very busy finishing that off. We are also working on another paper which she wants to submit by the end of the week, so I was working on that also and getting my images in order for that paper.

This weekend I have been writing the whole time, so it has been very boring. Monica has been doing a lot of housework and planning the garden for Spring. She really gets into it and has drawn up very detailed diagrams of how the garden will look and has all the plants ready to order.

Weather has been quite a bit warmer. Above freezing anyway. Snow is all starting to melt, although it has snowed a bit today.

Friday, 23 February 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

It's been quite a boring week, just work as usual. It was quite warm early in the week (up to 2C!), but has cooled down again and we had a few inches of snow overnight, enough to cause havoc on the roads and we had a lady get stuck just in front of our house this morning.

Don't have anything planned for this weekend, other than that we both have to be in the lab tomorrow. My computer also died, bit of a shit, but fortunately I was able to recover the hard drive. Have to buy a new computer now, but hopefully the University can spot me the cash. We'll see. About to go for lunch now, going to the Cornell dining hall with Ryan and Marshall. Never been before, but it's supposed to be the best dining hall of all US colleges.

Monday, 19 February 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

We didn't do much this weekend. Daniela and Juan were going to come up, but in the end we called them and told them not to, due to the weather. Monica got stuck in the driveway on Friday morning. She slid off and went about 10feet off the driveway down a shallow embankment and had to get towed out.

Friday night we went to the Statler for drinks, but had an early night. Saturday we were running errands all morning, lab, dump, shopping etc. When we got home we found our driveway had been freshly ploughed, so Monica made some cookies and I took them over to the neighbours who were responsible for it.

Yesterday I was a little bored, Monica went shopping and I stayed home and made pulled pork. I think I did a good job, it turned out very tasty!

Thursday, 15 February 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

We've decided to not go down to NYC this weekend due to the weather. Roads are white and with all the snow they'll soon melt and then re-freeze into black ice. Not good for driving long distances. The snow has all stopped now, but everything is covered in white. We're very lucky that we have a carport, but a lot of people don't. Saw a car this morning on my way to work that was buried up to the windows in snow.

Instead of NYC we'll spend the weekend around Ithaca. I have a few things to do in the lab, but other than that there is the annual chilli cook-off in the Commons. We'll go sample some of the chilli and then go out to Horseheads to do some shopping. I need a new hat and snow pants. Have to finish off my visa forms also.

Wednesday, 14 February 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

Valentine's Day will be remembered for a big storm!

Due to the impending storm, we celebrated Valentine's on the 13th. I came home early and made sushi for Monica. We had a bottle of wine, some amazing cakes from the local pattiserie and I gave Monica some flowers (Calla Lillies as they were the flowers in Monica's wedding bouquet). The snow started later that night and we had a foot and a half over night. We spent the following morning shovelling the drive and watching cars trying to go up the street. Most of them ended up reversing back down it.

This afternoon we are expecting another foot and a half, so Monica and I are spending the day at home and enjoying the snow outside. It's very heavy at the moment and accumulating at up to 3 inches per hour. All schools have been closed for the day, so there are kids sleding and making snowmen outside. The snow is so deep that I saw a deer walking in the backyard, it's legs sunk in so deep, that it was dragging its belly on the snow as it walked.

I have put up a few pictures I took this morning under the heading of "Valentines Day." There's also a new function on the photo pages that you can click on individual photos to open them in a larger screen.

Tuesday, 13 February 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

We're expecting a big storm tonight and tomorrow. There have been lots of snow storms up north of us over the past week, with up to 10 feet of snow. We won't get that much with this storm, but it's meant to be quite severe. Today is really cold, dread having to go outside.

This weekend we're going down to NYC. We'll stay with Monica's parents on Friday night and with Steph on Sat night. We'll probably stay down Sun night as well, as Monday is Presidents Day, so Monica has the day off. Don't really have much planned for our time down there, other than Monica's dental appointment and a likely visit to Ikea......

Saturday, 10 February 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

I've put up some new photos under "Random" and "Basement Remodel #2."

Not much to report from this week, just been work as usual and in the evenings we have been working on my residency forms and playing Zelda.

Thursday, 01 February 2007

Location: Ithaca, NY, USA

Hello, Monica here. The past couple of days have been busy ones for us. We finally got the basement finished! Hopefully Simon will post some pics soon. We had Dawn and Ryan around last night in celebration of Dawn's birthday. Ryan had another Wii controller so we had a blast playing against one another in tennis, boxing and some racing games. Simon has also started a terrarium complete with waterfall in our dismantled salt-water fish tank. It looks really neat in the basement we accidentally have this jungle theme going on. It was really nice to finally get to enjoy all of our hard work.

This weekend is the Super Bowl, which is a very big sporting event here. We are going to have some people over to watch the game. I don't like football very much but it should be fun to watch the game.

Oh yeah, Simon will move that tree whether he likes it or not!

Monday, 29 January 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

Friday night we had a bunch of people over for games night. It was hard to pull people away from the Wii once they got started, so most people were playing that while a group of us played Puerto Rico.

Saturday and Sunday was more basement work. We are pretty much done now. Got the top and bottom trim in and all the touch up paint, so started decorating. The room looks very jungle-esque, so instead of putting fish in the tank, we are making it into a tropical terrarium. We'll start off with plants, but I'd like to get a few frogs in there sometime.

A few weeks back Monica asked me to get rid of the Christmas tree. She wanted me to put it in the woods, but instead I dumped it just in front of the woods, so it is clearly visible from the kitchen window. She was a little pissed off, but I told her the deer would eat it (really I had no idea, but thought it was a good excuse). She told me there was no way deer would eat the Christmas tree, but I refused to move it. Every second day she tells me to move it, but I keep refusing. Anyway, on Friday afternoon I looked outside and there were four deer eating the tree. I took a photo of it and will put it up sometime. Monica is not happy about it, as there is now no way I will move it.

Has been super cold here, down to -25C at times. Snowed quite a bit at the end of last week also. They don't plough or salt our road, so it gets really slippery. I slid straight past our driveway the other day, so had to do a lap and come back around. It's fun to throw, but I hate driving in it.

Monday, 22 January 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

Friday night, Ryan and I went to the hockey game. Cornell was playing Yale and it should have been a pretty easy game, but Cornell really sucked. They gave away an own goal with a minute to play and in the end it was a 2-2 draw. They were never really expected to be great this season, as they lost a few players to the NHL, but they started really well. The past month though, they have sucked and have lost to teams that they really should have beaten.

On Saturday Monica and I were very busy cleaning the house. We had the lab around for dinner/drinks, so we had a lot of cooking and cleaning to get down. It was a good night, but a few of us drank a little too much and I felt a bit seedy on Sunday. Had to get up early though, as I had heard that Best Buy had a shipment of Wii's. I got in line in the freezing cold, but managed to get one. They only had 24 and I was number 21. We still haven't got around to playing it though, we set up th projector and lights in the basement, but will wait until it is totally finished before we set up any other equipment.

Hopefully it will be a fairly quiet week. I have a lot of writing to do, so will just be doing that, along with a bit of basement work. Just have to paint and put up the trim and we'll be done.

Oh yeah, and happy 2 year anniversary of being in the US to me!

Thursday, 18 January 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

This Saturday marks my 2 year anniversary of being in the US! To celebrate, Monica and I are having a gathering of my lab at our house on Saturday evening. The house is quite a mess at the moment, so we have a lot of cleaning to do beforehand.

Work on the basement has stalled a bit, we have been measuring up for trim and went out and bought that the other night, but we have to paint it all before it can go in.

My two year visa expired at he end of last year, but I was able to extend it an additional year. We have now just started the process of getting me a Green Card, so we are filling out lots of forms and I also have an interview coming up. Hopefully it will be pretty straightforward, getting a green card through marriage doesn't seem to be toomuch of a process.

Monday, 15 January 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

I've put up a bunch of new photos. "Ithaca Winter" has some photos of the ice on our trees this morning. I'll put up some more photos of snow (we're expecting some over the next few days) soon.

Monica and I also finished the flooring this evening, so I have put up new photos of the basement. They start in "Basement Remodel #1" and continue into "Basement Remodel #2."

Monday, 15 January 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

Starting to get very cold here now, it's been a warm winter up until now, around 15C on some days and I've even pulled out the shorts on a few occasions. The past few days though have been rainy, and cold enough so that the rain freezes and there is a lot of ice around. All the trees are iced over with water stalagtites hanging from them. The extra weight in the trees has caused alot of branches to fall down. We lost two large branches on our huge Norwegian Spruce out the back and on the way to work this morning, there were a few detours due to trees on the road.

The weekend was pretty much the usual for us. On Friday night we went to the Nines for dinner with Ryan and then down to the Chapter House. On Saturday and Sunday I had a bit of work to do in the lab, but most of the time was spent working at home. We put in a new cat door in the door leading to the basement, put a new door/frame into the basement room we are finishing, laid the floor underlay and started on the floorboards. I even cooked a lamb roast for dinner last night! I've been eyeing off the lamb in the supermarket for the past few months, but it's always so expensive (all imported from Oz), but finally it was on sale last night (Aus$20 for 5lbs, usually it's about Aus$40).

Monday, 08 January 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

On Friday night we had a departmental gathering. We all went ice-skating over at Lynah Rink, followed by pizza and movies. I sucked at skating, but not as much as what most people thought I would. I managed to stay on my feet the whole time but was pretty slow and due to a piss-poor technique, ended up with very sore feet and legs. Monica on the other hand is pretty decent, but she did take lessons for 4 years......

On Saturday and Sunday, we painted the basement ceiling. It was pretty tough going and dirty work. Due to the ceiling being rafters, there are loads of noks and crannies to get into and so it takes a lot of paint. We put close to 5 gallons (18L) of primer on, followed by a similar volume of paint. The paint sprayer did a pretty decent job, but the spray ends up in places other than where you are spraying, namely your eyes! The room is starting to take shape now, we should be able to finish off the walls and window trim this week and then start on the floor the following week.

Other than painting, I watched parts of the playoff games. I was hoping for a Giants win, but Manning sucks too much. This week I'll be cheering for the Saints. Aside from Football, we also packed away the Christmas lights and took down the tree. Unfortunately no Wii yet, hopefully this weekend.....

Tuesday, 02 January 2007

Location: Ithaca, USA

New Year's was very quiet for monica and I. Everyone goes home for the holidays, so there is not a lot to do. We both worked quite a bit over the weekend and spent the rest of it shopping (still trying to find a wii) and playing Zoo Tycoon, Monica's favourite game!

There's also been a bunch of bowl games on TV, so I watched my fair share of those. This week it's back to work as usual. The final details of the kitchen are being finished today and tomorrow we have a guy coming to take a look at the fireplace in the basement. Once it has been given the ok, we'll start work down there.

Wednesday, 27 December 2006

Location: Ithaca, USA

Wow, the past week has been really busy!

The kitchen was finally finished last friday, but took quite an effort to finish it off. In the morning they weren't sure if they'd be able to get it all done by Christmas and over the course of the day about 12 guys were here working. It looks awesome and feels like having a completely new house. I've put up the final pictures of it, so you can all see for yourself.

Friday night and all day Saturday Monica and I were cleaning up and setting up the kitchen. It was quite an effort as we had to scrub the floors throughout the house, as they were covered in plaster dust. I also dismantled the saltwater tank, as it leaked on the Thursday night and lost about 10-15 gallons. It was quite a mess and most of the basement drained through a cable hole in the floor, straight into the basement. We were lucky it was only 10 or so gallons and not the full 55. Anyway, I've canned the saltwater tank and we'll set it up as a freshwater in the basement when we get that finished. It will be much easier to look after, less maintenance and less costly.

On Saturday evening, Florindo, Maria and Daniela came up for the Christmas weekend. We decorated the tree Saturday night and the rest of the weekend was spent eating and drinking. Florindo and I got through a few bottles of red, while the girls cooked up a storm of turkey, cheesecake and homemade bread and pasta.

As of tuesday Monica and I have been back at work. I've just been working half days and have spent the remainder of my time working in the basement and sleeping!

Sunday, 24 December 2006

Location: Ithaca, USA

Merry Christmas!
Have up some final photos of the kitchen. I'll write more on what we did for Christmas later.

Monday, 18 December 2006

Location: USA

Put up a new photo of the kitchen

Sunday, 17 December 2006

Location: Ithaca, USA

We didn't do a lot this weekend. I had to work all day Saturday and Monica was at home while the floor was being tiled. Saturday night we watched a few movies. Sunday we did some shopping and Florindo came over on his way back from Canada. We had lunch at Joe's and in the afternoon Monica went shopping and I stayed home to do some cleaning.

Tomorrow the countertops go in. I have put up a new photo of the kitchen.

Wednesday, 13 December 2006

Location: Ithaca, USA

Congratulations to Monica who just had three papers published!

They are all in Volume 19 of Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions (MPMI), strating from page 1167.

Tuesday, 12 December 2006

Location: Ithaca, USA

I have put up some new photos of the kitchen. The countertops go in next Monday, so it should all be done by the end of next week.