Studying and Texting ... with the hint of baking yet to come

Yesterday was John's last day in the lab.  He starts his new lab on Monday.

Hopefully this new lab will be better than his old one.  He's still planning on going into his first lab, but he'd at least like a good lab rotation!

Meanwhile, he's been studying almost non-stop for his tests!  He had a test on Monday, and then has another one tomorrow.  I am so proud of him the way he's handling all of this.  The first few tests he took were hard for him - not necessarily because of the material (although that also is insanely difficult), but because it brought back flashes of medical school.  After his first test, we went to the park and walked for about four miles just to get away from everything so he could recover.

After Monday's test?  He felt great!  No test anxiety whatsoever!  I think he's finally put medical school behind him!

He's still enthusiastic about studying - probably because he can actually see the results of his studying while talking to classmates and taking tests.  It's gotten to the point when I have to call him to come home at night - he's so wrapped up in studying that he loses track of time!

Meanwhile ... I got a new phone!  One that finally has texting, so that John and I can keep in touch during the day.  I also have a few friends who all they do is text, so it will be nice to get back in touch with them!

I volunteered to make poundcakes for the GSO for a Bake Sale fundraiser they're doing end of November/early December.  That, plus the fact that I'm going to make poundcakes for all my co-workers and friends at church for Christmas ... I'm going to be busy baking!  Last year I found a relatively easy pound cake recipe that is utterly divine, or so everyone who has had it tells me.  Everyone who tasted it said that it was the best pound cake they'd ever had - one of my coworkers even started crying and said it was exactly like the poundcake her grandmother made when she was a little girl.

So ... my tradition (started last year!) is to make a poundcake for Christmas for gifts.  It's easy - people seem to like it - and is relatively inexpensive (although with the cost of butter and eggs ...).

I expect that by the time Christmas actually rolls around, I'm going to be so sick of poundcake!

Rambling at the end of the week

We made 60 sugar cookies last night ... well, we almost made 60 cookies.  They are currently chilling in the fridge, and still need to be baked in the oven.  Besides my brief panic attack that the recipe called for powdered sugar instead of regular sugar like I had thought ... it went well.  I'll make another few batches tonight while baking.  I did take some pictures - but my camera battery died before I could finish.  It's charging now.

Today is John's last day in his first lab rotation, and they're taking him out to some Italian place downtown for lunch.  Neither one of us have been there before, so he'll have to scout it out and see if we should go there together sometime.  We were talking about the lab and his experiences in the lab.  Yes, it was a good lab, and he could work in that lab.  But, rules or no, English is not the main language in that lab.  Even in the three weeks he was there, he'd come home frustrated because he'd made a mistake because he didn't understand what someone told him.  He doesn't need that additional barrier for the next 4-5 years.

He's super excited about his next lab - I think it's diabetes research - and from what he's heard, this lab will work him a lot harder than the first one.  On the one hand, this is good; he's been a bit bored lately.  On the other, he probably won't be able to get as much studying done during the afternoon, and will have to study more in the evenings.

I've been trying to find a good podcast to listen to while at work.  For some reason, I haven't really wanted to listen to music lately.  Let me just say ... Itunes is not user friendly at all when it comes to podcasts.  It's impossible to peruse or find ratings easily.

Either that, or I'm completely useless when it comes to Itunes.

I'm looking forward to the weekend.  Baking makes me happy.  Happier than cooking, anyway.  It's nice to have something really good as a result of your efforts.