The end approaches

I may have submitted my thesis, but I'm not done yet.  I just found out this week that I'll be headed back to the UK to have my viva on March 30.


I can't believe this is actually it.

On nature vs. nurture

So today I went with my mom and my sister to Babies 'R' Us and Pottery Barn Kids to buy and exchange a few things for my sister.  As I walked around the stores, I noticed a lot of things were divided into themes:  jungle animals, cars, teddy bears, sports, etc.  It got me thinking about how when we're little, a lot of our "likes" are chosen by people around us.  I can't help but wonder if babies would decorate their rooms differently if they had the ability to choose.

Do you think we like or dislike certain things simply because they're what our parents like or dislike?  In my family we're not really cat people, mostly because my parents were never really cat people - none of us kids grew up longing for a cat or anything.  On the other hand, my sister and I h a t e Kenny G because one summer my mother l o v e d him, and played his tapes endlessly during long car trips.  I think we came to hate him because we associated his music with being bored and motion-sick.

Anyone else have any examples?

Aaaaand that's a wrap

So yesterday, at about 8 pm, I submitted my doctoral thesis to the print shop in Oxford.

This morning, I called in my credit card information to pay for the copies.

It will be delivered to the Examination Schools tomorrow.

Now, all we can do is wait.

And now, the end is near.....

Cervantes Blvd., San Francisco, CA, originally uploaded by Kait W..

The time has come. Two weeks from now, I'll be submitting my thesis.

I'm excited and terrified at the same time. I don't know what to expect.

I can't believe it's actually happening.

Kitchen gadgets

A belated Merry Christmas to all three of you who still actually look in on my blog.  It was a great Christmas, and if I'm in a good mood later I'll write about it in more detail.

I got a lot of cooking things this year, and I've just realized how very many kitchen gadgets our family now owns.   I'm wondering if we could cook an entire meal using only gadgets.  In our kitchen we have:

- 2 toasters (1 regular, 1 Hello Kitty)
- 1 waffle iron (hasn't been used in ages - not sure if it's any good)
- 1 griddle
- 2 or 3 Crock Pots
- 1 chocolate melter
- at least 2 fondue pots
- 1 bread machine
- 1 donut maker
- 1 rice cooker
- 1 Quesadilla maker
- 1 George Foreman Grill (new for Christmas!)
- 2 pizza stones and various other pizza equipment (including a paddle to take pizzas out of the oven - exciting!)
- sushi-making accessories
- 1 Keurig coffee maker, which I count as a gadget because it's very gadgety - you put in individual cartridges and make 1 cup at a time.

My brother also owns a coffee maker and a Kegerator (a home beer tap), and he and his roommate have a pasta machine, a popcorn maker and other stuff.  I'm not sure about my sister - my brother-in-law is a good cook, so he probably prefers to do stuff by hand.  They do, however, have a very spiffy grill.

It's kind of excessive, I know.  And I should probably start putting more of it to good use.

Can't believe 2011 is almost over!
Kxxx

PS - This post will probably make me have some interesting Google ads.