20100426

What I'm Up To

Dearest Blogosphere,

When my sister came to visit me earlier this month, she asked me what exactly I was doing. I realized that I haven't told many people what I'm up to! So here goes.

My primary age of interest is adolescence. Adolescence is a really, really cool time to study everything from social changes (becoming friends and more with "the other sex") to brain development. I am mainly interested in relationships during this time period, parent-child, peer friendships, and romantic relationships. Of course, these are all hugely affected by biological and cognitive changes during puberty and beyond, so I try to be cognizant of all the different factors affecting the adolescents (it's a dynamic system!).

This quarter I am learning as much as I can about romantic relationships during adolescence. I am also hoping to begin... maybe even complete... the lit review for my thesis.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done before I can feel comfortable using the data I want to use to ask my research questions:
  1. Do adolescents who perceive themselves as victims or aggressors of peer victimization perceive their romantic relationships as having different (very hostile, somewhat hostile, or warm) characteristics than those who do not perceive themselves to be victims or aggressors?
  2. If so, how are their perceptions different? Are their relationships perceived as more or less hostile than their peers?
  3. If not, why are they similar?
But before I can ask these questions I need to make sure that the measures, which have been validated only with White, middle-class samples, are valid in an economically and ethnically diverse sample. In fact, the data that I'll be using come from a very diverse sample with European Americans being the minority. This adds a whole statistical element that I am very, very excited to work on!

This quarter I am taking a research methods course, which I LOVE!!, independent research hours with my possible thesis advisor, and I am doing an internship as a TA. I get to guest lecture and write an exam.

So that is what I am up to!

-n@

Sicilian Jack


Sorry, Havarti, you are no longer my favorite cheese. Your place has been taken by Sicilian Jack! Sooooooo incredibly tasty with sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and garlic. Mmm...

20100420

Twenty-Five Favorites: Billy Joel

So, I've been wanting to do this for a while. Pick my 25 favorite songs of various artists to make nice playlists of my favorite favorites. The first, and possibly hardest, installment:

Billy Joel

Air, "Dublinesque" from Fantasies & Delusions
Don't Ask Me Why from Glass Houses
Falling of the Rain from Cold Spring Harbor
Famous Last Words from River of Dreams
Half a Mile Away from 52nd Street
I Don't Want to be Alone from Glass Houses
Intervention in C Minor from Fantasies & Delusions
The Mexican Connection from Streetlife Serenade
My Life from 52nd Street
Nocturne from Cold Spring Harbor
Only the Good Die Young from The Stranger
Prelude/Angry Young Man from Turnstiles
River of Dreams from River of Dreams
Root Beer Rag from Streetlife Serenade
Say Goodbye to Hollywood from Turnstiles
Shades of Grey from River of Dreams
Sleeping with the Television On from Glass Houses
Stiletto from 52nd Street
Stop in Nevada from Piano Man
Summer, Highland Falls from Turnstiles
These Rhinestone Days (demo)
Travelin' Prayer from Piano Man
Two Thousand Years from River of Dreams
Worse Comes to Worst from Piano Man
Zanzibar (unfaded)

Weird Tongue!

Dear Blogosphere,

Tonight, Amy, Amy's roommate, Caitlin, Stephanie, and I all went out to dinner. I had a delicious frozen margarita and a tasty tostada. The combination of tomatoes and margarita made my tongue flair up. I mentioned, "Wow, my tongue is going crazy!" They all looked at me funny even after I told them that I have a geographic tongue. So I decided to show it off... "Wow" was the general response. I was thinking tonight... I have a lot of weird body-stuff.

Benign Migratory Glossitis
Celiac Disease
Type 1 Diabetes
Very pronounced sandal feet

...And a few other rare things (blue eyes, reddish hair, etc).

"I'm a special case" as Caitlin would say.

20100406

Sister Road Trip: April Fools Edition

Dearest Blogosphere,

This past weekend, Ali and I went on an incredibly fun road trip! Here are the details:

*Rented a cute red Chevy Cobalt, left Davis around 9:45 AM.
*First stop: Fairfield for a tour of the Jelly Belly Factory. Ali was just as humored by the ridiculous amount of Ronald Reagan memorabilia and portraits in the factory store. We just couldn't get enough of the apple pie and honey flavored beans!
*Second stop: Ali's first In-N-Out Burger in Fremont! Very tasty as usual!
*Third stop: San Jose to visit Sarah Winchester's wacky house! The flowers were all blooming and we had a great time!
*Fourth stop: Santa Cruz boardwalk! Absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately it had rained that day, so the rollercoasters were closed, but we still enjoyed the boardwalk, beach, and downtown. We also drove up the hill to UC Santa Cruz. It was dark but man, it looks like a cool campus!
*Fifth stop: San Francisco! We stayed at the Hotel Stratford right in Union Square. It was great! We did some shopping (H&M, Tiffany's, and a couple others). We also drove around the Presidio and found a great little hike to some fantastic views of the Golden Gate Bridge and bay. We checked out the Walt Disney Family Museum - SO COOL! - and hung out on Pier 39 with the Sea Lions.
*Sixth stop: It took us a record 1 hour to get from San Francisco to Davis! And we spent the rest of her time here kicking it around town and in my apartment.

It was so much fun and I cannot wait to check out some of the places again when my sister, Emily, brother-in-law, Taylor, and Ali come to visit me in June! Yay!