Happy anniversary to me.

Well, sort of.  Of all the days in the week between the date I left Ohio to the date I started at Harvard, today's really not the anniversary of anything in particular.  But it's a good day to blog.

So yes, I've been here a year now.  Arrived in town on the 11th, started the job on the 16th.   I've got a dozen and a half cupcakes headed into work on Tuesday to celebrate having survived this long.

I know there was a certain amount of disbelief mixed in with the genuine well-wishes when I took this job -- and I was one of the people doing the disbelieving.  If there was ever an adverse-to-change homebody, it was me.  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there were folks opening pools on when I'd be back (I wouldn't be particularly hurt, either.  I am what I am; I'm not as blind to my foibles as I might seem at times.)

But a year's gone by, and I'm still here.

And I'm a little surprised to find that I like it here.

I'm not, as a friend put it a "city girl" yet, but I did confirm a suspicion that I'd had for number of years that I didn't like suburban life, but that I could handle true rural or urban living equally.    I'm fascinated by being able to walk to everything; I love to see the trains and buses and cabs and shuttles.   I'm intrigued by the street musicians, a little alarmed at how quick I learned to dodge eye contact with the street bums (and not particularly proud of it), and bemused at the number of people who want to hand you business cards for everything from facials to psychic readings.

My apartment looks very much the same as it did a year ago, save for the acquisition of two tables and several pieces of cooking equipment (and yes, I'm still using boxes for furniture in some cases.   Maybe I'm a redneck setter instead of just a red one).

I've learned to navigate on foot finally, and can follow my nose through most of Cambridge without getting horribly lost.  Driving's a different story, but you've got to figure that even the cabbies use GPS up here with as whacked as the street layouts are, but I can generally get where I'm going without getting too lost.    If you come to visit me, don't attempt to guess where you're going -- know your route.   I don't want to have to come rescue you!

I'd planned to look into the graduate program right from the start, and I didn't waste much time on that.  I'm on my 3rd and 4th class and officially applied.  With luck by summer they'll let me in and I'll be a Harvard student.

I've been to the beach three times since I came, and now with the little car available to me I'll be going as often as I can once it warms up.  Due to scheduling there's no plan for taking class this summer, so I'll be taking advantage of that to get out and about.  A trip to the Zoo is in my plans, plus a second trip to the Aquarium, and hopefully a whale watching voyage.   And of course once the flowers are blooming out (very soon) I'll be heading back to the Arboretum as well.

This is all provided that the job doesn't kill me.  We've got an ambitious redesign schedule laid out this summer (six months) and I'm mid-migration.  It's nice to finally feel competent -- Harvard has a particularly steep learning curve, and SEAS definitely has a frontier feeling to it, so it takes a bit longer to get situated that you'd otherwise expect.  But I'm back to doing good work, which is all I can ask.

Hmm... I'm not sure where there post was headed to begin with, but I guess I'll stop here with a invitation to whoever's interested: come visit me this summer!  I can actually show you around a bit now :)

An ode to Peppermint

I'm not sure I ever appropriately appreciated peppermint back home.  It's certainly a home scent.  We grew mint.  We made peppermint candy.  But I never really kept peppermint around for peppermint's sake.

Enter the city.  The city is a smelly place*.  Apartment buildings are REALLY smelly places.  And cats in a 500 square foot studio are unbearable**.  Some days you have traffic fumes, some days the storm sewers are outgassing.  Some days it's just somebody having a fireplace fire and the wind coming the wrong way.  Sometimes it's your neighbor cooking cabbage.  Sometimes it's that you really should have taken the garbage out earlier and now it's after dark.

Peppermint can help.

As a bonus, peppermint is a serious stress remover.  It'll help you sleep and clear your sinuses***.

People by all kinds of diffusers and things, but if you want to make your house smell nice, there are a couple ways to do it.   Soaking a tissue in a scent oil and vacuuming the tissue up will give you a gentle scent every time you vacuum.

I prefer the nuclear option.

Take a jam jar and pour some peppermint oil in it.  Don't bother measuring it.  That just dirties a measuring spoon.  Boil some water.  Make sure it's a rolling boil (and for God's sake, whatever you do, don't let it microboil -- when that sucker hits the peppermint oil it'll be all over the kitchen.  Atomized peppermint oil hitting you in the eyeball is not something you wish to experience twice).  Pour the water into the peppermint.  Avert your eyes.  Actually, maybe flip those last two. 

And that's enough peppermint to make 500 square feet smell like mint for three days.  

A warning: don't reheat this concoction in the microwave.  I blew the door off mine that way.   That wasn't very relaxing.

Now I'm going to sit back and sniff for a while before I go to sleep.



*So is Ohio.  Somehow manure isn't as bad as broccoli and ethnic cooking, though.

**And they know it.  And use it as a weapon.

***If you want to wake up and clear your sinuses, try cinnamon.  Be warned,  you will experience pain.