Celebrating Awesome: National Engineers Week in Boston and Beyond! February 16, 2013

I wrote a post 2 years ago about how excited I was about National Engineers Week.  Guess what?  National Engineers Week 2013 is starting!

First of all, the theme for this year’s Engineer Week is Celebrate Awesome.  Frankly, I think that’s one of the best ways to talk about engineering.  It’s AWESOME!

I really love being an engineer.  I get to work with other smart people to create new materials and dream up solutions to problems.  I know engineers who are building robots, designing cars, or creating video games.  They get to be creative and have fun while improving the way we work, live, and play!  Basically, being an engineer is, in fact, AWESOME.

If you live in or around Boston, there’s plenty to do this week to celebrate e-week.  Whether you’re a student, a teacher, a parent, or just a curious individual, there’s something cool to see or do. These aren’t the only events going on, they’re just the ones I know about.  Please share events in the comments!

• Family Science Days at the Hynes Convention Center, Saturday February 16th and Sunday February 17th: as part of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), there’s a FREE event this weekend with some really cool activities and presentations by scientists and engineers.  (Technically not an e-week event, but still super cool!)
• Boston’s Museum of Science is going to have plenty of special events for National Engineers Week, in addition to their current exhibits.  These special attractions are free with general museum admission.
• Also check out the MIT Museum this week for their National Engineers Week (and school vacation week) events.  They’re going to have Drop-in Activities, Workshops, Demonstrations, plus a Special Presentation/Interactive Panel hosted by the MIT Society of Women Engineers.
• Finally, the Discovery Museums in Acton MA is celebrating National Engineers Week with some fun hands-on activities.

Any other events going on to celebrate engineers?  Let me know!

And if you don’t live near Boston, you can check out events for National Engineers Week at My Discover-e (or Google Engineers Week events in your city).  Or you can visit the Discover Engineering website to learn more about engineering without leaving your house!

Are you an engineer (or aspiring engineer)? What’s your favorite part about being an engineer?  And if you’re not an engineer, do you have any questions about engineering?

And the Snow Kept On Falling February 13, 2013

That’s the repeated line from a favorite book from when I was little:  ”The Snow Kept On Falling“.  Growing up in Buffalo, NY, we got quite used to all the lake effect snow that would pile up every winter…and long into spring.

So, I should be used to snow by now, right?

I got ready Thursday night the way I knew I should.  I fueled up my car.  Then I headed to the grocery store for some last minute groceries. We already had bread and milk, so I only needed to pick up eggs to fulfill the French Toast Alert that people go crazy for leading up to a big storm.  It was a good thing we already had bread.  The shelves at my local grocery store were pretty picked over!

I also picked up plenty of fruits and veggies so that we could stay healthy during the storm!

Friday morning, I woke up to NO SNOW.  Was this weather forecast a joke?  I knew it was coming, but it felt a little weird to have preemptively planned to stay home.  See, most days, I have no choice but to go to work.  I work in a lab, and it’s not possible to work from home.  But our boss said it was fine to work from home due to the storm, and I just happened to have some reports to work on and some online training to take, so I was able to put in my time without having to brave the storm.

Not too long into the day, it became obvious that staying home was the right choice.  By the time the driving ban kicked in at 4pm, the roads near my house had plenty of snow.

And as they said in the book:  ”The snow kept on falling…”

We kept busy the rest of the weekend watching some more movies.  I caught the Die Hard 2 (to follow on from the first one last week) as well as Short Circuit (NO DISASSEMBLE!)  I had always meant to see Short Circuit, because a coworker at one of my internships used to quote it to me (mostly because the female lead’s name is Stephanie and the robot in the movie keeps saying her name).

We played some video games, and a few rounds of Dominion (what can we say, we’re nerds).

Saturday morning I also went out to shovel some of the front walk (to get in a little exercise) and get a measurement of the snowfall.  The snow hadn’t stopped falling yet, but I wanted to get an idea.  As of Saturday morning, we had at least 22″ of snow:

I baked some double-chocolate cookies.  I had to figure out what recipe to make using those so very precious eggs I bought.  I ended up using the old reliable Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe, but with one minor alteration.  I replaced 1/4 cup of flour with 1/4 cup of cocoa powder.  For a little extra chocolate kick.  I think they tasted good.  Especially warm out of the oven.  Or reheated for a few seconds in the microwave.  Mmm melty chocolate goodness.

By Saturday afternoon, the snow had stopped, and most of the neighborhood was out shoveling their driveways and sidewalks.

Sunday morning, I woke to find out Mass at the church I usually go to had been cancelled.  Between that and the announcement from the Boston Archdiocese saying that we don’t have to go to church due to the storm, I guess I should have stayed home.  But some other friends who I usually go to church with invited me to meet up with them at a church less than 2 miles away.  So I figured:  why not walk there?  No need to dig out my car or try to park near the church.  And a walk would be good for my lazy bones.

Well, easier said than done.  It turns out not everyone had gotten around to shoveling the sidewalks in front of their house (even though it’s the law!)  And some people HAD shoveled their sidewalk, but they lived on the corner and so there was no way to get out except to either climb over the snow bank or double back and walk into the street.  So I got in quite a workout trying to navigate the sidewalks and streets of Medford while trying to avoid stepping in puddles or getting splashed by cars (since the snow had started to melt.).

The last bit of snow-related drama for the day was when my boyfriend and I went out to dig our cars out.  We had to dig through 3+ feet of snow just to get from the plowed area of the street to the cars themselves.  Then dig a foot or more of snow off the car.  I am so incredibly thankful to my boyfriend for doing the majority of the shoveling that night to get my car out of the snow piles.

Well, how did you fare during the Blizzard of 2013?  Were you prepared?  Did you find yourself Minding Nemo? How did you prevent yourself from going stir crazy?  Or getting cabin fever?

Soup-er Bowl weekend! February 6, 2013

I realized that quite a few of my highlights for the weekend revolved around food.  There’s nothing wrong with that, right?

Well, let’s get going on this Soup-er Bowl weekend, then, shall we?

Friday:

Might as well kick off this Super Bowl weekend with some super soup, right?  My boyfriend made a nice big batch of Butternut Squash soup (using a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook).  It’s a fan favorite, as we discovered when we hosted a party with multiple soups back at our housewarming a year and a half ago.  And it’s such a great soup for those times where you just want to curl up on the couch.

Which is what we did.  After seeing an ad for yet another installment of the Die Hard franchise (opening on February 14th, what a romantic Valentine’s Day!), I admitted to my boyfriend that I’d never seen ANY of the movies.  So we settled down to watch the first Die Hard movie.  Yippee-ki-yay!  Can I just say, Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman look like babies in that movie?!

Saturday:

The big event for Saturday was the MIT Club of Boston Annual Ice Skating Party. I look forward to this event every year.  It’s usually very well attended by fellow MIT students and Alumni.  We get the ice rink at the Johnson Athletic Center on campus for an hour with help from the MIT Figure Skating Club, plus we can stick around for the free-skate afterward.  We got in 1.5-2 hours of skating!  Lots of fun.

Check out the evidence of fun below.  I’m the girl in the brown fleece (you can see my new haircut from last weekend).  My friend Jeff is in red, and my boyfriend Aaron is the one in the navy sweatshirt and awesome hat.  This is just one of many photos taken by a fellow MIT Alum Clinton Blackburn.  You can see some more pictures from the event at his website.

Sunday:

Headed to morning Mass with one of my good friends.  Especially enjoyed hearing the Second Reading, the very well-known “Love is Patient, Love is Kind…” reading.

Then I had some baking to do.  I was headed to a Super Bowl party later, and I had promised to bring some dessert.  So, with an insane number of very ripe bananas tucked away in our freezer, I knew it was time to make banana bread.  Two batches.  And even though a few of my twitter/blog friends disagreed on my decision to add chocolate chips to the mix, I ended up making 2 dozen chocolate chip banana muffins (plus 14 mini muffins…I had a lot of batter to use!)  I used the recipe for the batter from the same ATK Family Cookbook we got the soup recipe from.  They have an option for adding chocolate to the bread, where you add slightly less sugar (by 2 Tbsp) then add a heaping half cup of grated bittersweet chocolate to the dry ingredients.  In my case I used a half cup of semisweet chocolate morsels.  As for the baking time, I had to adjust it for a different pan (they recommend a loaf pan) so I baked the mini muffins for 15-20 minutes and the regular sized muffins for 25-30 minutes.

The results:

And I wasn’t kidding about a Soup-er Bowl!  My friend Jeff (the guy in red at the skating party) has hosted a Soup-er Bowl party for watching the Super Bowl for the past few years.  He serves up delicious home-made soups that always impress me.  This time we enjoyed a hearty chicken noodle soup.  So delicious!

Oh yeah, and I guess there was a football game?  And a power outage at the game?  I guess that happened, too.

What was your favorite part of this weekend?  Did you watch the Super Bowl (or the ads)?  Stuff yourself with snacks (and then recoup the next day)?  What are your favorite recipes to share with family and friends?

Last Weekend in January 2013 January 31, 2013

After reading Elizabeth’s post about her weekend, I figured I might as well update about my weekend.  You’ll have to tell me what you think.  It’s a bit different from my typical blog posts, so let me know if I should keep doing them!  And feel free to comment about any of the stuff I talk about!

Friday:

We started out Friday night by going out to dinner at Yak and Yeti in Ball Square in Somerville.  It’s a Nepali and Indian restaurant we’ve been to a few times before.  Super tasty!  We  had a restaurant.com gift certificate to use there, so we got a pretty good deal.

Afterward, we went to meet up with some friends at Daddy Jones.  We used to go to the restaurant that was there before (huge plates of delicious Italian food!) so we were curious what the new place was like.  It definitely had a hipster vibe to it, but wasn’t super crowded.  We might check it out again.

Saturday:

After taking things easy when it comes to working out, I was ready to slowly wean myself back on the workout wagon.  I did a workout using the Nike+ Kinect Training program on our Xbox.  Some of the activities were a little tough, but it was still fun.  I’ll try to have a bigger review of Nike+ Kinect Training later on (after a few more workouts).  Or maybe have my boyfriend write a guest post on it, because he’s been using it a lot more than I have!

Then I headed out to get a haircut.  And I got my hair dyed, too.   I was long overdue for a haircut, and my sisters have been hounding me to get my hair colored to cover up the grey hair I’ve been gaining.  I had been debating for awhile whether it was worth it to pay for a hair coloring at a salon versus just using a boxed hair color.  I realized it made more sense (for me) to go out to get it done, since a hairdresser has more skill and experience than me.  Plus I’m a bit lazy.  And was ready to get mildly pampered by letting someone do stuff for me.  And I was already going to be getting a hair cut.  So why not?  And an added bonus:  It was the birthday of 3 of the hairdressers working at the salon that day, so I got some free birthday cake!  Grey gone, hair cut, and cake eaten!

That night we went to a game night at our friends’ house.  We played quite a few games of Dominion.  It’s a super fun card game, even if some people think it’s nerdy  And then I gained more nerd cred by finally playing Settlers of Catan.  Have you ever played either of these games?  I’m hooked on Dominion but I’m not quite a convert when it comes to Settlers.

Sunday:

Sunday morning started the way I like it, going to church with a friend, then chatting with some more friends afterward.  Heard news from one couple that they’re expecting!  I thought I spotted a baby bump, but I didn’t want to make the extreme faux pas of jumping to a conclusion on that!  So, good news there!

The rest of Sunday was pretty lazy.  And since I really wanted to get some rest, I took a nice long nap.  I’m committed to kicking this cold to the curb!

How was your weekend?  Do anything fun?  Finally take care of the things you’ve been putting off for months?

And are you ready for February?  Where did January go?

Learning to take things easy January 24, 2013

I had big plans to take 2013 by storm.  I was going to ramp up my training.  I was all signed up for a cross-training class at my gym, and was ready to get back into my Couch to 5k training.  The first week or so I was on the treadmill and in the class as much as possible.  But then I started coming down with a cold.  I’d had a bit of a cold at the end of the last year, but it went away…for the most part.

But apparently when you work out like crazy and push your body to the limit multiple times a week, you don’t really recover very well.  And you end up getting the worst cold you can remember.  Go figure.

So this week I haven’t worked out at all.  I skipped my training class both times this week, and didn’t go to the gym.  I even stayed home from work on Tuesday.  All week I’ve been drinking tea and juice, and dosing myself with plenty of cold medicine and trying to rest as much as possible.

I know it should have been obvious that I shouldn’t work out.  Apparently there’s a “neck up” rule, where if you’re only sick in your nose/throat, you’re okay to work out.  I think I only just had a really stuffed/runny nose, but some time this week it turned into a severe cough and the worst congestion ever.

Maybe I could have done a few workouts.  But I’ve decided to take this complete knock out as a sign that I need to take things slower.  And listen to my body.  I shouldn’t overdo it.  Plus I shouldn’t go to a gym and spread all my germs to everyone there!

So, once I recover, I hope to finish going to my training classes (only a few more left this month) and get back on the treadmill.  But only after I’m fully well.  And then I’m going to take things easy.  And slowly build back up to a doable training schedule.

So, have any of you ever had this problem?  Completely overdoing things?  Or ignoring the signs your body sends you?  How do you get back into the swing of things after getting knocked down?

2012 Year in Review: Health and Fitness January 12, 2013

I’ve been saying for a few years now that I’m going to get in shape.  And I’ve had occasional posts claiming that “THIS IS IT”, that I’ve finally found something that will work for me.  And then all that excitement and hope is replaced by laziness and lumpiness.  This health and fitness thing is still a work in progress, but the good news is, there has been progress!

I started off the beginning of this year knowing I needed to do something about my health.  I’d managed to get pretty lumpy around the tummy, and knew that wasn’t good.  I talked to my doctor for my annual checkup and asked her for advice.  Any diets I should follow?  Her advice was just to eat more fruits and vegetables, eat smaller portions, and get some exercise.  Not really the most mind-blowing advice, but good solid advice.

So I started doing that.  And as you know, I love trying new websites.  I started out trying a lot of different fitness tracking sites.  I tracked my weight, food, and exercise on LoseIt.  It really helped to see just how much food I was eating, and how many calories snacks, larger portions, and second helpings were adding to my daily intake.  And I became more mindful of what I was eating, and tried to replace unhealthy choices with healthier ones, like fruits and veggies instead of chips and cookies.  I guess I was building an eating lifestyle like my friend Sara (well, especially points 1. Veggies, 2. Fruit, 7. Hydration, and 9. Exercise).

I started writing a lot more about health and fitness activities.  I had to buy new shoes for all the walking and running I was doing!  I joined in a few challenges (Hometown Wellness Showdown and Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge).  And I got all thoughtful about comparing personal finance and health goals.

The results/achievements in 2012:

• I hit my goal weight, which meant I lost around 9% of my body weight over the year.
• I go to the gym/work out multiple times a week (and make sure to track it all on DailyMile)
• I’ve gotten compliments from family/friends on my thinned down body.
• I’ve increased my 5k time by 4 minutes 15 seconds.
• I walked the entire 20-mile route of Walk for Hunger, raising over $1k to feed hungry Massachusetts families.

Goals/Plans for the following year:

• Keep working toward running an entire 5k (I’m currently stuck at Week 5 Day 2 of the Couch to 5k training program).  And once I hit that goal, it will help me reach my stretch goal of coming in at the top half of finishers.
• Enter some more 5ks.  For runners out there, do you sign up for the same races year after year?  Or try new runs each year?  (Will add the races I sign up for to my Steph on Fitness page)
• Keep going to the gym, including surviving this month’s UXF Ripped program that I won through a raffle at the gym.
• Lose a few more pounds of fat/gain a few more pounds of muscle (basically, keep training!)
• Sign up for the Walk for Hunger again this year, and raise even more money!  And complete the entire walk even faster than last year!

How did you do this past year?  Did you achieve your health and fitness goals?  And what are your goals for 2013?  Please share your experience/advice/ideas in the comments!  Hearing your goals and accomplishments is so inspiring and motivational!

Money: 2012 Year in Review January 9, 2013

Happy New Year!  It’s 2013! I’ve been posting my yearly changes in assets and debts for the past few years now.  One thing I noticed this time around is that the changes in my liquid assets and my student loans are just about the same as they were last time around. How much did my assets and debts change this past year?  Check it out:

Assets:

• Liquid assets (checking and savings accounts, including my new AbleBanking account ):  +$15,522

• Retirement (401(k), Roth IRA, Rollover IRA):  +$28,369

• Car (edmunds.com private sale value): -$938 (I know there’s a lot of debate over including cars in net worth calculations.  I initially included it to make myself feel better about my auto loan, to balance out the ugly dip in my net worth).

Debts:

• Student Loans: Reduced  payoff balance by $11,528 (It helps that I paid off my entire Sallie Mae loan)

• Credit cards: I pay them off every month, but if I want to be exact, I have $713 less to pay off as of the same time last year.

Change in net worth since last year:  +$55,194. Booya!

It turns out, I didn’t post very often.  Only 26 posts!  And quite a few of them talked about fitness.  That became quite a focus for me this year.  (More on that in a separate post).  Though I definitely thought about money and fitness together!

Looking back at my old personal finance related posts….remember the Approved Card from Suze Orman?  I wasn’t a fan.

I shared my story about getting into and (partially) out of student debt.

I confessed that I have a strange relationship with shopping, especially when it comes to Kohls.

I’m trying not to sweat the small stuff, and keep thinking about the big picture.

My nagging tendency was in full force when I told you that there were NO EXCUSES when it comes to opening an IRA.

I tackled the yearly concern of Benefits Open Enrollment.

I converted my traditional IRA into my Roth IRA.  Which also means that the networth numbers will be lowered in the next few months when I have to pay taxes on the converted amount.  Shhhhh.  Don’t worry, I have the money saved to pay the taxes, but we’ll recalculate things later.

And, even though this is more in the fitness than the personal finance category, I’m really glad I did the Walk For Hunger last year.  I look forward to doing it again in 2013!

I mused on twitter that I might try to pay off my entire student loan balance by the end of the year.  Not sure yet if I’ll actually do it, but I do have a plan in mind.  The cool part about that tweet?  The amazing, personal finance queen Gail Vaz-Oxlade replied to my tweet asking how I would do it!  So that might become a 2013 personal finance goal.

Happy New Year! How was your 2012?  What were your big events (positive or negative) for 2012?  What are your big plans for 2013!  Please share your own blog posts (if you have them) in the comments, I want to make sure I read all of your year-end wrap ups and your 2013 goals!