Happy New Years! 2011: Year-end Review

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Thinking about the up-coming year made me curious to see how far we've come in the past year. So I put this post together to remind us of all the awesome things that happened in 2011.

We started off the year strong spending time with our dear friends Hamsa and Danika (first in Delhi, then in Bihar on our Buddhist adventure). Next was the intense Vipassana meditation course I did in Sarnath; I'll always cherish the lessons I learned in that course, even if I'm not good enough to keep my meditation every day. After that was the South India trip Allen's brother took with us, where we saw elephants and house boats in Kerala and beautiful temples in Tamil Nadu.

By March we'd found out that I had gotten a full ride to the University of Michigan's School of Information and that changed all our plans. Next stop, Ann Arbor, Michigan! Our last months in India were a bit of a blur after that, but we did get some time relaxing in the mountains of Mussoorie (and thankfully, Allen got some good writing done on his dissertation).

Once we had gotten back to the States it was a whirlwind of family reunions at the beach, preparations for the move to Ann Arbor, and friends' weddings.

The shift to Ann Arbor and grad school was a little rough for me because Allen had to stay behind in Brooklyn trying to sell our apartment. In the meantime though, Allen was keeping himself busy going to conferences, getting interviewed on TV about his work, and writing up his dissertation.

But by Thanksgiving we had finally lined up a likely buyer for the apartment (whoohoo!) so we lifted Allen's temporary exile at Brooklyn and moved (almost) all of our stuff to Ann Arbor.

And then, as far as our blog is concerned, we dropped off the face of the planet basically. But not without good reason. We've been up to a lot.

While I had a very eventful (read: extremely busy) semester, it was at least extremely productive and I'd say for the most part successful. My grades for the semester were stellar and one of my professors wants me to work my term paper into a conference paper. I got elected to be an officer for our Student Organization for Computer Human Interaction (basically the society that thinks about how to make interaction/interfaces with digital information more user-friendly). I'm also coordinating a Data Without Borders inspired datadive at our school this February. So, yes .... I'm keeping busy in grad school.

Allen is plugging and chugging at his dissertation and we marveled the other day about how far he's come in the last couple of months. Meanwhile he's already gotten a scholarship to work on his dissertation for 6-weeks in London this spring and is a finalist for another post-doc (won't jinx it by saying much more). He's well on his way to finishing this year - if that's what he decides to do. Playing the game of academia means that he may want to take an extra year of fellowship funding next year while testing the job-market waters instead.

So that, my dear family and friends, leads us to now... the holiday season. We were especially excited to come down to Asheville for Christmas this year so we could play with our 3-month old niece, Caroline and let me tell you she is a CUTIE!

All dolled up for Christmas

And of course we had a blast with our nephews, Joseph and William ... Allen got a special treat by playing Santa for them on Christmas day because at 6 and 3 they still believe in the magic of Santa. Grandma and Grandpa explained that Santa was leaving by going up the stairs because he had to go to the bathroom before he continued on his way. HA!

Check out the Brady Boy Band! You heard 'em here first, folks!

After the orgy of presents and family crazy fun time Allen and I had a nice relaxed New Year's Eve in Asheville ....... of course playing bridge with his folks! Ha!

We will take ALL OF THE TRICKS!

We hope that you all had a wonderful time with all of your friends this holiday season and have a very very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

To our blog readers from Santa!

Hi all! You haven't heard much from us in awhile because we've been busy with finals and dissertations; but we wanted to wish you all a happy holiday season.  Click on this link to watch a video we had santa make especially for you.


http://youtu.be/qiQv_P5So90

Happy Holidays!

Allen and Nikki

(Long Overdue Post*) Things I'm thankful for....

... that my 501-class Affinity Wall Diagramming project is over

  Nightmare on Group-project Street

... that I have the most amazing family and friends, who during their own holiday break, helped us pack up all our crap in Brooklyn

No joke, we had an army of people (Mom, Dad, Darek, Nina, to name just a few) all put in back-breaking effort to get us all loaded up this Thanksgiving break. I honestly don't know how we could have managed without them.


... that my husband is the most amazing packer in the history of all time. Period.
I've mentioned Allen's packing prowess before on our blog, so its not worth going into the specifics. Plus I don't have any pictures of how completely Allen had that U-Haul truck packed. We're pretty confident nothing broke specifically because the was no space left for any of the boxes to move in the back of the truck.


... that our India connections still mean something in the states.

Our friend Megan from Varanasi put us up during our cross country trek and lett us crash her birthday party! W00T!


... that the couch and the bed fit into the Ann Arbor apt! Double W00T!

I very truly and honestly did not believe that there was any way that the movers were going to get our heavy big-ass furniture up into this poorly designed apartment building (the stairs and elevator are so narrow!). I'm so happy to have been proven wrong.


... (and lastly, but certainly not least) THAT MY HUSBAND IS FINALLY WITH MY IN ANN ARBOR!!!! TRIPLE W00T!!!

Gosh it is good to be together again! Yes, it has been a long haul. Yes, the end of the semester is crunch time for both of us. And yes, (giggle) we have a lot of unpacking to do. But it always goes better when we're together...
I hope that you all had a very Thanks-filled holiday! What are you all thankful for?
_________________________________
* Apologies for seemingly dropping off the face to the planet, as you can see in this post, we've been quite busy lately

Happy (Albeit Lonely) Birthday

This year might mark the first (and hopefully the last) year in which I didn't talk to any other humans except via phone or internet.  That said, I made the most of a beautiful day outside with a bike ride, some productive dissertation writing, and the most ridiculous dinner I have ever prepared for one:

Yes. I ate the entire pie myself. It was epic. Here's to completing another (solar) revolution!

Pictures of Iowa

I only took two - both from my hotel room window.  Which I guess is about par for the course - I'm not really the photographer/blogger in the family.  BUT, they are pretty, and I must say Iowa seemed like a perfectly fine place to live (which is perhaps contrary to everything I would have ever thought about it before going to visit).

Pretty sweet, eh?  The other side of that bridge was the fine arts building where we saw a play about Gandhi and Tagore. It was nifty.

Late-Posts: New Nieces, Data Dives, and Being Single Again

First - I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update you on what has been going on. Seriously, I have NO time in grad school. Zero. I should be doing homework right now and will probably pay for slacking off, but the mind can only take so much information overload.

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks. Allen's brother Richard and his wife Mary welcomed their new baby girl, Caroline into the world earlier this month.

Mommy and Baby Caroline

She surprised everyone by coming earlier than expected - but she's doing really well; both momma and baby are happy and healthy. There are no words to properly express how pumped I am to be an aunt again - I cannot wait to meet little Caroline and tell her parents in person how excited and happy I am for them.

So I keep telling you how busy I am ... you think I'm kidding right? Well, this is what an average week has looked like for me since school started at the beginning of Sept

Allen and I share a calendar - and finally he stopped keeping my activities loaded on his calendar because he couldn't see his activity because mine were taking up all the space.

As if school alone weren't enough I went this weekend to Data Without Borders first datadive in New York City. Yes, to answer your unspoken question: I did get to spend a lot of quality time with Allen while I was back in Brooklyn - but Friday night and most of Saturday I was working with other data scientists to help three different non-profits work through their data issues. Here's a link to the flickr photo stream of pictures that were taken at the event to give you a sense of what it was like.

(The photographer, Emanuel Rosario, got a couple good ones of me in there.)

I worked on a project with UN Global Pulse, who is trying to conduct a proof of concept that they could collect current data through SMS surveys (amongst their other projects). Their mission is to try to harness available technologies to get more up-to-the-minute information about the world's most vulnerable populations. I can't talk about what we did because their data won't be released to the public until Ban Ki-Moon presents it to the UN General Assembly in early Nov. Hopefully I'll still be working with them and will be able to give you an update about how the work we crunched out at the datadive was received.

Besides giving me an excuse to see my husband, Data Without Border's datadive this weekend was an amazing experience. I learned so much (new software to use, which programming languages are better for certain tasks, and more general issues related to project management on a tight time-frame). I know they will be having another datadive in Chicago sometime soon and I hope I can make that one (and convince some of my other SI friends to join me).

Lastly, you may have seen Allen's most recent post, which I think is a not so subtle nod to the fact that I don't seem to be doing so well as a single lady; I'm not getting enough sleep, I'm not eating very well, and I'm definitely not getting away from my computer often enough.

I was not in good shape when I Allen found me, so what did he do? What any amazing fabulous bestest husband in the whole wide world would do - he planned to send me home with a ton of left-overs so that his over-worked-stressed-out-wife wouldn't have to worry about cooking for a week.

No joke, here they are in all their glory.

He also finally got me outside - and I was finally able to properly say good-bye to Prospect Park.

As if all these wonderful inducements weren't enough to make me feel a sick at heart to be returning to Ann Arbor by myself, upon arriving back I pulled out my lower back, found my car battery had died at the Detroit Airport, and have been too sick (read: sorry for myself) to get back to work, of which I have too much to recount in this one blog post.

So this, if I haven't bored you to tears yet, is what I've been up to in the last couple of weeks. Maybe my update will induce our guest blogger Allen to write about what has been keeping him busy in Brooklyn **cough, cough, dissertation writing, cough cough**

Cooking for 1 by Allen

1. Start a Huge pot of rice.
2. Start adding stuff into the largest sauce pan you have until the rice is ready (or you run out of stuff to add, or the saucepan overflows - if this happens it means you need a larger saucepan)
3. Freeze half and eat repeatedly for the next four days. Eat 2nd half two weeks later.

Today's menu: sausage, onions, carrots, spinach, garbanzo beans.  Was going for the tomatoes, but the rice was ready and I was hungry.

Allen is on TV - live streaming now!

http://international.uiowa.edu/livestream.asp

Allen is participating in dialogue about South Asian culture RIGHT NOW! Here's the description. Should have posted sooner. Apologies.

Live Streaming of "WorldCanvass®" from International Programs

Visit this site on Friday, Oct. 7, from 5 - 7 p.m. to watch the first segment of the 2011-2012 WorldCanvass® series when the topic is New Culture and New Welfare in South Asia. This live program is originating in the Old Capitol Senate Chamber on the University of Iowa campus. WorldCanvass is a monthly production of International Programs and will be broadcast on both UITV and KRUI-FM numerous times in the weeks following the production, and is also available on Public Radio Exchange and iTunes.

Please note that portions of this show that contain music may be broadcast without sound due to copyright law. The full audio of this show can be heard live on KRUI-FM, 89.7.

Tabla Shop in Brooklyn

Today I turned my bedroom into a tabla shop.  I busted out all my tools and I set about the task of re-heading two of my tablas in anticipation of the Iowa talk. What was really cool, was I got a little stuck trying to see if I could put a 5 1/2 inch head on a 5 5/8 inch shell, so I decided to call Anwar in Varanasi and see what he thought about it.  He gave me some good advice, and then when he was having dinner, he decided to skype me back.  I gave Salmaan some more tech support and they helped me with my drum.  I was holding up to the screen saying, "See here?  It's too high here.  I'm not sure it'll come down."  Anwar would reply, try putting the tuning pegs on it, that will hold it in place.

Ultimately, it didn't fit and I had to redo everything with different heads.  It turns out you might be able to squeeze onto a shell that is a 16th of an inch too big, but an 1/8th of an inch makes too much difference.

It was really fun.  In some ways I felt like I was back in Banaras.  In this weird virtual way.  They were sitting there eating and hanging out (it was almost midnight their time) and I was working on drums and we were just chatting.

I've been calling about once a week or so lately.  I hope I keep it up.  It's great for my hindi and I know they get a kick out of getting calls from America.  "What time is it there?" is still kind of a crazy thing.  I also know that Salman has been able to do a lot more online from what little I have been able to help him with - so that's good too.

I think the work today will be good for the Iowa talk too.  Now I can show one tabla that was made more or less by a master (i put the head on and certainly not as well as he would have done) and another one that I made (with lots of help).  You can definitely hear which one is which, so that's cool too.

Kite Festival in Ann Arbor, the Summer's Swan Song

We had some amazing weather this past weekend in A2 (which we're paying for dearly now with all the miserable rain and cold weather this week)...

My friend Gina and I capitalized on our good fortune and visited BOTH the Botanical Gardens and the Arboretum.

Pretty awesome looking tree on the trails at the Botanical Gardens

Picturesque views from trails at the Botanical Gardens

Picturesque views from the trails at the Botanical Gardens

Kite flying festival at the Arboretum

You could make your own kites based on Japanese, Chinese, and Korean designs

Perfect weather and an amazing location

Wheeeeeee!

There was even a snow lion dance performance

Even though we didn't get to spend tons of time in the great outdoors, I feel so thankful that programming and places like this exist and thrive in Ann Arbor. They are a real source of relief to get away from just locking yourself indoors, staring at a screen all day.

My freakin' awesome day!

Every once in a while the universe conspires to just make everything click into place ... today was that time for me. I apologize in advance for the gloating ... but today has just been too awesomely perfect not to share.

To begin with, I had my first day on the job as a new associate at the Stephen S. Clark Map Library at UM. Turns out this library is a much bigger deal that I originally suspected; it is combining three different smaller areas of the graduate libraries (Maps, Government Information, and Data). Their mission is to make all this information freely accessible to the public so the new space they are building is front and center right across from the main reference area. We'll have digital display areas, a lab area, and a designated teaching space all beyond just the collection. It will be epic ... and I'm the new data person. LOL! Meaning, I'm the only one working there (as a graduate student) that isn't specializing in Library Science ... so I get all the neat data visualization, analysis, and GIS (geographic information systems) projects. SCORE!

Then I had an impromptu meeting with the resident Information Technology and Communication for Development specialist at my school. I'm taking his class, but I wanted to ask him if he'd be interested in some of the research projects I'm working on ... including some collaboration I'm doing with a former colleague on Social Impact Measurement for non-profits. I laid out my plan for how I want to take advantage of all these networks that are working in tandem around me at the moment: my colleague, Alibeth Somers, looking at Social Impact Measurement; the Data Without Borders team that is trying to connect non-profits in the developing world to data scientist in the developed world to help solve their information flow problems (through Contextual Inquiry to all my SI501 friends* out there!); and all of the student groups on campus that are focused towards improving NGO performance through better data implementation, like the Community Informatics Corp. He was a little skeptical at first (mostly because my project sounds enormous) but once I showed him some of the work I did at Agribusiness Systems International in Lucknow, India he said "That! I want you to write a report on that!" Cha-ching! Finding a faculty advisor: check!

I was already planning on picking up my amazing bike today (the shop put a kick-ass basket on back so I don't have to wear my backpack when I'm riding). But just actually having it was squeal worthy!

And THEN (!) my friend Gina (of moving-in fame) finished her preliminary exams (qualifiers for her PhD candidacy) ... and so we celebrated with an early happy hour! Huzzah for excuses to drink beer at 4:30pm on a Monday afternoon!

And THEN (!!) I got an insane 4 missed calls from Allen. I called him back worried that something had happened - and something had happened: SOMEONE MADE AN OFFER ON OUR APARTMENT!!!! YEAH! We haven't decided if we're going to accept (they offered lower than our asking), but we have begun negotiations! Someone liked our apartment! Hope is not lost!

And THEN (!!!) nearly 20 minutes later Allen calls to tell me that someone else is coming to see the apartment this evening! WE ARE COOKING WITH GAS FOLKS!

I don't know if anything will come of these prospective buyers for our apartment, but it takes a huge weight off our shoulders to know that there is interest ... and that Allen might finally be able to join me in Ann Arbor before Thanksgiving!

So you see, I couldn't NOT tell you about this crazily-awesome-amazing-fantastic-joy-filled-crazy-freakin'-day I had today.

Have you ever had a similar type of day? I hope so.

_______________________________
* SI501 is the required course that MSI students at UM have to take. It is essentially about project management, but done through the lens of contextual inquiry (ie seeing how users interact with their information/data and to see if there are any outsider perspectives they can give on how to improve flow/process). It is apparently the class everyone suffers through (crazy amounts of busy work and you're working on a team, who you apparently want to murder by the end of the semester). I feel pretty fortunate that my 501 group seems really awesome and I'm hoping that we all make it through this class alive.

Getting Settled in A2

So last week I give you a pretty pathetic picture of what my life in Ann Arbor is like ... but really ... it isn't all that bad.

All the newbies at orientation

I started classes this week at the School of Information and am excited about what I'll be taking this semester: Statistics, Java Programming, Information Technology and Communication and Development, Community Informatics Seminar, and a fundamentals class that all MSI students have to take to graduate. The workload is a little heavy, but it is a good mix between technical and reading classes ...so at least I won't be completely overloaded using just one side of my brain.

Fingers crossed, but I also think I've found some students and professors on campus that I might be able to collaborate with on my interest in Social Impact Measurement (what brought me to SI in the first place).

I also start my new job at the Stephen S Clark Library, the new maps and government data library, on campus tomorrow. I'm looking forward to working in this space not just because of what I can contribute given all my experience working with government data but because of what I'll be able to learn about new mapping techniques and software.

And last, but not least (I certainly have been a busy bee this week) ... in the spirit of becoming a true Ann Arborian I got a bike to get around town in. Really, this town is nuts about bikes, which is great and horrible all at the same time. It means that there are tons of bike lanes and drivers are more conscious of bikers ... but it also means that many of the bike shops in town cater to higher-end clientele ($6000 for a bike! yikes!), which doesn't really jive with my student budget.


She doesn't look like much, but she's a comfortable ride and I'm actually really digging the retro look. Now all she needs is a NAME! Got any suggestions? I'm open to audience participation!

The Move to A2

The Sunday after Hamsa and Danika's wedding, Allen and I loaded up the car and I drove 8 1/2 hours to Ann Arbor to make it in time for my orientation, which started last Monday. The whole experience was sort of surreal: we were stashing our stuff at a friend's place in Ithaca while we were camping, then we ended up crashing at her place the night of the wedding ... but it is pretty pathetic to see all the stuff you own get shuffled back and forth out of the back seat of your car.

My friend Gina helped me unload when I got to A2 and the sight of my unloaded stuff was just as comical...

(Before) All that fit in our car

I say that the experience was comical only in that it is extremely strange to be living in what is essentially an unfurnished two bedroom apartment by myself. The rooms are very echoy and, well, there isn't any where to "hang out". Luckily we managed to fit a desk and a small chair in the car ... so at least I have a place to eat and work. LOL!

(After) Wall art makes all the difference

Hamsa and Danika Get Hitched!

Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca

So last weekend we drove out to Ithaca with all the junk I was planning to move to Michigan (more on that later) for the wedding of our friends Hamsa and Danika .... names more diligent readers will recognize as our card-playing-gin-drinking buddies from Delhi.

Ithaca really is GORGES (ahahaha) ... and we didn't wanted to miss out on all the fun wedding activities that were happening throughout the week so we set up camp at Treman State Park.


We love love love this tent that the Metzner's gave us (sniff, sniff) for our wedding two years ago. It held up in some serious rain and cold over our days camping in the park.

We were graciously invited to some of the pre-wedding bachelorette/bachelor day activities. The ladies had a bridal shower, a trip to Treman State Park swimming hole, group nap-yoga (seriously), dinner and dancing.




The boys spent the day playing paintball and Beersbee then later met us out for dancing. They were a little worse for wear (they all - including the groom - had some really angry looking red bruises), but seemed to have had a lot of fun.




Their ceremony was beautiful ...


And the reception was a blast!

Despite the threat from Irene the weather held out for Hamsa and Danika...


... although by the Sunday morning rain was coming down in buckets in Ithaca. I know of several people who's travel plans were disrupted by the storm. Thankfully Allen made it back to Brooklyn safely. Our building wasn't affected by the storm at all (no flooding, no loss of power).

I on the other hand headed straight to Ann Arbor from the wedding. After an 8 1/2 hour drive I made it to my new home ... but more on that in a bit.

Amanda and Andrew Get Hitched!

This past weekend we went to the wedding of our friends Amanda and Andrew, whom we met while Amanda and I were doing Comp Sci at NYU.

Very true to their laid back and comfortable attitudes, they held their wedding at a former Girl Scout Camp Ground; Camp Kinawee in Massachusetts.

It was great; we got our own cabin, stayed up all night eating smores, and singing songs around the campfire.

Since we got there a day early with all the cool kids we took advantage of the free-time before the wedding to play in the lake.

The groom's mom had the genius idea to play "watermelon rugby" ---- grease up a watermelon, set two teams against each other to see which could get the watermelon to their opponents side of the lake first. Awesomeness ensued!




The wedding was a beautiful Quaker ceremony, which we'd never been to before. It was very moving to see all their family and friends get up to declare their blessings for their union.

From then the dancing commenced and we boogied ...

... and it was good!

Thank you Amanda and Andrew for inviting us to this beautiful and fun-filled celebration! We love you both so very much and wish you a lifetime of happiness!!!!!