Alice Pawley is an assistant professor of 
SciWo is an assistant professor of geosciences. She blogs about the intersection of science and real life - primarily based on her first-hand experiences. Her older posts can be found 
I've been tagged twice to tell you 6 random things about me. Here are the rules:
The Rules
- Link to the person who tagged you.
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Write 6 random things about yourself.
- Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
- Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog.
- Let the tagger know when your entry has posted.
Number one for me? My favorite holiday is Halloween. :-)
It really is. I've loved Halloween best since I was a kid. Okay, kind of because candy was involved. Kind of because I got to spend it with my friends. Now that I'm older, I particularly love that kids can wander around the neighborhood in crazy costumes and get to visit all the neighbors. I love seeing all the costumes, the ones kids have made and the ones that were bought in the store that the kids are so proud of. I love giving kids money for UNICEF. I love the stupid decorations. I love the jack-o-lanterns. I'm a total Halloween sucker.
Other random things:
2. I'm lefthanded, and militant about it. I notice other lefties and point them out (like, on my presidential list, both Obama and McCain, Clinton, Bush Sr., Perot, and so on...). I own lefthanded scissors, a lefthanded swiss-army knife, and a lefthanded can-opener (ok, it's ambidexterous) but I can't handle lefthanded corkscrews. This is also why I like trackpads on laptops rather than mice. I can use right-handed mice, but made my computer mice left-handed, and was more than amused how right-handed people COMPLETELY FREAKED OUT when confronted with a left-handed mouse. Wowza.
3. I'm vegetarian. Actually, I'm becoming more of a flexitarian. We stole our slightly-modified exception rules from Ianqui : exceptions are made for hospitality (we go to someone's house for dinner and they feed us meat), cultural experience (trying capuns in Switzerland - there is bacon involved), and starvation (there is nothing else to eat). However, we've also added the category of "local, organic, pasture raised" to our exception list, in order to support farmers in doing more sustainable agriculture.
4. I think strawberry-rhubarb pies are abominations -- why dilute the rhubarb with strawberries which are better fresh anyway? Also, why boil brussels sprouts when you can saute them sliced in half in butter with pine nuts?
5. My soul's home is on the coast of British Columbia. My parents have a cabin north of Vancouver on the Sunshine Coast, and when I visit them there, I am renewed. I missed going there this year because of our trip to Europe, and I really feel as though it is going to be a struggle to get through the year without it. But we felt we had to choose one giant trip over another, as both would be way too much carbon dioxide production.
6. I really miss playing music. I sing with our UU choir, but it's not really the same as my old choir. I used to play in an orchestra and chamber music groups and my violin now sits, dusty in its case, in my living room. I feel great guilt about this. Picking up my violin to start playing again (and not exacerbating my CTD) is a perennial New Year's Resolution for me.
I don't know who to tag. You - consider yourself tagged! If you want to, that is. Let me know if you play along... :-) and Happy Halloween!
Updated: Ianqui's original post. Thanks, Ianqui!
Comments
Who knew you were a kindred rhubarb purist? No wonder I like you!
Posted by: Marie | October 31, 2008 8:42 PM
And here's a random question for ya:
Is pipeline leakage in STEM worse for American-born women or for foreign students/researchers?
-The left-handed lemming
Posted by: Lab Lemming | November 1, 2008 6:54 AM
Re #2. I went to use a friend's computer the other day, and got my first experience with a left handed mouse. Not only does it require using the left hand (!!), but figuring out which finger to use to "right click" completely baffled me. I've used lefty scissors before, no problem, but for some reason the lefty mouse left me doubting my fine motor skills.
Re #6. I had no idea you play the violin! Mine is currently sitting under my bed, because I have no time to play it. I've never gone more than five months without playing it (studying across the country and couldn't bring it), and I really miss playing it.
Posted by: Emily | November 1, 2008 2:07 PM
Too bad you don't have more opportunities to make music! I often tell people I sing in a chorus because it is cheaper than therapy.
Posted by: PeggyL | November 1, 2008 3:29 PM
Alice! Pull out that violin!!!
Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | November 1, 2008 9:04 PM
Here's the post :)
But I also wanted to second the observation that righties FREAK OUT when confronted with a lefty mouse. Actually, I'm right handed, but since I have repetitive stress injury in my right hand, I trained myself to use a lefty trackball. And it's really funny/tiring to see people totally incapacitated when faced with my mouse.
Posted by: ianqui | November 2, 2008 10:10 PM
Yay lefty musician scientists!!!!
I live what I like to call "situational vegatarianism", which is actually a situation in which I am too poor to afford meat. I make exceptions for sustainble meats when I can afford them. Have you heard of Polyface? They are fantastic!
Posted by: scicurious | November 3, 2008 10:12 AM
I have mostly had to give up mousing with the right hand since repetitive motion injury (that stopped just short of carpal tunel) years ago when I was still in academe. I learned how to mouse lefthanded relatively quickly, but using a right-handed mouse. I'm not sure how well I would do with a left-handed mouse since all my motor skills with the left hand have been built around the right hand mouse!
Posted by: Zuska | November 3, 2008 7:03 PM