Trying to lead the good life

On Sunday Daniel and I were having one of our leisurely weekend chats and I mentioned that we had bought a new lawnmower and how great it was to be able to start the mower myself. His response, "I have one word for you, Jane, 'gardener'" So, in addition to the fact that we only recently moved to a modest flat screen tv, the whole grass issue highlights that I am still woefully behind my little brother in leading the good life. To rectify this, I thought today I would finally use the coupon I bought weeks back for 5 super duper car washes. Again, while I am sure that Daniel and Michelle regularly have this cushy experience, it was a first for me. I am not quite a wash it in the driveway with a bucket person, but have only graduated to the self serve car wash where you do it all on your own, or splurge to go through a really lame automatic wash, but still get out and do your own vacuuming. So, today was a huge step up. It was one of those places where you exit your car so that a swarm of guys can clean its interior within an inch of its life. I was loving life, being the sort of person about to drive off in my 'looks almost brand new' car. Mild panic when I realized I should tip but had no idea how much. I was about to pull out of the lot when I realized that the little compartment for sunglasses next to the gear shift was open. And guess why. Because they managed to break a tiny piece of plastic essential to the close function. I did not just drive away and put up with it but backed up and had a chat with the manager. Of course, they will pay to have it fixed, but I have to bring them three bids. So, cushy car wash now turns in to schlep around town to insult mechanics by asking them to bid a tiny plastic doohickey.

Back to research

In between the arrival of summer holidays and playing out my fantasies of being a prosecutor, things are also moving forward on the electropalatography research project. We finally got IRB approval and last week had a team meeting with the guy from Completespeech which makes the palate devices we are using. I now really understand collaborative research. It was so much fun to listen to the incredibly smart (I think 'smart' because I had trouble following) questions from my colleagues. Things about frequency and how various electrodes map to the excel data sheet...

We are in the process of getting our first two Russian speakers fitted and will be able to start collecting their data soon.