Domesticated

Random updates from Dallas:

I've surprisingly settled pretty quickly into the new routine, which involves going to work/lab a few days, going to school a few days, and cooking periodically. I don't really mind staying at home, having time to take care of errands, doing random things like cooking, and having to do homework.

We haven't gone too adventurous with cooking, but have done various Chinese dishes, dabbled in pineapple sorbet and banana bread, and tried some panini-making skills with our Foreman Grill last night. It's actually been pretty fun and somewhat satisfying to be able to make food, although I probably would still jump at the opportunity to be Google-fed.

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Our location here is pretty nice since we're right next to the freeway that makes all my commute times under 30 minutes when traffic is decent. Most of my longer trips are reverse rush hour which keeps it manageable, but it can take up to an hour to go from UTSW to UTD on the one night I go with rush hour traffic.

It's also great that UTD is near the "chinatown" here. Chinatown is a few small strip malls that have Chinese restaurants and shopping areas, but you can always count on cheap prices and random Asian products at Chinese grocery store. I think I probably go to that grocery store 2 - 3 times a week. I still haven't figured out how to buy groceries once a week so there's enough to cook for the whole week but not too much so that some stuff gets thrown out at the end of the week so I end up buying in smaller chunks.

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Driving in Dallas is pretty annoying: the speed limit is 60 on the freeways, there are always cars going 60 in every single lane, and nobody moves out of the way. Going 70 in the Bay Area would have made me one of the slower cars on the highway, but that's faster than most here. In addition, people seem challenged to turn into the correct lane when there are multiple turning lanes and turn erratically in parking lots.

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Ruth is on call again tonight so I've got the day to myself. It was a little weird the first couple times, but I guess I'm getting used to it. It makes it easier that there are four football games and a US Open men's final on today to keep me company while I also catch up on homework!

I might even take a study break to do advance my Madden 2008 off-season. As fun as it was to win the Super Bowl with the 49ers while throwing for 5,700 yards and 65 TDs to four 1,000 yard receivers while rushing for 2,200 yards and 39 TDs, I think I'll have to increase the level of difficulty for next season =)