Stuffed with Sufganiyot

Dr. Free-Ride caught me red-handed with a sufganiyot, so here goes....

1. Latkes or Sufganiyot?
Definitely latkes. Despite the post title, I really don't like sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts, for you non-Hebes)... in fact, I don't like any doughnuts. I eat one sufganiyot per Hanukkah season to appease my mother. But latkes... everyone loves a good latke (but only with sour cream)!

2. Multi-colored candles or blue-and-white?
We used both. There is a tin of the cheapy multi-colored candles, and a box of fancy blue-and-white hand-dipped swirled candles, and it just depends which is closer to grab (if there are guests over, we always use the fancy candles).

3. Do you place the Hanukiah by the window or away from the window?
We have an electric one in the window. As far as the real ones, they are lit on the dining room table.

4. Favorite Holiday Dish?
Latkes! I don't eat meat, so the brisket is kind of out... although I also am a sucker for a good quiche or potato kugle.

5. Favorite Holiday Memory?
When I was little, my best friend (not Jewish) always used to come over for a night during Hanukkah. One year when her father was dropping her off for the annual sleepover, he noticed a 3-D paper dreidle hanging from our dining room chandelier, and asked why we were decorating with a plumbob. So now, ever year when my mother hangs the Hanukkah decorations, we all sit around and laugh about the plumbob. (In fact, this year aforementioned friend and her whole family came over for one night of Hanukkah, and her father even brought his plumbob with him to see if we could play dreidle with it!)

6. One Hanukiah or more than one?
We each have our own -- my mother has one with a line of Maccabees (the candles sit on their helmets), my father has one that my uncle the opera singer brought back when he was singing in Tel Aviv, and I have one which my grandmother bought for me (sadly, nobody likes my Hanukkah menorah - it's pretty ugly).

7. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I remember one year my grandmother flew up for Hanukkah and brought me a Game Boy and I was really, really excited.

8. Favorite Holiday Dessert?
I don't think we have a traditional holiday dessert - just cookies and rugelach. I guess my favorite would be the walnut rugelach.

9. Favorite Holiday Song?
I don't really associate any songs with Hanukkah. Although this year, my PI played for me a few songs by a Puerto Rican Jewish rap group from Brooklyn that does hip hop and rap versions of traditional Jewish songs in Yiddish, and it was definitely good for a few laughs.

I tag... anyone else who reads this and happens to celebrate Hanukkah. Not sure if there are any -- so maybe I should change that to anyone who has had a latke this past week!

Year in Review

1.) Where did you ring in 2006?
At my boyfriend’s best friend’s wife’s parents’ house. Follow that? We’ll be spending New Years with the same couple this year (and several other friends), but this time at their new house, instead of Erica’s mother’s house.

2.) What was your status by Valentine’s Day?
In a relationship.

3.) Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Yes. I was in school the entire year, and I will be in school the entire year for more years than I care to admit.

4.) How did you earn your keep?
By very unsuccessfully attempting to cure cancer, on the Department of Defense’s dollar. That’s right – your taxes pay my stipend. Thanks, guys!

5.) Did you ever have to go to the hospital?
Yes. I spent all summer in the hospital, actually. When you work in a hospital, you go to the hospital on a daily basis.

6.) Have you encountered the police this year?
Not that I recall.

7.) Where did you go on vacation?
Aruba in January, Jersey shore in July. Nothing particularly exciting as graduate school has sucked up all my time.

8.) What did you purchase that was over $500?
A fantastic Yamaha electric piano with money I received for my birthday.

9.) Did you know anybody who got married?
I went to my second cousin’s wedding in January and my boyfriend’s friend’s sister’s wedding in July. One of my best friends from high school also got married in September but the wedding was in Oregon and I couldn’t make it out there because of lab. :o(

10.) Did you know anybody who passed away?
Yes, but nobody with whom I was close enough to go to the funeral.

11.) Have you ran into anybody you graduated high school with?
Yes, but always planned with high school friends. I don’t think there were any random runnings-into.

12.) Did you move anywhere?
No.

13.) What sporting events did you go to?
More than I can remember – a couple of basketball games for my undergrad alma matter, a handful of Washington Nationals games this summer, at least one or two AHL games, and I was sitting in amazing JOE GIBBS BOX SEATS for the Redskins-Jaguars overtime game this year and it was awesome.

14.) What concerts did you go to?
I went to see Ben Folds with my boyfriend a month or two ago. I’m not sure that I went to any other concerns this year…

15) Are you registered to vote?
Of course. I was a political science major undergrad.

16.) If so, did you do your patriotic duty on Nov. 7?
YES!! I HELPED TO KICK RICK SANTORUM OUT OF CONGRESS!!!

17.) Where do you live now?
Washington, DC.

18.) Describe your birthday:
I was actually at my parents’ house for my birthday, so I played a round of golf in the morning, drove to Pottsville and took a tour of the Yuengling brewery (for those of you in deprived areas which do not have Yuengling, it is the best beer ever. Seriously.), and then went out to dinner at a new Irish restaurant in downtown Harrisburg.

19.) What’s the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2006?
Watched the sun rise from the lab, because I was insane enough to be in lab pre-dawn. This happened multiple times, actually. Also, I had the opportunity to scrub in on monkey surgery which was not something I expected out of my life.

20.) What is one thing you regretted this year?
Spending too much time in the lab and not enough time with friends? Nothing really. Perhaps not studying for comprehensive exams sooner, and then spending the time I should be studying procrastinating with things like this.

21.) What’s something you learned about yourself?
I learned that I might actually be competent as a scientist and worthy of a Ph.D. And that I am surprisingly talented at oral gavaging laboratory mice.

22.) Any new additions to your family?
No. I am the only unmarried individual and only person under 50 in my immediate family. Therefore, there will be no new additions until I tack on a spouse or a child.

23.) What was your best month?
July, because I was at the NIH all month and I loved what I did.

24.) What pop culture event will you remember 2006 by?
THE STEELERS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!

25.) How would you rate this year with a scale from 1 (crappy) to 10 (amazing)?
I’d give it an 8. I have no complaints.

Because I was bored in lab...

While I was waiting to wash the secondary antibody off my Western I was catching up on a few blogs, and came across the "Brutally Honest Personality Test" as taken by Dr. FreeRide on Adventures in Ethics and Science.
My results?

Borefest - ISTJ
40% Extraversion, 33% Intuition, 73% Thinking, 73% Judging

One word. Boring. Sums you up to a tee. You're responsible, trustworthy, serious and down to earth. Boring. Boring. Boring.

You play by the rules. You follow tradition. You encourage structure.

You insist that EVERYBODY do EVERYTHING by the book. Seriously, is there even an ounce of imagination in that little brain of yours? I mean, what's the point of imagination, right? It has no practical value...

As far as you're concerned, abstract theories can go screw themselves. You just want the facts, all the facts and nothing but the facts.

Oh. And you're a perfectionist. About everything. You know that the previous sentence was gramattically incorrect and that "gramattically" was spelt wrong. Your financial records are correct to 25 decimal places and your bedroom is in pristine condition. In fact, you even don't sleep on your bed anymore for fear that you might crease the sheets.

Thankfully, you don't have anyone else to share the bed with, because you're uncomfortable expressing affection and emotion to others. Too bad.

When I first started reading, I was insulted and in denial. Then, I reached the paragraph on being a perfectionist... and suddenly wanted to curl up in a ball under my desk (except that it's way too dirty since nobody ever mops the lab floor and it is probably covered with lots of chemicals). I am (a) an extreme grammar nazi [I WILL JUDGE YOU WHEN YOU USE IMPROPER GRAMAR], (b) I am widely known for being the most financially ultra-organized person around and have to have every financial interaction tracked to the cent in Microsoft Money, and (c) I ALWAYS make my bed in the morning, hospital corners and all. Always. Even if I'm running late, the bed is made. I have not once, since I started college, left my bed unmade. And as for my room -- it is always in pristine condition. I have an unhealthy obsession with organization, neatness, and vacuumed carpets. I think I'm severely allergic to messiness and clutter.
I guess you have it -- I am a borefest. But then again, what can you expect from someone who is going for a Ph.D. in oncology? I don't think we're the most exciting people out there.
(I promise to really start posting again sometime soon. It's just that when you're in the lab 10-12 hours per day, seven days per week, there really isn't anything of any interest going on, unless you want to hear all about how all my experiments refuse to work, and my experiment results bore me at the moment since I can't extract any useful data, so how could I subject anyone else to them? See? I really AM a borefest. How depressing.)