Odds and Ends

In the first 9 hours I was awake yesterday, the following weather pattern ensued:

Showers
Total sunshine
Overcast
Rain showers
Snow Flurries
Rain showers
Total sunshine
Overcast
Hail
Rain showers
English drizzle....

Where am I? This weather is so weird. 

Today, I woke up and it was bright, sunny, and 3 degrees C. A beautiful day, really. Naturally, however, it was overcast by 13:00 and raining by 15:00. The rain continues, even now... and it's still 3 degrees.

In other temperature-related news, I realized over the weekend that my room was colder than the corridor, apparently because the radiator wasn't working. I like sleeping in cool temperatures, but when I finally started freezing, I decided it would be good to fill in a maintenance request. Now I have a working radiator! It's amazing how good a little warmth feels in the winter time. Undoubtedly, it will be amazing come January when it is cold and rainy every day.

In the category of fixing things, by the end of this past weekend, I decided that my arm and knee felt great, and that I should play some light squash with some friends to loosen up. Well... the good news is that my arm and knee felt great, but the bad news is that I wrecked my back. How? I don't know. I called a doctor on Monday, but he (over the phone) said that 'back pain is common' and I should just take loads of ibuprofen and reassess later in the week. So here it is Thursday and - while I don't need the ibuprofen any more - I am still experiencing a fair bit of localized discomfort in my lower back and right hip. Words cannot express how not thrilled I am. I'll see how tonight goes and maybe I'll call the doctor back tomorrow.

What else is new? Last night I made stir fry, which was quite tasty. I borrowed a rice cooker with an aluminum bowl, but the lack of a non-stick surface meant that cooked rice became glued to the bottom. Some overnight soaking did the trick.

That wasn't really a particularly culturally-relevant story, but I figured I'd throw it in to show that life is still fairly normal in a lot of ways. It was also the first anecdote I could think of.

Well, tonight I figured out who I'm going to vote for in the Republican Primary in a few months (which is for me to know and you to guess). Yes, I still follow American news, but I have to admit, it's thrown into the mix of UK, EU, and world headlines. On that note, if you are not familiar with Google Reader, you should really check it out! It makes it extremely easy to pull in headlines from many different news sources, including - I assume - this blog! I am subscribed to BBC news, ESPN, Popular Science, an academic database (for my research!), and xkcd.com (a fantastic web comic). Check it out!

That's all for now. Can't wait to be home for Christmas next week, but until then, here I remain, soaking up Oxford (literally!)