I have never knitted a piece of clothing larger than a scarf or more complex than a hat. But I've done some costuming, and I do own a book of sweaters, and I am good at modifying patterns so that they do what I want them to do. I think I can make this work.

This is my new challenge for the new year!

I am really excited about this brioche stitch hat. The pattern is fairly simple (so far) but kind of tedious, but the colors I'm using and how it knits up are so beautiful. I'll be working on it on Thursday's knit night (my first!) and will hopefully have some progress pictures to show for it.

I shouldn't be working on the hat, though. I should be working on my baby blanket. I'm 75% done! The baby was born in October! I really want both projects finished by the end of the month, but it's not looking good. My beautiful lace work scarf is, again, the lowest priority project... because I can't seem to take any time to knit things for me. Which reminds me. Add lace work dishcloth to queue for Aunt Mary.

I will eventually update the banner and title of the site.

~Stephanie

This is my first post in a few months... Crazy semester and all. But I will now be blogging about knitting more than science, as this is going to be my official knitting blog and my unofficial rest-of-life blog. Enjoy! Just joined a knitting website called Ravelry, excited to be a member.

<3
~Steph

My mind is a flurry of information, and I have so much going on. Things are pretty much crazy here. I moved out of Lancaster nearly two weeks ago, and I have been living with my parents since then. I take the carpool up to University Park with my brother-in-law Mark, who works in IT at the Paterno Library. My apartment will be ready on Saturday, at which time I will be signing a lease and moving to State College for the next... five or six years, theoretically.

I didn't do too well on my placement exams, so instead of taking the graduate level Physical chemistry class, or better yet, not having to take it at all, I will be in undergraduate Thermodynamics this fall. I don't mind that a bit, to be honest--I didn't learn Thermo the first time around, so I should benefit from having the class again. I am also taking a class in Organic Mechanisms, and Mechanistic Bioorganic Chemistry. I am most likely going to be a teacher's assistant for a freshman general chemistry lab, but I put in the request to be a teacher's assistant for organic chemistry. There's the possibility of me getting the organic class, and since there's an organic chemistry with a biological focus that I am particularly excited about working with, it would be an insanely cool option. But I'm trying not to get too hopeful.

I will also be in a seminar class, where we will discuss current topics in biochemistry, do literature reviews, and so forth. It's looking like it's going to be the exact sort of biological/chemical, highly interdisciplinary field that I would love. The supervisor that I want to work for, Dr. Bevilacqua, does a lot of this sort of biology/chemistry work. He works with RNA, and some actual living organisms, unlike other areas of chemistry (as a general statement).

So, in my spare time, you can expect me to be on here semi-regularly, keeping tabs on what is going on in the graduate world. There will doubtlessly be amusing anecdotes, as being a student is infinitely more amusing than being a professional. I'm not sure when my next entry will be, but I'll try to make it closer. there almost has to be something interesting to say in the next few weeks...

~Stephanie

I have been accepted to Penn State University for graduate studies in Chemistry. I start in Fall 2007. In approximately six years, I will graduate with a Ph.D. in biological/organic chemistry.

I'll let the crickets get back to chirping now.

When first walking in the door, you see my little yellow sectional, a present from my sister Theresa. The TV was a door prize my mother won at a company picnic, and it sits on a piece of furniture called a "buffet." The buffet came from my sister Janet's extremely sweet mother-in-law, Sally, who also gave me the sewing machine that had been stored inside. In the bottom left, just above the sofa, you see my coffee table, the mythical one that lived in my Sophomore year dorm room. The doorway visible in the back right leads to my kitchen.

This is my cute little kitchen. My sink is overflowing with dishes, and my cereal sits on top of my fridge. My stove is small, but since it's only me, I don't really bake too much. I bake occasionally and take it into work. To the left of the stove is the doorway to a hall that leads to my bathroom.

This is my toilet. That's my rainbow butterfly bead curtain. Enough said.

This is my shower/boiler room. The boiler is oil and heats my whole house and my water. The stack of boxes are from when I moved in November, but the shower curtain is a brand new purchase.

If you walk back through the hallway and into the kitchen, you see my kitchen table and the back door. That kitchen table is the first thing you see when you walk in the door from the living room into the kitchen.

If you walk through the kitchen back into the living room, you see the front door (where you walked in), the stairs that lead to my bedroom, and my super cool (and totally necessary) bookshelf.

This is my awesome bedroom. The bedspread was purchased for me by my mother, but the bed frame is all mine. The bed frame, head board, and footboard was my first big purchase for me with my own money. I was really excited. Mostly because prior to that I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Not visible in this shot are my desk, sewing machine, and large fire escape window.

And this is my beautiful back porch, back door, and back yard. The spiral staircase leads up to the fire escape window in my bedroom. The back yard is the place where my puppy and I play.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my virtual tour. I love my cute place, even if it is far away from my family. You have an open-ended invitation to come see me sometime!

The morning show on The X consists of a black comedian/body builder, Earl David Reed, a white radio host (and former track star) Nipsey, and all-around kick-ass single mother, Jennifer Shade. The more I listened to my morning show, the more I enjoyed the quick-witted one-liners of Earl, the awkwardly amusing banter of Nipsey, and the no-nonsense attitude of Jennifer. I found myself turning down the music—occasionally good stuff, like Foo Fighters or Switchfoot, but usually crap like Pearl Jam and Metallica—and turning up the amusing and yet highly informative conversation between our three radio heroes.

One morning, Nipsey was reminiscing about his past racing victories and concurrently mocking a fellow DJ. Earl chimed in and said yes, Nipsey could definitely beat the other guy in a race. Nipsey told Earl that Nipsey could probably beat Earl in a foot race, and Earl said that would be highly unlikely. Incensed, the gauntlet was thrown, and "The Big Race" became a standing challenge. The listeners chose sides, with Earl being the stand-out favorite. As Fox news put it: "Earl is a bodybuilder in the best shape of his life. Nipsey is not."

Before they even had a day picked out, the pair decided that one of the conditions of the race would be that the loser should wear a cape for a week. Now there's a good chance that I am the only person who hears the word "cape" and thinks "sewing project," so I sent them a message through Myspace saying that I would make them a cape if they didn't have one. I sent this message assuming someone else screened their messages, and that they only got letters that "the man" wanted them to get, and I would never even hear a peep back. But I was wrong.

"We'll keep in touch" was the first thing I heard, and that was within a few days. I was surprised, to say the least. A few days after that, they were (again) discussing the race, and the cape came up. Earl said, "I have a woman who offered to make us the cape!" I was driving in my car at the time, and I distinctly remember trying not to wreck my car. They mentioned my letter. I was definitely excited. They mentioned my name a few times afterwards, and I knew this was going to be something to look forward to.

As the months drew on and they still didn't have a race date, I began to wonder if I would get left behind in this. Suddenly, they had a date for the race one morning, so I again sent them an e-mail inquiring about the cape. Success! They asked if I could make the cape in enough time (two weeks' notice), and could I possibly pick up an iron-on transfer of the KFC logo from the radio station to put on the cape? With a yes to both questions, I went on a fabric quest. My sister Janet helped me pick out some beautiful blue polyester and a nice paisley lining. After pouring over the cape every night for a week, I had some nice work to show for it:

The day of the race drew nigh. Saturday May 13, I drove with cape in tow to City Island in Harrisburg. Nipsey, who was my contact throughout the cape process, told me to contact the first person I saw with an X shirt. I walked up carrying a hanger covered by a garbage bag, and the first person I saw was Jen Shade. The first words out of her mouth were, "Is that the cape?" I nodded back at her, and she cackled evilly. I brought it over to The X van, where she was sitting and painting her fingernails. I hid in the back while the van was moved, lint rollering the entire garment in order to remove all of the dog fur. It happened so fast… the Race was on.

I wandered over to the tent where the two men were stretching and warming up. I hid in the background, just observing. Eventually I spoke up saying, "I brought the cape with me." Nispey looked up at me (he was sitting on the ground) and said I should have said something sooner, and gave me a hug. I poised myself at the finish line behind a few tall people; they had a pretty good turn-out. Jen did her announcing, the racers were poised, and she blew the whistle…

It was a photo finish! Many people (myself included) thought that since Earl was in such good shape, and Nipsey's favorite form of exercise were multiple trips to the Chinese buffet, it would be absolutely no contest. But Nipsey surprised everyone, and in some of the photos, it even appeared that Nipsey crossed the finish line first. Without a definitive answer, the pair were forced to run again. The second time, however, Earl was the clear victor. Mostly because Nipsey couldn't run 40 yards that fast twice in a row.

Nipsey, Jen Shade, Earl David Reed, and the KFC Chicken

Me and my Morning Show

Well, after the race, with all of the controversy, they had a professional reviewer of photo finishes come in and look at all the images. His official word? It was a tie. Earl refused to race again until they raised more money for their charity, The Four Diamonds fund. Just a little info about The Four Diamonds—this charity pays 100% of the hospital bills for children with cancer after the insurance money runs out. The re-match will happen again, as soon as $1,057 dollars are raised for this awesome organization. Visit the website and donate! There's a link to The Four Diamonds on The X website: 105.7 The X.

What an opportunity! I had so much fun making the cape for these guys, and they were awesome from start to finish. I'm looking forward to heading out to the re-match.

Here's the mindless drivel part. In college, I learned that no matter how bad the cafeteria food is, you always find something to eat. I eat lunches at the cafeteria at work, and during this lovely Lenten season, I have a lot of fun finding meatless meals. But if I'm hungry enough, I find something. One thing I learned well, if you have to go, it doesn't matter how bad the bathroom is. Some girls I work with were complaining about the one bathroom, and I honestly hadn't noticed that it was "gross" as they put it. I realized that I lived in a college dorm! No normal public bathroom could top the level of lethality of the bathrooms of Canevin. Lastly, hobbies help you make friends. Sure, in college you have "clubs," and in these clubs you share the same interests, and you can make friends that way. I have carried my hobby of knitting with me, and I'm often surprised how many people will come up and ask you about what you're doing when you knit in a public place. I don't make friends easily, so for me to have strangers come up to me and talk to me, it's a small success.

(Sorry I've been gone for awhile… my life is kind of routine anymore. 40+ hour work-weeks, church on Sundays, and a lot of quiet evenings at home.)

I am nearly 23, recently graduated from college. I can't even imagine going through the terror of discovering I'm pregnant, five years older than the age of a minor. Even though I live by myself in my own place, even though I have an excellent health care program through my employment, even though I have a stable pay check and could support a child if I needed to, I am still afraid of my parents' reactions if I became pregnant. Five years ago, if I were still in high school? Forget about it.

But fear is not the issue here. The issue is parents, being aware of what their children are doing.

Parental notification for minors' abortions is absolutely necessary, without exception. No justification exists for a girl to be able to have a legal abortion before she can legally purchase cigarettes. What is more harmful for a child? The very idea is preposterous.

A core issue in this debate is the fact that kids are having sex younger and younger. This fact can be related to multiple issues, but those reasons are not important. Even when people are having safer sex, the possibility for pregnancy is always there. Abstinence is the only 100% effective birth control, but teenagers just won't listen sometimes. Preaching can only go so far; children will make their own decisions. But when children make these decisions, for better or for worse, parents should be aware. Many kids try to hide the fact that they smoke from their parents, but too often parents know. They smell it on the child's clothes or in their hair. Pregnancy is a life-altering, earth-shattering event in the life of a woman. If parents can trust the government to take care of their children by not selling them drugs and alcohol, parents should also trust the government to take care of their children by upholding the parents' other wishes. If a parent thinks it's ok for their kid to smoke or drink, parents buy their children cigarettes or alcohol. If parents think it's ok for their children to have abortions, they can support their child's decision. If a parent knows their child is having sex, they can buy birth control.

The debate challenging the New Hampshire statute is a health exception, if the girl is immediately in danger as a result of her pregnancy. If delaying an abortion for just a few hours would harm the girl's health, should the parents still be informed? My answer is yes. The debate the Supreme Court is having shows how much variability the doctors' opinions can be for what exactly a "medical emergency" would constitute. If a minor is sexually active, he or she should be aware of the consequences. We are not holding children responsible for their actions. This is not a "women's health" issue. This is a parent/child issue. Parents have the right to know.

Further investigating this concept (since I am truly a scientist, and have nothing better to do with my time besides investigate… and knit), I went to dictionary.com to see if the website could give me definitive differences:
Cupcake, n: A small cake baked in a cup-shaped container.
Muffin, n: A small, cup-shaped quick bread, often sweetened.
Aha! This was the start of something. Cupcakes are like cake (logically), while muffins are like bread. Cakes and bread are totally different baked goods. Once they are transformed into the cup shape, however, their differences diminish slightly. To my knowledge, chocolate chip cake and chocolate chip bread can both exist. And why shouldn't they? Both contain chocolate and therefore are equally tasty. Most of the breads that we normally think of when we hear the word "bread" are typically yeast breads, anyway. Using the phrase "quick bread" skews the definition just enough that the difference is small.

I needed to know, pound for pound, what the core difference was. So I pulled up a pair of recipes to compare...

Where the muffins lack in sugar they make up for in chocolate. The muffins are most likely drier, too, due to the lesser amounts of moisture, especially eggs. But these are just two recipes. There may be muffin recipes that call for butter and plain old milk. I've seen cookie recipes take several different kinds and amounts of flour, not to mention all manners of lipid. When it all boils down to it, perhaps the only real indicator of muffin versus cupcake is the taster's nomenclature.

Therefore, I say, eat cupcakes for breakfast. You can call them muffins and feel better about yourself. Then, serve your guests healthy muffins for dessert. If you call them cupcakes, they'll never be the wiser. Though no one's pastries will ever match my mother's, I still enjoy the occasional non-Mom-sanctioned dessert (especially Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, which they serve in the cafeteria at work). Enjoy your pastries, no matter what you deem them.
For further muffin madness, feel free to visit Muffin Films.

I understand the holiday rush, to some extent. Christmas calls many people to spend, spend, spend until they have nothing in their pockets. Finding the perfect gift can take time, more than 24 days in some cases, and the need to start shopping can pressure some people until they finally crack, be it in November or even October. Christmas is excellent for the American economy, as well as the economies in other countries since we import so much. The debt and the stress is all worth it when our financial institutions see more coins in their coffers, I suppose. But this is also another story entirely.

The point I am trying to emphasize, and I realize I haven’t done it well, is that Thanksgiving is underestimated. Thanksgiving is a holiday that focuses on the family. Thanksgiving allows families to sit around the table, enjoy a good meal, then sit and chat peacefully about the joys of the season. Thanksgiving is a holiday dedicated to rest and reflection. If this holiday were in August, sandwiched between Fourth of July and Labor Day, it would be a much-beloved holiday of food and revelry. Since Thanksgiving is only a few days away from the biggest shopping month of the year, it gets swept under the table, off the financial radar, and socially downplayed.

Luckily, in my family, Thanksgiving has its own distinct, unique place in the autumnal calendar. My mother is quite a cook, and any time I can enjoy a multi-tiered meal at her table, I’m happy. The desserts, my mother’s desserts, are unparalleled by any bake sale or grocery store; no other cook can hold a candle. With pumpkin roll, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, and apple pie, dessert practically becomes its own meal. The most important part about Thanksgiving in my family is the community we share. This year, we had eleven and two little ones around my family table. Normally when I come in for a weekend, since I’m the only one who lives far away, I have to make extra effort to see my whole family before I have to go back. Thanksgiving gives me a way to see everyone, hug everyone, and enjoy the company of my wonderful family.

Today is Black Friday, the day to ignore Thanksgiving and turn our minds towards Christmas. Christmas is celebrated all through the month of December. In a way, however, Christmas gets its own truncation. The “Twelve Days of Christmas” actually begins on Dec. 25 and ends on Jan. 6, Epiphany (as any good Catholic knows). Sometimes it feels like Christmas is over at midnight on December 25, when it should really carry over into the new year.

I try to be mindful of all holidays, especially with respect to both faith and family. Thanksgiving deserves to be its own distinct entity, not some day of gluttony in between candy and presents. Take time to reflect and give thanks. You have a lot to be thankful for.

I have never had so much happening at one time. I'm (almost) lucky that I'm single right now. I'm not so sure I could juggle a relationship, even casual dating, with this much on my mind. I'm learning so much at my new job (which I LOVE) and much more about growing up every day. For the first time in my life in a very long time, I am completely at peace about where I am, where I've been, and where I'm headed.

Oh, and as a final comment: The new title of this blog, Out of Spec, is an additional delineation of me being a full-fledged adult. To explain what Out of Spec (or OOS) means: in my department in my company, we test pharmaceutical products to make sure they meet certain specifications. The amount of aspirin in this tablet must be 80 mg plus or minus 5%, the amount of arsenic in this tablet must be less than 0.1 mg , or other terribly mathy and sciencey things that make far less sense. If something would come back that does not meet specifications, for example if there were only 68 mg of aspirin in the tablet, then that test comes back OOS. I translated it to the blog world to mean that something isn't exactly what is expected, or something that's a little out of the ordinary. In pharmaceuticals, we dread out of spec results, but in the real world, I wish more of my days were a little less ordinary.

My love to all Setonians,
~Stephanie

Another major site overhaul will occur in the next few days, in the event that I maintain the ability to steal wireless internet from my neighbors. Short version: I've had a job for about two weeks now, and Lancaster feels more like home every day. I'm staying with my gracious cousin Heather for the month of October, then moving into my own place the last weekend of October. Other news includes my ability to keep my dog when I move from my old home in Bellwood, PA, and my sincere love of the area in which I'm living.

Site overhaul coming soon!

I went into chemistry because I don’t always feel comfortable dealing with people on a social level. I never wanted to be a teacher, I’ll tell you that much. Whenever I was younger, I wanted to go into fields that had little interaction with people. Some of my first career aspirations were “dancer”, “veterinarian”, or the ambitious “astronaut”. Right before I graduated high school, I strongly considered a career in landscape architecture. I was more than happy to deal with plants or animals, but people? Count me out. My current job at Midstate Tool is as greeter and phone operator. While this position deals slightly less with people than some other service-oriented fields, I have two problems that make me ill equipped for these roles; I do not recognize people’s voices easily, and I am bad with names.

My first interview was a long time ago, when I was still at school. That opportunity did not pan out, mostly because I was not at all interested in the position once I heard the details and saw the facilities. Part of the position I had interviewed for was sales. Yeah, service-oriented field, and very people heavy. How ‘bout pass. Luckily, in the recent weeks, I’ve had two interviews, and I’m waiting to schedule a third. I haven’t heard from the first two interviews yet, so I’m still holding out. The third interview that’s waiting to be scheduled is also quite exciting. I keep hoping that somebody, anybody will give me a job I’ll enjoy. (Oh yeah… I just now remembered, I had interviewed for a temp job in the Greensburg area. But I didn’t want a temp job. Too unstable).

So for now, I’m just biding my time until someone wants to hire me. They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and I am certainly starting to miss lab coats and test tubes. While I had times where I doubted my chosen career path (doesn’t everyone?), feeling an emptiness without science in my life has further reaffirmed my love of chemistry.

Luckily I’ve been busy at work (which is why this entry has taken so long), but it’s not the kind of busy that I enjoy. I like computers as much as the next guy, but formatting Microsoft Excel spreadsheets so that they look like pretty reports is not my idea of fun. And the phone has been ringing like crazy, in turn making me crazy. By in large, the people are really nice, but there are those limited few that think I should be able to solve all their problems, including people being too busy to speak to them or people on their phone for several minutes at a clip. God forbid people have to stay on hold for more than thirty seconds. But others are so nice that I just don’t know what to do with myself. One gentleman told my mother that he wished he had a son for me to date, and then told me that whenever I get another job “we’ll miss your beautiful face.” Holy crap. I don’t remember the last time someone called me beautiful.

And yet I wait patiently for my cell phone to ring. The three phone calls that I’m currently waiting for are all great job opportunities, and I’d be excited to get any one of them. I’m looking forward to moving out, gaining independence, and teaching myself life skills. Come on, real world. Bring it.