Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Stoneburner: Summertime Eats

Stoneburner
Ballard Ave NW near 20th Ave NW
7/10 on my bangin' scale

Head to Stoneburner for the outdoors cafe feel without actually having to sit in the sun (we live in Seattle, so we'd melt). Big windows open onto Ballard Ave, which also makes Stoneburner a prime location for people watching.

The roasted cauliflower sandwich was enjoyable, which totes surprised me. I was probably surprised because they failed to mention on their menu that the sandwich would have a mint-flavored sauce in addition to the listed charred spring onion and Montasio cheese. I love mint, so it was delish. However, I predict that some mint-haters gonna hate. The sandwich comes with perfectly crispy house-made chips seasoned with black pepper.

Roasted Cauliflower sandwich with mint-flavored sauce (see the green?).
 
Final thought: is Coldstone pissed by this name?


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Monday, July 28, 2014

Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away:" Grad School Anthem

I know I already brought attention to this song in a previous post, but I just wanted to highlight that Kelly Clarkson's 2006 hit "Walk Away" is potentially the most grad school song ever.

Are you in a graduate program? Do you have any capacity to show emotions? Then you have probably thought the following:
1. I'm too stupid to be here. This is usually due to the fact that you're surrounded by insanely smart people, not because you are actually stupid.
2. I want to leave. This is because of a combination of #1, getting paid basically nothing, and working your butt off to get paid basically nothing.
3. Why am I constantly proving my intelligence? A big problem with grad school is that your personal self worth is defined by how smart other people think you are. WHO CARES?!?

Kelly Clarkson addresses all of these things in "Walk Away."

1. I'm too stupid to be here:
You've got your mother and your brother
Every other undercover
Tellin' you what to say (say)
You think I'm stupid
Clarkson's lyrics start off strong by evoking one of the grad school big three. Imagine your mother/ brother here are your profs, your advisors, or the people in charge of grading your qualifying exams. This is exactly how you feel in grad school. Grad students are the poor, "uneducated" peons of academia.

2. I want to leave:
I'm looking for attention
Not another question
Should you stay or should you go?
Well, if you don't have the answer
Why are you still standin' here?
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Just walk away
Just walk away
Just walk away
The refrain hits point #2 reallll hard. How many times have I seriously considered leaving grad school? Potentially too many to count. How many times have you considered it? Clarkson suggests doing what every grad student wishes (at some point) they had the courage to do. Walk away.

3. Why am I constantly proving my intelligence?
I gave you everything
And never asked for anything
And look at me
I'm all alone (alone)
So, before you start defendin'
Baby, stop all your pretendin'
I know you know I know
So what's the point in being slow
Let's get the show on the road today

Hey
In her introduction to point #3, Clarkson uses the words, "I gave you everything." I'm pretty sure anyone in a full time grad program is willing to admit that going to grad school is more than full time. That's really why I call my dissertation my "life work." Because it's in the back of my mind almost every moment of my life.

Finally, she gets to the most grad school part of the whole song. She's talking about a dissertation defense ("before you start defendin' "). For those of you who don't know, a dissertation defense is when committee members ask the student to answer questions about a project they have completed and have been working on for the past 3-7 years, in order to graduate. I wish I could belt this out at my dissertation defense, "I know you know I know. So what's the point in being slow? Let's get the show on the road today."

Grad students of the world: Let Kelly Clarkson power you through.