Grading

Uh-hmmmmmmm.

I spent all day grading exams and am about halfway done. The first half always takes longer than the second half, but I still write too many comments and generally take too long on all of them. I comfort myself with the fact that for their third and final exam, since we're not even returning them, I won't have to write any comments. And, really, by that point I pretty much know which students are going to fall into which grade brackets--so I'll only have to skim the exams for my overachievers, at least. Unfortunately, I also know I'll take too long on those, since I always picture my B and C students studying and trying really hard in a last-ditch effort for the final... but then they score as their usual B and C selves. There are rarely surprises.

I am also slightly comforted by the fact that after I returned their first exams, one of my students actually thanked me, in section that day, in front of the rest of the class, for the notes I'd written, and said they'd been helpful. That never happens, and it was really validating. In fact, did I already blog about that here? I know I thought about it, because it was such a rare flash of encouragement.
I don't enjoy grading under any circumstances, but I will say it's more enjoyable to grade papers and tests for which one has designed the assignment. Grading another professor's assignments, by his or her standards, is always a challenge. One more reason I'm ready to be done with this degree.

Mrph

Internets, I am Unhappy. This is rather ridiculous, as it is finally (theoretically) spring, I live in a wonderful city, I am surrounded by loving friends and family, I have the opportunity to travel, and I do have funding for next year.

At the moment, however, I am feeling a bit blue. For one thing, I didn't get the fellowship I wanted for next year, which means I will be TA-ing next year. After a multiple-year streak of having all three of our nominees for this fellowship funded, this year they only gave us one. Boo.

Relatedly, I hate Facebook. I don't want to hear anyone's good news.

Also, it has been raining here FOREVER.

When I tried to wrest myself out of this gloom by looking at pictures of Santa Fe, where I spent last weekend and where the weather was actually beautiful and I had interesting adventures, I discovered that for some reason all the photos my camera had captured were the size of postage stamps. Sigh.

Anyway, through the magic of Picasa, I turned them into a collage for you (click for a larger view):
Here is a collage of the (again, unexpectedly tiny) adventures that ensued a few weeks ago when we discovered four tiny squirrels in the front yard:
And finally, here are itsy pictures of earlier this spring (when, pleasantly enough, the sun did shine), including flowers on the university campus and visits to Hidden Falls, the State Capitol, and Hidden Beach:
In other happy news, this has been the week of weeknight dinner parties, with one on Monday to celebrate a friend's successful dissertation defense and endoctoring, and one last night to make potato pizza for a friend and her friend, to whom she had repeatedly raved about this particular dish. Last night's was a pretty predictable affair, but Monday's was absolutely lavish. We started with lemon pasta with herbs and shaved parmesan on a bed of garden-fresh arugula; followed that with an unbelievably good salad of watermelon, goat cheese, olive oil, flaked sea salt and a dash of freshly grated pepper; and enjoyed a main course of salmon with asparagus pesto (though I forwent the fish and had my pesto with pasta) before concluding with a strawberry angel food cake from a local bakery.

Ahhhh, I feel somewhat better.

In other good news, I have finally, FINALLY! almost nailed down the dates for my Montreal research trip. And it's supposed to stop raining tomorrow, maybe. The TA preference sheet for next semester just arrived, and if I get my first choice (fingers crossed hard), I'll be okay. Cold weather makes me want to cook, so maybe I'll put together some lentil soup and cornbread before going to hear Lorna Simpson talk. And Paul and Ter are coming out weekend after next! Thrilling!

Toothiness

This morning I went to the dentist. The graduate student health insurance plan is actually pretty awesome, and includes two cleaning/check-ups per year. I haven't always been great about going; among other things, there's generally a daunting six- to eight-week lag before you can get in for an appointment. I somehow lucked out this time around, however; when I called in response to my postcard reminder, they offered an appointment date the very next week.

The last time I'd been in, in May, the very friendly, if not terribly thorough, hygienist told me I had "the cleanest mouth I've seen all day!" And today, I had the shortest dental exam I've ever had: the dentist did ask me if I'd been having any problems, but then looked in my mouth for all of maybe 30 seconds.

When I remarked on it to the hygienist, she said, "That's because everything looks so good in there!" Well, mostly good. There is some flattening, apparently, that suggests a bit of grinding (stress!), and which may account for some increased sensitivity recently. The hygienist gave me a sample tube of Sensodyne, and also encouraged me to use a fluoride rinse.

I said I didn't realize that fluoride was still beneficial for adults, but that I did remember my mom putting fluoride drops in our breakfast juice during the time we lived in Louisiana when I was a kid. The hygienist was impressed. She said, "You have a good mom!" Because I love telling people this, I added, "She even flossed our teeth for us when we were kids." (It's completely true. I can still remember lying on my back on her big bed while she flossed my baby teeth. When we were old enough to do our own, she used to say, "You only have to floss the teeth you want to keep.")

The hygienist was even more impressed. She said, "You should thank her! She's the reason you have such nice teeth now!" I said, "I do!" although, as she had her fingers in my mouth, it came out more like "Awww roo!"

However, it really can't be said too often: thanks again, Mom!

Oh, and there's one more place where credit is due: my toothbrush, pictured here (thanks to David, who was sure a picture must be taken of me next to the drying string lamp, even though I was in the middle of brushing my teeth). The hygienist asked me if I use an electric toothbrush, but as you can see, I don't. Several years ago, a friend told me about the Oral-B Cross Action toothbrush. She told me that she didn't floss, but that her dentist always thought she did since she'd been using this toothbrush.

With that endorsement, I bought one, and have never looked back. They've become increasingly fancy over the years (gum stimulators! oh my!), and I continue to love them. They're a bit more expensive than their flat-bristled cousins, but absolutely worth it: I can't imagine going back.

Here's to clean mouths!

On the Academy

Today I spent eight hours in a rather small room with some of the smartest people I have ever met or heard of at a university symposium on sexual difference.

Parts of it were interesting and enlightening, a fair amount of it was slightly-to-mostly incomprehensible, and then there were a few positively painful passages.

Sometimes, events like these make me feel inspired about my research; curious about literature, philosophy, and the world in general; and both humbled and grateful to be in this fine institution of higher learning and in the presence of such learned scholars. Often, however, they make me want to disavow any connection with these pompous, onanistic pedants; drop out of school; and generally gnaw my elbow.

I'm not sure how to reconcile these competing desires, especially since I frequently oscillate so rapidly between them.

Pictures

I took these pictures of my office (and out the window that consistently fascinates me) yesterday with my camera phone. They appear to be a little smeary, but do sort of capture the permeating feel of the light. As always, click for larger images.

My desk:

Window, with Pillsbury Hall:

More Pillsbury:

Bookshelf and radiator:

Sink(!):

Closet:

My open office door, from the hallway:

And here are a few more random shots from the phone...

Unnecessary quotation marks in a Lincoln City Doughnut Shop:

Unnecessary quotation marks in the downtown post office:

My favorite nuns on the TCM course:

Band on the TCM course (picture for Teri):

Rockstars:

Trippin'

Today, three colleagues in the department found out that they had won fellowships for next school year. This particular fellowship is granted through the University and is designed to fund the final year of dissertation writing. Our department could nominate three people, and for the second year in a row all three were granted fellowships. It was very exciting indeed.

During dissertation workshop, our chair poked his head in the open door, saw the gathered group, and said, before disappearing again down the hallway, "There are two winners in this room!" Without missing a beat, one of the other students called, "And four losers!"

I don't think that student had applied for any fellowships this year, but another of my colleagues and I had, and had both been rejected--though, to our credit, they were far more competitive (the fellowships, not our colleagues...). The fourth "loser" was our adviser, who runs the dissertation workshop out of the goodness of her heart, and has won plenty of prizes for her awesomeness (if not, yet, though she certainly deserves them, for dealing with our frequently tactless chair).

Today's news about these three fellowships means that I'm now the only person waiting to hear back on funding for next year. The committee is supposed to inform the Director of Graduate Studies (in my case, also my adviser) in "early May." I welcome any finger crossing/prayers/pleas to the universe that you care to send my way!

In any case, as a friend pointed out today when I was teetering on the brink of beginning to think dire thoughts about not getting a fellowship, "Even if you don't get it, you'll still have the roadtrip!"

Yes, the roadtrip!

In a week--on Thursday, to be precise--I'm flying to Portland to present at a weekend conference. And then, David and I are driving back to Minneapolis! By way of Seattle, Hermiston, Walla Walla, Boise, Yellowstone, Carhenge, Lincoln, and Davenport! Here is the current plan (click for a larger view, with clever little icons for each stop):
We're getting back to Mpls in time for my neighbor's wedding, and then we're heading back west, where I'm going to spend the summer attempting to write a chapter of my dissertation (and, you know, pursuing weekend adventures, picking blueberries, hot-tubbing, playing games, running a race or two, and any other manner of other exciting summer activities!).

This is the sort of trip/summer that should assuage any pain about not being awarded a fellowship--though I'm really hoping it won't have to.

If we're going to be in your neighborhood and I haven't already arranged to see you, let me know so that we can meet up!

Revisited

This past week has been a little nuts.

Wednesday, I gave a two-hour lecture on Picasso to the prints class for which I've been TAing this semester. (My friends at school said, "What do you know about Picasso?" The answer is, before prepping this lecture, basically nothing--especially about his prints. Now, after a whole lot of reading and PowerPointing, I know a little bit.)

Monday, I had to submit material to the dissertation workshop that met today, so I wrote a draft of my Portland presentation.

Today, in addition to presenting at workshop, I also had to return the 65 3-5 page papers my students had turned in two weeks ago, but which I hadn't really touched before the past few days because I'd been preparing that Picasso lecture.

They take their final exams next Wednesday, and I'll have 65 of those to grade in a single week, because I'm flying to Portland the next Thursday.

But, before then, I have a week of relative relaxation to make up for last week's craziness. I thus have time to catch you up on last week, which in addition to crazy lecture prep, writing, and grading, involved a VISIT! From David!

Wednesday after I picked him up at the airport we went to the Mall of America, ended up having the picnic I'd packed on the seventh floor of the West parking garage (my favorite place in the MOA, returned to school for my lecture, and then ate with my neighbors at Pancho Villa. Thursday, we had even warmer and more gorgeous weather, so we took the bus downtown, wandered Nicollet Mall and the farmers' market, explored Mill Ruins park, and enjoyed an appetizer outside at Spoon River before meeting a friend at a theater downtown for the live broadcast of This American Life. Friday, we went for a run around the lakes, biked to the Walker sculpture garden and back, caught a film at the historic Riverview, and had a lovely dinner at Jasmine 26. Saturday, we met friends for brunch, ate tamales at the Midtown Global exchange and poked through the booths, took the Greenway to the river and discovered a trail I'd never noticed before that goes clear down to the water, and then attended a friend's birthday party. Sunday, David had to fly home, but we got brunch at the Bad Waitress and still managed to get him on his plane in time (if only barely!).

You'll notice (especially those of you who have had the tour!) that I definitely have my favorites when it comes to showing people around town. It's slightly different without a car; whereas I took Paul and Ter and Ellen, on their respective visits, to my favorite Indian restaurant in the suburbs, that wasn't on the itinerary this time around. However, we were able to bus and bike pretty much everywhere else with ease--and the carless tour does present a unique way to see the city!

I had to work slightly more than I would have liked to, but David was a good sport and even helped me assemble and format the slide list for the final exam. I didn't do any of my own writing or grade any papers, which sort of caught up with me after he left, but now I'm caught up and won't be deluged again until next Wednesday! That's plenty of time to revise the Portland paper and pack for that trip.

If you're interested in pix from the visit, David has posted the highlights here:

Travel Adventures

Last weekend, as you may already know, I was in New Orleans for the annual national conference of the Pop Culture Association/ American Culture Association, giving a paper. The trip was ridiculously, ridiculously expensive (conference registration was $125, after the $55 association membership fee, in addition to airfare, hotel, and food) and rather stressful, as these things are, but was still a good time.

I could spend hours telling stories (as a few of you can confirm), but in the interest of this post, I'll stick to bullets (call me if you want longer versions!).

The Good:

• I didn't miss my flight Thursday morning, even though, despite my otherwise judicious planning, I discovered, upon reaching the front of a long security line, that I was in the WRONG TERMINAL (this happens).* I ended up putting my marathon training to good use by sprinting (with rolling suitcase) back through the Lindbergh terminal, onto a shuttle, back onto the light rail, through the parking garage to the Humphrey terminal, through security, and to my gate, arriving almost exactly 10 minutes before the flight was to leave.
• On non-holiday weekdays, the city bus runs straight from the airport into downtown, for just $1.60
  
• Warm weather in New Orleans
• Comfortable rooms
• Lunching like a lady of luxury at a cafe near the hotel just after arriving Thursday; despite a rather blustery breeze, I enjoyed sitting outside people watching and lingering clear through white chocolate bread pudding and coffee.
  
• Hanging out with Leah and Brett (definitely the highlight): beignets at Cafe du Monde, strolling the French Quarter, Louis Armstrong Park, St. Louis Cemetery, French Market, delicious African food...
• Taking a bump that not only earned me (hopefully... still waiting) a roundtrip fare voucher, but actually got me home earlier than my original flight
  
• Feeling like I gave a bang-up presentation at my panel on Friday

The Bad:

• I was the only person (of three!) on my panel to show up on Friday; the audience was also quite small
• My antiperspirant wasn't up to the New Orleans challenge: Wunderground tells me that although it only hit 81°, the humidity hit 90%!
• Because food was so expensive, I felt underfed for most of the trip, with the notable exception of Friday afternoon and evening, when beignets and coffee sustained me through miles of walking until I stuffed myself with vegetables and couscous at dinner.
• The city can feel a little sketchy, especially when one is by oneself and pulling a rolling suitcase (although I'd heard the phrase "murder capital" bandied about, I'm glad I didn't look up crime statistics before going...)
• Our touring took place on Good Friday, which meant that several attractions, including Preservation Hall, were closed
• The airport bus does not pick up downtown/in the French Quarter on holidays or weekends, stopping two and a half miles away
  

The Ugly:

• The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority website is the worst transit website I have ever seen, let alone tried to use. Look at the "routes and schedules" link, just for fun. Even if you're intimately familiar with the city geography, and don't need to get to, say, the airport (it's in another parish!), it still strikes me as basically unusable.** After great frustration, I finally gave up and took a cab the two and half miles to the airport express bus stop Saturday morning.

I went ahead and uploaded all of the nearly 100 photos I took during the trip, and am actually kicking myself, anomalously, for not taking more, as I'm not sure the ones I got capture the glory of the city, and particularly the French Quarter. Click below to start the slideshow, or here to view larger images, read captions, and make comments.


*In my case, it happened because I had checked in from school the afternoon before and printed my boarding passes there; had I attempted to check in at the terminal, or to check bags, I would have realized my error before spending 40 minutes in the wrong line.
**I do realize I'm spoiled by the inimitable Metro Transit website, and am further convinced of the superiority of the Twin Cities' public transit.

Lanes

Because I am supposed to be re-writing the paper I gave a Dry Run for on Wednesday (which I had already re-written, you may recall, following dissertation workshop the preceding Friday), in anticipation of my New Orleans conference presentation this coming Friday (for which I fly out on Thursday); and because the Wednesday after that my students hand in their final papers (which I will have just two weeks to grade [before the final exam], in the middle of which fall my two-hour lecture for that class and my last submission to the dissertation workshop), I am, instead, distracting myself online.

I was looking up a flight to Portland for a May conference to which I was just accepted, and from there was looking at my options for getting from the airport to the conference site and the friend's house where I'll be staying. As I was looking at the map, I recognized the highway we used to take to get to school, and from there, it was the shortest of jumps to look at my childhood home on Street View. Although I've looked up my current residence, my parents' house in DHS, and countless commercial sites, it had never occurred to me to look up the house where I spent ages seven through eleven, and which frequently shows up in my dreams (including this recent one).

I haven't been back in person since we left, and at first I didn't even recognize my old house. In the 17 (yikes!) years since I lived there, the occupants have redone much of the front yard and have put up a strange wooden screen around the front door. Still, as I studied the image, I recognized the huge maple, unmistakable in the middle of the yard and looking like an old friend. As I clicked up and down the street, I remembered the neighbors who had lived in the houses around us, and the big pines where the street dead-ended at the railroad tracks, where we'd had little picnics and run around. Much of it was very familiar, and highly evocative of childhood memories and sensations.

Looking at my old neighborhood as a grown-up, though, I also found myself a bit depressed. The fact that the photos were captured on an (uncharacteristically!) gray day can't have helped. Things probably did look better two decades ago, before the Northwest weather wreaked its usual trick of turning everything mossy, damp, and droopy (if still impressively lush and green). And the neighborhood, which was always an interesting mix, in hindsight, of quite stately homes and smaller, less-kempt ones, may not have aged all that well. My idyllic childhood home, although plenty respectable, was rather generic, a bit dishevelled, and certainly aging.

The strangest sensation was the concurrent distanced objectivity and opacity lent by, in addition to the computer screen, decades of life and experience, and the surprisingy visceral intimacy prompted by a location I loved so much and filled with the memories only a child of that age can.

Many of my friends grew up in a single house, in which their parents may still live. I was always rather jealous of this. When I went to my neighbor's parents' house for Thanksgiving a few years ago, I got to see her still-intact childhood bedroom. I don't know if those people have more, or fewer, dreams about the homes they lived in with their parents.

I feel plenty fortunate that my parents left the cold Northwest for sunny southern California several years ago, and that I get to visit them there. Now that I'm older, I can even appreciate our multiple moves and the fact that I got to live in many parts of the country.

In a few days I'll be visiting New Orleans for the first time since we moved to the house I just visited virtually. I remember very little of it, though I can still conjur the scent and flavor of a French Quarter beignet and fully intend to test those memories against the real item.

I had always wanted to return to the city as an adult; after Katrina, I figured I'd never be able to return to the same city. Then again... you never really can, anyway.

Wrong

Today I came across, for the first time, in an e-mail from the University president about our fairly dire funding situation, a word that made my skin crawl: planful. As in,

While it is clear that we will need to reduce the size of our workforce over the next two years, it is our goal to limit layoffs by continuing to take advantage of attrition, by reexamining the ways we work and being planful about filling vacant positions, by exploring other options including voluntary reduced-time appointments, and by improving service and efficiency.

Ewwwww.

Other things I am over:

• Winter (snow this morning)
• Staring at my computer, unable to write
• Finally writing something, only to end up
  
• Workshopping said paper and being told that I need to do a lot of
• Revising it before
• Giving a Dry Run presentation on it tomorrow

I'm also over grading essay exams, and submitting fellowship and grant proposals--but at least temporarily, I'm actually done with those! Woo! More time for "revising," which at the moment means staring at my computer and procrastiblogging. Sigh.

Bullets

• One of the Popcan's (many) names was the Sapphire Bullet of Pure Love
• Tonight I started my taxes, but couldn't finish them because I was missing a tuition form
• I lost one of my toenails
• I painted the other nine, and the spot where the tenth used to be
• I've been sick all week, but I'm feeling better (not dead yet!)
• My voice isn't totally back yet, but I'm only missing every fifth syllable or so now, instead of every second or third
• I've been drinking a lot of tea and ginger/lemon/honey goodness
  
• It has been raining here
• I feel like I should be happier about that, because at least it's warm
  
• I don't, though, because (a) it's gray and ugly and (b) it's still going to be winter for another two months, at least
• I am, however, happy about this upcoming weekend!
• I love my new red laptop
• I used it to edit the paper I'm workshopping tomorrow, but mostly I'm liking catching up on TV on the Internet
• Oh, and video chat with the built-in webcam! Who knew?
• I forgot to rip a copy of my brother's new CD before giving my last copy away, but he sent me one a few days ago
• It's brilliant, the kind of album you want to listen to over and over again (which I've been doing)
• Someday I'll succeed in persuading them to set up a website that actually sells said album (each of which is a beautiful, individual piece of art)
• Until then, you can mail $8 to an address I'll give you if you're interested
• Seriously, though, I'll work on them on the website. Setting it up myself is far more tempting than, say, writing a dissertation

Done

Yesterday I reviewed a bunch of my December and January reading over at the book blog; check it out if you feel so inclined!

Today, I accomplished two things that had been plaguing me, and which I had been consistently putting off, one because I am not looking forward to the actual event, and one because the options were overwhelming me. They were, respectively, booking and organizing my Dry Run presentation for my upcoming Milwaukee conference, and buying a new laptop. I am relieved that both are done, and although I'm still not at all looking forward to the former (to be held Friday the 13th), I'm definitely looking forward to the latter, which should be here this Friday. I guess I'll blog about it when it arrives!

Now, I just need to finalize my travel plans to Milwaukee, and finish the paper for it...

Slacker

Yesterday, my neighbor and I ran nine miles (it was 30 degrees warmer than Friday, and felt fabulous!). I talked to my mom on the phone. I made pita and hummus and almond rocha and took them to the swinging holiday party at a friend's gorgeous loft in Saint Paul. I was very social, and at the unsubtle insistence of the girls in my department, chatted up both that young Greek engineering student and the rather nerdy geographer whom, the hostess informed me, she had invited just for me (no pressure!).

It wasn't much, but it was something. Today, I have accomplished virtually nothing. And as lovely and relaxing as that may sound, it is stressful because I have things to accomplish (another conference abstract is due tomorrow, and I finally scheduled my French exam for Tuesday), and it makes me depressed that I can't seem to do them!

Partly, I was out very late. And partly, when I did finally wake up, it was incredibly dark, because we were under heavy gray rain(!)clouds (though now it's apparently 7° and snowing, which meant that getting to this evening's Soup Night [though I did thankfully have a ride!] was a bit hairy). I also seem to have spent several hours in my kitchen--doing last night's pita/hummus/rocha dishes, cleaning my counters and stove, making asiago crackers and crudite to go with last night's hummus...

But not only have I not written this abstract (due tomorrow), I have not even decided on which topic to write it. And I don't want to. I want to go to bed, or clean my house some more, or watch a movie, or go to bed, or read a book, or maybe have some tea, or go to bed.

I do, however, want to go to New Orleans in April, and I don't want to tell my advisor that I neglected to submit anything. The fact that I don't have finals, and won't even have grading to do until Thursday (though at that point it will be a rush to finish before I skip town Sunday morning), just makes me feel like more of a slackerly failure.

UPDATE: Check it out; tomorrow's HIGH is predicted to be one below. Yikes.

Tuesday

Last night we had our first major snowfall of the season, so I knew that this morning things would be a little crazy. I intended to get up early and leave early so that I wouldn't have to worry about speed when I would be better served by worrying about not sliding out. I was also supposed to make copies (since my fellow TA was out sick) and pick up the laptop.

However, because I somehow seem to need to sleep nine to eleven hours a night recently, and because I apparently didn't set my alarm correctly, I instead awoke with a start at 9:13, precisely thirty-two minutes before class was to start. I'm a 13 minute ride from school on a good day, if I make all the lights, and, as I mentioned, today there was traffic slush to deal with. I couldn't find a scarf to cover my crazy bedhead, I didn't have time for more makeup than mascara, I had been deep in the middle of dreams minutes before I found myself ski-biking, and I certainly didn't get those copies made.

But I was only a couple of minutes late to class, and the professor for whom I TA was forgiving (walking into the auditorium wearing a bike helmet and a balaclava, with snow to one's knees, helps in these situations). We ended up avoiding copying the handouts by having students write on their own paper. I went to lunch with a friend (curried potato leek soup and a green salad with my favorite creamy vegan dill dressing!). I wrote most of the final exam we'll give our students in a few days. I attended a lecture on the East Bank that, if nothing else, resulted in an interesting discussion on synthetic meat.

And then I went to Grumpy's with friends from the department, where, among other things, I tried, for the first time ever, fried mac 'n' cheese bites. We stayed late, and I talked and laughed to the point of hoarseness, and at the end of the night I received the first cheek kiss I can remember having in a long time. Good times!

Done

I somehow didn't realize until after I posted yesterday that it was my last post of NaBloPoMo! It's true. I successfully accomplished my first ever November of daily posting. It's a bit anticlimactic, but the wonderful thing is that now that it's December, there are only three weeks before I fly to California.

So, even though I'm no longer obligated to post daily, here I am again. I don't have that much to say, except that I did accomplish two more of the four things I listed yesterday; I'm going to write that abstract tomorrow and submit it then, even though it was due today. I applied for money to go to that conference, so my adviser knows about it. If I submit an abstract, even if it's late, I'll feel better telling her that I was rejected than if I didn't submit anything at all. I suppose there's a chance they'd let me in, too, even if I'm late. I think it's worth trying; I've never been to Boston, and I'd like to go.

Travelin'

Last night was very festive indeed, and this morning very early: I had a 7:15 Greyhound to catch. It was also very snowy; Champaign must have gotten about three inches of snow overnight. I got into Chicago mostly without incident, although our bus driver, upon learning from his dispatcher that he couldn't transport just the eight of us, drove us around the block and back to the station, where we had to get on a far more crowded (but thankfully also Chicago-bound) bus. I didn't have a window seat to myself with room for my backpack, but I did manage to sleep despite my gently snoring neighbor and what seemed like an extra-lurchy trip through snowy fields.

I had hoped to visit the Art Institute, but my friends wanted to outrun the impending snowstorm and thus picked me up early. The roads weren't too bad on the way home, but traffic was some of the worst we'd seen, even--and especially--in the seemingly empty stretches of Wisconsin around the Dells. It ended up taking us around eight and a half hours to get home to (also snowy) Minneapolis.

But now here I am. I ate an entire pizza and a tangerine, and still feel slightly hungry but entirely uninspired to do the things that need doing, which include completing my work for the online course, writing an abstract for a conference paper, drafting another conference paper to submit to my writing group, and getting rid of the occupied mousetrap I discovered under my sink upon returning (I caught my first last Saturday: sigh). The deadline for the first three things is tomorrow. I would far rather curl up in bed and sleep.

Week-ling

It's kind of hard to believe that today is only Tuesday.

The week of Thanksgiving always throws me off: Wednesday feels like Friday, Thursday feels like Saturday, etc. And since I was up late completing a fellowship application (which our department's awesome administrative assistant and I got collated, copied, signed, sealed, and--yes--delivered, to the Graduate College this afternoon); and since I had a student break down crying during my office hours, which is always a bit exhausting; and since it seems as though half of our department is in relational readjustment; and also because we went ahead and took an hour of happy after school; it feels like much later in the week.

In fact, this evening I haven't done any work, just cleaning. My mom taught me it's always better to return from a trip to a clean and orderly home (and the friend returning from Peru may swing by to pick up her plants while I'm gone, too, so I'd like things to be tidy). Thursday morning, between five and six (my friend said he'd call tomorrow to let me know whether it was going to be closer to five or to six) I'm heading to Chicago! Road trips make me excited in general, but ones around the holidays always feel especially festive. Plus, I get to see Ellen, and this time I don't have to take the bus. Which I did, two years ago, although for some reason I completely neglected to blog about it at all.

Hey! Last night I found out I was accepted to present at a conference in Milwaukee this February. I'm pretty excited about that; I've never been, and if I drive, I'm also hoping to get a look at Madison.

Re-shot

Today I got my second-ever flu shot, and this time, I helped set a Guinness World Record!

I didn't even have to trek over to the East Bank this year; they'd set up one station conveniently in the building next door.

My arm is a little sore, but I went for a run afterward and I think that helped. I'd actually forgotten about the shot entirely until I got home after my six miles... and then I remembered. However, it's nothing compared to the epic tetanus booster of a few years ago, thankfully. I'm glad those only come around once a decade.

Kitty

Curly Sue just posted a dream that reminded me of a discussion in my dissertation workshop group today. I think we were prompted by the piece Life Writer, which will hopefully feature in my chapter addressing Artificial Life.

Somehow, we got to talking about "virtual pets." Apparently my adviser's niece has twelve or so, because she can't have a real kitty.

A: "I never understand those virtual pets. I mean, you feed them and walk them. It's the hard parts about having a pet, not the good parts!"

Me: "You must clean your virtual kitty's litter box."

A: "You can't cuddle with a virtual pet!"

Me: "Your virtual kitty has fleas.

"...You have mice, but your virtual kitty is not a mouser.

"...Your virtual kitty got in a fight, and has an infected scratch that will cost a very expensive vet bill. You have no money because you are a student and you have to pay student fees."

My adviser: "You have to ride to the laundromat with all your laundry! And your kitty! On your back in your backpack!"

It was a fun dissertation workshop day.

Back

Hello again, Internets. It's been a while. Sorry about that.

Since then, however, I have had good times. Last long weekend, those included:

• Celebrating my birthday downtown with friends
• Attending the Liberty Parade and concert
• Celebrating my birthday at a barbecue with friends
• Biking to St. Paul and back, for the purpose of
  
• Attending the Take Back Labor Day event, my way of
• Protesting the RNC (kind of a lame protest, I admit... but fun)

Here are a few pictures:

This weekend was a bit quieter--a movie out, riding my bike, helping a friend move, attending another barbecue--mostly because I had to recover from my week, which included...
turning in my prospectus in advance of my oral exams...
because...

I passed my written exams!

Unfortunately, the prospectus wasn't very good. However, my friends who have been through this keep telling me that the written exams are more difficult than the orals, and that if I passed the former, I'm golden for the latter. Needless to say, I have my doubts--but I am more than ready to have this over with and be ABD. What an exciting thought that is!

In other news, school has started, and for the first time in something like 20 years (with the exceptions of 2000 and 2003), I will not be attending classes. I find it hard to believe that I've taken all the classes I need for a terminal degree. I know most of you think I've been in school for forever, but seriously, this seems so... so... sudden. (Although, I will admit, hardly crushing; after all, I am still on campus three days out of the week for TA-ing and dissertation workshopping.)

Also, it's cold here. So cold that I've had to close my windows and turn on my electric blanket. A friend and I did still run our nine miles in shorts this morning, but I also wore my trusty jacket.

Oh--and, yeah, nine miles! Knock on wood, but my leg seems okay so far. Hmmm... did I ever actually mention that my stress fracture (or something in the same region) flared up after I did nine at my parents' just before I left, and that I'd stayed off my leg for the next month? Anyway, I'm back, and trying to ease in slowly, but still hoping to be able to rock the TCM.

And finally, in other news I seem not to have mentioned, but discovered looking for the non-existent reference to the leg trouble, I fixed my pointer problem. I disabled the pointer stick. Yesssss.