dilemma

so, i was opening my mail and found a letter from the property management company of my apartment complex and it turns out they are raising my rent by $40/month if i renew my lease. even though that's not a lot of money, its way too much for the "amenities" and "service" i get. part of being able to justify living there was that it was under $500/month and now it will officially cost as much as my bigger and nicer two-bedroom apartment that i had in college station. this presents a dilemma. i have moved something like 14 times since i graduated from college (which is less than 10 years ago). that's a lot of moving. and yet, i would venture to guess that i could get more for my money somewhere else. SO..what to do. i spent some time looking at craigslist this morning to see if there were inexpensive places and i found a couple. i also learned that people will post pictures of the most random shit when they are trying to sell an apartment. for example: http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/apa/234380195.html did they mean to post a picture of a bird? is that really a selling point for this property? "live here and hang out with this bird...who will probably wake you up early in the morning against your will." weird stuff.

insert intriguing and profound title here

i had a great time in texas. i was able to catch up with some friends and i managed to get all the interviews done that i needed. i talked with 11 students and my goal was 10. so that worked out really well. the trip involved A LOT of driving, so i'm very happy that i won't be going anywhere again until christmas time. after i was done in austin, i stopped in college station to get some coffee with sociology friends and then headed to houston to spend the holiday weekend with mike's family. holy cow was it awesome. we ate way too much (but luckily i didn't gain any weight...nor did i lose any despite my evil scales first read this morning!). it was good to catch up with mike's family and to just get some down time. we even played golf on saturday and though i didn't do great, i did save our team a few times. :) on saturday/sunday mike and i made the long-ass drive back to ABQ, which was also fun.

now that i'm back though, it seems i'm even less motivated at work than i was before i went to the lonestar state. i didn't actually know that was possible. but i think after spending time doing this research and getting fired up about it, its difficult to get amped up about entering data into electronic forms ALL DAY long. i've applied for a few other positions and i'm still hoping something miraculous will happen so that the situation is different next semester. i was hoping i'd get to teach more classes so i could just do that and not do this full-time thing. but then i sacrifice benefits. so its either financial security and no time or more time and no financial security...at least in the short term. what i do know is that i MUST get the dissertation done by august 2007, so cross your fingers that i win the lottery or get one of the part-time jobs i've applied for (which sadly pay more than what i make full-time...bleck).

so, being back in the grind has brought on kind of a feeling of being lost right now. looking forward to an evening at home though to just relax and kind of settle back in to life in ABQ.

peace out.

fortune cookie

so, things are going well in austin. i should have 10 interviews done before i leave on wednesday and maybe even a few more people interested in phone interviews. :)

ate lunch at pei wei for lunch today and this was my fortune: "tell those you love that you do."

pretty nice, no?

so love to ya'll. :)

texas here i come

so after work today i will be on my way to texas to hopefully finish my dissertation interviews in austin. i'll also get the opportunity to catch up with some friends and to hang out with mike's family for thanksgiving. looking forward to that A LOT. weirdly, i'm also dreading and looking forward to the drive. i'm dreading it because i have to get kind of a late start and won't be able to leave ABQ until about 4 or 4:30. my hope is to get to fort worth and find a hotel, get some sleep and then it's a quick jaunt to austin the next morning. i have two interviews already set up tomorrow afternoon, so i'm hoping all goes well with the travels. so, i have some dread because i have a long drive ahead of me after a long day of working. BUT, i do like to have the quiet time in my car to just think about stuff or sing really loud or talk to people on the phone (i have a handsfree thing so no worries.)

i'm hoping this trip will be kind to my diet...though i think that could be difficult. i won't tell you about pounds lost or gained...since it's been at a plateau for a while now. but i do feel stronger and have some muscles. i can even run/jog/walk 1.5 miles in 20 minutes. sure...not that impressive, but considering where i started a few months ago...its pretty damn good.

if anyone is bored tonight and wants to help me stay awake on the ultra exciting drive through west texas, give me a call. :)

more soon!

updating the list

haven't done this in a while, so though its boring...let's see the progress. then i will write more later when my brains have woken up about how things are going. in a word...kinda busy.

Things to Do: Dissertation/Graduation


Spring 2005

- Assemble Committee (complete)
- Thesis Publication (complete)
- Southwest meeting (complete)
- Dissertation proposal (complete)
- 2 courses (complete)
- File Degree Plan (complete)


Summer 2005

- Defend proposal (complete)
- Put together prelims list (complete)
- IRB (complete)
- Research design for NM project (I'm not doing this anymore)
- Lit review chapter (Joe says this is done, but i don't think it really is. And its not...so I will finish that one by the end of December too)
- Pre-interviews (complete)

Fall 2005
- Last two courses (completed)
- Austin interviews (ended up starting these in April 2006 due to IRB and time issues and will finish by December 2006 if all goes well next week)
- Write introduction and methods chapters (yeah....I need to do this by the end of December)
- Do some kind of OGS paperwork that I'm sure is required at this point? (completed)
- Take preliminary exams (Done and passed)
- Publication? (not yet...some are in the very early stages)
- Move? (Done....at least until August when maybe I'll be moving again?!)

Spring 2006
-Interviews in Austin
-Interviews in New Mexico
-Interviews in Chciago
*I started all of these and worked on more NM interviews in the summer. Now I'm almost done with this part.*

So I guess I need to add to the list

Fall 2006
-Apply for many many faculty positions (Mostly done)
-Make a job talk and sample lesson plan
-Write three chapters of the dissertation (hmmm)
-Wrap up teaching for the semester and plan next semester's course
-Finish data collection (just about)

there's much more to add to that list, but its mostly small stuff and stuff that i hope will happen...like maybe finding a better paying job here in ABQ and finally really cleaning my apartment and getting rid of stuff.

okay..guess I should do some work since I'm at work. Whatever though. :) More later.

holy exhausted batman

so, its my final night in chicago. i can proudly say that i am leaving tomorrow having completed 9 really really good interviews. if i get some people to do phone interviews then i will have wrapped up this leg of my research. somewhat hard to believe and i hope that my time in austin is just as fruitful.

now, i'm looking forward to dinner with some college friends and then an evening of relaxation and sleep. in order to get to campus on time for my first interview, i had to get up at 5:20 (that's 4:20 albuquerque time) in order to catch the train into the city. and i didn't sleep well since i had some things on my mind and was nervous about missing the train. i did manage to make it with a minute to spare. :)

this trip has really been great. i got to see jen and jed and their son ryan and crazy insane dog, daisy (who has inspired me not to get a jack russell terrier...no offense...they are just too high maintenance for me). jed and jen and i went to beautiful milwaukee on saturday night and had dinner with our duhawk friends chad, theresa, and greg at harry's bar and grill. we had way too much fun for sure. ("GOOD NIGHT CHAUNCEY!") we also went to a very cool german bar called von trier.

thursday i caught up with my friend becky who i haven't seen since 2003...and that hardly counts since it was only for a few minutes. we managed to talk and catch up for about 5 hours. :) we're actually meeting again tonight (with more college friends) and will have to resist staying up late. i think given how exhausted i am though, that i will likely poop out before it hits 8 in the windy city.

looking forward to getting back to my own bed in albuquerque and putting my suitcase back in the closet for a while....or a week. :)

anywho...that's all from me for now. have a good one kids!

crazy starbucks karma

so i'm feeling a little trapped at this starbucks in chicago at the moment. i'm in town doing research for my dissertation and can't get internet access where i'm staying. so i meandered in what i thought was the right direction to find this starbucks...and luckily happened upon it without issue. good karma from the get-go. but it gets better.

i order my drink and i get one of those "do our on-line survey and get a free drink" things. then when i go to pick up my venti percent hazelnut latte, i notice that i was given a grande (one size smaller for those of you who don't speak starbucks.) so that barista guy gives me both drinks. not bad but more coffee than i needed at 4 in the afternoon...so i figured i could take the other one back to my apartment and drink it in the morning.

after being here a while checking email and hoping to hear back from the many many students who have emailed me with interest in the study, i start getting cold. this is a rather drafty starbucks...mostly because its friggin' cold in chicago and every time anyone opens the door we get a preview of what it will be like when i finally leave. so i ordered a venti caramel apple cider mostly because it has no caffeine and i don't want to be up all night...but i do want a warm-up. to my surprise, the barista does it AGAIN! so once again i leave the coffee bar with two drinks. i currently have five drink cups on my table and i'm sure people in here, when they stop studying for a moment, think i'm the most wired person in chicago right now.

now my hope is that i don't pee myself tonight...that i find my way back to the apartment without issue, and that the many many students who have emailed me will actually have time to meet with me while i'm in town.

here's hoping karma stays on my side for the rest of the trip. :)