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.