the sociology of kate

i'm trying out a new blog site

2011-01-05T11:27:00.002-07:00

sociologyofkate.weebly.com

check it out and let me know what you think. :)

"maybe i should friend him on facebook?"

2010-10-14T13:26:00.000-06:00

a year ago today i was sending my awesome friend carrie emails about how cool this new guy todd was after hanging out with him unexpectedly at trivia. even though i had been on campus for 12 hours and looked like crap, i must have made a good impression, since he accepted my friend request and even responded to the email i sent him on my way to NYC to hang out with shelley. before i knew it, we were planning our first date (october 22nd) and sharing witty banter via facebook email. i'm not sure if either of us would have predicted that less than a year later we'd be sharing a beautiful apartment with two adorable kitties. what i did know was that i thought todd was extremely funny, handsome, and intelligent and someone i wanted to spend more time with. and i had this really good feeling about the potential relationship we could have. :)

todd said something this past weekend about how it's been a while since he's felt like everything in his life was working out. i definitely knew what he meant. it seems like in the past either my relationships were good and my career was insane or my career was good and my relationships were insane. it's amazing to finally have both things being great at the same time. sure, there are things i would change about my job if i could, but overall i'm very fortunate to be doing what i love. and life with todd is really a dream come true. i know that's corny and he might mock me a little for that level of cheesiness, but every day is better than the last. there are so many things that i love about him and about our relationship together. i'm so glad that he decided to come to trivia a year ago and that i decided to take a small step forward by making him my friend on the FB. so many wonderful things have happened in the last year. and i know that we have so much more good stuff to come.

i love you todd!

cha...cha...cha...cha...cha...changes!

2010-09-19T21:39:00.000-06:00

much has changed since last i wrote. after a very busy start to the school year, i'm happy to share that we are officially moved in and settled into the new apartment. we suckered some friends into helping us schlep almost everything over to the new place the weekend before my contract started. then i worked my hiney off to get my old apartment cleaned and things unpacked in our new home. a week after we moved in, we decided to adopt two adorable kittens. i have taken a bunch of pictures of them already, which you can peruse here if you need some virtual kitty therapy. (it turns out hanging out with kittens for an hour is quite stress-relieving). they are so sweet and fun and sometimes mischievous. i think we were both surprised by how fast we became attached to them. and they went from not liking each other to tolerating each other to playing-sleeping-licking-wrestling-meowing with each other very quickly.

all in all, these changes have been really awesome. that's not to say that there hasn't been some stress at times. after living basically on my own, with only brief periods of having roommates since i graduated from college, it is an adjustment to get used to sharing chores and expenses and even just free time. but, it's a good adjustment that i wouldn't trade for the world. it was weird moving out of my old apartment after having been there the longest amount of time in the last 10 years or so. but joy i have living in this awesome place with todd is difficult to fully articulate. there are moments when i'm so happy i get tears in my eyes. like on our second night in the apartment when he was playing his guitar and singing songs. or today when we sat on the couch with our sweet kitties, watching a movie, and drinking coffee. life is good. so very good. :)

best move yet

2010-07-25T12:44:00.002-06:00

those of you who have known me for a while have probably had the distinct pleasure of helping me move. in fact, many of you probably have since i've moved something like 17 times since i graduated from college. many of those were within the same town, but regardless, that's a lot of packing tape and boxes and heavy lifting. if you feel like you've missed out on moving fun, fear not. i'm moving again...and i couldn't be more excited!

todd and i made a decision a few months ago to live together. we looked for apartments that were in an area of town that we like, allows cats, and that had at least 2 bedrooms. happily, we fell in love with the second place we looked at. it's owned by a friend of mine, who lives on the 3rd floor of the building (and his dad lives on the 1st floor.) weirdly our good friends dave and carrie actually lived in the first floor of this house when they moved to dubuque. it's an awesome place and i'm really looking forward to sharing it with todd.
this will be a first for me and though i'm a little nervous, mostly i'm so happy. though the process of moving is stressful, i know that this is going to be really fantastic and there's so much i'm looking forward to. i can't wait to get our kitties, to have a bigger kitchen, to be in walking distance of work (that doesn't involve walking up a giant hill), and mostly to getting to share my life with todd.

here's some pictures of the new place. we move in starting on august 16th!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12657973@N06/sets/72157624557727944/detail/

time flies when you're having fun

2010-05-03T18:44:00.000-06:00

unbelievably we have two weeks of classes left before finals start. i can't believe how busy my schedule has been lately. luckily there has been a whole bunch of fun crammed in between class prep, grading, and meetings. i spent this past weekend in cleveland meeting todd's family. it was a great weekend! cleveland has way more going on than i would have expected and the schmidt family is just wonderful. :) we went there to see todd's sister allison give a recital and i was totally wowed by her excellence on the piano. the weekend was full of good food, good beer, baseball (which was also good), and fantastic music! the 9ish hour car trip was also pretty fun..mostly. :)

life has been busy lately. i've been working on some paid research projects, catching up on grading, and preparing for the end of the semester. hopefully this week will be as productive (but less stressful) than last week was. i'm really looking forward to spending some time with my mom on saturday and sunday for mother's day.

i'm going to blame a cumulative lack of sleep for this post. probably not too exciting, huh? but in short...i'll probably be moving to a new house or apartment in the next few months. my trivia team won a free trip to vegas (well...free rooms anyway). and i couldn't be happier with how life is going! :) ankle deep in love as tom petty says.

hope you are all well my friends!

Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more. --Erica Jong

2010-04-22T17:34:00.000-06:00

this is a fantastic quote....and i find myself believing that it speaks a lot of truth. that's probably especially easy to say today, when i'm feeling very happy and nostalgic thinking about the last 6 months. half a year ago, todd and i went on our first date. i remember feeling really nervous and super excited. i bought a new outfit. i was pacing around my apartment and i think talking to a few of you online. i was a bundle of nerves. i think i remained in that state for our first few dates actually. :) now, six months later, i'm very much in love and so happy that i get to share my life with someone so fantastic. it feels like i've known him for much longer than six months...and it also seems like the time has flown by. it's crazy how time works like that sometimes.

so, again i find myself on the couch very excited for todd to pick me up to go out for sushi (though not nervous.) i love you, todd. thanks for all that you bring to my life...happiness, laughter, joy, interesting movie/music knowledge, hilarity...and love. it sure is all that it's cracked up to be.

stymied by a title

2010-03-28T19:11:00.000-06:00

i've been meaning to blog for a few weeks now but i could not think of a creative title. i've consulted my brains, quotations online, and song lyrics by my favorite artists but came up short in all cases. so i figured i should just get over it and blog. title be damned!

this semester has been going really well. classes haven't been too demanding so far. i have been busy with third year review (which is over...just waiting on feedback) and i got a contract for next year, so i'm happy about that. i've been wanting to get some scholarship done, but it still hasn't really happened yet. there have been a number of other things work related that have popped up (like the opportunity to present at a White Privilege Summit this week) which have eaten up some of my time. getting the dissertation published is on the top of my list right now once i get some to work on it.

things with todd are AWESOME. we've been together for a little over five months and i'm so very happy. i still find myself feeling amazed at how compatible we are. i feel really lucky and blessed to have him in my life. i could say more but suddenly my brains have stopped functioning correctly. i'll blame all the love. :)

this year is flying by already

2010-02-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

it seems that teaching a january term course makes the start of the year go by rapidly. i once again taught my Race, Poverty, and Hurricane Katrina class, which involves taking students to NOLA for a week or so. it was an amazing experience. i actually started a separate blog about it and have a few posts. if you're interested i can send you the link. the students were incredible and the experience there renewed my desire to keep teaching the course. i was discouraged about it last year and didn't really want to do the trip or the class again. i'm glad that i stuck with it, because i learned so much about how important our work and presence continues to be in NOLA. and the students learned so much. i'm trying to figure out a way to keep doing the course or some variation of it next year.

we're in week two of the spring semester. generally i don't really like the spring semester too much. even as a student, it was hard to get motivated and to stay focused. this semester though looks to be one of the lightest ones i've had in terms of teaching since i started. i'm teaching three classes, all of which i have taught previously. i decided not to change too much, which was a good plan. and two of the classes have less than 10 students enrolled. i have to be honest...i needed a semester like this one. in december and january, i had to put together my portfolio for 3rd year review. it helped me realize how much i've accomplished in a short time. i've taught 9 different courses in the last 2.5 years. six of those are classes that i've never taught before, so i feel like i really hit the ground running here. it's been stressful, but also really great to get so much experience! i'm feeling really good about the meeting that i'll have with rank and tenure in a few weeks. my division chair gave me a lot of positive feedback when we met last week for a coffee. in fact, she said that she's noticed that i'm different this year. she said that she's noticed that i even walk differently and stand differently. this was surprising, because it was the first time i've heard that comment. but i think she's right. i feel different.

i think part of the difference has to do with finally feeling more settled and comfortable in my career. though i wish we made more money (who doesn't, right?), i'm very happy to be where i'm at. and this year, with my colleague/friend/mentor on sabbatical, i think i've had the opportunity to spread my wings a bit. it's hard to articulate, but i'm starting to really accept the fact that i'm dr. p, assistant prof of sociology. there were times in graduate school when i felt like an imposter...that at any moment my professors and colleagues would realize i wasn't actually smart enough to be studying for my ph.d. and they would boot me out. i think that same insecurity followed me in the first few years of my teaching career as well. i'm glad that i'm moving past it though and feeling more confident.

that confidence is bouncing back in other areas of my life too. i think last year, when i was trying to go on dates and stuff, part of the problem i was facing was doubts about myself. i didn't feel like i looked good and it was taking longer than i expected for me to really trust in myself again. my ego took a big blow and it definitely took some time to get over that. i think some of that renewed kate that my division chair observed has to do with feeling better about myself...both professionally and personally. i'm still trying to improve some things...like losing some more weight and working on finances, but overall i'm really happy with my life. when todd and i first started dating, it was really difficult for me to believe that it was even happening. my mind would tell my heart..."yes, you met a handsome, smart, hilarious man who really likes you," but my heart was just not sure what to make of that information. i had hoped for a while that i would get set up with someone fantastic and there were times, especially last year, where i wasn't sure that it would ever really happen. it is so great to be wrong about that now. :) it has happened and it's so wonderful. i won't gush too much more, but suffice it to say that i'm a very happy kate.

anyway, that's a very rambling update but i've been meaning to write for a while. so far 2010 is even better than 2009 was. sure..it's only february, but i'm confident that things are going to keep getting better and better. :)

A quick review of the Year of Kate: Good-bye 2009!

2010-01-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

the beginning of last year was pretty busy, so luckily when i finally had time to review 2008 (in april), i wrote about the first few months of 2009. so, i'm going to cheat and paste those below and add to the list. :)

january 2009

rang in the new year in milwaukee after some fun in chicago. viva the year of kate!
turned 33...what the?
J-term class to New Orleans and back
took a mini-break to TX

february 2009

spring semester starts and i'm not at all prepared for two new courses and stats. (lamented 8 a.m. classes)
exhaustion from j-term lingers
started the match.com thing again
fundraiser for new orleans. the students did a good job though we didn't raise a lot of funds
signed up for a gym membership

march 2009

awesome spring break! spend a few days in dubuque with dennis and then the rest of the break in albuquerque catching up with friends i haven't seen in too long. this included some high quality time with my friend haley and baby kate (and dan too of course.)
discovered how cool park farm winery is
happy to get a contract for next year even if it didn't have a raise on it
finished watching Six Feet Under series. wow!

april 2009

conference in des moines. caught up with old friends, made some new friends, and had a great time connecting with my colleague
iowa gets gay marriage!
good times with dennis, erin, and brent at the casino on a random monday night
fun easter weekend with mom that involved sushi, wine, shopping, and a champagne easter brunch

may 2009

finished up one of the most challenging academic years yet
celebrated with mom and dad for their 35th wedding anniversary
started teaching what ended up being a very long and very annoying night class at the community college
awesome camping trip with dennis
welcomed baby alivia to the world unexpectedly. congrats monica and patrick

june 2009

went to see bob schneider in chicago with jen and jed
went out for coleen's birthday and discovered pub quiz trivia at 180 main and met some AWESOME new friends
camping trip with the duhawk crowd
started working part-time at park farm
went to see Music on the March

july 2009

celebrated July 4th with sara in college station and met some new friends
had a fantastic trip to vegas with jody
discovered how fun karaoke is on thursday nights at the yard arm (and met todd for the first time)
got to hang out with my nephew luke in dubuque

august 2009

traveled to san francisco for the ASA conference. first time to the west coast and it was a great experience
finished long and annoying summer class at the community college
bought a new car
went to the Iowa State Fair with mom and dad and dennis
got together with high school friends for a 15 year reunion
started the 2009-2010 school year

september 200

trip to texas for labor day
camping trip with dennis at little wall lake
went to see Wicked with dennis and it was AWESOME
caught up with duhawks at homecoming

october 2009

went to st. louis to see my brother and his family
discovered i'd gained some weight since the last health check i had in 2008. :(
started running again. :)
went to new york city with shelley!!!!
surprised mom with tickets to see Wicked for her 60th birthday
first date with todd
hung out with my mom, my aunt deb, and my cousins ashley and kelli for mother/daughter weekend

november 2009

went to see bob schneider with todd in madison, wi
found out i got hosed out of going to ireland next year
went to kansas city with mom for our Wicked weekend
thanksgiving at uncle dave's house and at home!
discovered that i had lost about 10-12 pounds by the end of this month

december 2009

went to some holiday parties
enjoyed canceled classes due to blizzard
went x-mas shopping with erin in madison
had one of the busiest finals weeks yet
took todd to m'town to meet the family for our christmas celebration
enjoyed some of the newish holiday traditions (Holiday Inn with dennis and mom, x-mas eve at Jon and Deb's, candied bacon...)
had an awesome gift exchange evening with todd
celebrated new year's eve with many fantastic friends in dubuque!

this has been a really phenomenal year. i've met so many new people, visited new places, accomplished goals, and continue to grow at work. this year also gave me the opportunity to get closer to old friends as well and i really feel good about where i'm at with my life. :) i do have some things i want to achieve in 2010 (less debt, more publications, continued healthiness, improved teaching) and i really believe that i will be able to get all of those things accomplished. i think 2010 is going to be an even better year!!!! i'll keep you posted. :D

happy new year!

2009: the year of kate

2010-01-01T00:53:00.000-07:00

so back in january, i declared that 2009 would be the year of kate. little did i know that i would actually be correct in my predictions. this was a fantastic year. that's not to say that there weren't challenges, because there certainly were some. but overall, i had a wonderful 2009. i met new friends, got to travel to both coasts, and found love! i'll post my traditional year in review, but for now i just have to express how grateful i am for such a wonderful year. i have a strong feeling that 2010 is going to be even better! much love to all my friends and family who contributed to this great 2009.

worst december photo project participant ever

2010-01-01T00:39:00.001-07:00

again, i'm a bit behind on posting pictures. i promise to do better next december. :) here are some shots from our traditional gathering at my aunt and uncle's house on christmas eve. this was a fun night full of strong cocktails (thanks uncle jon), candied bacon and other yummy snacks, a gift exchange, and watching A Christmas Story.

my parents

mom with the best picture of my cousin ashley's husband ever.

crazy ladies

my cousin ben and the sombrero he wanted for christmas

hotties. doy.

purple cowboy

2009-12-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

i discovered this wine last night and it was very, very good and a perfect complement to watching White Christmas with Mom and Dad last night. yum.

family christmas

2009-12-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

it has become easier over the years for my family to gather the weekend before Christmas for our holiday celebration. so i'm cheating with the december photo thing by posting several pictures from that. :) i got a little behind with posting these due to needing to submit final grades and traveling back and forth from dubuque to marshalltown. it was a very fun weekend! i think the kids had a lot of fun together and everyone got plenty of food and merriment. i was especially happy to bring a special someone home with me this year (thanks again Todd for joining us!)

checking out what luke got.

so excited!!

lovely little princesses

luke being silly in his new pajamas

my niece amanda who is going to be 18 in february. unreal. :)

christmas tree

2009-12-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

finally got this shot and it's not too bad. (and i didn't crash my car.)

busiest finals week yet

2009-12-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

this week has been downright nutty. i spent most of monday and tuesday grading stuff, updating grade books, and giving finals. today i went shopping in madison with my awesome friend erin, which was really fun but also quite necessary since my family's christmas celebration is happening on saturday. tomorrow i have two meetings, need to give another final, and have presents to wrap and more grading to do. then i'm hoping on friday i can finish up as many final grades as possible, make some treats to take home, finish up shopping, and then head to marshalltown. i think i will definitely need a break after this week alone! i still managed to take a few pictures with my trusty iPhone.

the first one was meant to demonstrate to people who don't live in the Midwest exactly how cold it has been lately. it might be hard to see, but the frost on my windshield was on the inside of my car. it was there in the morning and i'd hoped that it would be gone by the time i left campus at 4:00. not so much. if anything there was more of it. the temperature also reads about 11 degrees, though it was colder than that with the windchill. gotta love using the scraper inside the car.

the second photo is from my shopping trip with erin. since we were going to be in madison, we decided to eat at one of our favorite restaurants...CHIPOTLE! sure, we could have eaten some thai food or indian food or some other type of food that is likely better in madison than dubuque, but we opted for this instead and i'm glad we did. it was yum-tastic and i had a coupon for a free burrito that i needed to use in 2009. didn't think i'd be cutting it this close. :)

finally, on our shopping trip we stopped in H&M. i went to one for the first time when i was in san francisco and found very little that i would actually be able to pull off wearing. the same was true this time. not only did i feel not trendy enough (or young enough) to be in there, but then i saw things like the next photo which truly horrified me. yes readers, those are elastic-waisted acid-washed jeans that are tapered. if this style is back again, then i'm happy to not be trendy. :)

okay, so these photos don't quite put me on schedule with the photo project. things have been busy with grading (i'm finally done!) and our family christmas. i'm heading back to marshalltown tomorrow though so should be able to catch up on blogging and photo posting.

another busy/fun weekend

2009-12-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

hi friends who read my blog,

as the subject line states, i had another fun and busy weekend which meant i didn't get a lot of pictures taken. though i should have taken some since i was at two parties on saturday. ah well. i did attempt to take a picture of someone's christmas decorations. they have no less than 20 trees in their yard made of strings of lights. i'm guessing there's a center pole and then strands of lights from the top are attached to the ground to make a cone. (if that made sense at all...i'm not so good at the spacial thinking stuff.) i wonder what their neighbors think of this every time i have passed it...especially because there are probably 8 different colors going on and they are concentrated in a moderately-sized front lawn. regardless, my photo attempt with the iPhone didn't really work out and instead looked like trees were on fire. i also attempted to take a picture of the huge tree on campus that has white lights on it while i was going down the hill, but that one also didn't work out and i figured i should be paying attention to driving.

for those two reasons i will be recycling some photos for today's post.

i posted this picture on my facebook page a while ago, but it's too fantastic to not highlight on my blog. i saw this car in the parking lot of one of our local grocery stores and just had to take a picture of it. it's cheetah-tastic. (unless those are leopards...then it can be leopard-licious.) please note that the interior is also covered with leopard/cheetah spots. all the seats. the steering wheel. you get the idea.

this next photo is one of me sitting in the window of my rented room in austria. i had a fantastic view! my 9 months in austria were wonderful and i can't believe it has been a decade since i was last over there. i really hope to get back to europe sometime in the not too distant future. i've been thinking about applying for another fulbright and doing some research there. if i do, i hope i have a view as good as this one! (don't judge my sweater vest.)

this last one is a picture i didn't remember that i had (which is a little pathetic because it's from october of this year.) this is me and my nephew luke and niece cami when i visited them in st. louis for my brother's birthday. are we cute?! i can't wait to see the family at the end of this week for our christmas celebration!!

okay, back to grading for me. i'm pretty sure all my posts this week will end that way.

this will be the last of the snow pictures...i promise

2009-12-11T16:19:00.008-07:00

here is a picture of my car in the alley behind my apartment building after the big snow on tuesday night. one of the things i love about my building is that my landlord hires someone who shovels back there, so i don't usually have too much concern about being able to free my car from snow drifts. trust me non-midwest friends...this is a HUGE perk.

the other photo is the view from my apartment window.

baby it's cold outside...

2009-12-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

i'm using the below zero windchill as an excuse for not having a new photo to upload today. i know, not the best excuse since people have been known to take pictures inside. regardless, i'm out of energy to be creative, so i'm going to post an oldie.

this is a young kate eating a cookie while wearing sweet cookie monster slippers. :) those are some awesome bangs i've got going on as well. :)

photo project days 8 and 9

2009-12-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

yesterday, the weather channel and local paper kept saying things like blizzard warning, winter storm warning, and ominously "the strength of the storm gathering force in the plains could approach levels not seen in 20 or 30 years." after consulting with some trusted faculty friends yesterday, i decided that holding my night class would probably not be a good idea. we can finish what we were going to to last night during finals week and it just didn't seem worth it to risk of car accidents and twisted ankles. (plus those of you who have been to my school are well aware of the giant hills. it was tricky enough getting down one of the in the civic at 4:00 when i finally left and it had only been snowing an hour!)

all this is build up to yesterday's and today's photos. once i made it home and felt the sweet relief of not having to deal with class for the evening, i made myself a yummy cup of hot chocolate.

this is what dubuque looks like today! we got ourselves a little winter wonderland going on. :)

told ya!

2009-12-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

we did get some snow last night, so this is the view from my office today. the weather channel and local meteorologists keep talking about blizzard watches in the next few days, so i anticipate a lot more snow in our future.

my weekend was too fun so...

2009-12-06T11:44:00.001-07:00

i'm a little behind on posting photos. i've still been relying mostly on the iPhone for this project. i like my camera, but it's a bit hard to lug around. i thought about getting a smaller camera before i went to NYC but it didn't happen. :) maybe later.

so in the meantime, here are my photos for the last three days. the first one is a fun picture of my mom from mother-daughter weekend in october. she cracks me up.

the second photo is me and my great friend erin at the gap. we tried on turtlenecks that we liked and then discovered that the collars were giant. we opted not to get them, but we did look pretty cute.

finally, i took some time yesterday to get my christmas decorations put up (i even listened to christmas music while i was decorating...it was a nice afternoon actually.) so here's a picture of my little tree. i even made sure my yoga frogs were in the festive spirit. :)

i predict my next photo will involve pictures of the first real snow fall for the winter.

okay, my coffee still hasn't kicked in today and i'm having some trouble being articulate. this was another great weekend and i hate that it's already almost over. one more week of classes and then finals though!!

my classroom is usually less scary

2009-12-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

a few of my students have been on crutches in the last week, which means that two of my classes got moved from my usual building to the science hall. negotiating four flights of stairs isn't easy to do when you're dealing with repaired ACLs and twisted ankles. today's picture is of some stuff that was in my classroom this morning. i'm not sure what that giant saw is used for, and i'm not sure i want to know.

I wish I could have taken a picture of tonight's sunset...

2009-12-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

it was truly amazing. unfortunately though i was driving my car and only had my iPhone with me which promptly froze up the very second i needed it. so, i didn't get a new picture taken today. though i tend to be a rule follower, it isn't clear if i have to take a new picture every day. it appears others don't necessarily do that, so for today i'll post a picture of the sunset when i was on my way back to dubuque after thanksgiving. pretty iowa skies.

decemeber photo project

2009-12-01T10:16:00.003-07:00

my friend haley participates in this on her blog and inspired me to do the same. i figured since i've been slacking on posts lately that this would give me good motivation to keep my blog more up-to-date. of course, in my haste to get out of the door i forgot my digital camera (plus i'm not sure i could have fit anything else into my school bag), so today's picture is from my iPhone. here's a shot of my desk and perhaps an explanation for why the blog posts have been lacking!

(for the record...the stack on the left of the laptop aren't papers to grade...but it is a pile of stuff that i've been needing to sort through since august. *sigh*)

grading schmading...must finish NYC posts!

2009-11-11T09:41:00.023-07:00

saturday in NYC was a busy and yet fantastic day! we had a lot planned, so we got up at a reasonable hour and got ready for the day. on my way to one of the bathrooms, an elderly lady was

peeking out her door saying in a new york accent of some variety: "excuse me....excuse me...are you the maid?" i opted to not answer that question, partly because i was tired and mostly because i figured that yellow pajama pants and an orange striped shirt couldn't possible be confused with a maid's uniform. i'm pretty sure shelley and i spent the rest of the day saying that phrase. :)

first on our agenda was finding some breakfast. we opted for bagels with schmeah and coffee. mine was del

icious!! cinnamon raisin with blueberry schmeah. yumtastic. shelley got an egg bagel with whitefish salad. i was skeptical, but she let me try some and it was really, really good.

after we were full of bagels, we jumped on the subway and headed to the staton island ferry. it turns out the ferry is free and it provides excellent views of manhattan, the statue of liberty, and ellis island. it was also a fun ride! it's going to be hard to put this into words, but it was also amazing to see the statue of liberty. i wasn't expecting to be as excited about it as i was. maybe because i've been spending so much time in my race and ethnicity class recently talking about immigration, but there's just something special and majestic about her. see for yourself.

lady liberty

ellis island

the big apple

kate and shells freezing their asses off

the ferry ride was about 30 minutes, so when we got to staten island, we jumped on a ferry going back to the city, because we needed to get to times square in time to see AVENUE Q!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is one of my favorite musicals of all time (and probably the same is true for shelley as well). i've been listening the soundtrack for something like 4 years but hadn't seen the show so i was THRILLED when shelley informed me that it was going to be playing off-broadway. i literally almost shrieked in my office upon hearing that news but managed to restrain myself. we hustled to find the theater for the 2:00 matinee. we made it with time to stop at the lobby bar for a $9.00 glass of wine to enjoy during the show. (and no, it wasn't magic wine. it was quite good...but not worth $9.00 probably.)

the show was everything i hoped it would be. i knew the music, but i didn't know many of the plot points that connected the songs, so it was great to finally know why nicky was homeless and what happened with kate monster and princeton. i was so happy to be watching a show that i loved with shelley in new york city that i kept getting all misty-eyed. i'm a total cornball sometimes. during intermission we decided not to buy anymore $9.00 wines, but shelley did procure us two cups of ice which made drinking our mini-baileys a lot easier. :)

after the show, we were starving so we went to an upscale mexican restaurant that we noticed on the way to the theater. i had two of the best fish tacos i've ever had in my life. and we got yummy/fancy margaritas. yum!!

after drinks and food, we wander around times square more. we located one of my favorite things in the world, which was a tim horton's coffee shop. i learned about tim horton's when i was in montreal for a conference and was really glad we found one in NYC. i got a coffee and actually shelley paid for it because they wouldn't take my $20 bill because it was too large. um...

then, in our wanderings we located a cupcake shop that was featured on sex in the city. it's called magnolia and i will say it was worth waiting in drizzly rain to get a cupcake. plus it went perfectly with my latte!

our next stop was bourbon street bar and grill, which is a restaurant that claimed to have the spiciest bloody marys in the city. we tried them out and they were, in fact, quite spicy. i would say spicy enough that it was necessary to imbibe a hurricane afterwards. :)

we then walked back towards our hotel, stopping along the way to shop for souveneirs. our destination was actually a bar called cactus jacks. we were on a quest to see the texas a&m football game, and cactus jacks is the NYC aggie hub apparently. it wasn't exactly easy to find, but we did eventually get there. we had a fun time despite the fact that NYC aggies weren't very friendly to us and that the ags played a sucktastic game. we coped with both situations by drinking beer. (at one point NYC aggies were mistakenly drinking our beer as well...which i guess was inadvertently generous of us, though it would have been nice if they would have bought us a beer to make up for that. whatever.) aggies lost the game and shelley and i got a bit loopy on beer and shots. fortunately our hotel was not far away. we weren't quite partied out though so we went back to stag's head, got some food, got another beer, and then made our way back to the Pod so we could get some sleep. it was a really full and fun day!

the next morning we had to pack up and say goodbye to each other and to NYC. i jumped on the subway and headed back to JFK...realizing at one point that i wasn't on the train that i needed to be on, but luckily i rectified that situation without issue. :)

i'm so glad that i had this opportunity. i declared 2009 "the year of kate" back in january, and in so many ways it has been a phenomenal year. this trip was definitely a part of what has made this one of the best years i've had in a while. :) and 2009 isn't over quite yet, so who knows what else to come!

p.s.- thanks shelley for an awesome time. love you lots. are you the maid?

i should be typing up meeting minutes...

2009-11-06T09:40:00.039-07:00

but instead i'm going to finish blogging about my NYC vacation. on friday, shelley and i slept in a bit. we got ready and packed our stuff and then went to meet her friend jon (or "prick" as shells calls him) and his fiance for lunch. we went to a sushi place and by the time we walked there i could have eaten shelley's arm. turns out i should eat breakfast before trekking around NYC with heavy luggage. lunch was really fun and i even forgive everyone for mocking me for being from iowa. (that was a bit of a pattern in NYC...we have gay marriage NYC...do you? oh snap!?!)

after lunch we took a cab to our hotel (thank the lord) and i think we were both very pleasantly

surprised by how awesome it was. here's a picture of our room. the hotel is called The Pod and our room was pretty small, but had everything we needed. the bathrooms were communal style, but they were also really nice. there were four in our area and one had just a shower, one had just a toilet, and the other two had both. we even had little lights above our door that indicated when they were open, allegedly.

after we got settled in, we walked up 5th avenue and checked out some of the stores. before we even got there though, i stopped at some athletic store to get some better walking shoes. ended up with a cool pair of running shoes that made my feet feel very, very happy. after that stop, we went to Saks and Sephora and some other stores. shelley showed me all the crazy expensive stuff in Saks. we looked at and touched a bunch of fur coats. one short, shrug coat made of chinchilas cost $44,500.

needless to say it was a little out of my price range. we also checked out all the

fun shoes. some of them were fantastic and almost all of them were crazy expensive. i picked up more than one pair that cost close to $1000. that made the $300 ones seem much more

reasonable. on the right is a picture of a very fancy necklace we saw in one of the store windows.

while we were walking around (on our way to the empire state building) we ended up near rockefeller center. i'd been on a huge 30rock kick before the trip so it was cool to be there. (i didn't run in to liz lemon though.) i think this was the day we also were on a quest to find a starbucks so that we could have some adult coffees while we wandered. i wisely packed those bailey's minis in my suitcase and they were quite convenient for our purposes. fortunately for us, there are a whole bunch of starbuck's stores in NYC.

we saw times square as well which was fun and then made our way towards the empire state building. we decided to pay to go up the elevator and i'm so glad we did. it was really incredible! awesome views of the city and just one of those experiences that i'll never forget. we saw a bride and groom up there and i'm pretty sure i that one of the security guards was in a documentary that i show to my classes every semester. :) we didn't spend a lot of time up there because it was pretty cold and windy, but it was great!

after the elevator ride back down, we headed to serendipity for dinner. by the time we found it, we were both starving again. by the time we left though, i sort of wanted to get hit by a cab. it is safe to say that we ate WAY too much. the food wasn't all that great (for example, we had the greasiest nachos known to man as an appetizer), but the desserts more than made up for it. in case you haven't heard of this place, it was in the movies Serendipity and One Fine Day and they are known for their frozen hot chocolates. i got the peanutbutter one and it was phenomenal. shelley i think got a regular one and we also shared a slice of carrot cake. i was not well after that. but it was worth it. mostly. :)

once we had sufficiently given ourselves type-1 diabetes, we made our way back to the hotel to get ready to go out with shelley's friend chris. he met us at The Pod and then we walked to Monkey Bar. we picked this place not only because of my love of monkeys, but because it was featured on an episode of Sex in the City. (it's the one where carrie falls for the jazz player.) when we finally found it (there was no sign of course), we found a table to stand around and chris generously bought us a round of cosmos. shortly after our arrival i was chastised for taking pictures of some of the monkey stuff. i still managed to walk out of there with a few though, so take that monkey bar jerks!

after that, we went to a bar called Stag's Head that was close to our hotel and had some beers and enjoyed rocking out to some very loud, but very good music! i didn't get in trouble for taking pictures in that bar, so that was a bonus. :)

after a full day and a lot of walking, i think shells and i were both ready to head to bed! plus we had even more fun planned for saturday.

vacayshh continued!

2009-10-30T13:06:00.000-06:00

i'm having trouble come up with creative ways to start these posts about my NYC trip. not sure what the hang up is but i guess i'll just jump in and hope you'll read despite having no clever hook.

thursday night after riding the subway for about 45 minutes, i popped off and met up with my friend jared. i met him in albuquerque and it was really good to get to catch up again. we headed over to a bar where i had a fantastic watermelon beer. hopefully i can google it or shelley remembers what it's was called. it really was quite remarkable. shells and i were super excited to see each other again and it was great to meet some of jared's friends as well. after we made a schedge, we ended up dropping my stuff off at jared's (thank goodness...i was growing weary of the shoulder-dislocating-carry-on that i brought.) then we headed out and got food and more beer (queue pork slap ale). we actually got to this place (the name is evading me) around 9:30 and slowly ate and drank waiting for the happy hour to start at 11. once the hour struck though, we were informed by our waiter that they weren't doing happy hour because of a private event or something. keep in mind that the place was packed with people with no indication of a private event. and that he knew we had been waiting for happy hour. he knew this because we asked him immediately upon our arrival "when does happy hour start?" he said "eleven." we believed him. needless to say, we weren't too happy about that. jared ended up talking to a manager and somehow worked his magic because our $150 tab ended up being about $70.

we took our surly selves to a bar near columbia that was pretty packed with people. more beer was consumed and good times were had. i managed to leave a $10 bill instead of a $1.00 for a tip on the first beers for shelley and i. luckily the bartender was awesome about it and gave me my money back. thanks new york! after much beer consumption and long distance mocking of a seeming douchey guy and his entourage of women who seemed to just be tolerating him, we went to the restaurant made famous by Seinfeld. i ordered something called gravy fries, which are fries with gravy on them. go figure. :) they were actually pretty good though. shells and jared and i then went back to his apartment and went to bed. i was definitely exhausted after not getting a lot of sleep the night before. big thanks to jared for hosting us on night one of new york fun!

gotta love vacayshh!! part 1

2009-10-21T17:31:00.004-06:00

over fall break i had the opportunity to go to new york city with my friend shelley. this was a fantastic way to round out the last few months in the Year of Kate! i've been wanting to visit new york city since i was a kid. i had lofty goals of going to NYU when i was looking at college materials my junior year. (my plan was to major in everything so i'd probably still be finishing my bachelor's degree had i actually applied or been accepted.) now...many years later, i finally got to see the Big Apple and it was nothing sort of a fantastic trip.

shelley and i devised this plan a while ago based on our mutual love of the show sex in the city. sometime during the summer, an insanely cheap ticket popped up from MLI to JFK and finally our NYC weekend came to fruition. shells lives in philly and we haven't hung out since my ABQ days so we were WAY overdue for some girl time. it was great getting to share my first NYC experience with her!!

the beginning of the trip started out with a bit of drama. on wednesday after classes and meetings, i was scurrying around my apartment trying to get everything packed and organized. i rented a movie from iTunes so i could watch it on my phone and in the process of trying to get it transferred over, iTunes asked me if i wanted to update my software. i hesitated for a minute, wondering what the correct answer to that pop-up box was, and then clicked "yes" thinking this would not be a big deal. that turned out to be a HUGE mistake. not being a computer expert, i can't explain what happened next. i will tell you that my windows software also decided to update at the same time and somehow in the process of all of these updates, my iPhone exploded. not literally, but indeed something was very wrong with it. in my attempts to fix the situation, i'm sure i made it worse and before i knew it, the only option was for me to restore my phone. i gave it a shot and that didn't work either. i would get an error message and it wouldn't let me restore it. thus the catch-22 begins. i decided to reboot the laptop, since this is sometimes a useful solution. because of the windows update, that process took a very long time. it literally said it had to update 17 different things. 17. so while it was taking it's sweet-ass time doing that, i washed some dishes, made sure everything was packed, took my luggage to the car, took the garbage out, and when all that was finished it installing update 14 of 17. keep in mind that my plan was to meet my friend jeremy in the quad cities for dinner and then he was graciously going to let me stay at his place so i could catch my flight at 6:15 the next day from moline. so all of this phone drama is putting me behind schedule. after the computer finally rebooted, i tried to restore my phone again and it didn't work. again. this is the point where i start to panic a bit, because i figured that i would need my phone on this trip. this...my first trip ever to NYC. the trip that is giving me a little anxiety about traveling on subways by myself with luggage. plus, like most of you, i don't have people's numbers memorized anymore. so i might need shelley's number at some point. as well as my friend jared's, who we stayed with on the first night. and probably jeremy's since he was likely wondering what the hell was going on. i emailed jeremy to let him know the deal and that i would be in touch when i had a working phone. i grabbed my old motorola and managed to locate it's charger (which was a miracle.) then i hauled to davenport, making it to the at&t store two minutes before they were closing for the night. yes...i'm sure they hated me. but i think i won them over with my desperation. fortunately they were able to get my iPhone restored and because i had the good sense to bring my old phone, some of my contacts were also retrieved. i was so happy that i hugged the nerdy guy who works there which probably made him very uncomfortable. seriously, i can't express the relief i felt when the phone was operational again! i grabbed some food and then headed over to jeremy's about 4 hours after i planned to be there.

fortunately, that was where my travel woes ended. the flights to NYC were good, though a little delayed. the subway ride was uneventful and pretty easy to navigate. and before i knew it, i was in manhattan, giving shelley and jared hugs, making a schedge for the evening, drinking a beer that tasted like watermelon (and then another called Pork Slap...it didn't taste like pork), eating yummy pizza, meeting new people, exclaiming often "I'M IN NEW YORK!," eating gravy fries at the Seinfeld diner, and generally just having a GREAT time. there is a lot more to write about, but since this post is already on the long side, i'll write more later.

WE'RE IN NEW YORK!!!!

i have no idea what i was going to blog about...

2009-07-27T20:14:00.002-06:00

but i won't let that stop me from posting something. i fell out of the practice of blogging for a while and would like to change that. so please tolerate some rambling.

last week was a really busy week for me and i'm finding it a bit difficult to adjust to having less on my plate now. and of course, that's a relative term, since i have plenty of stuff to do before school starts, but my time is mine to use as i please, unlike last week.

fortunately i got to split my time between something that wasn't very fun (research project) and something that was a lot of fun (hanging out with my nephew luke.) luke and i had a great time and managed to do a lot of awesome dubuque stuff in one day. i think we were both wiped out by night time. he was sad to be leaving the next day and honestly, i was sad to let him go. i know he had good times with grandma and grandpa but it was so great seeing the sites with luke and even doing things like making mac-n-cheese with hotdogs and watching how happy he was to get a free birthday sundae at happy joes. gives me hope that eventually i'll be a pretty good mom.

the research project was not as fun, mostly because i didn't get the template for how it needed to be designed until after i had put 18 hours in. that was quite frustrating to say the least.

this week i'm hoping to get some syllabi done and then i'm going to spend some time with dennis and mom and dad this weekend. i'm even planning on making it a long weekend and getting some quality time on mom and dad's deck before heading back to dubuque. (cross your fingers for good deck weather.)

other than that, this summer has gone really fast. i can't believe that i'm going to be heading to ASA in San Francisco next week already. i'm really excited about that trip and in now way ready for it. :D

alright, enough pointless rambling for tonight. i promise to have more intelligible posts next time. maybe. ;)

wrapping up vegas

2009-07-20T23:26:00.012-06:00

i am finally getting around to finishing my blog about this trip. (jody just pointed out that we've been home for a week, but it already seems like we were in vegas a long time ago. figure that one out?!)

we woke up late and got ready for breakfast at New York, New York. by the time we got to America (the restaurant...i know Vegas is in America smart-asses) it was 11:30 so we got the modified "you're too late for real breakfast and should be eating lunch" menu, but we still made out pretty well. if memory serves, we did some gambling after this in ny ny and jody got the longest and most amazing bonus game at a monopoly penny slot that i've ever seen. we also kicked off the early afternoon with some vodka cranberries that did not taste like ass (unlike sahara.) i even had a cigar while wasting my pennies away.

eventually, jody and i decided not to waste the beautiful 107 degree temperatures by staying inside (that was sarcasm, people!) so we got ready to go to the pool at the MGM. we got there around 4 which is peak vegas hot-time. needless to say though, it was really relaxing out there, for the most part. towards the end of the first hour there was a flock of drunk loud girls chatting up some dude who was really, really sunburned (we called him sunburned guy) very obnoxiously and non-stop, but it's hard to stay mad when you're enjoying some sun, reading a magazine, and mocking people with an old friend. :)

speaking of mocking people, we saw the tannest white guy ever. he was so tan that i ended up taking a picture of him just to prove to you that he exists. we called him tan man....'cuz damn.

jody left me out there for a while so she could get ready for our evening and i just wasn't ready to leave the pool yet, so i hung out for another hour hoping i could get a little tan (not like the saddlebag over there -------------> ).
mostly i get more freckles in the sun, but whatever, that has to be a step up from pasty white, right? i also was freakin' thirsty out there (107 degrees?! hello!) so i ordered bud lime and got carded. so apparently, even in las vegas i look under 21. thanks mom! :)

eventually i ventured back up to the room and got ready myself. our plan for the night was to go to the MGM buffet and then hit NYNY again for the dueling piano bar. we even got a little dressed up! the buffet was pretty good, though it was not as good as Mandalay Bay (which is the only other good one in Vegas i've been too.) we were on a quest to eat our body weight in crab legs and they had them, but on ice. still good, but not the same. regardless, i managed to eat WAY too much.

after all these desserts we made our way over to the dueling piano bar. i have to say, i'm a BIG dueling piano fan and the times square bar in nyny doesn't disappoint. we had some beers (eventually...i was so full that i had to give it a bit), sang along to a bunch of songs, and even danced a bit. it's even possible that some boys hit on us. always good to have an ego boost! we closed down the bar and then headed back to MGM to get some sleep. i think by the time we were finished chatting (just like high school days) and packing, it was close to 3 a.m. the next morning, we got up, got ready, and packed up the rest of our stuff. jody was my hero and went for a quest for coffee for us. once we were checked out, all that was left to do was wait for our shuttle back to the airport. unfortunately we were in different terminals so jody and i had to say adios at security, but we still mocked people via text. :) then after a very long travel day (which included a 4 hour stop over in denver and a ride back to Dubuque from Madison in a nasty thunderstorm) i made it back home in one piece, having had a really awesome vacation. i'm thinking this is something jody and i should make an annual thing. not vegas necessarily, but somewhere fun. :D

we're freakin' adorable!!!

here are some random shots:

random, tiny closet in my bathroom stall at sahara (of course)

rod stewart.

okay we didn't really see him. that was on a giant screen while we were waiting to check-in to MGM but it sure looks like he was right there.

Paris!

i took this picture because the T is in quotation marks. i'm a big fan of inappropriately used quotation marks. nice one, bonanza's.

our view from the MGM room...and a reflection of my pants apparently. :)

sweet relief. thanks denver airport!

vegas day two

2009-07-18T00:39:00.002-06:00

so, day two. i slept in for a while given the lack of sleep from the night before. we got ready and decided to head back to the champagne brunch, because as i realized after some thought...it's sunday! (it's easy to lose track of time when you're tired and in vegas.) though we didn't intend to relive morning one, we sort of did. we checked out of our sahara room, took note of the bread tab thing that was still in the hall, and left our bags with a crabby bell hop so that we could go across the street again to bonanza's. you see, there was this talking stuffed animal parrot that we both fell in love with the day before...mostly because it does a parrot whistle and then says "hey. you. go f--- yourself." (next time you come over i can show you the awesomeness.) we headed back to the sahara and did some gambling on the penny slots, unable to resist the game "dam lumberjack beavers." it's fun. trust me. then after losing money, we retrieved our bags and jumped on the monorail to head to the MGM.

the ride was uneventful, but i think jody and i were grateful to only have to spend $5 to get all the way to the other end of the strip. and luckily it wasn't a long walk to the MGM once we got off the train. (this was good news because our feet were already killing us.) when we got to the registration area, there were long lines every where. we got in line behind the man you see below...i dubbed him "angry man." you see, he was asked by an MGM staff member to inform everyone who got in line behind him that this line would be closing as soon as he was helped. this made him very happy. especially because his line was the shortest, thus the first one everyone who wanted to check-in stepped into first. jody and i moved over to the next line and quickly found ourselves already ahead of our poor, angry friend. it turns out there was some dude (our douche as jody called him) holding up angry man's line looking at pictures of suites and stuff. i put my sunglasses on the back of my neck the like guy holding up the line and said something like "is this the cool thing to do now?" to which jody responded "no, now you look like that douche." this comment cracked up the strangers behind us which is one of the great joys in life. making total strangers laugh. classic.

we eventually got checked in and were happy that our room was really nice. we settled in and then did some walking around. we went to see the MGM lions.

we checked out the miracle mile shops in planet hollywood, went over to new york new york, walked up to the bellagio to see the botanial gardens and the fountains. (it's hard to tell from that picture of smoky the bear, but the water was dripping through him since he was made entirely of moss and stuff which made it look like he was really sweaty. understandable given the 106+ temps while we were there. we also thought that water orb was really awesome.)

eventually we headed back to the room and we were both pretty exhausted. we had thought about going to a dueling piano bar, but we were both wiped out and hungry so we decided to order a pizza and watch tv for a while and call it a early night. we called papa john's and i learned of jody's intense hatred of sausage, peppers, and onions. :) about 40 minutes later we headed outside to meet the delivery guy. as we were waiting, we had some fun people watching/mocking. at one point this giant limo pulled up and jody predicted some sort of rock star type or skinny ho-bag would jump out. we were surprised when instead a very large family exited it instead. just goes to show you that you never can accurately predict what is about to happen next in vegas.

i spotted our pizza delivery guy from a distance so trotted off to get our pizza, which we promptly devoured, while sitting on the floor watching sex in the city. (i made the point that sitting on the floor having a pizza picnic would have been unthinkable at the sahara.) so that was the end of day two. we went to sleep happy and full and ready to get some rest to prepare for vega

what happens in vegas ends up on my blog

2009-07-17T16:01:00.001-06:00

or at least some of it. :) jody and i had an AWESOME time in las vegas, so i thought i should share some of the fun with you, my beloved reader(s). if you'll bear with me, i'm going to attempt to upload goofy pictures from my iPhone as i go.

i left dubuque at the flat-out ridiculous hour of 2:30 a.m. in order to catch my 6:00 a.m. flight in madison. thankfully, my friend clete gave me a ride to the airport so i wouldn't sleepily crash into a cow or something on my way there. the madison airport was surprisingly bigger than i thought it would be. i debated whether i should bother with having a coffee, having slept exactly not at all, and decided that it probably wouldn't hurt anything. while standing in the line with other travelers who made the same choice as me, an older lady walked past all of us to the counter and asked if she had to stand in line for coffee. the cashier was a bit stunned by the sheer stupidity of this question, given the fact that this wasn't elizabeth taylor or the queen of england or someone, and informed her that indeed, the rest of us were waiting for coffee. i know it was early, but what the hell else would we have been doing in that line. but i digress...

my flights to vegas were thankfully uneventful and i met jody at the airport at 9:30 vegas time. we took the shuttle to the Sahara, which at one time was the scene for such greats as The Beatles and all the Rat Pack dudes. now it's the scene for...people on a budget who needed one night in a hotel before they get to their good hotel. i didn't take a picture of our room, despite it's cool wall paper, but i did get a shot of the their ingenius logo...

the bread tie thing that was in our hallway during the entire stay...

and the teeny tiny shot glasses that we got with our $1.00 kamikaze shots...(i'll spare you the picture of jody's champagne ice cream float...because...damn. :P)

and this last picture gives you a sample of the aforementioned wall paper. you'll also note that someone added to it by slapping their levi's size label thing on the wall. can't have nice things at the sahara.

what we can have though is some classy advertising for some of the high quality food that you can eat in this desert-themed masterpiece of a hotel. here are the two best examples.

what are they getting at? :) needless to say, we didn't eat either of these things...mostly because we stuck with the champagne brunch...and well...you can read.

one of our first ventures out of the sahara was across the street to bonanza's naughty town. we saw it on the shuttle ride and were thrilled to find that it was located so close to our hotel. though naughty town provided a great deal of hilarity, we both agreed that it wasn't all that naughty. i started calling it "moderately inappropriate subdivision."

here is a sample of some of the things we saw but didn't purchase.

damn i love those squirrel underpants. that's funny stuff.

we wrapped up day one by getting a taxi to the in-n-out burger where we had AWESOME food. there was probably some gambling and drinking and debauchery (side note: we had to explained to the guy who checked us into the MGM what that word means...how can you work in vegas and not know?). it's a little hard to remember all the details of day one because of getting exactly one hour of sleep. i think i'm going to have to split this into a few posts, so for now i'll leave you with this.

love ya jody!

eat. pray. love. blog. :)

2009-07-09T23:59:00.001-06:00

as the title of this post makes clear, i'm reading the book eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert. though the book was published a few years ago, i'm just getting around to reading it now, and i have to say that i think the timing is pretty perfect. a friend of mine recommended it last summer, but i'm not sure i was in a place where i could have really appreciated the message the author is conveying. (plus i might have been downright pissed that i could go on a one-year trip around the world to get over my relationship woes.) as i read it now though, i find some much that resonates with how i've been feeling lately and the complicated path it is to move past a broken heart. maybe i should come up with some sort of 3 part january term course to italy, india, and indonesia? :)

anyway, when bits have been particulary pertinent or inspiring, i've dog-eared the page so i can come back to them. here is one i want to share.

"most of us, even if only for two minutes in our lives, have experienced at some time or another an inexplicable and random sense of complete bliss, unrelated to anything that was happening in the outside world. one instant, you're just a regular joe, schlepping through your mundane life, and then suddenly what is this?--nothing has changed, yet you feel stirred by grace, swollen with wonder, overflowing with bliss. everything for no reason whatsoever--is perfect." (197)

i have had these moments in my life...where the sun is reflecting off the buildings in dubuque in this gorgeous golden light or the moon shines heavy, full, and red in the sky...where despite all the things i find myself worrying about, for that moment all i care about is the beauty of it all and the blessings in my life. lately, beyond those random moments that make my heart pound with a little more life than it does during the mundane times, i find myself feeling happy for specific reasons. students sometimes make me want to punch them in the face, but i love my job. the debts i have sometimes stress me out, but i see a path out of them. my apartment might seem empty without a companion (pet or otherwise), but i love it. i might need to slim down in order to be happier with myself, but i have this renewed sense of self-confidence about kate than i've had in a while. (last summer was rough.) dubuque might be cold in the winter, but it's been lovely in the spring and summer (and we have the best sweet corn in the state.) there are many people that i miss and want to see more, while being blessed with new friendships. at this point in my life, i'm so happy to report, things are going well...and given the year i've had, i feel like this is big news.

this leads me to another part of the book that i really like and thus dog-earred:

"there is so much about my fate that i cannot control, but other things do fall under my jurisdiction. there are certain lottery tickets i can buy, thereby increasing my odds of finding contentment. i can decide how i spend my time, whom i interact with, who i share my body and life and money and energy with. i can select what i eat and read and study. i can choose how i'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life--whether i will see them as curses or opportunities (and on occasions when i can't rise to the most optimistic viewpoint, because i'm feeling too damn sorry for myself, i can choose to keep trying to change my outlook.) i can choose my words and the tone of voice in which i speak to others. and most of all, i can choose my thoughts." (177)

so this quote could lead you to believe that i'm ignoring the sociology in my life, and trust me, that's impossible. (it might also be a bit corny, but i don't care.) i feel like this quote in particular talks about the agency that we all have in how we deal with the social forces and life events that come to be in our lives. i could choose to let bitterness and frustration rule my mind, and undoubtedly that attitude would then impact all kinds of other things. but instead, i haven't done that. i've been determined to be positive despite all shit this year, and it's nice to know that i'm in a better place than i might have been without my "foolish" optimism. (i also think this quote could be handy to paraphrase on syllabi for the fall.) :)

anyway, this is probably a lot of rambling just to say...kate is happy. :D hope you all are as well.

okay summer break...hurry up and get here

2009-06-02T21:57:00.002-06:00

lately the question "how's your break going" has come up a few times and i feel myself edging towards irritation when i hear the query. this is mostly due to the fact that i haven't really felt like i'm on a break yet. i have already started teaching my two summer classes (in week two and three of them actually), i've had to finish up my annual review, attend some meetings, plan for some more meetings, and finish grading. SO it has been a bit of a crazy few weeks and i'm still trying to get used to the idea that things really will eventually slow down.

now, don't get me wrong, i know i should be complaining because people with non-academic type jobs don't get the summer off and i realize that. AND i really do love what i do most of the time. but after this crazy year, i really feel like i need some down time or i'm not going to have a good third year. the thing a lot of people don't know about this prof gig is that to some degree, it can be never-ending. for example, this summer i need to get ready for the fall and my january term course, do some research, register new students at conferences, do some more research, possibly participate in some more meetings, and deal with the two courses that i'm teaching. when the semester starts, it will be back to the grind with more meetings, more grading, more figuring out what i'm doing in classes, and so on and so forth. so though yes, officiallly i'm not on contract this summer....i won't be spending the time lounging on the beach. :) hopefully eventually when i've done this for a while i'll be able to take a real break, but until the tenure clock stops ticking, i have a feeling life will be busy.

in the meantime, i'm going to have a piece of wacky cake, enjoy a cold beer, avoid grading, read some of the current non-academic book i'm working on right now (A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby), and get some sleep. :D

maybe i should stick around for a while

2009-04-22T13:02:00.001-06:00

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=240812

woo!

it's been a while...

2009-03-28T23:43:00.004-06:00

and i have a lot to catch up on most likely, but i think i'll proceed with my 2008 year-in-review that will then ultimately bring us up to date.

january 2008

first year as a doctor
enjoyed a very long break in between semesters, which included some time in albuquerque to do research and visit.
spent a weekend in dubuque with my niece amanda
remembered that the sun does exist in winter time (just not often in iowa.)
stopped working part-time at pier 1
moved out of my apartment that i loved into a gorgeous house with roommates brad and christine.

february 2008

started my second semester at loras which involved teaching stats for the first time, as well as covering my colleagues stats class as she was out for maternity leave.
went to ABQ for mike's going away party.
broke driver's side car window in snow-related incident.
start the best part-time job ever at the diamond jo

march 2o08

difficult time for students when one of our students sadly passed away from meningitis :(
went to las vegas for a conference with mom and had a great time!
spring break in TX

april 2o08

got to see sara who was back from hong kong for a conference in chicago! woo!
went to st. louis for yet another conference and got to see my fam.
teaching of 5th class ends and relief of only having 4 ensues
two quick/weird trip to TX in one week
i think it finally stopped snowing sometime this month. it was a record breaking winter.

may 2008

went to may commencement as a faculty member and then realized that it had been 10 years since my own graduation.
moved for the third time this year into my current apartment which i love
discovered that couches can defy gravity
start of heart-breaking romance end begins.
family weekend during memorial day to hang out with mom and dad on their 34th anniversary. (we weren't sure if it was 34 or 35 and i had to use some good detective skills.)
scary F-5 tornado in iowa!

june 2008

first summer class taught at loras.
visited my friend jody in her new hometown of charlotte, nc. we got to go to the beach and get wicked sunburns.
crazy iowa floods!
relationship break ends in not the way i had hoped..

july 2008

july 4th with the doyles!
went to my cousin ashley's wedding and discovered what being a reader really involved.
found out break-up was even yuckier than expected
took a much needed trip to new orleans to plan january-term class and to do some serious soul-searching. met ray nagin at mass there.
went to texas and las vegas to visit friends and get some closure.

august 2008

realized i should have done more work over the summer
made some new friends
started dating again...kinda sorta.
jack-up knee dancing after an irish hooley
year two as a faculty member begins
went to erin and brent's wedding and made some new friends in WI.
started teaching at the community college

september 2008

made a few more new friends including a locally famous dog
started watching Six Feet Under series because it's awesome
visit my brother and his family in st. louis
miss the last of six weddings i was invited to over the summer. only was able to go to two and was sad to miss the others. but congrats!
get some debts consolidated

october 2008

went to a surprise 40th birthday party for my brother
caught up with some duhawks at homecoming! 10 years?!
job interview at a school i thought i wanted to work at. found out that i didn't and that staying put is a good plan.
went to see the aggies beat iowa state. whoop!

november 2008

OBAMA IS ELECTED!!! WOO!!!
slight set-back on the "moving on" front
girl weekend with mom, aunt deb, and cousin kelli
JUMBIES and mom and dad in the same weekend. woo!
jocelyn came to visit and gave talks about new orleans and hurricane katrina
fun Milwaukee weekend
visited jeremy in rock island and discovered the genious that is Flight of the Conchords
two family thanksgivings! yum!

december 2008

finished a very busy fall semester with the stress of getting ready for january term
start an earring side business for fun and no-profits yet
had fun at the christmas gala
new Diamond Jo opens!
said good-bye to Grandma Parks :(

january 2009

rang in the new year in milwaukee after some fun in chicago. viva the year of kate!
turned 33...what the?
J-term class to New Orleans and back
took a mini-break to TX

february 2009

spring semester starts and i'm not at all prepared for two new courses and stats. (lemented 8 a.m. classes)
exhaustion from j-term lingers
started the match.com thing again
fundraiser for new orleans. the students did a good job though i still have a lot of beads and some coffee for sale if anyone is interested. ;)
signed up for a gym membership

march 2009

awesome spring break! spend a few days in dubuque with dennis and then the rest of the break in albuquerque catching up with friends i haven't seen in too long. this included some high quality time with my friend haley and baby kate (and dan too of course.)
discover how cool park farm winery is
happy to get a contract for next year even if it didn't have a raise on it
finished watching Six Feet Under series. wow!

april 2009

conference in des moines. caught up with old friends, made some new friends, and had a great time connecting with my colleague
good times with dennis, erin, and brent at the casino on a random monday night
fun easter weekend with mom that involved sushi, wine, shopping, and a champagne easter brunch

okay, so that brings me up to date. this is definitely not an all-inclusive list and there are undoubtedly many things that i forgot. hopefully i will keep things more up to date from now on. 2008 was unforgettable for a lot of reasons. thanks to everyone who made it a great year. 2009 looks to be even better and we're not even halfway through yet. :D

peace friends!

remembering

2008-12-25T00:11:00.002-07:00

i find myself reflecting on christmas traditions from my childhood tonight. it might be because i watched A Christmas Story two-and-a-half times tonight. but more likely it is because i always think of those times on christmas and now it seems especially significant to do so. today (or more accurately yesterday) was a sad day, because my grandma parks passed away. she has been ill for a very long time and recently in and out of the hospital frequently. she lived a long life (94 years) and i hope mostly a happy one. though it is sad for us all, it is also good to know that she's not in pain anymore. and we can focus on our great memories of her and celebrating her life. easier said than done in many ways. she was my last living grandparent, so that also makes it difficult. weddings, kids, and just all of that stuff without my grandparents. fortunately, there are so many great memories that i can share with my future family and keep near to my heart, which is a nice segue to the holiday memories.

our christmas would start on christmas eve at my grandma and grandpa reuter's house. my mom has 4 brothers and 1 sister who were all married with kids, so all of us would gather and have dinner. there were usually a few college students from foreign countries there as well, which just added to the uniqueness of the night. the kids would watch in amazement as my uncles would come back from the food table (which was usually the pool table in the basement) with food piled high on their plates! it seemed to be some sort of unofficial eating competition. the kids would be seated around a few card tables and we'd eat. and eat. and eat. occassionally someone (actually only my aunt mary one time) would fall down the basement stairs, resultuing in a trip to the ER for her and apparently a relish tray run for my uncle jon. after dinner, some of us would go to christmas eve mass. i remember sitting in the balcony one year listening to the extended story of the birth of christ. when we got back, we'd find that the dishes had been done by those choosing not to go to church and we'd gather in the living room upstairs for the gift exchange. we'd open presents, eat homemade chocolate covered cherries and peanut brittle and sugar cookies that some of us kids likely helped make with grandma earlier in the week. they also always had ribbon candy and those awesome peppermint nougat things with the evergreen tree in the middle. i LOVED those. after gifts were opened, the kids would usually go play in the basement and the adults would hang out doing grown-up things (like beer drinking i'm assuming) upstairs. eventually it would be time to go home. i recall those rides back across town in the back of the car. we'd always drive by the high school where there was a display of santa and his reindeer (complete with a red-nosed rudolph) on the roof of the roundhouse (the gym.) i would watch out the back window into the night sky looking for santa to fly by.

the next morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn to open presents at our house. sometime in the mid-morning, grandma and grandpa reuter would stop by to see our new treasures. then we'd get ready to go to grandma and grandpa parks' house. in some ways it was the same scenario but with less people. my dad has two sisters, so they and their families would gather. we'd eat WAY too much food and there were usually enough of us to be spread around a few tables. some of us would be in the dining room off of the kitchen and others would be in the smaller dining area near the living room. there were be a lot of eating and a classic kate story came out of one of the gatherings at grandma parks' house. when i was young (like 2 or so) i loved to eat (which i realize is not all together different from now.) i was sitting in my high chair, watching everyone pass food to each other around the table, patiently waiting for some of my own. when the corn went by i made it know in my own special way that i was hungry too by saying "i like corn i eat corn." subtle, i know. after dinner was completed and dishes were done, we'd go to the basement usually to open presents. i think there was a tree in the upstairs living room and one downstairs as well. we'd open our gifts, the kids would play, the adults would talk. we'd stay into the evening after eating pies and other desserts. there were always kisses from grandma and grandpa as you left. grandpa's were often scratchy from the subtle on his face. then we'd venture down their relatively steep driveway (at least it seemed that way when i was a kid) and head back home. i remember that drive seemed like it took so long, even though they live about 5 miles from town.

things have obviously changed a great deal over the years as people have grown up, had kids, and started their own traditions, and as our grandparents aged and it became less realistic for them to host us all. but i'm so glad that we had those times and that i can remember them tonight when i should be sleeping. there is something so special and magical about this season. some light in the darkness. some brightness in the cold. it gives me a glimmer of hope even when things seem uncertain and even frustrating at times. i find myself now more excited about the gifts i give than the ones i get. relishing in new traditions that have emerged. watching my nieces and nephew get excited about santa. getting long hugs from my parents and siblings. wishing the best to my friends all around this country (and the world.) christmas gives us pause to really think about what matters the most in our lives. and days like this one highlights that even more.

to wrap up this long post, i want to say thank you to my family and friends who have supported me and loved me and made me laugh during what was at times a really difficult year. i want to thank you for your prayers and thoughts even in the last day. and know that you all help me understand the reason for the season.

happy holidays everyone with much love!

kate can't believe....

2008-12-19T23:18:00.003-07:00

how much has changed since last year at this time.
she's had her Ph.D. for a year already.
can't believe her January term class starts in a few weeks.
that it snowed 8.8 inches last night.
that Christmas is already here.
it's not butter.
that some things are still the same.
that her landlord still won't let her have a cat.
that tim is beating her at scrabble on facebook.
how much she likes dubuque right now...despite the snow.
that someone dug her car out for her this morning.
she's thinking about renewing her match.com subscription again.
how funny the Big Lebowski is and how delicious "Caucasians" are.
how fast her nieces and nephews are growing up.
how much the foil on a wine bottle can cut you.
how hilarious Arrested Development is and that it was canceled after three seasons.
how rude students can be when vying for a better grade.
that people don't know that when they copy something directly from a website without citing it that they don't know it's plagiarism.
how much she misses friends that are far away.
how grateful she is for friends and family that are close by.
how much she has to be thankful for this season.

below zero

2008-12-16T00:36:00.002-07:00

so winter has not yet officially begun and we're seeing below zero temps here in iowa. *sigh*

i was checking weather.com to see what we're in for tomorrow (snow) and saw this. is anyone else concerned about this? very weird sight.

yes we can!!!!

2008-11-04T22:51:00.004-07:00

i'll admit that though i was interested in politics in the past and definitely upset about the outcomes of the 2000 and 2004 elections, i did not follow them or get as involved as i should have. this time around, i paid more attention. talked about it more. informed myself on the issues. voted early. and prayed with cautious optimism that we would get the change that this country so desperately needs. overjoyed is an understatement for what my friends and i felt as we watched from seats in a movie theatre as the electoral votes climbed for obama. though it wasn't a large crowd on the democratic side at mindframe theatre, it was still amazing to cheer and yell and shout our praise at the screen as barack obama became our new president. (it was also fun to know that we outnumbered the republican side, though that might have been because the nature of the theatre itself....all those crazy indie films.)

as my optimism transformed from cautious to overwhelming, i found myself unable to contain my emotion. this was truly a remarkable day in our history. i knew it would be huge of obama won, but i'm not sure i had fully thought through what this decision, by our country, really means. people came out in record numbers to make their voices heard. that alone is moving, to know that so many people were motivated to make change and to cast their vote. to see what a landslide it ended up being was nothing short of incredible. our world is different now than it was before. that does not mean that inequality is instantly eradicated or that racism has been eliminated. but it does mean that something has happened in this country for the first time ever. and that is phenomenal. my nieces and nephew live in a world where they will grow up knowing that the white house isn't named that because only white people have been president. we do have a long way to go in so many respects, but this was such a major step for our nation and for our world. it's hard to even articulate what this means to me as someone who studies race and ethnicity and cares so deeply about issues of inequality. hopefully as this sinks in and i have some more time to process this, i will be able to more articulately express the enormity of what this means for us all. but what i can tell you is that i am filled with so much joy and hope, which continues to manifest itself tonight in tears of pure happiness and wonderment.

what a fantastic day for our nation! i pray we can come together as a country and not be divided. i pray for the safety of our new leader and his family and for his continued wisdom as he (we all) face major challenges. i pray that this message of tolerance and unity will not just be surface level, but instead we really will come together, take care of each other, and make this country a better place.

time for some champagne...and some restful sleep knowing that we changed the world today.

totally cute!

2008-09-27T11:24:00.002-06:00

so i hung out with my brother and his family last weekend and took a bunch of pictures. my niece and nephew are so dang cute that it's just hard to resist capturing as many moments as possible. :)
in the soccer pics, my nephew luke is the one with the glasses. (go #35!) he did a great job.

http://fotosbykate.sexynerd.org/main.php?g2_itemId=3499

i forgot to put a title before...and now i still don't have one

2008-09-22T13:49:00.004-06:00

unbelievably it is almost the end of september, which means that this semester is flying by! overall, that's been a great thing. i've been busy with school stuff, but not to the point of insanity and have been spending more time with friends here. i spent this past weekend in st. louis catching up with my brother and his family which was really fun. i have a lot coming up in the next few weeks as well, which gives me a lot to look forward to. so, my optimism continues on unscathed so far this year. :)

that being said, i still have a bunch of work to get done in the next few months. the research project i've been wanting to get off the ground has been delayed. waiting on IRB approval and hopefully some funding for a really cool online survey program. haven't made much progress on publishing the dissertation either. :( my prep for race and ethnicity has been harder than expected so i've been cheating and working on that during designated research time. hopefully i can get things under control in the next few weeks and will actually work on some scholarship.

my january term course is also looming a little larger. have to get a lot of work done on that soon!! i think i'm going to be putting together a reader for the students and need to firm up the plans in NOLA. so, cross your fingers that i can get everything done that i need to get done!

apparently i don't have anything profound to share today. just a quick update to say that all continues to be good. :D woo!

"and that's the way this wheel keeps working now..."

2008-09-04T17:17:00.003-06:00

so apparently using lyrics as blog title's is my trend. that's probably no surprise though to the regular readers. this tidbit comes from the song wheel by john mayer. like many of his songs, there are parts of it that resonate with me. ultimately it's about life changing and not really knowing how it will turn out (at least that's my interpretation.) as previous posts have indicated, my life has changed a lot in the last 4 months in ways that i wouldn't have anticipated. i spent a lot of the summer kind of mourning those changes. and avoiding the reality of them. and fighting them. and though i needed to do a few of those things, ultimately i know that i can't undo them or go back in time and do anything differently. that isn't always easy to grapple with, but at the same time, i finally feel okay with that. more than okay actually. i really feel open to whatever it is that is going to happen.

if you had asked me in june if i would feel excited by the not-knowing i would have probably told you that you were a crazy asshole. but now, i'm just trying to be present to the present. i know that might sound new-agey or something, but i'm a planner by nature. so i struggle at times to just be. to just take in what's going on right now without thinking about the future. for whatever reason, i feel like my planny nature is taking a backseat. i'm still thinking about what's to come...applying for some jobs, updating and improving the vita, and considering options. but in my consideration, really for the first time in a way, i'm realizing that staying where i'm at is a viable option. or at least it could be. i think i got so used to the idea that was leaving here, that i wasn't really paying attention to some of the great things about staying. and there are some really great things.

so, if anyone has some words of wisdom on how i can figure these things out, i would love to hear it. in the meantime, i'm going to focus on making my classes as great as possible, completing some useful research, and spending quality time with the fantastic friends. (and of course, hang out with my family too...and hopefully soon!)

for the first time in a while, i'm not just being rhetorically optimistic. i feel it. and i'm so excited about what's going on in the here and the now. and i truly believe that because i'm good person that the last line of wheel also applies to me.

"i believe...that my life's gonna see, the love i give return to me.

i believe!"

:)

no crap...

2008-09-03T13:42:00.000-06:00

Making a commitment now can be serious business; once you decide, you won't be able to easily change your mind. Whether you are considering moving to another city, changing jobs or switching schools, it's crucial to take your time and think through all the pros and cons before choosing what to do next.

By Rick Levine

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

thanks for nothing! :)

time flies...

2008-08-17T14:32:00.002-06:00

sitting here realizing that i've lived in iowa for a year now. hard to believe that on monday i will be starting meetings again, this time as a 2nd year faculty member. we start classes in a week as well, which i'll admit, i'm not quite ready for.

much has changed in the last year. some of it is still hard to believe. but it will be interesting to see what the next year in iowa holds.

"i have reason to believe the grass might be a little greener on the other side"

2008-08-08T22:49:00.002-06:00

i haven't really blogged much this summer. part of the reason for that has been an inability to actually post what i've been going through on here. it felt to me as though if i put it up here, it would be real, and i just wasn't ready for that the be the case. (and i don't like using my blog in a passive aggressive way, so hopefully this post won't come off that way.) i'm not convinced that i want it to all to be real now either, but i should probably write and update anyway.

in many ways, this has been one of the most difficult summers of my life. i've had rough ones before, like the summer of five years ago or summers without stable employment and financial worries. this one trumps all of those. i think part of the problem was that this was my first summer off since, i dunno, high school. i did teach in the first session but was basically done working by the end of june. so i had high hopes for what i might be doing with all the time on my hands. instead, i faced the end of one of the most important relationships in my life. and that end has been terribly difficult and painful, and probably made worse by all the time on my hands. though i have had hope that things would change, i'm not sure it will. which means though this person means more to me than i can explain, things are going to change. i've been really unwilling to accept that and stubbornly just wanting him back. but i can see that no good is coming of that strategy. and though i don't want to and i'm still not totally ready to, i have to move on now. there is nothing easy about that and no cliches or anything make it any easier. for now, i just have to struggle on and hope for the best...and accept whatever that "best" might be, even if it's not the one i wanted.

though it's been tempting to just wallow on my couch like a slug, i've also managed to go on a few trips and make some new friends this summer, which has been great. the most recent trip was to new orleans (followed by texas and las vegas which were also good but clarifying in a way that i wasn't wanting). i went to NOLA in order to prepare for my january term class. it was an amazing time and i hope i can hang onto some of the lessons learned while dealing with everything else. something i realized while i was there, was that i was really isolating myself in my grief. the second day i was there, i went to mass at st. peter claver and was very moved by the community. it made me see that by trying to handle all of this on my own, that i was really closing myself off from relationships with others and creating distance between me and the people who care about me. i don't want to say that the trip gave me perspective, because something about that seems very trite, but it did help me temporarily get out of my own head and to just be more willing to go with whatever will come. that is a hard proposition for a planny person like myself. seems i'm always trying to figure out what my next move will be. instead, i was just present to where i was and who i was with. i needed that. i also got to reconnect with my great friend jocelyn. she is so awesome and i've missed her so much. i can't wait to get back there in january and sharing NOLA with my students and i really hope i can get jocelyn up here in the fall to talk at my school.

so anyway, i had more coherent thoughts than this, but they are not translating. to sum up, rough summer...yay for reconnecting with awesome friends.

in other news, it is almost mid-august which means that school is starting soon. totally and completely not ready to be teaching again. this year should be a busy one though and hopefully a productive one as well.

something i care about

2008-07-27T14:03:00.002-06:00

hi friends,

check out this blog sometime if you're interested and not only because i recently posted on it. :)
http://www.racismreview.com/blog/

more to come!
kate

whoa...really?

2008-07-15T10:03:00.002-06:00

i got into my car today after a meeting and was surprised to hear the song "i'm too sexy" by right said fred playing on the radio. for a second, i had to take a look to make sure that it was in fact the radio and not my ipod. but sure enough, one of the more popular stations in town (which is a bit of a misnomer since there aren't that many) was playing this classic from 17 years ago. it wasn't an 90s flashback hour or some show dedicated to contemporaries of gerardo. it was just on. followed by a song from 2008. this town is too sexy for my hat.

i'm keeping the post office busy

2008-06-16T23:33:00.009-06:00

about a year ago i was preparing for the big move to iowa. little did i know that i would be moving my stuff THREE times in about 9 months. now, happily, i'm settled into my new apartment (well mostly.) things change, and among them was my address. :)

i thought i'd post a few pictures so you can see the new digs.

this is a view of my living room from the door. the area near the window is a cool alcove that overlooks the street. i put my desk up there with visions of me doing work at my window ala carrie bradshaw. right now though there is too much stuff up there.

this is another view of my living room. it is very cozy and i like it (note the new furniture...thanks to craigslist, a family in peosta wanting to unload this great furniture at a low price, and those who attempted to and/or succeeded in getting it into my apartment...which was not an easy task.)

this is my bathroom....there is a shower on the right that you can't see from this shot.

a few shots of the kitchen. not the biggest kitchen i've had but i like it a lot. there is a HUGE pantry and plenty of room for all my stuff. now if i can only get rid of the GIANT black ants that have been hanging around.

here's my bedroom. nice sized. love the really big closet (complete with mirrored doors) and that there is plenty of space. there's even a cool little window area that currently has a not so beautiful "window treatment." gotta work on that. :)

so this is the new place. i like it and the price is ridiculously good. i'll be here for the next 11 months at least. :D come visit! by then i'll have my art on the walls and everything finally put away. or at least i hope so.

summer?

2008-06-04T19:52:00.002-06:00

i'm on summer break which has been a bit busy so far and definitely not totally a break. i'm teaching a class in the first session and it's going well. i was hopeful that i'd have five people in it so i could get paid close to the full summer salary, but sadly when we started i ended up with three. luckily, the course itself has been pretty fun to teach and the students are great. remarkably we're almost halfway done!

i also finally made my giant list of things i want to do this summer and luckily i think i can get a lot of it accomplished. at least i hope so. :) it's good to have a plan at least and a schedule for when things need to get done. kate needs deadlines. it's a fact.

one of the big things i need to start doing soon is working on publishing my dissertation. i've been getting mixed messages about what avenue to pursue (book vs. article) so i think i'll try to get a book proposal written and an article and then go from there.

i also need to get my january term course figured out and my fall courses put together. those are all the top priorities. as well as getting another research project off the ground.

and, because it's a break allegedly, i'm trying to make sure that fun is being had as well. i think it's fair to say that the last few weeks have been really trying personally, so it has been great spending time with friends here in dubuque. i'm also going to charlotte, nc to visit my friend jody who i have known since we were 15 and taking moped class together. i think we might even go to the ocean and hang out on the beach which sounds so awesome. maybe i can lose 15 pounds before june 20? :) can't wait for that trip!

there is probably a lot of other stuff i've been meaning to blog about. i have been composing blog posts in my head when i can't get to sleep at night. but now that i'm actually blogging, i can't think of any of those ideas.

hope this post finds you well and happy. and hope that next time i write i'm more articulate and enthusiastic. lacking that second one lately, but hanging in there.

"what am i doing here?"

2008-05-18T18:46:00.007-06:00

that question was posed by an 85 year old bishop at yesterday's commencement at my alma mater. his age and inflection made the audience chuckle at this query, because frankly, it was funny. at the same time, it was a bit eerie, since i had been wondering the same question for most of yesterday. ten years ago i graduated from this school, and now, i'm back at commencement in the rock bowl as a faculty member. it was in many ways really surreal. i could not help but ask myself some of the same questions that the graduates might have been wondering themselves. what's next? what does the future hold? can i handle it? at the same time though, i was reflecting on the last 10 years. it was almost impossible to do otherwise while watching these recent grads face their future beyond college. each speech asked the students to consider what they wanted from their future and encouraged them to be the best versions of themselves possible. i sat in my goofy looking regalia wondering if i had accomplished that in the 10 years since my own graduation. in some ways, i felt parallels from then to now. for example, a decade ago after my commencement, my family was frantically packing my stuff into black garbage bags to a room in a house i thought i'd be living in during the summer of '98. i only ended up living there a short time, but regardless, it was a fast-paced move to a new space. this week, i moved (with the help of great friends and my awesome dad) into a new apartment in dubuque. ten years ago i was desperate to stay in town and hang out with friends during the summer. leaving dubuque was something i was totally not ready to do. now, i'm still here after almost living here for a year. it has been a great 9 months in many ways, but my desperation to stay is not as strong as it was in '98. ten years ago, i was starting a new relationship and finding love again for the first time in a long time. ten years later, i have learned a lot and still feel like i have a long way to go in terms of figuring out relationships. but i'm grateful for all the wonderful friends that i have met along the way and can't imagine life without them. ten years ago, i was trying to figure out the future and anticipated that i would be a teacher...ideally at a small liberal arts college. ten years later, here i am. it has been great in many ways and surprising in many ways. i'm not convinced i've found the best fit yet, but i have gained so much from the last year and anticipate the next one being busy and productive. ten years ago i was wishing i was thinner and had a better complexion. that hasn't changed ten years later. :) but i do have to say that despite the gray hairs and extra pounds, i have more confidence now than i did then. i have my moments, especially lately, where i'm full of doubt, but overall, i have a better sense of who this kate person is. ten years ago we sat outside and got graduation-cap-shaped sun burns. ten years later, the first commencement in a decade was held outside in the sun. only a slight burn on my nose this time. :) ten years ago i was worrying about the grades i would get, and now i'm dreading grading papers and tests. so what does all this rambling lead to? i suppose in some ways, i've gotten closer to what i pictured as the best version of myself. in the decade since graduation, i've lived in many different places, met so many great people, finished two degrees, fell in love a few times, and accomplished much. i've lost loved ones, gained new nieces and nephews, experienced immense pain and joy, and in ways i don't like to admit, become more of a grown up. i racked up enormous loan debts in pursuit of my education. i've become a teacher. i've lived on my own in another country, state, city... i'm not a millionaire by any means. i don't own a house. i'm not married. no kids. i have a great apartment and don't have a car payment. i work hard still. i read for fun. i struggle with faith. much has happened. much more than i have listed so far. it's hard to believe in some ways that ten years have already passed since i left college. and i'm not sure what the future holds at all. but i hope that i keep improving on this kate project. that i can get closer to that ideal self that i was charged to find or realize ten years ago. in the meantime, i'll be happy about how far i've come. :)

you can't get a job, can you? hmmm....what a mystery.

2008-04-14T20:46:00.003-06:00

i was at one of my favorite local coffee places, minding my own business, drinking iced tea (because it was actually warm out and an iced drink seemed perfect), and grading a stack of about a bajillion papers. there should have been no doubt that i wanted to be left alone. i was giving off all the f' off signs. i was wearing headphones, hiding behind my laptop screen, and just generally not giving the "yes i want to have a conversation with you" cues.

this did not stop some random dude from interrupting me. first, he started talking to me...sort of. i suspected he was asking me if someone was sitting on the couch across from me, but he wasn't. when i removed my ear buds i realized that he was just...well...mouthing words. i ignored him and went back to grading, figuring he would notice the laptop and bag of the person who had been sitting on the couch but had temporarily vacated. he did not. he sat down anyway. fantastic.

i falsely assumed that he would leave me alone once he came back with his beverage. instead, he asked me if i thought he should get a hair cut because, and i quote, "you're a woman, right?" (as if it's not obvious that i'm a woman?) i don't know what my sex has to do with me being able to advise a total stranger on his coif, but somehow i looked like i was capable of and willing to give him my opinion. he went on to tell me that he had a job interview to be a truck driver and was worried that his current "look" makes people think that he's a pot-smoker, which incidentally, he no longer is. i was thinking to myself that maybe people think that because of the bohemian type sweater thing he was wearing, his beard that resembled shaggy's from scooby-doo, and the hemp necklace, but what do i know? his lack of employment probably is haircut related. admittedly, it was a bit long...maybe chin length, but seriously, why would i know if this dude would look good with shorter hair? the more he tried to engage me in conversation and the more he failed to notice my subtle and not-so-subtle hints that this engagement was unwelcome, the more i began to realize two things:
1. this guy might be crazy and
2. there's no way i can continue grading at the coffee shop

so, i finally just told him "look man, i have a lot of grading to do. but good luck with the job interview tomorrow."

not really rude, if i might say, and yet he was very annoyed that i was leaving. so, perhaps the reason this dude won't get a job is because he's an idiot who has no social graces. lucky for him, i'm not sure how much human interaction you have to do when driving the big rigs. hopefully he'll pick up on the interaction cues related to CB communication.

10-4 good buddy. leave me alone. :D

i should be grading right now

2008-04-08T15:01:00.002-06:00

but i'm not. instead, i'm in my office avoiding anything that resembles work. as you can probably already tell from my last few posts, this has been a long semester. luckily we only have 5 1/2 weeks left (including finals week.) i truly and deeply cannot wait for summer break. i'm still getting used to the idea that i won't have full-time work to be doing and that i can, instead, do whatever i want. visit friends, find a part-time fun job, work on publishing stuff, read books for fun...you get the idea.

in the meantime, i've felt tired and just...well tired. i have had some fun and have fun coming up in the next few weeks. but there are a number of things weighing heavy on my mind. probably the biggest thing is deciding what to do next year in terms of employment. for a while the plan on the table was trying to find a job in texas. however, jobs have been difficult to come by. i could take a position that would be a step-down career-wise (assuming i'm offered one), but at this point, i'm not sure that's the best move. and at the same time there are several compelling reasons to stay in my current job for another year. i will get to teach 4 new courses next year, have a possible research project to start, will hopefully get to serve on a committee, and will be able to search during the normal job cycle. so, i'm getting used to the idea that i'll be in iowa for another year. there are good things about it, but there is a lot that will be challenging as well.

i have a few weeks to make a final decision and then, depending on what that is, a bunch of other choices need to be considered, like where i'll live and if i'll be moving stuff again and what all this means for relationships and whatnot. it will be nice to have some time to figure it all out without having to be worrying about grading 100s of papers.

anyway, that's not much of a scoop, but that's all i got for now. wish me luck as i make difficult choices once again. stupid being a grown-up.

sweet sweet spring break

2008-03-19T14:05:00.002-06:00

having a job that includes a spring break is a very, very good thing. as you could probably guess from my last post, i was in need of some rest and relaxation and so far i've accomplished that. :) i began my break early with a trip to vegas for a conference. it was a GREAT time! i got to catch up with some friends i haven't seen in a while and i got to show my mom around sin city. we saw quite a bit in a few days, mastered the bus system, and ate WAY too much delicious food. highlights were: bellagio fountains, mesa grill, winning $80 at keno, mandalay bay buffet, hanging out at the top of the stratosphere, and sushi at todai. i think mom had a great time (i know i did) and we were both pretty exhausted by the time we got to the airport at 4:15 a.m. on saturday morning.

i also have to mention a rather surreal experience after my presentation. this was my first presentation as dr. kate and i have to say (without any bias of course) that mine was one of the two best papers at the session. afterwards (this is the surreal part), a handful of people wanted to talk with me afterwards. some asked for advice on how to structure their research which is related to mine and a few were students just starting graduate work that wanted to share some of their experiences and just talk with me about the research. it was a great/weird feeling. made this whole dr. thing seem real. :)

since saturday i've been hanging out in texas. mike and i spent some time with our buddy andy in san antonio on saturday afternoon. watched aggie basketball and ate lunch at freebirds. mmmm freebirds. for the rest of the time, mike and i have been hanging out at his new digs in round rock. we cooked delicious dinner on sunday night. on monday, we went to see bob schneider and matt the electrician at the saxon pub. (very good show which i'll have to blog about next.) last night we took it easy at his apartment and watched my new favorite show dexter and ate another really good meal. it was stormy last night, which was actually kind of cool since it did not involve snow. tonight we're going to the alamo drafthouse. i've never been to one so i'm looking forward to it. :)

overall, it has been a productive and relaxing break. i've been sleeping way too much (guess i'm still catching up from vegas and my sleepless stats nights), got my midterm grades done, and found out some possibly exciting news related to jobs and texas. more on that later. ;)

i think i'm going to go for a walk in the sunshine while i still can!

the odds of getting more gray hairs this semester...

2008-03-10T14:28:00.002-06:00

i'm both in complete disbelief and quite happy that it's already march. we have about 9 weeks of class left and i can honestly say that for so many reasons, i cannot wait for this semester to be over. it has been one of the most challenging of my career so far. keep in mind some of my teaching career involved being a part-time adjunct while working as a full-time graduate student and even working as a full-time advisor while trying to write my dissertation. so to say this semester is a struggle says quite a lot.

the difficulty was there from the beginning. i'm scheduled to teach four courses, which is a hefty load. one is intro which i love, two are social psychology which is okay, and one is stats which is really hard to teach. i did manage to get an A in stats in graduate school, but i'm not sure that reflects my ability to teach this subject. in fact, i know it doesn't. luckily that course only has 8 students in it, but that has made things difficult at times as well and the small numbers even resulted in having to revamp the entire syllabus a few weeks ago. so my scheduled load alone is enough to make me go prematurely gray. on top of that, i'm covering another section of stats for a colleague in the psychology department who recently had a baby. the baby arrived earlier than we all expected, so that meant the course wasn't as planned out as either of us would have liked. but i jumped in and luckily it's a great group of students who seem to understand what i'm talking about so far. but it means that i have another prep, because unfortunately our courses are not really aligned in terms of subject matter and it was not really possible to have both stats courses learning the same things. i feel like every minute of the day i am either writing a new stats lecture, grading papers, or writing a stats lecture. :) so i welcome the end of the semester a great deal. my coverage of the 5th course only lasts until mid-april and i can already guess that i will be ready to get back to my usual schedule.

on top of all of that, we have been dumped on with snow this winter as you read in my last post. luckily i think it's finally supposed to warm up soon and melt it all (which will likely result in floods but we'll jump over that mud puddle when we get to it.) last week the college community was also mourning the loss of a student who passed away from meningitis. though i did not know this student, many of my students did and were directly impacted in intense ways by her death. it was difficult to watch them struggle and i continue to hope that they are getting the support that they need. last week ended with one of our sociology majors in tears about the death of one of her cousin's. needless to say, it was a long, sad week.

i still find myself in a funk, even though this week is already going better. the sun is shining today, i had a fun weekend catching up with my parents and some great friends from high school, and i get to leave for a conference/vacation in a few days. maybe i'm stressed because i have a lot to do before the trip or just tired of being sick (i've had a cold for the last two weeks). or maybe it's a longing for winter to be over and to get a break from this insane semester. or possibility trying to figure out what my next life move will be. basically, there's a lot going on in the world of kate and much of it is conducive to gray hair making.

luckily i have two silver linings (that seems ironic somehow.) one is that i get to do a lot of traveling in the next month. i will be gone every weekend until mid-april. i'm excited about that, though i anticipate it will mean late nights trying to get class stuff done during the week. the other is that even though i'm getting more and more gray hairs, i'm about to leave to go get my hair done, so they will be undetectable. at least for a while. :D

a few images i could have lived without

2008-02-18T20:27:00.004-07:00

the picture on the left is a chart that was in our local paper (telegraph herald) regarding how freakin' much snow we've had in dubuque this winter. that's right folks, so far 60.6 inches. the picture below was the conditions of iowa roads this morning at 11 a.m. after another snow storm. okay winter, you've made your point. now kindly leave.

20 questions

2008-02-17T23:46:00.002-07:00

i'm very excited to advertise my friend jed's new blog. i put a link on the side over there somewhere (Zombies Scare Me), but thought i'd give it an extra shout out. jed is a very close friend and someone that i've known since i was 18 or something insane like that. he is also one of the funniest people i know. his most recent post regarding a conversation he had with his son, ryan, inspired this post.

every year around christmas time, a group of us duhawks get together somewhere in the frozen north and hang out together. it is generally low-key, relaxing, and full of coffee, good food, and interesting conversation. we've been known to get into debates about everything from politics to religion to the desire to eat at chipotle or not (which for me is always a yes....let's go now!) we often come from different perspectives and view points, and at times this can lead to tricky banter. little did i know that one of the most mentally strenuous conversations i would have would be with ryan, who is three and a half. :)

i was taking some pictures of our crowd and my batteries were dead. this is the catalyst for the conversation...or perhaps, inquisition is a better word.

r: what are you doing?

k: i'm changing the batteries in my camera.

r: why?

k: because they died.

r: why did they die.

k: because i used my camera too much and they ran out of energy.

r: why did they run out of energy?

k: because i took too many pictures.

r: why did you take too many pictures?

k to friends: seriously?

k: so we could remember the weekend.

somehow, thankfully, we get sidetracked from this line of questioning. i finish putting in the "new" batteries and turn my camera back on.

nothing happens.

so i take out the "new" batteries and put back in some combination of old and "new" hoping it will work.

r: what are you doing?

k: i'm changing the batteries again.

r: why?

k: because those batteries were dead too.

r: why were they dead?

this went on for a while and i struggled to come up with more precise ways to explain why the batteries no longer worked, likely to no avail. his curiosity at this age is precious. and i hope it's something he hangs onto as he gets older. i was bested by ryan...master of questions. :)

"that'd be like showering outside."

2008-02-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

i had a bad morning. yesterday it snowed a lot. a lot is an understatement probably. regardless, this morning i attempted to dig out my car in a vain attempt to free it from it's frozen igloo home. i started digging and realized that this was going to take way more energy than my body had in it, especially since i hadn't had breakfast yet, so i figured i could at least get the 6 inch snow blanket off of the car. i used our plastic shovel to shove the snow off the car, inadvertently hit the driver's side window, and it immediately cracked and then shattered. shit! now, my car was still buried in snow and had a broken window. after freaking out a bit, i got the window covered in plastic, stopped my digging attempts, and let my colleagues know that i would be late getting to campus because of calamities. fortunately, one of them graciously came to pick me up so i didn't have to make the short, albeit snow-filled walk to campus.

i talked to my mom/insurance agent about what to do next and she gave the names of some glass people to call. the hope was that someone could just come to my car and fix it, so i wouldn't have to worry about how to get it to the shop. the first guy i called was very nice, but informed me that no one would come out on a day like today, because it's too cold and snowy. in fact, he was emphatic about how unlikely that would be and told me that it would be "like taking a shower outside." i thanked him for his help and told him i needed to see how to get my car out of the snow to get it to a shop. i called another place, who basically told me the same thing only with less enthusiasm and could actually quote me a price (unlike the first guy.) so, i made an appointment for tomorrow at 8 a.m. to get the window fixed. this is all happening just in time for me drive to iowa city to meet my parents so we can get the hell out of iowa for the weekend.

i followed up that fun by making coffee for myself at work and forgetting to put the coffee in a coffee filter before running the machine. that did not work out so well for me.

the rest of the day was a blur of grading and trying to figure out last minute plans for my classes this afternoon. both went pretty well and my colleague gave me a ride home, which was great. i spent some time shoveling out the car more so that i can get it to the shop tomorrow. snow is heavy. very heavy. so i'm a bit tired now and looking forward to going out with some colleagues for dinner and a drink tonight. woo!

so cross your fingers that nothing else crazy happens today. maybe the weirdest part of the whole day was how accurate my horoscope was. i was hoping to go visit mike in ABQ in the next few weeks and found a cheap ticket, though we decided it might be better to wait and to save the money. and then, the universe said this:

You might have to reconsider your current activities, especially if you need to conserve cash due to an unforeseen expenditure. Perhaps a bill arrives that's larger than you expected. Or maybe you recently spent more than budgeted. At any rate, your fiscal condition may not be as flush as you thought. Make whatever adjustments are necessary now while leaving the long-term decisions for another day.

By Rick Levine

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Stupid universe.

snow, snow, go away...

2008-02-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

last week i blogged about what's involved in blizzard conditions, which involved limited visibility because of blowing snow, but not necessarily requiring a lot of snow. this week, we got a shit load of snow. in fact, there is speculation that dubuque has gotten twelve inches in one day and it's still falling lightly today. all of the schools closed (including my employer eventually), many business are closed, my car is under a snowdrift, and i'm guessing the streets are a mess. as an iowan, you'd think that i'm used to weather like this. but after a nine year absence, it's just completely crazy to me. and i bet my friends who've lived here even longer than me would say that this is one of the most snowy winters in a long time.

i posted some pictures that i took this morning on my gallery and there's more snow since then. i actually just shoveled our steps in an attempt to get the mail and that was a pretty good workout. :) hopefully i can get my car out of the street sometime before friday morning.

stay warm friends!

http://fotosbykate.sexynerd.org/main.php?g2_itemId=2769

back to winter

2008-01-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

so monday it was warm, which i blogged about.

the next day, the temperature went from about 40 degrees to -7 (but it got down to -35 with the windchill) and we were in a blizzard warning.

i don't think we official had a blizzard (which i learned doesn't have to do with the amount of snow but rather wind and visibility because of blowing snow), but it is extremely cold again and icy. so winter is hanging on with a vengance even though we wish it would take off for a while. monday was certain a taste of spring that was quickly taken away. crazy ass iowa.

fresh start

2008-01-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

this past week i moved into a new housing arrangement. i'll be sharing a beautiful house with my new friends brad and christine. the moving in process was exhausting, but in the end, i noticed this pretty peaceful feeling. like spring was nearby or something. or just that i was getting to wipe the slate clean and really start my new year. (hopefully i can hang onto that feeling as it starts to snow and get cold again this week. we were blessed with warm temperatures today but it isn't going to last long.) regardless, i'm hoping the spring semester brings a few things:

improved work out habits (i can walk to work once it warms up, so that will help

healthier eating
better money management
maintaining sanity while teaching stats
clarity about future directions
lots of fun :)

so...to the left you see my room. it's a bit cluttery now since i'm still getting settled. there are some more pictures posted in the gallery and i'll try to get some better ones of the house. it is amazing!!

fast-paced 2008

2008-01-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

i'm not sure if the entire year will go as quickly as january has, but so far 2008 is FLYING by. in the time since my last post i've been packing up my apartment, moving things into storage, preparing for the spring semester, working on collecting more data to publish my dissertation, catching up with a few friends, and spending a wonderful time in albuquerque. in fact, i got back from the sunny southwest yesterday and now it's pedal to the metal time once again. fortunately, i had a wonderful week full of fun and relaxation in my former stomping grounds. it came at a great time, since now i have about a week to finalize syllabi and complete my move into my new home before the spring semester starts. i managed to get a lot done tonight on the syllabi and hopefully the weekend will be very productive in regards to the move.

as for the time in new mexico, it was really, really great. i caught up with a lot of friends, ate a bunch of really good food, and spent a lot of time with mike which was just...fantastic. it was hard at times, because i had to remember that i wouldn't be heading back to my apartment down the road at the end of the week, but instead would be on a plane going back to the frozen tundra that is currently iowa. but, i tried to make the most of the time i got to spend there. i noticed a few things almost immediately upon my arrival. one thing was that though it wasn't warm while i was there, it was really, really sunny. there's something to be said about getting some sunshine. i can't remember the last time we really saw the sun in iowa. maybe november?! no idea. the other thing i noticed was how instantly i was able to relax. i've been having neck and back pain for a few weeks, likely stemming from stress which leads to a GIANT knot in my back. i spent $16 for a chair massage before i took my trip to NM which helped somewhat, but the knot, and the pain, was still there. but, once i got to albuquerque, the pain eased up and didn't really bother me until i was getting close to my departure back to dubuque. interesting. ;)

all in all, it was great. i even got to bookend the trip with visits to jen and jed's house. they graciously took me to and from the airport thus saving me $98 in parking costs. we had so much fun just sitting around their house watching their adorable boys and catching up on things and talking. it reminded me of all the times we got to do that when i lived in milwaukee and simultaneously made me realize that we need to do that more often. :) the drive back to iowa was...for lack of a better word, freakin' scary. it snowed again today and it was windy, making conditions pretty treacherous on the hilly roads from rockford to dubuque. i made it in one piece though, which i'm grateful for.

so...things are good with even more good on the horizon. cross your fingers that i get my W-2s soon so i can get a refund. woo-woo!

p.s.--miss you already ABQ friends. SOOOOOOO good to see you. big hugs.

year in review

2008-01-02T22:23:00.001-07:00

so we're already two days into 2008 and i thought i'd start the year of blogging by summing up the highlights of 2007. :) hold on to your butts. (classic line from jurassic park!)

january

barely made it to mike's in time to ring in the new year due to weather mayhem
lost and then found all my dissertation taps
turned 31 (gasp!)
started phone interviews for faculty positions
went to first on-campus faculty interview after a fun weekend in st. louis with mike and the fam

february

happily quit full-time job so i could work on transcribing dissertation interviews
dealt with first rejections for the job search
went to iowa twice for job interviews and it was freakin' cold (much like it is right now...hmmm)
made delicious and unhealthy valentine's dinner for me and mike
hung out in o'hare airport for 18 hours trying to get back to ABQ

march

two more on-campus interviews for jobs making the grand total 5
lots of fun times in Texas at SXSW with mike and was able to catch up with other friends too and eat queso every day
got two job offers and accepted one
found out that i would be graduating december instead of august (which worked out way better in the long run)
lost aggie ring :(

april

worked on a lot of transcribing
ran 3.1 miles (which was a personal best at that point...gotta get back there)
started working in crazy retail jobs to earn some extra money

may

finished up teaching last course at UNM
had good times watching the brujos play at the sevens tourney
"celebrated" the annual ritual of not having air conditioning in my apartment
hung out with mike's family in ABQ
found a cool apartment in DBQ
started packing stuff
more transcribing

june

dennis came to visit ABQ and we had so much fun!!!
ran in a 5K
went to see bob schneider in santa fe with my friend kirk
started packing more and sorting through stuff
firmed up all moving plans
continued transcribing
went to TX for a visit

july

had a fun 4th of july bbq
shitty bar tour '07 and the discovery of "who's your daddy" a great local band who desperately needs a sound tech.
went to vegas with mike to see richard cheese!!! so much fun!!!
had a fun going away party at mike's (though it was sad to be saying good-bye to friends)
stopped working retail (for a while anyway)
hung out at the beach in galveston
transcribed more

august

went to las vegas again to hang out with mike for DEFCON and the brujos for the sevens tourney out there. it was crazy fun. crazy. fun.
moved out of my apartment with the help of awesome friends
moved across the country with help of awesome boy and heard hilarious commentary on iowa. ("iowa smells like shit....i wish i could fart to cover up the smell.")
moved into new apartment with help of other awesome friends
finished transcriptions!!!
started new job
had an impromptu family reunion

september

finished draft one of the dissertation
welcomed my niece cami to our family in st. louis
finished drafts two and three of the dissertation
(not much going on this month...mostly spent all free time writing dissertation)

october

successfully defended dissertation
got to hang out with mike in TX after not hanging out for two months
celebrated homecoming at the alma mater
went to ABQ for a visit
submitted dissertation to thesis office for final approvals
met future new roommate via discovery of having the same last name
started working retail again

november

hung out with mike in iowa
got to catch up with friends i haven't seen in way too long in milwaukee
completed final corrections on the dissertation
had a wacky but good thanksgiving at home for the first time in three years
caught up with my old friend bill
found out dubuque doesn't have a lot of jobs for the boy...so started discussing new plan.

december

got my first taste of winter back in iowa...brrrrrr!
wrapped up a successful first semester of teaching
GRADUATION in texas!!
decided to save some money by moving out of my awesome apartment
found my lost aggie ring!
had a wonderful time at home for christmas
put in notice to stop working retail
crazy ass and super fun new year's eve that started in iowa and ended in illinois. hell yeah!

i undoubtedly missed some things that have happened but hopefully i covered the major highlights for kate in 2007. so far 2008 is off to a pretty good start. more on that to come!

2008 is just around the corner

2007-12-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

i'm back in my apartment after a great time at my parent's house for christmas. it was really nice to catch up with family and to indulge in a lot of really delicious food. won't be waiting for new year's resolutions to get back to the gym. :) i'm also happy that i was able to celebrate a few of my favorite holiday traditions: eating at red lobster with dennis, watching a christmas story with my parents and aunt deb and uncle jon (after going to mass and being grateful for not being in the "party room"), and eating a fantastic cheese ball and singing along to Holiday Inn with dennis and my parents. after a lot of fun, it is nice to be back home. i'm wrapping up my time at the retail gig which is wonderful and will have plenty of time to plan for next semester, pack my apartment again, and just be.

i'm going to be moving during the month of january into new digs that are closer to work and less expensive. and i predict many good times will be had with my new roommates. i'm excited to make them dinner and see how the dynamic is tomorrow night. i have to admit that many nights when going to bed at mom and dad's my thoughts were on moving out of my current apartment, and the thought of it made me a bit sad. granted, i won't miss the stupid mouse infestation that seems to be never-ended or the HUGE utility bill that i have for the month. but this place is really my dream apartment. i know i'm making a great decision about moving and i'm excited about it, but it will be sad to leave at the same time. i think for the first time in a long time, i lived in a place that really felt like home...my home. so part of me really doesn't want to go. but the rest of me is anxious to pack up and get rid of stuff again (anyone want to buy a couch?) and try something new.

hopefully there will be much clarity in the new year about a few things. :) i can't believe how fast 2007 went. seriously...it's almost over! how did that happen?

oh yeah...it's snowing again. :P

found!!

2007-12-23T22:37:00.000-07:00

so last march-ish, i lost my aggie ring. i wasn't even sure when i lost it, in terms of the exact moment it was missing, though i did have a time frame. i was hopeful that when i packed up all my worldly possessions to move to iowa it would be discovered, but no such luck. it's been in the back of my mind since it went missing and i've remained ever hopeful that i would just come across it in some random box or something. (or that mike would find it at his house if/when he moves.) i even made one last ditch search for it before graduation last weekend (which i still have to blog about.)

earlier this week one of my pilot pens fell between my car seat and the console. it was bugging me that it was down there, because i was worried the cold temps would make it crack open and spill black ink everywhere. so after picking up some stuff from wal-greens on the way out of town on thursday, i made it my mission to get that pen out of there. it was nicely wedged between wacky seat parts and i ended up getting out of my seat and moving it forward in an attempt to free it from tangles of spiraled wire and just...stuff. at some point in the battle i looked down in to the seat crevasse and saw a gold crest shining back up at me. i instantly knew what it was, but that did not stop me from literally shrieking with joy! i've probably looked in my car 50 times for it, and then, 9 months later, there it is. maybe it was waiting for me to finally finish my degree to reveal itself.

that was a great way to start my christmas holiday. it feels great to have it back on my finger where it belongs! :)

liquid streets

2007-12-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

tonight has been a fun night despite the very cold and snowy/icy/sleety whether that preceded it. i met my friend brad at his office which is about two blocks from my house so we could go have a few beers and a little food. you'd think that in two blocks i could manage to keep myself warm and not covered in snow and, well, dampness. (i hate the word damp...sorry for that.) that was not the case. after going down my front steps which were mysteriously shoveled off (thanks for that!) i saw some footsteps in the snowbank next to the street. "walk in the footsteps and you'll be fine" i thought to myself. and fine i was...until that last step which was unexpectedly deep. up to my knee deep. not a good start. already wish my new boots were here. i slip and slide across the slushy street and have quite a big slip on the sidewalk once i get to it, but manage to not fall down. just a little snow to brush off my jeans...nothing to worry about. then...it happened. liquid street. i see a slushy puddle and decide to just lightly leap through it. it was not a puddle. it was more like a small slushy lake. and the more i leaped (leapt?) the more icy slush went in my shoes and up my pant legs. after traversing slushy lake, i get across the street and seriously wonder if i should wring out my socks before going into brad's office. i decided against it though i did take one shoe off to see if water would flow out of it. (it didn't...it was thoroughly soaked into the shoe. lucky for me and my feet, brad drove us to the restaurant and we had a really fun time chatting and drinking beer. so fun i didn't even think about my frozen feet until i got back home. first thing on my agenda was taking off those shoes and changing my socks. all is good now. :D

actually...might need my slippers too. "D

snow

2007-12-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

it's snowing more. booo!!

i get to graduate in a week where it's warm. sa-weet!

i discovered that delicious sushi exists in dubuque, iowa tonight. i got to enjoy it with a new friend and great conversation. just what i needed.

now, hopefully the snow will stop.

hooray!

2007-12-05T17:47:00.001-07:00

some of you are getting this in the mail, but due to limited resources i couldn't send them out to everyone. :) i'm excited to be participating in the ceremony next weekend. it will be nice to commemorate my work as a graduate student by walking across that stage and getting hooded. :) and i get to see friends and family and enjoy warm texas weather!

gifts of cash and beer will be accepted (especially cash...hee hee!) i thought about registering for this event, but decided against it. :D

thanks friends for all of your support and guidance through this process. very much appreciated!!

hugs,
dr. kate

crabby day

2007-12-02T22:28:00.000-07:00

do you ever have a crabby day for no specific reason? nothing really happened today to make me crabby. in fact, it was a pretty laid-back day in general. it mostly involved cleaning, grading, and watching tv. nothing to complain about. and yet, i'm in a mood. maybe it's a sign that i have too much on my mind. or that i'm worried about money, as seems to be a constant. or could be just missing people. hard to tell. whatever the deal is, i think i'm going to eat a snack, finish my graduation announcements, and go to bed.

oh the weather outside is friggin' frightful

2007-12-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

today iowa was graced with snow, ice, sleet, and rain. in fact, it was precipitating from 10:00 a.m. until right now. this has caused big trouble for some in the midwest. fortunately, dubuque was not hit as hard as other communities. the roads were a mess i headed to work and were somewhat better by the time i left. if it gets colder though, i am guessing it will get very, very icy. lucky for me i don't have to go anywhere tomorrow. the plan is a lot of grading and cleaning. (gotta say i'd rather be where mike is about now.)

surprisingly, there were a lot of people out and about tonight. maybe i was in the south and southwest too long, but had i not been scheduled to work, i would have stayed on the couch. (i don't know if i mentioned it before, but i'm working part-time in retail again.) the store i'm at (subtle hint...the same one i was working at in the summer>) is certainly not one that i would consider an essential destination on a day like today. and yet, we actually did have customers. the road are shitty, the parking lot is worse, it was raining and cold, but still people needed to buy air freshner and christmas ornaments?! it baffles me. there is nothing...seriously nothing, that people would need to buy today. people are weird.

my real job is also going pretty well. we have two weeks left for the semester, which is great. i'm looking forward to some down town. feel like i need a break and have a lot to figure out as of late.

i meant to write after thanksgiving, but got too busy. it was good to see my family, if not a bit stressful. hopefully christmas will be less tense. :D

okay, more later.

so i finally got around to...

2007-11-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

watching the movie crash. all of america has seen it except for me. honestly, i was avoiding it, because america was so enamored with a movie that had race and racism as a major plot point. as a race scholar, this was and is concerning.

to my surprise, it didn't make me as angry as i expected it would. it played up some stereotpes and in the end, every character is kind of an a-hole and kind of an okay person at the same time. i suppose that is what people liked about the flick. and they way the various stories intertwined was interesting enough that i want to watch it again just to see what i missed.

predictably though, the movie focused almost entirely on individual level racism and did not really address more institutional or systemic issues. there was a bit of discussion about it from a few of the people of color in the movie, but in the end, the moral seemed to be that fixing the problem one jerky individual at a time will do the trick. even reviewers on IMDB make this conclusion. there wasn't much discussion about the history of racism in our country or how that history has privileged whites above others.

i'm left wondering a bit what all the hype was about.

congratualations

2007-11-17T20:33:00.001-07:00

Kathrin,

All of your manuscript corrections are done and forms received. You are cleared by the Thesis Office. Congratulations and our best to you.

Thesis Office

:)

Woo hoo!

submitted again...

2007-11-12T17:11:00.001-07:00

today i submitted my dissertation to the thesis office hopefully for the last time. i finished the corrections they asked me to do and now in 3-6 days i'll find out if i'm really done. then all i have to do is pay my bill to the university and i'll be able to get my diploma in december. (so if you wanted to give me a gift for graduation [no obligation of course] i would gladly accept cash to put towards that bill. *grin*)

unbelievably it's also the middle of november. that means that thanksgiving is next week. i'm excited about it, though it seems impossible that it's already next week. this semester has flown by! before i know it, i'll be giving finals! better get back to work on the grading then. :)

pooped

2007-11-11T22:18:00.000-07:00

after a great weekend, i'm sitting here on my couch feeling very tired. mike was here in iowa since thursday night and we packed a lot of fun into a short amount of time. he got to meet a bunch of my friends, we ate a lot of good food, i showed him more of the sites in dubuque, we had some adult beverages (including cave-ins at the mining company) and spent some time in the car going back and forth from milwaukee. all-in-all it was a fantastic weekend (though i realize my description of it is not all that enthralling...need sleep.) gotta say that having him here makes life so much more fun. here's hoping some job options come together, so we can be together again soon. cross your fingers for us.

it's already november

2007-11-02T23:37:00.000-06:00

this semester has flown by and even though there aren't that many weeks of classes left before the end of the semester, there is still SO much to do. i'm perpetually trying to catch up on grading and haven't even started planning classes for next semester yet. luckily, i don't have to worry about too much dissertation stuff. i got my corrections and have a few weeks to get those finished. none of it is too scary though i have a feeling formatting figures is going to piss me right off. anyway, i'm a little stressed...not overly so, but enough that i've been kind of tired and cranky this week. i also started working a second job this week. back in retail for 10 hours a week. i didn't expect to need to do that, but it's become a necessity and i figured it would be a good way to meet more people and get out of my apartment, while earning some extra cash.

it's been a weird week in terms of my job satisfaction as a faculty member. maybe it's the stress of grading and stuff, or the lack of enthusiasm from my intro class lately, or my paycheck, or the feeling of "been there, done that" i have at times on campus. maybe it's that i miss mike. i don't know. i guess i thought i'd be happier in this role than i am finding myself. maybe once i get a semester under my belt i'll feel more settled in. but this week has been very blah and makes me wonder if this is my calling. i love teaching and look forward to advising sometime soon. but the tedium that i have to deal with at times in terms of planning courses and strategic plans for the college or figuring out a course rotation is frustrating at times. all part of the gig i know, but geez. i'm guessing my attitude about it all would be better if i got more sleep. so i'm going to work on that now and stop complaining...because there are PLENTY of good things about my job too and things i like a lot. patience is what i need i think. if you have any to spare, send some my way. :)

pretty sunshine time

2007-10-25T22:16:00.000-06:00

when i was in college, one of my favorite things was watching the golden-pinkish glow that would settle around campus around 6 p.m. in the fall. today took me back to that. as i left my office, the sun was sinking in the sky, casting a beautiful light over campus. i knew if i had left maybe 10 minutes earlier, the cross on top of hoffman hall would be glimmering against the sky. i made my turn away from campus in time to see a full moon hanging over the mississippi river and the changing trees. this is probably a bit schmaltzy, but it really is a wonderful sight. and it brings a sense of peace somehow. come see it tomorrow. okay. :D

similutaneous relief and annoyance

2007-10-18T15:23:00.000-06:00

today was a great day. it was the day that i converted my dissertation from a word document to a PDF file and submitted it to the thesis office. fortunately my committee did not want me to make any major changes to the beast before i submitted it, so all i had to do was proofread and format. that process is WAY more complicated than it needs to be, especially when Word inexplicably decides to change the formatting of your page numbers and you have to swear and yell at it and pound the keys before figuring out how to fix it. regardless, after working hard this week i finally got all my i's dotted and t's crossed. my hope is that once the incredibly anal-retentive thesis people nitpick the crap out of it that there won't be much more to do (though i realize that this is extremely naive of me.) in any case, it feels more official now that it has been submitted to the thesis office. like i really am almost done.

so why would i be annoyed? because as soon as i submitted the diss, i got an email from the thesis office saying that they received it (woo hoo!), that i'm number 236 on their list (okay...whatever), and that i will be billed a ONE-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTY-FIVE-DOLLAR processing fee. okay, okay...i should have known this was coming since i did have to turn in my thesis to them 4 years ago or whatever, but it still came as a shock. sure, peoples' salaries probably get paid from that money, which is a good thing, but damn! just when i thought i was done giving my money to the university they find one more way to nickel and dime me. for those keeping track at home, that means just to graduate i had to pay tuition this semester, pay a graduation fee, pay for regalia rental, and pay this stupid ass processing fee. AND i also have the option of paying $95.00 so that my copyrighted dissertation would be widely available for people's use. (if i don't pay that then people would have to pay to use it, which is weird...) so anyway, it caught me off guard a bit.

on a happier note, i'm finding myself feeling randomly nostalgic and just kind of satisfied. though i didn't write extensive acknowledgments in the dissertation (because let's face it, i just wanted to be done writing...not because i don't appreciate all ya'll) i have been feeling very grateful for the many wonderful friends in my life and for my great family. and now that i can put my mind on something else for a while, it goes to you. :) thanks friends for all that you've done to support and encourage me. i truly could not have gotten this far without you.

now to get to a GIANT stack of grading that i've been putting off. no rest for the weary.

two big weekends

2007-10-14T15:24:00.000-06:00

a little over a week ago, i successfully defended my dissertation. the process was a bit grueling emotionally, but all in all went really well. it involved about an hour and 45 minutes of questions, which were mostly humane. :) at the end though, i was called dr. by my chair, so it was official. :) the rest of the weekend was great! i finally got to see mike for the first time since i moved, i got to have dinner with friends, plenty of drinks and fun, saw part of an aggie game, ate way too much, and just had a really fantastic celebration! now i'm in the process of correcting formatting and typos. have to finish that by friday so i can graduate in december. :) then i think it will feel official, even though i'm basically done now.

this weekend i spent time with some of my closest friends. it was homecoming at our alma mater, so we all got together for the first time since i've moved back. we had a lot of fun and it was great to share my new life at our school with them. it was a bit overwhelming seeing so many people that we knew from our college days though. i had fun catching up with people, but there were a lot of people that i recognized but couldn't place a name with their faces. it was a little crazy after a while and having one brief conversation after another was more draining than i expected. the weekend was a good combination of getting to relax and just chill and being active and doing stuff. now that all the guests are gone and i'm done cleaning up, i feel like i should go to bed. :)

so, i know i was overdue for an update on the defense and this post is not very profound and deep. but, that's the basic scoop. it's all good.

on the verge...

2007-10-04T17:03:00.001-06:00

tomorrow i defend my dissertation, which will hopefully result in only a few minor steps for me to complete so that i can finally be finished with my Ph.D. i'm a little nervous about it, but feeling confident. mostly i just want to get it over with. rip the band-aid off and be done.

having said that, it is a bit surreal that this is already happening. i've been working on this for what seems like forever, and now i'm almost done. i know i'll be able to fill the time and mental space with something else, but it's almost incomprehensible that i won't have this on my plate anymore. i just can't imagine the relief, though i'm anxious to feel it. :)

i know that i won't be done even if the defense goes well tomorrow. i have to format the beast for the thesis office and do a real proofread since i haven't yet. but hopefully that will be all. maybe other corrections can wait until i try to publish it. so i'll still have some work to do, but will also have a tremendous weight off my shoulders. this could the first time in a long time when my shoulders actually have reason to relax. as my closest friends (and my yoga instructors) will tell you, that's where i keep all my stress. so relaxed shoulders...that could be the real mark that i'm done. :)

anywho, much excitement is in the air right now. once this is done, it also opens up a world of fun. i get to have a great time in texas and FINALLY get to see mike after two very long months AND i get to catch up with the aggie friends that are still around. then next weekend is homecoming and i get to catch up with friends from undergrad. and the next weekend i have yet another trip! so lots of fun coming after what feels like many months of stress.

here's hoping that when i next post, i am just a few grammatical errors away from being dr. parks.

welcome fall!

2007-09-27T21:43:00.000-06:00

my favorite season has officially started and the weather is actually cooperating. the temperature variations has been a little wacky in the last few weeks. it was pretty cold for this time a year a few weeks ago and then before we knew it, it was like summer again. now, happily, it is staying in the high 60s/low 70s, which i think is perfect. (especially when teaching in rooms without air conditioning.) a few of the trees have more colorful leaves and i can't wait until the reds, golds, and oranges of autumn are in full force. i really love everything about this time of year. the clothes, the weather, the sights, the flavors (like pumpkin spiced things and caramel apple creations), and the events (like college football.) and it means that it's almost thanksgiving. though i do not buy into the mythical beginnings of this holiday, it is my favorite. excellent food, fun memories, and was the beginning of a very important relationship for me. :) i'm happy that fall is here, and that i get to enjoy it in the midwest, where (and i might be a bit biased) it is the most beautiful place to experience it.)

in other news, i have turned in version of two of my dissertation, which will hopefully be very close to the final draft. all the committee members have it in hand (or in email as the case may be) and the defense is next friday. i know there will be things i have to change after that...because i haven't done a great job with proofreading yet. i tend to be somewhat meticulous as i write, but i'm sure there are errors to fix and i just have to muster up the will to read the whole thing again. AND i have to get the formatting and stuff correct for the thesis office. but, i'm really hoping that for the most part, i will be done soon. maybe i can actually get caught up on grading and be an organized teacher who is not constantly flying by the seat of her pants?!

tomorrow i'm riding with my parents to st. louis to meet my new niece. can't wait to meet her and see the family for the weekend. wooo!

"We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to." -- W. Somerset Maugham

2007-09-21T16:55:00.000-06:00

i found this quote a while ago and tucked it away in my gmail for a future post. and though the author of the quote probably meant it in a different way that i'm interpreting it, still it could not be more relevant to my life at the moment. i find myself fantasizing about the day when i can write because i want to. but for now, my existence revolves around writing because i have to. it has been extremely difficult to find motivation to get all my dissertation corrections done. i am grateful that my chair got feedback to me at the speed of light and that i gave myself a few extra days to finish before sending it to my committee (the original goal was today, but it's going to be more like sunday morning.) that will give them a little under two weeks to read it before the defense. in the mean time though, i've been trying to write. forcing myself to write. and i have to say...it's difficult. first because i should have been writing every day just to stay in the practice of being able to articulate my thoughts. i feel like i'm at a 3rd grade level right now. "racism is bad." secondly, i'm just not sure how to incorporate some of the things i've been asked to do. in an attempt to accomplish some of them, i'm re-writing my introduction. but that is a formidable task because of the aforementioned lack of writing skills. and apparently i have no attention span right now, so that also doesn't help. regardless, i have to get this done. mostly because i think the relief that i will feel once i've jumped through all necessary hoops is going to be tremendous. i'm not even thinking about how cool it will be to have accomplished this. i'm mostly just thinking about how i want to get this over with! so, i'm going to hope that i can finish this up soon and overcome the mental blocks i seem to be having.

in other news, i'm happy to report that the newest member of my family is going to be arriving from Russia next weekend. i'm very excited that i'll be able to meet my niece Cami in a week. i'll post a picture of her because she's so dang cute. :) it has been a long process for my brother and sister-in-law, so i have no doubt that they are thrilled to have their daughter at last!

lots of fun and trips coming up which is great. really looking forward to seeing mike in october, both because i miss him AND because that will mean that i have hopefully successfully defended my dissertation AND i haven't seen him since i moved here. that has not been easy. so can't wait for that weekend!

anyway, i should get back to work. laters!

a good dissertation is a done dissertation

2007-09-12T23:44:00.000-06:00

in college, i was known by my friends as being amazing at pulling quality papers out of my ass at the last minute. you see dear friends...i am a procrastinator. apparently it's how i function. it certainly was in college and continues to be now.

case in point is that i managed to put together my dissertation in about 5 days of writing. of course, that is only partly true, since i spent the last 6 months transcribing interviews, which was a big part of the process. and i wrote a proposal about a year and a half ago or something. so, i did not write it from scratch in a short time, but i did put together a decent first draft of the beast over the last week or so.

i turned it in today via email and our WONDERFUL department assistant, meeting my deadline line and knowing that i will have more work to do. (my conclusion is only 5 pages right now which is not cool.) but i did turn in something like 220 pages (give-take) of a product that i think is pretty dang good. hopefully it will be good enough that i won't have to make too many changes before and after the defense (october 5th!!!) i would even like it if it was good enough to become a book relatively soon.

so, thanks for all your thoughts and encouragement and prayers. i pulled it off...at least the first draft. now i have to get used to having some time off from it for a few days. gotta get my teach on.

but first...kate needs sleep.

:D

brains...hurt

2007-09-05T09:30:00.000-06:00

i woke up today both feeling well rested and having a nasty headache. luckily it's finally going away now, but that was a bit odd. i'm chalking it up to stress. i have about a week to get my dissertation draft put together and i'm a bit freaked out. the good news is that my classes should be pretty low key for the rest of the week and a colleague might be able to cover my class on monday so that can be a work day. so i'm confident that i can get a lot done in a short amount of time. it's one of those crazy special skills that i have. in college i was the master at whipping together papers at the last minute. so here's hoping that panic does not cripple that special ability. :)

in other news, i REALLY REALLY need to start going to the gym again. it's hard to make time for it right now when i have this huge hurdle to overcome, but i'm feeling kind of gross and flabby. i'm hopeful that i can get back on track and actually lose some weight! damn those pants that i keep moving. here they are in iowa and not fitting me yet. :P so, though i feel like i can't spare a half hour to go jogging, i should anyway. i'm betting it would be a good stress reliever and boost my body image, which can't hurt.

alright...back to it.

one week down

2007-08-31T23:51:00.000-06:00

i've finished my first week of teaching as a real instructor (not quite a professor yet...) so far, so good. the students are very nice, though started out a bit quiet. but towards the end of the week they were opening up more. i had a fun "i just blew their minds" moment today in intro. :) that's one of those great teacher moments when you know that you've opened up the students to something new. so the week ended on a high note. let's hope the momentum keeps up....especially because i have a serious deadline looming.

in about two weeks, i have to have a copy of the dissertation sent off to my committee chair. i have to say that i'm not sure that it's going to happen. but, crazier things have happened. i've managed to sort through all the data twice and it's now at the point where i just need to write about it. for some reason that's easier said than done. BUT, i have no choice. i gotta do it and do it quick. here's hoping everything i had before is good enough for the committee and the defense that's coming up in october. yeah...it's safe to say that i'm getting nervous, while being so, so ready to get this part over with.

cross your fingers kids that i can pull this off.

moving beyond katie

2007-08-23T16:59:00.000-06:00

for a lot of my life, i was known as katie, a fact that mike loves to revisit whenever he's trying to get me fired up. then, sometime in college, i became kate. however, not everyone in my life got the memo about that. my family, of course, is allowed to call me katie, and i'll even cut my high school friends some slack. beyond that though, it's just plain weird when i'm called something other than kate. i bring this up because today as i was going to convocation with my fellow faculty members to welcome the new students, a professor from my glory days called me katie. it's possible that he missed the memo my junior year that i had self-imposed a different moniker, but it made me wonder if he still saw me as i used to be.

that's been on my mind a lot this week as i re-enter this college. last time i was here, i had just graduated and was scared to leave the place that had been like home for four years. i was, i'm sure, worried about what the future held once i moved beyond this place. and now, i'm back in a completely new role. as i sat in my master's degree garb (cap, gown, fancy hood, the whole deal) during convocation, i realized that i'm not katie anymore. but instead, i'm kate...new faculty member, grown-up, adult, professor (well almost.) it's a little weird, but every exciting at the same time. and i hope this community will accept me as this new person. i know, i'm not completely different than when i was an undergrad, but much has changed at the same time. i hope there will be space for who i have become in the last 9 years (the new kate) and for what i will become in my time here. i've moved beyond katie. :) if that makes any kind of sense.

"you must be an iowan if...you drink 'pop'...

2007-08-15T22:34:00.000-06:00

my good friend monica sent me a forward today to commemorate my move back to the hawkeye state. it was a collection of wisdom about how you know you're an iowan, many of which were quite funny. i know i'm an iowan because mike and i drove about 1300 miles to move me here. all in all, the move was the most seamless one that i've ever encountered. i was packed by the time my friends (to whom i am very grateful) arrived to move my stuff into the truck. the truck i got was brand new, which never happens. everything fit, everyone was fed enough pizza and beer, and i had enough time to clean my apartment for my inspection (thanks kirk.) mike and i managed to get to OK City the first night which was our goal and then had a long haul the next day. once we got to town we checked out the apartment with dennis and then hit the wal-mart to get an air mattress and then headed to fat tuesday's (a favorite hang out of the duhawk crowd). mike had his first ever old style, which he seemed to enjoy and probably cost like a dollar or something. the move in the next day also went well and i got a lot of stuff unpacked. there is still random crap all over the place, but the essentials are just about all done. mike had to leave on monday night which sucked, but i'm glad he was able to stay a few days and hang out with me. :) this place seems really empty without his company. but i will say that i do like my apartment. it is really big, especially compared to where i was living, and in some ways is already starting to feel a bit like home. it will be nice to have everything put away, but that might take some time as i'm in full swing with the dissertation and getting ready for classes which start on the 27th. mike has vowed that he won't come visit until i get my first draft done, so that's a lot of motivation to crank it out. :)

i figured that moving back to iowa would be difficult in some ways. leaving behind the life in ABQ was/is not easy and it's especially hard to be so far away from the boy. at the same time, it's nice to be closer to friends (who better friggin' visit) and my family (who i already get to see this weekend.) it's nice to be starting my first job at a familiar place, though i do feel a bit of pressure that i will need to kick even more butts since i'm their former student. luckily it will keep me way busy.

i could continue to ramble on but instead i'm going to share a few things about living in iowa that i forgot about. that's what i get for being gone for like 9 years and only back in the winter usually.

-we do drink pop. and when you buy cans or bottles of it, you have to pay a deposit and then return the cans to get your money back. it's wacky.
-critters around here are furry and not lizards. didn't see a lot of furry creatures in TX and NM. but in iowa, i have already met a furry creature that lives under my back porch sometimes. i have named him chewbaca.
-there are bugs. NM spoiled me.
-sweet corn here is way better than the sweet corn you get anywhere else. come over and i'll make you some.
-people are nice. they say hi to you when you're just walking into the grocery store and are really helpful when coming to help you get your internet set up.
-parts of iowa are really smelly thanks to pig farms. mike's comment was "iowa smells like ass....i want to fart to cover up the smell." luckily it's not all over the place.
-stuff closes on sunday, like most of downtown dubuque.

i'm sure there will be more to add to the list, like the quirkiness of my old house, but for now i should probably go to bed.

over and out!

my eyes hurt

2007-07-30T23:31:00.000-06:00

its true. all day today my eyes were hurty...or at least for most of the afternoon. i was thinking about it in a bit of delerium between interviews i was transcribing and wondered briefly if the pain was a result of my denial about leaving albuquerque. don't get me wrong, i know that i'm leaving...but the fact that its happening rather soon is still not quite on my radar. its there when i realize that i have only a few days to finish transcribing interviews (i finished 3 today) and packing all my worldy possessions, but then that panick quickly subsides into my current state....total denial. so maybe my eyes hurt from the tears that i'm forcing back. or maybe i was looking at a computer screen for too long today. regardless, i need to write a bit about my denial. this is mostly to assure my wonderful friends here that i'm not a total robot. don't let my ...hmmm...what's the word...stony, icy, no...um, ambivalent (?) tone and/or facial expressions fool you. ignore the fact that i don't quite choke up at the thought of missing life here. i fully assure you that its not because i don't have emotions about it. i do. i have a lot. i've met some freakin' fantastic people here and albuquerque has become home. it is not easy to leave. i know that. it makes my heart do crazy things at times and prevents sleep at night on more occassions than i will admit (but to which mike could probably attest since it sometimes results with my knee in the middle of his back.) the deal is...i can't think about it yet, because its gonna hurt too much. so instead, i focus on getting items on my big ass list completed and flit about in a haze about the fact that i leave this home in a little over a week. what i'm banking on is that my new path in iowa is going to be really great...and that i can come visit a lot. :)

so, please know dear friends that my exterior will probably not convey what i'm thinking and feeling right now. i've wanted to sit down and write cards to people and let them know how much they've meant to me over the past 20 months or so, but doing that now would make it all too real. its more likely that will happen when things slow down and i'm back in iowa. (just ask my texas friends how this went....it was a freakin' whirlwind when i left there which probably didn't hit me until after the truck was unloaded in ABQ.) i'll try not to be a total robot, but i can't guarantee that i won't be able to express how much you all have meant to me. i am blessed in so many ways to have the chance to move around, because i get the great gift of friends in varied places. it's crazy awesome. :) for reals.

okay, just wanted to clear that up real quick. :D i managed to cross three things off the list of fun stuff to do over the past 4 days and did a few things that weren't on the list but that i was hoping to do (see the simpsons movie, eat a breakfast burrito, obtain the 206 balloon fiesta postcard, etc.) the next few days will be busy and i hope very productive. (oh, i tried to go to juan's broken tacos but they didn't have any broken tacos...figure that one out. and i spilled a metric assload of wine in my car through no fault of my own, so now the saturn smells a lot like a vineyard. its been a busy week already!)

time for some sleep...i hope.

updating the list

2007-07-25T16:13:00.000-06:00

i was talking to mike about how i move in like 3 weeks and he pointed out that its more like 2 weeks. what's up with this summer going so fast? fortunately, i'm done working the retail gig (pier 1 in case you were wondering) so i have some time to get a lot of things done. in fact, tonight i'm going to make a big list of things i need to get done before i move so i can sleep better at night. in the meantime though, i thought i should update the list of things i wanted to do in ABQ before i moved to see where things stood. so, here goes:

breakfast at gold st. cafe (must eat that red chili bacon again before i go) -haven't done this one yet, though mike and i went for lunch a while ago and we had BLTs. maybe i can still get this one done since i love a good breakfast
a trip up to the peak -went with father dennis
drinks and merriment at the restaurant at the base of the mountain at twilight time -went with mike and father dennis. it was great!
maybe a trip to the zoo -thank goodness father dennis visited. we did this too.
isotopes game -didn't get this done.
bowling at isleta casino (its way fun) -there was speculation about going this weekend
a day trip to santa fe and/or taos -went to santa fe with father dennis and to see bob schneider there with kirk
winery trip (at least to st. clair for the wine flight) -monday night
feast at tucanos -mike and i went a while ago, so that can count. not sure we'll get back before i move.
lots of pie shack - done and will likely do again
cocktail party at kate's -vetoed due to cardboard boxes everywhere. :)
grill outs - done
lots of fun times with friends for sure in varied forms- done and will do more of i hope
beer afternoon at kelly's -its planned
lunch at juan's broken taco -any takers?
a trip to dagmar's german food sometime- haven't done this either. maybe lunch one day.

i keep remembering the obvious, which is that i will be back to visit, so its not completely imperative that i complete the list in the next two weeks. god knows i have enough to do, but i hope to fit some of these fun things in too.

lots of fun so far in july. mike and i went to galveston to hang out with his family at the beach. it was a great time. i read a book (love walked in...its really good and it amazed me that i can read a 300 page book in 3 days. if only academic books went that fast), got a little sunburned, and had a great time just relaxing. :)

i've sure there's more to update but i'm distracted by packing that i need to do, so i'm off. i'll write more soon.

the thin horizon of a plan is almost clear

2007-07-16T22:44:00.000-06:00

i'm sure it's no surprise that the title of this blog comes from a song i love. that seems to be my thing. :) this is actually the first line of the wood song by the indigo girls, which is one of my favorite songs of all time and resonates with me a lot at the moment. there was a time during my freshman year when i would listen to this CD non-stop and since i'm preparing to move back to my alma mater, it is even more appropriate.

for me this song is about life, especially in the sense that we don't always know what is coming next or what will happen with the various decisions we make. and that if we did know, we would be missing out on the good part of living. the uncertainty teaches us and helps us grow as people. it makes things exciting. keeps us on our toes.

for whatever reason, though this message is one that i try to keep in mind, it is not always easy to do so. especially now that i'm less than a month away from another transition in my life. and its slowly hitting me how much things are going to change soon. mike will attest that though i had a GREAT time at my going away party this weekend, i did lose it a bit after the guests had left or passed out. i'm sure many tasty drinks didn't help much, but it was one of those moments when i realized how lucky i am to have great friends here and how hard its going to be to leave and start over.

this also brings me to realizations that haven't quite sunk in yet.

i will only (knock on wood) have to have one job starting soon
summers off
though i'm moving to iowa, i can still come visit my peeps in ABQ
i get to hang out with friends that i haven't seen in so long which is going to be great
i can go visit my family more than once or twice a year

maybe this should all be a no-brainer, but it just isn't quite real yet. i'm not sure if that makes sense, but the reality of leaving ABQ is getting realer. and the cool things about IA are in my head, but don't seem real yet. i'm excited about those things, but also aware that it's going to be tough to leave a place where i've made so many awesome connections. ultimately, i know it will be okay. i've been fortunate in a way to get to live in a bunch of places since i've graduated from college, which means that i have a bunch of friends everywhere. i need to think of this as a "see ya later" and not a good-bye. because i will be back. (whoa...arnold schwartzenegger moment.)

so, as i get closer to the move date and the new start, i will try to keep in mind the message of this song. i'm looking forward to the new fun in IA for sure, because there will be lots of cool things about this move. even if it isn't all together easy.

(only one more week at the retail job! woo!)

viva las vegas!

2007-07-10T17:24:00.000-06:00

mike and i went to vegas over the weekend and we had a great time. we planned the trip a while ago so we could see richard cheese in concert. i thought vegas would be super busy that weekend since saturday was 7.7.7 day, but it didn't seem any more crowded than when i've been there in the past. it was really, really, really hot though. i made the comment once that it felt like we were in a windy oven, since even the breeze was hot. saturday we visited a bunch of casinos so i could check them out after eating lunch at p.f. changs. (our hotel was great and within close walking distance to p.f. changs and the hard rock hotel where we saw the concert.) we gambled a bit hoping to win a bunch of money on the luckiest day of the century, but keno was not kind to us. :D mike did win some cash on a wheel of fortune slot machine, so that was good! that night we went to the venetian and checked out the shops. mike ended up getting a great deal on a watch he wanted, so that was rad! on past trips to vegas we'd end up going to sleep around 5 a.m. or something wacky like that. i think vegas usually makes you lose all sense of time. this time around though, mike and i were both sleepies at about 11:30, so it was an early night. the next day we ate yummy breakfast at terrible's casino across the street from our digs. it was yummy and came with lots and lots of champagne. after that we eventually went back to the strip to go to the bellagio so that mike could get me my going away present. i love it!! and we took these pictures (solo me and me and mike) in the botanical garden. we hung out at our hotel after that and then took a taxi to get in-n-out burger, which was actually the most expensive meal we had the whole weekend. :D luckily we had a crazy cab driver who kept us entertained the entire time with tails of eating monkey (which apparently tastes like frog legs.) we ate back in the room, relaxed, and then got ready to go get in line for richard cheese. it was a bit of a cluster f#ck once we got to the hard rock. we waited in a long line for longer than expected to get in and then waited longer than expected for the show to start (and probably spent more than expected on drinks.)
the show was great though and i actually talked to richard cheese during it. or i suppose he talked to me first. i won't get into the details but i'll just say that he was singing a lords of acid song at this point. we had a really fun time overall and i'm even looking forward to going back in august. here's hoping that it isn't as hot!!

in other news, i'll be giving my notice this week at the retail place and the big going away party is this weekend. i anticipate that it will be off the f---in chain.

better get busy packing. or sleeping.

on second thought...

2007-06-16T02:04:00.000-06:00

one of the things on my list of stuff to do before i move was to have another cocktail party at my apartment. it occurs to me though that the days of my apartment looking cute are over. i've spent the past two evenings going through stuff and packing boxes. the going-through-stuff part was LONG overdue and i'm happy to say that i don't have too much more to do there. hopefully i got enough out of my system so that i can get back to dissertation work tomorrow. what this means though is that my apartment is in a bit of disarray and probably will be until august. or at the very least will be littered with u-haul boxes and less occupied by the little things that make my place...well, mine. its fun in a way. i've had the opportunity to look through tons of fun college pictures, sort through cards and letters, and located lost items. for example, probably at least 3 years ago i misplaced my drink coupons for free adult beverages on southwest. tonight...i found them. i'm hoping that my aggie ring will be the next lost item found. (*crosses all crossable parts*)

friends who have helped me move in the past (to whom i will be forever grateful) will appreciate that i'm getting rid of stuff (shut up dennis and mike) and i'm happy that this looks to be a more organized process than ever before. i've managed to throw some stuff away with every move, but i think this one will be the most successful.

now it's time or bed.

one more concert faux pas

2007-06-13T16:56:00.000-06:00

it's really not necessary to yell "freebird" more than one time during a show. maybe its not even necessary to yell it once. not sure, but this lends some insight: http://ask.yahoo.com/20070607.html

some jackass kept yelling it last night at bob. good lord dude. give it up. it's just not funny.

"its not the end of everything, its just the end of everything you know"

2007-06-13T15:20:00.000-06:00

i love using song titles as blog titles. this title comes from a freakin' great song i heard at a bob schneider concert last night. if you don't know bob, then you're truly missing out. (www.bobschneidermusic.com) my friend kirk asked me how many times i've seen bob perform and i guessed 11, which may or may not be correct. i know i've seen him in college station a few times, austin a few times, milwaukee, houston, and now santa fe. kirk enjoyed it, as did i, and it was a good time at the santa fe brewing company. my only complaint has to do with what i will call people behaving poorly. i'm sure this theme has come up in the past, but in this context my gripe is people who go to a concert and then talk loudly with their friends the whole time. what is the point of paying $15 to see someone perform and then chatter through all the songs. at one point people were shushing others, since many of us wanted to actually listen to bob's quieter songs and not hear conversations about random crap. there was plenty of space in the venue for chatty-kathys to relocate, thus having a quieter space to talk while not disturbing others who actually came to hear the performance. end rant.

in other news, i had an AWESOME time with my best friend dennis. he came to visit for about a week. we did a lot, including many items on my list of things to do before i leave. monday we ran some errands (including mailing my lease and deposit making the move almost official) and we went to what we thought was going to be a beautiful cathedral. turns out holy spirit cathedral is not so much a cathedral as a nondescript building. i took a picture of it with my phone, but you can't really see it. we soothed our disappointment by driving around campus and then having a few beers at kelly's. tuesday we took the tram up the peak and looked around, had a glass of wine at the top, got annoyed at the parents of twin boys who were kind of out of control...or at least more out of control than they should have been at the top of a mountain (at least they were named pascal and johnny...wtf?!), and then enjoyed the ride down the mountain. that night we made mike cook us his famous ribs and drank more beer (that was a trend for the week...we averaged a 6-pack per day per person for dennis and i). wednesday morning we went to see the petroglyphs and then went to the zoo in the afternoon. dennis got to meet some of my friends at pie shack that night and we ate pizza and...drank beer. thursday we went to santa fe and wandered around the plaza. we got to see two beautiful churches, a few neat shops, and lots of snooty people. we stayed at a wonderful hotel (st. francis hotel) near the plaza which was great. after daily mass, we had a yummy dinner at blue corn cafe and then proceeded to drink WAY too much. yikes. friday we eventually got out of santa fe to see bandelier national park. it was incredible!! i'll try to post some pictures after this very long post. when we got back to ABQ, we met up with mike and went to santiago's to have dinner and a drink on the mountain and watch the sunset. it was a great night! saturday we sent dennis off after a meal at owl cafe. it was truly wonderful having him out here. makes me look forward to living closer to one of my closest friends in the world. love ya dennis!

sunday i ran in a 5k. by run, i mean jog/almost die/walk/run/walk/jog/walk/jog/walk/jog/woo finish line! i didn't really have a time goal, mostly a just finish the race goal, which i did. it was harder than i expected, especially the uphill part at the beginning, but it was fulfilling to finish it. now i know its something i can do, and i can just continually improve my time. (and not train for future runs by drinking lots of beer and not exercising really for a week). it also kicked off getting back on track with the fitness and healthy eating after too long of a hiatus. so hear's hoping i can get the gym more and cheat on the diet less. :) off to a good start so far!

one more thing...the move has become official and is happening in less than two months. the apartment is set, the u-haul is reserved, mike's return ticket is purchases, and more boxes are getting packed. buck wild.

very slowly sinking in...

2007-05-30T18:01:00.000-06:00

last night i did something proactive. i packed two small boxes of stuff in my apartment. sure, there's A LOT more to do, but i'm two boxes closer to moving to iowa. i also spent some time making a calendar today (i bought one of those blank ones you create yourself since its practically june, thus there aren't 2007 calendars for sale really...and its a waste of money to buy one now). the next few months are going to be really busy. i have two trips io texas, two trips to vegas, a visit from my best friend which starts this weekend, and lots of stuff on the list of things to do before i leave. somehow i only have about 2 1/2 months left in albuquerque. the official load the truck day is wednesday, august 8th..probably in the evening and i'll buy pizza and beer if anyone is free to help out. then i clean on thursday morning (again, if anyone wants to help i'll buy coffee and doughnuts or something) and then mike and i go part of the way that day. i think move-in day will be august 11th. i got the lease to the new apartment today and got to see some more photos. it looks great and i'll have plenty of room for visitors. (so come visit punks!)

still working at the retail place and liking it. i've even thought about working like one day a week at the same store in iowa just to get the discount and meet some new people. we'll see. also trying to get more transcribing done which is a challenge. my goal was to finish them all before dennis gets here on sunday but i'm not sure that will happen since i'm scheduled to work a bunch. :P new goal is finishing them before i go to texas.

okay, enough rambling. guess i should get a few more boxes and pack a few every night. crazy shit, yo!

p.s.--had a busy and fun memorial weekend. hope you did too.

"no, this is how it works, you peer inside yourself, you take the things you like, and try to love the things you took..."

2007-05-22T16:52:00.000-06:00

if you haven't heard regina spektor yet, you need to check her out. i was fortunate to get her newest CD as a b'day gift from my awesome friend haley. get it and the lyrics will inspire you to blog.

this particular song is one of my favorites and though its titled "on the radio" its more about life and the way things seem to march forward. it speaks to me about how one thing lead to another "you laugh until you cry...you cry until you laugh." and that wherever we are led, all will pretty much be okay. we keep going on.

that sentiment resonates with me as may comes to an end. somehow its already memorial day weekend, which means june is just around the corner. i have a lot to look forward to, including a visit from my best friend dennis and a trip to texas, so that is all very exciting. at the same time though, time is flying by, which means that my tenure in albuquerque is too quickly coming to a close (about 80 days away!) i'm not going to write about how sad that will be, mostly because i'm in denial right now about leaving, but also because i don't want to sound like a broken record. suffice it to say though that i did have a bit of a freak out when i realized yesterday that its the end of may.

at the same time, i'm really excited because i got my dream apartment in dubuque. it seems to be exactly what i was looking for and though i haven't seen it in person yet, it looks to be a great place to call home. its a two-story duplex and the building was erected in 1906. the outside is brick and the inside has been completely renovated. i'll have my very own washer/dryer, three bedrooms (so come visit), lots of space, and a great view from my patio. i can't wait to see it. which is weird, because when i see it that will mean i have moved from ABQ. so confusing.

cross your fingers i can get 16 interviews transcribed by june 3rd. that is the goal. laters.

mini-rants and some raves too

2007-05-15T20:58:00.000-06:00

just a few rants...

first up, when you're at the movies do me two favors. 1. don't friggin' text people during the show. you paid money to go watch the movie...so friggin' watch it. 2. speaking for all movie-goers, we could live without you making out with your boyfriend after the flick to the point that i'm pretty sure he is leaving with a half-stack. just don't do it. go home. home is for that kind of making out.

second, please ABQers...please....learn to drive. when a light is green, you can wait a second before going...but almost two minutes is ridiculous. pay attention to the task at hand, which is operating a motor vehicle. also, don't be a dick when its raining. the roads are wet, so that's not the best time for the usual antics like cutting people off, changing lanes without signals, and not stopping for emergency vehicles.

third, why has it been such a wet year in the desert? does that make anyone else wonder?

finally, please keep your kids under control. just do it. if your kid is trying to steal someone's tickets at a fun park while standing on said persons foot, you should probably get your ass over there to do something about it. and the reason your kids is so "unexplainably crabby" is because he is in a wet diaper. so wet that the stranger with the smashed foot can clearly smell it.

okay...that's all the rants for today. now a few raves.

i had a great weekend full of catching up with mike's family, watching lots of rugby, drinking beer, and eating good food. and i also finally got a bit of a tan. sure, its splotchy due to uneven sunscreen application, but its there none-the-less.

also, i'm really liking the one and only retail job that i have now. every one is nice and its just a positive place to work. even at 6 a.m. thank god for starbucks opening at the ass-crack of dawn.

cross your fingers that i will be an aunt again soon and that my niece will be coming over from russia soon to join our family.

also, cross your fingers that the kick-ass apartment i found online (gotta love craigslist) is as kick-ass as it seems. i should know more soon in a few days and maybe will have my housing figured out this week. how rad.

love my friends and family. just had to be said. okay...even ramblings for now.

hot!

2007-05-12T18:56:00.000-06:00

today was a beautiful day to watch a bunch of rugby and drink fat tire. BUT, now its like 82 degrees in my apartment. its the annual "my air conditioner crapped itself" time of year so it's quite sultry in here. thank goodness i'm going to mike's soon and then will be partying for the rest of the night. so hopefully one of two things will happen by the time i'm back: 1. it will cool off and it won't be so warm in here and 2. i will have consumed enough "chardonnays" that i won't care.

also, go brujos and especially the rhino squad!!

:D

yeah...i'm tired

2007-05-07T21:01:00.000-06:00

i started working at a cool retail place last week and i must say that i really really like it. i like it much more than my other retail job which i'm probably going to quit this week, despite the good discount. i am however, really tired. my day started at about 5:20 a.m. so that i could be at work at 6 to unload "the truck." though that sounds like it would suck ass, it really didn't. once i got out of bed, it was all good. i found out starbucks is open before 6 a.m. (thank god) and got to do some physical exercise in the wee hours. apparently earning money while working out is the only way i can drag myself out of the covers before 8 a.m. maybe that will change though, since i'll be a regular truck person. it will be nice to just be working at one store. i almost feel bad about quitting with no notice. but i don't. i'm also thinking about doing some house cleaning (for money) for people in ABQ. not glamorous work, but i don't hate cleaning and i could make some decent money doing it. woo!

i had some rants and raves but i'm not sure i remember all of them. so far only one comes to mind, which was a recent dining experience at one of my favorite pizza places last week. they have an awesome deal on wednesday nights and its arguably the best pizza in town. its a small place, so its always a crapshoot as to whether or not it will be insanely crowded or not very busy. for whatever reason, last wednesday night was unofficial kids night. i have nothing against kids. i like them in fact. but this was a crazy number of kids in a very small restaurant. for a brief period, we thought we were at Chuck E. Cheese, but no matter how much we looked around, there was no animatronic giant rat thing. so, the restauarant was LOUD. it was one of those situations where it just kept getting louder and louder. and the parents of the 1000s of kids did not seem to notice. one of the dad's commented on how the pizzeria was losing money because they don't have enough seating. this comment was especially irritating to me as one of the few childless people in the establishment. i guess it was because their party literally took up half of the seating, which meant there weren't chairs available for adults who would eat more than two bites of pizza. instead, most of the chairs were full of this guy's kids and his friend's kids who were not going to be consuming much, thus also costing the restaurant money. fortunately the food and the beer and the company at our table was great, and eventually it was bed time for the under 5 crowd.

weekend was good. i didn't have to work on saturday or sunday which was AWESOME! i did help mike clean his house and do yardwork though. kinda fun. i think his house is officially cleaner than mine now. next weekend should be a fun time too. looking forward to it. :D

this week i give the final for my class and then turn in grades. this was a fun group of students, but i'm glad that the semester is over. and i'm glad that i get paid until the end of june. money is tight hence all the jobs. gotta get the move figured out and all the interviews transcribed. the goal is to get the interviews done by june. i feel like that will be 80% of the work for the dissertation. i could be wrong though. :)

okay, enough sleepy rambling. hugs to my friends who kick asses.

holy poop its the end of april

2007-04-30T14:28:00.000-06:00

mike called this a long month on his blog, but for me i think it went really fast. in fact, i fear that the next three months are going to whiz by and it will be august before know it.

in the meantime, i find myself working at two, count 'um, two retail stores. hopefully once i get the scheduling figured out it won't be more than 30 hours a week combined. it will be fun for the time being and i get good discounts at both places.

lots of stuff coming up in the next few months. classes are ending in a few weeks. mike's parents and sister will be coming to visit which should be fun. hopefully i won't have to work the whole time. :P dennis is coming to visit in early june and then i'm probably heading to iowa in mid-june for the house/apartment search. hopefully going to vegas in july and i REALLY want to go to texas one time before i move. so...should be a busy next couple of months.

oh, and i need to crank out more transcriptions for my dissertation (anyone want to help?) and probably start packing stuff. crazy! so i'm hoping the new jobs will still allow me to do everything i want to do before i leave. if not, then i guess i'll quit. :) that's the nice thing about having a job that you don't necessarily have to rely on.

okay...back to work.

something i didn't think i would say or do

2007-04-23T13:42:00.000-06:00

an abq friend asked me on saturday if i'd like to participate in a 5K run in two weeks. i thought she was crazy when she asked me....the kid who has been riding the fitness struggle bus for a while. but after thinking about it, i think i might try to do it. and i might as well track my progress here. the even is called "run for the zoo" and i suppose if anyone wants to make some pledges you could. it will help animals and stuff. :) and if you donate money then i will feel obligated to actually follow through. :)

the race in on may 6th and i'll be working on getting ready for it for the next two weeks. regardless, it will feel good to have accomplished this and maybe it will help me stay motivated to keep on truckin'...i mean runnin'.

so as of today, i ran 3.1 miles (or 5k) in 42.5 minutes. hopefully i did the math right. the gym will only let me put in 30 minutes at a time and i knew i needed at least 45. :) maybe i should try to run outside?

anyways, if you want to pledge, send me an email or something. hope everyone had a great weekend.