on second thought...

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

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"

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...

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..."

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

taking in the view

i'm sitting here on my couch looking out the patio door at the beautiful sandia mountains. they were especially beautiful this weekend when they were covered with snow (which fortunately mostly stayed in the mountains!). the view makes me both happy and hopeful that when i leave here i won't feel like i took albuquerque for granted. that always seems to be the case though. once you live in a place, you do your normal day-to-day stuff, and you don't always take notice of the beauty around you. at least that's the situation for me. so i've been trying to make more of an effort to drink in this place while i'm here. the problem is that i'm not totally sure how to do that. my approach so far is to make a list of stuff i want i want to do before i move in august. here are some of the things i have so far:

-breakfast at gold st. cafe (must eat that red chili bacon again before i go)
-a trip up to the peak
-drinks and merriment at the restaurant at the base of the mountain at twilight time
-maybe a trip to the zoo
-isotopes game
-bowling at isleta casino (its way fun)
-a day trip to santa fe and/or taos
-winery trip (at least to st. clair for the wine flight)
-feast at tucanos
-lots of pie shack
-cocktail party at kate's
-grill outs
-lots of fun times with friends for sure in varied forms
-beer afternoon at kelly's
-lunch at juan's broken taco
-a trip to dagmar's german food sometime

and i'm sure there's lots and lots of other places i will end up adding (and unfortunately a lot of them are food related! better amp up the workouts). and i'm also pretty sure that i won't get everything on the list accomplished. i guess that means i'll have to come visit a bunch. :)

anyway, my hope is that i won't leave albuquerque regretting not appreciating it more. i think the best way to accomplish that is it spend time with my kick ass friends out here.

okay, enough rambling and staring at the mountain. back to work.

p.s.- the going to bed early plan is not going well for me.

early to bed

mike and i are trying a new experiment this week, which has to do with going to bed earlier. earlier means 10:30. i'm betting that's pretty close to mike's usual bed time, but for me, the night owl, that's really early!!! the idea is that more sleep helps you lose weight, so we'll see how it works. also, getting to bed earlier means getting up earlier, which means getting more accomplished towards the lofty goals i set in my last post. PLUS, i should get on a normal schedule since i'll be in a real job before i know it.

so wish me luck. i'm wondering if i'll need a nightcap to actually feel tired at 10:30 tonight. :D

a few hopefully non-lofty goals

its almost the end of march. which means its almost april. which means august is in 5 months or something. so i have set some lofty goals for myself.

1. fit into pants that i have moved all over the country more than one time. it would be great to be wearing those pants on this trip across the country. that will require me to drop 1 and 1/2 sizes. not sure if that's realistic in the time i have, but i'm going to try. guess that means no more skipping the gym. :)

2. finish the dissertation. i at least have to have a complete first draft of the whole damn thing before i move. that way i can send it to my committee and they can tell me what to correct and we can figure out a defense date so i can graduate in december.

3. figure out my syllabi. it would be nice to plan ahead for the courses that i'm teaching in the fall. i feel like i've been a "by-the-seat-of-my-pants" instructor so far in my career as adjunct and i would like to approach these courses with more intentionality. (is that a word?)

4. have some kind of fun-ass blow out with my ABQ friends. when i left TX to move here, it was very, very quick. i finished a stressful semester, went to iowa for two weeks, and then came back in a mad dash to pack my stuff and get to NM. so though i did have a few nights of fun with people at Northgate before i ventured off, the whole experience was so rushed that i barely processed that i was leaving. so i hope to catch up with everyone out here before i go and not in a "holy shit i'm leaving tomorrow and we must ingest coffee as fast as possible so i can see another person" way.

5. figure out boys. ha ha...that one is lofty. :D

6. sort through my stuff. i'll admit it, i have too much stuff. and i always say i'll go through it before i move again, and i end up going through some of it before i move, but there's still boxes of just...crap..that i need to sort through. this time i hope to really do it. maybe if i tackle a box a week. that's realistic right?

7. find a great apartment in dubuque. i'm looking for an inexpensive place in the downtown area with character. (not to be read as a total piece of shit...but rather one of those neat, older apartments instead the uniform, cookie-cutter variety).

i think that's enough goals for now. here's hoping i can get them finished. it will require me to get off of my current spring break schedule and to get up earlier and get to bed earlier as well. maybe tonight will be the first night. :D

"i'm waiting for my real life to begin"

the title for this blog comes from a really cool song by colin hay (who often has songs the show scrubs which automatically means they are good). it's a song that i find myself connecting to a lot lately. for more lyrics go here.

i suppose this song resonates because of some recent life changes that are on the horizon. as you know faithful readers, i've been on many interview trips including an impromtu trip on monday. the process culuminated yesterday with a decision. before said decision and after 9 days in texas, i was pretty gung ho about wanting the job in austin. but circumstances and choices have lead me on a new path...well, sort of new.

i'm excited to announce that i accepted my first full-time faculty position at my undergraduate alma mater. this school is near and dear to my heart since its where i spent my college days (well the first four years of them anyway). i made life-long friends there, became catholic there, learned a whole lot, and in so many ways my time there shaped where i'm at right now. it will be wonderful to be back and i know it will be a great fit...again. " i'm walking in my old footsteps, once again."

now, i'll be honest...i've loved living in new mexico and i have a great thing going here (aside from not having a job at the moment.) i've gotten accustomed to living in a larger city and i enjoy my mountain view. i also really like living near my favorite boy. so it will be hard to leave. luckily i have five months to hang out and have fun.

i also found out that my committee chair is going to be gone all summer, so i'm going to be graduating in december. still going to kick ass to get the dissertation written before i move. it will be hard to write and prep courses and adjust to a new life. its going to be fun to be closer to old friends and my family of course. it will be awesome to have a real job finally and be able to pay off debts and maybe by a house at some point. :)

anywho...that's the news.

"any minute now, my ship is coming in." or maybe it has? for now? :)

march madness and job madness

i've been spending the weekend with my friend brett which means that i've watch a lot more basketball that i normally do. the events of the weekend led me to actually make a few brackets for the ESPN tourney thing. maybe i'll win $10,000 with my very uneducated guesses.

if i don't, the chances of me getting a job are looking bright. i actually got an offer last week. because of that offer and the timing of it, i turned down an on campus interview for another school, and then traveled to texas to interview here on friday. i think the day went really well and i'm trying not to be overly optimistic that i'll get an offer hear. the kicker is that i won't find out until the 27th and i'm supposed to tell the first offer by the 19th. i called them today though and left a message about getting an extension (cross your fingers!). i had a call from faculty from the school i declined to call them to talk about the situation. i called them after the interview on friday and they REALLY REALLY want me to come to campus. so i'll be leaving from here on monday to go there and interview on tuesday. its all very crazy. i'm feeling like i'm suddenly in high demand after getting two rejections initially. i gotta say, its pretty cool. i'm hoping to get another offer, especially from the friday school.

i will of course keep you posted. gearing up now for SXSW music festival. woo to the hoo!!

over 12 hours in o'hare...yes, its as fun as it sounds

so after a great interview experience with the interview in iowa....i had the pleasure of spending WAY too much time in the chicago o'hare airport. i arrived at about 6:30 a.m. hoping to get on an earlier flight to ABQ. the new plan was to leave at 8:55 a.m. instead of 3:00 p.m. with the hope of getting home sooner so that i could have some hang out time with friends in NM for the weekend. (and i was looking forward to sleeping on the plane since i hadn't gotten much sleep the three nights prior.) little did i know that i wouldn't be leaving the airport until 11:00 p.m.-ish that night. here's the deal.

all the flights going to DWF were closed on saturday because of a nasty wind storm. BUT this didn't happen all at once. instead i waited until almost noon to find out that i wasn't going to be on the 8:55 a.m. flight (the joys of stand-by). i was told that i'd get priority for other flights since i was number 7 on the stand by list for that first flight. that was a flaming lie. instead i was always 17 or so on the list and it didn't even matter since flights were being cancelled left and right. i finally gave up on leaving early and went to the gate for my original 3:00 p.m. flight to later find out that it was also cancelled. trying to be strategic, i decided to try to get on the direct flight to ABQ that was leaving around 7 that night. so i got on the stand-by list and was pessimisticly told that it wasn't likely i was going to go anywhere. at this point, i'm exhausted and frustrated and not sure what else to do. so i got in a decent sized line for "customer assistance." it was impossible to talk to a real human once you're in the secure area of the airport. gate agents were too busy with their incoming/outgoing flights to help...though there were three friendly people who actually did help me. in the meantime though...i was in this line. to talk on a red phone to a human about rebooking the flight. others in line were also on their cell phones waiting to talk to humans as well. i was running out of battery life so i couldn't wait for 48 minutes to get to talk to someone. AND half the time it didn't work...it would go to a busy signal or just disconnect. fortunately, people in line started working together...so when they did finally get to talk to someone on the red phone, they wouldn't hang up. instead they would keep the call connected so the next person could talk to someone. this was the only realistic solution considering the impossibility of talking with someone directly. i got lucky because i made a friend in line (he must have felt sorry for me since i was all weepy and frustrated by then) and when he got in touch with someone on his cell he kept them on the line so i could rebook my flight. i ended up getting an actual seat on the direct ABQ flight that night. and hope was restored.

i got a very unhealthy dinner and a few beers while i waited a few hours for my flight to board. and board it finally did...but late. late enough that by the time we were all on there, the weather in chicago got bad. this was inevitable since i left DBQ early to avoid bad weather and weather moves eastward usually (or so i'm told.) so we waited on the plane for over an hour with the idea that eventually we would take off. i got a nap and then awoke to the news that we could get off the plane to get some food. everyone was still hopeful that we'd be taking off that night. instead, the flight got cancelled.

in my frustration, i hustled to the ticket line outside of the secure area so i could rebook something. it was about 1o at night at this point. i called my good friends jed and jen to let them know that i might be stuck in chicago for a while. the new plan was that i would try to catch an 11:00 train to their town so i could stay with them. the next train wasn't until 1 a.m. i stand in a long ass line for american airlines. i thought about leaving at one point and just getting to jen and jed's but i was worried about actually getting out of chicago. so i endured the freakin' line for over an hour. when i got to the ticket agent, they actually were really helpful and got me on a flight out of chicago on monday night. by the time that was achieved, i had missed the 11 p.m. train. so i jumped on the el to a metra station so i could get to jen and jed's. (oh..additional craziness...o'hare was setting up cots for people who couldn't get a hotel room and didn't have awesome friends in the area...but they were in the area past security...and you couldn't get there unless you had a new boarding pass for a new flight AND it was closing at 11:30 AND the ticket counter was closing at midnight. i have no idea what the people in line behind me ended up doing since they were totally screwed. it didn't help that at some points there would be 13 agents to help people and at other points only 6. total cluster f#ck!)

i managed to successfully navigate the el and waste about $8.00 (though i gave my el pass to some chicago boys hoping for good travel karma after that). when i got to the stop i needed, i made my way up to the metra connection part. i asked a normal looking guy if i was in the right place and when the train was coming. that opened pandora's box for crazy talk. all of a sudden this person (anthony) was telling me his life story which was rife with problems. apparently he was an evangelical catholic who hated jews and was in trouble with chicago mafia figures. the positive is that talking to him did two things...it passed the 48 minutes that i had to wait for the train and it took my mind off of how cold it was in that waiting area (no heat.) at the same time though, there was more than one moment when i thought to myself "this is a bad idea. he's crazy. i should get out of here." but i was really worried about missing the training and having to wait another hour to get to jed and jen's. fortunately some other guy showed up (with two six-packs of old style) and he seemed much more normal than the crazy guy.

finally the train came and i was so very relieved. jen picked me up at the station and i ended up getting to bed around 2 a.m. so that was a very freakin' long day. it was great to hang out with my friends...and fortunately my flight on monday night was only delayed by an hour. it was a long ass trip and i was very happy to get back home.

luckily my next trip is to austin. here's hoping it is very uneventful! here's hoping it is since the last two trips have been full of delays and craziness. makes me wonder about moving to the midwest a little bit...but no decisions are made so far. should here about the most recent interview soon.

later gators!

its less cold in iowa this time

so i was back in iowa for the past 24 hours or so for yet another on-campus interview...this time at my alma mater. temps were in the double digits this time...actually in the 30s, which isn't too bad considering my last trip which featured below zero temperatures that literally took my breath away and froze it which made me cough. :)

this interview experience was really great..the most comfortable one so far. likely its because i already know this school and saw plenty of familiar faces, but also i think the environment was just more open and friendly. i rarely felt like i was on the spot being bombared with questions. instead it was much more conversational and i felt like people really wanted to get to know me and what i'm about. i think if i got an offer, that it would be a fantastic opportunity for me. i'm still anxious to see what the last interview holds, but it is comforting to know that this is an excellent choice for me as well. in some ways i think it would be weird to be back in the place where i tromped around as an undergrad...but it would also be fulfilling to know that i'm in a position to make the school that meant so much to me a better place. and the people were all AWESOME! the biggest challenge in some ways would be moving back to iowa after being away so long and living in larger places. AND being so far away from ABQ and TX friends..though much closer to family and college friends which would be great.

SO...time will tell. i'll keep you posted. in the meantime, i'm grateful to have gotten out of the tiny regional airport before a big ass storm with freezing FOG hit (wtf?!). now i'm in chicago and should have gone to bed by now so i can catch an earlier flight back to ABQ.

peace out kids. more to come!

it's fuggin' cold in iowa. damn!

so i'm in iowa right now. its the quickest trip to iowa ever. i got here around 7:00 tonight and i leave by 7:00 tomorrow. i'm here to interview for a faculty position at a small liberal arts college here. i'm much more relaxed this time around, since i've got one interview under my belt and though this position would be cool, its not my first choice. that takes the pressure off a little bit, but i still want to do a good job. that's not to say that i don't have some things on my mind.

in fact, i've wigged out a couple times. i've been doing good at not wigging out in the new year, but lately...there's been a few wiggies. i think its because i'm pretty sure what i want to happen with this job search stuff and i'm worried that it won't. and not to be a bragger, but in the past i've usually not had a lot of problems getting jobs i want (with the exception of UNM since its virtually impossible to break into that system). and though i'm pretty good at this interviewing stuff, i still feel like i'm in new territory and that i'm really winging it on some level. (though i did get some good reviews about how i did at my first interview though i didn't get the position so i can't be all that bad.) still, i'm really hoping for an offer from my first choice. because if i have to move away from people i care about in albuquerque, then i should at least get to go to my first choice.

the other options would be good too i think, but they also worry me. i worry about what will happen with my dating life if i move, but i'm especially worried about the other options. i will elaborate this more when i get done interviewing. i don't know who's reading this and i don't want to totally sabotage myself just yet. :)

basically, there' s some unknowns in my life, as per usual, and some alternatives look better than others. and i have to wait to find out what will happen, also as per usual. :D so...i will try not to stress and just go with it.

okay...sleepy me.

p.s.- i had a great v'day with the boy...despite my stupid moment (sorry again boy). we had a very unhealthy but very yummy meal at my house, watch a great movie, and i got an AWESOME new bag that i'm sure i'll get a lot of use out of. thanks dude!! hugs

do i miss the cubicle?

no...i don't. :) i will miss my cubie friends for sure, but so far i am thoroughly enjoying my freedom from full-time work. i've had a chance to start some major apartment cleaning (including going through stuff to throw away), work out during the day (still have to figure out a good time...it was busy with old-timers when i went this morning), and catch up on some sleep which will hopefully make my cold go away. i'm excited that i'll actually be able to do the little things i haven't had time to do since july. and best of all, i get to work on the dissertation and class preparation without feeling like i have to sacrifice all the fun in my life. :) i can get used to this...at least until i get a real job someday. its also nice that i can pick up and fly to on-campus interviews basically whenever since i don't have many obligations now. don't have to worry about making up hours or taking vacation or whatever. just have to be concerned about finding affordable tickets and gearing up for more interviews.

speaking of which, i now have three on-campus interviews coming up. very exciting stuff!

had a really fun weekend which involved drinking too much beer probably. monday morning brought sleepy friends, as well as concern about break-ins. one of my friends has now had his house and car broken into within the last 2 weeks. :(

oh...i also have an interview on thursday for a part-time advising position. it would be great in the interim until i do get a real job and hopefully won't a) take up too much of my time or b) start anytime soon. i would love it if i could start after SXSW but that might be pushing it.

that's all my news...better get to teachin'!

back from the edge of my seat

so last time i posted about my on-campus interview and today is the day that i heard one way or another. unfortunately, i didn't get the position and they decided to go with another candidate. there are a number of possibilities for why that is, so i'm not beating myself up. it is disappointing though because in a lot of ways i thought that would be a perfect position for me. but as a wise sage told me this afternoon, who knows what doors are still opened up now. :) i still have a few irons in the fire in terms of on-campus interviews and stuff like that. and so i pull keep my chin up and find some wine this evening.

on a brighter note, today is my last day in the stupid job that has been driving me crazy since july. yay for some time to work on my dissertation and get my shit together.

everyone have a good weekend!!