"now rake 'em up bitches!"

last night i saw a funny commercial on adult swim. it starts out with a green screen with peaceful music playing as autumn leaves fall. and then at the end it says, "now rake 'em up bitches!" i thought it was quite hilarious so i had to share it.

and it relates to what i've been thinking about today (no..not bitches). today is the first real autumn-like day that we've had in college station and i have to say that i love it! LOVE IT! fall is definitely my favorite season. i love the clothes, i love (and miss) changing leaves, i love football, i love fall scents (like pumpkin and cinnamon and things in that genre), i love crisp, cool fall air, i love thanksgiving, i love caramel apples and hot apple cider, i love the memories i have of the fall...i just love it. so i'm very excited that at least for a few days, the weather is more iowa-like than texas-like. i almost want to indulge in a Home Sweet Home candel (one of those Yankee candles i think), because that scent is fall to me...and makes my heart feel all warm inside thinking of family, friends...and just fall. :)

especially relevant

my great friend adam showed me this cartoon today and i definitely related. all hell breaks loose in two weeks. *shits pants*

busy saturday

so, i'm not sure i got very much read today, which means i have a lot to do tomorrow and during my free time (*snort*) next week. i did get quite a bit accomplished though. i got my car fixed (finally), called them about fixing another part which they are going to do for cheap, went to Kroger to get some water and diet coke, got my hair fixed because it was dumb, read for a while at starbucks, cooked yummy dinner, and typed up notes for one book. gotta get more done for sure, but my friend adam is in town this weekend before he goes to iraq SO some of it will have to wait until tomorrow! need more motivation. :(

wiped out

hey friends,

this has been a long ass week. i was so tired when i got home yesterday that i fell asleep while reading something...just passed out a little. it might have been related to getting multiple free wine samples from the cute waiter at olive garden, but i think it had more to do with only getting about 6 hours of sleep every night this week. so i went to bed at about 11 last night and didn't wake up until 9 the next day...which probably meant that i needed some sleep.

my car has been causing me headaches this week. i had to get my brakes fixed which cost more than i thought it would. and in the process of fixing my brakes, the manager of the place rolled down my passenger window, which is the one that once rolled down won't go up again. this was a thorn in my side all week that i didn't need. fortunately after being a bit of a squeaky wheel, the brake place is going to pay for saturn to fix the window. woo! justice!! thanks to mike, tim, and my parents for giving me some insight on that one.

had a phone interview for a job on wednesday. everyone cross your fingers because it'd be really cool.

i think i might head to bed soon which is probably lame for a friday, but i'm still beat. got a lot of reading to do tomorrow.

have a good one.

i'm having a good kate day

it's true. i'm just feeling really good about stuff today. i got a lot accomplished this weekend (i hope!) and had some fun too (thanks tim, sara, tony, and dave) and i'm starting my week off really well. i feel pretty today (oh so pretty...i feel pretty and witty and bright...). :) i think we all have those days when we just aren't feeling great about our looks and today is not one of those days for me. my crazy new haircut is under control now that it's a little longer. i got some new clinique products (clinique bonus time!) and found a new lipstick and eye shadow shade that are cool ass! and somehow studying for prelims made me lose weight this weekend. that never hurts the ego.

other great news is that i have two phone interviews for jobs this week. it would be so great to get that part figured out so i'm optimistic!

i'm also feeling good about the big ass exam too. not cocky about it, but like it's a hurdle that i can jump over. i still have to do some reading/skimming and have a lot of work to do, but mostly i just want to tackle this thing!

so...it's monday and very much a good kate day! love it!!

:)

self-imposed hermitude OR "is it december yet?"

did anyone ever watch rocky and bullwinkle. one of their cartoon segments always had two titles which was part of the inspiration for the title of this. another part of the inspiration is the fact that i plan to be holed up with books and binders and articles and file folders and such things for the next two weekends. it's really wacky to be this close to my prelims because i don't feel like i'm at all ready. i've been assured by many people that it will be okay...and most of the time i'm sure that it will be, but there is still a lot that is intimidating about this test. i want to pass, but i also want to do a good job while passing. this semester has been so busy that i don't feel like i've prepared enough and i know that there is more that i could have done. hopefully i will be as productive as i need to be the next two weekends and during the free time that i have during the week. what that means is that i'm probably going to be a terrible friend. i've found that it's really hard for me to make spontaneous plans lately. i actually had to schedule a time to have lunch with sara. how crazy is that?! i should be able to just say 'yes...let's go to lunch in 20 minutes,' but life isn't going to work that way until november 12th at the earliest and hopefully november 22nd at the latest.

luckily it hasn't been all work. had a fun time in abq last weekend for balloon fiesta (though we didn't see many balloons.) went to see blue october with jeff and sara on wednesday night and stayed up way too late, but it was a good time. my parents are coming here in a few weeks so that will be kick ass too. and every once in a while i get to chat with friends on the phone for a bit and just kick back. i can't help but feel like every time i watch tv for a half hour or whatever, i should have been spending that time studying.

so...that's my crazy life right now. can't wait for thanksgiving for many reasons. ;)

p.s.- kate = foozball champion. just ask mike. :) BOO-YA!

piece of shit car

i always joke around that as soon as i get my car paid for that it will immediately self-destruct and fall into a million pieces. well apparently my hoopty is not going to wait until it's paid off (which is about a year away!) so here's the run down on the piece of she-at!

1. i was driving the other day and a screw fell out of the ceiling and onto my lap. it turns out it holds my sunvisor in place. so my car was raining parts on me the other day, as soon after i was pelted with a screw, the plastic piece that was being held on by the screw also took a dive.

2. yesterday i was relishing in the awesome weather (thank god it's finally cooling off...mother nature was having some serious hot flashes here in texas for a while! damn!) and so i had my windows down. but not all the windows, since the driver's side one won't go down anymore. that will be convenient for my drive-thru needs. and on the way to work today i had the passenger window down and for a while it wouldn't go up again. this scenario made me hate automatic windows. luckily it did go up and now won't come down again. excellent.

3. my car is loud. this one is my fault. it is badly overdue for a tune up and now it sounds like one of those giant pick-ups that guys pimp out to make louder (which i don't really understand.) so i need to suck it up and pay $500 or whatever to get all this shit fixed. makes me think of the song "ode to my car" by adam sandler. and it also makes me wish i had won or will win the lottery or something so i can get a new ride before i go outside to find the saturn upside down and on fire. :)

peace out!

p.s.-thanks for all the messages, emails, and thoughts last week. sorry i haven't responded yet to a few of you. dad is doing well and got to go home yesterday which he was very excited about. :)

my dad was a zipper head

hi faithful blog readers,

i'm in houston right now waiting for my flight to college station to board. the trip to and from iowa were both buck wild crazy, but the good news is that my dad is doing really well. he had a rough day on friday. felt sick to his stomach and threw up a few times. but since then he's had a better appetite and all that good stuff. when i got to des moines on thursday they moved him from icu to a regular room, which he was very happy about. someone made the mistake of telling him that he'd get to move out of there before there was a room ready which pissed my dad right off. so he was happier after the move and really glad to see all of his kids i think. my brother and his wife and their two year old son came up from st. louis and i think it was good medicine for my dad to see luke. :) (and it was good medicine for all of us i think.)

it wasn't easy to say good-bye to everyone yesterday. but the good thing is that dad will probably get to go home on wednesday. they removed the staples from his head on saturday and he's just doing really well given the circumstances.

it was nice to be back at home and out of texas with all the chaos of the storm. that's a whole other blog entry though. i didn't like to be home under those circumstances, but i really needed to see the family and friends. and the weather in iowa was very autumnal which i also love. i miss fall so much. especially when i return to texas and it's predicted to be 112 with the heat index today. why did i leave? :)

anyway, that's the update. everyone's doing well. thanks for all your thoughts and prayers and help and stuff. i appreciate it more than i can express probably. and big props to tim smith who took me to houston on wednesday night and then had to drive back to college station that night. it took him 5.5 hours. i owe him so much beer it's not even funny. thanks tim smith!!

have you ever been so exhausted that you literally can't see straight?

i have. in fact, i was like that today. where i had to put forth a lot of effort to make my eyes function. the thing is this has been a long week and it's only tuesday. lots going on with school and teaching and work. and yesterday i found out my dad is in the hospital. he had an aneurysm in his brain and luckily they caught it quickly. he had surgery last night and they clamped the artery that's been causing the problem. the surgery was pretty invasive in terms of my dad's skull having to be removed in one place. the good thing is that he's in great spirits. before the surgery he was saying he was happy that this happened because now he has proof that he has a brain. (classic ron parks line.) he also told my mom today that he wanted her to make him a cardboard bill for the bandage on his head. i guess he's missing wearing his usual trucker style hat. (and not the von duch trucker hat...the real ones. he has one that says: "wisconsin: land of cowpies and beer farts" or something like that). so, fortunately dad is doing really well under the circumstances. mom had a tough time yesterday but is also doing much better now that dad seems to be okay now. i'm looking forward to spending time with the family this weekend. (thanks to all my awesome friends for support me with talks or beer or cheese fries or laughs...ya'll rock!)

so, i have to read for a while and then get some sleep. busy days coming up as well!

coffee break

so, i'm pretty much exhausted today. long, tiring weekend that was also pretty fun. i had a great time at the game, even when i almost passed out from the heat. we certainly btho SMU which is cool, but what we should have done so i'm not sure we should overreact from excitement there. nonetheless, it was quite a game! also spent time with friends eating meals and drinking beer which is not a bad thing. and i read some stuff that will be very helpful for the prelim exams which are now 48 days away. i over-estimated on the 10 weeks i think. scary bath!

i feel like there's kind of a lot going on right now. teaching, classes, job searching, studying...it's been hard to find time to play with people and even harder to find time to work out which sucks. i find myself longing for the day when all i'll have going on is a job, but i wonder if even then as an academic i'll really have more time. i hope i will. my new goal is to ride my bike for 30 minutes every day. i'm sure i can find that amount of time and every little bit helps, so i'm going to try. if only i had my own elliptical machine and somewhere to put it.

before i start rambling more and this gets too long, i want to share a link to a story in the school paper, the batt for you locals, that made me smile and appreciate aggieland a bit: good ags "gig 'em, green wave" made me smile.

WHAM!...literally

i went to visit mike this past weekend in albuquerque. his birthday was on saturday which was a great excuse to get out of town. it's a little scary that i already needed a break after only two weeks of school...but i did. we had a lot of fun to say the least. hung out with some of mike's buddies on thursday night and ate yummy grilled food. on friday we slept in and ran a lot of errands, including finding new glasses for mike which are way awesome! we also went to dinner at pappadeux with mike's friend kurt. kurt introduced me to an awesome band called the postal service. they kick ass. check them out right now. do it. okay, wait until you're done reading this.

saturday was mike's birthday. he's officially on the 30 side of 20. we celebrated by hanging out on the roof of his house (it's flat adobe style) and watched college football and drank beer. (and i got a sunburn with crazy tan lines.) that evening we went out to dinner at an awesome place called charma river and then went to get a few drinks at a bar that also had karaoke. we all sang a few songs and had a good, low-key time. towards the end of the night a guy started singing "wake me up before you go go" which we were obviously very excited about. he was doing a good job too until he got into a fist fight with some people. it was crazy. we were waiting for the chorus and instead so a wad of people throwing punches. needless to say, he didn't finish the song. i found it hilarious that a fight broke out during one of the happiest songs ever. so those shenannigans inspired the subject line. :)

sunday was another relaxing day. mike made some fan-freakin'-tastic eggplant parmesean. holy damn it was good. that kid can cook like a mo-fo! i foolishly forgot to steal some left-overs before i left this morning.

anyway..good weekend. this week is probably going to be a busy one. at least i got to rest up before it all start. thanks mike. :)

10 weeks

hi friends- i'm going to switch gears a bit. in the next few days i should have a date set for preliminary exams. it's a formidable hurdle but one that i'm constantly assured i can get over. and the anticipation of the relief that i will feel once it's over with is a huge motivation. it will be freakin' AWESOME to get to enjoy the holidays without concern about big scary exam. i have an idea of what the format will be and now that it's becoming a known entity i'm feeling less anxious about it. so much less anxious in fact that i realized last night that i hadn't taken my heart/anxiety drugs for 3 days and wasn't having any problems. (don't worry...i got the prescription refilled so i'm back on track!)

i'm heading to NM this weekend to visit the birthday boy...i mean birthday man this weekend and to take a bit of a break. w00t!

have a good weekend!

you need power to run the coke machine..

i was eating dinner with a friend on friday night and the restaurant we were at blew a fuse. obviously, the power was out for a bit which didn't stop some patrons from trying to use the coke machine. it was one of those moments when you totally take for granted how much we rely on electricity for day-to-day stuff. then i was talking to another friend on sunday and he brought up something important. the people affected on the gulf coast by katrina who were not able to leave before the devastation didn't have power. doy..we knew that. but i don't think we've really thought about it. we were able to see the relief efforts and to some degree the scale of the disaster. people in new orleans and in other areas affected didn't have cnn. what they did have was destruction and death without a clear path out of it. i can only speculate that not knowing what was going on and what was going to happen and if help was on the way would only add to the despair they were already experiencing. they might not have known about the rescue copters and were worried about not being seen by them since people were stuck in places underwater, so they were shooting in the air to get the attention of the heros doing rescues. it wasn't about anger or shooting the hand that is attempting to help you. it might have been about being seen by copters flying constantly overhead but not stopping yet for them. with the lack of organization in the relief efforts in some areas and a mass of people without information, it should be no wonder that the victims would feel desperate.

just a few more things, because i'm not sure anyone is reading this. one...if your only assett was your home, would it be easy for you to leave it? if you had no television, wouldn't be hard to know the full extent of the storm? does it piss off anyone else that it seems like a better job was done evacuating animals and pets than was done for our fellow citizens? (sorry...just saw a stupid story on cnn). is anyone else frustrated that the federal government cut spending for FEMA and for the levee before this happened? okay...so much venting. here are a few really interesting articles to ponder. this is a good time to unite while thinking critically about what happened and what the next steps are.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0903-20.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0904-29.htm

a time for compassion

hi friends-

i've been thinking so much about the disaster in new orleans and around the gulf coast lately. the images on the news are hard to even comprehend. and that's what has stuck with me. there's a lot of talk and judgement going on of the people affected by this horrible crisis. and while i certainly don't and can't condone shooting at rescue workers, i've also realized that i am fortunate that i don't know what the victims of this are really facing. i'm lucky that i live in an area of the country that was not affected by this. i'm blessed that i have food and water and a home and i don't have to see dead bodies floating in water or grapple with the notion that i have lost everything that i own, i have lost members of my family, and that i've lost hope of being rescued. this is a time for compassion for those who's situation is beyond what most of us have ever experienced. maybe that's what makes it hard to understand why people would be so angry or loot or whatever. i don't defend the fact that people are breaking the law, but i recognize that i, in the comfort of my air conditioned office typing this on a decent computer with my iced coffee drink, have no way of truly understand what the victims are going through.

my friend wes found a really good article on fark summing up some of the aftermath. check out his sept. 1st post. http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/ actually, wes has a lot of good information on his site but that article was especially good. it makes the point that now is the time for us to come together. to help those less fortunate. to practice compassion. to cherish humanity. i think after things have calmed down a bit and people are once again safe, it will be time to ask some tough questions about the poverty in this country. people are already asking those questions and it's time we really pay attention.

some thoughts on katrina

a few of my friends have posted on their blogs about hurricane katrina, mostly because their families and friends live in the areas that were hit. as a yankee who's never really experienced this before, and didn't experiece it this time, it's hard to imagine how scary and devastating the storm was. just a few months ago i was in new orleans for a conference and now the city is in ruin. i guess i wanted to sum up some of what my friends have been talking about and share an interesting observation that was brought to my attention by some of my sociology colleagues.

one friend pointed out that people who choose not to evacuate put themselves at risk and shouldn't complain too loudly when the government is slow to respond to their needs. i can see where she's coming from to one extent, because people do that that risk themselves. at the same time, another friend pointed out that there are some very poverty stricken areas, specifically in new orleans but i have no doubt in many places along the coast, and that these people didn't necessarily have the means to leave. and not only that, that they will return to their homes with nothing. if you can't afford insurance, you just lost everything and it won't be replaced with shiny new items. so this is a time to also think about those who are less fortunate than us and literally lost everything they own.

another friend commentated on the media coverage of this event and how newscasters seemed disappointed when the storm didn't hit new orleans as strongly as originally predicted. it's pretty damn crazy how desperate the media is to get the story and that if they don't get the one they want, it's somehow disappointing that not as many lives were ruined as they first thought. i find myself avoiding the news a lot because of crap just like that.

and speaking of media crap...a few of my fellow graduate students in sociology shared this with me today. it's pretty disturbing and i think it says a lot about how the media influences our ideas about race and crime.

1: A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

2: Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

so, if you're white you're finding stuff...and if you're black you're looting. isn't everyone just trying to survive at this point? if you just lost everything you own and all your food...why not find some pepsi? just a thought.

my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this disaster.

nervous excitement

okay..now that i think about the title for this post it sounds a little like a line out of a seedy romance novel with thrusting and heaving things. that's actually NOT what this post is about.

the fall semester has officially begun. i taught my first classes this morning and attended my first class tonight. before i know it, it will be november and i'll be taking preliminary exams and then it will be december and i'll hopefully be ABD and moving to work on my dissertation research. i'm excited, because this should be a fun semester filled with visitors and trips and football games and friend time. i'm guessing it will go fast which means soon i'll be on a new adventure again. but i'm still a bit nervous about getting all this done successfully. i know it will be okay, but that's why i have some nervous excitement going on.

okay...time for sleep after a very very long day.

and there was much rejoicing

my loans have FINALLY posted to my student account. yay for money coming soon. now i can stop checking my student account like a maniac. *phew*

fumes are getting to me

so i had an idea earlier, when i was stopped at every single red light from my house to blinn and from blinn to snowflake donuts, about what i wanted to post today...but now i totally forgot.

they are doing some sort of painting or refinishing in the dome of the academic building and i'm getting high from the fumes. inadvertent huffing going on in my office today.

i was reading my friend dennis's weblog today and decided to check out the comments and i was really disturbed to find that people were using his comment space as a place to advertise stupid shit. i'm assuming these aren't people he knows. it just seems wrong. dennis is sharing his thoughts about faith and god and posting his homily topics for the week and people are then using that space to post about touring clay aiken's house. i have a feeling that this rant will result in a bunch of spam comments on my blog. but i just thought it was pretty shitty so i'll risk it.

let's see..other stuff. i'm in the process of writing a syllabus for the courses i'm going to teach this semester. i think that grown-up schedule that i've been trying to avoid is finally going to attack me now. guess i'm due to have one at age 29. :)

holy hot!

i went to the student rec center today and it was quite warm in the weight room as i worked out on the bikes and pumped a little iron. it was a tough workout only because it felt like the air conditioner was not on. hopefully that helped me lose a few more calories. when i went outside the thermometer on kyle field (the giant aggie football stadium for you yanks who don't know) said ONE HUNDRED AND NINE DEGREES! one of these days i wouldn't be surprised if i drove past kyle field only to see red digital numbers dripping down the concrete or exploded all over the place because of the ridiculous heat!! numbers EVERYWHERE! at any rate, the lady on the radio today said that september would be here soon so things would cool off. my comment was "yeah right!" what do you think native texans? what's fall going to look like after this summer of swamp ass?

it's not nice to lie

today is august 22nd. student financial aid claims on their website (in two places mind you) that student loans would be disbursed on august 19th. today is august 22nd. my loans are not applied to my account. their line is busy. it's not nice to lie. not. nice.

apple juice = = "icky bad"

so sara and i went to a new bar in college station called v bar. the ambiance is really cool, though the drinks did not live up to the hype or the price. many of their signatures were described by me as "icky bad." maybe they are new enough that they are still getting their shit together? no idea. all i know is that fancy martini concoctions don't need champagne or chardonnay in them and mojitos shouldn't taste like liquid wrigley's spearmint gum. OH..and mixed berry garnish doesn't mean you drop a cherry in it. fuggers.

what i do know is that sara and i both got hit on by people that were not high on drugs. as some of you know, one of the few times i've been hit on in college station involved a guy who creeped me out because he was apparentely high on drugs. (we deducted that because he wouldn't back off even after tim went 'west texas' on him and because his friend was staring at a light.) the guys tonight were nice enough. one of them though went from zero to drunk in 2.3 seconds. he later told me many times that i was sexy (doy!), but it's also possible that he's telling that to a light post on northgate right now. that's not to say that sara and i aren't sexy..because cleary we are even if that's somewhat underappreciated in this one horse town. it just speaks to how drunk that kid got so fast. it was crazier than that time phil finished the drink i got for him before i had actually paid for it. :)

anyways...i'm glad to be home now and away from the insanity. hell has officially broken loose in college station. in other words...all the people are coming back. no more driving around town without fear of losing my life or being able to sit down at a restaurant within 10 minutes of arriving. see you in january cheddars. :)

throw down in my inbox

i sent an email to tim and mike and shelley yesterday about how i was pissed that i didn't have AOL instant messenger on my computer AND that AIM changed their website around and no longer use old school AIM Quick Buddy, which was probably invented in 1984 and what i was relying on. now, i was mostly venting about this situation, but before i knew it..there was a computer nerd throw down going on in my mailbox. and let me tell you something...it was hilarious. it was like a little taste of defcon again. :)

here's a sample:

"commad line aim over ssh! or rdesktop to a spare windows box" -m

"was i supposed to be able to understand that? 1010010010101010101" -k

"i had absolutely no hope of helping with the aim problem but damn! that was
entertaining as hell to read. ;-)" -s

"She's on a windows machine. rdesktop doesn't have windows binaries.
So what she needs to do is install X-Win32 on the PC (which she
probably can't). Then ssh to a linux box and run rdesktop to connect
to a windows machine... that doesn't seem backwards, ugly, wrong, or
retarded in any way." -t

"She can use windows rdesktop or whatever the hell to connect remotely
to a windows box running terminal services.

She has hummingbird, you can do X with that (umm, i think), in which
case she just needs a linux box to run gaim off of. :)

or use naim on the command line." -m

"Am I going to get arrested for this?" -k

*insert 13 step process for getting AIM to work here. i didn't want to type it all out but thanks tim.*

"http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx

*looks around*
*whistles*

BOOYA!!!" -m

"what in the hell is going on? *grin*" -k

"I believe this is what is referred to as a "virtual nerd throw-down"
where two nerds battle one another in knowledge of a topic." -t

"*scared on so many levels* ;)" -k

okay, so maybe that was more than a sample. but it was/is funny shit and i had to share it with the world so they too could enjoy it.

unfortunately i still didn't get it to work, but i think tim is coming over today to hook that shit up. "gaim got eaten by some...linux or something... :)" -k

hope you all have a great weekend! i'll be taking it easy in texas and getting ready for hell to in fact break loose.

"Doom doom doom da dop, Doom doom doom da dop, Da ya ya ya dop, da dop, da oh oh oh"

"Doin' a little eastcoast swang"

that was just in case you didn't catch the motownphilly reference in the title. :) i had a fun time in philly for sure. here's the run down:

friday night- got to philly a little later than expected. shelley picked me and lindsay up at the airport and we found the hotel and then went to the hard rock cafe for dinner and mudslides and the biggest brownie sundae i've ever seen in my life.

saturday- went to the conference and watched lindsay's presentation. she kicked asses. went to some other sessions. that evening after a nap lindsay and warren and i took a walk to find a cheesesteak. we had talked about going to one of the well-known places, like jim's or gino's, but we were so hungry at that point that we wanted to go some place close and not busy. the weird thing about the place we did go to was that they sold sushi and cheesesteaks. figure that one out. i dare ya! anyway, it was quite tasty.

as we exited the restaurant i could here that there was a really loud and angry argument going on outside. turns out a gay pimp was yelling at a straight prostitute about how this was "gay territory" and she should go elsewhere. of course that was all said with a LOT more swear words and references to sex acts. it was a little scary to say the least and i'm not sure that's the brotherly love that philly is known for.

later that night lindsay and i met up with shelley, her boyfriend stu, her cousin matt, and some random guy. ;) (his name was kyle but we dubbed him 'randy' after shell's reference to him as random guy.) we went to a bar called finnegan's wake and drank some drinks and listened to an AWESOME cover band. they played a bunch of really awesome songs and we all had a great time. (and drank way too much and stayed up way too late watching a hotel adult movie...it seemed like a good idea at the time. pretty sure i can't get reimbursed for that.)

sunday- slept in a bit and missed a few sessions. went to a really really great one in the afternoon though. then i went back to the room and relaxed and got ready for my presentation. lindsay also ordered room service for dinner and we had this ridiculously good chocolate cake. damn!

monday- got up early to check in for the flight and read over the presentation stuff again. my talk went pretty well i think. then lindsay and i headed right to the airport to catch our flight. we had to stop in new orleans (since southwest operates under the school bus philosophy) and we ended up being stuck there from 1:30-5:00 due to weather in houston. luckily we didn't have to stay on the plane the entire time and we were able to get lunch/dinner and some ice cream. i even bought a new orleans souveneir since we were there for so long. :) eventually we made it back to college station.

all in all this was a great trip filled with good food, good talks, good times at the conference, and fun with good (and new) friends.

"Boyz II men, abc, bbd"

you know you're on a scary road when..

you know you're in the middle of bumble-fuck texas on a scary ass road when you're excited that you're going to be in hearne soon because that's the next "big" city coming up! i went to visit my friend adam in temple, texas before he heads out to fort hood and then to iraq. on the way there, i noticed that i was on a somewhat creepy two-lane road most of the way, but at least it was not dark yet. when i headed home later that night, it was really dark. so dark that you almost expect to come upon some kind of scary "good ol' boy" event, but you're constantly grateful that you haven't. every once in a while some crazy animal would dart across the road just to make everything a bit more exciting. (saw one of the biggest frogs i'd ever seen in my life, as well as some sort of coyote type animal). i was hauling all kinds of ass to get to hearne. i couldn't get there fast enough. and for those of you who don't live deep in the heart of texas, hearne is a pretty small little town (http://www.rtis.com/reg/hearne/) about 20 minutes north of college station on highway 6 (which is also no fun at that hour but still a step up from the road i was on prior to hearne.) luckily the trip was well worth it since i had a great time with adam. and i made it home in one piece...and in record time.

i'll post again soon about my philly trip! woo!

"i like corn. i eat corn."

when i was a little kid we were at my grandparent's house eating thanksgiving dinner or something with all our relatives. people were passing food around the table and i sat watching all this in my high chair concerned about my own lack of food. (this was a real concern in those days because i was all about eating. it's a wonder that i wasn't a super pudgy kid. i ate everything!) finally, i proclaimed to my family as a bowl of corn when by that "i like corn, i eat corn." my subtle way of making it known that i was ready to eat and that corn better be on the menu.

it's funny how in some ways i still communicate with my family in that subtle way. not really saying directly "hey..this is what i want" but beating around the bush instead. i wonder if this is a family dynamic that exists for a lot of people in their families. for example, i really want my dad to stop smoking and i HATE that he still does it. it makes no sense to me, especially considering that a year ago we were learning about my mom's cancer diagnosis. but somehow i don't just come out and tell him how i feel about it. i do my passive-aggressive things, like leaving the room when he's in there smoking, instead of just telling him how i feel about it. i really think i need to figure this out, because it ends up creating some strain while i'm at home when it should just be fun. i always think when i go home that this time it will be different and there are always elements of sameness going on.

DON'T GET ME WRONG...i had a great time at home and i love spending time with my parents and my family and my friends. it was wonderful to see luke again and play with him. he's hilarious and so smart! we had a lot of laughs and great food and fun times. definitely more positive, fun times than negative ones. i'm grateful that i got to spend time with everyone and really happy that some of my college buddies were able to share in the fun too. that meant so much to me. so i don't want to seem like a crabby ingrate. i love the fam. i just don't know the best way to approach them with the things that bug me, especially the smoking thing, without making too many waves.

so yeah, iowa was great. the weather was fantastic! it was in the 70s/80s pretty much the entire weekend. luke did really well meeting a ton of relatives, especially considering that he was a little under the weather. i got to see some cousins that i haven't talked to in a while, which was great. spent a lot of time with monica and dennis and jeremy which was much needed for all of us i think. definitely a good time and i needed some home time. i'm hoping to get back up there in october (i LOVE fall in iowa) to see the family again and maybe catch part of homecoming. woo!

in the meantime, i think classes start in two and a half weeks. i'll be taking two courses and teaching two courses at the community college (i think). nervous and excited all at once.

kate's defcon journal

"friday...around noon

i'm not sure of the exact time because i forgot my watch in all the excitement of vegas and going to the conference this morning. currently i'm freezing my nuts off in a hotel suite with a half dozen computer nerds. i should be surprised, but there are seven computers in here. the guys are trying to get internet access, as it seems that someone has hacked something or other and fucked everything up. the language is cryptic and if you don't know the speak, you don't have one idea about what's going on (which is the situation for me). every once in a while someone tells a joke i undrestand and i can participate in the fun. 'i think it got rooted,' one of the guys proclaims.

we're also watching presentations on tv instead of fighting the crowds of wacky people (in the heat) to get in. i have no doubt that the current speaker, (whose glasses are way too big for his face), is sharing pertinent information about something. but he's got the monotone, middle-school science teacher speech presentation thing going on, which makes unlikely that i'll attempt to figure out what he's talking about.

thank god mike changed the channel. this presenter appears to be a computer guy with social skills and realizes that inflection is key to maintaining interest. and he's kind of cute to boot, which doesn't hurt when you don't understand the subject matter. now there are nice computers in the room and five people including me. :) everyone is typing away on their own boxes and intermittently talk to each other about...well-fuck...i have no idea! :) it's amazing that i'm a pretty well-educated person, but have no clue what is going on in this room. it's almost like i'm plopped down in the middle of mexico with a limited, at best, grasp of the spanish language. language is key in this setting-without the basics, it's possible to smile and nod your way through an entire morning.

one of mike's friends makes the statement that at defcon there are "people who know stuff and people who are trying to put linux on a laptop all weekend." it's clear i'm in the second group. :)

now the guys are super excited because they managed to hack someone. the guy eventually realized that he was 0wned which made everyone really happy. :)"

okay..so i didn't journal the whole time, but i did take some random notes since mike expects me to present at defcon next year. bring on project number three. and i have to find an appropriate defcon outfit. :)

holy balls it's august!

hi friends,

somehow it is august 3rd, which means school starts in less than one month. not going to think about that right now. *shudder*

i've been doing a lot of traveling lately. i spent a week in ABQ doing some research and stuff (probably more stuff than research) and then went to vegas this past weekend and visited mike at defcon. it was a lot of fun and i'm still feeling pretty exhausted as i sit in yet another airport on my way to iowa. the time in ABQ was great. lots of relaxation time and i got to meet some more people to talk to about my research. i hung out with some of the people i've met via mike in ABQ and had a fun time with them for sure. the weather was also really awesome. definitely didn't miss the heat and humidity when it was in the 70s/80s.

vegas was BUCK WILD. there was drinking, a little gambling, A LOT of computer nerd time, and lots of hang out time with mike and friends. i got to try in-n-out burger finally and it definitely lived up to the hype (though i'm not sure i give it the same rating that mike does.) probably my favorite part of the vegas trip was going to see ka: cirque de soleil: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/Cirquedusoleil/en/KA/main.htm?bandWidth=Hi. mike's friend jason generously gave us his tickets and it was probably the most amazing show i've ever seen. i think at one point my jaw had dropped open because i was in so much awe of what i was seeing. we also ate at this fantastic all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. mike was awesome and pretty much paid for all my meals...so the only money i really spent was on shoes, computer nerd stickers, and slot machine donations. he's cool like that. *thanks mike*

i think i'm going to end this blog for now. i do have more catching up to do but i don't want this to get too long. later skaters.

kater tater

"home" alone

so, i'm hanging out at mike's house by myself. he's in vegas for a conference and i'm here in ABQ to do research and apparently relax a lot. it's nice to be here and to get some kate time. it's also kinda lonely to be here without mike though. he's pretty fun. :) just sayin'. his house is awesome though and after this past year, i've been overdue for some serious chilling. it's kind of nice to have very little going on. i should be more productive than i have been probably. i spent most of this afternoon waiting for a plumber to come by to fix mike's shower (no i didn't break it) and looking at apartments in ABQ online. (i know, i'm not going anywhere yet...but it's fun to look). luckily i had a really great meeting today and tomorrow i'm going to type up all the notes i have so far and work on my research design and continue to pester people about meetings. the more i talk to people out here the more excited i get about my research and possible relocation. woo! :)

let's see..the rest of the week i'll be going to a birthday party, waiting for the plumber again, doing some more work, and resting up for vegas too. something tells me that a weekend in sin city is going to be wild and crazy and fun! can't wait!

cross your fingers for a cheap flight

hey people,

so, i'm a jet-setting graduate student right now which is just a little bit nutty if you think about it. i'm in new mexico again, i'll be heading to las vegas to hang out with mike next weekend. then i'll be back to texas for two days after which i'll head to iowa for an open house for my nephew and some family and friend time. i was really hoping that mike could come to iowa too, but the flights suck monkey asses right now. cross your fingers for a miracalous last minute fare! for some reason the des moines airport is an expensive one to fly into. i have no idea why since des moines is not a vacation hot spot. it's very very odd. here's hoping.

i guess i should stop being a slacker and get some work done today. i love being a slacker on sundays though. *torn*

hope you get to be a slacker today.

:)

loud neighbors

so, i asked our loud backyard neighbors to keep it down since they are having a wednesday night party..again. i know..i'm old..i don't appreciate people being loud across the fence when i have to get some sleep since i have to work tomorrow. i think the worst part is hearing the guitar players over there butchering dave matthews band. as i said to lindsay, "if you're going to be loud, at least don't butcher dave alright?"

luckily i did get to hear some really good dave matthews covers tonight. thanks keith!

and i need to clean my room soon before there are toes all over it. once again tripped! sheesh. no mercy you bitch ass toes!!

time to pop in some earplugs and get some sleep. (partying 20 year olds forget that sound travels...i know, i know..i'm sure i've forgotten that once or twice.)

i think i broke my toes...owchie

hi guys,

i just got back from NM about an hour ago. i just jammed my toes on my giant suitcase for maybe the third time in the past two weeks. yowsa. i'm sure they'll be fine though. that's what i get for bringing WAY too much stuff..as mike can attest to.

so i had an excellent july 4th weekend followed by a great week in ABQ. on june 29th, mike came to texas to visit us. we went and got mojitos on wednesday night and tim smith made us all awesome dinner on thursday night. lots of good times and i was happy that mike finally got to meet my awesome roommates. cecilia made us laugh many times. "i didn't know that ladies could be guys," she said with surprise about a very manly looking female sportscaster on tv.

then mike went to houston on friday and i went to austin to see the scabs play at antones. as most of you know, bob schneider is one of my all-time favorite musicians and he sometimes plays in a band called the scabs. (http://www.bobschneidermusic.com) this sound is very different from bob's usual stuff in some ways. it's pretty rude and crude and i love it. the best part of the night was when bob came down off the stage (the only time he did so during the show i might add) and danced with yours truly. hot damn!

the next morning i woke up bright and early (well...sorta..it was early for going to bed at 4 a.m.) and drove to galveston to hang out with mike and his family and friends of his family at the beach house. it was a perfect beach weekend. lots of time in the water, on the sand, eating good food, having fun with friends (like playing board games), and watching a grass fire caused by rogue fireworks set off by yocals (i think that was mike's favorite part of the weekend.) it was a great great weekend. couldn't have asked for a better time.

then on monday night mike and i headed to ABQ together. it was way rad to have a traveling companion. that hardly ever happens so it was especially rad to hang out with mike at the airport and on the plane rides. (i kicked his ass in our crossword puzzle race AND made a stranger laugh during a rant in the dallas love airport while we were waiting to board.) i hung out in ABQ all week and got a lot accomplished in terms of my research and in terms of relaxing and having a vacation. even helped mike with some of his house stuff. i definitely needed it and i'm not totally ready to start work tomorrow (today). on that note, i should end this very long post and get some sleep. i'll write more about how crazy the rest of my summer will be tomorrow or something.

peace out!

i'm a pain in the ass?! me?!

i have a lot to post since i've been having a fun week in ABQ, however first i have to let my reading public know that our friend mike refuses to sign up for a blogger account EVEN THOUGH he could comment on 4 different blogs now. i checked and it requires filling out 5 boxes. i even helped mike by filling out some and he still refuses and called me...the person helping him..a pain in his ass. he probably has to fill out more boxes when looking at internet porn than he would have to fill out to have a blogger account. :) i even came up with the user name SpongeMikeSooshiePants. that's good stuff kids. good good stuff.

more laters.

bold proclaimations

i've been thinking about bold proclaimations lately. i don't know why. i think it started when i heard a beatles song on the radio that was covered by some slapass band and it got me thinking about kate opinions on things. i tend to think of myself as being pretty laid-back and open minded about stuff in general. but i do have some bold proclaimations as well. for example:

- you better be some kind of super rock star who is awesome to cover a beatles song. no talent ass-clowns should not do this ever..and neither should country musicians. (some of my friends would say those two are one in the same)

- don't smoke pot right before you're coming to see your academic advisor. we're not stupid and we can tell.

- eating guacamole once a week is a good thing to do, even if you do blow all your weight watchers points for the week. life is short. eat well!

- if you're in a band and you cover pearl jam badly and i've had a few beers, i will inform you loudly that you suck. :) if you cover a bon jovi song a bit later, i will think that you've redeemed yourself somewhat.

- if you have a stuent going to college for the first time, it's okay to give them some guidance, but realize that they have to make decisions themself. they are taking the classes and negotiating the adjustments, even though you may be payin the bill. part of life is making mistakes, being held accountable for them, and learning from them. plain and simple.

- if you haven't regularly talked to someone in like 2 years, chances are you don't know them as well as you once did. allow people to grow and change. the person you knew before might not be the person that exists now.

- if you have purchased some kind of camero or mustang or whatever to feel cooler about yourself because you're middle-aged, then you should drive the speed limit at least. none of this having a fast car and driving 25 in a 45!

- the 'Insert' key on a keyboard is the dumbest thing ever invented and i don't understand it's purpose other than to piss me off.

- it's not okay to be paid a six figure salary for student affairs and then not care about student development or student well-being. ethical leadership means sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions that are what's best for the people you serve and not just to cover the ass of the organization that pays you way too much.

- family and friends are the most important things in life when it comes down to it. everything else can be quite fleeting...but that stuff..and love, is precious.

- happiness cannot be found at target, in other people, or on a weblog (or website for that matter). :) it has to be found inside first. my friend told me that a few times and he's so right.

- cheese and wine are so freakin' good. i love them. yummytastico.

- it's fun to be bold about things that don't matter too much in the big scheme of things. it's probably even fun to make bold proclaimations about important stuff too...as long as they are somewhat informed.

takin' it easy on friday night

i'm spending tonight by myself in my apartment. i haven't got the chance to spend a lot of time with my couch in quite a while and i feel bad about neglecting it. so we're catching up on some quality time together. lucky for me that sex in the city is on. i really like this show, even when carrie asks questions that cross my mind sometimes. tonight she asked, "when will waiting for the one, be done?" she asked it in terms of love, career, just all that stuff. when does waiting for the things that you think will make you happy finally end, because you have that stuff already? makes me think about the many times i've had to tell myself that i need to find happiness in where i am right now. that's hard to do sometimes, because i think i've always had my eye on the future thinking about what i want to be doing next. and i wonder sometimes if i miss out on what's going on right now though..since i sort of have one foot out the door? it's hard not to plan ahead, to have goals...and i think it's good to do that to some extent so you're not totally aimless and lost. but it's also important to really take in what's going on around you too. there's a happy medium there that i think is the answer to carrie's, and my, question. does that mean it's easy? fuck no it doesn't! but i know it'll be okay. things seem to work out the way the should. i know that deep down, even if i don't always remember it.

in the meantime samantha finds a gray hair in her nether-regions. "no one wants to f--- grandma's -----." i have to say i admire samantha a lot. she's fearless, strong, self-assured, and not afraid to do what she wants. even if that means dying her..um...area's hair...well, red. :)

this is a weird post i decided. oh well! go see batman begins. it's awesome and christian bale is a very very hot batman. woo woo!!

whirlwind summer

holy shit people! it's almost july. what in THEE hell happened to this summer? i anticipated being able to hang out with friends doing fun stuff more often and get a tan and go on trips and just relax with my texas peeps. this has not really happened. sara and i go to the rec in the mornings, which is awesome and i'm glad we are doing that (and that we can sleep in sometimes and not go when the need arises...like when air conditioners break and stuff), but i had envisioned more hanging out in the backyard, laying out, listening to music, drinking a beer kinda stuff.

i've been working a lot, especially this week when our professional staff at access are out of town so more is expected of us grad/staff types AND i had seven new freshman sociology majors that i had to create schedules for, which took about 4 hours. so today i've been home for an hour and a half, which makes it really hard to want to do anything but lay around! luckily i'm going to get some time off in july (which will be spent doing research and hanging out in ABQ), which i need desperately...but still not a lot of time with my b/cs friends.

don't worry ags...we'll figure it out. swear! :)

i had other stuff to post but i'll be damned if i can remember. later gators.

progress

i had a pretty low key weekend. got to hang out with a bunch of my friends which was rad. also got 20 mosquito bites on friday night. bastards! mosquitos suck! har har.

so i went to mass tonight. i've been kind of a fair-weather catholic for a while now, which i've wanted to change. it's funny how every time i go to mass, there is something about it that speaks to exactly how i've been feeling or helps me put some problem i have into a better perspective. tonight was no exception. the readings talked about fear and how we shouldn't stress so much and have more faith. and we got to sing the song "Be Not Afraid" which is one of my favorites and has special meaning for me. (mike would have been ranting because of all the guitars and saxophones and stuff.) i know that people reading this come from all types of different backgrounds and perspectives on religion and faith, and i'm definitely not trying to push my stuff on others. totally not my thing when it comes to religion (had my own experiences with pushiness that were icky bad..so i'm pretty open-minded about this). mostly i just wanted to share that when i went tonight, i felt safe and peaceful and just good. i think that time is something that i need for myself. i used to not go because i didn't want to go by myself, but now i think that alone time with my faith is what i need. i don't get enough quiet time in my day to day, week to week life, so i think this will be a regular thing for me. part of my self-improvement plan.

and i'm happy to say that my working out and stuff is paying off. i'm fitting into some pants that haven't fit in a while. wooo! took a three mile bike ride today and then had to come home because it was so damn hot.

happy father's day to all the dad's out there.

um...stupid texas lottery

so i buy lottery tickets every once in a while and i'm glad that the money at least helps education in texas, because i never win. every once in a blue moon i'll win a few bucks on a scratch off, but so far i have not won lotto texas one time. doesn't the lottery commission understand how much i really need to win the lottery? kate has a lot of student loan debt. kate has two jobs and is exhausted. kate wants to buy a new car. kate wants to pay back her parents for the bunches of times they've helped her out. come on texas lottery people...just pick my numbers one time. i promise i'll share it. i'll help out my friends and give some to charity. i'll still finish my Ph.D. swear!

in other news, i have had really restless sleep for a week now. it's no fun.

working out in the mornings with sara is going well, though i ditched out on wednesday but we were both tired puppies i think. i'm ready to see some results. i also signed up for weightwatchers online and i'm hating it a lot. wishing i hadn't gone with the three month subscription. hopefully i'll get used to it and it'll get easier. or i'll just figure out that i should stop snacking and eat less and not need to report it all to my daily points tracker. i lost 10 pounds using WW a few years ago, so i'm hoping that could happen again since that would get me really close to my goal. :)

also, i sent out draft four of my dissertation proposal to my committee today and hopefully i'll get some feedback and get to defend it really soon! :)

perspective

big congrats to tim and lidia! i saw the new member of their family yesterday and she is super cute! good job smiths and welcome ana to our crazy group. :)

i was talking to a friend of mine last night on AIM about something and he reminded me of a poem..sort of..that is great and i really like but lost track of...both in terms of perspective and in terms of actually know where it was in my house. so i'll share it here and then i'll be able to find it.

Life is Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk being called sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before the crowd is to
risk being called naive.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But the person who risks nothing does nothing, has
nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing.

—Author unknown


i think i ran across this when i was in college long long ago and really liked it. hope you do too readers. :)

mountainlicious

hung out with mike in ABQ this past weekend. we had a bunch of fun as per usual. :) one of the highlights of this trip to the land of enchantment was on sunday afternoon. mike and i drove up to sandia peak and hung out on top of the mountain for a while. we walked around a bit and just sat and took in the view. it was really fantastic and made me miss when i did that in austria sometimes. i didn't tell him this at the time, but i was both enchanted by the view and a little scared. there's something about being way up there that is magical and beautiful and a tiny bit humbling. like one false step and i'm tumbling down a mountain...which is a bit unnerving for kate the clumsy girl who constantly has bruises just from wandering around her room in 205. but i was in good hands, so it was just a little bit of scaredness. i'm definitely ready to do some hiking and exploring sometime! w00t. on the way down the mountain, we got to smell the sweet scent of someone ruining their brakes. the dipshit ahead of us was riding his brakes the entire way, which was more than just a little ridiculous.

this is another short week for me. going to st. louie on thursday to visit my brother and sister-in-law and my new nephew luke! can't friggin' wait!

p.s.- i'm totally 80s and don't have a digital camera but i'll try to post a pic when i get mine developed. :)

shout out to my peeps

i've been a whiny bitch lately. so today, i'm allowing myself to live in the moment for a second. the last few weeks i've been hanging out a lot with some really awesome women and i'm really glad to have that. (i've been hanging out with tim too, who is also a great friend and takes care of me a lot...but he's not a woman so this message isn't about him. sorry tim. suck it up. and then update your blog for goodness sake. sheesh!) i have some really awesome women friends from college and the various places i've lived, who i unfortunately don't get to see very often but i still love dearly. and a lot of the time i hang out with guys and tell fart jokes and drink beer and swear, which i also love. but there's something to be said about have close women friends here in texas. i was hanging out with lindsay and sara and lidia the other night and we talking about girl stuff and eating cheesecake and laughing our asses off and i'm so grateful for times like that. i need them a lot. and i miss my ladies who live in other places (like shells and jen and monica and jody and jocelyn and others who know who they are even if my mind has slipped...need more coffee or more sleep). thanks for kicking ass lady friends. you rock the hizzy, fo-shizzle.

running to stand still

the title of this post is both the title from one of my all-time favorite U2 songs (it's on joshua tree) and how i've been feeling about some things lately. i've been telling you about some of the progress i'm making toward getting my degree done, which is still great and getting me closer to a few important goals of mine. but then there are other ones, that i'm working on but are still out of reach.

for example, i've been working out more and i feel like i see some more muscle tone that i didn't have before (which could just be a figment of my imagination) but i haven't really lost any weight. in fact, i gained weight this week which is quite frustrating. the good news is that i bought a cute skirt from old navy and it fit really well. i didn't have to break a sweat and worry about being able to remove it without destroying it or calling in an employee to help me. (had a goofy experience with a shirt at the gap. it was one of those moments where i realized that i did have boobs and they weren't going to fit into this particular shirt and if i tried to make the shirt fit, they would have to "jaws of life" it off me). so, i know i'm making some progress and the doing something is definitely better than doing nothing. i'm just not seeing results yet.

my other running to stand still has to do with getting over some hurts from the past. i wrote not to long ago that a couple of years ago i was facing a lot of transitions and new horizons and though that stuff all turned out really well, it was still a difficult situation at the time. and though i wouldn't change it, there's a part of me that is hanging onto all the uncertainty and doubt and confusion that i felt then. overall i think i've made a lot of progress in getting past a bunch of stuff. but at the same time, i get scared that maybe things aren't really what they seem. that i can't totally trust my judgement all the time. i find myself being a little more detached or completely involved in friendships and in the moment itself. maybe a fear of getting too comfortable only for it all to change again, like it did two years ago.

damn this is a depressing post. guess i'm in a mood. :P i did find a good quote though that i need to keep in mind. "The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it." -Arnold H Glasgow i don't know who this glasgow guy is but he makes a good point. i need to be more patient with myself...not all goals are easy to check off. sure it's a pain in the ass to fill out a degree plan...but that's a relatively easy task to finish. doesn't require too much patience unless my committee members all simulataenously leave the country. those types of things are easy to crank out. these other goals though...i gotta stop trying to smash the egg and be more patient. how freakin' many times do i have to remind myself of that? :)

so the moral is...no smashing chickens. and go to bed 3 hours sooner even if you miss who's the boss. :)

this is a f*ck

i've been posting a lot about grad school stuff lately, but shit man fuck..i'm graduate school. what the fuck else am i supposed to blog about? :) (damn..lots of f-bombs already!) i've been putting together a reading list for my preliminary exams that will happen sometime in the fall. i'm not done with it yet...still have a lot more to include for my demography section...and it's already 10 pages long. 10 pages of references and books and articles. luckily i've read a lot of it already, which is what is keeping me from dropping my computer off the fourth floor balcony in the academic building or taking a dump outside my committee members doors. (hahaha...no more poop in the hallway..that was just a joke. JOKE!) my hope is that my committee members will not be pure evil and add a ton more to my lists, but they could. this is academic hazing after all. can't they just grode me or shave my head or something? :)

going to ABQ this weekend and looking forward to it. w00t!

crazy math

so..i was thinking about what i was doing at this time last year and i remembered that i was at my 10 year high school reunion in iowa. which means that it has been 11 years since i graduated from high school...making me th oldest person ever. :)

after that i started thinking about how many years i've been in school so far. that would be 22 years. how crazy is that? and i'm not even done yet!

here's hoping it's only a year and a half more.

:)

doink doink

i'm a little bit addicted to law and order svu right now. USA isn't helping much with the marathon that they are running right now. :) luckily it's summer and my schedule is much more laid back, so i can afford to lay in bed and watch some riveting television. :) if only Kroger would deliver some guacamole ingredients so i don't have to get up.

so i haven't written in a while. this has been a busy week. lots of home improvementy things going on and a trip to IKEA with my roommate yesterday. we both hadn't been there before and we both loved it! already looking forward to go back.

met with my committee chair today and i will probably be defending my proposal sometime really soon. just have to narrow it down a bit more and will hopefully work on that tomorrow since i've been pretty unproductive today.

uh...can't write anymore. must get back to the doink doink.

most boring post yet

hi guys. i think i've done a pretty good job of posting witty and somewhat insightful thoughts on this thing. today is not one of those days. i've been working on typing up my "Things To Do: Dissertation" list and thought i'd post it here. this might be a huge mistake because then you'll all be on my ass to get this stuff done. but so far i'm doing good and should still graduate before tim. hehehehe...

Things to Do: Dissertation/Graduation


Spring 2005

- Assemble Committee (complete)
- Thesis Publication (complete)
- Southwest meeting (complete)
- Dissertation proposal (complete)
- 2 courses (complete)
- File Degree Plan (still have to turn it in to OGS)


Summer 2005

- Defend proposal
- Put together prelims list
- IRB
- Research design for NM project
- Lit review chapter
- Pre-interviews


Fall 2005
- Last two courses
- Austin interviews
- Write introduction and methods chapters
- Do some kind of OGS paperwork that I'm sure is required at this point? (exam request or something like that?)
- Take preliminary exams
- Publication?
- Move?

Spring 2006
- NM and IA interviews
- Write my ass off
- Register for 6 hours of research

there...now you all now my master plan for the next year or so. here's hoping i keep on task and get all of this done. finishing your Ph.D. has a lot to do with jumping through various hoops with a bit of academic hazing thrown in, as well as a whole lot of research and reading.

random thoughts

so yesterday i was driving to school and heard an advertisement on the radio that you could go to a brake place and they would do a visual inspection for free. correct me if i'm wrong, but a visual inspection? doesn't that just mean that they will use their eyes to look at your brakes? other places charge for that? "yep, you got brakes. saw that you stopped when you got here so they must be working since you didn't crash through the office....that'll be $29.95." weird. maybe the charge for aural break inspections?

my other random thought when i was in my car later that day was that it has been two years since my ex-boyfriend and i parted ways in the relationship realm. mind you, i was not mourning that fact...it just occurred to me that two years ago a bunch of shit went down. the crazy thing that i couldn't seen then but could see not too long after is that that event set me on an awesome path that i wouldn't be on had circumstances been different. i moved back to texas, reconnected with great friends, and met a bunch of great new people. i get to work with one of the most respected professors in my field. i'm going to get my Ph.D. soon (i hope!) and there are some other things that i won't put on here, but are still really good. i'm not the best catholic in the world (*father dennis chortles at this point*), but things like make me realize that god is at work in my life. from a really crappy time two years ago, so much great stuff ended up happening. makes me feel good about what's coming up. even if life doesn't happen like my planny brain has in mind, who knows what good things might happen anyway?

by the way, this is a great story about my roommates: http://www.theeagle.com/aandmnews/051405graduation.php

shiner bock with lunch

i went to lunch with tim smith today at a favorite local spot, fitzwilly's. pretty much everyone who reads this literary triumph knows about fitz's...but if you don't and come to college station, we'll take you there and you too will profess its glory.

anyway, we had a fun time chatting and mocking each other and mocking people we know. we shared a pitcher and some cheesefries and some banter (like when tim told me i could dunk my aggie ring in metamucil and prune juice when i get...it was harsh but he owed me one)..and it was a nice break from an otherwise very uneventful day. advising is as slow as molasses (whoa...old timey analogy...i'm sure i'll be called grandma for that one), which is actually kind of a nice break. i should use this time to be productive and read or something, but instead i update my blog and check email like a fiend. fiend i tell you!

if the rest of summer break goes like this i will get very little sleep, very little accompished, but will drink a lot of beer for lunch. i suppose there are worse things? :)

AVOCADO UPDATE

i love sara. check this out: http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/9037.html

now i don't have to feel as guilty about all the guac. avocados are still our friends. :)

avocados=very green vegetable oil

i hesitate to post this at all because i know that a lot of you probably really like avocados. as you should, they are f'in great! they taste good, they have a good texture, you can use them on a bunch of things...they rock! sure you almost always cut your thumb off trying to remove that giant seed thing in the middle. but it's worth it. you have another thumb. they are crazy little slimy green pods of deliciousness.

yesterday i went over to tim's house after work to drink shiner and eat guacamole, which he made with 4 small avocados among other things. it was an assload of guac. and between himself, me, and lidia...we polished it all off. we came up with this plan to avoid eating cheese fries at fitzwilly's. well my friends, apparently it wouldn't have mattered much. check out this scary ass nutritional information about avocados: http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-001-02s00h8.html the only saving grace is that they are low in sodium, but i'm pretty sure the tortilla chips and salt added to the guac took care of that benefit for us. i'm pretty sure i'll be extending my time at the gym today!

the good news is that mcdonald's has a really good new "salad." salad gets put in quotes because it's apples, grapes, a cup of low-fat yogurt, and candied walnuts. it actually is pretty healthy, which hopefully balances out a bit of the caloric intake from yesteday. see for yourself: http://app.mcdonalds.com/bagamcmeal?process=item&itemID=10118

back to doing butt clenches at my desk. :) stupid evil avocados!

great weekend

after a very stressful school year, i got to wrap it up with a great weekend! i started thinking the other day about this year and just how crazy it has been. nuttiness with jobs, health scares with my family, friends moving on to new adventures, varying motivation to do school work, and so on and so forth. this has been a trying school year in a number of ways. so, it was nice to spend some time with a person who has helped me out so many times this year.

i found dave attell tickets a few months ago and bought them as a way to say thanks to mike for all the times he's bailed me out this year. we had a great weekend. stayed at a cool hotel in downtown houston (http://www.magnoliahotelhouston.com/) and ate at a really good restaurant that is becoming one of my all-time favorites (http://www.caferedonion.com/). we went to see dave attell on saturday night. you'll recognize dave for the show insomniac on comedy central. his humor is very crash and crude and f'in hilarious. :) (unless you're on the blue collar comedy tour..then you might not think he's so funny) it was all great! and we got to hang out with his parents a lot and eat good food and catch up with his sister who just got back from italy. all in all a very good weekend and a great way to end a somewhat insane year! sorry that i didn't win the texas lottery and couldn't take all of you out on the town to say thanks for helping me out this year. i appreciate all my friends so much. those of you who live in texas will get some beers from me next time we go to northgate (which should be soon! this weekend!!). those of you who don't live in texas, um...i love you guys. :) come visit and i'll buy you beers. ;) seriously though, thanks to everyone.

the other good news is that my brother and sister-in-law have officially brought my new nephew to the U.S. from Russia and they are all happy and healthy and catching up on sleep! this adoption process has been a long one and we all can't wait to meet luke. :) (he's the cutest baby ever!)



goofy looking kate and dave attell.  

"it's poop again"

i'm in my office in the academic building as i type this. not too long ago i was meeting with a student and changing his major to sociology. i could hear someone in the hallway outside walking around and figured they were either waiting to talk to me next or waiting for him to finish up with me so they could leave together. well, i was wrong about that.

the student leaves, happy to be switched over. i goof around on the internet checking email and to see if i won the texas lottery yet. and then a smell creeps into my office from the hallway. it smells like someone has ripped all kinds of ass. i figure it will dissipate, but it keeps lingering.

then another student pops in and says "have you been out in the hallway?" "no, i explain." and then she informs me that "there's a huge turd out here." "you're kidding, right?" i say. "no," she explains..."it's on the floor...and ew...on the wall too." reluctantly, i peek out the door and there is, in fact, a hefty poop next to one of the chairs at the end of the hall, a bit on the floor, and some smeared on the wall. "how is this possible?" i ask no one, though i'm talking out loud.

so, someone took a dump in the hallway outside (not right outside, but near) my office. it brought me back to my residence hall days (especially at marquette), where it was not uncommon to find or hear about finding bodily functions in the hall, elevator, floor, whatever. one guy in my building at marquette drunkly mistook the elevator for a urinal one night. but this is a academic building...i mean, it's called the academic building for god's sake..not the shit factory building.

i had the joy of calling the main office to inform them that there is poop up here. "poop?" "yes, poop." i shut the door and luckily can't smell it as much, but i did almost gag last time i went out in the hall way to put a yellow caution sign (you know, the wet floor ones) over the poop on the floor.

here's hoping the maintenance guys get here sometime soon. (what a thankless job that is. cleaning up some jerkoffs excrement! there's no way they get paid enough to do that!) it's icky bad and a bit incomprehisble. "i didn't do well on my final so i'm going to go take a shit on a chair?" it is friday the 13th i guess, but damn that's gross!

mantra

one of my former RAs had part of this quote as her away message the other day. i liked it a lot and thought i'd share. seems like something i need to remember more.

"i want to beg you, as much as i can, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. and the point is, to live everything. live the questions now. perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. perhaps you do carry within yourself the possibility of shaping and forming as a particularly happy and pure way of living; train yourself to it-but take whatever comes with great trust, and if only it comes out of your own will, out of some need of your inmost being, take it upon yourself and hate nothing." -rainer maria rilke

three good customer service plugs

despite my recent crabbiness i want to give props to three companies that i've received good customer service from.

first up is gomez shoe repair. back in februrary i broke one of those little hook thingys on my favorite hiking shoes that you use to keep the laces in place. (too much drinky drink that night) and gomez shoe repair (by 32 degrees or whatever) fixed it for the bargain price of $5.00!

second is redenvelope.com. they have really cool products and shipped something for me really fast and even responded quickly when i had a question.

finally, sprint actually fixed my phone this afternoon after i broke it a little last night. (whoops!) i waited for a few minutes while they took it into the back room and before i knew it, it was back in shape. and it cost nothing. :)

thanks for all the helpfulness.

love/hate relationship

so, i'm a bit behind the times (*stop snickering mike*) and only recently got into sex and the city i watched the first two seasons on dvd and catch random, edited episodes on tbs when i have time. i'm even looking forward to renting or buying more seasons so i can watch them this summer. however, as intrigued as i am by this show, it's also very frustrating sometimes. :) there are times when i think the writers for that show were stalking me to get ideas for the next episode. there are other times when it's hard to sympathize with carrie for being alone...because she's still dressed to the nines and living in paris for god's sake...and in the end, gets the guy!

then there are quotes like the following, that just make me smile, because i know i've said things like that before to my other single friends. "Carrie: Think about it. If you are single, after graduation there isn't one occasion where people celebrate you ... Hallmark doesn't make a "congratulations, you didn't marry the wrong guy" card. And where's the flatware for going on vacation alone?" one of my highschool friends that i'm still in touch with made a list of our little circle of people and crossed off everyone who was married, leaving only four of us still single. it was after reading that that i wanted to know where the list was for people who are getting a Ph.D. or living outside of iowa or whatever. :) i'm ready for a "you passed your dissertation defense" shower. (okay, i'll be ready for it when i pass...just sayin'!)

so, that's my love/hate relationship with
sex and the city. it's a very insightful, funny, and just fun show...i love watching it, even when it drives me nuts.

a mystery is suddenly more mysterious

so might have told some of you about my ancenstry before. i'm german, more german, more german, an eighth british, and an eighth mystery. the family story about the mystery was always that my grandfather's mother was an orphan and was on on something called an orphan train. this was always a unique little tidbit about the parks family. however, when i was home last time, my dad told me that the orphan train part of our history was actually fiction. evidentally someone in the family made that up because there was some sort of shame associated with her heritage. BUT, that's all we know about the truth of her background. we know that she lived with a few families, but still don't know what were ethnic ancestry is. in all actuality it doesn't matter too much. the mystery is still just that...a mystery. but i think it's even more interesting now. what's the big cover up?

in other news, i finished my last paper for the semester. i think it was decently done...but mostly it's done. i have one more semester of classes left...and then i'll be ABD if i pass prelims. (abd=all but dissertation by the way. i get asked that sometimes so i thought i'd clarify.) not sure what will happen next, but i'm looking forward to an opportunity to relax a bit this summer. w00t!

don't tell my heart...my achy breaky heart :)

no, this message is not a tribute to the king of all mullets, billy ray cyrus. :) i just couldn't do that to my reading public and i don't want to sacrifice the slim integrity that my blog has. (i said slim...i know it doesn't have much.)

so lately, my heart has been very palpitaty. i've had problems with it since 7th grade. i remember it vividly. we were running some kind of insane drill at basketball practice, which was appropriate called suicides or something (crazy sadistic gym teachers....her name was Ms. Hasenwinkle...she was mean) and my heart switched from beating fast because i was exercise to going mock 11. then i started to black out and figured i should stop running. :) that scenario has been going on randomly (not regulary) since then. i don't even want to speculate how many years that's been because it will just prove once again that i'm old. (fine...i would have been 12 or 13 in 7th grade...so freakin 17 years..). well, lately it has felt like it's on the verge of an episode pretty constantly so i went to the doctor and found out that part of what might cause it is anxiety. time for kate to cut back on stress and start doing yoga again. :) the cutting back on stress part may be difficult right now since i have two papers to finish in the next week. but if you know of other stress relieving activities, i'm all ears. (this is the part where drew makes some remark involving sex...i'm predicting it.)

anywho, i get drugs now and hopefully they will start working and i'm really looking forward to some chill time this summer. it's kind of ironic if any of you read mike's blog recently. he wrote about being really laid back and apparently i have the opposite situation going on. :) not that that makes me more decisive though. just achy breaky evidently.

okay, time to write.

my car has favorite songs

i love music...a lot. it's always been a big part of who i am. back in the old days when i would squeak on my clarinet and the more recent days when i'd sing in choir...i love music. and apparently so does my car. in fact, i'm convinced that it has favorite songs.

i recently made a mix cd with a ton of kick ass stuff on it. i usually have the cd player in my car set on random. it's my way to mix stuff up, since at times i get stuck in a rut and only listen to the same CD over and over again. but i've noticed, that my car will "randomly" play the same songs over and over again. and it's not like it goes through the entire CD before it starts repeating itself...it'll play song A, play song B, and then come back to song A. so, i've learned that my car really likes songs by N.E.R.D. and Pearl Jam (especially the song Release, which is nice since it's one of my favorites too). Sometimes I have to force it to play other stuff on the CD. like i really wanted to hear the Offspring sing Get a Job which is why I put it on the CD in the first place. But oh, no...car wants to hear REM's Stand two more times first. :) anyway, i just thought it was wacky stuff. when it gets too out of hand then i have to take away the "random" privileges. :) if my car was kit from nightrider it would totally be swearing at me right now.

speaking of awesome music, if you haven't already gone to this website (http://music.download.com/wesraine/3600-8596_32-100085438.html?tag=list) and downloaded some of my friend wes's music go do it already! it's freakin' awesome. i was just listening to the song "half my age plus seven" and it totally rocks and made my day happier. wes is super talented and will rock your socks off. do it! NOW!

:)

new shoes are evil

so, i like shoes almost as much as mike does. :) *cracked myself up...just a sec*

phew..better now. so i got some steve madden sandals on ebay that are brand new...and i wore them today and walked for maybe a total of 15 minutes in them and they have already given me blisters. why are new shoes so evil? do shoe companies own stocks in band-aid companies or something? it's crazy because they look like they should be the most comfortable shoes ever, but apparently it's a lie. maybe father dennis could fart on them or something and melt them a little. or maybe my feet are just pansies?

hope ya'll are having a good monday. i'm off to read. :P

countdown: 15 days until I'm done with stuff for this semester.

owch

i've had a headache every day for 4 days. not constant, but still at some point i have one. at what point do i decide it's not finals stress and go to the doctor? i guess if it's still happening after my papers are done? ugh.

thanks ags

so, i'm a graduate student here at a&m and historically, grad students aren't usually really into the aggie spirit stuff. i like to think i'm an exception to that norm though. i've been at a&m since 2000 (this a one year hiatus) and i've had many moments where the aggie spirit has overwhelmed me. one of them was on thursday. i've been having a bit of a crabby week...for a variety of reasons that i won't get into now or ever. but i digress. i was leaving work after a long day of advising and walking to my car and could hear the war hymn. thursday was muster and so there was music coming from the clocktower. as i walked through the academic plaza and past the ymca building, i started to think about how amazing it is that i ended up at a&m and that though it has it's problems, the community is also amazing. a&m was never on my list of grad schools originally, but i can't imagine that i would feel this connected to my school had i gone some place else. the spirit here is palpable. i had a million things to do on thursday evening but all the stress of that drifted away as i saw lots of students heading to reed arena to go to muster. to remember aggies who have passed away this year and to share in the comraderie of their fellow students, as well as alums. though i couldn't go myself, i still felt that connection to this awesome university. i can't imagine having picked another school. it's impossible to imagine not having the friends i've made at a&m right now and the great memories i've had here so far. so thanks ags...

broken brains?

wow...i had so much to do for today that i think in the preparation for that...i broke my brains. halfway through my second class today, i was totally out of it. literally had no idea what was going on in there anymore and didn't even care a little bit. it was like the time that i got a bug bite on my hand and it totally swelled up and looked scary, so i took one benedryl and it made me high. you can ask mike..i was totally out of it. he would talk to me and i'd have no idea what he was saying. i put my giant hand in an old navy bag and was waving it around. benedryl totally jacks me up. and that's how i felt today...and i swear i took no benedryl. just a vitamin! vitamins are supposed to help right?! anyway, i think it will be good for my overall health once this semester is over with. then, god willing, just one semester left. :) here's hoping. tonight was one of those nights when i felt very very old in college station...and it made me want to not live here anymore...a lot. more on that sometime, maybe.

good weekend

so, mike had his head shaved yesterday and managed to raise almost $800. he's really close to reaching his goal so if you have the inclination and some extra cash to spare, i'm sure he'd appreciate it. :) there are some pictures of his shaved head on his blog: http://sooshie.org
i was trying to grow out my hair to donate some to locks of love and then a trim turned into more than a trim, so i'm starting over. i have a ways to go so maybe the texas sun will help my locks get longer.

my new roommates lindsay and cecelia moved in this weekend. lindsay is a good friend of mine and cecelia is her three year old daughter. it is so good to have them both there. i had a few friends over for marinated steak dinner last night and so they could meet lindsay and cecelia. it was a lot of fun and i think the food went over well. i hope they enjoy living in 205. i know i'm really glad that they are living with us. there's something nice about seeing toys in the living room and hearing a cute little girl ask me if i want to see all her sparkly bracelets or watch shrek. :) now that summer is coming i hope to have people over more often, because though i still had/have a lot of reading and stuff to do this weekend, it was great having friends over and introducing new friends to old friends and just all that stuff. (tim is rolling his eyes at my cheesiness right now.)

anyhow, i should get back to writing. have a good sunday everyone.

p.s.- best question cecelia has asked so far: "so, does kate pee in the potty?" :)

ditto

my friend wes posted this on his blog and i'm posting it because i was duped by this stupid service too...so be warned friends! it's a load of poop and you shouldn't sign up.

"If you are getting requests by WesRaine@invitations.sms.ac, DO NOT ACCEPT!!!!!

I accepted a request by a friend of mine two weeks ago and this thing has apparently hijacked my address book and is trying to get everyone else to join. This thing is a spamming machine that I have no control over but it seems to be sending messages to everyone in my address book (including me!) to join this ridiculous service. I have closed my account and urge anyone who has already accepted to do the same. When they want to know why you are deleting your account, make sure to tell them that it is because their "service" is really crappy seeing as how it annoyed all of your friends. We already get enough unsolicited spam...we don't need any more."

i'm addicted

yes, another quiz. are you going to do this one too tim smith? :)


which sex in the city charactor are you? 

busy body

so advising has been really really busy lately. it's registration time so i've been helping lots of undergraduate sociology majors pick classes and decide on minors and all that fun stuff. there are some really rewarding moments (like when i talked with a student about graduate school and research for a while) and some that are very frustrating (like when i have to tell people that they can't graduate or can't substitute a class that they though they could and almost cry). sometimes it's hard to stay motivated and helpful when i have my own stresses too. i told tim that i wouldn't be surprised if people were outside of my office right now waiting to talk to me tomorrow. his response was "you're more popular than aggie football." to which i retorted "the list eater is there right now eating my schedule off my door." :)

just a few more weeks of classes...and then...more advising for the summer. :)

reading break

You are Deb and you could drink whole milk if you
wanted.




Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

brought to you by Quizilla


woo!! :)

find out who you are by clicking the link below: http://quizilla.com/users/retromex/quizzes/Which%20Napoleon%20Dynamite%20character%20are%20you%3F

have i mentioned this movie (and soundtrack) kicks so much ass?

"i'm sorry but i'm just thinking of the right words to say..i know they don't sound the way i planned them to be..." (the promise by when in rome from the ND soundtrack. boo-ya!)

shaved head for a good cause

i sent out an email about this to a lot of you but thought i'd post it here in case i missed anyone and in case my readership is larger than i think it is. :) (also, to inspire others to post this on their blogs too to get the word out). my b/f/f mike is shaving his head to help raise money to find a cure for childhood cancer. you can donate as little or as much as you want. here's link with more info. hopefully mike will grace us a of photo of himself post-head shaving.

good job mike! way to help the kids. :)

http://www.stbaldricks.org/ShaveePhoto.asp?SolNumber=15324700

the big question is...are you gonna shave your facial hair off too? :)

blogspot pooped it's pants earlier

so...i wrote a very creative post before and then blogspot pooped itself and it got lost in the void somewhere.

luckily i remember what i wrote earlier which is a christmas miracle since i seem to have no short term memory. can't even remember what hours i worked LAST WEEK.

so i was noticing on my friend wes's blog that he has a links section and i wondered how to do that. do i need to use a different template? is there some wacky computer code that i need to use that will give me a chance to post some of my favorite links. hmm...i'll try this: 686579206D6167696320696E7465726E657420676F64732E2E67697
665206D652061206C696E6B732073656374696F6E206F6E206D7920
7765627061676520736F20692063616E2074656C6C2065766572796F6
E652061626F757420687474703A2F2F736578796E6572642E6F72672F
666C6173682F7468656C6C616D61736F6E672E7377662E2E6861707069
657374207765627369746520657665722E202072656164792C207365742
C20676F2120206669676874696E27207465786173206167676965206C69
6E6B2073656374696F6E2E202077686F6F702100

hmmm...that didn't work. stupid hex. :)

any thoughts?

there was other stuff but i don't remember. yay for mike being here. fun times already.