updating the list

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

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

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

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

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

the thin horizon of a plan is almost clear

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

viva las vegas!

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

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

better get busy packing. or sleeping.

on second thought...

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

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

now it's time or bed.

one more concert faux pas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

very slowly sinking in...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

mini-rants and some raves too

just a few rants...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

hot!

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

also, go brujos and especially the rhino squad!!

:D

yeah...i'm tired

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

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

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

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

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

holy poop its the end of april

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

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

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

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

okay...back to work.

something i didn't think i would say or do

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

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

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

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

taking in the view

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

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

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

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

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

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

early to bed

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

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

a few hopefully non-lofty goals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

anywho...that's the news.

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

march madness and job madness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

later gators!

its less cold in iowa this time

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

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

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

peace out kids. more to come!

it's fuggin' cold in iowa. damn!

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

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

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

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

okay...sleepy me.

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

do i miss the cubicle?

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

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

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

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

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

back from the edge of my seat

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

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

everyone have a good weekend!!

back from the lou!

great weekend in st. louis! mike and i went on friday and hung out with my family for the weekend. the weekend consisted of lots of good food (including toasted ravioli-a local st. louis delicassy), a visit to the busch brewery, a trip up the arch, and just an all-around good time. the whole famn damily was there, so it was really fun to see my nieces and just to hang out out with everyone.

i followed up the weekend by preparing for my very first on-campus interview for a faculty position. i think that over all i did a good job. i was really worried about my research presentation which went so much better than the run through i had last week. and i think that the class i taught went well too. i met lots of people and answered lots of questions! all-in-all i really enjoyed it (though it was stressful) and i think the position would be a perfect fit. i have no read on it really and they are bringing the last candidate today or tomorrow. so the good news is that i will know something by the end of the week. another on-campus interview coming up next month, as well as a phone interview tomorrow.

cross your fingers that i get a job and get rid of this cold. i'll keep you posted faithful readers! :D

relief...i hope

today has been an interesting day. i got very little sleep last night and really the night before too, which i'm attributing to stress. so when i came in today i felt like i had a "case of the mondays"
that didn't last too long though, since i did some checking on a loan that i applied for and found out that i got it. though the money is not in hand, its just a matter of it being processed, which gave me the motivation to put in my two weeks notice. my big boss was very supportive about it and totally understood. i really didn't have a lot of options since i asked for reduced hours and was told no. i guess its better for the program i worked with to lose two full-time employees in 6 months than to let me work 30 hours a week. dumbasses. so, starting february 2nd, i'll be able to focus most of my time and energy into finishing my dissertation. i'm thinking about getting a part-time job as well, but luckily i don't have to stress too much about that right this second.

what i do need to stress about right this second is the on-campus interview that i have in a week! still have some things to put together for that which i hope to wrap up in the next few days.

so, what started out as a case of the mondays ended with plans to say good-bye to life in the cubicle. maybe i'll bring a screwdriver on my last day and push my wall down. :)

horoscope

so i've been making steps toward quitting my full-time job so i can focus on my dissertation. i think i will be able to do that this week. and it looks like the stars are in agreement with my plan. check out today's horoscope:

You are being lured into a new set of circumstances, even if you prefer to stay safe and sound in your old familiar life. You mistakenly believe that the status quo offers you more stability, but this is just an illusion. The bottom line is that you don't have the luxury to continue unproductive routines, even if they feel more comfortable. Make room for the future, for the excitement can revitalize you in ways you cannot yet imagine. Monday, January 15, 2007

now cross your fingers that everything falls into place. ;)

cross all your crossable parts

okay kids...so i've had a great start to the new year. have felt generally pretty optimistic about things and hopeful about the future. might be because i have had a few faculty phone interviews and at least one of them went well. i'll be traveling to an on-campus interview in a few weeks. however...this process is once again bringing some stress in the form of needing to get my dissertation written and having very little time. the time crunch could be because i'm working full-time, teaching a new class (yikes), and by the time that's all done i'm ready for some fun and not for buckling down with transcribing and writing. luckily two things have happened. one is that i got WONDERFUL advise from my guru friend karen about how to prepare for the interview. her tips have result in a bit less work than i was creating for myself. the other thing is that i have literally nothing to do at work right now, so since i'm not allowed to reduce my hours, i'll just work on stuff here. boo-ya! (or dousch! as a friend of a friend used to say...he got that confused, but i think its hilarious and we should start saying it!). HOWEVER, it is still my greatest hope that one of three things will happen: 1. someone i know wins the lottery and shares, 2. i find a sugar daddy (any takers? its just until august!) or 3. i get one of the part-time jobs i applied for and can quit this full-time crap. its kind of risky, but at the same time, i feel like i have to do whatever it takes to get done with this dissertation, because if i don't the greater risk is that i won't get one of these faculty jobs after all.

in terms of that...i'm still excited and weirded out about the thought of getting one of the jobs. the one i'm interview for in a few weeks seems like it would be a great fit for me. and i like the idea of only having ONE job for the first time in at least 3 years. i find my mind drifting to things like getting a house and a dog and being able to pay stuff off and getting to teach in a setting that really values good teachers. all of that would be great. the leaving friends behind in albuquerque part is hard to think about at the moment. so i won't think about that until i have to.

in the meantime, cross your fingers, toes, eyes, buttcheeks, whatever you can that i get to quit my stupid full-time job soon. :)

p.s.- i turned old last saturday but it was a raucous good time! 2007 is starting out pretty dang well!

oh the weather outside is...friggin nuts!

i had a wonderful holiday and find myself starting 2007 feeling much more optimistic and just good about things. it was very nice to have some time to relax at home and i must confess that i'm NOT ready to go back to work tomorrow.

my vacation started a day earlier due to all the crazy snow we've been getting around here. that allowed me some time to get packed and slide around town in my car on trips to target with mike. also got a long lunch with some friends, which was great.

my flight to dallas went off without a hitch. however, when i got to the gate to go to des moines, there was talk of the plane being overweight and people not going to get to fly for 72 hours. i, of course, was on their list of 13 people who would be stuck in dallas but while i was making plans for alternate routes, i got really lucky and was called back to board the plane. five of the original rejected got to go to beautiful iowa! totally felt like i won the lottery. :D

my time in iowa was pretty great. lots of quality time with family and friends and down time which i really needed. even managed to go to the gym a few times while i was home, though the diet pretty much went to the wayside. i'll try to write more about awesome home time soon.

my trip back to ABQ was also not without drama. i realized after leaving marshalltown that i had too much stuff and would have to pay extra to check three bags. so i repacked stuff and made sneaky plans to gate check one of my suitcases. this was not an issue at all from des moines to dallas, and i assumed that it wouldn't be one from dallas to albuquerque either. i was sort of wrong. as we were making our descent into the international sunport in ABQ, we were diverted to el paso. turns out a bunch of fog came to visit the airport and we couldn't land and didn't have fuel to circle. after refueling in el paso and waiting for over an hour, we were informed that we couldn't land in ABQ and that the flight would be going back to dallas. the problem with that was the fact that there were 72 people flying stand-by for our flight when we left dallas, which meant that the chances of leaving on the next available flight were slim and none. AND since it was weather related, they would not pay for our hotel and we wouldn't get our luggage. i decided to deplane and get a rental car and drive the 4 hours to ABQ so i could ring in the new year with friends instead of alone somewhere in texas. lucky for me a lot of other people had that plan and i ended up sharing a dodge caravan with 4 other people. the only problem was no luggage...including my gate checked bag...which had all my dissertation tapes and various other things that i didn't want to be lost in an airport. however, the focus became getting home while contending with fog and dreaded black ice. i got to mike's at about 12:10 and drank some champagne with friends.

the next day we went to the airport and found two of my bags...but not the one i really wanted...the gate checked one with all my dissertation work! LUCKILY it came today and that's a huge weight off my mind. now, i will hope my luck continues in the new year. i have an on-campus interview for a faculty position in st. louis that would start in august and if i get it then i must have my dissertation finished. if they make me an offer then i will do some serious rethinking about my current job situation. i also have a phone interview for a school in austin coming up as well.

so...that's all my news in a quick nut shell. now i should probably get some sleep for work tomorrow.

happy 2007 friends and family! :D

beer and bread for weight loss

so mike and i have both been doing the body for life thing, as you probably already know. i've been waiting and waiting to see some more tangible results and this week i was finally rewarded. I've managed to lose three pounds this week which allowed me to cross my first weight-loss threshold. AND i fit into some pants that fit last winter but then stopped fitting by spring. i'm not sure if this means i'm down a size...but it might. hopefully things will keep progressing, since my goal is really to get down one more size and to lose about 15 more pounds. (i have a feeling that could be tricky with christmas coming up.) the funny thing is that mike and i both noticed that after skipping the gym and eating steak and bread and drinking beer on monday night, we both woke up the next day having lost weight. what's up with that? :D anyway, i have lost 10 pounds so far on this plan and i think it shows.

lots going on this week. we have two holiday lunch things this week for work which i have to make stuff for. i'm meeting a new friend for happy hour after work tomorrow and some other friends are meeting later for a cookie exchange party. i have to give finals on saturday morning (woo!) and finish up grades quick. party on saturday night and god knows what else is going on this weekend. i can't believe in a week i'll be headed home to iowa for the holiday. i really can't wait for some time off though.

in other news i was offered a phone interview for a faculty position. that will happen in january. i saw a few postings for cool jobs at the community college here, including a part-time one with benefits that would be my dream come true! i really really have to work hard on the dissertation as you know from my last post, so that position would be so cherry! keep your fingers crossed for me, especially since faculty members don't seem to want to give up any funding.

feeling more holiday spirit this year than i have in the past. more on that in the next post.

i hate to beg

and yet...its what i just did. i emailed my committee members for my dissertation to see if they knew of any funding that would allow me to work less and focus on my dissertation more. now that i've finished collecting all my data (WOO HOO!!!), i really want to have the time to just transcribe and write. this is especially important since i have a phone interview for a faculty position in january (can i get another WOO HOO!). and it looks like i could get an on-campus interview at a different school in january as well. what this means is that i MUST finish this sucker relatively soon. in fact, i will most likely have to have it finished by june. june...6 months away. that's not a lot of time...especially with my 40 hour/week work schedule right now. so cross your fingers that this will work out for me. or if you are wealthy and want to sponser my dissertation, let me know that too. ;)

more posts to come!

dilemma

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

insert intriguing and profound title here

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

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

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

peace out.

fortune cookie

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

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

pretty nice, no?

so love to ya'll. :)

texas here i come

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

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

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

more soon!

updating the list

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

Things to Do: Dissertation/Graduation


Spring 2005

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


Summer 2005

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

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

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

So I guess I need to add to the list

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

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

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

holy exhausted batman

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

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

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

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

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

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

crazy starbucks karma

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

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

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

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

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

HAPPY HALLOWEENIE!! :)

where did october go?

i don't about you guys, faithful readers, but this month flew by! i can't believe its already almost november, though i have to say, i'm sort of excited about november. :) i'll be doing some traveling to chicago and texas which will hopefully mean i will be pretty much done collecting data for my dissertation. i'll get to see some college friends while i'm in the midwest. i get to have a fun thanksgiving with mike's family and hopefully catch up with some texas friends. and i get to miss a lot of work which is AWESOME. (boring job stuff going on right now..) then before we know it the semester will be over which will mean no more saturday classes and having the chance to go home again for the holidays. :) looking forward to all of that a lot!

i had a fun weekend with mike. we went to a halloween party on saturday night and i think our costumes were a big hit. i'll try to post some photos later on. the work computer is not cooperating.

haven't heard much on the faculty job front. i sent out about 10 more packets last week and hopefully that will be it for a while. i'll let you know if i hear anything.

i guess i should work or something now.

my scale is made of evil

so today i stepped on the scale and to my happy surprise it said that i had lost 10 pounds since this crazy process had started and had thus reach one of my benchmarks. i think foolishly stepped on it again and it was a dirty lie! it lied by 5 pounds. what the f@)#!?~ time for a new scale? :) regardless, pants are getting to big and ass is getting smaller. and i can run a slightly longer distance (thus faster pace) than i could even last week. boo-ya! screw you evil scale!

UPDATE: this morning (oct 26) the scale said that i've lost 9 pounds since this process started. it even said that the second and third time i stepped on it. can i get a woo hoo?! maybe those muscles i built up are finally starting to get rid of the fat. *grin* scale is less evil today.

crazy freakin' weight loss

mike and i have been trying out body for life. i think i'm trying to do a good job of sticking to the food part and have been working out more often and with more intensity than i have been in a long time. sure, sure...iowa was not kind to me in terms of eating right, but i'm happy to say that it wasn't a dis-ass-ter and i managed to even job while i was at home (and sick with a cold to boot!)

so my results after 3 weeks....pretty much the same weight..though i have dropped a few pounds...nothing exciting going on with the stupid scale in my bathroom. pants...a bit looser...i think i'm exactly between the size i really didn't want to be and the size i was when i moved here. so what is keeping me doing this? well...there are some noticable results even if the scale doesn't reflect it. my body is getting trimmer....i'm getting some muscle tone...my face is thinner...my boobs are bit smaller (of course)...and even that pesky tummy is shrinking slowly. and i can lift more weight, run/jog faster and longer than i could before, and can do some exercises that were impossible before due to jacked up knee. i'm ready and waiting for the part where the muscle i've been building up starts eating the fat away so i actually do shrink a size and smile when i step on the scale. but...so far so good i guess. right? :)

(by the way...congratulate mike because he's lost way more weight than me. damn boys!) ;)

"kate's mom just called jeremy a bitch"

this past weekend i went to iowa for the wedding of one of my closest friends from college. it was a great time and so nice to get to see my family and my college buddies. and i think it was especially awesome to see how happy monica is in her new relationship. she and patrick are truly a perfect fit and that was so evident as they took their vows and joined their lives. so happy for her. :) the wedding was beautiful and simple and monica looked gorgeous! maybe i'll post some pictures at some point.

the subject line for this blog is a quotation from a rock. now i know you're asking, "what the hell is kate talking about?" but i will explain. monica and patrick had large river rocks on each table with paint pens so that we could leave them words of wisdom. at one point my mom did, in fact, call my friend jeremy a bitch (he earned it..trust me!), so my friend jed wrote the aforementioned quote on one of the rocks for monica and patrick. i'm sure they will treasure it always...or bury it under the other rocks that say things like "laugh often." :)

the day before and after the wedding i got to spend time with my parents and my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces. i haven't seen my niece amber since december when she was a newborn, so it was fun to watch her running all over the place now. she's a cutie. and my niece amanda is growing up faster than i'd like to admit. she's doing well in her new school though and will soon be driving and stuff. insanity!

anyway, that's enough rambling for now. i'm back in new mexico...back at work...and stumbling through all the stuff i'm trying to get done. :) hopefully some more exciting news will be coming soon.

relief via usps

so my friend sara asked me how the job search was going like a week or so ago and i haven't answered her yet (see last post). but, the scoop is that i have sent out about 27 job applications. in fact, i sent the majority of them today which is a huge relief. could the packets be better....sure! would it help if i had more publications...absolutely! do i care at this point....not really. :) i mean, i care...it would be cool to get a job somewhere (kinda sorta), but mostly i'm just happy that they are out of my hands and in a mailbox and i don't have to worry about it for a while. as random positions pop up i can still apply, but its nice to know that most of them are on their way for evaluation. where did i apply you ask? well...all over the place. more details as i hear more.

fall is always busy!

so, its fall here in albuquerque. some leaves are changing, the weather gets relatively cool at night, its not uncommon to tote a sweater or jacket with you in the morning, and my schedule is freakin' busy as hell. it seems to be this way every fall though, which is probably good since i'm so much more motivated than the spring.

what's keeping me busy you ask? well...a lot of stuff. i've been working full-time still and about 3 days a week i have dissertation interviews scheduled after work. i've been doing body for life so i've been trying to eat better and work out more. i'm still applying for a bunch of faculty positions so i've been trying to get all of that information put together, copied, and sent. my hope is to get almost all of those mailed this weekend. i'm trying to figure out next semester in terms of employment (shhh...that's a secret so don't tell my boss) and might have some options there. and i've been planning trips to austin and chicago to finish my interviews and a trip to iowa for a wedding (one of three happening this fall!!). and on the more fun side, my great friend shelley came to visit last weekend which was AWESOME! good times. :)

and then there's the list of things that i need to do...which actually mostly involves writing 3 chapters of my dissertation by the end of the semester. hopefully once the interviews in NM are done that will be easier.

so...that's the scoop right now. need more hours in the day engineers. work on it.

night of the comet

so i went to an ABQ mall today and i have to say it was weird. i don't know if this mall is going out of business OR if its just starting (i think its the first one), but there were literally 4 stores open in the whole place. everything else was closed and there were hardly any people shopping (which makes sense). as i walked from the men's dillards to the women's dillards, i giggled a little, because it seemed like we could have easily been in a zombie movie of some sort. i was shopping with the only survivors of some comet hitting NM and didn't realize that the mall was closed and so empty for that reason. :) anyway, i got what i needed and didn't have to utilize any zombie attack skills.

congratulate me...

because i got my aggie ring today! WHOOP!!!!!because i got my aggie ring today! WHOOP!!!!!

little kate sunshine

so don't read this post if you want to know nothing about the movie little miss sunshine. i'm pretty sure that what i reveal about the movie won't ruin it, but sometimes people get uptight about having any prior movie knowledge (jeremy). i went to see it yesterday and found it especially relevant to how i'm feeling right now. so read on if you dare. (by the way...this movie is great. highly recommended.)

so, one of the main characters in this movie is olive. she's like 7 or something and gets the opportunity to be a participant in a beauty pageant in california called "little miss sunshine." it is probably an understatement to say that olive is a bit weird (as is her family) and that she is not what you'd consider a typical beauty pageant type. when she gets to the competition, she sees other 7 year olds getting air-brushed tans with lots of make-up, huge hair, remarkable talents, and fancy costumes. they are scarily skinny and made-up to the point of creepy. olive has none of this. she's just herself. she has her own style and her own costumes, but they are not on par with her competition. she is full of hope, but vastly underprepared for this competition. she is herself, but to a fault in this case.

so what does this have to do with me? i'm not 7 (by a long shot!), nor a beauty queen hopeful. as i watched olive eye her competitors, i could totally relate. my vita, my cover letters, my writing samples, my statements of research and teaching are definitely works in progress. my dissertation is not done. i have one publication. i have few awards and accolades. i feel like olive. i feel like i showed up at the competition without my evening gown or make-up or big hair. i can get ready and plan to bust my ass to get this stuff in top shape to send out by FRIDAY for a few of the jobs. but i can't shake the idea that my competitors are light-years ahead of me in this process.

the lesson i can take from olive. go for it. try anyway. put it out there and see what happens. because in the end, it will all be okay no matter what. in one scenario, i get a new job that i hopefully like doing what i've been preparing to do for like 6 years. in the other, i get to stay in ABQ for a while, get more prepared, and hang out in a place that i love with great friends. so...i should probably chill a bit and just keep practicing. :) like olive did.

um...yeah....hmmm

so, this week has been unexpectedly confusing after a really fun weekend. i emailed my committee chair on tuesday about applying for a fellowship that would basically pay me to write my dissertation. he told me i should "go for it," but then yesterday wrote that i should apply for some of the many jobs that are currently being advertised right now. the basic idea is: hurry up and collect data and then get crackin' with job applications. i have resisted the idea of graduating in 2007 for a while now. i have a lot to do with the dissertation, i only have one publication, and i'm just not quite sure where i want to be. add to that the simple fact that i feel like i just moved here and i'm not sure i'm ready to think about leaving ABQ yet.

and yet....i'm thinking about sending out some applications anyway. as my chair says, there are a lot of jobs now and you should apply when there are a lot of jobs. AND some of the jobs are considering ABD candidates. AND i'm not that happy with my current job and after ASA felt antzy to be back in the sociological world.

i've found a lot of people to write me letters of recommendation and serve as references. i'm going to work on my vita and teaching philosophy and cover letter this weekend. i'll attempt to translate the weird sheets that came with my teaching evaluations in order to demonstrate my teaching excellence. i was also told that i should have a couple of chapters of my dissertation to submit which i don't really have now. any thoughts on that colleagues? and i'll figure out where i might want to move if i am somehow offered a job next august. i have some places in mind and will have to see what's out there.

so..this is all very crazy. and i figure that i'll know more about what to do when stuff starts happening. its very possible that i won't get any offers right now. you never can tell.

it's official

so this is the first time in 5 years that my car insurance, driver's licence, and license plates are all in the same state. i would say that means new mexico is definitely my new stomping ground...for a while anyway. :)

searching for appropriate song lyrics

so, i spend a lot of my day at work entering data and listening to my iPod (which is my tactic for blocking out all the background noise and chatter that is inherent to cubicle life.) i have a boat load of really good music on there and i've been keeping my ears open for an appropriate lyric that would sum up how i'm feeling about stuff right now. i thought for sure that deathcab for cutie or the postal service or blue october or keane would come through for me....but so far i haven't heard the quintessential collection of words that describe kate's feelings in late august. the closest i've come is a line from a zero 7 song (Garden State soundtrack...check it out). "wasting my time....waiting in line..." i do feel like there's a lot of waiting going on, but i'm not convinced my time is being wasted in all areas of my life. so...close, but not quite it. or there's the shins (same soundtrack): "i'm looking in on the good life i might be doomed never to find." this is a bit more negative and pessimistic than i feel right now, so again....not really it.

this one from bonnie somerville is closer: "
And it's a winding road
I've been walking for a long time
I still don't know
Where it goes
And it's a long way home
I've been searching for a long time
I still have hope
I'm gonna find my way home

so why is this one closest to the feelings i've had? because it captures the frustration of waiting for dreams to be realized and the cautious optimism that its not too late, despite the "long time" of walking and searching. and that's kind of where i'm at right now as another school year starts and i find myself walking and searching and waiting. for example, i'm waiting for some tangible results from the amped up work-outs i've been doing at the gym. i'm searching for a job that makes me really happy AND gives me benefits and a decent salary...a salary that actually rewards me for the experience and education that i bring to it. there are other relevant examples that i could write about, but i think the point is made. and its not that i'm unhappy about my life. indeed i have so much to be grateful for...great friends, cooler fall temps, a nice apartment that is almost up to par, a wonderful family (who i miss and don't see enough), my health, etc. lots of good stuff for sure. so that should probably be enough right? and yet, i'm still tryng to find my way home...which to me means getting, well...the total package. it seems like i'm constantly getting part of the package...but not all at once. and maybe its possible that i'm glorifying the idea of the total package. its my interpretation of what's going on for other people in my world. i don't know. but i'm optimistic...cautiously...that it will come together. hopefully sooner than later.

in other news, i start teaching for the fall on saturday. i think it will be fun and the small classes will be great. BUT i'm not really looking forward to a 6 day work week. here's hoping the extra money leads to less debts. :)

finally...a cool quote that popped up on my google homepage:

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
- Dr. Seuss

this seemed especially relevant with all the crazy shit going on at work lately. more on that later. thanks to those of you who matter so much to me and don't mind who i am. boo-ya!

au revoir montreal

i had the good fortune to travel to the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in Montreal, Canada last weekend. i wasn't looking forward to the trip really, but it turned out to be a great weekend. montreal is beautiful (i'll post pictures later). everything is in french, but most everyone speaks english too. there are awesome outdoor markets, pedestrian areas, flowers, old buildings, great coffee (tim horton's rocks my ass off), friendly people (including men who hit on lindsay and me since i was there), delicious ethnic food, good wine (and sangria), and just an overall good feel. my friend warren and i stumbled upon an art expo that was going on near the waterfront, which was a great surprise. the conference was great too. though my presentation could have gone better, it was good to be in the presence of other sociologists. it was very motivating. (if only work didn't totally drain me...which is weird since its mostly busy, crap work that requires little to no-brain power). plenty of texas a&m colleagues were there too, which was fantastic. it was great to catch up with friends and to talk about how things are going with faculty. gives me some perspective on what's going on here in abq right now. overall, it was a great trip...and i didn't even have to throw all my toiletries away...just one thing of lotion on the way back. :) so, i would definitely go back to montreal...it was really a beautiful city and i'm glad i had the opportunity to check it out.

au revoir!

(self-preservation tactic because i don't know my readership)

i'm not going to bitch about my new job right now...though it's tempting. instead, i will say this. i really miss advising. i've heard rumors that my job will eventually involve advising...but for now it doesn't. and i miss it. i miss it even more after looking at the TAMU website and seeing a couple of full-time advisor positions. don't get me wrong...i like ABQ. but i'm frustrated to be away from a school that i know and a system i understand. and i miss working with students. i'm tired of hearing about advising and being trained on how to do it. i already know. and i want to do just that. so...hopefully my job will incorporate more of that and less data entry. and if it doesn't...then i have some things to ponder i think. (don't worry...not going anywhere yet. and not leaving ABQ yet....just pondering).

giving myself a break

so, part of why i'm hesitant to go to the conference on thursday is because the paper i'm presenting based on my dissertation stuff is just not ready. i had to revamp my questions and only just recently started doing interviews again. and i haven't really transcribed stuff from before. i started doing it today, thinking i could just find bits and pieces that would work...but it takes a long time. maybe because i'm trying to do it amidst distractions at work...but more likely because it just takes a long time. so, after thinking about it and getting some helpful feedback from a fellow ph.d. student, i've decided to withdraw the paper. i think this is the right decision for a few reasons. 1. i have no time and don't want to slapdick this together. 2. since it's my dissertation stuff, it really needs to be done right, and not done fast. 3. i can submit it next year for the conference when its NYC and by then, it will be in much better and coherent shape. 4. i'm still presenting another paper and presiding over a session...so i have plenty to do at the conference. i feel good about it...it has taken off some stress for sure. now i can focus on one paper and getting it ready to go. yippie skippy...instant headache relief!

viva las vegas

great weekend with mike in vegas. its august which means that it was the annual defcon conference. this year i actually understood the two presentations we went to (more or less), so that was an added bonus. overall it was a great weekend and it went way, way too fast. way. on friday, we ate good italian food, saw the fountains at the bellagio (FANTASTIC!), walked around a bit, and then chilled at caesar's. saturday we got up a little late and went to the conference for a while. got an early dinner at todai and went back to the conference for a while. lots of chillin' on satuday night though there were intentions of going out. sleepiness got the best of us...especially me. sunday was great...more sleeping in, lunch at In-N-Out Burger (which is the best food on earth!), and then lots of Keno playing and margarita drinking. it's safe to say that i was quite loopy by the time we got to the airport. and quite sad to say bye to vegas. there are lots of details that i'm leaving out ("did you fart?"...."no, he beeped"), but my brains are tired at the moment.

in other news, i'm preparing to leave yet again to go to montreal for a sociology conference. i don't really want to go and i have a feeling that that mostly has to do with my slacking on getting my papers ready. the thought of backing out on one of them has crossed my mind, but i think i can figure it out still. at least i'm consistently a procrastinator. it will be fun to catch up with aggie friends. AND it will be great to take a few days off from work. more on that later.

bring on the evening

i think its safe to say that i was draggin' ass all day today. had a headache, didn't feel great, didn't have time to get coffee (*gasp*). just didn't feel great. that is...until the work day ended. then i had a fantastic interview for my dissertation and got to have dinner with a great friend out here. it's somewhat amazing, and potentially concerning, how energized i felt once i left my cubey and did some purely kate stuff. i felt super motivated after the interview and had some revitalization for making progress toward data collection. and dinner was just fun and relaxing and tasty and stuff. it made me thankful that i've met such fun people here in the land of enchantment. i think for a while (i.e.- pre-job security) i was holding back in terms of getting to really know my friends out here. after two nights of fun friend time, its nice to know that trend is reversed. and because i don't want to leave anyone out, i'll take a moment to say that i love all my crazy friends spread out around the country and the globe. so...i ended up with a good day despite a lackluster 8-hour start. :)