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. :)

evaluating evaluations

i finally got my evaluations back today for the courses i taught last semester. overall, i think they were very very good. i got some great feedback and compliments on how the semester went, which is a great feeling and what i hoped for. they also provided plenty of ideas on how to improve the courses i teach in the future. and, unfortunately, there were some not so great things said too. i suppose that's inevitable right? there will always be students who don't like me as an instructor or didn't get much out of the course. i'm trying to not let those comments overshadow the positive ones.

time to hit the gym and not think about it anymore...more to write sbout my great weekend.

p.s.- great spam subject line: kung fu angst

"you can't go ass to mouth"...or to ninja sushi

so i had a great weekend! on friday night, mike and i had AWESOME sushi and kind of a hole-in-the-wall place. i had been telling him about this place called ninja sushi that i saw...and being the punk-ass that he is...he denied the existence of said restaurant, despite the fact that i had given him much evidense. so we went to find it and had trouble since they changed their name! but i did get verification of the fact that ninja sushi did exist. (boo ya!) everything we tried was great, especially the tempura roll. yum!! after that we went to a birthday party at uptown and then an after-party in "the hamptons." fun times in the pool, but did get hit in the face with the pool thermometer and definitely drank too much rum.

saturday i mostly laid on the couch (as i said, too much rum) and then got my nails done. that night mike and i made delicious kabobs and home-made mac and cheese. we were both tired and ended up falling asleep on the couch while doing some hard-core chillin'!

sunday i had coffee with a new friend, which was fun. that afternoon mike and i and others went to see Clerks II. it was good and inspired the first part of the subject line. it's funny stuff for sure!! mike then made yummy ribs on the grill and i made yummy rice on the stove. :) more chillin' after that which was just plain great!!

this week will be a fun one too. my friend sara is coming to visit for a while and will get here tomorrow morning. can't wait for fun times with her!!

:)

autumn antzy

i probably already wrote about this in my office daze, but i keep thinking about the fall and how i just can't wait for it to get here. actually, that's only partly true. i'm not ready for classes to start...but i am for cooler weather, fall fashions, and just the stuff that comes with autumn. changing leaves...sweaters and jackets...aggie football...cheaper utilities. i've already been thinking about thanksgiving and christmas. thanksgiving is an especially happy time of year for me. brings back a lot of great memories...especially from a few years ago. anyway, i know its only july...but i keep remembering that we get autumn out here in the land of enchantment. hopefully it won't continue to be unseasonally hot once september gets here. :) woo!

nothing exciting

hi kids-

i've been wanting to post for a while even though nothing all that exciting has been going on lately. had a fun time eating pizza and drinking beer last night. i've been corresponding with some old high school friends that i hadn't heard from in ages. one is my first high school boyfriend. very cool to be back in touch with him. he's a cool guy and taught me a lot about life back then...and even today. :)

my nephew luke turned 3 yesterday. he's having a birthday party this weekend that my parent's are going to. wish i could have gone too but flights were too damn expensive. he's very excited about the weekend and keeps asking my brother and sister-in-law "when's the party?" so cute!

i finally have something to work on at the job. one task is very data-entry heavy, which is not bad. and there are some other less mind-numbing projects that i have too. we're getting things figured out though and i think the position will start to be more fun as time goes on. realized school starts in a little over a month, so i should probably get my ass in gear in terms of making syllabi for the courses i'll teach.

seems like there's a lot of stuff coming up...trip to vegas, conference in montreal, a bunch of weddings in the fall, etc etc. i'm excited about the fall, though its going to be busy. looking forward to cooler temperatures and college football. :)

okay..enough rambling for now.

hugs not drugs.

spinning in my chair

so work has been really really slow this week. we had a project to work on, but because we were so efficient, it was taken away from us until monday. turns out technology could not keep up with us and we were breaking/overloading/crashing the server which meant a whole host of other people couldn't do any work. thank goodness a new server is being installed tonight and we have a huge stack of work to do that has piled up in the interim. i know..its sick and wrong to wish for work...but it is very boring to have nothing to do. i'm reduced to reading the undergraduate catalog. very exciting stuff. luckily it did spark a few ideas for our program, so that's a good thing.

in the meantime, i implore my friends with blogs to update those suckers so i have something more entertaining to read than degree requirements for the school of management. if you don't have a blog, make one immediately...or email me. :)

in other news, i think i'm almost over the cold i got from some crazy boy. i haven't coughed up my lungs that often today which i'm taking as a good sign. thanks sleep and nyquil.

peace out kids. have a great weekend.

working 9 to 5...i mean 8 to 5

started the new job today. i think it's going to be really great. i like the people i work with and this is going to be a super opportunity and unique in a lot of ways. i swear i'll elaborate, but i must gather up some stuff to take to the office tomorrow and get some much needed sleep. 8 a.m. is early for the formerly unemployed. :)

homeward bound

so i have been in texas since the 14th and it's safe to say that i'm really ready to be on the road home. :) it's not that i haven't had a good time here, because i certainly have. in fact, i didn't even get to see everyone that i wanted to see. but there's something to be said about sleeping in your own bed and just being back in your own routine with your usual stuff. i'm hoping that there won't be any students at today's conference so that i can head out tomorrow afternoon. usually they fax us the numbers but for some reason that didn't happen...the one time i really want to know. :) punks! maybe that means i don't have any? no idea!

not a lot of excitement lately. i downloaded a trial version of a new WinDVD and it works a lot better though is far from flawless. got a hair cut this morning. heard about a crazy thunderstorm that i missed in ABQ last night. have some tentative plans for tonight. finally ate at freebirds today which i realized i didn't do last time i was here (i know...blasphemy!). SO...it has been nice to be here and the weather wasn't even ungodly hot the whole time. love my texas friends for sure and miss them tons. but, i miss home too. :)

woo friday!

it's friday! woo woo!! :) feeling a lot better...its wacky how conversations until 4 a.m. can do that for ya. but they do. i'm in the office for a few hours today. got my students registered and figured out (again) that i will enjoy working with transfer students quite a bit. parents are a lot less stressed out with their students when they have a few years of college behind them already (most of the time...there are exceptions.)

not too much happening right now. got to catch up with friends for dinner last night and lunch today. good chat with my temporary roommate here. :) have a dinner meeting with my advisor tonight. might grab a beer later on with some people. got some plans tomorrow and sunday too. sticking around town which will be good i think.

in other random news...i really hate WinDVD. it sucks my ass. all i want to do is watch The Sopranos on my laptop and it freezes up every 9 seconds. i have one chapter of an episode to watch and couldn't get it done last night. any better programs or ways to fix piece of poop WinDVD? help me out computer gurus. :)

unexpectedly blah

hi friends....you ever just feel kinda down or tired or whatever and can't put your finger on the exact cause? i've been feeling that way lately. i suspect i know part of the issue, but mostly i should be excited right? i get to hang out with friends in texas for a while. i get to start a new job soon after months and months of waiting for that to happen. heck, i even ordered my aggie ring today which is super cool, right? and yet...blah. i think i'm sorta anxious to get back to my own stuff in albuquerque and i feel like i've been away more than i've been home lately. maybe that's it. i dunno...but i hope it changes. :)

say hi to the newest student program advisor

as of monday, i accepted the position i was offered here in ABQ. i think that this will be a job that i will truly enjoy and get a lot out of. the job i phone interviewed for seemed like it might give my new position a run for its money, but it turned out that they found a more qualified candidate. SO-that validated my decision a touch more...though for the most part i was already pretty certain that i picked the right job. i've been faxing all kinds of info so that my hiring paperwork can go through and i found out that HR has officially given their blessing. i also learned that i have permission to teach my classes in the fall since they won't interfere with the work day and new job. in other words, things are really falling into place. :) i speculated today how long it would take me to pay off debts if i live frugally for a while and continue teaching and working (yikes! dissertation!!!) and it would be mostly gone...other than massive student loan debt of course...in less than a year.

besides the money stuff, i'm just really excited to be back in an office. who knows..in a month i could be ranting about crazy office drama..but i'm going to think positive and relish in my excitement to meet new people and be a part of a new program that's designed to really help students. i can't wait to get started! my first day is july 5th, which gives me some down time to recover from the 12 hour drive back to ABQ and hopefully get my apartment organized and cleaned. but luckily it's not too long and i get to jump in soon. i can't even wait to see my cubicle...how lame is that?! :)

so, i will of course keep you posted about how things go. in the meantime, the texas trip is going pretty well. not too much advising excitement. getting to the rec in the mornings. getting to catch up with friends (which included fun times in houston with jeff this past weekend), which is always a good thing. it's been rainy and thus not quite 22138u1q32 degrees (yes i know there was a u and a q in there). its nice to be back. :)

triangles are NOT octagons

ags....let's talk about what a yield sign is. a yield sign is NOT a stop sign. it means you slow down and see if there is someone coming down the ramp or lane or whatever and you yield to them if they are in fact there. if no one is there, you go. you don't stop unless you will plow into said car in lane or ramp. no STOPPING! this is not hard. it's the difference between a triangle and an octagon. for your reference....

octagon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_sign

triangle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_sign

get it together and stop fuckin' around at 2818 and university. (this rant is probably also supported by mike who knows from experience that you need to differentiate between the two shapes.)

a relief for the uncertainty

i was telling mike the other night that i still didn't really feel like ABQ was home yet. the reason for that was that my world was still swirling in uncertainty. wasn't sure about the job stuff...not sure about crazy boy stuff...not sure when my dissertation stuff will be done. so basically, a lot of pretty major things in my life were unknown which created this sense of being unsettled. like at any moment i would have to pack up and move again. i'm very hopeful that that will now change. though the offer is still unoffical until it gets HR blessings, it looks like i will be taking a job at UNM soon. i'll finally have steady employment and won't have to wonder how i'm going to pay the bills at the end of each semester. i'm still waiting to see if i'll be able to teach, but all in all things are looking good. so though i still have uncertainty (boy..dissertation..etc), i'm hoping this chunk of financial stability will help me feel like i can truly settle in and call ABQ home. :) so as predicted in yesterday's blog post...more good news. now i'll hope for continued patience with the other mysteries in my life. :)

good vibes lead to good things

i had good vibes after my most recent job interview in new mexico...like i had just nailed it and i'd be hearing from them. i told mike that i hoped i would be calling him with job news this week. and guess what...i was right. i got a job offer for that position AND i have an interview for yet another position tomorrow. all my impatient waiting (contradiction?) has...i think/hope...paid off. :) the job offer is still unofficial and i'm working on negotiating a bit more money, so i'm not totally celebrating yet. but i'm hopeful that it will all work out soon one way or the other.

i think the position i was offered could open a lot of doors for me at UNM, which is mostly a good thing. the only bad thing is that i'm getting somewhat close to graduation and will be expected/encouraged to go on the faculty job market. not quite ready to think about that yet...or to think about moving away from ABQ already. (though i was given an interesting possibility by my unofficial graduate school mentor...more on that as it develops.) anywho...i'm happy to finally have an offer. it was a much needed boost to my self-confidence. a girl can only take so much rejection (HEAR THAT MEN?!?!...heehee).

in other news, i'm back in texas to finish up my advising obligation to the sociology department. i was dreading the long drive but found out its not so bad when you have an iPod of sweet music (like informer by snow). should be a fun couple of weeks hanging out with friends, advising, dissertation work (i have a plan!), and going to the rec regularly with sara. all very good stuff. :)

okay..i gotta get some sleep so i'm awake in the morning. more news soon.

:)

rain in duke city

it's been showering occassionally in albuquerque this week. it makes everyone pause for a second and look out the window with a touch of marvel. we haven't seen a lot of preciptitation in any form...rain, snow, sleet. so it's kind of nice to see. sunshine is great and everything, but every once in a while...you need to see some clouds, thunder, and lightning.

trying not to get my hopes up, but...

i found out through the grapevine that my references are being checked for the position interviewed for on friday. good sign right? :)

also...i'm heading to texas again in about a week to finish up my advising stint. i migrate there every two weeks it seems. not looking forward to the long ass drive, but should be fun. :)

cross your fingers

i had an interview on friday afternoon. i think that it went very well and would be a position that i would greatly enjoy. the official title is student program advisor, but specifically i would work with transfer students in their adaptation to life at the university. it's a position that requires academic advisor skills as well as student affairs stuff and it's a new endeavor which is always exciting. i hope to hear something very soon. they did all the interviews on friday and expect to notify people in the next week or so.

i will of course keep you posted but keep your fingers crossed that i hear from one of these crazy jobs soon.

p.s.- kate tip: don't try on suits the day of your interview while in the process of losing weight. totally demoralizing. yay for fun accessories. :)

"you don't go out looking for a job dressed like that? on a weekday?" "is this a... what day is this?"

i am unemployed right now, just like the dude from the big lebowski. in a way, it's nice to have some time to chill and get things done that i should have done long ago (like clean out my big closet and get organized.) i'm hoping to get some more work on my dissertation done now that class stuff for the spring is over. and i've been going to the gym more in an attempt to no longer be a freakin' slug. let's just say that my two weeks in iowa during the winter were not kind and things haven't improved in new mexico for some reason. so, i'm trying to finally reach my goal, since i have time. :)

i've always had a dream of doing nothing, but now that i actually don't have a job, i do not have the solace i would have expected. maybe you need to have some cash saved up before fulfilling that dream. :) in the meantime, i'm really really hoping that the job interviewed for at UNM will come through. or that the interview i have on friday goes well. i'll let ya know. and in the meantime, i guess i'll try to live the dream a little.

:)