a few images i could have lived without

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

20 questions

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

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

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

r: what are you doing?

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

r: why?

k: because they died.

r: why did they die.

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

r: why did they run out of energy?

k: because i took too many pictures.

r: why did you take too many pictures?

k to friends: seriously?

k: so we could remember the weekend.

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

nothing happens.

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

r: what are you doing?

k: i'm changing the batteries again.

r: why?

k: because those batteries were dead too.

r: why were they dead?

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

"that'd be like showering outside."

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Rick Levine

Thursday, February 7, 2008



Stupid universe.

snow, snow, go away...

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

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

stay warm friends!

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

back to winter

so monday it was warm, which i blogged about.

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

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

fresh start

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

• improved work out habits (i can walk to work once it warms up, so that will help
• healthier eating
• better money management
• maintaining sanity while teaching stats
  
• clarity about future directions
• lots of fun :)

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

fast-paced 2008

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

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

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

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

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

year in review

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

january

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

february

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

march

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

april

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

may

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

june

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

july

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

august

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

september

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

october

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

november

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

december

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

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

2008 is just around the corner

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

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

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

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

found!!

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

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

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

liquid streets

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

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

snow

it's snowing more. booo!!

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

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

now, hopefully the snow will stop.

hooray!

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

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

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

hugs,
dr. kate

crabby day

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

oh the weather outside is friggin' frightful

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

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

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

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

okay, more later.

so i finally got around to...

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

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

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

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

congratualations

Kathrin,

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

Thesis Office


:)

Woo hoo!

submitted again...

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

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

pooped

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

it's already november

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

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