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.