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.