pretty sunshine time

when i was in college, one of my favorite things was watching the golden-pinkish glow that would settle around campus around 6 p.m. in the fall. today took me back to that. as i left my office, the sun was sinking in the sky, casting a beautiful light over campus. i knew if i had left maybe 10 minutes earlier, the cross on top of hoffman hall would be glimmering against the sky. i made my turn away from campus in time to see a full moon hanging over the mississippi river and the changing trees. this is probably a bit schmaltzy, but it really is a wonderful sight. and it brings a sense of peace somehow. come see it tomorrow. okay. :D

similutaneous relief and annoyance

today was a great day. it was the day that i converted my dissertation from a word document to a PDF file and submitted it to the thesis office. fortunately my committee did not want me to make any major changes to the beast before i submitted it, so all i had to do was proofread and format. that process is WAY more complicated than it needs to be, especially when Word inexplicably decides to change the formatting of your page numbers and you have to swear and yell at it and pound the keys before figuring out how to fix it. regardless, after working hard this week i finally got all my i's dotted and t's crossed. my hope is that once the incredibly anal-retentive thesis people nitpick the crap out of it that there won't be much more to do (though i realize that this is extremely naive of me.) in any case, it feels more official now that it has been submitted to the thesis office. like i really am almost done.

so why would i be annoyed? because as soon as i submitted the diss, i got an email from the thesis office saying that they received it (woo hoo!), that i'm number 236 on their list (okay...whatever), and that i will be billed a ONE-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTY-FIVE-DOLLAR processing fee. okay, okay...i should have known this was coming since i did have to turn in my thesis to them 4 years ago or whatever, but it still came as a shock. sure, peoples' salaries probably get paid from that money, which is a good thing, but damn! just when i thought i was done giving my money to the university they find one more way to nickel and dime me. for those keeping track at home, that means just to graduate i had to pay tuition this semester, pay a graduation fee, pay for regalia rental, and pay this stupid ass processing fee. AND i also have the option of paying $95.00 so that my copyrighted dissertation would be widely available for people's use. (if i don't pay that then people would have to pay to use it, which is weird...) so anyway, it caught me off guard a bit.

on a happier note, i'm finding myself feeling randomly nostalgic and just kind of satisfied. though i didn't write extensive acknowledgments in the dissertation (because let's face it, i just wanted to be done writing...not because i don't appreciate all ya'll) i have been feeling very grateful for the many wonderful friends in my life and for my great family. and now that i can put my mind on something else for a while, it goes to you. :) thanks friends for all that you've done to support and encourage me. i truly could not have gotten this far without you.

now to get to a GIANT stack of grading that i've been putting off. no rest for the weary.

two big weekends

a little over a week ago, i successfully defended my dissertation. the process was a bit grueling emotionally, but all in all went really well. it involved about an hour and 45 minutes of questions, which were mostly humane. :) at the end though, i was called dr. by my chair, so it was official. :) the rest of the weekend was great! i finally got to see mike for the first time since i moved, i got to have dinner with friends, plenty of drinks and fun, saw part of an aggie game, ate way too much, and just had a really fantastic celebration! now i'm in the process of correcting formatting and typos. have to finish that by friday so i can graduate in december. :) then i think it will feel official, even though i'm basically done now.

this weekend i spent time with some of my closest friends. it was homecoming at our alma mater, so we all got together for the first time since i've moved back. we had a lot of fun and it was great to share my new life at our school with them. it was a bit overwhelming seeing so many people that we knew from our college days though. i had fun catching up with people, but there were a lot of people that i recognized but couldn't place a name with their faces. it was a little crazy after a while and having one brief conversation after another was more draining than i expected. the weekend was a good combination of getting to relax and just chill and being active and doing stuff. now that all the guests are gone and i'm done cleaning up, i feel like i should go to bed. :)

so, i know i was overdue for an update on the defense and this post is not very profound and deep. but, that's the basic scoop. it's all good.

on the verge...

tomorrow i defend my dissertation, which will hopefully result in only a few minor steps for me to complete so that i can finally be finished with my Ph.D. i'm a little nervous about it, but feeling confident. mostly i just want to get it over with. rip the band-aid off and be done.

having said that, it is a bit surreal that this is already happening. i've been working on this for what seems like forever, and now i'm almost done. i know i'll be able to fill the time and mental space with something else, but it's almost incomprehensible that i won't have this on my plate anymore. i just can't imagine the relief, though i'm anxious to feel it. :)

i know that i won't be done even if the defense goes well tomorrow. i have to format the beast for the thesis office and do a real proofread since i haven't yet. but hopefully that will be all. maybe other corrections can wait until i try to publish it. so i'll still have some work to do, but will also have a tremendous weight off my shoulders. this could the first time in a long time when my shoulders actually have reason to relax. as my closest friends (and my yoga instructors) will tell you, that's where i keep all my stress. so relaxed shoulders...that could be the real mark that i'm done. :)

anywho, much excitement is in the air right now. once this is done, it also opens up a world of fun. i get to have a great time in texas and FINALLY get to see mike after two very long months AND i get to catch up with the aggie friends that are still around. then next weekend is homecoming and i get to catch up with friends from undergrad. and the next weekend i have yet another trip! so lots of fun coming after what feels like many months of stress.

here's hoping that when i next post, i am just a few grammatical errors away from being dr. parks.

welcome fall!

my favorite season has officially started and the weather is actually cooperating. the temperature variations has been a little wacky in the last few weeks. it was pretty cold for this time a year a few weeks ago and then before we knew it, it was like summer again. now, happily, it is staying in the high 60s/low 70s, which i think is perfect. (especially when teaching in rooms without air conditioning.) a few of the trees have more colorful leaves and i can't wait until the reds, golds, and oranges of autumn are in full force. i really love everything about this time of year. the clothes, the weather, the sights, the flavors (like pumpkin spiced things and caramel apple creations), and the events (like college football.) and it means that it's almost thanksgiving. though i do not buy into the mythical beginnings of this holiday, it is my favorite. excellent food, fun memories, and was the beginning of a very important relationship for me. :) i'm happy that fall is here, and that i get to enjoy it in the midwest, where (and i might be a bit biased) it is the most beautiful place to experience it.)

in other news, i have turned in version of two of my dissertation, which will hopefully be very close to the final draft. all the committee members have it in hand (or in email as the case may be) and the defense is next friday. i know there will be things i have to change after that...because i haven't done a great job with proofreading yet. i tend to be somewhat meticulous as i write, but i'm sure there are errors to fix and i just have to muster up the will to read the whole thing again. AND i have to get the formatting and stuff correct for the thesis office. but, i'm really hoping that for the most part, i will be done soon. maybe i can actually get caught up on grading and be an organized teacher who is not constantly flying by the seat of her pants?!

tomorrow i'm riding with my parents to st. louis to meet my new niece. can't wait to meet her and see the family for the weekend. wooo!

"We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to." -- W. Somerset Maugham

i found this quote a while ago and tucked it away in my gmail for a future post. and though the author of the quote probably meant it in a different way that i'm interpreting it, still it could not be more relevant to my life at the moment. i find myself fantasizing about the day when i can write because i want to. but for now, my existence revolves around writing because i have to. it has been extremely difficult to find motivation to get all my dissertation corrections done. i am grateful that my chair got feedback to me at the speed of light and that i gave myself a few extra days to finish before sending it to my committee (the original goal was today, but it's going to be more like sunday morning.) that will give them a little under two weeks to read it before the defense. in the mean time though, i've been trying to write. forcing myself to write. and i have to say...it's difficult. first because i should have been writing every day just to stay in the practice of being able to articulate my thoughts. i feel like i'm at a 3rd grade level right now. "racism is bad." secondly, i'm just not sure how to incorporate some of the things i've been asked to do. in an attempt to accomplish some of them, i'm re-writing my introduction. but that is a formidable task because of the aforementioned lack of writing skills. and apparently i have no attention span right now, so that also doesn't help. regardless, i have to get this done. mostly because i think the relief that i will feel once i've jumped through all necessary hoops is going to be tremendous. i'm not even thinking about how cool it will be to have accomplished this. i'm mostly just thinking about how i want to get this over with! so, i'm going to hope that i can finish this up soon and overcome the mental blocks i seem to be having.

in other news, i'm happy to report that the newest member of my family is going to be arriving from Russia next weekend. i'm very excited that i'll be able to meet my niece Cami in a week. i'll post a picture of her because she's so dang cute. :) it has been a long process for my brother and sister-in-law, so i have no doubt that they are thrilled to have their daughter at last!

lots of fun and trips coming up which is great. really looking forward to seeing mike in october, both because i miss him AND because that will mean that i have hopefully successfully defended my dissertation AND i haven't seen him since i moved here. that has not been easy. so can't wait for that weekend!

anyway, i should get back to work. laters!

a good dissertation is a done dissertation

in college, i was known by my friends as being amazing at pulling quality papers out of my ass at the last minute. you see dear friends...i am a procrastinator. apparently it's how i function. it certainly was in college and continues to be now.

case in point is that i managed to put together my dissertation in about 5 days of writing. of course, that is only partly true, since i spent the last 6 months transcribing interviews, which was a big part of the process. and i wrote a proposal about a year and a half ago or something. so, i did not write it from scratch in a short time, but i did put together a decent first draft of the beast over the last week or so.

i turned it in today via email and our WONDERFUL department assistant, meeting my deadline line and knowing that i will have more work to do. (my conclusion is only 5 pages right now which is not cool.) but i did turn in something like 220 pages (give-take) of a product that i think is pretty dang good. hopefully it will be good enough that i won't have to make too many changes before and after the defense (october 5th!!!) i would even like it if it was good enough to become a book relatively soon.

so, thanks for all your thoughts and encouragement and prayers. i pulled it off...at least the first draft. now i have to get used to having some time off from it for a few days. gotta get my teach on.

but first...kate needs sleep.

:D

brains...hurt

i woke up today both feeling well rested and having a nasty headache. luckily it's finally going away now, but that was a bit odd. i'm chalking it up to stress. i have about a week to get my dissertation draft put together and i'm a bit freaked out. the good news is that my classes should be pretty low key for the rest of the week and a colleague might be able to cover my class on monday so that can be a work day. so i'm confident that i can get a lot done in a short amount of time. it's one of those crazy special skills that i have. in college i was the master at whipping together papers at the last minute. so here's hoping that panic does not cripple that special ability. :)

in other news, i REALLY REALLY need to start going to the gym again. it's hard to make time for it right now when i have this huge hurdle to overcome, but i'm feeling kind of gross and flabby. i'm hopeful that i can get back on track and actually lose some weight! damn those pants that i keep moving. here they are in iowa and not fitting me yet. :P so, though i feel like i can't spare a half hour to go jogging, i should anyway. i'm betting it would be a good stress reliever and boost my body image, which can't hurt.

alright...back to it.

one week down

i've finished my first week of teaching as a real instructor (not quite a professor yet...) so far, so good. the students are very nice, though started out a bit quiet. but towards the end of the week they were opening up more. i had a fun "i just blew their minds" moment today in intro. :) that's one of those great teacher moments when you know that you've opened up the students to something new. so the week ended on a high note. let's hope the momentum keeps up....especially because i have a serious deadline looming.

in about two weeks, i have to have a copy of the dissertation sent off to my committee chair. i have to say that i'm not sure that it's going to happen. but, crazier things have happened. i've managed to sort through all the data twice and it's now at the point where i just need to write about it. for some reason that's easier said than done. BUT, i have no choice. i gotta do it and do it quick. here's hoping everything i had before is good enough for the committee and the defense that's coming up in october. yeah...it's safe to say that i'm getting nervous, while being so, so ready to get this part over with.

cross your fingers kids that i can pull this off.

moving beyond katie

for a lot of my life, i was known as katie, a fact that mike loves to revisit whenever he's trying to get me fired up. then, sometime in college, i became kate. however, not everyone in my life got the memo about that. my family, of course, is allowed to call me katie, and i'll even cut my high school friends some slack. beyond that though, it's just plain weird when i'm called something other than kate. i bring this up because today as i was going to convocation with my fellow faculty members to welcome the new students, a professor from my glory days called me katie. it's possible that he missed the memo my junior year that i had self-imposed a different moniker, but it made me wonder if he still saw me as i used to be.

that's been on my mind a lot this week as i re-enter this college. last time i was here, i had just graduated and was scared to leave the place that had been like home for four years. i was, i'm sure, worried about what the future held once i moved beyond this place. and now, i'm back in a completely new role. as i sat in my master's degree garb (cap, gown, fancy hood, the whole deal) during convocation, i realized that i'm not katie anymore. but instead, i'm kate...new faculty member, grown-up, adult, professor (well almost.) it's a little weird, but every exciting at the same time. and i hope this community will accept me as this new person. i know, i'm not completely different than when i was an undergrad, but much has changed at the same time. i hope there will be space for who i have become in the last 9 years (the new kate) and for what i will become in my time here. i've moved beyond katie. :) if that makes any kind of sense.

"you must be an iowan if...you drink 'pop'...

my good friend monica sent me a forward today to commemorate my move back to the hawkeye state. it was a collection of wisdom about how you know you're an iowan, many of which were quite funny. i know i'm an iowan because mike and i drove about 1300 miles to move me here. all in all, the move was the most seamless one that i've ever encountered. i was packed by the time my friends (to whom i am very grateful) arrived to move my stuff into the truck. the truck i got was brand new, which never happens. everything fit, everyone was fed enough pizza and beer, and i had enough time to clean my apartment for my inspection (thanks kirk.) mike and i managed to get to OK City the first night which was our goal and then had a long haul the next day. once we got to town we checked out the apartment with dennis and then hit the wal-mart to get an air mattress and then headed to fat tuesday's (a favorite hang out of the duhawk crowd). mike had his first ever old style, which he seemed to enjoy and probably cost like a dollar or something. the move in the next day also went well and i got a lot of stuff unpacked. there is still random crap all over the place, but the essentials are just about all done. mike had to leave on monday night which sucked, but i'm glad he was able to stay a few days and hang out with me. :) this place seems really empty without his company. but i will say that i do like my apartment. it is really big, especially compared to where i was living, and in some ways is already starting to feel a bit like home. it will be nice to have everything put away, but that might take some time as i'm in full swing with the dissertation and getting ready for classes which start on the 27th. mike has vowed that he won't come visit until i get my first draft done, so that's a lot of motivation to crank it out. :)

i figured that moving back to iowa would be difficult in some ways. leaving behind the life in ABQ was/is not easy and it's especially hard to be so far away from the boy. at the same time, it's nice to be closer to friends (who better friggin' visit) and my family (who i already get to see this weekend.) it's nice to be starting my first job at a familiar place, though i do feel a bit of pressure that i will need to kick even more butts since i'm their former student. luckily it will keep me way busy.

i could continue to ramble on but instead i'm going to share a few things about living in iowa that i forgot about. that's what i get for being gone for like 9 years and only back in the winter usually.

-we do drink pop. and when you buy cans or bottles of it, you have to pay a deposit and then return the cans to get your money back. it's wacky.
-critters around here are furry and not lizards. didn't see a lot of furry creatures in TX and NM. but in iowa, i have already met a furry creature that lives under my back porch sometimes. i have named him chewbaca.
-there are bugs. NM spoiled me.
-sweet corn here is way better than the sweet corn you get anywhere else. come over and i'll make you some.
-people are nice. they say hi to you when you're just walking into the grocery store and are really helpful when coming to help you get your internet set up.
-parts of iowa are really smelly thanks to pig farms. mike's comment was "iowa smells like ass....i want to fart to cover up the smell." luckily it's not all over the place.
-stuff closes on sunday, like most of downtown dubuque.

i'm sure there will be more to add to the list, like the quirkiness of my old house, but for now i should probably go to bed.

over and out!

my eyes hurt

its true. all day today my eyes were hurty...or at least for most of the afternoon. i was thinking about it in a bit of delerium between interviews i was transcribing and wondered briefly if the pain was a result of my denial about leaving albuquerque. don't get me wrong, i know that i'm leaving...but the fact that its happening rather soon is still not quite on my radar. its there when i realize that i have only a few days to finish transcribing interviews (i finished 3 today) and packing all my worldy possessions, but then that panick quickly subsides into my current state....total denial. so maybe my eyes hurt from the tears that i'm forcing back. or maybe i was looking at a computer screen for too long today. regardless, i need to write a bit about my denial. this is mostly to assure my wonderful friends here that i'm not a total robot. don't let my ...hmmm...what's the word...stony, icy, no...um, ambivalent (?) tone and/or facial expressions fool you. ignore the fact that i don't quite choke up at the thought of missing life here. i fully assure you that its not because i don't have emotions about it. i do. i have a lot. i've met some freakin' fantastic people here and albuquerque has become home. it is not easy to leave. i know that. it makes my heart do crazy things at times and prevents sleep at night on more occassions than i will admit (but to which mike could probably attest since it sometimes results with my knee in the middle of his back.) the deal is...i can't think about it yet, because its gonna hurt too much. so instead, i focus on getting items on my big ass list completed and flit about in a haze about the fact that i leave this home in a little over a week. what i'm banking on is that my new path in iowa is going to be really great...and that i can come visit a lot. :)

so, please know dear friends that my exterior will probably not convey what i'm thinking and feeling right now. i've wanted to sit down and write cards to people and let them know how much they've meant to me over the past 20 months or so, but doing that now would make it all too real. its more likely that will happen when things slow down and i'm back in iowa. (just ask my texas friends how this went....it was a freakin' whirlwind when i left there which probably didn't hit me until after the truck was unloaded in ABQ.) i'll try not to be a total robot, but i can't guarantee that i won't be able to express how much you all have meant to me. i am blessed in so many ways to have the chance to move around, because i get the great gift of friends in varied places. it's crazy awesome. :) for reals.

okay, just wanted to clear that up real quick. :D i managed to cross three things off the list of fun stuff to do over the past 4 days and did a few things that weren't on the list but that i was hoping to do (see the simpsons movie, eat a breakfast burrito, obtain the 206 balloon fiesta postcard, etc.) the next few days will be busy and i hope very productive. (oh, i tried to go to juan's broken tacos but they didn't have any broken tacos...figure that one out. and i spilled a metric assload of wine in my car through no fault of my own, so now the saturn smells a lot like a vineyard. its been a busy week already!)

time for some sleep...i hope.

updating the list

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

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

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

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

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

the thin horizon of a plan is almost clear

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

viva las vegas!

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

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

better get busy packing. or sleeping.

on second thought...

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

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

now it's time or bed.

one more concert faux pas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

very slowly sinking in...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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