Year in Review Meme

As seen chez Abby. . .

January: Back to life, back to reality... Wasn't that a song in the 80's?

February: Things I learned while interviewing
I really LIKE talking about my research and people are actually interested in what I do.

March: Status Report
T minus 28 days....
Project X is out the door again (yes, it came back for revisions from another author as I knew it would)--no big deal this time, not such difficult changes to make and I actually wrote a real discussion this time (much better than the previous "this will do for draft #1 discussion)

April: Dissertation Dump: Part II
Today I delivered the Big D to my committee members. It only took about 2 hours last night to print the beast. All this extra hoopla with sending pages through the printer twice in order to get the tables with horizontal orientation on the page correctly. Then, of course, I made a mistake in the title (geez, of all places!) and had to reprint the 5 title pages this morning before I made deliveries.

May: It is finally time to take the defense ticker off my page--coming up on 2 weeks since officially getting the PhD. However, I am leaving the exclamation point [Ph.D.!] on my email signature until after graduation this weekend.

June: 4 days since I'm back from the beach and it's finally time to get a summer routine going. Summer school starts next week and I am suddenly very aware of how little time I have left in Midwest city.

July: I am a homeowner! I have been for almost 6 whole days....wow!

August: While traveling yesterday to new school city, I received some bad news: Super B, a sometimes commenter here who I knew IRL, was killed in a car accident.

September: One of the toughest things about taking a new job is finding a way to fit into New City.

October: Back from the conference/vacation with DA and GB. Where did we go?

November: What is wrong with me? I decided to turn down the consulting opportunity. I made my list of pros and cons and just couldn't come up with enough pros to warrent acceptance.

December: It was a happy birthday to me.....
First birthday celebration in new town was this weekend.

Wow...that was a whirlwind. Interview, job, defended dissertation, new home, beach trip, moving, loss of a friend, trip to Europe, trying to fit in and finally celebrating my birthday.

Now for the holidays and then it will be ...."back to life, back to reality" all over again.

why can't I comment?

I can't comment on anyone who has updated to blogger beta. It says I can use my blogger account to log it but it won't let me. It won't even let me click other and enter my blogger name (which isn't even a required field)--What is up with Blogger or am I just too stupid??

Is it over yet?

Finals week starts tomorrow and I am still waiting on 10 final papers to grade. I guess I should write the final I am giving this week, better make it easy to grade.

Went to 2 holiday gatherings this weekend--so I guess I am gaining some popularity in my new city; however, it still doesn't feel like home. I'm really looking forward to going back to grad school city for a while--that is still home. My only guilt about the whole trip is boarding my cat for two weeks---I usually pay a pet sitter to visit my home, but since kitty is now on 2 pills a day and still adjusting to meds, she needs more attention. However, in kitty world, she would just rather be left alone. Please keep your fingers crossed with me that she eats while being boarded. I did book her a room at a fancy place with little mini pet condos---please kitty understand that this is what is best for you.

This week I have got to start my Christmas shopping...I just couldn't get off the couch today and brave the weekend crowds. Instead I watched the final 4 episodes of season 1 of Lost and although I have been warned about Season 2, I have next on my Netflix queue. I also discovered the most ridiculous reality show out there--Celebrety Paranormal Project, today's epidsode was pathetic, the celebs walked away without finishing the mission. I can't believe I got sucked into watching the entire episode.....how pathetic of me.

It was a happy birthday to me.....

First birthday celebration in new town was this weekend. I had some new friends over to watch a basketball game in the afternoon and then my neighbor dropped by with a gift which we promptly drank and got silly drunk. I had to walk her home (3 houses away); I was afraid she would walk into the wrong house. In the evening I went to dinner with Dr. Dice and her husband and another couple. I had yummy lobster tails and creme brulee for dessert. Mmmm!

Today I have stayed at home all day--finished up some grading, cleaned floors, and did laundry. This is the beginning of the last week of classes----tons of grading, but my first semester in new job is defnitely winding down.