Gee, another meme

I'm feeling very meme-y these days. Frog-o-phobic tagged for this one and I had never seen it before! Digging into the archives for this one...


Link 1 is a little bit of FAMILY: My big brother just got a new job as a co-pilot for a commuter/feeder airline connected to one of the major airlines. He should be flying his first flights within the next week. With people on the planes and everything! Quite a big change from the last time he came to visit me.

Link 2 is a little bit of FRIEND: I don't usually blog friend related events because, well, I usually can not be bothered to find my camera cord to upload the pics in a timely fashion. Pictures from "RockBand Night" aren't as exciting a month late. Instead, my super awesome best friend/college roommate/maid of honor came to visit last fall!

Link 3 is a little bit of YOURSELF: This post covers a number of my grad-student neuroses.


Link 4 should be YOUR LOVE: The ol' wedding from May.

Link 5 can be ANYTHING YOU LIKE: This blog started as a knitting blog although knitting gets very little blog-space anymore. I am still purling away and am actually working on my first sweater.


Since I didn't really tag anyone specific yesterday (although am happy you are going to do it Field Notes!) tag LuckyBuzz, Geeka and Field Notes (again)!

Welcome Back Meme

1. Will you be looking for a new job?
I pretty much always look for new jobs. Postdocs, tenure track positions, non-academic jobs, heck, I even know that the new Mexican place in town is hiring servers. In actuality, yes. I will be searching for a postdoc. Or at least funding for a postdoc.
2. Will you be looking for a new relationship?
Nope. We are full of marital bliss here at chez fish.
3. New house?
No. V seems to have succeeded in fixing the roof so our current house may even continue standing all the way through 2008.
4. What will you do differently in 08?
A lot of things.
5. New Years resolutions?
Eat better. Stop reading celebrity gossip.
6. What will you not be doing in 08?
Spending more than 3 months of the year away from my home/husband.
7. Any trips planned?
Two conferences this spring, going to NM for research this summer, another conference, possibly going to hometown for my 10 year reunion, to hometown for a wedding.
8. Wedding plans?
None of my own.
9. Major thing on your calendar?
V's qualifying exams and finishing research in NM.
10. What can’t you wait for?
Having all of my side/old projects submitted for publication.
11. What would you like to see happen differently?
It would be nice to see more acceptance emails rather than rejections on submitted papers and grants.
12. What about yourself will you be changing?
I want to
13. What happened in 07 that you didn’t think would ever happen?
I submitted a paper to (a journal that rhymes with) Schmiance.
14. Will you be nicer to the people you care about?
I will certainly try.
15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 07?
I started dressing nicer for teaching. I hope to keep it up despite not lecturing.
16. Will you start or quit drinking?
No.
17. Will you better your relationship with your family?
Sure. My brother and I don't really talk very often.
18. Will you do charity work?
Probably not. Except maybe knitting for charity or raising money for a run for a cause sort of thing.
19. Will you go to bars?
I drink more at home but I have been known to frequent a happy hour here or there.
20. Will you be nice to people you don’t know?
I usually am.
21. Do you expect 08 to be a good year for you?
There is no reason not to.
22. How much did you change from this time last year till now?
I got married, lost some weight, and due to my time away from my lab/advisor/university, became more independent and confidant in my abilities as a researcher .
23. Do you plan on having a child?
Nope.
24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?
I hope so. Some are moving so I hope the distance does not alter our friendships too much.
25. Major lifestyle changes?
None that I can foresee.
26. Will you be moving?
Back to NM for a few months.
27. What will you make sure doesn’t happen in 08 that happened in 07?
Let the useless parts of the Internet suck up so much of my time.
28. What are your New Years Eve plans?
A party at my office mates house.
29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight?
V!
30. One wish for 08?
Health and happiness for family and friends.

I tag anyone who hasn't done this one yet!

It is OVER!!!!

All of my students passed!! One of them that was failing going into the final did so well to earn a C! I am pleased with their performance and my advisor is pleased with my performance so all is well. It doesn't really seem like it is over though, so I am going to wait till I get a bit of distance (in both time and space) before writing more about it.

So, the semester is officially over. My grades are entered and I am off to pack, clean house and leave early in the morning for the long drive to the midwest!

Nobody puts DancingFish in Grading Jail...

The concept of grading jail is pretty much lost on me. Since my final on Thursday I have...

• Cleaned the house so we could have people over
• Hosted a lazy persons' holiday party (pizza, beer and Cranium around the Xmas Hibiscus)
• Drank too much at said soiree
• Went to a movie (Lars and the Real Girl is fantastic. Go see it if you can!)
• Sunday.....something happened here, but I don't really remember what....not grading, though...
• Oh yes, made gingerbread pancakes
• Tried to make bread for Xmas gifts, but had no eggs due to pancakes
• Went to the department holiday party
• Watched the Bears game
• Got a haircut
• Got a manicure
• Not finished grading my exams yet.

Monday Night

Anybody else watch Monday Night Football? Tony Kornheiser is pretty much a giant idiot. I don't like him on PTI (Love Wilbon though!) and he just says random shit. He just said something about Cleveland...but it is Chicago playing. He then was exasperated at Minnesota's 2 interceptions...but there were 3.

His hair is stupid too.

Bah. Humbug.

Goodness all around!

Congrats to Sneks who successfully defended her dissertation proposal this afternoon! Weather be damned! She was so ready, I am sure the hardest part was getting all the committee members to campus in the crappy weather!

Also, Yay! for Final Day! I am a little in love with my final. I think it was challenging but fair and everyone asked said there were no surprises but it made them think. Now comes grading jail! I am over 25% done already but those were the easy questions, of course.

Finally, Yay! again! I got another grant! It is small but will pay for travel to my the field this summer and some supplies! Yippee!
What a great day!

Final of Doom

• One of my students told me they'd see me at the Final of Doom. Is a cumulative final in an upper level course really that bad?
• One of my other students got into all their special professional schools they applied to. They now just have to choose which state to move to. Oh yeah, and get a B+ on my final in order to pass the course and graduate.
• Hmmmm, I thought I had more bullets than that...

Christmas is coming!

Actually, it is already here in our house! V gave me my present early this year as he thought I might be able to use it in the next few weeks. We are going to the Midwest for the holiday and with all the people and pets in 1 car, we won't take large gifts with us anyway.

While he is impossible to shop for, he always gets me great gifts. This year, it is a new sewing machine! It is electronic, has 40+ stitches, is not a fire hazard and is really easy to use!

My mom acquired one for me when I moved into my house here in PhDtown and it didn't get much use, as I couldn't figure out how to thread the darn thing. With guidance, she got me on my way this fall. I made a skirt, but couldn't use the zipper or hem attachments so it sort of sucked. The old machine is very cool and retro but also requires shoes as the pedal will burn your foot (it smells a little like smoke sometimes too).

The directions are even more of a trip...

Well, the new machine is far easier to use and I've already started a new apron- I wouldn't want to give up that homemaker title now would I? There is a lot of baking in the works for the next few weeks and I always end up throwing about 2 tablespoons of flour on myself. It is a dark madras material, lined in the blue and I am going to add a red top portion with blue ties at the neck as well. Maybe pockets too, but I haven't decided yet...

Woo Hoo!

It is over! No more lectures! I am going to go to sleep. And my lab. And write some manuscripts or something.

Well, I'll do that tomorrow. Tonight was knitting, watching Pushing Daisies (which is really, really great) and half of the NOVA special on the Dover trial. Ahhhhh, having a life again without the weight of the semester is so enjoyable...

Shameless

There is this student across the hall who has been arguing his grade on a final that has not happened yet for 25 minutes. The prof has stated 3 times that he cannot give anyone special consideration in this class of over 100 and that it is morally reprehensible to give some students special considerations and not others (outside of situations with extenuating circumstances). Student replies "I know what you are saying but..." The main issue seems to be that he has had other profs look at 'the progression' of grades on exams so there is no reason Dr. Across-the-Hall shouldn't do the same. Student doesn't understand that if you need 385 points for an A and you have 383, that you do not get an A. "But it is close and I have improved all semester!" retorts the student.
Of course, in this case, he really is talking about a A to B difference and the final hasn't happened yet. Why not just STUDY MORE for the unweighted final to make up those 2 damn points???? Maybe you could've learned something in 30 minutes rather than bug Dr. Across-the-Hall about bending the rules just for you. I know that there are stories like this at every university in every subject matter but it still bugs the heck out of me. While it would not make a difference in my grading, at this point, I just wish my students that really NEED those 2 extra point for their grade (it might mean they get to graduate on time) were as impassioned about it as this clueless sophomore pre-med.

Antibacterial spray is my bff

Yesterday was the first day all semester I cancelled class. I'm still sick too. I hate being sick. Well, there was no way I was going to make it through more than 15 minutes of lecturing and figured it wasn't worth it for them or me. Today, I got to my office for my 8:30 meeting, although the student never showed up (she cancelled last Thursday too....giving me 20 minutes notice. Unfortunately, I have a 30 minute drive from home). After trying to work and spending about half the time just staring at my desk feeling like crap, I came home and slept for 2 hours. I did finish writing half my lecture at least. Now to finish so I can sleep more.

In the spirit of the season, here are some of our decorations around the house! Our 'Christmas Hibiscus' is still flowering this week!and the rest of the living room...

InaDWriMo..OVER

Well, InaDWriMo was an interesting exercise. A small amount of writing was completed that wouldn't have been done otherwise. Even better, I think I made better use of my time this month than I have in a while. Due to InaDWriMo (and the deadlines associated with my projects), I was forced to write in addition to teaching while research got underway as well. Actually being somewhat effective with time management is a swell feeling and hopefully it will continue into break. There will be fewer tasks to manage with more time available. The opportunity for procrastination seems like it will also be increased though with this increased time and decrease in pressure as well....

In order to get anything done I have to feel better though. Today, I am just wrecked. V has been feeling a bit under the weather but we still went out Friday night and did the 5k yesterday (4 minutes faster than last year! Go us!) . It is all just too much so now I have a fever and haven't really gotten out of bed today. Must do a lecture, grading at some point but sleeping some more might take priority.