Been a long time gone....

So, I have been a long time gone. I am in a new position--and loving it. I need to update on many fronts and hope to get back to regular blogging soon.

My musical life

I have blogged about music before, both when I found an article written by someone who hates to answer the question "what kinds of music do you listen to?"--a question I am loathe to answer or even hear and again when I started the soundtrack to my life.

So, now update my life's soundtrack:
Orginally on the list:
1. Romeo and Juliet (not sure which version: Dire Straits (the classic), The Killers (the cover), or Matt Nathanson's live cover I first heard on pandora.com.
2. Same ol River-Jeff Black
3. Halleleuha-Jeff Buckley
4. Wild Horses (Again, not sure which version--I think one sung by a woman, not the Stones version)
5. Something to lose, Corey Smith
6. Off the tracks. Charlotte Kendrick
7. Easy Silence, Dixie Chicks

Added to the list:
8. Ripple, Grateful dead
9. 45 years, Stan Rogers
10. Danny's song, Kenny Loggins
11. Something in the way she moves, James Taylor

That's all for now. I have been gone. But Ill be back to blogging soon!

Bruised and Buried under Boxes

Well I am here in city that needs a good nickname.
I have been so excited about this move. Unpacking is almost done (well, that is a lie). The bulk of unpackng is done. The easy boxes (the ones that take five minutes) are done. The difficult boxes (the ones I just threw things in with no sense of organization or purpose), the pictures to be hung, the finding the damn hairdryer all remain undone. But I am happy. Really happy. Smile while walk around the town happy.

I have a friend (Dr. Maya Alcott) who says that in a new town you must leave the house everyday. So today I am going to get a bank account and then to stop off at job and do some hr-type work.

Wish me luck

So much to do, so much on the television to watch

List status:

1. Basement: bring up all that is stored down there, go through and re-pack things appropriately, clean up basement (sweep, etc.)
2. Kitchen: Finish packing, hardcore clean (fridge, oven, etc.), touch up paint on ceiling
3. Bathroom: Finish painting, pack, clean
4. Bedroom: Touch up paint, clean, pack
5. Other Room: Paint closet, pack up
6. Front Room: Get rid of stuff to consignment store and Goodwill, paint closet and touch up trim, etc., start packing stuff near the front door for move.
7. Get office packed
8. Call electric company, gas, and cable. Arrange shutoffs and arrange electric, etc in new place.

During the commercials on lost, Ill be working on this list.

This is my life

more graph humor and song chart memes

I can't resist

more graph humor and song chart memes

Last one...

more graph humor and song chart memes

This one made my day

more graph humor and song chart memes

Too funny

more graph humor and song chart memes

Countdown has begun!

I officially leave here in 8 days. I have arranged housing for where I am headed, but in the next 8 days need to do the following:

1. Basement: bring up all that is stored down there, go through and re-pack things appropriately, clean up basement (sweep, etc.)
2. Kitchen: Finish packing, hardcore clean (fridge, oven, etc.), touch up paint on ceiling
3. Bathroom: Finish painting, pack, clean
4. Bedroom: Touch up paint, clean, pack
5. Other Room: Paint closet, pack up
6. Front Room: Get rid of stuff to consignment store and Goodwill, paint closet and touch up trim, etc., start packing stuff near the front door for move.
7. Get office packed
8. Call electric company, gas, and cable. Arrange shutoffs and arrange electric, etc in new place.

I need to be ready to have house ready to pack in 7 days, which means I have to pack/clean/paint a room a day at least.

I cannot wait to get out of here.

So much to celebrate!

I am leaving TinyBackwardUniversity!

Early March: So, I recently blogged about a fabulous post doc. A position that was: "great fit for my research interests, at a prestigious university, in a relatively kick-ass location, balance of teaching and research, closer to family, and the supervisor is amazing."

Only a few days after application was due: Then I stressed insanely about why they hadn't called me yet. "I am so stressed out. I check my phone (office and cell) and email (personal and school) obsessively. How long should I expect the initial review of applications to take. Applications were due this weekend--so Monday would be the first conceivable day they could peruse applications. If they have 15 applications, what day would they call people on?"

Second week of March: Then a colleague in my department announced she had an interview for a job she might take: "It may be good, in part, because if she doesn't get or take the job, than the department will be less shocked (and less unprepared) if I leave. I also feel less traitorous for seeing what other jobs are out there. If she (who is happy here, likes the job, likes the students, has a family, is all settled, etc) gets a job this year somewhere else, and I do not--the irony will make me puke."

Mid-March: Got email from Post-Doc saying that the decision will be delayed. Will be in touch by first week of April. I spent 3 weeks trying not to have heart attack.

Second week of April: Still hadn't heard anything. Starting to feel like they had chosen someone else. Went to friends wedding. Had a blast, but checked email every day. So wanted to give my friends (who know my unhappiness here) good news.

Mid-April: Got email apologizing for the delay, indicating I was in top 3 for position. Question:"Was I still interested?" Answer: "Hell yeah!"

A few days later: Phone interview. Fall more in love with that job!

Just over 6 days later: Email indicating they were making me the offer!!!!!

Now: Contracts signed, it's official!

I had to stop blogging about in the past few weeks because I was just too stressed, too worried, and my heart was too invested in it. Blogging would have must got me more excited about it.

So, my final exams are done, graduation for my last set of TBU students is almost here, I have a trip to new city soon to arrange housing, this time next month---Ill have a new address.

I am so happy! I know I am in for a lot of work, but it is just the kick in the butt I need.

Also, this is my 100th post. That is not an accident. I wanted this 100th post to be intentional, deliberate, and meaningful.

Congrats to me!

My recent blog break

I have posted several bits in the last few days, but before those it had been a few weeks since I posted. I had to take a blog break, I was having a very tough few weeks--perhaps the toughest I have had, ever. Things are looking up and I will be reporting on some very good news soon.

How do I love me? Let me count the ways..

Check it!

A big question for me is how do I balance connecting with students and making the course interesting and personally relevant with not feeding their overwhelming narcissism.

Cheater Guilt

Early last fall semester, I came across identical submissions from two students. The assignment was to create a reference page according to the format within our field. The assignment was small and sort-of ungraded...it was for me to check before they turned in the whole project. The students turned in the same page--with the same mistakes. When I confronted the students about it--they said that because they live together they had worked on it together and that is why they had the same mistakes. I gave them a firm talking to and told them not to work on individual projects together.

This semester they turned in an assignment in another faculty members class with identical passages again. I am feeling a bit guilty. I should have busted them because clearly they didn't learn from my lecture.

My newest habit

As a kid, you weren't cool unless your soda drink of choice was a suicide. This of course meant that you mixed a bit of each of the available drinks. And apparently I was not the only one. Check it!

Perhaps reminiscent of those care-free years of my life, I was moved recently to pour all of the bits of remaining cereal into one container and shake it up creating cereal suicide. And it is delicious. A bit insensitively named, but as a throwback to my childhood days, I gotta go old school in the name.

So imagine my surprise when recently I saw the 'Say Something' episode of the Gilmore Girls and lo and behold--Rory Gilmore (and her friend Paris) are, when near the dorm cafeterias magical wall of all possible cereals, of mixing it up and getting a bit of several. Do you know they have whole restaurants devoted to cereal? In real life, not in Stars Hollow. Man, I wish I lived near one.

My biological clock is barely starting to tick....and its weird.

So, I recently knit a baby sweater that is so awesome I decided not to give it to anyone. I am keeping it. Despite the fact that I am not pregnant, not trying to get pregnant, couldn't even possibly get pregnant (no dating options here in nowheresville). Also, I feel like acknowledging my preference for baby names.

So here goes:
Boys: Trace, Kannon, Cooper, Wynn, Noah, Benjamin, Giles, Brogan,
Girls: Boys names for girls, Elison, Sukie (sookie), Sloane, Grace, Emerson, Lorien, Brady, Caden, Ellis, Evangeline, Piper, Finley, Patience

What a ridiculous waste of my time.

Has anyone used SLIMTIMER?

I waste time. For example, I am currently blogging while listening to commentaries of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That having been said, I am thinking about tracking my work habits a bit more closely (or at all). That said, if anyone has suggestions about SLIMTIMER or other ways to track habits--let's have them. Now I will go grade--yuck!

A new blog-hero

Recently finished backtracking through a new blog (Hunting for Mr. Right). I love finding new blog-heroes*. She sometimes writes the blogs I am thinking in my own head. But my favorite of all her recent posts goes back a bit to a post making comparisons between life and swimming.

As an avid swimmer, I loved the idea. To sum up (but really, check out the whole blog or at least the post for all her funny details), life is like swimming because: 1) It's not as easy as it looks. 2) No matter what you wear, you're bound to look like an idiot. 3) If you don't pay attention, you're likely to run into the wall. 4) Sometimes, all you can do is focus on breathing.....[there are more, but those are the best, in my opinion]

Some of her commenters also noted: life is like treading water (all that movement, but not going anywhere--Brilliant!) and lots of time in either makes you wrinkly. I was a swimmer for years and its still my favorite place to workout and often my favorite place to think.

When I get back in swimming shape (usually the second or third week of regular swimming), it makes me feel powerful and strong and sexy.


*A blog-hero is a person whose blog you admire because it is more [fill-in-word] than yours. Eloquent, Funny, Technologically adept, Clever, etc. Technically my use of a foot-note type thing is an example of taking something that you saw on someone else's blog and thought was awesome. In Hunting for Mr. Right, she frequently foot-notes. My favorite foot-note defined 'secret dating'

"I like how your verbs that are things. I think I'm going to sandwich after I sofa here for a bit." Love it!

My Boys comes back in June. I am thrilled. Who did P.J. take on the trip? As you may recall--the possiblities were 1) The cute ex-cubbie, 2) Thoo-rn, the sing-songy named recently returned ex, 3) The adorable botanist. My vote: Bobby, the hookup turned friend, turned friend that she hooked up with--hes a peach.

On that note, recent article on msn: http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Features/Columns/?article=VerbsGoneWild&GT1=27004

Verbs Gone Wild Are we taking too many liberties with language?By Martha Brockenbrough
A while back, I wrote about the most annoying office jargon ever. And while that might have been a slight exaggeration, it is true that most people I surveyed despised the use of "dialogue" as a verb above all else -- including the vaguely dirty-sounding "low-hanging fruit."What's more, people chided me for failing to include "monetize," "productize," "incentivize" and other supremely grating words. And then I realized what these sucky little mosquitoes have in common.They're all verbs made from nouns. Or, as the experts say, they're "denominal" words.I have a least-favorite denominal word of my own: gifted. As in, "She gifted me with a designer knockoff handbag." I once even ranted about it to the Wall Street Journal on behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. I called "gifting" all sorts of things that didn't get printed (and a few that did). After the fact, though, I turned to my dictionary, where I learned that my distaste was misplaced. Encarta links "gift" as a verb to the 13th century, where it comes from the Old Norse gipt. The Oxford English Dictionary, which traces usage in English, has found several appearances that date back to the 1600s. Something called "The Wife in Morel's Skin" says this: "The friendes that were together met He gyfted them richely with right good speede." I can't resist pointing out that the OED found a spelling error in this same dusty old sentence. "He gyfted them" was printed as "Be gyfted them." Oops! Careless scribes. It's tempting to say that sort of sloppiness goes hand in hand with the English abuse that is verbing.But I don't think I'd win that case. Shakespeare verbed -- with the word dialogue, no less. In Act II, scene ii of "Timon," he writes, "Dost Dialogue with thy shadow?" This is from 1607, just a year before "The Wife in Morel's Skin." If you're a writer looking to criticize language, you're not going to get very far by picking on Shakespeare -- unless your name is Stephen King, in which case you wouldn't bother anyway, because you're too busy building a fort out of money.This is too bad for my fellow gifting haters, and for fans of Calvin and Hobbes, who no doubt recall the classic "VERBING WEIRDS LANGUAGE" comic strip. Like it or not, we're living with a language that verbs words. What's that thing you use to get the dog hair out of the carpet? It's a vacuum, right? And when you're using it, you're ... vacuuming. Try to find a single word that means the same thing. Likewise, when you're putting butter on your bread, you're buttering it, no? Does anyone, besides a vegan or a dieter, have any objection to that? So the question isn't, "Is it OK to turn nouns into verbs?" We do this all the time. The question really is, "Why is it sometimes so irritating?" As far as I can tell, no one has conducted research into why certain words are annoying. That said, people have researched which nouns we tend to verb, and why. A 1998 paper written by University of Pennsylvania psychologist Michael H. Kelly argued there are two types of denominals -- ones that are rule-derived and relatively predictable, and ones that are idiosyncratically derived.For example, when we ride a bicycle, we say we are bicycling. When we ride in a boat, we are sailing or boating. There are exceptions, but you can see this is a pretty predictable -- and understandable -- way to extend our vocabulary. Other types of nouns aren't so easy. We know what it means to monkey around. But what does it mean to "iguana"? And why does "to fish" mean to catch a fish, but "to dog" means to chase tirelessly? That's what Kelly means by idiosyncratic derivation. You don't necessarily know the meaning of the noun once it's been verbed.And it's not just animals that are kooky. Foods can act that way, too. You can pepper someone with questions, for example. But what would it mean to oregano someone? Would that be a-salt? (Sorry for that. Sort of.)Kelly found that people are a bit more likely to verb a noun if it follows rules, possibly because it's easier for listeners to understand what we mean, and possibly because it's easier to invent them. And maybe, just maybe, that's the most important word of all here: inventing. English has more words than any other language. Who are language purists to block invention? What would we lose by ostriching? The next Shakespeare?That would be a pox upon us! Happy dialoguing.

If the following is the sign posted in the office, how can I have faith in the work being done?

[All spelling, odd capitalization, and phrasing is directly quoted from the sign, sadly. Italics are mine to add emphasis to the numerous mistakes]

Dear Customers, Visitors, and Friends,
Due to Problems in the passed we no longer do payment arrangements.
Please understand that your payment is due at the time you pick up your vehicle.
Any Vehicle left Un-payed for more then thee days will be subjected to a storage Fee of [$#] a day, unless prier written arrangements are made for long term holdings.
ALL [state name] inspections are due at time of the Bill pass or failed.
Please note: the price of a [state name] inspection is determaned by the DMV computer system and is out of the hands of [business name] automotive.
Failer to pay will be turned into collections.
Understand that if you bill goes to collections there wil be a [#%] fee added to your overall total bill.



I got to move. Seriously.