Well, my life has officially become boring, and I am loving it. My
job is good, steady, and happy. The biggest news there is that I will
be moving to a bigger cubicle next week. I'm turning 29 this week,
and we are going to go see the Harry Potter movie on my birthday.
Hmmm what else? Married life is great... the kitties are good and are
learning to use a cat door so I don't have to smell the litter all the
time... Johnny is working too hard (as always) but is doing well. I
am starting a new weight loss plan--it is a somewhat unusual plan in
that it is sort of an anti-diet. So far it has made me feel better
about myself, and hopefully will lead to more tangible gains (or
losses, that is). I am also trying to do a little something every day
that is NOT SITTING. I do a damn lot of sitting in my life right now.
Last week, Johnny and I started Circle Dancing, which
is a cool spiritual outlet, while also being NOT SITTING (although not
very aerobic, unfortunately). I have also been taking belly dance
classes, but I am not ready to dance in front of anyone yet, so don't
even ask. All in all, I am starting to fill in the spaces that were
being used for grad school and wedding-planning. Now, if only the
rest of the world weren't going to hell in a handbasket, led by, well,
us (and I use "us" to mean all of you out there who voted republican
or didn't bother to vote)... Honestly, I can't even think too hard
about any of that or I start to feel physically sick. That said, if
anyone is thinking about starting a revolution, give me a call. I'd
be willing to shake up my comfy recently-boring life in order to save
millions of people (American and non), keep the arctic national
wildlife refuge from becoming an oil field, put money into education
and health care instead of the pockets of the richest 1% and the
corporations, preserve a woman's right to choose......
News? News?? There is too much going on to even report. I got my MRS
and my PHD and started a full-time job, and went to Hawaii and then
Burning Man. Life is completely great, and finally settling down into
some kind of normalcy. Check out all of the pictures, which will be
popping up on my website in the next few weeks. Some of the wedding pictures are already up. Enjoy!!
Procraaaaastination..... here I am. I am trying to finish my
dissertation before the big day, which is officially right around the
corner. We have our marriage license, my dress is hemmed, and I have
had to get serious about this dieting crapola. My life is CRAZY right
now, but I always have time to update all my faithful readers. I have
good news and bad news. The bad news is that we lost our second cat,
Leto, to cancer. It was remarkably aggressive--only a month from
diagnosis until the sad day. We did learn by then that Gremlin is a
social kitty. He really wanted to love Leto, but Leto wasn't wanting
any kitten love right then. So we went and got Gremlin a friend--a
black kitty named Monty (he would be the good news). I haven't had
nearly as much time to document Monty's cuteness, being so busy an'
all, but I did make a little page for him.
Other than that... hmmmm... just busy busy busy. It's hard to
believe, but I can see the light at the end of the very long PhD
tunnel. Wait, is that a train? No, definitely the light. Hurrah!
Only 5 days later--must be a record. But we had a big event this
week. We discovered and rescued a feral kitten--the cutest little
kitten ever--and he has become the newest member of our little
menagerie/family. I won't bore you with the details (well, not on
this page), but if you want more info and cutie pie pictures, go to
Gremlin's home page.
I have successfully navigated my first major deadline in Radiology,
and have cleaned out my "Pending" file. I'm feeling good with some
successes under my belt in that arena. I've been working hard to get
the dissertation data ready. I've already run a few analyses and it
looks like some of my hypotheses were correct and some were wrong. I
guess that's why they call it hypothesis-testing--sometimes we are
wrong. :P Behavioral coding of the videotape data is humming along
smoothly. So all is good in the work arena. Wedding planning is
coming along too. Bec was out here last week for a wonderful visit,
and we practiced hair and makeup (she even made me look like a girl!
She is very talented!). We picked tuxes for John, Dad, groomsmen, and
ringbearer. John looks utterly smashing in his tux. I actually have
my wedding gown in my closet right now, which is a little crazy. We
ordered the cake (mmmmmm, really good cake), worked on the favors, and
generally acted like a couple of sisters who live across the country
from each other planning a wedding. Of course, my love life is
lovely. John is a steady wonderful constant good thing in my life
(which is probably why I am marrying him). He's sad about the kitty
these days, who is still hanging on, but definitely not doing so well.
I even let her sleep in bed with us last night. I'm also doing a lot
of Burning Man planning. A few of us are starting a new camp, so
there's lots of infrastructure that needs to be established. There is
definitely a lot going on in my life right now, but it is all good,
and I am loving it.
The new job is going really well. It's pretty mellow so far, but I
know come the June 1 grant deadline, things will start to get crazy.
Wedding planning is going well too. We are all registered (although
we are still considering registering at Sears for power tools and
kitchen appliances). In biggest news, Saskia and I finished running
subjects last week! Yay! No more weekends of sitting in the Jordan
Hall lobby waiting for depressed moms that never come. No more sunny
days in windowless lab rooms. No more cash advances and subject
payment receipts and dead batteries on bioamps and miscollated
interviews. There's still a lot of work to do, but I can see the
light at the end of the tunnel. Yay!
Today was my first day at my new job. I'll still be at PARC a few
hours/week for a little while to ease their transition. But I am
officially a Stanford employee--benefits and everything. Basically
today I did some paperwork and got shown the ropes. But I have
already had my first two nibbles. These people seem quite eager to
have a statistician around. Very cool. On the other hand, I don't
quite have a desk and computer yet, so it will be a little strange to
try to get started before I have someplace to sit. Still, that boring
little cubicle will be reeking of me and my stuff before long, and
I'll be settled in. Wedding planning is going well too. I just got
the invitations and the favors in the mail this week, so there is
plenty to assemble and play with. For those of you wondering what
happened to that Weight Watchers thing, I'm back on the wagon. I got
a bit lax for a while, and 9/11 hit me kind of hard in the eating
department. But I'm back to my cranky only-get-one-dessert-per-day
self. In other news, our little kitty Jessica is sick :( She has
cancer and we got her some surgery, but it looks like the cancer has
metasticized. We entered her into a kitty chemotherapy clinical trial
(yes, they exist), and she is tolerating the chemo fine. She's eating
and everything. Hopefully this will give her a few more happy years.
Hmmm what else? We broke in the table saw and miter saw and the
bathroom is coming along slowly but surely. It's fun to have power
tools! Well, I think that's all my news for now. More soon...
Happy new year everyone! Things are going well here. I got the
Radiology job! Woohoo! Christmas went great, and now I am caught up
in wedding plans. Only 7 months to go--time to do all of those "6
months or more" things on the checklists. That and finish my
dissertation. Now that there's a job waiting, I'd better get my butt
in gear. So here's me, signing off and getting my butt in gear. Bye!
November 18, 2002
September 9, 2002
July 13, 2002
May 4, 2002
April 30, 2002
March 12, 2002
February 4, 2002
January 9, 2002
2003 entries
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