made

having a hard time wrapping my head around...

GMC Envoy
Illinois Plate:
ZMBBWE 5
Big Anheuser-Busch sticker on the back window.

America!

the plan, for now.

Finish one thing every day.

Pro: Crossing lingering items of the list.

Con: Once the day's Thing is Finished, the feeling of triumph quickly morphs to lack of motivation to continue working on anything else.

the other BIG thing

So, in my list of things about 2009 that, when all was said and done, weren't entirely horrible, I made one glaring oversight. I neglected to mention that my first manuscript, the one I've been submitting and re-submitting for longer than I'd really like to think about right now, has finally been accepted for publication! I got the news on Christmas Eve, so that was a pretty rad Christmas present. It was provisionally accepted while I was in China, baring a few minor revisions that, given my crazed fall of oral exam-taking and grant-writing, took me WAAAAY too long to complete, but whatever. It's done and accepted, and I should get the proofs in the next few weeks. I'm excited and nervous to finally have it out there in the world, but mostly just relieved that I can once and for all remove it from my to-do list. And start citing it in the two other manuscripts that I have underway. Here's to seeing my name in print! Hooray!

4 inches

storm front

please snow please snow please snow please snow

pleasesnowpleasesnowpleasesnowpleasesnow

snowsnowsnowsnowsnow???????

prime real estate

Share & share alike.

It is COLD here.

sayonara 2009

For weeks now I've been planning my farewell speech to 2009. A thanks-for-nothing, don't let the door smack you on the way out kind of thing. I was done with 2009 about a month before it was over. I spent much of Dec just biding my time until 2010. 2009 chewed me up and spit me out. I was more stressed, frazzled, anxious, tired, etc. in 2009 than I ever thought possible. I was glad to see it go.

But the problem is, every time I try to write about all the ways that 2009 screwed with me, I come up short with the realization that all in all, a lot of good came of it too.

Sure, taking my qualifying exams was brutal. But I passed them!

Sure, taking them while searching for, buying, moving into, and renovating a house was kind of an insane move. But we have a house! Our house! And it is rad.

Sure, going to China by myself to try to salvage my research project was trying at times. But come on, two months in China! I made wonderful friends and saw amazing things, and all-in-all it was a great trip.

My classes were stressful, but I passed them and learned a lot.

Writing my huge grant proposal while my advisor was on sabbatical was challenging, but also kind of creative and fun, and fingers-crossed maybe it will actually get funded.

Some other things about 2009 that didn't suck at all:

-my sister moved to the STL. This is awesome.

-we found a kitten that likes to wrestle with our dog. This is the cutest thing to ever happen anywhere, ever.

So, there it is. Despite my best intentions to give 2009 what-for, I have to concede that I have come out of it all in one piece.

Dear 2010, May you be a gentler year.

2010