Drag Shows and Dissertations

After a busy week, I have been able to relax and enjoy the weekend. Friends Suzie and Rachel were in town and brought their 5-month old son, Jackson. We spent the afternoon hanging out and doing errands, which was a lot of fun - like old times when they lived here. After enjoying dinner with Jan, we went to the ISU charity drag show. This was my third drag show and probably my last one at ISU. It was also little Jackson's very first drag show, and so we celebrated the event with a family photo. Unfortunately, the noise was a bit much for him, so the mommies took turns walking with him in the lobby. I did manage to catch a smile from him before the event started though.

Here's a shot the the emcee for this year, Miss Sharon Sharealike. Here is Sharon doing her emcee thing. We only stayed through the first half, but it was a great show. I was particularly fond of the rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" by Lauren Alexander. She was able to hilariously sum up the entire movie Titanic in a 3-minute song/act. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Some good news on the dissertation front. 2/3 readers are ready to go to defense. I'm just waiting for my director to give me revisions and/or tell me he is also ready to go to defense. I have a few minor corrections to make based on one reader's reading of the latest version, but I'm not too worried about that. I also submitted my draft to the Graduate School for format check (even though I'm not officially done-done). All they are doing is making sure the format is right. I'm sure I'll have to make some changes there too. I meet that with format woman on Tuesday.

I'm also gearing up for my trip to Washington DC for the Writing Project's spring meeting. I fly Wednesday and will return home on Monday. Ken and Mom are flying out too and meeting me on Friday after I'm done with my meetings. I should have some good pictures when I come back. I'm excited to go, but also a little sad as this will very likely be my last trip out there for Writing Project matters. There are a lot of "last time" things happening lately...last drag show, last WP trip. Though I want to finish, I am also getting sad when I think about all of the changes.

Still no word on jobs. I continue sending out applications, etc. Please keep your fingers crossed.

Easter with the Family

Here's a little shot of the kitties. I took these over spring break when I was back in Iowa. As you can see, Artemus is quite at home in his chair with the purr pad while Tucker is content hiding in his pop-up tent.

I spent Easter weekend with Ken, Lisa and Matt, and Ken's dad and Evelyn at Lisa and Matt's house in Shannon, IL. I was supposed to get some heavy duty revision done on Friday morning before I left so that I could have a more carefree weekend. I did get up and start working around 7:30 that morning, but by 9, Lisa had called to say that the weather was supposed to turn nasty pretty quick. So, I put the finishing touches on my revisions to chs 3 and 4, ran up to campus to print, and then delivered to the mailboxes of the readers. Well, I got at least one thing accomplished. I had wanted to get more done on ch. 5, but that had to wait until today.

While in Shannon, we had quite the relaxing weekend. Ken showed me pictures of places he's been viewing for us to rent. I have to give that boy some credit -- he's really doing a lot of leg work looking for places while I'm in Illinois. We also went to an Easter mass; the second of my lifetime. And to be honest, I think that one will do me for quite a while. It lasted over 2 hours!!! Can you believe it? Now, those of you who me, probably know that I'm a Lutheran. If a Lutheran church service lasts more than 50 minutes to an hour, we get freaked. Suffice it to say that by hour 1.25, I didn't think I'd make it! But, Ken's been a trooper and has come to church with Mom and me in Iowa, so I thought I'd do my part and head to mass with him, his Dad, Evelyn and Matt (Lisa was MIA due to a pretty nasty cold...Lucky woman.).

After church, we came home (9:45 PM) and had a little dessert. I experimented with a recipe that I'd heard of for something called Dump Cake. Basically, it's a couple of layers of cake separated by pudding with cool whip and crushed cookies on top. It actually turned out pretty good. Next time, I'm making it with strawberries and cream I think. This was an experiment for Ken, so I let him pick what he wanted in it. Then, after that, Ken and Matt had the pleasure of doing dishes while the rest of us watched. It's a good life. Notice that Matt wasted no time getting into his comfy pants after the service. Ken, my boy, is still looking sharp as always.

My drive back home was interesting. On the way down I-39, it snowed, the sun shone, then it snowed, then there were white out conditions, then the sun shone, then it hailed, then it got dark and did nothing. Happy Spring Everyone!

I Blame Ghosthunters for my Unfinished Diss

It's Thursday already. Boy, am I having a hard time adjusting to this time change. Normally, I'm the "in bed at 9-9:30 pm, up at 6 am, and getting down to business by 7:30 am" type person. But ever since the time change, I'm dragging in the morning and wanting to stay up at night. This is so unlike me. I'm not being nearly as productive as I was before break.

Add to that the fact that there is cable in the house where I live now. I've turned into a bit of a cable fan, but really only on Wednesday nights when I watch 3 hours of Ghosthunters. Yes, 3 hours. I don't even know why I like it, but I just do and can't pull myself away. So, I was watching a little GH in the family room last night when I started feeling terribly guilty about not working on the diss. So I go into the office to work at my computer only to decide to turn on the small flatscreen TV that just happens to be there next to my computer. (Note: If this was my house, I would never have placed a TV in such a place as I know I would never get work done. I'd also like to note that this is the first time I've turned it on since I moved there.) In the end, I managed to revise or review or something only a little bit of the diss, and that's because I was trying to work during the commercials. So not a good thing. I thought at least sitting in front of my computer would alleviate some of the guilt, but it made me feel worse that I didn't do much.

It looks like I have a lot of revising to do tonight and tomorrow. I'm staying home for most of the morning/early afternoon tomorrow and then heading to northern IL to Lisa and Matt's where I'll meet up with Ken (who gets Good Friday off) and his parents for an Easter weekend.

And Hello from Wet and Rainy Illinois

From snow and ice to cold rain. What a spring it is turning out to be. Who knew there was such a different between Iowa and Illinois. I've now returned to Illinois.Yes, break is officially over and it's back to work for me. At least I can say that I enjoyed getting away from the dissertation for a good 6 days. By the end of the week last week, 2 of my 3 readers had read my diss and provided comments. I now need to get crackin' and start making some of those revisions. The good news is that the reader who gave me the most comments for revisions did so by prefacing his comments with, "I want you to graduate in May, so we will work with these comments to allow you to still do that." All I have to say is "Bless that man!" Why can't the director act that way? Oh yeah - still waiting for comments from him. I haven't received his comments yet. I'm worried enough about making the revisions that I've received now. It's taken me a few days just to get my head wrapped around them and get a game plan going for starting.

Today was a busier than usual day. Of my list of 12 things to do this morning, I've managed to cross off only about 8. I suppose that's not too bad considering some of the things I have left to do include going to the credit union and just dropping things off. I did call the Grad School to inquire about whether I could actually walk in graduate in May even if I wasn't quite finished with the diss. The answer: no. Only Masters students can do such a thing. Doctoral students must meet all deadlines to be able to walk. I was just checking as a "what if I don't get finished" thought.

Ken and I tried looking for places to live in Iowa, but had no luck. All places advertised in the paper are so cruddy, especially in the college town where the college kids treat housing like garbage. It's so discouraging. It makes me want to just buy a house, but I know we can't do that until I have a job. And so we keep looking. If anyone reading this is in the Waterloo area (Mel), let me know if you have any housing leads! :)

Not much else new. I am hesitant to say too much about my job interview (as some of you have requested) until I know whether I'm even a candidate or not. Call me superstitious. I'll keep you posted when I hear any news. In the mean time, keep your fingers crossed, say a little prayer, or do some ritual that you believe in to send positive vibes this way.

Greetings from Snowy Iowa

Spring Break has landed me in snowy and icy Waterloo, Iowa. Upon arrival Thursday night, I was greeted by several feet of snow on everyone's lawns (a real surprise considering that I left a completely snow-less Normal, IL) and several inches of ice on the side streets. My mother's driveway alone has 3 inches of ice coating the entire thing. I've managed to chip away the ice on half of it, but the other half is just a mess. The worst part, however, are the streets around here. The sidestreets are completely ice-coated and now have terrible ruts that you have to drive in, but worse than that are the potholes! Everywhere there are these stinking potholes! You have to be on guard every moment for fear you will lose part of your car. I can't even tell you how many hubcaps are lying around the place because people have lost them when they hit a pothole going too fast. Word from Mother is that the citizens of Waterloo have started a petition to let them fill the potholes because the city doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. Of course, with the snow storms they get every weekend and the melting and then refreezing, it is impossible for anyone to fill the suckers. Apparently there is even a local website telling people where the worst holes are in the city. It's quite interesting that this is the extent of people's worries around here. Kind of makes me happy to be staying in the midwest where the biggest problems are potholes and who's gonna fill them.

The break's been good so far. My dissertation is resting comfortably with my committee members and I haven't given it much thought, which is a wonderful feeling. I dread seeing the revisions they'll want me to make, but at least for now, it's out of my hands. We celebrated Ken's dad's 80th birthday yesterday at the Amvets in Cedar Falls. What a great turnout - I may even have a picture to share later, but I don't think I took that many to be honest. Tomorrow, I am taking my Grandma to get her taxes done, help her get groceries and then help her with some laundry. She's feeling better, but she isn't up to doing a whole lot on her own. Enter the dutiful grandchild. Yes, that's me.

I spent the better part of my morning working in Mom's basement trying to get some things organized and ready to give away to Goodwill or throw away. I also worked more on chipping the 3 inches of ice on her driveway. Temps are supposed to get warmer today and tomorrow, so I want to get what I can chipped away so the sun will melt most of it away.

Not much else is new. I need to write and send thank you letters for my interview which took place on Friday. I also want to get some more application materials together for another job posting I just saw. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please, that something comes together.

Better Days

Ok, I'm doing better today, I think. I finished a first full draft of the diss and have given it to each of my committee members, in some form at least. Some wanted it in paper while others wanted it electronically. I've been working hard all week to get it to a point where I think it's presentable. I just need people to look at the whole thing and let me know if it all comes together. I've looked at it so many times that I just can't tell anymore. I'm also a little worried that it's too short. How long should a dissertation be anyway? I think I'm going to look up other people's dissertations online and actually see how long they were.

Off to Iowa for spring break. Have a meeting at Allen tomorrow; please keep your fingers crossed that something positive comes of it!!

Do you ever just have one of those days?

Do you ever just have one of those days where you wonder where your ife is going and you're certain you'll never find a job? Well, that's my day today. I found out that I didn't get an interview for a position at a community college back in Iowa. I know it's not meant to be, but shoot, there just aren't many jobs there. What am I supposed to do? I'm really at a loss right now and am starting to get pretty depressed about the whole job situation. I was doing better there for a while when I at least had some "irons in the fire" and some feelers out for possible jobs. Now as they tick off one by one with no interview, no prospects, I'm starting to feel that familiar self doubt, that same sense of hopelessness. What have I been doing for the past 12 years to now make myself so completely unemployable? Watching others around me in my program go off to job interviews and start to get offers is not helping matters.

As I sit here and try desperately to work on revisions of my diss chapters so that I have a hope of getting them to my committee before spring break, I can't help but say to myself, "why bother?" Maybe the Director was right - why stress myself out about graduating in May when I have nothing to finish it for. No job to rush home to. What else will I have to do in Iowa when I go back besides sit and work on this?

I apologize for the dark tone to this blog. I've just hit a rough patch again. I did buy my graduation robe yesterday - the really nice one with the velvet stripes. I special ordered it because that's been something I've always wanted. It cost me an arm and a leg, but maybe it'll be worth it. I suppose I'll enjoy lounging in it around the house as I look for jobs. Give me a couple of days to perk up, and these posts will likely get more interesting.

Welcome March

March, it is. (I say that as if you all need to be told, eh?) It's been a good March so far, I guess. I'm in Normal this weekend working hard on diss items and proofing. Yesterday, I spent about 4 hours reviewing dissertation data from student writing in order to get more themes that I could then generate into a lovely table to make the Director happy. That was for chapter 4; today, I need to go into chapter 5 and see what he wants me to do. I am supposed to have a meeting with him Monday to discuss chapters 1 and 6 (intro and conclusion). I am hoping so much that he'll find them in relatively decent shape so that I can make minimal changes before passing the whole thing off to the committee before Spring Break. Please keep your fingers crossed to. I guess I should first say that I hope he reads them before our meeting.

I'm also working on a new proofreading project for Bold Strokes Books, the publisher of Rachel's first and soon-to-be second book. So far, so good, I think. It was a project that needed a fast turnaround (4 days), so that's been a bit of a concern for me. I want to do a good job, and I worry about doing that in such a short time. But, I guess I'm doing the best that I can and will hope the publisher likes it and will continue to ask me to do more for them. After saying good-by to the Iranian Studies job, I've been looking forward to new projects such as this.

I met D for dinner and a movie last night, which was a lot of fun. We can commisserate about dissertations together and then go off and forget about them with a movie. We saw Definitely, Maybe which I was a little worried would be too much of a sappy chick-flick. While I didn't care for the child acress (annoying), I found it easy to stay with the story and liked how it kept the viewer guessing. It won't win any awards, for sure, but it was good for a night out and away from work.

It'll be a busy week, I think, getting the diss ready to give to others and getting ready to head to Iowa for Spring Break. I'm sure exactly what I'm going to do over spring break, especially if I'm able to get the diss out to others, but I'm sure something interesting will come up.