Traveling - the Joys

One of both the joys and sorrows of my field is the need to periodically travel. Usually it's during the three summer months. But this week I'm traveling for my thesis research to look at a collection in Western Nebraska.

I left about 3pm Central Time to drive the six and a half hours west. I wish that I had the hootzpah to take pictures as I drive at 75mph, but I don't. Late afternoon is so beautiful when traveling west. This is when I feel the passage of time most accutely. The sun is visibly sinking lower before you as you race toward the light. In the rearview mirror you watch the night falling, traveling on the edge of the day.

One of my favorite parts of traveling is the quirkiness found along the way. In my recent voyages I found a gas station that advertised "classy restrooms." In North Platte, one gas station carries the sign "Welcome to Nowhere." Following a truck on the interstate labeled on the back "Do not hump truck." Seriously. Is this a problem?

And at the end of the road there's the reward. Going from this:

to this:

80 degrees, sunny, and little wind the first week of March. Doesn't get better than this.

"And thus goes all to the world but I. And I am sunburnt." - Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare.

Relaxing Saturday morning

There's nothing like waking up to a sink quickly filling up with hot (!), soapy, dirty water.

The truly annoying thing - this happens every six months or so, but it's not us. It's the upstairs neighbors. They clog the pipe and our sink fills up.

Domestic bliss anyone?

Winter

Welcome back winter.
















This. After 60 degrees and sunny yesterday. It has only been snowing for about four hours.

Apparently Mother Nature has decided to give me a little help focusing on my thesis instead of wanting to go outside and play.

Only two and a half months until the preliminary copy of my thesis is due. I got my permissions today to look at some materials in the hands of private landowners.



It will be done. No other options remain. Thanks Mama Earth.

The Un-Graduated

So I'm not graduating in a week. With my friends/colleagues. We all came into the program together. Sure, others joined at the same time. Some are still hanging in there, wading their way through too. Others have cut and run. But my friends/colleagues have walked side by side with me through the core classes. Through seminars. Through advising sessions, good and bad. But somewhere along the way I've fallen behind. Soon they will be ceremonially hooded and receive their degrees. And I'll be there to cheer for them loudly. I'm so happy for them and so proud. And a little bit jealous.




As Firstnamelast put it, "The only way out is through" so hopefully next spring they'll be there to cheer me across that stage with my archaic gown, mortar board, and hood. But the problem is that once you're through, you're through. There's no place for you here now.

A Thin Coat of Film

So the last four nights have been late ones, spent grading paper after paper. Assignment after assignment. Creating final exams. So in my insanity I'm turning to an old academic trick - film today! There will be a quiz afterwards. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU

[Haven't had time to figure out the embed thing yet.]

Friday Diversion

Because sometimes you need a laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leYQjmQSi6Y

[Sorry, haven't figured out the embed thing yet.]

Avoidance

Hiding from academic advisors is a necessary skill, made more difficult when your office is only forty feet away. You close your door, leave the lights off, and freeze because the sensor in your office doesn't think you're there and doesn't run the heat. Then you run into your advisor when you sneak out to use the bathroom.

I have a great advisor. She's helped with my thesis topic, suggested funding, and hired me for a great CV-boosting job (that also turned out to be a job from hell, but that's a different story). She is also a single mother of five year old twins and well published scientist. Talk about intimidation when the best excuse you can come up with for not having made any progress this week is that your computer was acting up.

She also didn't get upset when I put our 15 passenger university van in a ditch. Just told me to join the club.