OhCrapOhCrapOhCrap.

I'm down to 148 days.

So, I lost half of October trying to get the IP that I'm going to be working with. This was theoretically supposed to be quicker than designing my own device, but right now, I'm a little dubious about that fact.

Today, I made the mistake of actually thinking about what needs to be done before the magical March 28th date and I realized that if I use most of March preparing to defend and making the final adjustments to the dissertation, I have only November to the end of February to finish up. Traditionally, December hasn't been productive...so yikes!

So, it looks like there are going to be many, many long days and nights.

Wish me luck.

OneHundredandSixtyFive.

I'm in a bit of denial. It seems that regardless of what I do, time goes forward. I think I'm going to take some time out of my research to figure out how to stop time so I can get more stuff finished.

Help

As I was leaving the office yesterday, some janitors were looking for an obscure room on our floor. I helped them find the room, not thinking much about it, and began to walk away. To my surprise, they thanked me profusely as I left. It struck me as odd that they would be so appreciative of such a simple gesture. I had walked down the hall with them and couldn't even give them access to the room.

Image from The Autism News

In Japan and Germany this last year, I was at the mercy of strangers several times. The Japanese, in particular were very helpful. There is an odd feeling to suddenly being non-verbal and illiterate, relying only on gestures. In every case, though, whichever random person we "asked" for help was extremely helpful, going as far as to lead us to the place we were going. The Germans were also immensely helpful, but I was more able to communicate verbally and I had the luxury of being able to decipher some signs. Fortunately the primary concern has been limited to directions and the odd train announcement.

手伝ってもらえませんか。

Hilfe

We (Americans as a whole) have this horrible habit of avoiding answering the call to help. We pass by the homeless, we avoid eye contact to avoid any obligation. Why should we expect any different treatment?

Perhaps this is why the janitors were so grateful.

Clown Car

184

I spent today cramming myself and four others into a Dodge Neon. Three adults (one pregnant) and two children of car seat age. I got the back with my feet on the hump between said car seats. Comfy. We only did the in/out part about 6 times. By the end, we were pretty good at it.

I think I became less scary to the kids throughout the day; I got a sloppy kiss from Gracie and a g'night high-five from Ezra. We played rocket ship, sang songs, did some hair (very curly baby hair), played with one of the coolest marble toys I've ever seen, and drooled over some shoes (Grace: literally, me: figuratively).

I'm on my second day with no work. I've decided to head back to reality a day early. It seems the right thing to do.

Miscounting

I think I'm at 186.

Today's post goes to a memory, actually several memories...only one I think I'll share...

First, a memory of getting ready for the finale of the Lawrence County 4-H fashion review in 1996. This was my last year in 4-H and the year I was supposed to "win it all". Whatever. I had made two outfits: a tailored coat and a formal dress (a number made from a velvet floral pattern with see through stuff between and a red shiny velvet train). When it came time for announcing the winner, I put on the dress. Mom came in and told me to put on the coat. I argued with her that I needed to wear the dress because the dress was what was going to win. She insisted that I wear the coat.

I understand now how this all happened, but she was right that I needed to be wearing the coat because I had won grand champion for construction but "only" reserve-grand in modeling for the dress. I was able to take both garments to the state level where the coat got special mention and the dress, well, didn't. I did well with the dress (top 15), but two other girls in the top 15 had used the same pattern and it just wasn't as special.

Why is it that I never took the time to listen to Mom and believe that she somehow knew what was going on? I look today at how the world works and realize that the important people are informed one way or another about what's going to happen so they can facilitate what needs to happen. Sometimes it's hard to identify when something more than the obvious is going on.

189

After 11 hours of fairly solid sleep, I managed to get out and be social some this afternoon. I still need to finish my presentation, but it's fairly close.

The big adventure for today involved a three-ish mile hike up a mountain. It was fairly easy terrain but had a decent slope.

I had plans to write several things, but now I can't remember them and my eyes are having problems staying open.

So, yeah, sleep.

Travel

190

Conference is this week. I traveled today and I'm coming onto 24 hours of being awake with several more to go...like maybe another 12. I'm sooo happy that I brought a heavier jacket. It's actually fall here. and cold.

Anyway, Thursday is the big day for my talk. It can't come soon enough. Just wanna get it over with.

Negatron

194

Today I buckled down on some of the wording in the paper that's due on Friday. I think it's coming together slowly, but surely.

My theme for today:

Image from avid

Anxious Much?

One hundred and ninety five days left.

There's a conference next week in Austria and I'm starting to get anxious about my travels. The last time I went overseas, I didn't have a chance to get anxious...everything just happened so quickly. Suddenly, sometime during the 14 hour flight, it hit me that I was going to Japan. Freaked me out. I'm experiencing that a bit early with Austria.

Now that the anxiety is getting established, there's the issue of getting everything done on schedule for the conference. The paper and presentation are shaping up but I'm struggling with the punchline. A discussion with one of my profs today help significantly, but there's still the issue of getting that translated to slides, print, and words and staying consistent.

Not that it's related, but this week is New York's Fashion Week. I picture the attendees to be dressed similarly to those at the Halloween in West Hollywood. The goal, however lofty, is to be noticed. Here's a fantastic account of Jezebel's Sadie doing just that by carrying a large doll dressed like her. Enjoy.

196

This afternoon is the dry run for my presentation at a conference next week. I've been working all weekend on additional data to make my story a little more compelling, but I'm not sure what the data are telling me.

While I was soaking in the information and meditating on what the data mean, I managed a 5.6 mile run at Percy Warner, a trip to McKay, and a trip to the Frist to see "The Golden Age of Couture" and the Chihuly exhibit. The couture exhibit was extremely overcrowded so I couldn't spend the time fawning over the garments, but it was definitely worth fighting the crowds.

In the gift store, there was a children's activity book by Chihuly that had some really cool activities. I might have done the cover art a little differently though.

198

Yesterday, I used The Oatmeal as a grammatical reference; it's funny and helpful. I also needed it for another reference, but didn't have the energy to search the site, i.e., I was a lazy pants.

I was up until after midnight writing an article for which I was given the guidelines: write a two page article. I got no topic, no font size, no margin requirements. Just two pages with images. It took much longer than it should have.

I did take time out to head to a milonga.

Today: working on the paper and presentation that I need to have in good shape by Monday.

Also: potentially hanging out at the Saucer (depending on progress on the above) and definitely heading to wedding party fun tonight.

One Nine Nine

The morning was actually a little chilly, especially with the rain. Fortunately, the rain didn't start until after I dragged myself out of bed for a run at Percy. The Nashville Half-Marathon is in mid-November and I'm trying to decide if I'm crazy enough to use that as motivation for my training. Meh.

Yesterday was a roller-coaster that started out with a discussion with my advisor that concluded with, "if this doesn't work, we'll need to completely revamp the project." Those are words that will send a chill down any grad student's spine.

Later, I got word that everything should be okay. I'm still not completely convinced that it's okay yet, but feeling better.

Photo by thewamphyri

Two Hundred Days

There are two hundred days until I have to turn in my dissertation to walk in May. I don't really need more things to do, but I am going to try to document progress as I go.

To start out, here's the Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. by Matt Might.

Todays fun involves programming and working on two papers and a presentation. The presentation will probably be put on the back burner until the weekend, but I need a draft of the first paper and a final version of the other sometime tomorrow.

Must. Focus.

I've managed to 1) ignore this blog for months and months, 2) realize that it's time to start down that long road to graduation, and 3) come to peace with the fact that I'm not going to be able to compete* in triathlon until #2 comes to fruition.

Having said that, I've actually managed to get to the gym for the last two days. Yesterday, I swam for the 2nd time in 2010. I managed 2000 yards which included my favorite set: 5 x 50 kick on 1 min. Normally it would be 10, but I felt that I should take it easy.

I'm hoping to get back to the blogging as part of the road to the PhD. Prepare yourselves for more non-sequiturs.

*By "compete" I mean race to win, not go and have fun at a race.

Workout Plan

This spring, I wasn't really motivated to compete in triathlons. I didn't have time, I didn't have much of the competitive spirit thing, and I just simply wasn't motivated. I was slowly building up my running distance without really noticing while helping Jill train for the Ironman. In that process, I decided that 1/2 Ironman isn't quite as insane as I originally thought.

So, I'm looking at doing something at the 1/2 Ironman distance around November. I'm still working out the competition plan to lead up to that, but I'm finally getting excited about the season.

I competed in the Chattanooga River Rats 4.5 mile river swim last weekend. I took 1/2 hour off my time from last year. The current was much, much faster and my hip flexors didn't cramp in the first 10 minutes of the race. Instead, my goggles filled with water in the first 200 yards. Water in the goggles is much easier to fix than cramping hip flexors.

Anyway, I'm going to try to keep this blog thing more up-to-date, specifically the list of workouts on the left. We'll see how it goes.

Back...at least for the moment...

Another long break in the blogging. I'm going to blame school. Just because.

The big thing on my mind:
I'm a little surprised (and saddened) at the stories about the hardships that people will have to go through to keep their televisions working after the conversion today. When did television become a necessity rather than a luxury?

An NPR story this evening spoke to a stay at home mom with 6 kids that, due to the recession, was going to have to drop cable and buy a converter box. I'm going to make the assumption that the family has a DVD player or *gasp* a VCR. I'm also going to make the assumption that the community has a library. Go borrow movies...or...wait for it....books!

Off Rant.

By the numbers

Today:
5 - Glasses of wine
4 - Times brushing my teeth
3 - Miles on the treadmill
2 - Showers
1 - Very long, frustrating conversation with one of those people that I should know their name, but couldn't remember their name, and their badge was on backwards...

Wild Things

I'm excited about this:


Anyone with me??

Remembering Why

My short attention span and I went for a run with Jill this evening. She had already done a long workout today, but knowing that there's no earthly way I would go out for a run by myself, she took pity on me. Plus, it was one of those beautiful afternoons that begs people to enjoy the outdoors.

I've been sick for about a week and hadn't ran for about 10 days. I knew the run would be a struggle, which is why Jill was recruited and I picked my favorite route.

The run was long and hilly, but generally unremarkable. The last half-mile is a nice downhill. At that point, I was pretty much beat and trying to keep form until the finish, Jill had run ahead. A cyclist heading up the hill gave us both words of encouragement. Those words gave me a little boost that I very much needed. I don't know why those words stuck with me today. It's generally good form to greet others on this route and not unusual to say a few encouraging words to whomever is doing the climbing at the moment--it's pretty much all up and down hills. The encouragement in the last quarter mile of my run today maybe was just what I needed to remember one of the reasons why I keep doing this.

New Year, New Season

The off season is over and it's time to start keeping track of workouts here again. Things will be a little sparse through the first week of February because I'm being a good grad student and prioritizing research.

To kick off the on season, the tri club had a little "boot camp" this last weekend which involved a lot of high-volume, low-intensity workouts and a good dose of group bonding. It's hard to not bond with people when you're working out in sub-freezing temperatures. To solidify the bond on Sunday morning, we did a polar bear swim in Percy Priest lake. We were just in long enough to dunk and get the heck out. Pix of the fun:

Walking down to the lake. Note the gutter filled with ice.

Pre-dunk. Note nervous smiles.

Trying to run fast enough to stop thinking about what I'm doing. This is actually a tactic I use often for getting into pools/lakes. Also, I'm never far from the "avoid logic" state.

The chaos of the plunge and my turn-around point.

Victory!

The exit--really booking it now.

Lookin' all relaxed and warm next to a very bundled-up coach.

My feet bundled in muppet socks finally getting some relief.

The whole thing was a ton of fun and yes, I would do it again.