Back at work full time, starting today. Yay for work!
Finished my First Year Project Paper last night at about 7pm. Also finished my stats final, and ran the exams I need to grade through the scantron machine. Double yay for being done!
Played more lotr online... not sure if I like it or not, but I can't stop playing. :-)
Fixin to start playing in a d20 future campaign. Have almost zero workable character ideas. If you have any ideas of dynamic female hero-type people I can model after, by all means let me know. Out of the running already: Lara Croft (already done), Tank Girl, and Ameila Peabody (couldn't seem to figure out how to port her from 1900's to the 2100's), and Grace Hopper (because, alas, computer scientists aren't heroes). I am severly lacking in inspiration.
Someone asked me on Friday if I could live anywhere, where would I live? I shocked an entire table of people by saying I'd live in north central Mississippi. Apparently, this is weird, as no one actually wants to live in Mississippi.
I miss Abner's chicken, and lots of otehr back home food, but I'll be back in the south somewhere around the 25th of this month... in Memphis for a couple of days, Maybe Thursday evening through Sunday morningish, then in Huntsville part of Sunday, all of Monday, and maybe part/all of Tuesday. Yay for travelling!
Who ever sinvented Peach & Mango Salsa should be sainted. Or granted god-hood. Or something. I would write the Vatican and suggest this (the sainting, I don't think they handle bestowing god-hood), but I'm not catholic. So in leiu of that, I hope they make a million bucks.
Who ever invented finals should be stabbed in the eye with a really hot french fry.
I might finally regain my sanity... after May 7th. But don't count on it or anything.
My hair is long anough to manage braided pigtails again... but I'm thinking about cutting it off again, too. Decisions, decisions.
A couple more weeks of Iron Yoga & pilates, and I'll have the most awesome abs eVar. Seriously.
Lord of the Rings online is terribly addictive. As is ice cream, and caffiene, and the aforementioned peach & mango salsa.
Once I know who I'm not then I'll know who I am Life... is exceedingly busy. Not bad, just really busy. I feel like I'm running behind, too (although I'm not completely sure that I'm actually behind in the real world. Maybe just in my head).
But yeah. Having a four day weekend last weekend totally rocked. I did lots of stuff. Including unpacking some of the large number of boxes that we still have laying around from the last (several) time(s) we moved.
Less than two weeks of classes left, then I'm working fulltime for the summer. Yay for summer! I know I've already planned more stuff than I can possibly do in like, three months. But it'll be fun to try and get it all done.
Slow dancing in a burning room... So school and work (but mostly school) have kind of been ruling my life lately. Which is to say, I have had no life, as I'm still dog tired from whatever it is I'm getting over.
But. Today I finished my Stats midterm. Yay! Now all I have to do this weekend (school wise) is write a presentation, write some part of my first year project paper, write a paper proposal for linguistics, and write a results section for stats. And something else, I'm sure, but I can't remember it.
Also, in the realm of annoying, it looks like I may end up spending my birthday giving make-up exams. How lovely.
And... you may have notice the I implemented the labels feature... it's really more for my benefit than yours, so I can find stuff kinda quickly. I'm trying to figure out if I can make the labels less prominant, but don't hold your breath as I don't have much time to devote to it. And it may take me a while (read: possibly years) to get all of my archives tagged... there are like, 1060 some-odd entries. Seriously.
being sick sucks (in case you wondered) Actually, that's about all I have to say. I'm at school now, but I'm still sick... grad students don't get sick days. and I techinically took one yesterday. Blah.
Belief is a beautiful armor / But makes for the heaviest sword I survived my midterm. And today started both March, and Spring Break, as I have no classes tomorrow. Sometime this weekend, I'm am headed out for destinations unknown... Vegas, I think, but for a while it was looking like Grand Canyon or possibly Boulder.
Hopefully we'll figure it out before we leave ;-) Brian is coming with, which will be cool.
And I should probably clean the house, instead of blogging. But Chad's gone to karate, and I'm not terribly motivated to clean by myself.
There's more that rises in the morning than the sun today... was an ok day.
I have a voice scheduled for Thursday. Yay! Then I can start running subjects (right after spring break). And I'm mostly done studying for my midterm. Which is good, since it's tomorrow. Now I'm just tired. So I'll probably go to bed when Chad gets home (in like, 30 minutes).
After tomorrow's midterm, I've just got one more assignment due before the break. Yay! and some papers to grade, but that should be fairly short work.
I never was much of a martyr before / and i ain't 'bout to start nothing new I am so tired of putting everything I have into something, only to have it come crashing down around me. And part of me is like, But look, I invested all this time, and I worked so hard, yada yada... and the rest of me is like, Shut up and deal with it, no one likes a martyr anyway. Obviously, you didn't put *everything* into it, or it would have worked out.
Warring factions in my brain. Gives me a stupid headache... which then makes it difficult to work on my current soul-consuming project (my midterms and first year project).
Thoughts... I probably think too much. Check that... I definately think too much. And generally not about whatever I should be paying attention to.
All of my female friendships seem to have a 6 month expiration date. Which probably says more about me than I'd really care to deal with.
I got called a tramp at kroger today. By someone I don't even know. No idea what the deal was.
I have a midterm on Wednesday, and I need to do well. I've started studying, but it's one of those tasks that seems like I'll never finish. No idea how the rest of the class is doing... I wasn't invited to any study sessions, so I'm assuming there aren't any.
I'm still working on getting the stupid voices for my first year project... no idea when that'll come through. I'm just short one male voice at the moment.
Spring break is coming up. And I need it really bad this year... I don't know... I'm like a fish out of water or something. I just don't seem to fit in my skin anymore, and its showing in my attitudes towards school, too.
Anyway. Enough randomness. Must get back to the studying.
Accomplishment. I have accomplished a bunch of stuff today.
I made an eye appointment.
I faxed paperwork to my lawyer.
I sent in life insurance paperwork and the homestead exemption paperwork for our house.
I sent in the renewal for my Dr. Dobbs subscription.
I did the longest stats homework to be assigned this semester (which actually is due tomorrow).
I finished the experiment design for my (5 subject) pilot.
But somehow, I still have an amazing amount of stuff to do. And I feel kinda apathetic about it. Like I would rather go home and go to bed. Maybe if I sleep for like, 2 weeks, the world will sort itself out while I'm asleep and I won't have to deal with any of it.
But I can't. I have a dinner in like, 30 minutes. At least the school is paying for ir...
I wake up and tear drops they fall down like rain... Blah. Been having kinda a blah week, really. I think I'm coming down with something (when am I not?), I've been waaaay stressed out at school (having your ass handed to you on a platter by the departmental progress committee will do that), the realization that New Orleans is never going to fully recover has finally hit me, and it's just been kinda blah.
But this past weekend was awesome. I enjoyed New Orleans Mardis Gras to it's fullest (and by that, I mean the drunken part but not the orgy part. Contrary to popular opinion, I do have a few limits). I caught beads (lots of beads), ate decent New Orleans food (port of call was really busy, so no hamburgers for us), watched parades, walked down Bourbon Street, and drank a drink that was literally more than half as tall as I am. In case you wanted to know, I cannot in fact hold my liquor like He-Man, everything is funnier when you're drunk, my drunken vocabulary mostly consists of the words "totally" and "awesome", and fire is the most totally awesome thing ever to be in a parade. Oh yeah, and I'm never (ever) allowed to drink that much Hurricane again.
But yeah. Back to the humdrum (but not boring, no never boring) life of a grad student. I've finished tonight's homework, and now I'm trying to decide whether to read Eugene Field while taking a bath, or to play Elebits (the greatest Wii game evar).
Oh yeah... all my pictures are broken. I'm working on that, it's annoying, I hsould have it fixed sometime this week (moaybe tomorrow).
How much longer will I try before I realize / I’m desperate in the situation that I’m in again? Blah.
I should be doing something productive, but I have neither the brainpower nor the motivation. I just turned in my Stats homework, and it was kind of a crappy attempt, but I couldn't seem to wrap my brain around it. I know it'll be simple, and I'll figure it out over the weekend (have to take the prof's comments and revise over the weekend).
My head hurts. These stupid migraines are getting worse, and I don't know what to do about them. The combination of Amerge and Aleve has brought it down to a dull roar, but I still can't concentrate (plus, my reflexes are now like, zero). Maybe I should suck it up and call a real neurologist. Or something. I mean, I seem to be collecting doctors these days. What's one more?
Another consequence of my head hurting: I seem unable to say anything intelligent. I feel like a freakin' cave man. Stringing words together in real time is annoyingly difficult, and trying to decipher what other people are saying... yeah. So. I have to meet with my langauge professor in like, 30 minutes. And she's going to think I'm an idiot. Which, right now, I probably am.
Edit: The meeting wasn't so bad. She might not think I'm a total idiot. So now I'm gonna take some time and try to come up with a paper topic for that class (need to have a topic by midterm, I think).
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously I *knew* that someday my class on formal languages and automata would come in handy... This week's study in linguistics is on Chomsy's theories of grammar... which is all formals languages are, really.
Yay for cross disciplinary knowledge... I actually have a clue what's going on for once. Now if only I can find something intelligent to say about it.
Blah. So... I'm not going to post that much since 1) my head and back still hurt, but I'm tired of whining about it. and 2) I haven't done anything of interest this week (see 1).
I did, however, apparently go through some weird rite of initiation or somehting yesterday. I was enrolled for a class... that was supposed to meet at 1pm. I went and sat in the class.... no one showed. no one. So I went to the secretary, and asked her to look it up... right time, right class, right room, 10 people are registered... called the professor who was supposed to be teaching it. She had no idea. Called the former department chair. She said it only meets sometimes, not every week, and someone should be in contact with me. Went to see my advisor, who was like "oh really? That's news to me...". Go figure. Out of 10 students, I was the only one who showed up. I am, however, not the only 1st year who's enrolled. yeah.
Anyway. I have an appointment with a regular doctor on Monday afternoon, to hopefully address this back/headache issue. Hopefuly, something will come of it. Meanwhile, I'm still seeing the chiropractor like, three times a week (five times a day? Who has time for that?).
And the house is still a mess. Unfortunately, it doesn't clean itself.
More whining Had X-rays done today (will find out what they mean tomorrow). Then came to school, to try and catch my professor in his office. (he hasn't been in, yet, since I've been here). My back hurts. And I'm whiney.
I may go home here in about 30 minutes, if I can't track down anyone I need to talk to. Meanwhile, I need to price docking stations and other ergonomic solutions for my office at school, since I will be spending waaaaay to much time here aver the next, say, five years or so.
Blah. Do you ever have one of those day where you feel totally useless? I mean... like a total waste of space and resources.
Yeah, that was yesterday afternoon/evening. In the morning, I ran lots of errands (that is to say, 1.5 errands, really), and got some stuff done, and even dragged a friend along to help ensure that I didn't do anything stupid. But... befre I left, I picked up the dog for some reason (no idea why)... and while we were at Sam's, I picked up like, 20 lbs of cat food. Because I'm dumb.
So then I came home, and i was hurting, but I thought... you know, it would be awesome to like, have people over to play games and stuff tonight. But my house is a wreck still. So... I emptied the dishwasher, I picked up trash, I moved a bunch of (little, or at least not heavy) things out to the garage and some other things upstairs... and yeah, after an hour or so of that, I could barely walk. Chad came home, bringing me motrin, and ordering me to take it easy. But yeah, by the time he got home, I wasn't fit to do much of anything but whine and cry and bitch about my back. So we ate sammiches, and watched Family Guy. And poker. And then I went to bed.
And the house is still a wreck. I had intended t have everything back in shape by the time school starts (tomorrow), but that's totally not going to happen.
Today, I'm supposed to drive out to work and put in four or five hours.... but my back hurts, and the whole prospect is kind of annoying. On the other hand, if I stay here, I won't get anything accomplished, either. I hate this shit.
X-rays tomorrow, and go back to the chiropractor on Tuesday to get them read.
Yay! Done with Stats. Finally. Used my way awesome new printer to print all 174 pages of the final (in like, 5 minutes... it was awesome).
Now, I must clean house, do laundry, and figure out how we're going to fit all the chrimma stuff and two dogs and a cat into the truck (and still have room for us). So why am I blogging? (Because I'm addicted, or something) :-)
School, Christmas, and Life in general. So I'm alsmot done with my last assignment for the semester... I have two problems left on my stats final, and I've done about half of each of them. It's due at 5pm tomorrow, so I should be in ok shape to finish it on time and stuff.
Santa visited my house last night... he left me a printer (not just any printer, mind you, a Dell 5110cn laser printer). Oh yeah. prints really fast, duplexes, and weighs like, 95 pounds (hence the reason it didn't get dragged to Memphis). Sanata rbought Chad a Banjo, which he says he really likes ;-)
Life in general... not so bad, today. Although I'm probably going to freak out tomorrow, trying to get everything ready to leave. *sigh*. I don't know... going home this year seems different for some reason. Probably because we live so far away, and don't get to go home as often. Who knows.
Who can decide what they dream? / And dream I do... Blah. Stayed in bed until like, 2pm today, with the exception of getting up around 8:15ish to take a shower... still don't really feel like I slept. I feel more like I wasted like, 5 hours that I could have been doing something productive.
Work is becomeing a wild and crazy game of politics that I would really rather not play, but am somehow stuck in. But at least I don't have to deal with it (in person) until January 3rd... I'm working remotely from now until i get back from Memphis/Huntsville.
And speaking of the Hammon's Great American Christmas Tour 2006... We'll be in Memphis at some point (late) on the 21st, leaving (early) on the 26th for Huntsville, leaving Huntsvile for Memphis (early) on the 31st, and leaving Memphis to come back to Houston on the 2nd. So yeah, if you want to see us sometime in there, call me, or e-mail me, or something. We'll work it out.
Back to the doing productive things. I htink I'm oging to go arange icons and work on Stats stuff, whilst blasting my eardrums out with some combination of Eve6, Evanesence, and Indigo Girls (and maybe some other stuff thrown in there somewhere).
Pardon me sir can I use your eraser / To remove my brain of unconventional nature It is December 16th. It is like, 80 degrees outside. Running the air conditioning in my house is not terribly condusive to having Christmas Spirit. Just in case you wondered.
In other news, I've now lost like, 25 lbs on the "Mt. Dew Diet" (my own invention, I guess). I'm htinking now that I should market this to Movie Stars and women's magazines. Bought new jeans today, since my other ones are getting a mite too loose.
And now I will go back to wat I hsould be doing instead of blogging... working on my Stats final. I hate stats. But at least it's almost over... oh wait, I have another stats class next semester. Great.
I know, I know... I finally fixed the corset pic. (as an interesting note, check out the little imp who snuck into the picture with me... I really should send that to Manda).
Now I have to kill 45 minutes, and go take a final. Yay for finals?
Oh Chrimma tree... Oh chrimma tree... So yesterday I:
Went Christmas shopping (for real this time).
Finally bought Chad's big present. Yay!
Ironically, hid Chad's presents in the same closet where he was hiding mine. Managed to do this (somehow) without seeing my presents, and to figure this out before he went in there and saw his presents. They are now safe in one of the other mostly unused closets in our house.
Dragged Chad to the departmental Christmas party. Suddenly, he understands what I've been talking about for like, an entire semester. All in all, it wasn't too bad, but I realized (more than ever) that I have very little in common with my classmates. Except, you know, shcool.
Finally, finally, finally decorated the tree. But I think somehow we're short a couple of ornaments... I'm not sure where they got off to. They might be in the same box as the creche for my nativity set (which is also hiding).
Slept for a glorious 10 or 11 hours... straight. Which is awesome. Now all i want to do s curl up and read a book... all day. But I have to go to work for a ocuple of hours, and get some studying and stuff done, so I don't have to skip karate on Tuesday night.
So yeah. Productive day, I suppose. I only have a little more shopping to do, and a whole lot of wrapping. *sigh*.
Brrrr! Um, yeah. So I heard a rumor that it doesn't get cold in Texas, except in like, Febraury.
They were wrong.
It is so cold... so cold it almost made Chad swear! Which would have been funny. Anyway... My missions for the day: Survive the next hour an a half at work without killing anyone, or screaming out loud. Go home, find pictures of the mostest awesome haircut eVar. Take said pictures to the hair dresser, and get a hair cut that (hopefully) resembles the pictures. Maybe watch a movie. Stay warm. Work on term paper... due Monday. Yay!
Tests are the bane of my existance ... At least at the moment.
So yeah. Studying for a test. Which could be easier, I guess, except (return of the 6-point entry!):
I have no idea what this teacher expects. And it's only 5 questions. I mean really, that's a lot of room to screw up, you know?
I have recently lost my vocabulary. Seriously, I am reduced to having conversations about "the things with the stuff and the people"... which doesn't fly at Rice, suprisingly.
I hate tests. Why can't I just write a paper instead? (oh... right, the vocab thing. dammit.).
I have to make a good grade on this. Good grade = 87 or better to pull me to a B in the class. I'd settle for anything above, like, an 82 though.
This stuff shouldn't be that hard! I have no idea why it is! it's not technical or anyhthing, I guess I just don't get it or something. Stupid names and dates and studies. Can someone give me an algorithm, please? Or an equation? that would be awesome.
If I *weren't* studying for a test, I could be doing lots of way awesomer stuff. Like hanging out with people, or going to Karate, or sleeping. Sleep... now there's a thought...
Yeah, so I'm sure I'm not as bad as I sound, and really... I'll be doing a whole lot better about noon or so tomorrow. Assuming, you know, enough Mt. Dew exists in the world to keep me alive that long. :-)
At least I don't have to drive to school tomorrow. Yay for carpooling! :-)
Isn't it Ironic? Wrote a semi-interesting paper theorizing about how people process ironic communication... that is, I thought the topic was interesting. The paper is... well, a page and a half of crap, basically. So yeah. This means I have no idea what my grade will be. When I write what I think is interesting, I get low grades. When I turn in papers that are crap, I get high grades. Go figure.
That's not ironic... that just a bunch of fucked up shit that happens to people. ~William (I think?)
Sickness, school, car, archives, and other ranodm stuff. Blah. Still sick. Sitting in my office at school, freezing, wearing a shirt, a sweater that is like, 11 sizes to big for me, and eating Chicken & Stars soup. And I'm fixin to take more Tussin.
But at least I'm at school today, which is better than yesterday. And I'll be in school tomorrow, and at work, barring any weird relapse thingy.
My neck hurts. Like, it hurts to hold my head erect while moving. Or in a car. Or on the train. Or sitting in class. Didn't dawn on me until I was in the car this morning that it was probably whiplash. blah.
My archives are no longer broken. just in case you wondered.
And I have absolutely no concentration left to work on stuff today... So I'm basically killing time in between seminars. Which is, you know, great.
Newsish type stuff. It is good to have friends who, you know, live in the same town as you. Just in case you wondered.
So yeah. Life is... life, I guess. Plodding along through school... got an awesome project for my First year project... now I just have to survive my classes. I honestly don't know how people work and go to school at the same time... it's killing me.
But weekends have been awesome lately, since we've been hanging out with people who 1) have the same interests as we do, 2) like to watch movies and play board games, and 3) are strangly very much like me and Chad.
It's kind of odd though... I'm trying to think of the last time I had a friend who wasn't a guy that I could call up any time and hang out or whatever... and I'm thinking that it was pretty close to freshman or sophmore year... yeah, probably when Elisa and I were still close friends (before we, you know, roomed together for waaaay to long).
Anyway. Just a short deviation from the 6 point entry. Maybe I'll post a 6-pointer later today, just so you don't think I'm breaking stride or somehting. :-)
Life, the Universe and Everything So I have a great deal of extra time today. at work. (Not that I haven't done work... I just finished a task that I originally told my boss would have to wait until September when I come back). I hate killing time at work.
I finish up here Friday, August 18th. And I have Orientation starting Wednesday, August 23rd. Classes start Monday, August 28th. And we close on the house September 1st. And I come back here part time somewhere around September 12th.
So between now and when I finish up here, I have a few (mostly superficial) loose ends, project wise, to tie up. Between now and orientation I need to buy a backpack (the laptop carryin' kind), buy other misc school supplies, buy some more shoes, get my hair cut (trimmed), and maybe get my nails done. Between now and when the house closes, Chad and I need to pack like mad. Between when the house closes and when I start work I have to finish as much moving as possible while still attending clases and putting in the required number of research hours. And between now and when I start work, I need to retrain myself to sleep less, get up at 6am, and put in 12-13 hour days.
Seriously, this working part time thing... I honestly don't know how people manage to work and go to school at the same time. I mean, my brother does it, and other people I know do it, and most of them manage to keep good grades and stuff... but I'm just not sure where the time comes from, y'know? I drafted my work/school schedule, tenatively based on the classes I want to take. It involves me leaving the hosue at 7am, and getting home between 6:30 and 7:30 (unless I have a doctor's appointment, or these's too much traffic, in which case I'll have to put in some extra time somewhere...). So basically, I'm going to have around 3 1/2 to 4 hours every night to 1)Do homework, 2) cook and eat dinner, and 3) do any other activity that I would normally accomplish on the weekends (spend time with my husband, go to karate, play DDO). Yeah.
oh yeah, pictures of the house, without carpet (it has carpet now, but we don't have pictures of it).
Back to School :-) So I got a call this weekend... from Rice University. Not only did they accept me, but they granted me a fellowship and some other assistance... all my tution is paid for, for four years!
Baylor called today and wanted to offer me a job. I had to turn them down... on account of going to school in August.
Little Kitty got out the other day... she spent 7 or 8 hours in the wide world of suburbia... and then came home. She's been dying to go back out since then, but we need to get her fixed (!) before then (the last thing we need is a house full of little kitties).
The battle with the dentists continues... crazyness all around.
Done! I'm done. I finished my last project report. As soon as my other team member gets here and we turn this stuff in, I'll have no other academic requirements to meet.
I went and picked up my cap and gown this morning. It's all weird... Master's robes are so different. It's got long hangy-down sleeves, and the weird hoodie thing. I think it's funny.
So this whole graduating thing. It's kinda scary. Like... I don't know. Everyone has been asking me for months if I'm excited to be graduating and moving to Texas. And I have been like, well, I guess... it's just something you do. You finish with what you're doing in one place, and then you move. We're done in Starkville, guess it's time to go somewhere else. But now... I guess it really hit me this week. I'm not a college student. I'm a grown-up. Or at least... I'm supposed to be? When did I get issued my grown-up card? Who exactly checked my credentials for grown-up-ness? I'm not even old enough to rent a car... who thought it was a good idea to give me a Masters degree and let me move like, a quarter of the way across the country?
I guess I've just gotten really comfortable here. I mean, Starkville has been more "home" than Huntsville for a long time now... as much as I complain about it while I'm here, it's a little scary to leave. I'll be far enough from home, that I'll have to plan way ahead to make it home for important events like Mandie's graduation... I'm sure my parents will *never* make it out to Texas (until I provide them a grandchild as incentive, anyway). It's kind of odd.
Not that I'm not looking forward to it. Living in a "real" city with malls and restraunts and museums is going to be awesome. And unlike the last time I lived in a huge metro area (St. Louis), we will not be in the ghetto. Far from it, actually. Houston has so many advantages... I'm looking forward to doing things I never get to do here while I'm in school...
I don't know. I've moved prety often all my life... so the moving thing is ok. I guess it's the not-being-here-after-I-move thing that bothers me :-)
Almost there... Yes. I am almost there. Counting the days, in fact. Nine days, counting today, and I'll have a Masters Degree.
Between then, all I have to do is finish two projects and corresponding project reports, finish two class notebooks, and take a final. And clean my house so that a) my parents are way impressed with my housekeeping skills (if they actually make it down here), and b) the movers can actually move our stuff in some organized fashion when the time comes.
But... I got Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile in the mail the other day (not being cool enough to buy it when it came out, I had to eBay it)... and I stole some time a couple of days ago and played it for an hour... and it is so cool! like, amazingly so. I like it. Ha. So.... I am bribing myself to work on my projects for a little while (like a couple hours), and then I'll play my game for a little while. Yay!
So I took my camera on my Thankgiving trip, with the idea that somewhere in there, someone would take a picture of me and I could post it here... But somehow, the only picture of me ended up on my brother's camera, and he hasn't sent it to me yet. Maybe I'll get chad to take a picture of my hair this weekend.
Anyway.... I should get back to the working and the projects.
Fall Break! Yay! Fall break officially starts now! errr... actually, when I get the dishes done so we can actually leave the house. And I don't guess it's really a break, as I have to complete a take-home test and do homework and stuff over the weekend.
But at least I'm done grading. And I won't have anything to grade all of next week. Yay!
I'm tired. But life is pretty good right now... guess it evens out.
So Chad's taking the job in Houston (in case there's like, anyone left who hasn't heard). We move to Houston officially in January (right after the new year). Yay! Having a job means we'll have money ... not that we're going to buy a bunch of stuff with it, in theory. it'll just be nice to know we aren't broke, and be able to actually start some kind of retirement or something. Or buy me a new Shelby Mustang. Or something like that. ;-)
So yeah. We'll have insurance, too. Yay!
Not sure what I'm going to do when we get out there. My choices look something like htis at the moment: go back to school for a PhD in CS; go back to school for a MS/PhD in Psychology; get a job teaching; get a job programming; or take up watching soap operas and eating bonbons.
We get to go out to Houston and look for a house at some point... I think in October. not sure if we're buying or renting yet... so many decisions.
Alanis is awesome. Just in case you wondered.
School is great this semester, although I have a huge amount of work to do. I htink graduating should be less work than the rest of school, but it's not. I still have to schedule my comps and stuff, so they'll give me my dimploma. *sigh*
Anyway. I might be called to go and socialize here in a few minutes... when the vampires are done vampiring. although my socializing will probably be cut short, as everyone here will be drinking, and I don't know enough people in the group to really feel like drinking. That, and I'm dead tired. one drink would put me out like a light ;-)
Hopefully, this will publish, and I'll be able to post again soon.
Internet is on in the new apaprtment... I guess that means we're officially moved in (although you wouldn't believe that if you saw the place at the moment... boxes and bags everywhere). Fun stuff.
School started today, but not really for me. I start tomorrow.
And that is all the interesting news. Starkville is incredibly dead during the summer.
Grade came in (finally).... I got my 4.0!! Yay! *dances around* That leaves me with something like a 3.8... which is the highest GPA I've like, ever had.
I'm digging this whole grad school thing. Maybe 3 or 4 more years wouldn't be that bad...
So, we're in the middle of all this legal stuff, pressing charges against Butthead Neighbor Person, and looking for apartments, and lots of crap. Which is not really all that much fun... but it looks like there's a good possibility that the justice system will actualy work for us, which is unusual, but very good.
William is leaving for The Coast today... working a temp job at SAIC... luckily, both of our phones are free inside Mississippi, so we can still call and discuss life and the universe (and everything else, I suppose). But no more 1pm lunches in the Union :-(
In other news... I have lost 5 lbs in 2 weeks on this diet thingy. Which isn't too bad... if it keeps up, I should be back to "normal" (where I was last July) by like, the middle of August. I think I can handle it that long.
I finished all my finals... waiting for the grades to come in... crossing my fingers for the ever elusive 4.0 semester. I got an A in the class I was worried about, so I might have done it... no telling. It would be nice though... pull my graduate gpa up to something like a 3.8, make the president's list for the first time ever, feel warm and fuzzy...
Actually talked to my sister on the phone today. Which was cool, but a little strange... She's so not a phone person. But, she was in a good mood today... I guess? :-)
Finally finished my take home test. Or at least, the part I've been given so far. Should get the rest tomorrow... will probably finish it about midnight Wednesday night, because it's spring and I am extremely unmotivated. I also found out that the paper that I thought was due like, the beginning of May is actually due like, two weeks from today. And I have to make a presentation on it. *rolls eyes and flops face first into pillow* Why am I staying in school? I don't know!
I now officially hate triangles. And eHarmony commercials are annoying. Just thought I'd let you know.
Anyway. I need to find something cold to drink. And figure out when Chad will be home. And go to bed.
look. I am a computer science major. not a marketing major. not a communications major. not a business major. I chose a major where I wouldn't have to fake enthusiasm, or deal with people. Thus, I have no cause to paste a dumb expression on my face in an attempt to make people think I am having a good day when I'm really not. I hate doing that.
I'm not having a good day. My head hurts. It's hurt for most of three days. I broke my project this morning... and I'm supposed to demo to my boss this afternoon. Chad's car is in the shop (which will be free), and mine is acting up (which will at least cost me whatever a bottle of fuel cleaner costs, and maybe more). I haven't had enough sleep, and the vending machines in Butler... nevermind.
I have smiled several times today. I smiled when I called and woke Chad up this morning (he's funny when he's mostly asleep)... Joe said something stupid and made me smile... Dr. Bridges butchered the tale of Hansel and Gretel, and that was funny... William got an onsite interview ing Huntsville, which was worth smiling for. But having someone shout over IM or over the phone that I need to smile... no. That realy won't make me smile. Sorry. But I really don't see the point. And I know I've said that more than once.
the list is getting shorter: one take home assignment (due tomorrow), one project (due wednesday), on final (wednesday), and one presentation (Thursday). I might not die between now and then...
There's nothing like turning in a project report 4 hours late and only half done to make your day... especially if you're turning it in to your major professor. *sigh* But he was understanding, I guess... the full report isn't due till Monday now.
And I have a meeting for work today... with little tangible progress to show (I have made a couple of breakthroughs, but mostly it involves correcting stupid mistakes I had made, or misconceptions about how Java and OpenSees work together). Yeah. No deliverables. I'm so gonna have to work my butt off next week.
But... I have 2 projects left to turn in, one assignment, a test and a presentation. And then I'm done for the break. Yay for me. And I definately have my required 3.0 gpa... looking at somewhere between 3.6 and 4.0 (don't hold your breathe for the 4.0, it involves making pretty high grades on the final and project in SEII).
Speaking of SEII... omg. That class is so the bane of my existance at the moment. I have walked, talked, eaten and dreamed this stupid reservation system for like, two weeks (dude... maybe that's why I didn't get any real work done...). I took it home with me over break. I have put blood sweat and tears into this stupid project... and it doesn't work. Not only that... One person from the other teams has offered to help us integrate (besides the e-mail dude who thinks I'm stupid). One person. Out of 8. Nice. Since, you know, integration is only the responsibility of the interface people. Because that's how the syllabus has it divided.... NOT. This is so supposed to be everyone's thing. But no. It belongs to the Yellow Darts (that's us). *sigh* I hate group projects.
On the upside of group projects though... there is a small possibility that one of my group projects might get published... though I won't know anything probably until after the break. Interesting to note, though.
Yeah. I will resurface sometime after the 9th, when my final assignment (the presentation) is done. Until then, I'll be working on stuff.
Apparently, my body has decided that we cannot survive on less than like, 12 hours of sleep a night. Which is annoying, not to mention impossible to maintain.
And MySQL is giving me fits. Says I can't login as root, or set up an anonymous account, even after I've reinstalled it a million times. So I downloaded the other installer... or, am trying to download, I guess. For some reason, my super spiffy business class line... is only supporting 1KB down at the moment. Weird.
Not a whole lot to say though. Stuff happened this weekened... Chad got a car (SUV) to replace the dying Intrepid... Some crackho/stupid kid stole my gameboy... we played games with friends and family in the Memphis area (when we weren't car shopping)... we did lots of stuff. but for some reason, I don't feel like saying much.
I need to go write papers and stuff. Because lots of it is due this week. And more of it is due next week. And I will be gone most of the weekend enjoying the sights of North Carolina while Chad enjoys the sights of the end of the World (the White Wolf world, of course. Don't worry... it restarts in January. As if you were worried. Ha). I will have my computer... but I'm not sure how much internet access I will have, as I refuse to pay some outrageous per hour fee for wireless like the last couple of hotels I have stayed in charged. Maybe ours will be more reasonable. Or maybe I'll have to find the library, or an internet cafe or something.
But yeah. If I'm quiet, that's why.
Oh yeah... a key fell off of my keyboard today. One day. After. I was in a town with a Best Buy where they could fix it. Stupid thing will have to wait until Christmas break. Grr.
I really am going to go do more work now (my first paper of the night, due tomorrow, is about 75 words from being finished. Then I have to write a bunch of software engineering stuff, and an abstract for a paper on user interfaces... and something else that I can't remeber right now).
Yeah. That about sums it up today. Not enough sleep last night. And apparently, I scared Chad out of his mind last night by screaming bloody murder because I was dreaming about spiders (I remember very little of this, but he swears it's true).
So I need to pick a concentration. Torn between AI and Software Engineering.
AI: awesome topic, would have no problem coming up with a thesis and/or project, very excited about it... but not so marketable on the Masters level. Most jobs in AI are research, and require a PhD.
Software Engineering: Boring topic. I like the testing and the documentation and stuff, but the project management aspect is killing me. No idea for any kind of thesis/project topic... but very very marketable.
I'm really leaning towards AI, with a certificate in SE... but I'm trying to figure out where I want to go with it. If I want to chase a PhD, I really need to do so before Chad and I decide to have kids... ie, while Chad is still in school.
I don't know... but I can't pick a major professor until I pick a concentration (works like that for some reason).
So I'm sitting in this class, and it's boring. I mean. Really. I think this teacher (I won't post her name, just in case) is the only perosn in the world who could make this stuff sooooo comfusing and soooo boring.
And the one class I really want to take next semester... she teaches. At 8am.
Only my love for AI will get me up for that class...
Eh. Another early morning spent in Butler Hall. Waiting for class to start. It's five minutes till, and no one else has bothered to show up... I wonder if I missed an e-mail from the instructor? Something along the lines of, "I don't feel like getting up this morning, so we're not having class."
On a happier note, I finished my take-home test last night, so it's ready to turn in today. And, yesterday, a teacher changed a due date for a paper so that instead of being due next week, it was due last week... but because I had done the paper early, I turned it in right when she changed the due date, and didn't get any points counted off. Yay for me.
So... Today I have added two pages to my (supposed to be) 10 page paper, thus bringing me up to 5 pages total... I have written another 2 page paper... I have written 2 typed pages of information (including the references page) for a take home test... and I have done random bioinformatics research to find enough information to fill said 2 pages of take home test... and attended all three of my classes.
ok... So I feel compelled to share this, as it is frustrating me. These are the CS department formatting rules for page numbers on papers and other such assignments:
Use page numbers as required for theses, dissertations, and directed project reports. Specifically:
Do not put a page number on the cover pages.
Number the first page of an abstract or summary page number 1. Place the page number in the center at the bottom of the page. Set the bottom margin for the text at 1.25 inches and set the bottom margin for the footer at 1.0 inch so that there will be a margin of 1.0 inch below the page number.
On each subsequent page of text, place the page number in the right top corner of the page, one inch from the top of the page. This can be accomplished by defining a header in which the page number is right justified, the margin for the header is 1.0 inch, and the margin for the text is 1.25 inches.
Place the page number in the center of the bottom of the page for the first page of the reference list. Leave a margin of 1.0 inch below the page number. If the reference list requires more than one page, place the page number for subsequent pages in the top right corner of each page with a margin of 1.0 inch above it.
I'm sorry... that's just too confusing.
Now I have to go figure out how to make MS Word (or open office, I'm not picky) actually *do* that... Or I could go to bed. Tempting...
Today is a bad day. Capital BAD. Capital DAY. Everyone from the Coast is stressed out about Ivan. The brochure that I am (was) supposed to do for the church isn't going so well (the printer says it got messed up between the Macs on campus and her Mac... go figure). On the way to get my paycheck, my car stopped working (as I was in the ERC parking lot, this wasn't as catastophic as it could have been). And they don't have my paycheck, even though I've worked for a month and they haven't paid me yet... somehow, they lost my paperwork or something. So... I'm now at school (not at work, where I should be)... sans working car, sans paycheck (aka, money to fix car). Hopefully, Chad and I can get it working tonight... (I think it's the starter).
And Dr. Bridges said she's going ot take points off of my paper because I didn't follow all the formatting rules (i.e., I single spaced where she took off points for double spaceing last time).
So I have an 8am class Tuesdays and Thursdays... which is not so good for my sleep schedule, but I can deal with it, you know? But, now that I am a day commuter student, I have to find a place to park (preferably without walking from say, the Wesley). So... I have to get here before 7:30. Because there are only 6 day commuter student parking places near my building. If I arrive at 7:30 exactly, I have to park on the other side of Chad's old dorm, and walk here, meaning I get to my classroom at about 7:45. If I get here at 7:45, there are no parking space there, and I have to park behind my old dorm (which is now condemned). And I get to class at 7:55 (if I walk fast).
There should be married student dorms. Or apartments like, right in the middle of campus.
But I guess they'll have to solve the current housing problem first (we're down three dorms this semester... and the next new one isn't slated to be finished until August or December 2005).
Chad makes good fried chicken. Just in case you wondered.
Also. Learned an important lesson today. Never do any homework before it's actually due. I did homework like, four or five days before it was due, and the prof changed the assignment. So now I have to redo it. According to the new assignment. We love professors.
Thought of the day: Do football coaches really wear $28 underwear?
p.s. posting from class during lecture is eVil. but fun. :-)
Survived the first day of class... discovered that one of my classes is going to require 4 10-page papers and a project. *sigh* So much for free time...
School starts a week from today... Yay! I am so looking forward to all of my classes... and I'm going to spend less than $100 on books this year, for like, the first time ever. Graduate student = fewer classes = few books. Yay for me! I think I'm gonna go buy my books and price Chad's this afternoon. other than that, I'm mostly out of errands to run... nothing left ot do but program and write thank-you notes from now until school starts ;-)
Anyway... My sleep schedule is (slowly) trying to return to normal, due to the fact that Chad's in band camp and has to be asleep by a semi-reasonable hour every night... hopefully all will be good when school starts.
Back in Starkville, for a day or two. Back for good Saturday, as Band Camp starts Sunday, and Chad needs to be here for that. I am so looking forward to classes this semester... I have an awesome schedule, I like all of my professors, and I have a class with William (and as of yesterday, he's in my lab, too). The fact that my schedule is the complete opposite of Chad's schedule is a little bit of a downer... but typical.
On a side note here... I hate spam. Not SPAM, the canned meat stuff, which I kind of like sometimes with egg on a sammich... but spam. The annoying e-mail crap you get constantly, that keeps you from paying attention to the real (like, important) e-mail you have gotten. Like this morning... 216 spam messages. 0 real messages. but I had to look at everything im my spam folder, as I am expecting a couple of e-mails from professors, that occasionally look like spam. Grrr.
Somehow, the fact that this is the last set of undergrad finals I'm ever going to have to take isn't so encouraging...
Pray for Nick (or light a candle, or keep him in your thoughts, or send him positive energy, or whatever it is that you people do)... there's never a good time for a sudden death in the family... but two days before finals start has to be one of the worst.
Yay for the rediscovery of information on old hard drives :-)
Not yay for people who change White Wolf schedules at the last possible minute, thereby throwing chaos into any plans people might have made on the weird assumption that these things were somewhat static.
Yay for sleep. I don't often get much of it, but I've slept for basically three or four days now, and I think it might be kind of addictive. I dunno... maybe I should break the habit before it gets worse :-)
Not yay for doctor's appointments. Because they suck.
Yay for good grades, and a good class schedule (tenatively) for next semester.
Not yay for having to deal with stupid people. That has to be like, my biggest pet peeve ever... stupid people really really get to me. I don't think I can stress this one enough...
Ok. All I can think of for the moment.
Thinking about going to sleep. Somewhat hyper, but not the fun kind of hyper that makes you jump around and do things... more the edgy kind of hyper you get from lack of sleep... or too much sleep, I guess. That's prolly it. I've slept too much. I should boycott sleep tonight... heh heh heh.
This is my brain..... in part, at least.
