Something for Grandpa on Father's Day

Yup, that's Betty White - on a nudie deck in the 1940s (which was surely part of the war effort), looking as cute as a button.

Happy Father's Day!

New Skin for an Old Blog

When I first started on Blogger, way back in April 2005 (before I even started my PhD, if you can believe it), you couldn't change the template without losing all of your manually-entered links. Now look at all the fancy!

I started this blog because I was anxiously waiting to move here and start my new degree, and I couldn't find work so I had time to kill... Funny how life has sort of come full circle on that one. Though with less time to kill now, thanks to tot.

My first blog was, if I recall, a black/blue/green/beige affair. Then it was red/white/grey for a bit. Then I got into the minima templates, but with custom colours, and did that for a long time. But, today, the blog has a new, fresh look - like spilled watercolours. Nice, I think.

Today I put in three of the last four teaching apps, with the final one due on Monday - it makes sense that the blog get a rejuvenation right now, at a transition in my life. Just the same as it started.

ETA: Decided to go with the Victorian poppies, instead - I've always been partial to things that look like old naturalist sketches.

Watermelon and Other Joys

So, I finally found a watermelon! When I was a kid, you see, my mum would always get me a watermelon to celebrate when I "graded" at the end of the school year. It seems very fitting for me to have one this year. It's delicious.

This morning, I woke up early after a full night's sleep. The tot was still asleep, so I did my puttering and email in peace. I got an email from a dept on campus to let me know they've received my application and would let me know if they wanted an interview. I checked my forums, etc. Someone in the US Googled me by name - interesting.

At about 7.30, I was a bit chilly, so I climbed into bed beside the tot. He was very warm, but had a wet pair of PJ bottoms. Briefly considered rousing him for a diaper/PJ change; I decided to let him sleep. He smelled like high apple juice content urine, but otherwise was very snuggly. So I ignored the pee, and the cold wet against me, and kissed him on the head. My little pee-covered angel.

He woke up a little while later, and had breakfast. For some reason, he decided to eat his apple sauce out of his toy wok. I decided not to interfere. Different strokes for different folks, right?

My coffee is nearly brewed, and I've had a nice bowl of sweet, juicy melon. Talked to my mum, and even her slagging my apartment, etc., has not destroyed my good mood. Moms are as moms are, right?

Today, I clean, and try to resume normal life again. I've got about 5 apps left (due Friday and Monday), so I guess now I just have to live and keep zen while I wait and hope.

And try to enjoy the little things in life.

Professional Development

Today, I spent the afternoon working on my teaching dossier and setting up a website for myself so I can include the link on my CV. It's kind of a load of horse poop, but they expect you to do these things to show how "serious" you are about teaching. sigh.

Not sure what a schmaltzy "teaching philosophy" and a chintzy freewebs site has to do with dedication, but whatever.

In other news, I had to turn down three shifts in two days. Breaks my heart. double sigh.

ETA: I should clarify here that it isn't even the money that bothers me about turning down these shifts as it is saying no over and over again to people who are actually trying to help me out by tossing work my way. Seriously considering just quitting that job, as it really isn't practical for me any more (doesn't pay enough for childcare, and is too random for a regular daycare schedule), and must be annoying for them to have me keep saying no. I'll think on that for a while.

On a more optimistic note, I have two more job apps to do for later in the week (Thursday and Friday), so *fingers crossed*.

E-Mail is a Wonderful Thing

I got up at 6am to do a job app, for which today is the deadline. I know, I should have done it earlier, but I was busy getting the Pittsburgh postdoc app in last night. Anyway, doing it today was the only option that didn't involve my eyeballs bleeding from exhaustion (I was asleep by 10 last night - glorious!).

BUT, I just wanted to note. I have some errands to run on one side of town, and my application was due this morning on campus (other side of town), so I was reconciling myself to a bit of a toddler-in-tow trek today, only to discover (lo and behold!) the dept prefers email submissions.

Glory be! Maybe it really is a new century, afterall!

I can't wait until the days of paper submissions are over with for uni depts - a little less wasted paper, and I get to do my banking AND apply for a job without passing Admiral Byrd in the process!

HUZZAH!

K, Who Googled Me?

My Academia page has a nifty feature, where it tells me if someone finds it via Googling my name. Today, I got such a notification, so I went to check out where the person was from, thinking it might be connected to my Ohio application which just became complete yesterday.

Well, it turns out it was from Canada, where I currently have no applications, as I just got my rejection from the Anthro dept today, and the other 5 or 6 I am doing aren't due until next week. Yet, they read my papers and looked at my CV.

Curious.

True, they might have been Googling someone else with the same name, though that's not extremely likely.

I guess it's not a huge deal, but I am just wondering who in Canada wanted to see my CV and such. Really dying for a good opportunity to come my way, so I really hope they liked what they saw. I'm holding out hope.

Just curious.

Expecting the Reaper

So, I played with one of those Life Expectancy Calculator thingies.

I got 98 years.

That's more than the train robbers got!

I guess smoking isn't working as a replacement for a retirement fund. dang.

(ETA: Apparently, I can squeeze out another seven years if I stop a bunch of stuff and let the doctors poke me with sharp objects more often... I think I'm good, actually, thanks.)

Focus

Childless today - the tot is happily off to the park, etc, with a friend. It seems another friend is going to the park with them - a lady who Sprout flirts with outrageously. He will be a happy boy. :)

Also, the Ohio app is safely off on its way. YAY! I look forward to reading their rejection letter with interest and enthusiasm.

OK... Use time productively. Today's objective: Complete lecture draft. Then, if I have time, it's time to hit my "Q&A" crib notes book, and look through the drafts for committee question topics.

***

PS. I also should get around to the Pittsburgh application, as I told my references I would have my materials for them to view as soon as I could. That is a priority this weekend... Hm. Seems like I should soon make a new priority list. But not now - I know the demons of "To Do List" procrastination all too well. It is second only to the "Well, I'll Check that Forum Just Once More" procrastination technique. Today, I will resist both.

Today is for focusing and finishing a major task.

GO GO GO.

(And, thanks, K., for the time to myself.)

I've Got Mail? Please? How About Now? Now?

Threatening your computer does not make email come faster, FYI.

I am dying with anxiety waiting for my external reader report, which my advisor unwisely decribed as "any minute now." So, literal-thinker that my neurosis is, I have a compulsion to refresh my email over and over.

(She is also waiting for it to come from grad studies, who may be waiting for it to come from the external - it is a cycle of waiting, with all of the anxiety pooling somewhere around my thyroid.)

Literally going nuts here, but I can. not. step. away. GAH.

It doesn't help that I have also sent out a billion emails on everything from my tuition crisis to my postdoc references (generally as part of a "well, if I'm checking a million times, anyway, I may as drop a note to Ms XYZ" haze to try to make staring at my email looking somewhat productive). So, now, I am also sitting and refreshing hoping someone will reply to one of those.

On the plus side, my spam box has been cleared numerous times.

JUST SEND ME THE DAMN REPORT AND NOBODY GETS HURT.

Fame at Last

I got an email this morning from an "international publishing house," Lampert Academic Publishing, saying they had read my dissertation abstract on Academia.edu and would be pleased to consider my dissertation for publication once I am finished. I must admit there was a thrill of possibility in that first second of reading, but then came the "wait... there must be a catch?"

Well, a bit of research has confirmed they are indeed a publishing company, and they do sell academic type books, and they do pay you royalties once a year if the book ever turns a profit. However, it seems that they basically publish anything. So, I basically got hit up by a vanity press - just one that doesn't charge you.

I am not ranting about this, as I guess this would be an option if I didn't intend to continue in academics. You get one free copy, so that's nice, I guess. Yet, it is a bit of an annoyance, simply because there was a moment there where I was flattered/excited, before my better instincts kicked in. I was pleased to have an option in case Brandeis (who has already bought the right of first refusal) passes on it - which they certainly may do. So, it doesn't appear to be a scam, necessarily, but it is rather a let down.

Maybe I will offer them my MA thesis - if they publish that, they will certainly publish anything, and then we'll know for sure.

***

ETA: If one is interested in publishing grad research in a less shady way, there is always UMI, which is pretty well-respected, and they make no bullspit about wide international sales. To be honest, I actually am considering sending them my MA thesis, simply to say I did something with the damn thing.

weird wki thought

now that i am close to finishing, when do i get my wiki page?

i'm tired.

20 Days til D-Day

Here's a snazzy little thing I found, where someone asks the question on all our minds - Does anyone actually ever fail their defence?

Turns out, some do - but they generally bring it on themselves.

So, here's hoping my advisor doesn't soon have a story to tell about "someone who actually failed."

gulp.

23 Days til D-Day

Recently, I started feeling like I was missing out on the networking end of professional life, but was generally unwilling to return to Facebook. Luckily, I found Academia when Googling a former classmate's contact info, and have signed myself up. It's like FB for academics, but less personal - and more space for CV and publications, etc. I'm kind of hoping I can make some contacts for the use of job hunting. We shall see.

My external reader has already befriended me... I think that is a good thing. I think.

Got a little freaked out about the defence yesterday when the advisor emailed me to make sure I wasn't freaking out, which seems rather counter-productive. Am feeling a bit better now.

But, holy poop! JUST 23 DAYS LEFT.

OK, now I really have to get down to brass tacks on this sucker.

Drive-By Update

Been working a lot for money, without internet, which has cut into my blogging.

Am doing some extra reading to keep the mind working for the defence, which is now less than 40 days away (see ticker). Wrote a rough draft of my defence lecture, but will do a lot of editing to it, as well as practice, over the next month. I am way behind on my question prep - please make any suggestions that come to mind.

Things are ok, the tot is fine. Been watching a lot of Due South on my off-time. Submitted my final annual progress report, but renewed my student ID. Finished my marking gig. Job interview went very well. Weather is very nice.

Exciting, huh?

Calm Blue Ocean

Harassed at every corner, by aggravating students and bill collectors and student loan paper work and dissertation crap, along with that stupid poison control certification thingy through campus which is pretty damn stupid for someone who never uses chemicals in her work, the intrepid student/mom sallies forth into the world to try to sort her life out. If, that is, she can get away from the overdue vital email exchange with one of her readers that seems to be suddenly crucial to her submission deadline...

F********************************CK!

Gordon Lightfoot's Not Dead, According to Him.

Gordon Lightfoot's management says an Internet hoax created false rumours that the iconic Canadian folksinger had died Thursday.

Bernie Fiedler, Lightfoot's concert promoter, said the rumour started on Twitter.

"I just spoke to Gordon," Fiedler said in an interview, noting the singer was in good health. "He just got out of the dentist."

Lightfoot told CP24 Thursday afternoon that he has no idea what began the rumour he had died. "I was quite surprised to hear it myself driving in . . . to my office," he said. "I haven't had so much airplay for weeks."

http://www.canada.com/health/Gordon+Lightfoot+death+hoax/2582156/story.html

Glad to hear it.

A New Addition to My Favourite Sites:

This one.

Movie posters are an under-appreciated art form. Also a lesser-known treasure trove of idiocy.

Spam FTF

"Learn the joy of having a huge hose."

My literal imagination is giddy with this one.

A new fav, Demotivational Posters - always good for a laugh.