LE's other Journal

Moved

2007-09-01T03:34:35Z

I've moved to Ohio to start at postdoc at Ohio State. I have a new address and phone number. The old address will still forward my mail, but it will take longer. The old phone number will still be good until around the 22 September. The old email will work in perpetuity.

If you have reason to want either the new address or the new phone, leave your address or phone in comments with your email and I'll send it out. I've screened comments on this post so only I get to see your particulars.

Grey hair?

2007-07-11T20:09:01Z

In March, I painted the ceiling in the downstairs bathroom. Roller painting an overhead means that you're showered with a fine mist of paint. Afterwards, my head was a dingy grey color. I combed out the paint and washed my hair, but I kept finding individual strands with white sections. 2" brown, 1" white, 3" brown, that sort of thing. As time went on, these stealth dalmation hairs decreased in number.

Yesterday, I saw another single line of white in my hair. More paint, think I. Thought I got it all, think I.

Not paint.

I blame dissertation stress.

another paper

2007-03-14T22:47:25Z

On Tuesday last, I sent an email to Michael about submitting a paper to a conference proceedings. Papers could be 10-20 pages, double spaced (about 4-8 pages as formatted like a journal).

On Wednesday, he said I should do it.

On Thursday afternoon, I threw together some writing and played with latex stylefiles for a few hours. mmmm... stylefiles. Stopped work around 5 to pick up Lea, took the evening off.

On Friday morning, I emailed him a draft of a paper minus a bit of analysis. He volunteered (!) to write up the last bits of it, translating my slides to text, so that he could better understand the writing.

On Monday noon, I got the revision back from him, smoothed a little text, and sent it back. 20 pages.

On Monday afternoon, he submitted it. He was so excited about what a slick paper it was that he thinks we should submit it to Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research (PRST-PER), the premier journal in the field.

Later on Monday, he emails me *again* to ask if we can submit. He attaches a version that has been reformatted to use APS style instead of APA style.

Today we meet and I outline twenty minutes of changes to make it stronger. He agrees.

Some comments:
Michael is a great advisor.
I am a fast writer.
I didn't know it was possible to make a paper that quickly.
Perhaps I should update my C-V.

ler @ 2007-02-14T08:14:00

2007-02-14T13:16:32Z

SNOW DAY!!!!

Lea and I get to stay home.

To bad I still have a 20-minute powerpoint to analyze data for tomorrow, daycare is canceled, and Matt still has to work.

Tegaderm!

2007-01-26T17:38:43Z

Every winter, I get horrible cuticles. Peeling, bleeding, constant badness. I run lanolin on them; I rub shea butter on them. I wear bandaids (Band-aid brand Tough Strips -- they actually stay on all day!).

Today I discovered a new and improved bandaid. It's Tegaderm. Clear, bendy, like sticky saran-wrap. Breathable (or so it claims) and designed to be worn all week (or "until new skin grows"). You can type with them on.

Kinda expensive, but better than the Tough Strips.

ler @ 2007-01-17T16:28:00

2007-01-17T21:43:21Z

Well, it's been a while. The longer I don't post, the more I feel like I should be posting, but that it would be somewhat incongruous to shift back into the swing of posting without mentioning what I've been up to for the last few months. Then again, I don't really want to write an exhaustive (exhausting?) update.

Somewhat incongruous it is, then.

Semester starts this week. This semester, I'm taking two classes -- Stat Mech and Electrodynamics -- and dissertating. I have one job interview (Ohio State) and one conference (CRUME in San Diego, which I hope will also result in job interviews). I have a lead on another job. I don't have to teach this semester, so I'm really hopeful about writing.

This month I have a one-hour job-interview colloquium to write (mostly done), some data to analyze, and interview protocols to write. I also plan to rough out Chapter 5 of my dissertation -- Chapters 2-4 are already roughed, and the other chapters are mostly filler (Introduction, Conclusion, Future Work).

Next month is travel, then writing a 25-minute talk on this month's data, then more travel and exams.

In March, I plan a full rough draft of the dissertation to send to my advisor. Lea turns one.

In April, it's edit edit edit and then some data analysis for more editing. May sees the dissertation distributed to the committee. Tentatively, I defend in June. July is travel, first for fun then for more conferences. August is travel, first for conferences and then for moving. September is the start of my new job (I hope I hope).

--

In the somewhat shorter term, Lea has a doctor's appointment on Thursday. She's a bit behind on her speech skills, and a hearing test last week revealed moderate hearing loss due to fluid in ears. Perhaps she'll get tubes.

--

I plan to update more regularly.

Traveling again

2006-08-27T23:08:01Z

Matt, Lea and I are traveling!

Wednesday 13 September: drive to Arlington to stay with Matt's sister
Thursday 14 September: I'm giving a talk at MIT; Matt and Lea are wandering the city, lost.
Friday 15 September: Breakfast with my mom in Boston, later drive back to Bangor.

Matt got the time off!

Any Boston-types want a job?

2006-07-06T21:32:25Z

From my mom:

Do you know anyone around here who would like to work for Best Doctors in the Boston office? Needed someone with experience in the following areas:

General attributes: Smart, willing to work with and support our team, quick study, detail-capable, good verbal communications skills, excellent written skills, good problem-solver, marketing a huge plus

Computer skills--helping sort and scan medical records & electronic filing, putting together PP presentations and working with marketing dept, tracking our work and designing/maintaining ways to do that (Filemaker Pro is what we are instituting), helping develop forms and systems to keep our work flowing smoothly, graphic design helpful (Photoshop, etc.)

Other stuff: Able to travel across town once in awhile to do support for one of our docs, who is a world-class genius in his field but from time to time forgets how to set up and use his computer, email, internet access, fax, and so forth. And the usual "other duties as necessary." Work is in a corporate environment, but an easy-going one. Work with people of many different cultures (mostly South American, but also European, Oriental, and India-Indian), but the candidate doesn't have to be multilingual. Beautiful building a five minute walk from Park Street, State Street, or South Station and across the street from the Old State House.

Maybe a college communications grad who is good at computers, but anyone who can do the job would be welcome. MMA business or other grads could do this, even though there's nothing particularly maritime about it except the fabulous view of Boston Harbor and Old Ironsides from the 32nd floor. Salary will start somewhere in the 30Ks. This is a 37.5 hour/wk job with great benefits. If you know anyone who is looking for an interesting job with opportunities for advancement in the business, please have them contact me!

Peace Fleece

2006-06-25T00:03:08Z

The yarn for the Peace Fleece Co-op is here and boxed and ready! You should have received an email from me with your shipping total.

Thank you everyone who participated! I'm sorry for the delay in notification, but my internet connection has been down all week. If you missed it this time, or if you're an unusually fast and prolific knitter, I plan to run another co-op sometime this fall or winter.

academic parenting

2006-06-20T14:40:36Z

It seems like most of the posts in academicparents are about people trying to decide if having kids in grad school is a good idea. I usually respond with the same sort of post: a bunch of reasons why we decided to have Lea while I am a PhD student in physics. I started trying to conceive when I had passed my comprehensive exams and set a date for my Master's thesis defense, having finished the bulk of my coursework for my PhD.

Some of our reasons might not apply to everyone, and I'd like to hear about others' reasons (for and against) as well. I plan to add this entry to my memories and point prospective parents to it.

Academic timelines
In academia, there's really only two times you're not on the clock: graduate school and post-tenure pre-department-chair (well, and also retirement, but I'm not planning to be ovulating then). In a graduate program, it's ok to take an extra semester or year to finish a degree. Employers don't care. In contrast, taking some time off before getting a tenure track job means it's harder to get back into the workforce. If you have a tenure-track job, some schools will let you extend your tenure clock for childcare; some won't. You're not guaranteed of getting a school which agrees on paper, let alone in reality.

Health
We're left with two real options: grad school, and tenure. I'm 25 in grad school, but I don't expect tenure before I'm 40. It is easier, cheaper, and less complicated to have a baby at 25 than it is at 40. It is also easier to keep odd baby-centric hours at 25, easier to bounce back after childbirth, and easier to keep up with a toddler. Plus, having a baby at 25 instead of 40 means 15 more years of grandparenthood for my folks, and a chance for Lea to meet her great-grandmothers.

Living on the cheap
It's true that tenured faculty make more money than graduate students. However, as a graduate student with a 411-operator husband (he makes as little as I do), I make enough money to buy a house, have two cars, and go on dates every week. We have fantastic health insurance, but if we didn't, we would qualify for state health insurance. We make enough money to have a kid now. Breast milk is free; cloth diapers are cheaper than disposables. Everyone gives you infant clothes. Small babies are cheap. If I were to have kids at 40, I'd be worrying about how to fund their college tuition and my retirement at the same time; this way, I can spread out the big expenditures.

Daily life
As a graduate student who's not taking classes, I'm only scheduled to teach and have meetings. As a senior graduate student, I get first pick as to which classes I teach, so I can arrange my schedule so that Lea doesn't need regular daycare and I can keep working full-time. My advisor is extremely supportive and lets me research at my own pace and keep my own hours as long as the work gets done. My peers are having babies at around the same time I am, so we can have playgroups and daycare swaps together, and that gets me adult social interaction as well as cheap babycare.

ler @ 2006-06-02T14:28:00

2006-06-02T18:32:20Z

Peace Fleece yarn is a wool/mohair blend, very sturdy, in gorgeous colors. It's my wool of choice for soakers and longies (and sweaters and hats, too). A 200yd/4oz skein usually retails for $7.50, but with wholesale pricing they go for $4.50+tax. They also sell the best hardwood double and single point needles. There are beautiful kits for knitting and felting.

I'm putting together another yarn purchasing co-op to get wholesale prices.

Details:
The wholesale pricing information is available here. The regular catalog, which has a color chart and some descriptions, is available here.

I live in Maine, and will drive to pick up the yarn. That means that we don't have to pay shipping to my house (yay!), but we do have to pay Maine State sales tax (5%). That means that each skein of worsted weight yarn will be $4.73. That's still a good deal.

In addition, there's the cost of shipping your part of the order from Bangor, ME. For about 3 skeins, I estimate shipping costs at $4.55 in the continental US (USPS priority mail flat rate + delivery confirmation). For more skeins, the flat rate may not apply. Sending 3 pounds across the country would be about $7.50 (parcel post with delivery confirmation). If you live in Canada or overseas, I don't know how much it will cost to ship, but I can send you an estimate from usps.com.

If you'd like to participate, you need to pre-pay for the yarn and sales tax. Please let me know what colors and how many you'd like. I can take funded Paypal or e-check at le AT zaposa.com. If you need to use a credit card, please add a dollar for paypal fees and send to esayre AT gmail.com.

When I get the yarn, I'll send you an email with the actual postage. I ship everything with delivery confirmation. Before I ship, you need to pay the shipping costs. I'm not going to tack on a handling fee but if your order won't fit in the free priority mail envelopes I will charge you for the box. Whatever the post office tells me is how much I'll ask for.

I would like to send the order to Peace Fleece on Wednesday, June 14 and will probably pick it up on Tuesday, June 20.

Travel plans

2006-04-26T14:27:23Z

Lea and I are going to a wedding in Portland, Oregon, at the end of May. We would love to see any and all who are in the Boston or Portland areas and wish to see us.

Plans:
Wed 24 May: Depart Bangor midmorning; arrive Boston-land midafternoon. Hang out? until after dinner? Continue on to Cape Cod.
Thu 25 May: Leave Cape midmorning; arrive Boston late morning. Depart Logan Airport late afternoon. Lunch in Boston?
Fri 26 May: In Portland all day
Sat 27 May: In Portland all day
Sun 28 May: Wedding in the evening.
Mon 29 May: Disgustingly early plane flight back to Boston, arrives 5pm, immediate drive to Cape.
Tue 30 May: Drive from Cape to Bangor, stop in Boston?

If you'll be around when we're around and want to catch up, comment.

Announcing!

2006-03-20T09:02:08Z

Alathea Marie Sayre was born shortly before noon on Thursday, 16 March. She was six pounds, fifteen ounces and 19.5 inches at birth. She has a full head of hair, and loves to nurse and cuddle.

I went into labor around midnight on Wednesday, and woke [sayre99] up around 2ish with contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart. They stayed spaced about that far until about 11:15, when I was fully dilated and started pushing. She was born half an hour later. I had some Stadol around 8 to help me sleep, but other than that I didn't have any other meds or interventions until a local numbing shot when her head crowned. I tore pretty badly, but I've been pretty free of pain and more mobile than I expected to be.

Lea was pretty sedate from the Stadol and she got dehydrated, which sent her to the NICU for observation and IV fluids. She came home yesterday and is doing really well. Matt and I are in a happy daze, and I feel pretty healthy. My mom is visiting this week, and it's great to have her here to help.

I'll post some pictures up on Zaposa when I can get them off the camera.

no news

2006-02-26T19:44:26Z

I've hit the "still pregnant" stage. I'm full-term on Friday.

I have four days left of scheduled work and then a bunch of unscheduled work, including an abstract to submit for AAPT this summer and some curricula to write for the end of the semester.

Group B strep test on Monday. Let's hope I'm negative. I'd rather stay away from IV antibiotics.

Does this shirt make me look pregnant, or just fat?

2006-02-19T23:31:01Z

I told the women at Stich-n-bitch on last week that I'm pregnant. I was showing off a ballet-style sweater I made for Lea. One of the women mentioned that it was the perfect size for a newborn. I said it was part of a matched set with some pants I had made, but that I didn't want to pick traditional baby colors for it (it's sahkalin salmon with firebird orange accents). They asked who it was for, and I said it would probably be for my baby. Here's the scary part: When they said they didn't know I had a baby and I said I'm 34 weeks pregnant, they were surprised. One of them said she never would have guessed, she thought I might have just been gaining weight.

Today, at social hour, a woman asked what I was knitting. I said it was coming-home-from-the-hospital pants to match the sweater I had. She asked who had just had a baby; I said no one, but that I am pregnant and due in a month. She looked at me, surprised, and said, "I didn't know you were pregnant". Is this hard to figure out? Do I need a sign?

It gets better, though. Not 10 minutes earlier, Michael (my advisor) and I were just talking about how large I feel and how much larger I'm going to get before GIVING BIRTH in a MONTH. She was sitting next to me the whole time.

Maybe I should stop going out in public without a placard. Or one of those flowery empire-waist elasticized tops.

Today's pet peeve

2006-02-08T12:18:56Z

I hate it when people say, "I don't believe in X" when they mean "I don't believe that doing X is acceptable". The latest example is from booju_mooju, where some idiot said, "I don't believe in divorce."

What, is divorce like the Tooth Fairy? Because last time I checked, divorce was legal fact.

Peace fleece co-op

2006-01-20T16:48:27Z

Peace Fleece yarn is a wool/mohair blend, very sturdy, in gorgeous colors. It's my wool of choice for soakers and longies (and sweaters and hats, too). A 200yd/4oz skein usually retails for $7.50, but with wholesale pricing they go for $4.50+tax. They also sell the best hardwood double and single point needles. There are beautiful kits for knitting and felting.

I'm putting together a yarn purchasing co-op to get wholesale prices.

Details:
The wholesale pricing information is available here. The regular catalog, which has a color chart and some descriptions, is available here.

I live in Maine, and will drive to pick up the yarn. That means that we don't have to pay shipping to my house (yay!), but we do have to pay Maine State sales tax (5%). That means that each skein of worsted weight yarn will be $4.73. That's still a good deal.

In addition, there's the cost of shipping your part of the order from Bangor, ME. For about 3 skeins, I estimate shipping costs at $4.05 in the continental US (USPS priority mail flat rate + delivery confirmation). For more skeins, the flat rate may not apply. Sending 3 pounds across the country would be about $7.50 (parcel post with delivery confirmation). If you live in Canada or overseas, I don't know how much it will cost to ship, but I can send you an estimate from usps.com.

If you'd like to participate, you need to pre-pay for the yarn and sales tax. Please let me know what colors and how many you'd like. I can take funded Paypal or e-check at le AT zaposa.com. If you need to use a credit card, please add a dollar for paypal fees and send to esayre AT gmail.com.

When I get the yarn, I'll send you an email with the actual postage. I ship everything with delivery confirmation. Before I ship, you need to pay the shipping costs. I'm not going to tack on a handling fee, so whatever the post office tells me is how much I'll ask for.

I would like to send the order to Peace Fleece on Monday, January 30.

EMMC L&D atatistics

2006-01-19T20:26:49Z

Some statistics about EMMC L&D:

In the last month, there were 132 births, 36 c-sections (27%). Contrast with the national rate (23%) or Herbig's claim about the national rate (25%).
Of the 92 vaginal births, 72 had epidurals. (78%) Contrast with some rates I found for Canadian hospitals, 27.5% in 1998. That's the most comprehensive statistic I could find in a quick search.
~20 (? I forget now) used vacuum extractors. EMMC does not use forceps.

I don't have statistics about how many used pitocin, had episiotomies, or were medically induced labors.

On the plus side, we are done with childbirth class. And I feel confident that I will be spending as much time as possible laboring at home.

Hellsing and travel

2005-12-23T15:00:47Z

I accidently got Matt a copy of Hellsing (complete series) when we already had one. Anyone want it? It's still shrink-wrapped.

Also, I'm going to the Cape today for the weekend, back on Wednesday or thereabouts. I plan to stop in Boston on my way down and back. Call my cell to see me today, or send me email (or call my cell) to see me whilst I'm gone or on my way back.

fan service

2005-11-28T01:42:00Z

I don't post here often. I keep most of my daily inanities on plans, which is only for Grinnellians. Looking back through my posts, there seem to be three kinds: updates about pregnancy, controversial political posts, and gosh-I-haven't-posted-in-a-while entries. The former two get more comments than the latter one.

Three comments:
Being pregnant is boring most of the time, with short thrilling bits here and there. However, before I was pregnant, I thought all pregnancy-related posts were fascinating. I have thought about chronicling my symptoms every week or day, to have a record.

I have a lot of controversial political views, mostly related to my strong beliefs about elites and generally concerning education, health care, and (lately) children. I have learned that many people do not agree with my views, and so I don't often share them any more.

I don't usually post small updates about my day here because I think they're boring to read.

And a question:
Would you rather I post more? And about what?

A basic update

2005-11-09T00:20:17Z

It's been a while since I put a big update on my public LJ, so here's a what's-what for things in my life.

School
I'm taking two classes, Cognition and Quantum 2. It looks more likely that I will get a C in Quantum 2 than any other grade. This is bad because I don't want to still be here when the class is finally offered again, and it's required for the PhD. I'd like to say that I just don't have time this semester, but really, it's that Quantum is hard and I don't like spending effort on it. Half-assed effort => low grades. Cognition is a psych class, undergrad, and pretty easy. It's neat looking at how all the theory problems PER is having were (almost) solved in psychology about 40 years ago, but somewhat saddening for my own research, which inadvertently is mimicking a psych theory that was discredited for not being scientific enough. Crap.

Speaking of Research...
I am the senior grad student on the Mechanics 238 Project. Since Katrina (next-most senior) and I are running group meeting these two weeks, last week we used it as an introduction to TAMS Analyzer, the spiffy coding tool we use. This week we're doing a research update, and I'm leery of presenting my theory. Leery of presenting because it's not much improved since August, the last time I presented it, and leery of the theory because I've a nagging suspicion it's neither complete nor testable. Grr. On the plus side, my project now has a monkey -- err, junior grad student whose job is to transcribe.

A not research-related work tidbit: I recently converted my schedule to be MYSQL-backed, thus completing the project that I started my senior year at Grinnell for Sam Rebelsky's class.

On a more social bent,
I'm not very good at meeting people, especially because I like to sit alone and read a lot. I've started a project to help me expand my social circle: going to the UU church in Bangor, which is liberal and not too God-stuffed for comfort. The people are nice, and I'm starting to know non-grad students. It's hard finding peers at school because I'm married (but not churchy), young (but not wild), a science student (and thus paid), and pregnant (but still full-time).

I have two half-projects. The first is Stitch-n-bitch for knitters in Bangor. I went over the summer, but thus far this year I've had to work when they meet. It would be good to go, both to meet new peers and to finally get knitting again. My stash grows too quickly. The second half-project is learning to play Racketball with some of the physics grad students. If I can actually drag myself to go, it'll be good for getting in shape and good for hanging out with grad students.

House (lack of) drama
We have a house. We would like said house to be renovated. We never get around to renovating, so there's lumber and countertops and drywall scattered all over the place. We also need to get some more winterizing done, especially near the doors and the accessible holes in the walls. Saturday, maybe?

Baby planning
I am 20 weeks pregnant. I have started a diaper stash, told my advisor and second-in-command at work that I'll miss the second half of next semester, and made it through the first trimester only vomiting once. I do not yet wear maternity pants; I do feel kicking in the evenings. I keep a lot more details about this in friend-locked posts or on grinnellplans.

SAHP

2005-09-25T19:34:10Z

There's an article on the NYT about girls who go to college and grad school, all the while planning to be stay-at-home parents ("SAHPs"). I think they're idiots, and I wonder that their educations are being wasted on something so irrelevant to their degrees and selfish as being SAHPs.

I plan to take the rest of the semester off (about 2 months) for recuperation, then go back to work. By that point, it will be summer and I'll be working part-time. I'm pretty sure that the days I have to go to work (as opposed to the days I work at home) will be days or times that Matt has off. For the rare days this is not true, I'm looking into other options. We're already on the wait list for the campus daycare for the fall semester, when I'll have to be at work more often than Matt has days off. Since I plan to breastfeed, I'm already looking at various breast pumps, and we picked the campus daycare so that I could nurse during my lunch hour. We also plan to use cloth diapers (but maybe not exclusively), so I'm researching styles to see which ones are most daycare friendly.

Financially, we can't afford for Matt not to work: not only do we need the money to stay above the poverty line, but he's the healthcare provider. Professionally, we can't afford for me not to work: my career is too important to go on hold, and it's my career that forces us into this crappy state. Far better that I finish quickly so we can move somewhere more satisfying. Emotionally, while Matt would like to stay home all the time, playing video games, keeping house, and playing with the kid, I would go batshit crazy without the intellectual stimulation that come from my job and the people I work with. If he were to stay home all the time, I would resent his leisure time more than I already do and he would resent my social time with other adults. Developmentally for the kid, I believe that daycare is an excellent idea, and it's something I would do even if I were independently wealthy and posessed of infinite time. Those are my choices.

Now it's time to rip these girls a collective new one. I think the worst parenting decision any thinking educated adult can make is to drop career goals for a kid or kids. It teaches the kid that having dreams and goals is unimportant and that half of every generation should aspire to nothing further than producing the next. Plus, studies show that kids who go to daycare have better immune systems and better socialization than children of non-working parents.

More often than not, in a household with a SAHP, the working parent has to work crazy hours just to make enough money. That means that the SAHP does almost all the parenting, and neither parent gets much spouse time. That behavior encourages inequality in parenting, and I don't want my kids to think that's a good idea. It also encourages resentment if the working parent wants more kid time, or the SAHP wants more money.

Taking years out of the workforce so that you can stay home with your kids is selfish. I don't think that the duty of the higher-educated is to go forth and make money; I do think the duty of the higher-educated is to go forth and share that learning and its fruits with others. If you have a law degree, you should practice law (preferably helping those that need help, but that's my liberal heart talking). If you have a law degree, it is selfish to take your expertise out of circulation for 10 years merely because you got pregnant a few times and decided to stay home. Planning to permanently implant yourself at home with your children is worse. If you had enough of a professional identity that you got an advanced degree, only to ditch that pretense of identity the moment you popped one out, then you are deceitful as well as selfish.

There's another issue here that I haven't touched on yet. This one is less devisive, I think, and my opinions are less vehement. The overwhelming majority of SAHPs are women. The majority of working parents in two-parent households are men. For me to wish never to be a SAHM and for Matt to occasionally yearn to be a SAHD is unusual. I wonder if there are more men who would like to be SAHP, but their spouses and societal pressures forbid it. The parenting boards I read are almost all women, and occasionally they ridicule the idea of a man wanting to stay home with his kids. They think of this man as both less than a man for not contributing financially, and a less-capable parent than his wife, who will have to clean up after him when she gets home. These women also drip with contempt for women who wholeheartedly choose to have children and work full time. They pity the women who *have* to work, and empathize with the ones who wish they could stay home. They seem untroubled by men who choose to have kids and work full time. I find their inequality creepy.

Pizza is bad for me

2005-08-29T15:00:13Z

Yesterday, I craved pizza, so I made a frozen tomato-and-cheese one. It was tasty.

Before now, my wheat problems manifested themselves in my gut with pain and gas. Last night, the entire roof of my mouth turned into a blistery tender mess. Ow ow ow. I am not pleased. This morning it's mostly healed.

Note to self: Pizza is bad for me.

ler @ 2005-08-04T09:28:00

2005-08-04T13:58:40Z

A quick update:

Tuesday I defended my MST. Passed. In the afternoon, I took another strep test. This time I hope to be negative. We'll see.

Wednesday (yesterday) I wrote two posters to present at two conferences in the next week. I also packed my bag for the AAPT conference.

Thursday (today) I revise my thesis and see Katie defend.

Friday (tomorrow) I drive to Camden, ME for a miniconference (posters and dinner), then to Portland to drop Katie at her in-laws, then to New Hampshire exit 4, where I will stay the night at my brother's swank new digs. I will be sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor.

Saturday (the 6th) my brother drives me to Boston, where I get on a plane and fly to Salt Lake City for the AAPT conference. My poster and I will be traveling separately.

Sunday (the 7th) I am blissfully unscheduled, except for a meeting in the evening to go over my talk. Which means I'll spend the bulk of Sunday sleeping and looking for wireless access as a way to procrastinate about writing my talk.

Monday (the 8th) At conference.

Tuesday (the 9th) Giving a talk in the afternoon at a conference. My talk is about cognitive theory. All the other talks in my section are about computational methods. I'm tempted to write "FUCK YOU ALL" on my second slide as a way of breaking ice.

Wednesday (the 10th) At conference. Actually, switching conferences as the PERC starts up and I have to put up my poster.

Thursday (the 11th) More PERC-y goodness.

Friday (the 12th) Blissfully unscheduled. My plane takes off late in the evening on Friday, the PERC is over Thursday afternoon, and I have no plans other than wandering around and looking for other Grinnellians.

Saturday (the 13th) I arrive in Boston at about 9am. Mother, Brother, and I are planning to get together for lunch, after which Brother will drive me back to my car in New Hampshire. Would love to see some Boston people before lunch as after lunch I expect to be whisked away.

Sunday (the 14th) I drive a van for the FF-PER conference, ferrying people from the Bangor Airport to Bar Harbor. Oh! The excitement! There will be two vans running, and I hope all the cool people decide to take my van. I also hope I get directions before Sunday.

Monday (the 15th) I drive said van to a free lobster dinner in Bar Harbor, then back to Orono, where I exchange it for my car.

Tuesday (the 16th) Someone drives me to Bar Harbor for the rest of the conference.

Wednesday (the 17th) through Saturday (the 20th) In Bar Harbor, with my fried brain, doing more conference things.

procrast -- er, quick update

2005-07-07T17:21:46Z

It's July.

I defend in less than a month. It's so surreal. My MST is almost over. All sections of my thesis are written; some are more crappy than others. The table of contents is just over 3 pages long. I haven't worked on the house in months, and I am quite behind on other work I was supposed to do this summer.

But! I have kept up with my non-work crafts:

I finished several stash-reduction projects, including a scarf-and-hat set (uses up the last of my extra Lamb's Pride Bulky from a cardigan I made last year) and a striped Peace Fleece hat. I also finished the ginormously-bulky top-down ribbed raglan that I started on my Michigan trip in March. My dark-knitting project is now a ribbed hat to use up the last of Lamb's Pride that Sue gave me just before Jennie and Dan's wedding two and a half years ago. Hats are easy to knit in the dark.

I also increased my stash with the purchase of 5 skeins white cotton "homespun" and one skein native Maine wool from the farmer's market. I think the white cotton will be a domino-knit shell and the Maine wool will team up with some Peace Fleece to make stranded color mittens. I'm currently working on a diagonal-knit double-breasted vest for wearing around the house. It's orange with slight varigation, wool, similar in feel to Lamb's Pride. When I finish both of these objects, I think my combination graduation and birthday present this year (they're on the same day!) will be some Noro for the side-to-side cardigan I have in mind.

I got comissioned to make a Cleave for a friend. She wants the sleeves to be more fitted and ribbed all the way up, and she says she might want it to be orange. We're going yarn shopping on Friday. I think it'll knit up in a weekend.

I draped a pants pattern from scratch. It fits pretty well. It's as asymmetric as I am. I think it's going to go to some white linen wide-leg side button pants for my defense. I hope to pair them with a cropped stand-up collar button-front jacket of the same material and same buttons, but that's another draping project. I bought the linen years ago, so this is also stash-reduction. Yay!

I've started my Hot Rods and Gun Bunnies BESM campaign. It goes slowly, but ok. It's hard to read these players. Some of them want more independence, and others want more spoon-fed plot.

I planted a small garden in the front yard, just bulbs and myrtle, and put in some lilacs in the back yard. I've got more myrtle in the house, which the cats keep eating, and some herbs waiting for pots. The Christmas Jade plant has started to send out new leaves again after last summer's traumatic encounter with Naomi, Terror of my Plant Life, and her evil root-digging-up ways.