It is after 3pm and I haven't done too much in the way of work yet today. I feel like I'm trying to avoid it even though I keep telling myself I'm not. Why?
I have a good chunk of thesis written. This week I finished the two gruesome tables I had to include. Just today I DID install Adobe on my computer so that I can make my figures. I have a list in front of me of the figures I need. This week I also finished the results section. Now on to the discussion. Which is what I think I am avoiding writing. That and one more section of my introduction that I don't want to write. I must get to it though! I must overcome!
In my procrastination I started reading thehomelessguy's blog (linked from She Falters' blog). I like it! It reminded me of times I've been confronted by homeless people. Most of the time I'm pretty leery of homeless people because there were many crazy ones where I grew up that were just scary and young women wanted to stay far away from them. But there were a few times when I got to know a homeless person a little. One guy I met in Laramie, WY, played the balalaika. And I have a sneaky feeling that one of my former employers is now homeless or close to it. He was my best friend for a while, I knew him pretty well. I hope he is ok.
June 23, 2006
June 20, 2006
Finished! (with my book)
Yay! On Sunday afternoon I finished War and Peace. It was a nice experience in my life. I believe that my favorite quote (at least that I can think of) is the one I posted before. Yesterday afternoon I picked up Skeleton Crew and read The Mist, a story I hadn't ever read before (I've had the book for years but hadn't read every story). I got completely sucked in and read the whole 155 page story in one sitting. It was really creepy outside too - thunderstorms and rain. That always makes King more intense.
I've read a lot of Stephen King in my life; the last book of his I read was Bag of Bones, around December 2004. Incedentally, that book scared the daylights out of me. But, after not having read him for a while, it was nice to get involved in a story of his style. I love the way he writes. I know it is probably simplistic and too mainstream for literature lovers, but I like it.
I've read a lot of Stephen King in my life; the last book of his I read was Bag of Bones, around December 2004. Incedentally, that book scared the daylights out of me. But, after not having read him for a while, it was nice to get involved in a story of his style. I love the way he writes. I know it is probably simplistic and too mainstream for literature lovers, but I like it.
June 17, 2006
Life
"We imagine that when we are thrown out of our accustomed grooves that all is lost, but it is only then that what is new and good begins."
-- Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
I love this book. It has to be one of my all-time favorites. It has taken me quite a while to complete it. I'm actually not done yet, I still have about 100 pages left. But if you know War and Peace, I'm super close to finishing. Perhaps I will finish before I give birth...
I love this book. It has to be one of my all-time favorites. It has taken me quite a while to complete it. I'm actually not done yet, I still have about 100 pages left. But if you know War and Peace, I'm super close to finishing. Perhaps I will finish before I give birth...
June 15, 2006
I *heart* friends
Did you ever have one of those days when all of your friends seemed to email you at approximately the same time? I'm talking about the friends that aren't in the same geographical area as you, the old friends. I had so much fun today replying to emails and thinking about my old friends. One might even be moving somewhere close to me within the next year or so maybe!
One of my friends from here got back yesterday from a visit to her parents, and she stopped by to chat for a while. I've really been missing the girl time lately. I spend lots of time with my husband and no kidding I love it, but lately I've been needing to hang with girls a little. Probably this impending motherhood thing. So that was really nice.
One of my friends from here got back yesterday from a visit to her parents, and she stopped by to chat for a while. I've really been missing the girl time lately. I spend lots of time with my husband and no kidding I love it, but lately I've been needing to hang with girls a little. Probably this impending motherhood thing. So that was really nice.
June 12, 2006
Back to writing thesis
I've been playing around with data some more, so no actual writing has gotten done in about 1 week. I have a good methods seciton done, and most of an introduction, and background. I'm feeling good about what I've written so far and what I still have to write. I just got done meeting with my advisor and looking at my pollen data. I have just a teeny bit more data analysis to do before I can look at it all and write the story. I'm pretty confident that I can do that well too, without too much hassle. My data looks pretty interesting.
I must say this now - there are some times when I absolutely love my advisor. Today I asked how different my actual thesis should be from the pub that I'm writing it for. She says, "no different, try to make them as much the same as possible. Doesn't the grad school offer a publication option?" No, our grad school does not offer a publication option. But I don't have to explain every laboratory method in detail, I can cite others that actually explain that sort of thing. And my thesis doesn't have to be ultra-long. Ah, sometimes my advisor really is cool. Plus, as I was just ruminating over on my walk to my office, she has been pretty supportive of my pregnancy. She's not overly excited, but she hasn't given me any shit about pregnancy things, or even scheduling things after baby. For example, there is a workshop at Grand Teton National Park that my work should be presented at, coming up on September 19-20. One of us should really go because we got all our funding from the Park and from the other "entity" running the workshop. She asked me today if I think I'll be up to going. I said yes, but with the caveat that I must take my husband and baby. She says that's cool, I should just talk to the lady organizing the workshop and let her know what's going on. She even said maybe I'll get the top-of-the-line accomodations. So, I'm feeling blessed right now.
I am off to make a to-do checklist for myself and see about getting some food. My baby is dropping into my pelvis so there is definitely more room in my tummy for food now. Sometimes it's really awkward to eat because the baby is so squirmy though! It is such a weird feeling! Less than 4 weeks now!
I must say this now - there are some times when I absolutely love my advisor. Today I asked how different my actual thesis should be from the pub that I'm writing it for. She says, "no different, try to make them as much the same as possible. Doesn't the grad school offer a publication option?" No, our grad school does not offer a publication option. But I don't have to explain every laboratory method in detail, I can cite others that actually explain that sort of thing. And my thesis doesn't have to be ultra-long. Ah, sometimes my advisor really is cool. Plus, as I was just ruminating over on my walk to my office, she has been pretty supportive of my pregnancy. She's not overly excited, but she hasn't given me any shit about pregnancy things, or even scheduling things after baby. For example, there is a workshop at Grand Teton National Park that my work should be presented at, coming up on September 19-20. One of us should really go because we got all our funding from the Park and from the other "entity" running the workshop. She asked me today if I think I'll be up to going. I said yes, but with the caveat that I must take my husband and baby. She says that's cool, I should just talk to the lady organizing the workshop and let her know what's going on. She even said maybe I'll get the top-of-the-line accomodations. So, I'm feeling blessed right now.
I am off to make a to-do checklist for myself and see about getting some food. My baby is dropping into my pelvis so there is definitely more room in my tummy for food now. Sometimes it's really awkward to eat because the baby is so squirmy though! It is such a weird feeling! Less than 4 weeks now!
June 05, 2006
Countdown!
It's time to start the clocks. The due date is in approximately 5 weeks. Babies can come without hesitation within 2 weeks of the due date. This means I could "go" safely starting the 23rd of this month. Aah!
My Dicentra spectabilis
This weekend we did get to go to the nursery, and I got a bleeding heart! Here it is. No blooms, and it probably won't bloom this year, but next year it will.
We also got some tomato plants and some seeds. The seeds won't come up for a while, but that's ok. We're not sure when we're going to be in the hospital, and who will water our plants while we're there. I suppose D could come home to water them. That might be silly though. I guess we'll hope for rain.
We just got back from shoe shopping and treats. We bought D some Birkenstocks! These are his first expensive shoes. Maybe in his whole life! The most expensive he's had before are $40 Chuck's. We've been getting the super cheap $5 "fakenstocks" from WalMart for the past few years, but they wear out in a month or so. The ones he had prior to this shopping trip lasted 3 months total, and yesterday the entire "rubber" sole came off and started flapping around. He's been afraid of losing an expensive pair of shoes in the past, but he's never lost a pair of shoes in his life. So we went with the good-investment shoes. I love my Birks, and now he gets to start loving his. How cute!
We also had treats, and I had a huge rootbeer float! MMMMMMMM! I haven't had a rootbeer float in a few years! It was sooo good. D had this cool concoction that is basically an italian soda with ice cream instead of ice. So kind of like a rootbeer float but whatever flavor you want. He had orange, and he said it was good. My baby must be enjoying that rootbeer and ice cream now because it's squirming all over the place. Heh.
We also got some tomato plants and some seeds. The seeds won't come up for a while, but that's ok. We're not sure when we're going to be in the hospital, and who will water our plants while we're there. I suppose D could come home to water them. That might be silly though. I guess we'll hope for rain.
We just got back from shoe shopping and treats. We bought D some Birkenstocks! These are his first expensive shoes. Maybe in his whole life! The most expensive he's had before are $40 Chuck's. We've been getting the super cheap $5 "fakenstocks" from WalMart for the past few years, but they wear out in a month or so. The ones he had prior to this shopping trip lasted 3 months total, and yesterday the entire "rubber" sole came off and started flapping around. He's been afraid of losing an expensive pair of shoes in the past, but he's never lost a pair of shoes in his life. So we went with the good-investment shoes. I love my Birks, and now he gets to start loving his. How cute!
We also had treats, and I had a huge rootbeer float! MMMMMMMM! I haven't had a rootbeer float in a few years! It was sooo good. D had this cool concoction that is basically an italian soda with ice cream instead of ice. So kind of like a rootbeer float but whatever flavor you want. He had orange, and he said it was good. My baby must be enjoying that rootbeer and ice cream now because it's squirming all over the place. Heh.
June 01, 2006
References
I was just working on compiling all my references in one file. I don't have any cool software like EndNote, so I'm just putting them all into Excel. I have lots! It's nice to get them all in one place. I needed it earlier this year when I was writing a progress report. Oh well. Now I have the list for the future.
I'm starting to write my thesis! This references thing was part of that. I don't have much done so far, and this afternoon I get to learn how to process pollen data. I'll be making graphics and stuff like that along with writing for the next couple of weeks. I also have to put together a poster for AMQUA, but that shouldn't take too long. I spent so much of this last semester talking about my charcoal data that I think I can make a poster in a jiffy. I'll have pollen graphs to add to it which will be cool. That's the last step before I can actually come up with conclusions! Yippee!
It is so nice to have the internet at home! I'm actually at home right now, wow! If any of you enjoy "modern rock" check out Woxy. You have to be a member to get the high-quality stream but it's worth it so far. Woxy is cool. There's my shameless advertising.
This weekend hopefully we're going to fix up a bit of garden by our patio. There are a couple of plants growing there now, and we wanted to add some tomato seeds. Last year we grew a tomato plant in the ground and it succeeded. I really want to get a bleeding heart plant for out there. We had one where I grew up next to our deck, and every year it grew and it was huge by the time we moved out! It is supposed to be nice and warm this weekend so hopefully we can go to the nursery and buy some plant stuff! That's always been one of my favorite things about summer.
I'm starting to write my thesis! This references thing was part of that. I don't have much done so far, and this afternoon I get to learn how to process pollen data. I'll be making graphics and stuff like that along with writing for the next couple of weeks. I also have to put together a poster for AMQUA, but that shouldn't take too long. I spent so much of this last semester talking about my charcoal data that I think I can make a poster in a jiffy. I'll have pollen graphs to add to it which will be cool. That's the last step before I can actually come up with conclusions! Yippee!
It is so nice to have the internet at home! I'm actually at home right now, wow! If any of you enjoy "modern rock" check out Woxy. You have to be a member to get the high-quality stream but it's worth it so far. Woxy is cool. There's my shameless advertising.
This weekend hopefully we're going to fix up a bit of garden by our patio. There are a couple of plants growing there now, and we wanted to add some tomato seeds. Last year we grew a tomato plant in the ground and it succeeded. I really want to get a bleeding heart plant for out there. We had one where I grew up next to our deck, and every year it grew and it was huge by the time we moved out! It is supposed to be nice and warm this weekend so hopefully we can go to the nursery and buy some plant stuff! That's always been one of my favorite things about summer.
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