spring ahead, fall back

well, since it's the only thing that i do that isn't lab work or classes, i must say that i'm sad that this saturday's game aganst purdue was the last home football game of the season. it was an excellent game and we sat in a group of incredibly interesting undergrads. as a prime illustration, one guy came in his OWN lion costume and had challenged the true nittany lion to this and that before the game was over. it was quite fun to watch. lacey snapped what is probably the best picture to date (save only for the giant joe pa head).

following the game on saturday we headed to the sports bar to finish watching the texas vs. oklahoma state game (also excellent) alongside the navy vs. notre dame (also excellent) and michigan vs. michigan state (good, but not excellent) games. we finally had enough people to get a table topper, which lacey and i have wanted to do since our first trek out last year to find a place to watch iowa and texas on channels we don't get. you should've seen the looks people gave us as they walked by. (i don't know why i look like i have no teeth in this picture)

and because football games were not really meant to be played at noon, i went home and fell asleep by 11:00. man, i'm awesome. although in my defense, i had also spent friday night babysitting kristin's kids. . . involving some intense games of dodgeball on the wii. yup, that was just as fun as it sounds like it would be. and thank goodness for that, because it meant that will got to stay up past his bedtime :)

this week has been a long one already. i'm trying to pull together projects and presentations before i leave for thanksgiving. it's also a rush to get ahead on lab-related stuff because our staff people have to work mon-wed still, and i'm never sure how often i'll really be able to check my e-mail when i'm gone. and although it's never fun to have long, long days, it really is a reminder of how extremely lucky i am to love what i do. i can spend 13 hours in lab and at class and although i'm tired (and probably mildly cranky) by the end of the day, i don't hate it. i think that's a blessing that many people never know. it's also verification that i'm in the right place and doing the right things, which is always nice.

i'm not sure that i mentioned it before, but i was asked to be the student member on the facutly search committee for a new social development faculty member. it's been a really great experience so far getting to see the process from the get go and it's great to have the knowledge about how things work. it's really indimidating to see some of the applications come through and to see 1) how many things some people have accomplished so early in their careers and 2) how easy it is to distinguish the "i'm just finishing grad school" candidates from the "i finshed graduate school and am now doing postdoctoral research" candidates. there was a time a few months ago when kristin, in passing, said something about how by the time i graduate she thinks it will be necessary to have a postdoc under my belt and although some people are outstanding, they are so because it's not the norm, so she's probably close to correct. we'll see. we know how much i love moving (insert sarcastic tone as appropriate).

i'm too tired to make this much longer, but i will say (before signing off) that my countdown to my return home has entered the single digits!!! yay!! :)