when your blog readers are family, they have to forgive you, right?

hey, does anyone remember me? it's been a crazy busy november and once again my poor blog is headlining the list of things that are getting neglected.

i don't remember what my excuse was for october.

we have done a bit more traveling than we've done in quite a while. matt went back to OU in october and before he got back, i left for a working visit back to madison.

but we definitely updated our kitchen set.

we are still pretty much in love with our new chairs, though we haven't been able to bring ourselves to get rid of the old ones. i'm sure my parents are 0% surprised about that.

then matt had the plague for a while.
or at least something close.
we ate a lot of jimmy john's during that time.

i carved some pumpkins. matt was the appropriate level of supportive for someone who really doesn't like to carve pumpkins. we had somewhere around 5 trick-or-treaters on halloween before we had to leave for a function with the department. i had come to believe that we wouldn't have any, as apparently bozeman starts TOT later than i remember it happening in iowa (i never got any trick-or-treaters coming through my apartment buildings during grad school). i told matt it felt like nobody was showing up for my birthday party. . . and about 30 seconds later, a little girl escorting a tiny captain america rang the doorbell. and when we pulled out of our driveway about 10 minutes later, we could see kids coming into our neighborhood from all sides. so, we've made a deal to make no plans for halloween next year.

and november has held another working trip to san diego and a trip to kansas city for erin's wedding. and then it was now, which is pretty ridiculous by any normal standard of time. this is the first week that we've had snow that has needed to be shoveled and that continues to stay on the ground (note: i was definitely trying rake up the last of our leaves last weekend when the snow started falling. so, that ended up as a fail). i'm not thrilled about the cold, obviously, but i'm surviving. and it's awfully pretty to see the snow-covered mountains on all sides of the city. there's much more now than in the photo that i took below, but it does't matter. . . it's always pretty.

we joined the on-campus gym last week. although i surprised myself a few times in madison, i was already anticipating wimping out on some of the really cold run days. matt's agreed to learn to play squash and i met one of our friends for yoga over a lunch hour last week. it's the best deal in town as far as gyms go, so we thought we might as well give it a shot.

otherwise, we don't have a ton of exciting news. there is a week and a half of classes left, which seems really impossible. we'll both be teaching one course in the spring, so we're both planing to assemble course syllabi and tie up some loose ends with papers that we're working on over the winter break.

we're really looking forward to being in texas this this week, though we are also looking forward to getting some in-person time with our families in december. i suspect that it will all come and go before we know it. that's just how time seems to work anymore.

happy thanksgiving to all!

Fall for All

Snickerdoodles

We're still plugging away here under the big sky. We had a great time last week during Peggy & Earl's visit. I don't have many photos, given that I actually missed some of the daytime outings to attend meetings. If I did, one *might* include the bear cub that they saw when Matt took them to see Palisade Falls. (On a possibly related note, we now own bear spray.) We had a shocking amount of rain while they were here, but it seemed to clear off for a bit each day so that at least some of Bozeman could be taken in from a dry vantage point. And we sent them away, after some terrific quality time, with some cookies (we're totally in love with our mixer as of late), so it all felt like a win. Except for Kassi, who got pictures of snickerdoodles, no cookies to eat, and none of the above fun. Poor kid.

Otherwise, it's been a lot of work and chores here. I have some major lab setup happening this week and Matt has people signed up and ready to be participants in some of his research.

We have also found a very sweet group of people here (4 young couples, including us) who we see every week and spent some extra time with over the weekend. Among us, we represent three academic departments and a section of the library, which is kind of fun. I never anticipated how much I would appreciate knowing people outside of my own department, but it's been a great way to keep from being sucked into a small section of life and just staying there.

We did do some more hikes last week and this morning. The leaves are starting to turn here, though I'm not sure how many fall colors we'll actually see given how dry things are in the day-to-day. Even without a lot of colors, though, how gorgeous is this photo below? Are you starting to think that I'm just downloading stuff of the internet and saying things like, "oh yeah. . . we were totally here. . . "

no worries. we think it's kind of ridiculous, too. there are a lot of days that we still can't believe that we live here. the hike today also took us past the remains of an old cabin and old mining shaft that we speculated about for a bit before continuing on. we're not sure what was mined here, but it looks old, looks like it would be cold in the winter, and was probably a LOT of work.

We also finally got to something that I think Matt has been wanting to do since he started to realize that he's quite good at cooking. During one of his conference trips a couple of years ago, he tried chicken and waffles and totally fell in love. Today, we pulled together his developing culinary expertise and all of our new kitchen toys (now including a waffle maker, obvi) and made some ourselves. (Yes, the plural is accurate there. I made the waffles).

I don't know that I've actually ever had anything like it before. It was good - we both agreed that it would be worth having again (especially if we have guests in town!) and we were kind of extra proud of how cute it looked.

That's a lot of good news, right?! Now for the bad news:

Holy moly. I don't know what's coming through here on Wednesday and Thursday, but it looks crazy. I'm pretty sure that 99% of the people who look at that will respond the way that I did. One should keep in mind, though, that there is already a legitimate buzz here about winter. People are PUMPED. We have never seen people so excited and eager to get snow. Everyone is still pretty angry that last year wasn't a a great year for skiing; they've apparently been antsy to get in a good day on a powdery mountain since last November.  So, good luck to them. If I make it through the end of the week, I'll try to muster some additional excitement on their behalf!

Delightful Things in Mountain Time

Much to our delight, we've recently found ourselves positioned as a two-person arc in a circle of friends who share these very important common interests: college football, hiking, and live music.  There are still a few (unnamed) individuals trying to expand the circle to include camping, fly fishing, and recreational sports leagues, but I wouldn't check any of those off as accomplished yet (a.k.a, "Becky still has no desire to sleep in a sleeping bag on the ground"). Nonetheless, some very important ground has been covered.

Pickwick at The Filling Station

Last week we went with two couples we have met since moving here to see the bands Pickwick and Moondoggies at The Filling Station. Like all good, inexpensive live music venues (see, for example, CoMo's Mojos), The Filling Station looks like a pretty spectacular dump from the outside. And I honestly write that with the greatest of affection. From the inside, the dump vibe turns into fun vibe. I think only people who grew doing small-town things like going to "fish fry night" at the VFW hall can really feel the homeyness of a place that asks you to save your glass because the bar only has so many. Or that, for example, has delightfully tacky neon signs over walls filled with old license plates and beer cans. Or that

The Filling Station

spotlights a flying horse throughout the show. It truly would be a shame for such things to go unappreciated. So, we appreciated the heck out of them and had a sweaty, great time. I have tickets to see Blitzen Trapper there in October (poor Matt will be out of town), but we've just noticed some other acts that we might enjoy will also be coming through town, including Okkervil River and Jolie Holland. It probably goes without saying that we are pretty excited to have a place in our backyard that we can go to for some good live music. We've been joking that the music scene here lies somewhere between the awesomeness of Columbia/Madison and the awfulness of State College.

I suppose that it is ironic, then, that we are pretty exhausted now that classes have geared up.  Of the two of us, Matt certainly has much

The M Trail

more of a right to complain, as I'm not teaching this semester. Nonetheless, we still get pretty excited about getting our weekend hikes in. There's an odd yet endearing tradition in Montana's university towns that involves placing a giant letter on the face of a mountain. (The woman from the alumni office who spoke at our orientation would want me to be sure to mention that MSU put up their letter, a gift from the senior class, before the other schools). Thus, it is also a tradition for subsequent generations to hike up the mountain to the letters. So, last week we did what felt like a treacherous (or perhaps just cruel) 850-feet-in-1.6-mile climb to the M on the edge of Bozeman. The photo to the right is taken from the bottom, left corner of the M. When you feel like you have a pretty good sense of that photo in your mind, click here and check out what that letter looks like from a bit farther away. Do your legs hurt a little bit just thinking about it? Because mine definitely hurt a little bit after hiking it. But the way down was lovely. We stopped and took this set of really intimidating, conquistador-looking photos just so that you'll all think that we're really dominating the hiking scene here. Sorry my hair looks so awesome (or, "awesome"). That must be pretty intimidating, too.














In all seriousness, though, we can't get enough of these views from the peaks of our hikes. Everything is so big and the rest of the world looks really, really beautiful from a summit. (There's got to be a life metaphor in that somewhere. . . )

Lava Lake

This weekend went hiking with our department chair, who taught us about oregon grapes, thimbleberries, and that "you can shake hands with a fir, but not with a pine." I must say that it feels *kind of* cool to know some of the local flora (though I'm the least likely of the three of us to actually remember said names), but even without it, this was easily our favorite hike to date. Before the midway turnaround, you find yourself at about 4700 feet in front of this gorgeous lake (that is Matt and Colleen finishing their lunches). If I would have panned a bit to the right, you would also see a man with his dog. If I would have taken a video, you would see and hear that every time the man jumped off of a big rock into the water, the dog went crazy with worry. . . whining and crying until his owner was safely back out of the water and on to the rock. We saw and heard a good number of repetitions in this cycle: both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

I also desperately wanted to take a picture of the undergrads who were clearly celebrating labor day weekend at the lake. . .which included at least one guy floating astride a giant log in the water, beer in hand and yelling back to his buddies on the shore. If you think I had any chance at keeping my laughter under control during that, you are definitely wrong.

Lest you think I'm trying to insinuate that everything is beautiful in Montana, let me put your mind at ease: the Iowa game was still pretty ugly here (or the score anyway - we are actually sans the Big Ten Network), and the fact that 50% of the televisions were showing UFC when we went to watch the Nebraska-Wyoming game last night didn't exactly leave a lovely picture in my mind. And, depending on your standards of beauty, you can always go click on that picture of The Filling Station again :)

We are headed into another busy week, but not too much so to wish an early happy birthday to the other mom/mother-in-law of our life, who we are both VERY much looking forward to seeing when she and Earl are out in a few weeks. (We've even gotten almost all of the curtains hung to make things really homey for our guests!) In any case, we hope your birthday is wonderful, Peg!

acclimating to the new life

if i told you that my husband and i made a delicious tofu dinner last night, would you think that i got remarried? well, prepare your mind to be blown, because i am not, in fact, remarried, but last night we feasted on this spicy vegan peanut butter tofu with sirracha, thanks to Kalyn's Kitchen. we've got a groove going for our meal planning, and we've employed a number of recurring "themed" nights, including a meatless monday. i'm not going to lie to you, this was delicious. but it almost burned my face off. it's kind of an iterative process to figure out what my tolerance level for sirracha really is.

berry and bread bounty

another part of our routine has become this weekday farmers market. i think that i've gushed about this a bit before, but we are really loving it. we've capitalized on their bread, pastry, and veggie selection and have eaten there every tuesday that we've been in town. we also tried this ice cream made from oatmeal. (if you're wondering how that went, just picture us saying, "what the heck?! this is made from oatmeal!!" about 5,000 times in a row. and then think more about a creamy ice cream than a sweet ice cream. that pretty much covers it). now, hopefully that description and my photos makes you think that we are well-rounded shoppers, because i'd be lying if i said that today we didn't come home with the following bag: raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and peaches. we got a little bit out of control with

the fruit.

work-related preparations have been happening this week. matt and i are both still assembling our laboratories. outside of waiting for his internet ports to be turned on, he's got one room that is pretty much ready to go. this means that he should be ready to start collecting data a soon as his study protocols are deemed ethical by the internal review board, and that's pretty awesome as far as quick work goes. he's also put quite a bit of time into revamping his website, which looks great (in my humble opinion) and can be viewed by all here. my setup is a bit slower-going. i'm still deciding how my temporary setup will work, given that the construction definitely won't be happening. however, i did hire two students this week who will work part-time in the lab and interviewed another who seems interested in some independent work with me. between my continuing lab setup and matt's prepping two courses for the coming semester (we start on monday the 26th), the work routine is still being worked out.

Bozeman from Drinking Horse Mountain

its been pretty hot here (i mentioned that nobody has air conditioning, right? :), so we made sure to do our weekend hike last weekend during the morning hours, before the heat was at its maximum. we actually made it to the summit of drinking horse mountain - which is over a mile high according to this website - via a short but very steep trail. being at the top was totally worth it, though, because the views looking back at bozeman were terrific. and matt even let me get a picture of him this time, because i'm pretty sure that his mom wants to see his smiling face on occasion, too :)

then we came back home and were very, very thankful that there is no humidity here. because if there was, that story would end, "and then we spent the whole day looking for window air units."  

the coming week is full of more of the same plus orientations, pot lucks, and welcome-type events for us. it's starting to feel like we actually have a home and jobs here!

(also, if you notice the date on the top of this post, it just happens to be my mom's birthday today. so, happy birthday, Mom!)

Today our stuff moves in with us

Today is the day that we are supposed to receive all of the things that we turned over to United Van Lines two weeks ago. To say that we are eagerly awaiting their arrival would be a shameful understatement. They just don't make air mattresses like they used to. Well, actually, air mattresses are probably way better than they used to be - but they are no beds, let me tell you.

The Badlands, SD

Mt. Rushmore

That is not to say, though, that the last two weeks have been a bust. The trip out here was pretty great. It was Matt's first drive through the Dakotas, and we are both chalking it up as a success. It got a liiiiiitle bit long in places, but mostly, it was gorgeous.

We stopped at the crossing of the Missouri River, Wall Drug, and the Badlands

Crazy Horse Memorial

National Park on our first day through SD. We spent the night in Rapid City, which was both larger and cuter than anticipated. Then, we set out for Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and the remaining gazillion miles to Montana. We also stopped en route at the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn. All worthwhile stops, in our opinion, although the last was the most sobering. Especially in the wake of discussions about changing the name of that football team in DC, there were still a few things that, to us, seemed like indicators of some progress yet to be made on the front of relations

Marking Fallen Fighters at Little Bighorn

with Native Americans. In some ways, the literature put out by the government at the memorial reminded me of stories that I heard in graduate school of kids from the south studying "The War of Northern Aggression" rather than the Civil War. In any case, these are all topics for another, more political blog that isn't in the spirit of just trying to keep up with friends and family :)

On an unrelated note, driving through Wyoming was really, really awful. Like, really awful.

The non-history lesson that we learned was that majority of the states that we crossed are absolutely gorgeous. The scenery can go from prairie to a former sea bed to the barren west to mountains in no time flat. And if you discover that, in fact, your phone has the ability to take panoramic photos (note: Dad, if you're wondering right now, your phone can take panoramic photos), you can do stuff like this and then spend a lot of time delighting in it:

Panoramic View of the Badlands

We have also taken much delight in our new hometown. My advice for anyone who will be in our position is this: if you are going to spend a week and a half in an empty house with none of your belongings, move to a place that plans a BUNCH of outdoor goings-on. In the first week that we were here, Bozeman hosted two farmers markets, the Bite of Bozeman, the Sweet Pea Festival, and shuts down main street one night each week for live music and festivities. What? In a town of 40,000 people? Yep. That's the one. And boy was it nice when we otherwise have literally only two suitcases of belongings. Plus, it was awesome to be served cherry lemonade with a piece of watermelon in it. It's like one good idea after another here. Matt has also been particularly appreciative that all of these events happen in a place where there is no humidity. I can't say that I disagree.

We've also been spending time starting to assemble our offices and lab rooms. Undoubtedly, a more intensive version of these efforts will be in place this week. At minimum, I have my desk set up and we've figured out the bus route that runs from across the street to the student union that sits right next to my office building (Matt has a walk of about another 50 yards). All in all, the people have been incredibly nice, the weather has been amazing, and we're pretty excited to be settling in together! 

Changes are Underway

We are back online! New title and template are selected and both move and post-move updates coming soon. . .

makeover monday. . . .almost.

well, after a month of work- and personal-life related travel, deadlines, and other shenanigans, another blog overhaul is in the works. the big move(s) happen over the course of the next 7-10 days. which means that we will soon be in the market for another blog name and - more importantly - will go back to relying on the trusty blog to relay the sometimes banal, day-to-day goings on of our new montana lives. banal in its renditions of what almost everyone will be going through, but hopefully uplifting in to-be-told accounts of hikes, bicycle rides, kayak trips, move-seeing, and the comings-up of the adult lives that we'll be living together. there is a lot of excitement in that, i think.

Menenhall Glacier

in the interim, suffice it to say that we had an amazing time on the alaskan adventure. every day we saw something absolutely gorgeous. we got some QT in with each other, with our families, and out in the fresh (at times VERY fresh) alaskan air. we're both still in the process of adjusting to the time change - actually, i had way more trouble flying west; matt's currently readjusting to having less than 16 hours of daylight - but we're so happy that we made the trip. it was absolutely lovely. and we even dressed up for dinner once or twice!!

Before Formal Dinner #2

so, anyway, get your entries in for the new blog name!! and be on the lookout for a blog-face makeover! we should be pulling into Bozeman late next week!!

sleepyhead, sleepypants, sleepy, sleepy, sleepy

this is so me this week, it's not even funny. i'm pretty sure that if i still wore glasses, this would be one of those weeks that i would be looking all over my apartment for them while they're still on my face.

it could be a LONG 10K on saturday. . .

long overdue, but comin' at ya, all the same

there's been a lot going on here (and in the ohio branch) lately. matt and i both have a list of personal and professional "to-dos" that need to be taken care of before we move. and we've both been traveling, of course (we fear a little bit for the economic security of the airlines, once we're in the same state).

in april, i went to seattle for the first time. i had a conference downtown. true to its stereotypes, it rained every single day that i was there. a cold rain, always hard enough to be annoying, usually for most of the day. so, when i finished my talk and had a message from briana that it was nice out and she was heading to the space needle, i was on board! in probably the most awkward part of my trip, the search through my bag before entering the space needle turned up a metal fork. one i had stuffed into my bag after lunch at work one day and failed to retrieve with the rest of my post-lunch items. even more awesome: it looked pretty gross. i knew that the icky, dried brown coating was sauce from the peanut noodles, but i'm not sure if the security guard believed me. in any case, he was a good sport about it, took my fork away, had me fill out a tag for it, and told me that i could come back and get it once our tour of the space needle was over. of course, a rush to get on the light rail meant forgetting it at the guard's stand. so, if anyone is ever in seattle and wants to retrieve my dirty fork from the space needle, feel free.

after seattle, i drove to iowa to see my cousin, jessie jo, before she shipped off to start basic

training. (that pic is her and i at the wedding. i don't know why it looks like i've never seen a camera before.)

then, i continued down the road toward home because it was gabe's junior prom. i don't know if everyone's high school does/did this, but mine has an event called the grand march, where each of the couples (or even just a group of friends who wants to walk together) is presented to anyone from the public who wants to attend. it sounds kind of funny, but it creates a nice opportunity for friends

after Gabe's Grand March

and family to snap some photos (without actually showing up at their kids' prom. . . which some parents actually might) and the people in the community love to see the dresses. obviously. i lived in pennsylvania during both of kassi's proms and we are obviously moving to montana this summer, so it was a lot of driving, but it was nice to get to see one of the kids during such a fun time.

and i'm going to put up this pic of gabe and me rather than gabe and his date. even though her dress was way cuter.

the following weekend, matt and i met up in chicago for yet another psychology conference. we obviously also took the opportunity to sample some chicago cuisine and spend some quality time with dj and laura. now, if you would've told me five years ago that we would be choosing sushi over deep dish pizza, i would have told you that you were crazy. but that is, in fact, what happened. and it was spicy and delicious. just the way that we like it.

that brings us to last weekend. my friend kristi came to madison for the glow run 5k. since

the race was an evening event, we took the day to hang out, get pedicures, explore h&m, and catch up as we haven't for quite a long time. the run was pretty fun. it's a cool theme. and we went for good, wisconsin cheese balls (or "cheese curds" as they're called here, which i hate saying because "curd" is a gross word), as kristi demanded it as a stipulation of her visit. these are stipulations that i can live with, to be sure.

that pretty much brings us to now. matt and i just got back home from a house-hunting trip to montana. we found a cute rental. i'll post pictures once we know for sure that it will be ours. we also did our share to sample the local cuisine. we're really willing to take one for the team in that regard. we loved the places that we found, which included this cafe, this pizza place, and an old train depot that has been converted to a bar and grill. not to mention, i was elated to see that many of the businesses have adopted my long-standing pragmatic approach to "one-seater" bathrooms being unisex, cleverly labeling them "either" and "or" rather than "men" and "women." gone (hopefully) are my days of having to wait for 15 women to go to the bathroom one-by-one while the men's room sits empty. that's all i've been asking for. and, luckily, it never got to this point for me.

next weekend, kara and my sister, dy, are coming for the twilight 10K, then i'm heading to ohio, to iowa to see jill and meet little elsie, then toronto, then we're on our cruise, then moving. pretty much like everyone else's summer, i think.  you think you'll have so much time and you really don't. and then before you know it, you're moving to montana. well, maybe that part is specific to us :)

two things to warm your heart as the weekend sets in.

     1. press play on the "listen to the story" player to get the full, heartwarming effect.


            note: One thing that I learned from Lacey during her dissertation work is that the   
           field of developmental psychology has generally asserted that children raised by 
           gay and lesbian parents are pretty much the same as children raised by 
           heterosexual parents. One of the only places it seems like there *might* be a 
           reliable difference is that children of same-sex parents are slightly less rigid in their 
           ideas about gender (e.g., stereotypes and roles). So - although we know that 
           research isn't meant to describe every individual situation - listen carefully when 
           this father asks his son if he would prefer to be described as "beautiful" or 
          "handsome."

     2. pure loveliness.

mindfulness and missing tickets

seemingly random post: i cannot get over how many things are being benefitted by mindfulness programs. the waisman center houses the center for investigating healthy minds. if you get a chance to peruse their website, i really think that what their doing might blow your mind.

i watched richie give an informal talk yesterday in the psychology department. he presented some results from the intervention that they are doing with very young children (either kindergarteners or preschoolers, i forget which) in the madison schools. essentially, kids spend 90 minutes a week learning techniques associated with mindfulness meditation. there is an adorable video floating around that i haven't been able to relocate that shows teachers saying things to little, upset kids like, "how does your tummy feel when you are this upset?" and then taking them through (simiplified) guided breathing and asking them to recognize the difference ("how does your tummy feel now?"). it's crazy cute. you can also see some of it in this trailer for a documentary that is following some of this work.



anyway, kids who go through this training not only appear to be able to do what is implied in the video - to mitigate some of the harm that can be done by stress (which, hello, couldn't we all write 100 blog posts about how bad stress is for you?) - but they do things like distribute resources (prizes, stickers) more equitably (kids they like, don't like, and/or don't know) and improve control of attention. in adults, we even see physical benefits like improvements in the immune system associated with regular practice of mindfuness meditation. amazing right? it makes me really sad that some of the parents in this california school have already started movements to do away similar types of program (yoga) because they're rooted in Buddhist tradition. it just reminds me - again and again - that it's SO important to find out all we can about things that we don't really know about. and we live in an age where doing so is probably easier than ever.

[don't even get me started on how easy it is not to fall for those hoaxes on facebook. if you know how to copy and paste, you should be googling all of those to see if they are real. end rant.]

plus, how cute is this little thing doing yoga? hello! get on board, fans of adorableness.

however, not wanting to end my post seeming like a grumpy gus, it makes me very excited that the Dali Lama will speak (with Richie and others) here in Madison about some of this work, the differences they're making, and where they might be going next. for some reason, i didn't get my e-mail about the presale and it looks like only the really expensive tickets are left, but i'm hoping something magical happens and i end up getting to go. wouldn't that just be amazing?! i caught a good glimpse of the Pope when i was in Rome. i'd like to add the DL to my list as well. especially when he's talking about science and happiness.

heart = warmed.

oh, neglected blog. . .

it's 3:08 am. i got up to go to the bathroom about an hour ago and have been wide awake ever since. for something like the last 30 minutes, i've been ruminating on how neglected this blog has been. in some ways, it seems a little self-absorbed to have a blog at all. and in many ways, i think i struggle a bit with this blog's identity. i have so many blogs that i like that can be topically summarized in a a word or two. i've got more of a hodgepodge of recipes, wedding, travels, job search, and just general goings on in the life of me. it doesn't seem like a topic that would typically fly. but, i have to say, that it has been a nice way to keep in touch with people who don't live nearby any more. i'm not sure if it's something that will come with us to montana or not.

the last two months have been a whirlwind. i know that i say it all the time, but it really is a bit disturbing how quickly time passes by anymore. i'm back to running three times a week. two with my new running group, one on my own. it's a different group than i was in before, mostly because it is a 10K rather than a 5K training plan. i actually miss the old group, which was much smaller and much more diverse in its participants' ranges of experience, ability, and goals. but i'm learning to adjust. i never claimed to be good with change, after all. dy and kara have both agreed to join me for the goal race, which will be fun. last month, kristi contacted also me about doing a 5K together, which i'm pretty excited about. it will be a fun race and i'm genuinely looking forward to having some 1-on-1 time with her in madison.

matt and i visited one another over our respective spring breaks. both of those weeks went so quickly i can hardly remember what we did. went out for dinner, watched movies, ordered pizza, and got through another wisconsin snowstorm. looked at a lot of potential places to live in bozeman. wondered when we would fit "looking at homes" into our schedules. . .

kassi also paid a visit to madison over her spring break. it may have been the first time that she and i have had some quality alone time together since she's been an adult and it was much appreciated. i tried to show her some of madison's finer points, although it was complicated by some really cold temps. nonetheless, her visit produced this awesome replication of an infamous photo from jamaica. time well spent, i say.

we got word last week, while i was in ohio, that my grant would start this past monday. good news, of course, though so far things don't feel that much different. we'll see if that changes sometime soon. so far, the support staff in the psych department here has made transitioning pretty painless.

now i'm gearing up for a visit from karen, three conferences in the next month, and more pre-move planning.

well, and hopefully some sleep. . .

just a short share

i found this today and i really like it. i think that it sounds like something that my grandpa would have said :)

quick post to share

i'm in my second day post surgery - doing well, but still trying to limit my time in front of a computer screen. it's amazing to be able to see without glasses or contacts.

anyway, in the wake of Newtown and all of the impending legislation re: gun violence, this article just came out in one of our relatively high-profile journals. it's a pretty interesting discussion of some of the different factors that have been proposed to contribute to gun violence in the US. it covered a lot of things that that i'd been wondering about and i thought it was worth a share.

chicks dig lasers

this conversation actually happened with my doctor, one of the fellows at the UW vision center:

dr: a few days after the surgery, you may find that your eyes are more red than you're used to, you're experiencing dryness. . . or some slight discomfort. . .

me (giggling): because you just shot lasers into them?

dr: . . . uh, yeah. i guess that does seem kind of intuitive, doesn't it?

that's right. i'm signed up for LASIK. i'm giving myself the gift of sight. and i'm really, really excited about it. i've been thinking about it for a while and did a consultation in the fall after UW offered the procedure to its faculty and staff for half the cost. then, when we were in jamaica and i had to ration out my disposable lenses based on whether or not i wanted to take a nap during the afternoon. . . or when we did the rope swing and i came up out of the water trying to dislodge the contact lens that had shifted to the outside of my eye. . .i realized that if we're going to live an active lifestyle (thank you, bozeman!), this will make things immeasurably easier. and far less worrysome.

so, i've been doing some research on how LASIK works. it's actually really interesting. from what i understand, it essentially uses lasers to reshape your cornea. why does that improve vision? well, this is why:

even better, my surgery is going to be blade free. it has something to do with creating the "flap"with lasers and bubbles rather than a blade. this is fine by me. from what i can tell, you can see a lot more of an actual LASIK surgery than you want to on YouTube. i do not want to watch eye surgery on YouTube, but i do think that this one minute cartoon gets the gist of it across.

according to the American Academy of Opthamology and the Eye Surgery Education Council,  approximately 700,000 LASIK surgeries are performed every year. LASIK has the highest patient satisfaction rate (95.4%) of any elective surgery. the majority of patients enjoy 20/20 vision or better post surgery. most LASIK patients are able to return to work the next day, though not for jobs that necessitate high visual acuity (i.e., you're a surgeon).

and if you're paying the price that i'm paying for LASIK vs. what i typically spend on contact lenses and contact lens supplies, the surgery pays for itself well within five years.

i'll need to use drops (antibiotics to fight infection, steroids to help with healing, and lubricating drops for the dryness) for a while. and i'll of course need to be careful about getting things in my eyes early on, but recovery really is supposed to be quick. paula has volunteered to make sure that i'm well taken care of should anything crazy come up. my plan is to have hear take me to the clinic on the 20th, bring me home, and then sleep until i feel better. or until i go back to the doctor the next day.

you'll likely be able to track the speed of my recovery by how quickly i am back on e-mail and facebook.

Job Search Update #2: The decision

As Lebron would put it, we're taking our talents to Montana State University. We're so excited. We're both on the tenure track, will be living in the same house, and will be housed in the same department. We're so, super thankful for all of the offers that we had, but this really seemed/seems like the best fit for us. There are still some things to work out re: my start date (it looks like my grant might actually be funded - yay!), but next year at this time we should be one of those "traditional" couples that live in the same city. crazy, huh?

so, what is this "bozeman" place? so far as we can tell, it's a mix of academics, former hippies, cowboys, and nature lovers. oh, and - in the summer - people visiting yellowstone. what sounds exciting about that? well, let us fill you in. . .

1. Boz Angeles: This nickname was bestowed in the last decade, as more and more Californians and celebrities started heading toward Big Sky Country. John Mayer hails from here. Rumor has it that Johnny Depp and the Jolie-Pitts have homes as well, though their sightings appear less frequently. People regularly see the likes of Michael Keaton, David Letterman, and other names that I always recognize when Matt says them, but never remember myself.


2. The out-of-doors: How's this photo look to you?  ->

Not too shabby, eh?

That's what we thought. And you'll see what they do with all of that space if you google Bozeman paired with any of the following: running, hiking, fishing, canoe, kayak, bike, trail, parks, skiing, snowshoe, well. . . .you get the idea. We are SO excited about the opportunities for playing out of doors. We are even more excited to learn that you can rent most of the necessary equipment from the University. In an unexpected way, my joining the winter running program here turns out to even more beneficial, as my former attitude about staying inside all winter long (out of necessity) is slowing changing. Slowly.

3. The "City": It's no secret that I'm more drawn to the city lights and Matt would prefer a more secluded existence. We're realizing more and more that Bozeman presents a really nice opportunity to compromise on this. We can live close enough to places that walking or biking to work/lunch/etc. - and generally being around people - remains plausible. However, we'll be in a small enough place that everyone isn't right on top of each other, people have yards, and nature is still just a few steps away. I'm not going to lie, though, I'm still holding out hope that an H&M might show up at some point. As is Matt, I'm sure, that we end up living next to a stream in a forest with friendly wildlife as neighbors :)

4. Montana has no sales tax. I don't think I need to explain how or why that is awesome.

5. Local eats: We are slowly learning more and more about how self-sustained life can apparently be in Bozeman. Not for me, of course, because I know nothing about catching or cooking food (though I do remember being in our garden when I was little), but for people with more knowledge about such things. There is a whole list of CSAs in the Bozeman area, Matt found this place that stocks kinds of fresh fish that I've never even heard of (but don't click on the "home" link. the pictures are not good.), and neither one of us hit a local restaurant that we didn't like.

6. An airport!: Given how much I've come to love having the Madison airport only 2.5 miles away, I'm super excited for Matt to understand how awesome it is to not have the drive to the airport take over an hour.  My family (and Karen) should note the direct flights to/from Minneapolis. Matt's family (and Kara) should note the "word on the street" that Southwest is thinking of joining the Boz team.

downtown bozeman

7. Local events: As it turns out, downtown Bozeman has a pretty active social life. There are  lots of regular happenings, including weekly music and drinks on main street. To add to the draw, main street is freaking adorable and littered with independent local businesses. We like all of these things.

Obviously, this is not an inclusive list. And everything is secondary to the excitement that we feel about FINALLY being able to live and work in the same place. But we are pretty pumped about what 2013 will be bringing us. Not that 2010 - 2012 were devoid of major life events. But, you know, this is definitely one that we have been waiting for for a while!

Job Search Update #1: The Airborne Adventures

okay, it's probably time now for the recounting. if i remember correctly, our first job applications were due in september, which is why it feels like we've been at this forever. my first e-mail to schedule a phone interview came to me as i was stopped for lunch on my way back to iowa to get married. in person interviews started at the end of october/beginning of november. the first offers came at the end of november/beginning of december. and we are still working on wrapping things up. i suspect that i could write an entire blog on the impracticality of that timeline. on how insane it seems to me that people can interview for jobs, give a two-week notice and then start a new job all in the same month.

i interviewed at five places. true to form, i only got pictures from three of the five. with the exception of the time that we etched out for the hilliard-starr wedding in november, all of my interviews ran back-to-back. and in fact, i went to lacey's wedding from an interview and flew out of texas to another interview. i think if i was still little that would sound like a pretty exciting life. it wasn't. it was exhausting. and i got sick. though matt and i kept reminding ourselves: an exhausting, busy life during "interview season" is something to be grateful for. it would have been a whole different type of stress to be hearing nothing, going nowhere and wondering if we would ever be living in the same state.

villanova and concordia (montreal, not minnesota :) were the two places that i didn't get any pictures from. well, that's not entirely true. apparently, the only thing i felt the time and/or the drive to snap a picture of in montreal was my bathroom. i forget now why. perhaps because it was half the size of my current apartment, the tub was huge, and there was a tv inside of it. but i can't totally recall.

and even though there are no pictures, it's safe to say that i came back from villanova with one of the best stories, as i got sinus infection during my stay there and one of the evenings the department chair took me to CVS, where i proceeded to buy almost $30 of cold/sinus products that i hoped would get me through the interview the following day. i felt awesome. even more awesome than when we went out to dinner in montreal and i couldn't read any of the menu because it was all in french. BUT, nobody made me feel bad or awkward about any of that. and it's a good illustration of how nice people were throughout. at every site, really, people were welcoming and kind, and seemed generally interested in who i am, the work i am doing, and how i might fit into their department. fit is, in fact, the name of the game. in truth, by the time that you interview, everyone is equally qualified. it primarily seems as though departments want to make sure (1) you aren't crazy, (2) that you have a plan for what you'll do when you get there, and (3) your work overlaps enough with what other people are doing that you'll have things to talk about/work on together - but doesn't overlap so much that you're "just another person XX."

the arch at UGA

which probably makes this a good time to say that these were the two places that i didn't get offers from. they found people who were better fits for them, which i totally get. i still feel like i met a lot of cool people and i honestly hope that i will be running into them again.

the other three sites, i did get to snap some pictures of. football fans will recognize this arch from the university of georgia. i actually ended up with quite a few pictures from georgia because i was there twice. once for my interview and once on a return visit at the same time that matt interviewed. (aside: this is going to seem ridiculous [because it kind of is], but the general way that this works for couples in academia is that when a school makes one person an offer, that person will let them know that s/he also has a partner who needs an offer. in our case, that means we would both want/need tenure-track positions (as opposed to teaching/lecturer positions or clinic positions, etc.). that then becomes part of the negotiation/decision-making process. sounds crazy, i know, but what else would you expect from a world that has informally dubbed this the "two body problem?")

Sanford Stadium

i also got a picture of their football stadium. because. . . well, duh.

the other two sites were on mountain time. as it turns out, our families (with the exception of my sisters who both have romantic visions of moving to states with warmer climates) were really rooting for one of these westward locales. i did not see that coming, though i should appreciate that heading west would seem more like a vacation for matt's family (who live relatively close to the east coast) and that i have pretty much exhausted my family's willingness to drive east for a full day to see me. . . well, me and the PSU creamery.

from my hotel room in Salt Lake City

out west, we went to the university of utah (salt lake city) and montana state university (bozeman). we actually loved both of these sites. enamored, really, with the mountains from the moment we got off of the plan to the moment we took off to head back home. lucky for us (and for our families, apparently), the people were super nice at both of these places as well. both the faculty and the students. and, just as matt was hoping for, they took us to some really lovely places to eat while we were visiting.

from my hotel in Bozeman (during snowfall)

it quickly became clear to us that we were interested in lives that would contain some sort of outdoor activities. we love(d) the idea of having parks, rivers, and hiking nearby. as an added bonus, SLC would have an NBA team and Bozeman would have both a handful of famous residents each summer. both locations have multiple national parks at less than a day's drive away. and both sites definitely piqued matt's interest in fly fishing, which i was not - at the beginning - even aware was a part of our job search.

aside from a warm, friendly faculty and two tenure-track jobs, the following also made the list of "somewhat important factors to consider for where we want to life" (each running a distant second, of course, to the idea that we could actually be living together): a garage, a deck, a young and vibrant neighborhood (where our neighbors don't live too close), yummy local pizza, places to eat outside, farmers' markets, outdoor activities that can be done in all seasons (seriously, we talked about snowshoeing for the first time), local breweries, getting to see - but not having to wrestle with - wildlife, the proximity of the closest H&M, local sales tax, airport access, the local music scene, and how much people would want to come see us. we also had some conversations about mortgaging homes that i still don't totally understand. . . but apparently these are the things that we want for our nonprofessional grown-up life.

who knew?

winter warriors and worriers

i'm about six weeks into my winter running program and i am hungry. this happened in the fall, too, as my body got used to using more and more energy over the weeks. it was a little tough to get going again after a wedding- and job-search-induced "break," but it does feel good to be active again. it feels cold, but it feels good. . .

skaters and hockey players in the park

you know what else i've noticed? there are a lot of people outside here in the winter. even when it's cold, i always see people skating, running, playing in the snow. . . honestly the other day i saw a woman whose dogs were pulling her on a sled. it was like she was having her own little iditarod right here in my neighborhood. but those ducks (yep, those up there in the top picture) are always the happiest beings on my runs. i've been using a new route that takes me under some of the bigger streets here and it goes right along that river. no matter how cold or how windy, those ducks are always out and about, splashing around, and "honking" up a storm. good for them.

running is just one of the things that it getting back into a normal routine now that job search stuff is wrapped/wrapping up. matt and i owe everyone a huge update on that and i promise that it's coming soon. right now it just feels good to be back to work (i've already submitted the revision of my dissertation manuscript for [*hopefully*] publication), and not preparing job talks, trips, etc., etc. i'd forgotten what it feels like when your work responsibilities only include working.

probably we should celebrate by going back to jamaica. :)

side note: if you continue to pay attention to the type of work that i do, you'll hear me talk at some point about stress, life stress, and stress in the lives of children. stress is so, so bad for us. however, there are some pretty amazing strides being made as of late (though some of them have taken a hit based on stereotypes :/ ). anyway. . . this article from the new york times got passed along to me yesterday and i thought it was really interesting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magazine/why-can-some-kids-handle-pressure-while-others-fall-apart.html?smid=pl-share

as you might imagine, i have had a few worrisome things on my mind lately. and as my mom will attest, i worried a lot about tests in school. (not so much basic skills tests, but more the other ones). now, we should all remain cognizant one gene will never be "the answer" to anything (well, almost never), but it's an interesting way to get an understanding of how these things work. obviously nobody is going to worry or not worry because of dopamine, but at least we're getting a better idea of what the system is (think "i feel sick" vs. "i have a massive headache that i can feel right behind my eyeball" see how one gives you a much better idea of what's going on/what might be wrong?). and, after about one page of reading, you'll probably know where you fall on the dopamine-clearing scale. . . 

Review: Dreams from my Father (Barack Obama)

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
My rating: 3 of 5 stars




View all my reviews

Belated Honeymoon Bliss

the view from our room

eighty five.

i'm pretty sure that was the average temperature while we were in jamaica. not bad for the first week of january. and boy did we take advantage of it. we spent as much time as we possibly could outside. we snorkeled. we drank cocktails and read books on the beach. we ate meals outside, we took walks outside, and we sat on the couches outside and listened to guitarists, bob marley tributes, and other local talent. it was absolutely fabulous. we were told by a few people that the staff at whitehouse are the best at what they do; frankly, we couldn't imagine it being much better.

i decided early in the trip that i didn't want to have to wait to experience the trip through our photos. that is, as much as we wanted to be able to share our experience with friends and family, we wanted to worry less about "getting good shots" and be open to just experiencing such an amazing time. there's an article or video (which would be ironic) online somewhere of a band (perhaps Wilco?) asking their fans to turn off their cell phones and cameras and just be part of the show - part of what they were doing in that moment. it's made me think a lot about how much of experiences we might miss behind our devices because we choose to record them rather than take part in them. it becomes kind of a conundrum: some things are so precious, we feel that we must capture them. some things, on the other hand, are too precious to miss being a part of. i'm getting off track. in fact, this rant started as a way for me to explain why we don't actually have a ton of photos from our honeymoon. in fact, we don't have one picture of ourselves dressed up for dinner. we did, however, have an amazing time.

most of our days were spent sleeping in, wandering out the the beach, reading books, sipping drinks, wandering in and out of restaurants, taking a nap, getting ready for dinner, and ending the night with a tropical drink in front of a local musicians. not to shabby.

we did meet a couple from minnesota who we liked a lot. they got married two weeks before we did, snorkeled the day before us, and went on the zipline/waterfall excursion the afternoon before we ventured out. we kept teasing them that we were living their lives with a one day lag. matt's bengals lost their playoff game just about an hour before the vikings started what would be their exist from postseason football. that's about the only thing we were out in front on.

our one journey away from the resort was to YS Falls, a former sugar cane plantation that has been converted into a host of different things. many of them are tourist activities, but there is also a stud farm, apparently. we were there for a zip line through the canopy followed by fun in the water falls. it was perhaps the cleanest natural water that i've ever been in. lots of fun. even after my first rope swing attempt, when i was coughing and sputtering after getting quite a bit of it up my nose. . .

for better or for worse, that's really the gist of the trip. it was so wonderful. such a nice time away after such an insanely stressful fall (and not exactly moving slowly since our return, might i say). our tour guides helped us to make sure we got photos and videos of the excursion, though, so i can share some of those. we highly recommend it for anyone who wants to visit the caribbean. . . or who wants to finance a return trip for us!! :)

i've included some of our pictures - from the resort and from the trip to YS here. there are some more on my facebook page. and, of course, don't forget to check out the video of one of the ziplines (there ended up being 5 or 6 in total, i think).