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! 

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 :)

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?

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).

Christmasy catchup

want to hear something exciting? earlier this month, my blog got 80 views. 80! in one day! i wish that i had said something funny or intelligent. . .or anything at all. obviously, my travel schedule has meant that there has been very little blogging lately. so, whoever those people were pretty much just got to see old postings and photos. sorry, new friends. i hope you come back. and i hope you leave comments :)

i feel a little bit more like i can breathe now. in the last five weeks, i've been in 11 states and 2 countries. i've been on 19 planes.  i've found a dry cleaner. i know exactly how many days of parking i can pay for until taking a cab is less expensive. i ate duck for the first time. i broke in my new passport. i read three novels (now that we're in de-icing season, you can really spend forever on the ground without access to electronics). i revised a manuscript. i have a newfound appreciation for the importance of amoxicillin. i got some pretty pictures. i got a haircut. i got a dry cleaner. i got some pretty weird pictures (to be shared later). AND i somehow finished my Christmas shopping.

so far my favorite sign from traveling

there is an equally long list of things that i haven't done in the past 43 days. not the least of which is keeping up my running. i think my last good run was at the end of october. i'm supposed to have a "running meeting" with the program director early monday morning. so, we'll see how that goes. i'm not even sure that i have the appropriate winter running attire (actually, there are many things i need before this, but look at how smart this cap is. why have i been trying to fit my ponytail UNDER my cap for all of these years?!). the goal is to be back in shape enough to do a 10K training program in the spring. so, if you're lucky, you'll read me whining about that in just a few short months! :)

belated share from Lacey's wedding

now i'm just hoping to settle in for a few weeks at least. i, of course, have a "to do" list assembled for the rest of the month. and then i suppose i have to get back on a plane and go on my honeymoon. you know. . .hard times.

i am checking off a few things weekend, i hope (including maybe posting some more of the beautiful wedding photos that melissa took). however tonight i'm settled in with an unpacked suitcase, my first quart of apple cider for the season, and either friends reruns or some basketball games (my fantasy team is currently about even [18-20-2] and i'm playing against matt this week. go, my team!) i can't tell you how long i've been waiting for a low-key night like this one. hope everyone else gets a chance to relax this weekend, too.

travel, wedding, travel, travel

i'm making a quick update on what feels more like a 3-day layover in madison rather than time at home. i have two interviews down, two to go, and three "outstanding" phone interviews that i haven't heard back from. i'm trying to keep most of the details off of the interweb just given that you never know who might end up with access to your facebook page, blog, etc. yet, given that that is pretty much all i'm doing lately, that leaves me with little else to comment on.

i am not going to share site-specific stories yet for the aforementioned reasons, but i will share this pic that becca snapped for matt and me at the hilliard-starr wedding last weekend. we had a great time in texas and even put in some QT with the schlegel-hicks clan. it had been far too long since we had seen cole. i am sad to report that i missed what was probably the cutest photo-op of the weekend, which was cole making friends with the flower girl and both of them playing in the dirt at the end of the aisle. however, i did get this video during playtime after some texas bbq. to really get the adorableness, you have to listen for cole's "wheeeeeee" at the top of the slide.

the most perplexing moment came yesterday, i think, when i was waiting in line for the drugs that will supposedly subdue my sinus infection in time for me to fly out again tomorrow (keep fingers crossed about that, please). the target pharmacy was pretty busy and i was waiting in a pool of several people who had gathered. at some point, an older woman approached the counter and got into what turned into a fairly heated argument with the pharmacist. the short of it was that the woman had a prescription for eye drops that was supposed to last her for a month and a half, but was only lasting her about a month. she wanted to get two months worth of drops at a time, which her insurance company wouldn't allow. she was pretty fiesty about it, because she had apparently received two months at a time before (and claimed that is what her doctor wanted) and she wanted the pharmacist to just fix the insurance claims to say that she was picking up her drops at two different dates. the pharmacist kept explaining that they wouldn't do this as it was essentially filing a fraudulent claim. to the pharmacist's credit, she stayed pretty cool throughout the conversation; however, the eye-drop woman kept getting more and more upset, more and more confrontational, and started to claim (and probably believe) that this was all happening because the pharmacy had "screwed up" at some point.

you could tell that all of us who were waiting were getting uncomfortable, feeling sorry for the pharmacist, and were pretty clear that no matter how this eye-drop woman argued or how many insults were hurled, things were not going to work out in her favor. at one point, one of the other women waiting beside me interjected, "lady, you just need to move on."

"stay out of my business," replied eye-drops.

"i don't care about your business," responded the other customer, "but i do care how you treat this woman and the way you're acting is [expletive]."

the two breifly exchanged words and eye-drops eventually huffed away. truthfully, the customer didn't need to resort to her own nasty language, but in her defense, we'd been standing around watching the altercation for close to 25 minutes. and while i wasn't thrilled with her methods, i found myself admiring this other customer for standing up for the pharmacist. and further found myself wondering why i hadn't done something myself. we all saw the same thing unfolding - why had only one of us interjected on behalf of the poor pharmacist, who was holding her own but by the end was simply enduring the customer's insults? it was almost embarrassing, really. i still don't know what it was that kept me from saying anything, but it has made me think a lot over the last day about the extent to which we're really willing to put ourselves on the line to defend someone else from an attack. i'm not sure if other people have found themselves in similar situations. i would like to think that i'd do my part to step forward to help someone who is not necessarily in a position to help themselves. but i didn't. and so now i find myself how to moving forward with resolve to be - not aggressive - but more willing to at least step forward in defense of others. it's just not totally clear to me what my own "tipping point" is as far as being willing and able to step in and lend a hand. maybe this is something other people already know about themselves? or maybe we all continue to struggle with similar things.

anyway, the next few days are another travelpalooza, followed by thanksgiving, followed by more travels. if you're counting, we're heading out for our honeymoon in 47 days. now THAT is a trip that i'm looking forward to!

and just like that, summer is half over.

bagel street deli = still one of my favorite places in athens

well, that was an interesting. . . um. . .entire month of june. there was about a week in between my last post my leaving for athens. however, i definitely hit a point during that week when i was so exhausted and so stressed and so completely overwhelmed that i kind of had a mental breakdown. but i'm happy to report that i am fully recovered. still busy, but feeling like i can (pretty much) handle it. and the parts that i can't handle, i will try to delegate to matt. lucky him.

so, i spend the last two weeks(ish) in athens. it was an interesting trip, to say the least. one of matt's high school friends got married in a gorgeous, vintage themed outdoor wedding that was pretty spectacular. i wish i had taken some photos. rumor has it that the bride planned every last detail, and she did an absolutely lovely job.

what she likely didn't plan on was there being a horrendous storm the night before that knocked out power for roughly 500,000 people in the ohio-west virginia area. this picture of the debris in matt's back yard (through the screen, because it was a gabillion degrees outside) doesn't really show anything accurately. some of the pictures that accompany the articles about the storm in the local papers do a little better. but it was a mess. there were whole trees pulled out of the ground, trees fallen on cars and houses, and of course electrical posts and wires torn apart. we were pretty lucky in that we only lost power at matt's place for about 12 hours. and this amazing bride held it together like a pro. there was no electricity at their wedding venue, but they ran what they could off of generators. they put out fans and vintage handkerchiefs to help people deal with the 100-degree weather and 90% humidity, and they really lead the fray in as far as sucking it up and having a good time. and props to them. because it was one of the most lovely things i've seen in a while.

believe it or not, it kept trying to storm in athens. one grey sky after another moved into town along with ominous, howling winds and (mostly temporary) torrential downpours. we braced ourselves a couple of times for our luck to run out, but we ended up doing pretty well.

here's the part that i didn't totally understand. when it rains in the midwest on hot, humid days, what usually happens is that the rain takes away the really gross, heavy, wet feeling in the air. in ohio - somehow - i think it actually made it worse. this feels like it might be against the laws of physics, but i swear that it's true. my mom used to comment about days like this being the occasions when "it didn't rain enough," which is the best way to explain how it feels. (and then usually, as if she was some sort of psychic fortuneteller, it rains more later and everything feels better). i was trying to keep up with my running schedule, but i just couldn't even make it happen, because it was so hot and humid every single day. eventually, i also stopped getting my hopes up that rain would resolve things.

note: this makes it a total crap shoot how the color run is going to go in 2 days. . .

i suspect that it goes without saying that we wanted nothing to do with cooking during these days. matt didn't even want to stand next to the grill. so, we searched our brains and matt's food and wine magazines for things that sounded delicious but didn't involve adding any heat or humidity to the days. this was one of matt's more brilliant ideas. it's a steak salad (broiled. . . so as to cook quickly and involve little sustained use of the oven) turned into a gyro-style sandwich. it was really delicious.

we also got what feels like a bunch of wedding stuff done. we finalized the order of events for the ceremony, filled out our marriage license application to be sent in sometime soon (the application had to be notarized, so we had to do it when we were together), we finalized invitation details with erin garrett (said invitations are en route to me even as i type. . . ), applied for a passport for dr. vess, and even shopped for wedding bands. pretty impressive, huh? the knot produces a checklist to keep you on track with wedding stuff. needless to say, i was checking things off like crazy.

some of you know that matt has gotten a new record player that he absolutely adores. so we spent an afternoon with peggy looking for a wooden crate to store said records in (we also made a few trips to the record store in athens, of course). it actually made for a cute trip to an antique mall/flea market/old-time country store strip mall-type-place just north of athens. there was SO MUCH stuff. this might have been my favorite. and since i know you're wondering, yes, it does actually really play. and it really does sound like a banjo.

that might be it for now. things are always a-brewin' around here, but i think that's most of the recap. i'm getting settled back in and matt will be here for a couple of weeks on august 1. God forbid we should sit still for too long, right? :)

nerd ALERT

mini update:

my grant is totally in. like through all of the the UW offices that it needs to go through and now sitting ("sitting") at NIH out of my hands type of in. and matt's is soon to follow. i want to say his due date was about a week or so after mine. so in another week, we should both be free of grant applications. and God willing, in another six months, one of us might be en route to real, actual funding. wouldn't that be nice?

with rachel and tim at dinner in MN

the ICIS conference is also done. i must say that it was really nice to be able to drive. i hate carrying those poster tubes through airports and on planes. although i'm happy to have mine (and fewer "smooshed" posters), it's never comfortable, i'm always worried about leaving it somewhere, there is nowhere to put it in bathroom stalls, and i just really don't like carrying extra things. so, i was thrilled to forego that awfulness.

i was also pretty thrilled that a meeting in minneapolis meant getting to stay with karen rather than at the conference hotel. this equated to not only saving a bit of money, but also to getting to combine business with pleasure. conference or not, karen always seems to keep my schedule busy enough that i never walk away with pictures of our activities. that is particularly unfortunate for this visit, because we went on a gorgeous walk along cedar lake.

well, and we're adorable. . . obviously (*wink, wink*)

so, i got time with my karen, time with my former labmates (some pictured above), and two delicious italian meals. plus, i got a ton of work done last week. my only regret is that i took the whole week off from running. typically, i have three runs each week and i hadn't missed a single one since i started the program in march. my perfectionist tendencies are not even remotely thrilled about this. but i'm trying to put it behind me, move on, and just tell myself that i can stick to the program for the next 10 weeks in the way that i want to. hopefully.

 

there is a lot of irony in my schedule for this week. a lot of times, going to conferences shows me how nerdy some of my academic world really is. it's quite humorous, it's occasionally kind of sad; i definitely was feeling both of these things as ICIS progressed. the irony, of course, is that i'm spending this week (monday through friday) at "stats camp." yep. it's not like i could have done anything nerdier.

oh my gosh, i just remembered that i went to a math bee in middle school. i totally forgot that i had done that. and i kind of forget what it was like, except that a bunch of us went, we all took individual paper-and-pencil tests, and i don't even remember how we finished. *doh* i really could put together quite an eclectic lifetime resumé, couldn't i?


in any case, the stuff that i'm learning this week will hopefully be answer the question regarding what the appropriate thing to do is when one has missing data (so, when someone skips a question on a questionnaire, for example, or when a family misses one of the laboratory visits that all of our other participants are doing annually). so, obviously, my hope is to take away with me something that i will use for pretty much the rest of my career. no pressure :) 


so, that's all the news for now. more statistics, more travel, and hopefully more sleep to come in the future.

all fun and games until someone goes to stats camp.

i know what you're thinking: where the heck is a steadfast recap of the past few weeks? i know stuff has been happening. . .so, what's the word?

well, first let's wish matt happy birthday. YAY! it kind of sucks that i always have something conference-y going on during this time of june. one more reason life will be better when matt and i can live together. then i can help the birthday boy make sure that he recognizes that it's his birthday (and maybe even spoil him a bit. . .just as he does for me)! so, happy birthday, Dr. Vess! this world has to let us celebrate together sometime soon!

second, let me tell you why you don't have a super-detailed recap of what's been going on around here. and let me tell you that story in list form, k?

what happened on friday 6/1:
work on grant during morning

Lined up for the Race with the Masses

insane amounts of wedding planning
food decisions
timing decisions
flower decisions
rehearsal decisions
cupcake decisions
too many decisions
way too many
packet pick-up for Dam to Dam
swimming with amy, patrick, & the kids

what happened on saturday 6/2:
run 5k race (and finish)!
go to farmers market in downtown des moines
lunch at jimmy johns with kara
to Pella for Nick and Sarah's wedding
back to Altoona for Reception
catch up with college friends
big hugs for Jilly Bean

With Kara, Gabe, & Dy

what happened on sunday 6/3:
surprisingly less than other days
drive back to madison
unpack
work on grant
prep for week's meetings
call mom

what happened on monday 6/4:
morning meeting
spill entire water bottle on my lap during  
                  said meeting
work on grant
print poster for presentation at conference

pick up library books on hold

submit manuscript for review

free chocolate milk!!

what happened on tuesday 6/5:
more meetings
pay bills
get oil changed
register for color run in minneapolis
lament how little i have practiced talk for conference
wish matt HAPPY BIRTHDAY
skype with briana
do laundry (with no bats this time)

fun, right?
boy, how i have enjoyed it :)

tomorrow i have morning meetings and then i'll be leaving for minneapolis. karen is loaning me her couch for a few days so that we can catch up. . . so long as ICIS has put a conference smack dab in the middle of her city.

then i'll stay with mom and dad on saturday. hopefully finally getting a full night's sleep :)

then i'll make the jaunt down to lawrence kansas on sunday for a week of "stats camp."
it all sounded decently cool until then, didn't it?

poop.

well, at least i have this super cute picture of max and ivy, who hosted me on thursday night once i realized that i only made my hotel reservations for friday and saturday. my bad.

later gators.

three things

three things. none that constitutes its own blog post, but all of which are at least a little bit interesting.

1. did i tell you that matt and i saw the DeLorean? not A DeLorean, but THE DeLorean. complete with mr. fusion and everything. it was actually on the way back from iowa after my grandma's funeral. it just hasn't found its way into a posting since then. it's pretty awesome, though, right?

2. i finally found a recipe for a baked tofu sandwich that i like. i don't have the fancy tool that she references in her post, so i still need to perfect pressing and marinading. hopefully this will make the leftovers better. BUT the freshly made sandwich was pretty darn good.

3. i got this picture in a text from ohio the other day. while we were talking, a turtle was just off of matt's back patio, digging a hole. and then a few minutes later, it was laying eggs. so, in several more weeks there is apparently going to be an exodus of baby turtles from matt's backyard.

wait, one more!!
4. these things are insanely delicious. seriously, i picked them up on a whim and now i want to eat them all the time (except for the last few days, during which i've become obsessed with peaches). yum.

okay, not exactly the trifecta of blog posts, but i bet there wasn't one of those that didn't make you at least *think*, "hmmmmm." so, totally worth it.

public transit & the windy city

walking back from dinner in downtown Chicago

thanks to UW, my free bus pass means i don't actually drive my car every day now. i recognize how wonderful this is - especially when i go to the gas pumps to fill up (typically for a longer, out-of-town-ish trip). so, as i planned a trip to chicago a couple of weeks ago, imagine my delight when i found that i could avoid the pumps all together (along with ridiculous parking fees) and get myself a ride on the megabus for $16 each way. factor in another $7 for a weekend pass on the trains and *bingo,* i've taken a trip from madison to downtown chicago to elmhurst back to downtown and back to madison for less than $50. bonuses: i lose less work time and i feel like an amazingly smart shopper. i find all of this to be incredibly rewarding.

jimmy hendrix floor of the hard rock

why a chicago trip, you ask? well, because matt and i are in different areas of psychology, a lot of the work we do, people we know, and conferences that we attend don't actually cross paths.  moreover, because we were only in graduate school together for that single year, i've never actually seen matt give a talk about his work. not only that, but i'm not sure when i would actually get to do so. it may not surprise you, then, that when matt got invited to give a talk at the MPA conference this year in Chicago, my mental math told me that this might be a good opportunity to take advantage of. better yet, when the conference hotel was all booked up, matt got us a room at the hard rock hotel. this made things really feel 50% work and 50% vacation.

matt gave his talk friday morning. and it won't surprise you that by the time that talk was over (he was wonderful, by the way), matt already had a restaurant selected and reservations made for a date night friday evening. he did quite a good job, too. i keep wanting to describe carnivale as a latin fusion place, but it is actually even more eclectic than that. the atmosphere, the service, and the food were all incredible. i would definitely go back and i would totally recommend it to anyone who plans on being in the area.

millenium park

and because i'm a good kid, i even got up and did my run on saturday morning. it didn't hurt that we were just down the block from millenium park, an inviting running opportunity. then we took the train out to elmhurst to spend derby day/cinco de mayo with dj and laura. sunday i took the train back in, hopped the megabus, and was home by dinner. if i had it in me to sleep on busses, the tip would've round it out as perfectly as it went down.

honestly, though, given all of our opportunities to get lost or miss our relative buss/plane/train rides, i'd say that things went down pretty seamlessly. we must be getting good at this traveling stuff. it had to happen eventually.

this week has been the last week of classes as UW. as a part of that, the undergraduate that i've been supervising this semester presented a poster of the findings of her independent project. she did wonderfully. i wanted to snap a picture, but there were about a million people in a teeny, tiny room, so i'm not even sure if i could have fit her and her poster in the same frame. bummer. you know what i did get, though? these amazing chocolate covered blueberries at trader joe's, which was just down the street. i also got some yummy trail mix (the possibly perfect blend of dried fruit and nuts) - but that didn't make it into a photo.

i'm getting antsy for summer. i'm itching to be outside - either running or by the lake with a good book. i have visions that i'll both be able to do this and also get a whole bunch of work done. and after kassi's graduation, nick and sarah's wedding, the dam to dam 5k, the icis conference, submitting my grant, and stats camp, i'm sure that will totally happen. . . right?

we're starting long and longer runs for during practices for our running program. i find myself getting a little anxious for the runs that seem like they might be daunting, but then eventually finding myself easing into things. it's pretty uplifting, actually, to find yourself going from thinking, "i don't know if i can do this" to "i think i've got this under control." it's kind of a weird time and place to have a moment of gratification, but welcomed nonetheless.

happy day before mother's day, everyone. and have a wonderful week!