prop 8 - the musical

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Ain't no time to hate.

no snuggle time? oh no!

I've been writing materials and methods all morning and I need a break. My fingers therefore brought me over to my blog.

I am able to get the most writing done while sitting at the kitchen table. I can spread out papers on fabulous things like mice deficient in essential enzymes and the distraction of the television is in the other room. This whole sitting at the kitchen table thing has thrown poor puppy for a loop. She enjoys her mommy snuggle time when mommy gets home from work, but now that mommy has a very specific deadline and lots to write about, mommy doesn't technically ever come home from work. She is home, yes, but still working. And not snuggling. Which means puppy stands or sits at mommy's feet with the saddest look of "but, i need to snuggle" and breaks mommy's heart. And she then throws a few "whine whine whine"s in there, driving mommy crazy. I'm a giant softee... I need to toughen up! I am the master of science, hear me roar! No softee here in master of science-dom! Puppy, you will have to deal without snuggle time. If I can, you can!

defense insomnia 2

Well, two days ago I was awake at 4 am for no reason other than I'm flipped out about moving and defending. Yesterday I was not awake at 4 am. Today I am awake at 4 am.

What is the difference between the awake days and the day I actually slept? Benadryl. Apparently I only sleep when I cheat and drug myself. This is not a good start to the month. If only Benadryl was not a capsule, I could break it in two and just take half. I don't want to take a whole one because I'll sleep for way way too long or just not be able to wake up no matter how much coffee I drink. So, I'm just awake. At least Sleepless in Seattle is on. I love this movie.

I think I finished one of my appendices last night, good good. Just 5 chapters and three more appendices to go. Yippee skippee!

closing late

I'm busy. Like a beaver. There is no question of that. But today I was informed of some not great news that makes my busy beaverness a bit nuts. To make a long story short, we cannot close on our house until after Christmas because of the type of loan we are getting. What was originally going to be two weeks to move will now be two days. And if the weather sucks, too bad. I am so totally bummed about this. Granted, this is two weeks we won't have to be paying for two places and two sets of utility bills, but ROAR, I am so worried about the weather and moving in December anyway, and now we will have to manage no matter what. This just makes me extra nervous, and I don't need to be using up any nerves on this. There is nothing we can do, and at least our lease and house will overlap 2 days instead of no days, or negative days. And I was debating with myself about when we would actually move, now there is no debate. We're moving the last two days of December.

So, just to put out there my December and January:

• experiments galore until the very last minute
• write write write my thesis
• pack pack pack the apartment
• Dec 21: walk in graduation
• Dec 25: to grandpa's house I go
• Dec 26: the Nutcracker and dinner with family (cousin is in Nutcracker)
• Dec 27: who knows, lots of crazies to visit
• Dec 28: back to school
• Dec 29: finish packing, attempt to begin packing vehicles
• Dec 30: close at 11 am and move as much as humanly possible
• Dec 31: move everything else, which will be insanely difficult since adam is working ALL DAY. We will succeed! ROAR!
• Jan 6: FINAL formatting deadline. I will need to have initial formatting appts before this. Aka thesis must be written or mostly written by this date.
• Jan 6-22:
• hope boss lady will proofread so that I can get to work on corrections
• finish up any experiments that need finishing and write them into thesis
• work on powerpoint presentation for defense
• practice defense presentation. practice practice practice
• Jan 22: pick up Aarti from airport! yay!
• Jan 23: defend. then celebrate. all weekend. yes!
• Jan 26-30: finish up corrections, experiments, check out of university, deposit thesis
• Feb 2: start post doc

Can I just say that I cannot wait for Feb 2 and I wish that I didn't have to do all that other stuff between now and then. Sigh.

Quit bitching about it and get to work! Okay! I need a cheer:

defense insomnia

it is 4 am and I am awake. I have been awake for a while, and I am honestly in SHOCK that it is 4 am. When I looked at the clock I didn't believe it. But all the clocks say the same thing, and they can't all be lying. I was laying in bed thinking about all that I need to get done and where we are going to go to celebrate my phd-hood (I cannot help but think about the party). So, I am up and I thought since I was thinking about finishing up, I should get up and write something. Maybe awake in the middle of the night = inspiration.

I think I'm just going to have to start taking benadryl before I go to bed.

defense day

I have finally finally finally scheduled my defense. Friday, January 23 at 2 pm. I have less than two months to finish up lots and lots of experiments and write write write. I am so excited and so scared that I won't get everything done in time. I know that I have done enough and anything that I don't finish will be my underling's job to finish, so I'm trying to not get completely worried. I just want my thesis to be as complete as possible. I just need to remind myself that there is no way for me to tell the complete story, so much of the story is still unknown and it is not my job to finish it. It's only my job to write what I know and a long list of future directions.

Heather defended today. We started together, it's been a crazy 5.5 years, and she's finished! And I'm not far off!! It's just been such a long time, an amazing time, and it's so crazy that it's ending. Finally finally ending, I've been wishing for the end for 4.5 years (give or take), and I'm kind of amazed that it's here. I knew it was close, but actually having a date and watching Heather defend on the same day is throwing me for a loop. Wowie zowie!

standing guard, a note from spunky

Hi Hi Hi Hi Hi, my mommy let me use the computer again. It seems as though this only occurs after visiting grandma and grandpa's, but that's okay. I just wanted to tell everyone how much I love their great big yard of trees and bushes. I get to guard the yard from the bunnies and squirrels and chase them out. They are not welcome in my yard, and they tempt me so much. They like to sneak back in the yard while I am inside either sleeping, begging for food, or running away from that small person, but when I go back out there I chase them all away. And my bark is SCARY! After I chase all those yucky critters out of the yard, I like to stand by the door and check out the wonderful job I did, scanning the yard for anymore critters. And they're frightened, let me tell you. I am super dog, chaser of critters, restorer of the backyard peace!