October 31: Happy Halloween

I enjoyed Halloween as a kid.  Many times we'd trick-or-treat around the neighborhood and have some sort of party, costume contest at church.  As an adult, I enjoy seeing the kiddos dressed in costumes, but don't really participate in Halloween.  This is particularly true now when I live in a place that doesn't get visited by children trick-or-treaters.

I did, however, have drinks with one of the first year PhD students which was fun...oh and I wore my pumpkin shirt (it's really the only day I can get away with wearing it).  I also got this goodie bag from the faculty member, Chris Linder, that I am teaching with.  It was filled with delicious ginger cookies and other sweet treats.  Happy Halloween.

Oct 30: #WARfortheOAR

Every year, the Georgia v. Florida football game is a big rivalry game.  A few years ago the two Student Government Associations (SGA) decided they wanted some sort of trophy to exchange for the winner of this game.  This giant Okefenokee oar is just that.  UGA has had the oar for the last couple of years.  This weekend is the big game, so the oar will go down for the game and remain with the victor.  Well, in anticipation of the game, SGA went around campus to stir up excitement.  Although the oar has been in Tate for awhile, I wanted to make sure I got a picture of it before it went to the game (in case it doesn't return).  

As you can see, the oar is about twice as tall as I am.  The other side of the oar has the Florida mascot and seal on it.  Hopefully the oar will return to Georgia after the game this weekend.  Go Dawgs, sic 'em. 

October 29: You're Right

For as long as I can remember, I've been stubborn.  Some call it strong willed, tenacious, or determined. I believe I'm all of those, and...I'm stubborn.  There are many things the Lord continues to work with me on; some of these will be lifelong.  Although there are many wonderful things to being a determined and driven person, sometimes this means I'm not as humble as I should be.  There are times at which it's hard for me to admit I'm wrong, or that another person is right.  

One of the passages from the lectionary text this week is Psalm 149.  The fourth verse states, 'the Lord takes pleasure in his people, he adorns the humble with victory.'  The passage struck a cord with me, as my stubbornness at times, plays hand in hand with my unwavering desire to be right.  

My prayer is that I am humble, seek forgiveness, and admit my wrongdoings ... (when needed). 

October 28: RIP Pumpkins

Unfortunately, the pumpkins we carved last week didn't last until Halloween.  We even put them in bleach water (as suggested by the internet and a researcher) in hopes of them lasting longer.  Today I had to put them in the trash, however, when I went to pick them up, they were mush. I had to use a cookie sheet to help pick them off the ground.  Yep, eeewww.  I'm not sure if you can tell how nasty and moldy they were from this picture, but you can see the one oozing some sort of liquid.

Rest in peace little pumpkins.

October 27: CV

I spent much of the day at Starbucks working on turning my resume into a curriculum vita.  It took far longer than I thought, but luckily some good tunes and a (special & free) pumpkin spice latte accompanied the writing.  Here's to finishing my cover letters next.

October 26: Running

I've been trying to run more recently.  In part because I know it's good for me, and in part because I want to like running.  Really, lots of people love it, why can't I?!  Anyway, the last few times I've ran, I haven't hated it; that's progress, right.

Moreover, the Athens Half (or the AthHalf) was last weekend and I know a bunch of people who ran it...I've really only ever wanted to do the Nike Women's half marathon to say I did it, AND for the hot firefighters who give you a Tiffany's necklace at the end.  Yes, external motivation.  But I've been thinking if others can do it, maybe I can too.  

Today, I woke up with a headache, but I wanted to get a workout or run in.  About 1.5 miles in, I felt awful, head pounding, lungs aching...so I walked for half a mile before running the last mile ish.  Here's to the next run feeling better than this one.

October 25: Silliness

Part of the fun of cleaning up an area is finding fun new toys that you didn't know existed.  This is one of those for our International Street Festival in the spring.  As we were cleaning out this office and finding a new place for the items, we can across this gem.  Pictured below are Whitney & Cory.  Whitney is a first year master's student in my program and Cory is a master's in social work intern.  I really enjoy working with them and the crazy fun energy they bring to the office.

October 24: iSL Move

One of the things I was charged with when I started this interim position in iSL was to reevaluate the utilization of space.  For me, I looked at each office and the functionality of it currently and its potential.   This week we started the moves.  There was be lots of shuffling on Tuesday and today Thursday.  Almost every office but one student space was impacted.  It's a lot to explain, but one of the biggest changes was that my large (300 sq ft) office was converted to a conference room and the conference room (150 sq ft) that acted more as a storage space was converted into my office.  I'll post before and after pictures, but for now, this is what Thursday consisted of.  Here are the moving staff moving the conference table upstairs, and Greg putting my desk back together (after I moved it around ummmm, few times...it's hard to decide a permeant location for a desk). 

October 23: Campus Ghost Tour

I've been trying to go on the campus ghost tour for FOUR years.  Yep, Mallory and I tried to go our first year, but it was canceled because of a light drizzle.  The second year, we forgot.  Last year, we had conflicts.  So this year, I was determined to go.  AND I did, only, because I was running late and Tiffanie and I wanted to stop at Jittery Joes first, we missed going with the group Mallory was with. Regardless, Tiffanie, Laura, and went from station to station around north campus hearing stories of confederate soldiers, students, and others who had met untimely deaths (for one reason or another).  The history was fun, and the latte kept me warm as we roamed.  

October 22: Conduct Violation

Last weekend during a health and safety inspection, I got written up for having candles burning. Today, I had to meet with my hall director (HD). Yep, that's right. Frankly, I'm a little bothered that as a grown adult who can have a stove (some are even gas stoves) I cannot have a candle. Moreover, I don't remember reading this rule when I first started here (a and I was looking as I love candles). When I met with the HD, she said the rule was new this year. :/

Anyway, I tried to educate her on the ridiculousness of the rule, to no avail. So instead, I signed my judicial conduct review paper, got my copy, and went on with my day.

October 21: IRB Submitted

In order to conduct research on human subjects, you must submit documentation to the institutional research board (IRB) for approval before you conduct research.  The tricky part for me, is that I'm looking at multiple institutions...so I have to do this multiple times.  As you can see in the picture, I started this process at the end of may and FINALLY submitted it today.  I currently have four institutions that are willing to participate in data collection.  In other words, they'll send out emails on my behalf.  Anyway...I'm excited that this dissertation is another step closer to getting d-o-n-e.

October 20: Atlanta

I spent the day in Atlanta...yep, the whole day.  I took my sister to the airport in the morning (we left the house at 6am).  I was sad to see her go, we had such a nice time and I hate that she lives on the other side of the country!

After dropping her off, I took a nap in my car then headed to Starbucks to do some grading.  I graded papers until 3:30 when I realized if I wanted to do anything in Atlanta on a Sunday (or visit any stores I don't have in Athens) I needed to do so before things closed at 6pm on Saturday.  I hit up a couple places and then waited for Dallin to be done conferencing so we could grab dinner and catch up.  Dallin was a year ahead of me in the PhD program when I started and has been working in South Carolina for the last year (ish), and so when he mentioned he'd be in Atlanta for a conference we made plans to hang out.

We had dinner at Tin Lizzy's Cantina...it was good, not great, but good.  When we first arrived they had live music which was great!  But more than that it was a good chance to catch up on work, life, my dissertation, and other nerdy stats stuff.  No really, we talked about factor analysis, regression, and other quantitative research.  Most of my other friends are doing qualitative dissertations, so it's nice to have someone who understands my lingo.  

After dropping Dallin off at his hotel, I realized, dinner with him was going to be my picture of the day. Grrr.  So I tried to call him as he entered the hotel, but alas, he didn't hear it ring until he was on his way back to his room.  So instead of a picture of us at dinner, you get this...the time on my car clock when I got home.  Yep, it was way past my bed time!

Ps. October 20th is also my dad's birthday (I was suppose to be born on his birthday, but I came early). When I logged onto skype, a little spinning birthday cake also told me it was his birthday, kinda fun & random!

October 19: Carving Pumpkins

I'm not sure what happened to this post, but I realized I skipped over October 19th when updating my blog.  No, I didn't skip over it.  I remember writing this post, but where it went, I have no idea.

On this day, my sister and I went shopping for pumpkins in my churches pumpkin patch.  Yep, my church is the 'pumpkin' church, but that's another story & not the point of this post.

Also, this was Tiffanie's first ever pumpkin carving.  I think she did an excellent job!  We sat around and watched Halloween movies (Practical Magic) while we carved pumpkins.

Ps. I know this is way more than one picture, but no one said I only had to do one picture a day. Also, check out my stylish look with a stripped shirt and my pumpkin pants. Yep, I'm fashion forward.

October 18: Corn Maze

Washington Farms has a wonderful corn maze.  More than that, they have other seasonal things such as strawberries, blackberries, a pumpkin patch, and more.  My sister and I along with some friends went out to the maze for a post birthday party.  We went through the vortex, slid down the rolly slide, went through the maze, and jumped on the giant bouncy pillow.  There was lots of laughter involved.  Thanks Alex, Mallory, Tiffanie, Kara, Nikki, and Phil for playing along with my 7-year old d self.  It was fun!

October 17: Taqueria Del Sol

I love Mexican food. And I love all kinds of Mexican food, real authentic and less authentic like Taqueria Del Sol. Their food is yummy but far from authentic Mexican.  However, they have this absolutely delicious shrimp corn chowder.  Thursday was rainy and the perfect day for some chowder.  CJ and I met up with Ginny for dinner & drinks.  We had a nice time visiting and I'm glad they got to meet each other as they both play significant roles in my life. 

October 16: Favorite Things

I don't want to go into a picture a day post thinking I'll fail, but it is hard to think about a picture to represent my day. I may be over thinking this. They say it takes 30 days to make a habit, so maybe this will get easier as it goes.

Anyway, I'm going to attempt this picture a day thing... on October 16, 2013, I turned 33. The day was filled with lots of reminders that I'm loved. Moreover, my sister also came into town (both for work and for play). After picking her up in Atlanta, we went to dinner and then headed back to Athens where we picked up some ice cream cake bites for dessert! I do LOVE ice cream cake. Having her in town until Sunday is also a special treat.

Almost 33

As I get older and closer to another birthday, I often find myself associating with that age already.  For example, the last month or two, I've began calling myself 33 (when people ask).  I catch myself, correct myself, and usually say, 'I'm going to be 33 soon'.  This may be a sign of my aging, or it may be an effort to protect my heart from the shock of another year.  Regardless, it's just around the corner now.

My sister will be here to celebrate with me this year.  I'm excited that her work trip coincides with my birthday..and that she extended her trip to stay through the weekend.

I've also been thinking about the many, many changes and exciting things that will happen this next year on earth (Lord willing).

I will defend my dissertation.

I will graduate.

I will celebrate.

I will get a new job.

I will leave Athens, a place I've called home for this PhD journey.

I will move to a new city (let's hope and pray it's a good one).

...and the list goes on.

Many people in my life have done a photo a day (for a month or year) chronicling their life (the exciting, trivial, mundane...just life). I have always been fascinated by the idea but haven't brought myself to do it.  But now, with a few days before I enter another year, I'm contemplating chronicling my 33rd year of life. 

Government Shutdown

You may be confused about what's going on with the government shutdown...you're not alone.  If you've been on social media recently you've seen all sorts of individuals' opinions on the government shutdown.  Although this isn't the first time this has happened in history, it has very real impact on a variety of people.  The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program is just one example of a group impacted.  WIC is afraid they may not have enough money to feed people if the shutdown goes on longer than a few weeks.  Many others are being forced to take furlough days, thus they won't be getting paid during this shutdown.  All this to say, just because you may not see the immediate impact on your life, doesn't mean this doesn't have very real consequences for people.

Moreover, the government will have to make decisions on the debt ceiling on October 17th.  Again, there are many thoughts on either side of this discussion, and regardless, there will be an impact.

I'm not sure where I fall on these, frankly I haven't done enough research.  However, my heart aches for those who are deeply impacted by this shutdown, particularly when those in Congress who are battling are not directly impacted.  They still get paid as they are seen as essential personnel.  And I get it...and in the same breath, I don't.

I'm also reminded, again, that I need to do a better job of praying for the leaders of this country!