May 18: 2048

My sister introduced me to this game called 2048, you move around number tiles until they combine to get larger numbers.  It's been a race to see who can get a 2048 tile first.  My sister won.  But I just got a new high score!

May 16: GA License

Jennifer was on a scavenger hunt and needed a picture of someone with an out of state drivers license.  She lives in Florida.  So I obliged.  :)  The GA license are neat and embossed with my signature.

April 26: Insomnia

It is absolutely no fun when you are awake at 5am...and you just cannot sleep.

April 8: Petting Zoo

Yes, this is a college campus, and yes, they had a petting zoo in the student union quad.  Just another day at UGA. :)

April 6: Recuperating

I haven't been doing much today but recuperating from Street Fest and planning and preparing for tomorrow.  I took a break to play rummikub on my phone.  I never win against the computer! :)

April 2: Baxter

Baxter really likes to cuddle up and always be touching you! Sweet pup.

March 12: Kroger

Today I visited the grad opening of the Kroger store with the Fred Meyer Jewelers inside.  The store showed nicely and there were a ton, I mean a ton of people there for the grad opening.  The rest of the day was spent writing at a local Starbucks.

March 11: Wendy's

While I waited for my sister to finish with her dinner, I figured I'd grab some dinner and snacks for the next writing day.  I really wanted a frosty and some fries for 'dessert' so I asked Siri where the nearest Wendy's was.  Ohhh it was in the same parking lot as the Target I was just in...should have just used my eyes.

Ps. the frosty & fries were delicious. 

February 17: Girl Scout Cookies

It's that time of year again...yep, delicious girl scout cookie time. I actually just finished my last box of thin mints from last year (the freezer is a marvelous thing).  Excited to indulge in these boxes (over time of course ;).

 

December 16: Dogsitting

I have been dog sitting for Winston & Baxter since Sunday.  Yesterday we enjoyed a fire, a walk, and some cozy time watching tv shows I don't get at home.  Today after work we went for a walk to witness one of the biggest moons I've seen in a long time.  The walk was nice, although trying to walk two at once always provides entertainment.  Moreover, I thought only women went to the bathroom in pairs ;)  Apparently when one went, the other just had to go too.  

December 14: Portlander

Today I felt like I would fit in just fine in Portland.  All I needed was a bird on it, oh wait, my shirt does have birds on it.  Yep, I'm ready to visit my family in PDX.

December 5: Athens Christmas Parade

Today I had a phone interview for a faculty position at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX.  The position would involved teaching (and research) in their master's program.  Phone interviews are always awkward (and it was my first for a faculty position)...especially when they start by asking you if they can record it.  What?! Yikes?! Ummm, okay.  Here are my notes, curriculum vita (CV), and cover letter.  Having notes helps me feel like I'm prepared...although can you ever really be?! 

Tonight we also had our annual UGAspa (masters & phd) holiday potluck dinner followed by the Athens parade.  Here are some pictures from the parade and some highlights of the event.

Yep, those are storm troopers.

Yep, and a REAL camel.

Tiphaine and I...and last but not least, Santa.

December 3: Internet Conspiracy

Sometimes the internet is out to get me.  Today was one of those days.  Anytime I would send an email from my UGA Mail from my phone it would not send.  This is particularly problematic on a day you have meetings all day. I was out of the office from 8:30am until 4:30pm.  Unfortunately, I also found out one of our international students also suddenly passed away today.  The day was already crazy and not having reliable internet/phone capabilities inhibits the type of service and support I can provide for students.  Any student death is tragic, when it's an international student it's much more complicated.

Keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.  She has one cousin in NY, and her fiance is a UGA student but in China right now.  Moreover, her parents are trying to decide if they are going to fly from China to make arrangements.  There are insurance issues and being halfway around the world and with limited English proficiency, things are difficult.  The university (iSL, student support, academics, students) has really stepped up to help, but we are also limited in certain ways.  

I'm glad Tuesday is over, but I'm also reminded how grateful I am for a healthy body and for another day of life.

November 16: ASHE dash & City Tour

The weather on Saturday was suppose to be in the 30s and raining.  Fortunatley, it was absolutely beautiful weather for a 5k run.  The route took us around downtown St. Louis to many of the historic views including the arch, the courthouse, and Busch stadium.  The run was cut a cit short because another run with over 3,000 women scheduled.  Anyway, it was fun to get out and see some of the city.  Moreover, it was a great chance to run with people I didn't know, talk about my research, and meet new people.  I spent most of the time talking/running with a woman, Megan, from a small college nearby.  As you know, I don't particularly love running, but the ASHE dash (or walk) is a wonderful opportunity to connect with people I probably wouldn't have otherwise met at the conference.

That afternoon I went to my second most favorite session and heard the most fantastic discussant.  Dr. Dafina Lazarus Stewart…oh she.is.phenomenal. I was so so so impressed by her feedback for both the audience and the authors.  

Later that afternoon Kristin and I explored parts of St. Louis.

We also went on the Anheuser-Busch brewery tour.

That night a group of us went out to dinner and then Kristin, Dallin, and I went to the City Museum.  It was incredible.  It's a museum made out of recycled stuff and has TONS of slides … for adults.  It's like a giant jungle gym for big kids.  Below is the best picture I could get of one, yes ONE of the play areas.  I climbed up the silver spiral piping on the left, through the whale, and came out on the 2nd story.  It was fun and if I'm ever back in St. Louis, I'd like to explore it more (when it's not raining outside…because they have a ton of slides and things to climb on out there too!).

That's a 10 story slide that goes from the roof to the caves below! So fun!

November 7: Red Cups

I love when the holiday cups arrive at Starbucks.  It makes working on my dissertation and writing cover letters so much more enjoyable!  It's happiness in a cup.  Happy almost-holidays!  

It's the most wonderful time of the year

When people spend big bucks

To get Starbucks red cups cause

they bring such cheer

it's the most wonderful time of the year.

200th Post

Well, I just realized my last post was my 200th post.  I also realize that this year I'll about double that since I'm doing a picture/post a day.

I'm excited to see all the things God is going to do in my life and through me this year!  And I'm glad I'll have a year of pictures to look back on.

November 1: Rain, Rain, Go Away

Today is fall break.  It's a day they give students off in order to travel down to the GA/FL game, which is always held in Jacksonville, FL, near the Okefenokee Swamp (note #warfortheoar is for the Okefenokee oar).  It's super quite around campus and I LOVE it.  Only thing, I have lots to get done ...yep, I took a break to update my blog. Ha. But it's also been raining all day.  At least my rain boots make me happy.  Aren't they cute?!

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 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 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!