And I wonder why people younger than me call me sweetie

Drive thru interaction.

"I'll have a #3"
"Coffee with that, right?"
"Um, no. Actually I'll um have apple juice.

Apple juice comes in a colorful juice box with Ronald McDonald. I wanted to say that I drink the hard stuff; Coffee gots nothing against 100% apple juice

More silliness

Ah a few questions I've stumbled upon on http://www.saviodsilva.net/silly-questions.htm

- How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
- Why do you have to "put your two cents in". but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"?
- How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
- Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?
- Whose cruel idea was it for the word "lisp" to have an "s" in it?
- Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?
- Why does ‘dyslexia’ have to be so hard to spell?

can you guess which kitten i would be?

more animals

What grad school does to you…

Friend: "what did you do last night?"

Me: "i did something crazy"

Friend: "what did you do?"

Me: "I graded papers until 3am"

Friend: "sounds like a crazy nite"

Me: "Oh yeah! The stapler, the white-out, the red pen, and a whole bunch of paper clips; all of the cool office supplies were there! Except the 3-hole punch; his schedule was jammed. Didn't need him anyway."

Friend: "U crazy"

Me: "Well at least I haven't named my stapler or anything. I would name him Butch, but he's not that strong – can't take more than 20 sheets at a time. I may dump him soon tho, for one that can take 50. I would name that one Butch".

Friend: "Wow. Should I be nervous or scared?

Me: "See where 9.5 years of post-secondary education gets you?"

Running in the rain…

I love running in the rain. Love it. I love running in the snow, even on the ice if I've got my polar cleats. I love running when it's dark out. Granted, running in the rain is nicer in the summer, but I was smart enough to wear a windbreaker, my Tigers baseball cap, and the kind of shorts that repel water. A few things about running in the rain:

1. Instead of making a satisfying crunching sound, the leaves go squish when you step on them.
   
2. Jumping into puddles is exhilarating for about 2 seconds…until your new mizunos are soaked (had to break them in anyway). Although once they are soaked, jumping into puddles becomes mandatory since your feet can't get any wetter.
   
3. You hear the whoosh, whoosh rhythmically as the hood of your windbreaker rubs against your hat/head for 4 miles. You had to turn up Christina Aguilera, Eminem, Journey, and T.I. because of this.
   
4. For some reason, you had spent 25 minutes this morning blow drying your naturally wavy/curly hair to be perfectly straight…its not anymore.
   
5. Finding your shins covered with mud when you arrive home is both a badge of honor…until you realize there is a high likelihood that the mud is manure (the natural fertilizer).
   
6. People driving slow down to take a look at you. Probably thinking one of 2 things: 1) That poor girl needs a ride, 2) um, is she crazy? (answers: no and yes)
   
7. Sidewalks are empty…you are such the dedicated runner.
   
8. You'll want to brag on your blog that you are so dedicated (read: crazy) that you ran in the rain.

It’s time for another top 10 list

You are a bit too much like me if you've ever:

1. Bought a Frappuccino at the gas station, got your change but forgot the beverage at the register.
   
2. Given the pizza delivery driver his tip, then walk back to your apartment without the pizza.¹
   
3. Shut the door when leaving your office…when your officemates are still IN the office.
   
4. Locked your keys in your office…at 11pm on a Sunday.
   
5. Put laundry detergent and clothes into the washer and forgot to turn it on.
   
6. Never know what time it is; all of your clocks in your apartment and car are set ahead by various numbers of minutes as a way to trick yourself you're on time.²
   
7. Left your apartment at 11am when your office hours start at 11.³
   
8. Attempted to use your office key to unlock the bathroom door.⁴
   
9. Pressed 3 on the elevator when on the 3^rd floor and are puzzled when the door opens immediately and other occupants in the elevator are laughing at you.
   
10. Your clothes have ended up more wrinkled after you iron them than before.⁵
    

¹ The next time you order pizza, the same delivery driver comes to the door and laughs when he sees it is you.

² You are late anyway.

³ One could argue that getting to the office is an essential to having office hours and thus should count as such.

⁴ The bathroom door is always unlocked

⁵ Wrinkles were carefully ironed in. Doesn't effort count for something?

All road trips come to an end…

So, I'm home. All of my stuff is still here (yay!) and so are the messes (boo!). Kinda tired right now but a few highlights on the drive:

Fangboner Rd (mile 91 on I-80 in ohio)

Welcome to Ohio…

(next sign)

Welcome Center: 48 miles

My head is fried right now…I'll update more later.

How appropriate

more cat pictures

Focus, focus, focus!

Here it is July 4^th….and I'm in my office at school. I'm over-caffeinated and have a very short attention span. Fireworks start at 9:45 & I already have a parking spot (I got here at 5). The parking deck is the best place to watch them. I really could have gotten these revisions done tonight, but I must drag everything out as long as possible

*stares at picture on bulletin board and notices the progression of highlights in her hair. Wonders how she got so blond. Happy she got some lowlights this time*

Geez, I can't even focus long enough to write this blog post without random thoughts coming to mind.

*gum has lost its taste. Must replace. Where is gum? Ah, found it. Spearmint. Where's the pina colada flavor? I guess spearmint will do*

Is it 9:30 yet? Going to watch fireworks at 9:30.

*chomps on gum and looks around for something to amuse her. Nothing is*

So, my goals this weekend are the finish the book chapter revisions and get a good start on a mini-proposal for my dissertation.

*wonders why she can never type "dissertation" right the first time. It always ends up being my "disseration". Ooh, pretty purple flowers on calendar for July. Not sure what kind though. Wikipedia?*

Well, I've got 14 minutes; I should do a little more work.

*Wonders how many she needs to spin in chair to make self dizzy? Decides to find out….whee! *

I'm being productive....writing this list counts as productivity, right?

You know you’ve been in graduate school too long when…

You start telling people outside of school that it’s taking you so long to finish because you’re doing a “pre-doc”.

When you speak of your cohort, no one has ever heard of them.

You speak of buildings on campus that no longer exist.

When master’s students graduate, you get jealous, even though you already have the same degree.

Your former students finish graduate school before you do.

When you no longer go to the recruitment luncheon because you figure you’re leaving soon and they’ll never get to know you. In reality, they graduate before you.

When the faculty bar you from all contact with prospective students because you will scare them by your bitter ways.

When “I can sleep in as late as I want” is no longer a satisfying response to your friend that just told you they bought a new house/got a raise/had a baby/etc.

You miss taking classes.

Your office is relocated to a room at the end of a very long hallway. It is labeled “supply closet”. Your red swingline stapler is repossessed as well.

You carry around your dissertation articles in a laundry basket.

When you have to meet with your advisor in secret locations because he doesn’t want anyone else to know that it is he who has the 13th year graduate student.

When 3 different presidents have been elected and all of them served 2 terms.

When even your landlord starts wants you to be done and move out; the rest of the building was remodeled 3 years ago.

When the new assistant professor graduated high school during your 3rd year of grad school.

When people referred to you as ABD, they don’t mean all but dissertation; they mean “a big disaster”.

When you are spending your time writing this list instead of your dissertation

Grad school fries your brain.

"Your appointment is 43 minutes overdue". Crap. It was sort of important.

I swear, I cannot remember anything for the life of me. The appointment I forgot today I've already rescheduled 3 times prior, twice at the last minute. I would have been fine if I'd been at my desk - my calendar reminds me 30 minutes ahead of time. But no, I was busy rudely interrupting people from their work to talk to me (I get lonely).

Journal articles don't talk back unless you have a really good imagination, are really sleep deprived, drunk and/or on crack. Then you can pretend that a bobblehead version of him/her is reading it out loud to you. If you've met the author at siop, a slight slurring of speech is evident and bobblehead may stagger across your desk

Ah, I/O action figures - just what the field needs to spice things up. How about I/O themed Pez dispensers that dispense caffeine pills instead of candy? Tim Judge dispenser is extra-strength.

A theory: I think that there is a curvalinear relationship of admiration and years in graduate school. After each milestone (thesis, comps), you are admired more and more. After a certain point, people cease to admire you. Being a 6th year is not impressive; its just sad.

Some good news: I may have the opportunity to teach an org behavior class in the mgmt department! Hopefully I'll get to teach it and at least one of the intro classes too. I'd really like to teach all 3, but I'm not sure that would be allowed.