Beach Hazards

On my way out of the water this morning, a crab pinched me! Ouch- that hurt! I never saw it because the water is too murky, here.


It also got to be hot and humid (like normal) today. Tomorrow we leave for another state to visit friends before heading home next week. More pictures to follow....

Beach Walk

We went geocaching today! Our search took us across this beach:


Don't let the gray skies fool you- it's not too hot, but definitely on the humid side! We're going to take a car trip this afternoon and visit another nearby area.

This Morning

Having a lovely time and pretending that I don't have work to do waiting back at home (or that H is here for a conference!)

Dewds...

Is anyone else disturbed that they made another version of Hairspray? How can you possibly do better than John Waters?? (& Ricki Lake with Divine and Jerry Stiller? And Deborah Harry????) WTF???

Goodies

Arriving today:
I think my current handbag is hurting my back. Do you think if I put all the same crap in a different shaped bag, my troubles will be over? I don't either- but this one looks cute!

At least I can't get anthrax

UTI.

Ugh.

3 days of Cipro coming up.

Ugh.

Sorry, TMI! Maybe it's all the varicose veins and BO talk...

I"m sure some of you have experienced the joy for yourselves, though.

I've lived in six states....

and visited this many:



create your own personalized map of the USA

As seen at Arbitrista's...

I included states that I've driven through, because I'm not sure where I've spent the night (I drove across country as a kid and don't remember for sure!) I think I've probably stayed in most of them anyway at one time or another!

Rockin' in the free blogosphere

Seeking Solace nominated me as a:


Here's what she said about me:
Addy N. and I have more in common than many bloggers know. We appreciate the same things, especially a love of the 70's and 80's.

Thanks, SS- I feel the same way about you! So cool.

Now, I have the tough job of picking five more! Here they are:

Elli: I really enjoy reading Elli's blog about her experiences as a graduate student. I think she is much more together than I was when I was in grad school! I think blogging is a great outlet for all of us working our way through research and writing. Keep up the great work, Elli!

Eddie: Eddie writes on a great mix of topics (work, personal, day-to-day interactions with people) and she is funny. She and I are pretty close in terms of career timing (pre-tenure), so it's fun to hear about her experiences at work. She also has plenty of posts about shopping and other fun things.

Twice: I just discovered her blog recently, but it really resonates for me. As an academic mom, she has a special place in my heart, since we have some struggles in common (of course, I don't have twins!) Twice writes about teaching, research, & family- and BALANCE.

ScienceWoman: A new mom who interviewed for jobs with a newborn. She rocks! Her honesty and clarity are really amazing. We women in science have to stick together and support each other and she understands that. I love that she has a superpower, too!

Jane: Another awesome new academic mom! It was fun reading her blog before the baby and now it's great hearing about the trials and tribulations of those early days of motherhood. Cheers to her for keeping things on track with work, while taking care of her new family member.

Bonus Blogger...
Pigs: Another new mom to add to my list! Pigs is a teacher and she is hilarious! Her blog is always entertaining- whether it's about Piglet or dealing with people (like flaky moms).

Thanks to all the women bloggers out there. I think pretty much all of the blogs I read are written by women and most are also academics. It's really wonderful having this virtual support structure- especially when I don't have much support from my own colleagues! Keep up the great blogging, ladies!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Eight years ago today, H & I headed to the court house in Tucson, Arizona with a few friends and my soon-to-be mother-in-law. A judge married us (after I asked him not to say anything "religious") and our four witnesses signed our marriage certificate. My good friend, S, said "Addy, only you would get married in Tucson in July!" as we took pictures outside afterward- and of course, it was HOT.

Since that day we've had many adventures: four months apart while H started his first tenure-track job and I finished my dissertation proposal (oh yeah- and gave birth to our daughter!), a couple years in Very Small Southern Town when I pretended that I was a housewife (I was actually finishing my diss at home on a fellowship, but our neighbors thought I was a stay-at-home mom), job searches, three moves- including one across the country with a cat and a 3-month-old baby, good news at work, bad news at work, annoying people at work, our first house, three cars, lots of driving to places with more interesting shopping and food (since we have lived in small towns for the most part).

I love that man dearly- he's my best friend and I feel lucky that to have met him (we only overlapped at PhD U for a short time- plus he's from Very Distant Country, where I have never been!) Sometimes I wonder if he's payback for all the years I had bad luck in love. Happy Anniversary, H!

Action Shot!

Proud Mom

D jumped off of the diving board into the 18-feet deep diving well at her swimming lesson tonight (3 times!) She was petrified to do it two summers ago (of course she couldn't swim then). I'm so proud of my brave girl! (I don't think I would want to do it!)

Monday Bird Blogging

I give up- I'm going to walk on the treadmill. But first, here is what I saw when I went downstairs:

RBoC: Midsummer Edition

I have been reading blogs and leaving comments around, but haven't managed to write my own post for a while. Because I have so many different thoughts floating around, here are a few bullets:

• the grant The initial excitement has worn off, but I am still quite happy about the grant and the research that I will be doing over the next few years. The thing I'm not so pleased with is the reaction from my colleagues. I am about to go up for tenure, but only one person mentioned that this will help me. An announcement went out by email to the other faculty (as we always do when someone gets published, gets an award, etc.). I received congratulations from a few people, but haven't heard a peep from others- including someone who I thought was sort of a mentor. My department does not have a history of getting grants- especially bigs ones, like the one I got- so maybe that explains the silence. One colleague also commented that I must be pleased. Of course, I am , but is s/he forgetting that this is also good for the whole department? I have funding for a grad assistant for the duration of the project, so you'd think that people would be happy about that. I have been enjoying spending other people's money on things like a new computer, so it's all good. The sour grapes crowd can just go away.
• shopping We are enjoying our new car and it seems to have put us in a spending mood. For instance, why would I rather browse the handbags at ebags.com than do some work this morning?
• my mother-in-law is back on Very Distant Country. We have a vague plan to visit her next summer (my first trip there), but we have to be sure that things are on track for tenure first. Of course, we probably should have waited to buy a car, too, but it's too late now!
• cars Since the new car is so shiny and nice, we had the old car detailed and it's going for it's 60K mile service today. It will be sitting in the garage more, now that our new car is the main transportation. I love the gas mileage on the new car, but the A/C is dragging it down. We've averaged about 43 mpg with the current tank of gas (we've driven over 350 miles and it's still above 1/4 tank). It's rated better than that and when H drove it alone and with no A/C the other day, he averaged 56 mpg on a 50-mile trip! I can't wait to see how it does our road trip in a couple of weeks!
  
• kids I've been really intrigued by the conversation going around the blogosphere about kids and having or not having them. I'm sure I could fill up a post on the subject, but I will just reiterate what I left in a comment over at Seeking Solace's blog. I do not consider myself a baby/kid person, yet I have a child. I love her dearly and don't feel that I lack mothering instincts, but I am still not terribly interested in most other people's kids. I'm not into hanging out with the other moms, either. I often wonder if I would be parent at all if D hadn't decided to show up herself (and she was quite determined to be here- as those who know me in real life are quite aware!). It's always interesting to hear perspectives of those who do and don't have kids. I don't know if I'm more or less understanding of people with small children than I was before I had a daughter. Sometimes, I think I'm MORE annoyed my bratty kids, because mine isn't like that!
• summer research I have tons to do and as usually happens in the summer, I'm having trouble focusing. There are so many things to do in the summer (like take cars for service and buying new kitchen faucets) that seem impossible during the semester. In May I was focused and wrote quite a bit, but since D got out of school, I've been distracted- and it isn't her fault- she's been playing at the neighbor's house very morning, so I have no excuse! This is probably why I haven't been blogging lately- I don't feel like I am allowed to spend time writing a blog post when I have other things that need to get finished (including my revised final dossier).
  
• teaching evaluations I just got my spring evaluations back and they were atrocious (for my freshmen class). My first reaction was "those little fuckers!" I hated them all semester- maybe they could tell! I'm sure my traveling didn't help- I was gone the two weeks before the last week, plus the earlier interview trip in February. BUT- I used a new textbook and completely re-vamped the course from the last time I had taught it. One asshole even had the nerve to say that I am "an embarrassment to Small College Town U"- as if he's in any position to make that assessment. I don't take those remarks personally, but they piss me off. The students were pissed because I didn't spoon-feed the content to them (as I've done in the past). I have to wonder if it's also because they heard from friends that it was easy and they had note-taking guides, then they didn't them this time. It just makes me want to put very little effort into the class, because I knocked myself out and got nothing for it.

OK- I just read over this post and I'm not even going to fix the typos- you guys know what I'm saying! I really need to do something useful this morning. btw- it's so hot and gross outside- I hate summer- except for the no-teaching part!