I'm not dead!

Hello friends. Let me start by saying how sorry I am that I haven't updated in almost a month. I can't quite express though how insanely busy school has been. It's killing me. But enough of that. I'm going to try to give a basic rundown of anything quasi important/interesting since I got back. Don't expect it to be very organized though. It's been a long day of studying, and this is my way of unwinding. You know how it is.

My classes this quarter are ok. I'm taking US National Security Policy, which is quite interesting. Mainly so far I've learned that Taiwan is going to be an issue one of these days, and that it's a wonder we haven't torn this world to pieces before now. Sometimes it seems like our world is relatively stable, and sometimes the sheer number of nuclear weapons all pointing at each other makes me think we'll never make it. It's interesting though- how the retaliation/deterrence factor of nuclear weapons is really an amazingly stablilizing factor, though still somewhat scary.

I'm also taking a Shakespeare class, mainly because the class pickings were a little slim this quarter, and it was either that or another public policy class. Now, I like public policy, don't get me wrong. But I find that one class a quarter is generally enough to keep me satisfied. So, the Shakespeare is going pretty good, though I sometimes get a little tired of it. I guess I've moved out of the English major mentality a little bit.

My last class is Statistics. It's been really good. It's been relatively tough too. Our professor is a very famous stats guy, and he's really nice to boot, so I'm enjoying it. Plus, I actually know some people in that class, so it's my social quota for the week. Sad, but true.

Let's see... what else...

Last week I did a Busy Person's Retreat. It was very good. It really helped having somebody to go to and just talk about something real. I had a nun from St. Louis as my spiritual companion, and she was lots of fun and very kind. On the whole, the retreat helped me a lot with achieving a little bit of calm. And just in time too, otherwise I don't think I would have made it through this week without cracking. Don't you hate weeks like that? I'm afraid this week is going to stretch into the next three months. But back to the retreat. I started crying in the very first five minutes of the retreat meeting, and I think my advisor was a little concerned about me, but I explained the hormone thing, and then she didn't think I was so much of a nutcase. That's always reassuring.

I'm back working at my Jewish nursery school, which I just love. It's the high point of my week. My little kids are growing up so fast! We've got several kids who don't speak English yet (a mixture of Korean, Italian, Russian, and Chinese) but as time goes by they're learning more and more words and it's really encouraging. This Monday is the Chinese New Year, so one of our kids from China is bringing in special Chinese treats. I'm really looking forward to it. My fellow workers tell me it was really good last year.

Last weekend I took some time off and went to see Spencer for his birthday. We had a very fun-filled weekend! When I got there on Friday, it had just started to snow. By about 7 or so, they'd accumulated about 6 inches so we of course went out to play in it! (Sadly, I think we were the only two people in all of Milwaukee enjoying it though.) We did all the winter fun we could think of. We ran and threw ourselves in snow banks to leave shapes, made snow angels, had several snowball fights, and made our first real snowman (Grover.) I don't mind saying, Grover was about the cutest little snowman I've ever seen. (When we went back to check on him the next morning, somebody had given him a hat. Unfortunately though, he'd melted into a weird backbend, which kind of negated the funness of the new hat.) Then we topped off our evening with the ultimate fun. We went and bought some big, black garbage bags and tore holes in the bottom of them for our feet and wore them like diapers. Then we went running and sliding down the hills. Spencer was especially good at this. All his baseball sliding training finally paid off. I personally liked to just sit at the top and then push myself down backwards. It was a fun sensation :) So that was Friday night. Then on Saturday, we went ice skating (outside!). Unfortunately, Spencer got some very dull skate blades, so he was falling all over the place (including onto a little girl, who, I swear, had a limp afterwards.) Then after ice skating, we went back into the apartment and played Spencer's birthday present- HARRY POTTER SCENE-IT! It was fun. We need to all play it together sometime. I know several of you out there in readerland would really enjoy it. Then on Sunday, I caught a cold, so we didn't really do much that didn't involve staying still and nose blowing. It was very glamorous.

So, on a not-so-fun note, right now I'm in the middle of trying to find an advisor for my master's thesis. It's a very intimidating process given that the faculty has no obligation here to sponsor your project. You've got to interest somebody enough to have them take you on. It's scary. I'm trying to get a Professor Glaeser of Sociology, who is apparently rather a big-wig in his field, which just makes it all the more scary. I sent him an email and have yet to hear back from him. If I can't reach him on Monday, I'm seriously going to just sit ouside his office all morning on Tuesday. (As Courtney says, I'm going to take a page out of Rory's book.) If he says no, I've got one backup. The problem is, I'm in a bit of a time crunch. My research proposal is due soon. Aside from the advisor issue, I've got a couple other problems going on with my thesis. Basically, I'm doing an analysis of mainstream economics through looking at some economist detective novels, but because I have to be all social scientific about it, I have to do this thing called Content Analysis. Basically, this means I use a computer program to go through the content and code things and build relationships between categories and whatnot. It's basically how I've always worked, only with a little cleaner methos and a little more power behind it. So I'm excited about trying it. The problem comes in with 1) I have to pay $140 just to license the program for a few months and 2) I have to actually have the novels in digitalized form. Now that means either 1) the publishers give me permission and they let me buy an electronic version from them, 2)the authors are sympathetic to my scholarly plight and send me their files, 3) I scan in 600 pages manually or 4) I type it in by hand. I'm exploring all the options right now, but unfortunately, option 4 is looking to be the most likely. If anyone has any other ideas of how I might do it, I'm all ears.

On a completely different note, I planted a flower bulb about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and it's already got a thick, sturdy stalk about 6 inches tall. It is the fastest growing plant I have ever seen in my life. I'm a little afraid it's going to take on a life of its own like in Little Shop of Horrors. Hopefully, it'll just be a flower though. If I start hearing "Feed me, Maggie!" I'm going to have to get rid of it.

Another random note, I've been reading this book for about a week and a half or so, and I'm getting close to the end and it's getting really good, when suddenly, the book just stops because the author died! Can you believe that? They should at least advertise on the front of the book that it's an unfinished novel. I was so disappointed!

Ok, I think that's all I've got. I'll try to write again before another month has gone by. Now it's off to bed. Goodnight and miss you all.

P.S. Courtney is so totally cool.