(no subject)
Welp, I suppose it's time for my monthly update.
Let's see. The last couple of weeks in April were busy. There was a poster session that I got conned into judging, several sample syntheses that didn't work, some exam grading, and miscellaneous academic chaos. My birthday, which did involve cake, despite everything. Followed by the Advisory Board Meeting that happens once a year so the undergrads can show off their capstone research projects. An all-day event. Literally. The portion the TAs need to be present for lasts from noon to 6:30pm. I left early for reasons of I bought a shiny new camera whose bits were arriving that afternoon, and no one needed my presence after 3pm.
The final was the following Tuesday, and we graded it the same afternoon. It sucked. The next day, May 1st, the department held a baby shower for my bossman and his wife. It was a nice gesture, but a little over the top, I thought, as far as some of the gifts went. Lots more experiments were interspersed in there, as well. Most of them ultimately unsuccessful, annoyingly. That Friday, a group of the lab girls went to the Music Festival out at the renamed Ford Amphitheatre and State Fairgrounds, which was a blast. Lots of good music, and fun on the Midway rides.
What happened next, though, was kind of embarrassing. I kinda slept through graduation. ^^;; Well, not Commencement, cause that would have been at 6:30 that Saturday, but I decided long ago I wasn't going to that. No, the ring ceremony that morning was what I was aiming to attend. But I never heard my alarm go off. I felt like such a failure at life. I did get my ring, though.
Sunday night, I drove up to my best friend's mom's house an hour north, and stayed the night in preparation for going kayaking that Monday. It was beautiful. The water was crystal clear. We went swimming in one or two of the river's spring-fed pools, and there was a ghetto-fied rope swing we made use of. It was a blast. To cap off the evening, though, we went out for food and then to the theatres to see IM3. Which... as part of canon, I'm not really too impressed with. But as an action flick it was fairly well executed. It just felt like the writers kinda browsed through comics canon and cherry picked things, and then tossed them into a blender. The level of BAMF-ery was great, though. Driving back that night was long and boring, but necessary. I had to drive my brother to the airport the next morning. And from there jumped right back into experiments.
I don't remember offhand what I ended up doing on the 8th, and my calendar is blank. I probably ended up doing data analysis. The remainder of the week got eaten up by marathon sessions with the UV-Vis machine, and the following Monday as well. My second masters diploma finally arrived, as well, and is safely hidden away.
On the 14th... I spent the day running around like a madwoman. A stop off at the bank this morning ended in me depositing some $66 worth of change in my account. Then there was lunch with the lab group in Ybor city, which was followed by trips to two separate post offices to find out how to hold one's mail for more the two months I'll be overseas. (Answer: fill out the hold form twice and leave it with the person you manage to convince to pick up your mail, so that they can submit it for you.) From there, I headed home briefly, backed up my computer, and then went to walk the park a bit with one of my buddies. We hung out for a bit afterwards and then I decided it was time to head home and cook.
And as for today... Today was ridiculous again. The bossman couldn't make it to the group lunch yesterday, so he wanted to say his goodbyes today. Once I got to campus, I found that the front entrance of the parking lot had been removed (why I'm not sure) and several holes cut in the tarmac beyond it. I got in okay, and decided I'd hang out in the office with my usual office buddy. (There are three, but usually only the one is around when I am.) All of that was well and good, but the bossman got waylaid by Dr Douchebag and talked at for an hour and more. I waited around for an hour or so. Of course, not long after I gave up, he got back to his office. I'd been home for about 10 minutes. at that point.
And since I never heard the email alert, I washed my car's windows and scrubbed the kitchen down. With the exception of some remaining dishes and the floor, which needs some attention. All of which took about two hours.
Once I was done with that, I went back to campus so that I could *actually* talk to him, and that was nice. He's randomly decided he's going to get me a bound copy of my dissertation, which is totally unnecessary but sweet. There was a little bit of discussion about my plans abroad, and then I took my leave. Gods, it feels so weird to know I'll never have to walk back into that building to work again. I've been here for some six years, but it feels more like one.
From there I decided to stop off and get some supplies for a crafty project for my buddies (I've been meaning to make some small keepsake-type things to hand out), and then came home and ate. Spent a little more time doing laundry and then played video games.
I'm tired.
In the next week I have to finish cleaning house and preparing everything for my trip abroad. Which is a lot more work than it seemed, given I've always wound up as helper before, rather than the only person around to do it. And I'm not sure when the next time is that I'll have interwebs access while I'm abroad. There's no wifi at the apartment, that I know of. So I might have to search out an internet cafe or something while I'm there.
Time for a snack and then some wind-down time before bed. Guh.
Let's see. The last couple of weeks in April were busy. There was a poster session that I got conned into judging, several sample syntheses that didn't work, some exam grading, and miscellaneous academic chaos. My birthday, which did involve cake, despite everything. Followed by the Advisory Board Meeting that happens once a year so the undergrads can show off their capstone research projects. An all-day event. Literally. The portion the TAs need to be present for lasts from noon to 6:30pm. I left early for reasons of I bought a shiny new camera whose bits were arriving that afternoon, and no one needed my presence after 3pm.
The final was the following Tuesday, and we graded it the same afternoon. It sucked. The next day, May 1st, the department held a baby shower for my bossman and his wife. It was a nice gesture, but a little over the top, I thought, as far as some of the gifts went. Lots more experiments were interspersed in there, as well. Most of them ultimately unsuccessful, annoyingly. That Friday, a group of the lab girls went to the Music Festival out at the renamed Ford Amphitheatre and State Fairgrounds, which was a blast. Lots of good music, and fun on the Midway rides.
What happened next, though, was kind of embarrassing. I kinda slept through graduation. ^^;; Well, not Commencement, cause that would have been at 6:30 that Saturday, but I decided long ago I wasn't going to that. No, the ring ceremony that morning was what I was aiming to attend. But I never heard my alarm go off. I felt like such a failure at life. I did get my ring, though.
Sunday night, I drove up to my best friend's mom's house an hour north, and stayed the night in preparation for going kayaking that Monday. It was beautiful. The water was crystal clear. We went swimming in one or two of the river's spring-fed pools, and there was a ghetto-fied rope swing we made use of. It was a blast. To cap off the evening, though, we went out for food and then to the theatres to see IM3. Which... as part of canon, I'm not really too impressed with. But as an action flick it was fairly well executed. It just felt like the writers kinda browsed through comics canon and cherry picked things, and then tossed them into a blender. The level of BAMF-ery was great, though. Driving back that night was long and boring, but necessary. I had to drive my brother to the airport the next morning. And from there jumped right back into experiments.
I don't remember offhand what I ended up doing on the 8th, and my calendar is blank. I probably ended up doing data analysis. The remainder of the week got eaten up by marathon sessions with the UV-Vis machine, and the following Monday as well. My second masters diploma finally arrived, as well, and is safely hidden away.
On the 14th... I spent the day running around like a madwoman. A stop off at the bank this morning ended in me depositing some $66 worth of change in my account. Then there was lunch with the lab group in Ybor city, which was followed by trips to two separate post offices to find out how to hold one's mail for more the two months I'll be overseas. (Answer: fill out the hold form twice and leave it with the person you manage to convince to pick up your mail, so that they can submit it for you.) From there, I headed home briefly, backed up my computer, and then went to walk the park a bit with one of my buddies. We hung out for a bit afterwards and then I decided it was time to head home and cook.
And as for today... Today was ridiculous again. The bossman couldn't make it to the group lunch yesterday, so he wanted to say his goodbyes today. Once I got to campus, I found that the front entrance of the parking lot had been removed (why I'm not sure) and several holes cut in the tarmac beyond it. I got in okay, and decided I'd hang out in the office with my usual office buddy. (There are three, but usually only the one is around when I am.) All of that was well and good, but the bossman got waylaid by Dr Douchebag and talked at for an hour and more. I waited around for an hour or so. Of course, not long after I gave up, he got back to his office. I'd been home for about 10 minutes. at that point.
And since I never heard the email alert, I washed my car's windows and scrubbed the kitchen down. With the exception of some remaining dishes and the floor, which needs some attention. All of which took about two hours.
Once I was done with that, I went back to campus so that I could *actually* talk to him, and that was nice. He's randomly decided he's going to get me a bound copy of my dissertation, which is totally unnecessary but sweet. There was a little bit of discussion about my plans abroad, and then I took my leave. Gods, it feels so weird to know I'll never have to walk back into that building to work again. I've been here for some six years, but it feels more like one.
From there I decided to stop off and get some supplies for a crafty project for my buddies (I've been meaning to make some small keepsake-type things to hand out), and then came home and ate. Spent a little more time doing laundry and then played video games.
I'm tired.
In the next week I have to finish cleaning house and preparing everything for my trip abroad. Which is a lot more work than it seemed, given I've always wound up as helper before, rather than the only person around to do it. And I'm not sure when the next time is that I'll have interwebs access while I'm abroad. There's no wifi at the apartment, that I know of. So I might have to search out an internet cafe or something while I'm there.
Time for a snack and then some wind-down time before bed. Guh.