Update on the Ides of March (plus 5 days)
Wow. It's been entirely too long since I wrote in this thing. I used to keep a daily journal years ago. Then it became an occasional journal that I wrote in a couple of times a week, then a few times a month, then a few times a year, and then pretty much never. When I joined LiveJournal, I intended to use it as an opportunity to practice writing on a daily or at least weekly basis, but I've been doing good to post a few times a year.
So, what's new with me? Well, let's see.
Since the last time I posted, I've survived six months now at the insane new job (and I thought working at Citrus was hard work). I'm still working long hours, but at least most days are less than 12 hour days now.
I'm STILL working on the infamous dissertation. Back in November I was completely done except for updating my reference list - but then because of feedback I got from my dissertation chair I basically had to go back, recode my data, and redo my main analyses. I have drafts of all five chapters and am done re-re-re-re-analyzing my data, but I still have to finish re-writing up Chapters 3, 4, and 5.
Christmas was unexpectedly nice. I had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and couldn't go home to Indiana (it was the first time ever that I have not gone home for Christmas), so instead I spent Christmas with Nicole, her parents, and my grandparents (who have a winter home in Lake Wales, FL). I was worried I would feel really homesick, but instead I felt perfectly at home with my new family and grandparents (who I haven't seen for Christmas for a decade).
Nicole is now well into her second semester of graduate study. She is pursuing a Masters in English Literature and is finding grad school demanding but rewarding -- and she enjoys it much, much more than teaching middle schoolers.
Nicole and I are now engaged. I got her the engagement ring of her dreams (which I'm still paying off), and on Sunday, December 20, 2009, I took her out to Houston's in Miami where we had our first date, recited a poem to her I recited on our first date, and asked her to marry me. "'Til I found it to be true, I never thought it possible or likely. But see, while idly I stood looking by, I found the effect of love in idleness, and now in plainness do confess to thee, that art to me as sweet and as dear as Anna to the Queen of Carthage was... I burn, I pine, I perish... if I achieve not this young, modest girl." (Taming of the Shrew) She cried and said yes.
My brother Scott and his wife (who celebrate their one year anniversary today) are having a baby. They are due in September. I am excited to be an uncle, and Nicole is very excited to be an aunt, since she has no siblings.
And I'm looking forward to Spring. It's been unseasonably cold here in south Florida, with high temperatures in some cases only ten degrees warmer than the high temperatures in Indiana this time of the year, and it actually dropped below freezing for several nights in a row back in February. So I can't wait for beach weather to return.
So that's what's new with me.
So, what's new with me? Well, let's see.
Since the last time I posted, I've survived six months now at the insane new job (and I thought working at Citrus was hard work). I'm still working long hours, but at least most days are less than 12 hour days now.
I'm STILL working on the infamous dissertation. Back in November I was completely done except for updating my reference list - but then because of feedback I got from my dissertation chair I basically had to go back, recode my data, and redo my main analyses. I have drafts of all five chapters and am done re-re-re-re-analyzing my data, but I still have to finish re-writing up Chapters 3, 4, and 5.
Christmas was unexpectedly nice. I had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and couldn't go home to Indiana (it was the first time ever that I have not gone home for Christmas), so instead I spent Christmas with Nicole, her parents, and my grandparents (who have a winter home in Lake Wales, FL). I was worried I would feel really homesick, but instead I felt perfectly at home with my new family and grandparents (who I haven't seen for Christmas for a decade).
Nicole is now well into her second semester of graduate study. She is pursuing a Masters in English Literature and is finding grad school demanding but rewarding -- and she enjoys it much, much more than teaching middle schoolers.
Nicole and I are now engaged. I got her the engagement ring of her dreams (which I'm still paying off), and on Sunday, December 20, 2009, I took her out to Houston's in Miami where we had our first date, recited a poem to her I recited on our first date, and asked her to marry me. "'Til I found it to be true, I never thought it possible or likely. But see, while idly I stood looking by, I found the effect of love in idleness, and now in plainness do confess to thee, that art to me as sweet and as dear as Anna to the Queen of Carthage was... I burn, I pine, I perish... if I achieve not this young, modest girl." (Taming of the Shrew) She cried and said yes.
My brother Scott and his wife (who celebrate their one year anniversary today) are having a baby. They are due in September. I am excited to be an uncle, and Nicole is very excited to be an aunt, since she has no siblings.
And I'm looking forward to Spring. It's been unseasonably cold here in south Florida, with high temperatures in some cases only ten degrees warmer than the high temperatures in Indiana this time of the year, and it actually dropped below freezing for several nights in a row back in February. So I can't wait for beach weather to return.
So that's what's new with me.