The end of the road

I am sick of writing.

That's what I do now. I am a writer. Writing is the only thing that stands between me and a graduate degree. I always told myself that if and when writing on this site felt like an obligation or a chore, I would stop. And at this point in my life, that is what it feels like. Not that anything I have written in the past year or so has been anything out of the ordinary. It's the same boring crap that everyone else writes, and I am not going to reduce myself to writing about the mail or grocery shopping.

As my career becomes more important to me and I am expected to adopt a more professional image (which includes representing various universities and/or employers), this site and the things that I write become liabilities because I use my real name. Call me paranoid, delusional, or overconfident if you like, but I would rather not limit my future opportunities because I wrote something stupid four years ago. I do not want to be denied access to a Ph.D. or rejected in academic circles or job applications because someone stumbles across this site and disagrees with what I say. Plus, then all of the people who insist that I am a good writer would have ample evidence weighing against their opinions of me.

I sincerely appreciate those of you who have stuck with me over the years, by reading and/or linking to this site. And I also appreciate having had the opportunity to express myself in a public venue, with an audience, whether it was loyal or simply searching for methods of getting the sour milk smell out of carpets.

I will probably write again, when the mood strikes, somewhere, but cannot guarantee anything at this point. Keep in touch if you are interested, and thanks again for stopping by.

Isn't it ironic?

I can't help but shake my head when I read in the news that Turkey is preparing for an outbreak of bird flu.

The long road home

As of 2pm this afternoon, I am officially finished with everything except my thesis. Although I only managed about an hour of sleep last night, I feel great. Done! Awesome.

I now have about 15 hours to do laundry, pack, clean my house, and run a huge list of errands, as I will be leaving here tomorrow morning for my non-denominational holiday break. I have less than two hours of internet access remaining, as I will be turning my router in to the cable company this afternoon (they are conveniently not open on the weekend), so in addition to sending a few last-minute emails, I also need to print my boarding pass, set up my fantasy football squad, etc.

My friends Adam and Becky were nice enough to agree to drive me to Fort Collins tomorrow morning, where I will be boarding a shuttle for the airport. I'm flying from Denver to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon, and Molly will be picking me up from the airport at about 8:30 pm (assuming she is on time . . .). We will immediately then start driving north, as we have a Christmas party to attend in Central Pennsylvania at 4pm on Sunday and it is a 12-14 hour drive from Atlanta. Monday, we will make the 4-hour drive from State College to her parents' place, and I will finally be able to lounge around in my sweats and relax for a while before making another 4-hour drive to my parents' place in New York for Christmas. After a few days there, we'll be headed back for Atlanta around New Year's and then we'll be there for good until sometime in mid-to-late January when I will return to Laramie for my prospectus hearing.

So, just in case I don't get around to writing for the next few weeks, that's where I'll be and what I'll be doing. Happy holidays to everyone, and for the select few in the audience that have any desire to grab a beer and catch up while I'm home, get in touch and we'll work something out. And I'm out, like the fat kid in dodgeball.

Two more days

Two term papers and a final in the next two days, and then I am done with classwork towards my master's degree. These past three semesters have really flown by. I hope the rest of my life doesn't go this quickly - it seems like when I was a kid everything went so much slower. I'll be eighty and drooling on myself before I know it.

I don't really have time to post and have done everything I possibly can to procrastinate over the past few days, so now I am essentially forced to sit and write. I mailed my Ph.D. application to Arizona first thing this morning - so now I get to play the waiting game for a couple of months. And if I get accepted, that will mean five or six more years of last-minute term papers, tests, and stress. Good times.

/rambling post

A little cold snap

I woke up this morning and checked the forecast online as I usually do, and saw this:

A windchill of -40 degrees is enough to cause frostbite on exposed skin in ten minutes, according to the National Weather Service. It takes me 17 minutes to walk to class, and I live closer than a lot of people in the department. You know it's cold when your nose hairs freeze with the first breath you take. I actually had little icicles in my moustache from the steam that came out of my mouth and nose as I was walking to class.

Best of all, the meteorologist on the news today actually said, "We're just having a little cold snap". At least it will warm up to about 15 degrees tomorrow . . . practically t-shirt weather.

Holy crap, it's December

Yeah, I know that I'm a day late. But how is it the end of the year already? I have one week of classes left as a Master's student! I will have a graduate degree soon! I have a ton of work to do!

I have always been annoyed by religous people who get preachy and corner you into having a discussion about what a horrible person you are. I consider it a form of harassment, just as bad as telemarketers and junk mail. Except most people don't feel bad hanging up on someone; you can't really do that if a guy in a tie and dress slacks seeks you out in the quad and just won't take no for an answer. Unless you just keep repeating, "NO" until they leave you alone, which I have done.

Today was actually 'nice' in Laramie - the temperature got up to about 35 degrees and the sun came out, so I rode my bike to campus. And, since more people were out and about, that included a large amount of very nicely dressed young men and women with stacks of pamphlets and bibles. Wyoming is God's country after all; we are the reddest of the red states.

Wanting to enjoy the day, I cruised around for a bit, going just fast enough as to be unapproachable. And then I realized that I could actually ride right past someone, make direct eye contact, smile, and they had no means of accosting me. So, I did that for a while, enjoying the frustrated looks that I got and the freedom from mini-sermons that my bike provided. I stopped short of tormenting people and resisted the urge to do slow, looping circles around them, but I thought about it.

If it exists, I am pretty sure that I am going straight to hell.

Arizona dreamin'

Winter has finally come to Laramie. After an extremely mild fall in which many high temperature records were broken, the wind and snow started on Saturday and they don't show any signs of stopping. It is 12 degrees outside at 2:30 - supposedly the warmest part of the day - and winds are steady between 40 and 50 mph. I don't know what that translates to in wind chill, but it's probably enough to freeze your nose off in less than half an hour.

I'm sitting on the couch in my living room in long sleeves, wool socks, and a knit hat. Even though I don't pay for my utilities, my heat can't seem to compete with the cold, and I don't want to crank it up to 70 unless things get really unbearable. As I'm typing this, it is 61 degrees and sunny in Tucson. Why Tucson, you ask? Well, because I just sent my Ph.D. application off to the University of Arizona, and t-shirt weather sounds really nice right now.

Actually, for what I'm interested in (and for any archaeologist in general), the U of A is the top program in the country. I will be competing with the best students from places like Harvard, Penn, and UC Berkeley for about a dozen openings in the department. It's just one of those things that you do if you have any interest in academics or high-level professional jobs in this field - you apply to Arizona. While it's not an automatic 'in', a Ph.D. from their program gets your resume on the top of the pile when it comes time to apply for a job. Plus, they have a ton of funding, and I would like someone to pay me to go to grad school instead of taking another student loan. And their basketball team is always good.

So, we'll see what happens. It's a long shot, but nobody ever accomplished anything without trying, right?