trip planning

I'm getting closer to booking tickets for a trip next May (yes, 9 months in advance*) and I'm having trouble making some key decisions. They are not all mine to make, but even the conversations with Mr. Squirrel are more confusing than not.

We have the following options for places to fly into:
Munich
Budapest
Vienna

And the following options to fly out of:
Sofia
Bucharest

I just found a flight that goes: ("our little city" - JFK - Amsterdam - Munich) then (Bucharest - Rome - JFK - our little city) for $850 rt. Seriously. What this does is throw a city I'm dying to go to back into the mix: Ljubljana. We would end up spending two nights in Munich, two in Ljubljana, and then taking the train into Croatia as planned... this seems to work out better than flying into Budapest (as originally planned) and then taking the overnight train to Zagreb.

Unfortunately, the flight I was counting on from Split (Croatia) to Sofia seems to no longer exist. This is bad in some ways and good in others: we were going to have to drive back from Kotor (Montenegro) to Split for that flight... a good 4 or 5 hours, I think. Now, we'll probably fly Dubrovnik - Vienna - Sofia, thanks to low-cost European airlines.

*Note that the reason I'm planning all this so far in advance is two-fold. First, if we buy the plane tickets NOW, there's less chance of not having money later. Our Rome trip was canceled for lack of funds, and I'd rather not have that happen again. Second, it's a long trip and I need the planning time to make it all work in my OCD-tainted head.

serious randomness

aka: why is all this stuff in my head?

• While googling for images of a certain historical event, I accidentally ended up on one of those websites specializing in really horrific photos. This wasn't entirely surprising, as said historical event qualifies as "horrific," but the brief seconds of seeing some of the other images on the site might have fucked me up today. It's reminiscent of when I ran across some Daniel Pearl clips without realizing what I was about to see. Sigh.
• I have an office. An actual office. It has a window, a mini-fridge, and even a plant and a comfy chair. Color me slightly stunned.
  
• My teaching is getting better in many ways. My writing is getting worse. There's an article in the Atlantic ("Is Google Making Us Stupid?") that pretty much summarizes everything I fear.
• When I finish teaching for the day, I will often sit and accomplish nothing. at. all. Today I managed to write up a plan for class tomorrow, and that's about it.
  
• I just got a perfume called "Irrelevant and Disturbing Surreal Crawdad Dream." I think I like it. I know I like the bottle far too much to ever get rid of it.
• On Saturday I made my own bbq sauce. It turned out really well, but I'm still wondering why all of the recipes I looked at involved ketchup. Ketchup? If I'm making my own sauce, I really can start with tomato paste... or tomatoes... must research this further. I'm sure there are good recipes that I just didn't see, or that I can simply use a recipe for ketchup.
• My cat had bladder surgery last week, to remove four stones. She has several stones in her kidneys as well, but they'd have to do a much more complicated surgery to get those. The only place that does laser surgery wouldn't call us back, so we had to go with the "real" surgery. Poor kitteh. She's doing fine, though.
• I'm supposedly getting Mirena next month. My only lingering questions have to do with timing: it's scheduled for the beginning of my vacation week, and... well, I just don't think many days of heavy cramping is conducive to the type of vacation week I'd like. If I put it off, I'm putting it off for at least six months, because my own GYN won't do it.
  

Final interview today... think good thoughts for me.

Update: quick interview, job offer made. Woot!

Keep your fingers crossed.

I might have a job.

More info. forthcoming.

Seen at Canada's.

60 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
An ice scraper and some paperwork.

2. When was the last time you threw up?
the morning of Nov. 1, 2005.

3. What's your favorite curse word?
some variation of "fuck."

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
Uh, it's too early for that.

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
sleeping.

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Oddly, downloading The Canterbury Tales on audiobook.

7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now?
Either editing the dissertation or cooking dinner.

8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Yes.

9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
"Shit."

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
I don't generally eat ice cream, but there's some caramel-chocolate swirl that I like in HD.

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
coffee

12. What are you wearing right now?
White long underwear, white t-shirt, black fleece jacket and black sweats. Oh, and pink slippers.

13. What was the last thing you ate?
Several pieces of sharp cheddar cheese.

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
This week? Try "this year." No.

15. When was the last time you ran?
I have no idea.

16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
There was golf on this weekend. I have no idea what tournament.

18. Who is the last person you emailed?
Another student.

19. Ever go camping?
Twice last summer, for the first time.

20. Do you have a tan?
Heh.

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
Nope. Don't drink soda.

25. What did your last IM say?
Don't IM either.

26. Are you someone's best friend?
Yes.

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
Teaching a couple classes, and then celebrating because I have the rest of the week off? Oh, and writing a job application letter.

28. Where is your mom right now?
In bed, asleep.

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
An ottoman with a pile of clean clothes, an oval mirror, and a green wall.

30. What color is your watch?
Silver with a pale purple face.

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ?
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

32. Would you consider plastic surgery?
Not for cosmetic reasons.

33. What is your birthstone?
Peridot.

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
Uh, no.

35.How many kids do you want?
Zero is fine.

36. Do you have a dog?
Nope.

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
My mother.

38. Have you met anyone famous?
Peter Coyote? Is he still famous?

39. Any plans today?
Finish editing ch. 1, make dinner, meet with dissertation advisor, have beer. Oh, is it Ghost Hunters night? Then that, too.

40. How many states have you lived in?
Five (and one province).

41. Ever go to college?
I laugh. And laugh more.

42. Where are you right now?
In my office, at home.

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
My apparent inability to keep things tidy.

44. Last song listened to?
Short version: I'm not sure.
Long version: One of our friends has been making these monthly mixed CD's with all kinds of stuff, and I've been listening to those in the car without paying attention to *who* is singing.

46. Are you allergic to anything?
Chocolate, cats, and lots of other things.

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
Really old Dr. Martens.

48. Are you jealous of anyone?
Right now? Not so much.

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
I have no idea.

51. What time is it?
10:31 am

52. Do any of your friends have children?
Yep.

53. Do you eat healthy?
Yes.

54. What do you usually do during the day?
Too much Internet, not enough dissertation editing.
Most days I teach, have office hours, cook (I'm on a worse-than usual obsession with cooking right now) and watch some TV.

55. Do you hate anyone right now?
Nope. I'm somewhat annoyed with several people, though.

56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
I tend to use "hi" more than "hello."

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
38.

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
Nope.

60. How did you get one of your scars?
There is a small scar on my right wrist -- the size of about 1/2 a penny. I was on a swing set, and was doing the usual "swing high, jump off" thing. Apparently this particular set wasn't well-built, and as I jumped off, the skin of my wrist got caught in one of the chain links. Ripped a huge chunk of skin right out of my wrist. I was about 8, I think.

Hello, February!

I am trying to be far more positive, this month.

• I used another horrible (and much, much louder) comment from asshole student - yes, I need a better name - as a teaching moment in class, and it worked. I'm not sure if it worked for asshole student, but it worked for me and a large portion of the class.
  
• Yesterday I officially passed the 12-pound mark of weight loss. In my book "more than 10 pounds" is a major moment.
• Although I haven't updated the word meter yet, I have revised & expanded at least half of chapter one. None of it is actually typed yet - the longhand is proving fruitful - but that's my weekend goal.

Summing up January

I've been going back and forth about posting this all day. I think I'm just a bit down, in general, and I'm not sure if posting about it is worthwhile. I guess I'm posting it with that caveat: this post sucks.

Possibly the most disappointing thing about this month was the lack of interviews. I applied for very few positions this year - four total, I think - but two of them were spot-on. One was a two-year (and they've hired ABD's way further out from completion in the past) and one was only a year and definitely takes ABD's every year they do this. So it's not the lack of dissertation, in this case.

With the one-year, I know my advisor dropped the ball again -- she didn't even try to get my letter in on time, and it ended up there two weeks after the deadline. I did contact the chair of the committee directly to explain that my advisor was out of town, etc., and she seemed understanding... but the end of January has come, and no interview.

How many people in the area could have possibly applied for this? It's a one-year, it's in the middle of nowhere, and I just don't understand.

I should be happy with my renewed interest in the dissertation, although I'm not really feeling it today (uh, the interest, that is. Or the happiness, actually). I'm feeling very positive that I can complete it, although I have worries about the rest of the process.

In fact, I suppose I'm just worried. With no job on the horizon for next fall, things could get difficult. I have some adjunct work already lined up, but two classes won't cover bills. I know that it will work out, somehow, but I feel down about just about everything academic.

On the personal/family side of things, January was fine. Ups and downs, obviously, but overall an okay month. Probably would have been better without the three weeks of illness.