Picture of the day: Finger Lakes of New York. May 2004. 

Nearing home plate.

Well, my chair has indicated that she will have my revisions done and delivered on campus by 1pm. From there, I make the corrections, head to the library, print that puppy out, and if it's after 4:30pm, I take it home. If it's not, I deliever it to my chair, who will look at it and probably not get it back to me before Tuesday, which is the day that it is due. Either way, if I get it to him today or Friday, I still think that I won't get it back until the 5th. I will then quickly make any corrections, print it out another time, put it in some special folder (which I will probably buy today) and take it over to the graduate office by 4:30pm. And then, dear reader, it is over. That's it. I will technically be done. Finally.

In the meantime, I think that I will watch some Ukrainian movie I picked up at the local video store, which is awesome and totally should have been included on my "5 things I like about Bowling Green" list. I am sorry I forgot about it.

*****Late Edition Edit: I got the rest of the revisions back from my chair. Actually, they got sent directly (somehow) to my director. I snatched them back and looked through them. No corrections necessary. Huh. I then hightailed it back to home, as I didn't sent it with the abstract, title page, table of contents, etc. I then gave it back to my director, and he said that he should have it back to me by tomorrow afternoon. Theoretically this means that I could be done by tomorrow. Tomorrow people! Tonight my friend's s.o. is playing in a band. Quarter beers. She also turned hers in today, so people, get to Bowling Green, and we'll see you at Checkers.

Picture of the day: Outside the gates of the National Tractor Pull Championship. They wanted $25 to get in and we were not amused. I was able to "beg" my way in so that I could get t-shirts. 

5 Things I Like about Bowling Green, Ohio

Sometimes, when I drive down Main Street, usually on the way back from Kroger to my house, I like Bowling Green. I mean really like it.

That drive only lasts about 5 minutes, which is really the longest length of time that I could actually convince myself that I enjoy living here.

Here are some unique things that I like about Bowling Green, and while I can't say that I'll miss them, these are things that I'll remember:

5. Wood County Court House and the big clock tower. Think of it as Wood County's own Yorkminster.

4. Panera Bread. Panera is not unique to Bowling Green, and I don't even eat there all that often, typically only when I travel either back to Boston or Pennsylvania, but it's good. I especially recommend the smoked turkey panini* or the chicken salad. The orange scones are good as are many of their breads.

3. Beer is cheap. Really cheap. They don't have Yuengling, but it's cheap. As are mixed drinks, which I more commonly will drink when I go out. Plus, doing karaoke is not so intimidating in a place like Bowling Green, and they have some decent bars that aren't overrun with undergraduates.

2. Bowling Green: Home of the National Tractor Pull Championship. Need I say more?

1. Drive-thru everything. Only a lazy American would say something like this, right? But it's true. The closest convenient store to me is a drive-thru one, where you can get snacks, bread, and beer. Yup. Drive-thru beer store. Amazing. They also seem to have more drive-thru ATM machines here too, so essentially, you don't ever have to get out of your car if you don't want to. Although, we do have to pump our own gas--New Jersey has us beat on laziness there! Way to go Jersey!

* thank you Eric, for ordering that fine sandwich. I've gone back to get it again, only to have them tell me that it was sold out. It's *that* good.

Picture of the day: St. Isaac's Catherdral, St. Petersburg.

Language Issue Solved!

This morning I called the Country Desk at the Peace Corps to ask them about the language issue. Over a week ago, I received an e-mail that asked me to fill out some form and indiciate if I had a language preference. Last night I stayed up reading a country guide about all the different oblasts and major cities in those oblasts (oblasts are like states, provinces, or regions). The author did indicate where possible which language was predominantly used (Ukrainian or Russian) and about some of the things to do in that area. I learned what I already knew: Western Ukraine speaks Ukrainian and sounds beautiful, the Crimea speaks Russian and sounds beautiful, too. Kyiv speaks both, and sounds like it would be another good place to be located.

This lead me to form this reasoning: If I pick Ukrainian, it is essentially a win-win situation geographically. Choosing Russian would be more dicey. Granted, my first and main concern is being placed somewhere where I will be comfortable and supported, a mutually beneficial relationship, even if that means being placed somewhere in the industrial Right Bank, with more pollution, Soviet buildings, etc. However, Ukrainian seems (to me) more difficult to learn--especially as I've already learned some basics in Russian, and Russian would be more widely understood across the world.

So I called this morning, because I was hoping that they would decide your language after you arrived and had met with the different universities, institutes, etc, as it seems to make more sense all around. It seems that this is the case, which puts me more at ease. This means that hopefully I will be able to find that mutually rewarding situation...Hopefully. I'm not going to state a preference (honestly, it probably is Russian, because at least I can get through the niceities in Russian, and if I wanted to travel further East it would be helpful) and just hope for the best. Either way, I'll have the opportunity to learn a new language, and that is exciting and something that I want to do.

Back to the abstract...but first, the Golden Girls...

Picture of the day: Summer gardens, St. Petersburg. 

Abstract Thoughts

Well, I revised everything now and turned it in for her to look at. I still have yet to write an abstract for it, along with putting together a table of contents, acknowledgements, dedications, and of course, finally giving the thesis a title.

Titles have always been difficult for me. I'll either think of one immediately that I love or more frequently, I will put it off until last minute giving some completely lame and uncreative title to the work. My favorite's recently: "Lost in Translation"-- a paper where we interviewed people for my folklore class and asked for idiom's. There were brillant one's like "Don't throw your gun in the cornfield" (or something to that effect) from German, meaning don't give up or abandon ship. It comes from WWI or WWII. That class was last year, please forgive me. My other favorite was "even the iron smith's house has wooden knives." The person who told me this just said that she hears her parents use it (I believe that it's Argentinian in origin?) but she did not exactly know what it meant, hence, "Lost in Translation." Brilliant. I got an A+ on that paper. Also in that class I wrote a term paper I titled "'I Will Follow:' The Passion of Bono and his fans." I suppose that the title could have been better, but compared to some of the other gems I wrote last year, such as, "Is Eric Lott Gay?" or "It's the End of Academia and I Feel Fine" you'd understand why those seem a tad more inspired.

This evening though, instead of dreaming up titles, I will be reading about what you need to put in your abstract. So far, it seems that I ask myself the following questions:
1. What was done?
2. Why was it done?
3. How was it done?
4. What was found?
5. What is the significance of the findings.

Hmm....My answers?
1. I read stuff and then regurgatated it .
2. Because it was the only way to get my degree.
3. Very painfully, through blood, sweat, tears, and dammit, lots of overeating and sleep deprivation.
4. That I didn't focus the project enough. There is no reason for a master's thesis to be over 140 pages (before the bibliography).
5. That I will graduate.

I think that this is not the sort of thing that one should include on their abstract and that I'll have to put this gray matter to work a little harder than that. I think that this project has been one giant mood swing for me that I'm still not settled into yet. When I started this project it simply was just to get my degree to help me in whatever future endeavor I planned to explore. It ended up being the Peace Corps. Okay. Then I got really into the thesis, and didn't mind working hard at it, and felt proud when I had done a lot of work or read a lot--I was making progress and keeping time with goals. I thought, "a PhD might be something worth pursuing" and then it just all went crashing down again, as I don't have the energy or interest to even clean up the project in a really thoughtful or important fashion. For me, it was all over as soon as they told me the defense was done. I admire people who can stick it out and pursue a doctorate in something, but I don't think that it is exactly what I want or need in my life. The question remains though, what is it that I want?

Right now, that would be simply, to be done with the thesis and have my apartment clean!

Picture of the day: Lenin's tomb in Moscow. How boring must that dude's job be (fella on the right). 

Found this Quotation today...

While surfing the net to procrastinate revising my conclusion, I came across this quote attributed to Sinclair Lewis:

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."

Interesting, no?

Picture of the day: Rainbows, cornfields, and barns....Ah, Ohio! Summer '03. 

10 Things I like about Ohio

I will be leaving this state in a little over a month and as soon as the thesis is turned in it will be time to enjoy the Buckeye State and the surrounding areas. To help get things started I came up with a list of things that I actually like about Ohio:

10) Service with a smile. Something to be said about Midwest hospitality, I have yet to have a rude server anywhere out here.
9) Politeness. I think that most kids can't graduate until they have had some sort of manners class. Kids won't even walk into a classroom until all the other students and professor have left, even if this means the entire class waiting out in the hallway 5 minutes into their classtime.
8) Everyone is from Ohio. Coming from one of the original 13 colonies, and let's face it, next to Boston, Philadelphia is the birthplace of freedom--so it's hard to forget that other parts of the country have unique histories too. Ohio is the birthplace of flight, the mother of invention, and home to as many US Presidents as Virginia (they both claim one of the Harrison's), and also many authors. Ohio also bore Clark Gable, need I say more?
7) There are more rainbows visible. This used to be my favorite thing, but I haven't seen any rainbows in over a year. I don't know what is up with that.
6) You can drive fast. While the speedlimit is 65 throughout the state, living in Northwest Ohio means being close to Michigan, where the speed limit is 70 and everyone drives like a maniac. I'm not saying that Michigan drivers are bad, but hey, they can give a Masshole a run for his money anyday. Also, because of number 4 on the list, you can drive a lot faster and smoother. Heck, I usally sleep from Detriot to Toledo, just lock the steering wheel, put on the cruise control and you'll be fine.
5) Ohio is the only state that I have lived in that has sent me a refund check on my taxes.
4) The landscape. There is something beautiful about farmlands and seeing the traffic patterns miles away on either your left or right side.
3) Cleveland Rocks. Cleveland Rocks. Cleveland Rocks. Ohio.
2) It stays lighter later. I love that it's still daylight in the summer till after 9pm. Not as great as Russia's White Nights, but hey, I'll take it.
1) The night sky. It is just enormous. I have never been able to see so many stars in the sky at night. Earlier this year there was a solistice of some sort where the moon turned blood red. I could see the whole thing unfold from my back "porch" and I knew that if I still lived in Boston, I'd have no way of seeing it.

There are other things that I like about this place, but hey, I had to draw the line somewhere. This will inevitably be followed up with the 10 Things I dislike about Ohio too, but today, the glass is half full people!

Picture of the day: Swedish countryside. Two days ago I tried to post this photo, but it was cropped in some way. I'm trying again and saying 'who cares' about the results, so if it looks funny, it's not my fault. My friend and I *loved* these beautiful yellow fields that went on forever and took what we thought to be the quintessential photos of Sweden. Here is one of mine. 

Good Morning!

Yesterday I spent revising the revisions I had already made (huh? It's true) so that means that today I am back to making major revisions to the rest of chapter 3, and then all of chapters 4 and 5. It is still more than half way through the whole thing, actually, 2/3 I think, with only 42 pages more to revise. It is just that it takes me forever to make those kinds of revisions, and honestly, I'm tired of it altogether. But the revisions don't get done on their own.

What I would I rather be doing? Planning the camping trip that I'll be taking in early-mid July. I still have no idea what kind of tent it is that I should get--but I'm hoping to go to a store at some point in time and talk to someone who knows what they are doing. I always get excited about any prospects of traveling, so I want to read about the places, where to stay, etc etc.

I also started reading about Ukraine last night--I figure since I am only revising now, I do not need to read any further books, so in the evenings, it's my choice as to what I want to read. I started with something easy, although I can't wait to read some of the history books. I figure this will give me a sense of the people, the language, the history, the culture, and so on. It's Culture Shock! Ukraine which is a guide to customs and etiquette. It's been interesting thus far, including a humor section with such kneeslappers as: Why does the Lada Samara have a heated rear window? So that your hands won't freeze when you push it! Although this one is too funny:
What is 150 yards long and eats potatoes? The meat queue in Moscow. Ha! Soviet humor!

So basically, with so many things to look forward to, it's hard to concentrate on revisions. Plus my apartment looks like someone came in and trashed the place, living little concern for the person who actually lives here. The thing is, that person was me. Coming and going for the past month, I have mail left just about everywhere and on all surfaces. Clothing is littering my bedroom in massive mounds that can not get put away until I make the time to do it. The sink is never completely free of dishes, although I do tend to wash while I cook. And then there are books, papers, pamphlets, drafts, everywhere. I suppose that that is normal, considering what I am working on and that I'm a graduate student. I just hate having to walk around stacks of books and jumping over piles of paper. One day this will be over. But of course, those revisions don't get done by themself.

Off to work.

Picture of the day: Norweigan sheepies! 

Camping?

So, I have decided that I need to camp before joining the Peace Corps. I somehow believe that this will make me a more rustic and hardy individual.

The thing is, I have never gone camping before, therefore, I know nothing about it and do not have any equipment to camp. I have a hand-me-down sleeping bag, but it is not weather proof at all.

Of course, it is much more exciting to think about camping than revising a thesis, so I am now obsessed with travel plans, but tomorrow morning will get back to task and get'er done. But right now, my thoughts are to travel to the UP--first stopping in Mackinac Island (where there is no camping or cars allowed) and check that out for a day or two before heading to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and embarking on the camping adventure. If it proves too tough or difficult, will abandon ship, so to speak, and seek shelter elsewhere.

Why the UP? Because, I like pretty lakes, cliffs, and light houses. I am going to take pretty pictures--which I guess also means that I should get my camera fixed soon.

On the way back down, could also stop and visit Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore or Forest or something.

Camping is also cheap and affordable, and those are the only kinds of vacations I can currently embark on. So, bring it on, I say, and if anyone has any camping advice, such as the kind of tent I should be looking to get, please let me know!

Picture of the day: Castle in Sweden. 

The results are in....

And I passed. No problems at all.

It lasted a fairly long time, but I believe that that is because my chair likes to do things by the book, and has been adamant about making me do the real deal--be it writing a long thesis, revising it, defending it, and so on. But there didn't seem to be any problems, even with the criticisms, and so my defense is done. I can now finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I need to revise the rest of chapter 3, all of 4 and revise my conclusion a lot, but I told her that I'd have it back to her no later than the 27th.

After that, I will make any final revisions (I am assuming that she will sign off on it after the 27th) and I turn it into my director who will proof-read it, give me final revisions, and sign off on the project. Everything needs to be turned in by July 5th at 4:30pm to the Graduate College in order to graduate. That should *fingers crossed* not be a problem.

Last night I celebrated by inviting my friend and her boyfriend over for a cook out. We had some Yuengling, burgers, sausages, and just relaxed. Since she had been going through the same process, it was nice for us both to just kick back for the evening. And it was a beautiful one indeed. The last night at the house.

This morning, I packed up all the books, clothes, belongings, etc, and came back home to the apartment for good. I got so emotionally attached to those kitties that I nearly cried when I left. I know that that is sad, but I think that it also epitomizes how incredibly lonely this entire year has been. I know, I know, cry me a river, right? I'm sure that it could have been worse. No, I'm positive that it could have been. And now, as long as I do the rest of the work required, I'll be able to get out of town in August feeling like I accomplished something. And that is a good feeling.

Picture of the day: a kitty helps me take a break from writing by making me play fetch with him. (Notice the crumpled piece of paper) 

D-Day Just a Day Away

Oh it's been an awful past 3 or 4 days. Revising has made me beyond miserable, at first thinking that I could tackle the beast in a weekend, even if it meant that I'd have to pull an all-nighter. I made it to about 2am on Saturday morning (or as I like to think of it, Friday night) before calling it a night, not even 1/2 way to my goal for that day. The next day I had stressed myself out so much that I was crippled in pain from my back, exhausted from the caffeine overload I had gorged on the night before, and spent a lot of time thinking about crying without actually doing so. And then I had an epiphany. There was no way that I was ever going to be able to finish editing everything by Sunday night (my own self-imposed goal) or Monday evening (my chair's goal), so I decided to just do what I could as thoroughly as possible, and I made it more than half way--just about 9 more pages to go in the 3rd chapter. As such I got to enjoy myself last night somewhat by watching Ali G, as the house has extra special HBO cable and that show is hysterical.

I am not happy with the project. Not anywhere near as happy as I thought that I would be, but I guess that is because the more that I sit around and think about it, the more I think that it sucks. Oh well. I just hope that they are not too cruel or difficult on me. My chair did suggest that I think of some things to talk about tomorrow to "take control" of it. Unfortunately everything that I want to talk about--Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes getting engaged, where I can cheaply vacation in the UP, how much I can't wait to have the time to go to the gym again after this done--is probably not the kinds of thing that she has in common.

But I am giving myself the night off. The kitties owner should be coming home either tomorrow or Wednesday and thus I need to mow her lawn again, clean up, run the dishwasher, do laundry, etc. Oh, how I shall miss those adorable little kitties.

I also got an e-mail from the Peace Corps today to fill out a language form. Apparently you can state your preference for language--whether you want to speak Ukrainian or Russian. I need to think about this before responding, because I see pluses and minuses to both. Perhaps I will talk about that tomorrow at my defense! But for now, I think that I should head back up to Perrysburg to accomplish some of those goals, put a Yuengling in the fridge and mow the grass and get to bed!

Picture of the day: House flowers. A relatively recent attempt at artistry in photography. It's hard when you have a cheap camera. 

"Not a Train Wreck"

This is what my reader referred to my thesis as. "Not a train wreck." When I told the Director of my program this comment later in the afternoon he laughed and said, "that's reassuring, it's like saying it could be a car wreck, or a motorcycle running into the back of a truck, but not a train wreck." Thanks Doc. That sure makes a gal feel better too.

The reader did provide me with some books to look at and indicated that my grammar sucked (tell me something that I don't know) and sent me on my not so merry way. It'll be two hours of complete humiliation, but as soon as I get the John Hancock's on there, well, I'll be happy. And dancing. And drinking. And still revising.

Oh, I could just cry!

Picture of the day: Petroverts or Peterhof. I don't remember.  

Michael Jackson moving to Ohio?

Yesterday was a busy day. Or at least I tried to make it as busy as possible. I did some research, finished writing the first revised draft of my intro, edited it, and sent it off to my "editor." I also talked to my chair, who made me feel a lot better, although she will be calling me later this afternoon with her thoughts on the last 2 chapters, so this good feeling might not last!

Anyway, last night I ran off to the library as quickly as possible before it closed so that I could print out a copy of the revised chapter to take back to Perrysburg with me. I doubt that I was in the library for a half hour and when I exited, I quickly became enveloped in a huge swarm of teenage boys. HUGE. There were hundreds of them, all dressed in suits and no specks of pepper from what I could see. When I got to the parking lot, I had to wait several minutes for the hordes of boys went in every direction, shouting at each other, goofing off, doing usual teenage boy stuff. They were carrying yellow flags with names on them like "Leonard" or "Copeland." And I was confused. What was going on? Why has the entire white teenage boy population of Ohio descended upon Bowling Green, Ohio? I was afraid that I'd run some o those young boys over, but fortunately, some had manners enough to wait while my Honda and six other vehicles made way out of that Twilight Zone.

This morning I went back to the library to print out the revisions my editor suggested, and sure enough, I heard music playing from inside the arena. The arena is also where the Army and ROTC meets, so I was wondering whether or not there was some sort of connection? If the military has become so desperate for young blood that they have begun training early.

And on the way out, I thought, perhaps the state of Ohio has gathered up their young boys in an attempt to thwart Michael Jackson from wanting to move here. I mean, the state has already suffered a great loss with Katie Holmes galavanting around with Tom Cruise and reportedly converting to Scientology. Ohio is simply protecting their young white male children. Or perhaps it is the American Legion's Buckeye Boys Fair (as a sign in the front of the University now proclaims). Either way.

Picture of the day: Tulips in St. Petersburg. The weather there was splendid compared to this exhaustive heat in Ohio. 

The Countdown is ON

Only 7 days until I defend. I am royally screwed. I will call my chair this afternoon and hope that she will have some good news like "by excellent first drafts, I meant revise some grammar, include the suggestions, and move on" not "rewrite entire thing." Keep your fingers crossed for me. I rewrote the intro, which I need to edit now and will go momentarily to the BG library and look for some GW quotes. After editing (which I believe shall take me the rest of today) I can move on to Chapter 1. I read Michael Sherry's In the Shadow of War as suggested by the chair, and I wish that I had read that sucker earlier. It's brilliant and helpful and makes revisions slightly exciting, but a lot more work. I still have a bunch of books to read about the political ideologies, which once upon a time I had down, but now I have forgotten--you know, republican used to mean liberal, blah blah blah. It's necessary when thinking about national service in regards from an ideological standpoint--because only Democratic presidents have started these sorts of programs. I still have no idea what she thinks of chapter four and the conclusion, so !!!!

It's a lot of work, when I just want to play. Or sleep.

But it won't get done unless I hop to it!

The Wire

It's getting down to the wire now with my thesis and I am having the most difficult time ever with it. I no longer have the desire to write or edit, reading about the only thing that I actually want to do.

I definitely need to redo my introduction, and I did an outline today, but that took me all morning to accomplish and now I actually have to write it. I am super negative at this point, and just wish that I could pay someone to do it for me so that I could enjoy my summer vacation instead of sitting around and being frustrated. I am going to see about setting up a meeting with my chair, because I definitely need to be reengerized about this whole thing.

I hate to be so negative, especially in a space such as this, but perhaps this public vent will help me to pull something out of my arse and get it done!

I can only hope!

Picture of the day: Me sleeping. Because that is what I should be doing now! May 2004. 

Late Night Update

Well, the internet is back as of today. Hmm. Don't know what is up, but will not complain!

Nothing exciting has happened, but nothing exciting ever does happen! Have not made lengthy progress in the thesis, and honestly, I feel like I am done. I'm zapped out. I'm still interested in the topic, but I don't think that I have anything left to write, therefore, revisions are difficult. I need heavy revisions to my introduction, so maybe tomorrow I'll figure it out--it's just do I scrap the entire thing or rework it or what? Blah!

I went out to a party tonight and had a splendid time. Ending up talking politics, which I enjoy and I need to do it from time to time as therapy, although it does end up getting me much more worked up than necessary--especially in company that (seems to) agree. But at any rate, it was helpful for me and nice to know that I'm not alone in my own way of thinking.

I am still in Bowling Green and need to get myself back up to the kitties! Late night driving around these parts is never fun--and Mom, if you are reading this, I'd suggest that you stop--- people talk a lot about how they drive drunk, matter of factly and casually. It's quite frightening. Being one who doesn't drink often, and when I do drink, it's not typically enough to even get a 'buzz' it makes the idea of having to drive 10 miles up the way scary. I think that I will take the interstate in hopes that those who know that they've had enough would avoid the interstate and take the highway instead.

Hopefully, the next entry will be more exciting. I can't make promises though!

Update

For like, all two of you who read this thing, my internet is on the blitz again and seems unwilling to be resurrected. It's probably all for the best, as I need to attend to revisions. I will be taking notes though, and once either a) my computer decides to let the internet work again or b) I complete my thesis and can reboot the operating system, I will be very sporadic and not including any pictures of the day, which admittedly, is my own favorite part.

Please, do not weep, dear readers, there are plenty of other blogs in the sea. And ones that are far more interesting than my own.

*Sigh* ta-ta.

Picture of the day: The kitties part deux: yes, they look innocent enough.... 

Grrrr!!!!

Last night was horrendous. I had a difficult time sleeping and the evil kitties were the culprits. Usually they are angelic kitties, or as angelic as kitties can be, but since I had been playing a new fun game with them all day, I think that they decided to get their revenge in the evening. "Why, Molly, what 'fun' game could you be playing with these kitties that would turn them against you?" I will tell you. Yesterday I worked hard revising my conclusion so I could turn in the whole thing to my reader. As the cats like to do, they come into where I am working, want to be paid attention to for awhile and then leave--when they want to--they are cats, afterall. Typically, I am fine with this and will indulge their little kitty habits. Yesterday though, I would let them stay for about a minute and then pick the cat up (they never attack together, it's always one of the other with them) and would then go find where the other kitty was resting (this was typically the girl cat sleeping on the couch) and then attempt to place the other kitty directly on the sleeping cat. They did not think that this game was fun, and usually both cats would disperse in opposite directions and leave me alone--my point had been made. Later in the afternoon, I was working away and turned around to find a book behind me and my quick movement was met with a smacking sound. Yup. I hit one of the kitties directly on the head. Oh, I felt so bad! It hurt my hand, so I could only imagine how it must have hurt her, so she scampered off and I tried to follow her, telling her how sorry I was and trying to show her that I am not a big mean ogre.

But I guess the damage was done and they decided to get even with me. I went to bed around 11:30pm and the boy kitty wanted to play fetch for awhile. Fine. Then the girl cat would come in and try to smother me. Fine. But then it just went on and on. She was going nuts, licking my hands, curling up and then walking on me. I then pretended to be asleep and she left. When I would move to get comfortable, she'd be back again, sitting on me and harassing me! Geesh! I finally was left alone after 1:30am.

In other news, I decided to call my new education loan people (goodbye Sallie Mae, I'm sorry about all those things I said about you) to just ask them some questions and to let them know, 'hey, I'm still in school--I don't owe you anything yet!' and my info had not yet transferred. I proceeded to ask questions about how to go about deferring the loans for the Peace Corps. She said that I would qualify for economic hardship and that would be that. I had recently heard that you could only apply for that for a limited number of years total in your life, as I will most likely be hardshipped economically for the rest of my life, I was upset by this answer. The total is 36 months--I'll be serving in the Peace Corps for 27. And then before I joined VISTA I did that for about 3 months. That leaves me with 6 months! EEEEEEEEEHHHHH! I'm scared. So I ask, what about this Ed Award that I have--can't I give you a lump sum of that and you subtract it from the amount owed each month (so if your payments are something like $150, and I give them $3000 from AmeriCorps, that should last a looong time, right?) . Well, that apparently does not work. I love the fact that I have an Ed Award, but man, that just sucks. So, I ask her why this is, and she says it's federal law, and I say who do you have to contact to get this changed? And she said Congress. Well, Congress you are on notice! I'm coming after you, dammit and I want some answers as to why the Ed Award should not be used in this manner? Money is money, what is the big deal? So that made me angry.

But thankfully, after I turned in the thesis, I decided to call a friend and go over to her place and chat for awhile, and that calmed me down. Now it's time to head back up for the day and work on revising the introduction....

Picture of the day part deux: Here is the kitchen table and chairs (this is an old photo, but at least you can still see the table...) Watch for them on Sex in the City. 

Late night update!

Okay, so it's not very late, but I gotta skeedattle (sp?) to the library to print out some papers and get meself some books before it closes at 10pm!

But, it looks like I might be able to sell some of my furniture, I just think that I will need to act fast, which I am not really in a position to do. This guy who looked at my apartment the other day will be renting out the one next to mine next year (this one is booked, apparently, that poor soul) and wants to drop by to see it and check out the furniture again. I should start making a list of what I have to sell and what I should ask for it. Here are the objects that I can think of immediately:

couch
2 bookshelves, one tall, one short
3 tall lamps
1 coffee table
1 kitchen table
2 kitchen chairs (the kitchen stuff should remain together, they are a set--the same that I have seen in Sex in the City!)
2 fans
1 loft bed
2 plastic dresser drawers (don't judge!)
1 broken desk (will give away for free)
1 old television set that will not get cable
1 nice end table
1 messed up drawer wooden thingie

I think that is all that I'm willing to part with, I'll keep one item that is pretty nice, but the rest can just GO!

Keep your fingers crossed that he's interested in some of my stuff, as moving it will be a breeze, and I can sure use the money and getting this stuff sold in Bowling Green versus towing it home to Pennsylvania.

Also, if anyone has sold furniture before, how did you do it?

Picture of the day: Early May 2004, working hard on some paper, probably on Bono. A year later, it's the same thing, except on AmeriCorps and in a different location.  

More Animal Visitors

This morning when I got up I looked out the front windows and saw something that I've never seen here in Ohio.

I know that I spend a lot of time writing about various types of animals, cats, ducks, and so on. But today I saw an animal that I am so used to seeing at home in Pennsylvania that it took me a second to remember, "hey, that's weird!" Really more than anything, it was the fact that this animal was wondering in a residential neighborhood. It was really out of place. And it looked really sick. Frothing at the mouth and a bit limp, startled, and wild. But it was a deer. No one is really scared of a deer (well, unless you are behind a wheel and it just jumped out at you). It ran across the front lawn and then I could no longer see it. I went to find another window to look out of and opened up the front door to notice no less than three police cars outside. Three! One was an animal control vehicle, to be sure, but two more cars? What, were they afraid that Bambi was packing heat? Are deer not allowed in Ohio?

They took off after the animal disappeared, so I never did get to the bottom of what was going on. I just hope that the little animal is okay.

In other news, I did work fairly hard today and finished a second draft of the conclusion. I will read it over once more before turning it in tomorrow. I had the hopes of reworking the introduction as well, but that is probably not going to happen. So boring!

Picture of the Day: The Kitties! These are the cats I am housesitting. The grey kitty is the boy cat and the tricolor is the girl cat. This morning the boy and I played fetch. I do not kid. 

A Free Trip to the Dentist

No, that was not a typo. It was *free* free and free! Can you believe that?

Perhaps I had paid so much the first time I went in January that they felt bad for me. Or perhaps the dentist acknowledged that sometimes his own handiwork is not the best and sanded me down for free. FREE!

So while that is good news, not finishing my conclusion in time is bad news. I asked for extra time but never received a response. I took this to mean: "Hey, I'm not in my office anyway! Who cares!" and will run with that. I was having such a hard time with it that I decided to just handwrite it as opposed to typing it up. The heat and summer has arrived and it's oppressively hot. Too hot for my little lap top, so writing saves it from overheating and exhaustion. It's gotta last for the next two years, afterall!

My upcoming departure has also made it difficult to concentrate again on the thesis. I was good at blocking it out when I was in the process of writing new stuff, tackling each chapter fairly quickly, but now, I just want to read! I got a new book in the mail today that I ordered some time ago and it, like all the others, seems really interesting and incorporates learning the language, which will be useful. Of course, who knows, I may not need Ukrainian anyway, but all of that is beyond my control for now.

***Now for some commentary on the marketing of our military***
I also must relate a commercial that I saw this morning when doing my regular exercises while watching the Golden Girls on Lifetime. It was a commercial for the Armed Forces and it has this young African American son telling his mother that he's found a way of paying for college (you see him holding a brouchure). The mother looks hesistant and then says "tell me more..." and the son makes some comment like, "well, it's time for me to be a man" or something to that effect, and a few other things that do not stand out as much, and his mother says again "okay, go on," and that is the end of the commerical. It surprisingly (I think) was targeted towards parents, because the voice that came over the commercial at the end said something like, "be there for them" or "listen to them," essentially saying: "don't slap 'em silly when they tell you that they want to join." This commercial came on the heels of a conversation that I had with my mother last night were she told me that the military has not met it's recruitment quotas for the past four months. I said, "well, there aren't anymore poor people to send, I guess," and then she told me that a Congressmen has recently gotten in trouble for making a similar comment along the lines of "all the fruit has been picked from the bottom of the tree." My question is, what are they going to do about it? Because I know that when I was walking around Toledo this past fall talking to people and trying to get them out to vote, 1 out of 4 homes in the lower income areas told me that their sons were in Iraq and how much they opposed that decision. They were all black women. So, I hope that the marketing director for the Armed Services has something else up its sleeve, because I don't think that too many women are going to buy into sending their boys off (esp. when it is so specifically targeted towards single black mothers). There is a lot more to be said here, but again, I am disgressing and will get back to that at another time.

Back to typing up the conclusion.

Picture of the day: Ah, the banya! One day I will write more about this, when I am relaxed! 

Murphy's Law

We all know it and we know it exists. Yesterday was the worst for me.

As you all know, I am working on my thesis, just with the conclusion to go. Well, I came back to the apartment yesterday and started writing and needed to check something out online and I was unable to connect to the internet. I went into the other room and saw that it was not a problem with Evil Empire Time Warner, which 99.9% of the time, it is. So then I started to panic, because if it was not them, it was my computer! Which is far far worse. I called Dell and spoke to this guy named "Peter" from New Delhi, India (not Indiana) and we tried all sorts of stuff, but it just would not work. He (after an hour) told me that it had to do with my operating system and that I'd have to reboot (or whatever other technical term it was) the whole operating system, losing everything that I have saved on my computer. Uh, no thanks, as I am in the middle of writing my thesis here, dude! So at any rate, I was horribly depressed thinking that my computer was broken, and upset that I would have to go out and buy a diskie thing, since I save all my work on an e-mail account, so I can download it to any computer with internet access instead of relying on a disk. But I have obviously not won, I will go out and do this today.

Later in the evening I tried to plug in my only phone, a cell phone, to recharge it for the evening and for the life of me it would not recharge. The battery was low and I was risking some major problems. Seeing as how I replaced the phone charger about six months ago or so, I thought, well, this is it, this time it is the phone and I'm going to have to buy a new one, even though I only plan on having it until I leave in October. Ugh.

So, all this is happening on top of my being supremely behind schedule with my thesis--it's all due on Monday and I wanted to redo the intro and write the conclusion. So far nothing has really been done on either front, and it's Saturday morning. They did move my defense back a day, so I may likewise ask for an extension. Anyway, all of this is happening at the same time as some more tooth trauma, so I will be going to the dentist again on Monday.

All I see, of course, are dollar signs and more dollar signs, as all of this is going to cost money and I am no longer taking in any pay checks and do not have plans to even look for employment until the thesis is taken care of. Oh, it just all makes me sick thinking about it.

Fortunately, I went to Alltel today and they said that it was the charger, not the phone, and I bought a new one. The phone still seems to be having trouble, but I'll give it a few days and if it still is acting up I'll go back and see what I can do. I can only get a free phone if I sign up for two more years of service, and uh, I don't think that they service Ukraine. I do love my phone company though, which is a first. I will be sad to say goodbye to them.

Then I came back to the apartment and thought "well, I may as well try the internet again before I go and buy some zip disks" and sure enough, currently, it is working. I don't know what is up and will still go ahead with some backup plans, but this is good news for now.

On top of all of that, my tooth does not seem to be bothering me as much, but I think that I should still go and check it out. Everyone always tells these stories about when they told the dentist that they were going into the Peace Corps they didn't charge them, blah blah blah, well, that is certainly not the case with my dentists. Not that I don't understand that people should be paid for the services rendered, but c'mon dude, charity! Charity!

So wish me luck on today's work, I have a lot to do, but must run some errands first.

Picture of the day: My couch. Could be yours for $80. Relatively few stains on couch, excellent condition. Relatively light. Pick up in August.  

So many things...

Ah, I have procrastinated all day thus far. I headed down to BG this morning, turned in the 4th chapter with it's crappy conclusion and then went off to the gym. It was so freaking hot that I could not stand to work out an hour! I came back to the apartment, got myself ready for my day and have been doing nowt since. *Sigh* It is so beautiful outside that I would so much rather be going someplace where I could read and enjoy it. Ah well. The conclusion awaits.

Last night I saw something on the news that disturbed me and I still don't think that I can fully articulate why I found it so awful. I grew up watching Tom Brokaw, so I still watch NBC, although the Tom Clone Brian Williams is very much a poor replacement, but better than watching CBS or NBC. They need to bring that cute Anderson Cooper over... But I digress. Anyway, everyone is talking about 'Deep Throat' and Watergate, and not having lived through it myself (I was born during the Carter Administration) it's hard to understand why this is so important or newsworthy. I suppose I should go rent "All the President's Men" or something to find out.

But anyway, during the newscast, Mr. Williams keeps hinting at "when we get back, we will hear what Nixon thought about Felt, the man who was 'Deep Throat'" and so on. I'm thinking, hey, this could be interesting, it has a certain historical thrill to it. And this goes on for the newscast until the end, when they finally play this nearly inaudiable secret tape that Nixon had made. They are talking about who could have leaked the information, and then Nixon asks ones of his dudes, "hey, is he a Catholic?" and the dude responds something like "no, a Jew" and well, it goes from bad to worse there. Honestly, I was so horror stricken by this and being subjected to this bigotry without any freaking warning. Couldn't Mr. Williams have prefaced it with "and now we will hear the WASP-y anti-Semetic comments from one of our President's." Honestly, I just think that airing something like that is so irresponsible on the part of NBC. I have no idea if anyone else aired it, and I don't believe that bigotry or hatred should be covered up, I don't think that anyone is arguing that Nixon was a great man, but c'mon now. They (NBC) never bothered to mention how some people may find it offensive, bothersome, nothing, nada. Just played the clip and Williams made some comment about "a sign of the times" or something and moved on. It's just so problematic to me. Oh well. Maybe it's common knowledge to those who lived through that Presidency that Nixon was a bigot, but I certainly didn't know. And I certainly don't appreciate it being broadcast like that without any sort of dialogue accompanying it. Anyway. That's all for now.