BiddiesInMyBrain

Pretending

I am pretending I am not wrestling with another bout of insomnia after a glorious two-day run of blissful sleep. Nope, this hot toddy (with more toddy than tea) is just for effect! Ahhhhhh.... yes.... to polish off the last of the Jack Daniels with a lovely cuppa.... and MAYBE, just MAYBE to get some sleep again as a result? One can hope.

Am plotting and planning the ins and outs of my revised paper for Ghent. Can't help it - I am so very excited about it, and now I think I have a VERY cool idea for something additional to apply to it. Top secret, you understand, totally under wraps for a little while longer - but really cool if it pans out. I learned so much this summer in Michigan from Dr. Margo Anderson - if only she knew what a lasting impression she has made on me! I can only hope to live up to her standards. And mine. And those of Dr. Esra Ozdenerol's, too. Phew. Tall orders.

Been addressing cards to friends and family all over the world the past several days (finally found my Moleskin(TM) address book) - it will be a wonder to get them out in time! I'll be thrilled to send them, though; we haven't done a holiday card in more than four years... not since I have been working on my doctorate, I don't think. Wow. Yeah. A lot has changed. We wrote a letter... and managed to fit in a lot of good things for this year... and a couple of the low points... but really, it's been a very good year for both of us when we look back on it. A year to be proud of, frankly, despite the personal setbacks (mainly mine, mainly healthwise). It's nice to have a good year for a change. We've had so many downright crappy ones in a row that this one isn't bad to have!

Am getting quite excited about going to Ghent and the European Social Science History Conference... especially now that I have downloaded Google Earth and have been exploring Belgium from above (and Amsterdam, since that may be a layover...). What a terrifically neat country!! I mean - I have been looking at the guidebooks... but to be able to move around the cities and stop and look like this is AMAZING. I am so addicted to Google Earth now ... and it's creating a problem with getting me to step away from the computer! ::chuckle::

Also in Google Earth, I have been playing with old haunts from my childhood... and my is it bringing back memories. Old addresses as far back as I can remember, all sorts of things. Zooming right on in. Wow. Neat-o!

Been reading good books lately. Read Sarah Vowell's latest: The Wordy Shipmates late last week, and am now in the middle of Howard Blum's American Lightning, which has me thoroughly engrossed; that one will take me one more evening at most. Then what? Hmmmmmm... more grading, I am sure... but wow... I have time for some optional reading, and I am taking advantage of it.

Tomorrow's a busy day: first thing run to the credit union, then the pharmacy, then a couple errands, then lunch, then a doc appointment, then zoom to Target, then to the University while a friend borrows my car, then picked up after she is done, then HOME FINALLY. WHOOSH. Then grade papers until they are done, record them. Create the exams for the two different classes taking exams this week... and then ... well... poop out. Maybe watch a movie with Crash?? He would like that.

Perhaps by then I will be tired enough to actually sleep tomorrow night. Wouldn't that be loverly?? Because Tuesday's going to be no better... Especially with a run to another doc first thing in the morning, then the University in the early afternoon, likely for the whole mid-afternoon and evening... and then get picked up by Crash or Sasa late... and then hit the ground running on the grading; all my grading for that class MUST be done - including the tallying and recording of the final grades on the Registrar's website - by no later than Wednesday night. Why? Because I have another class on Thursday that will need the same thing... and they must have their final grades tallied and recorded to the Registrar no later than Friday night. It's going to be a real fight to the finish. Saturday noon is the absolutely deadline set by the University... and I intend to be nowhere near it. They used to give us over the weekend until Monday noon... Bah on whomever changed the semester calendar to end this way!!

But, once Saturday is over... things are ... OVER! I will be my own person for roughly four weeks. I will have a great deal to do - oh and how! - but I will be able to do it on a schedule I make, pretty much. Hoorah! I do have a honey-do list and a me-do list... but if we don't accomplish all the things on them, I won't stress... there's always summer. And insomniac nights! :::chuckle:::

Well, I am going to give sleep another shot. The alarm is set to go off in 3 1/2 hours... and that's going to be a bit grim. More than a bit grim. C'mon hot toddy. Kick in!

So many things happening!

Yes, I have been AWOL for two months.

But I have good reason.

I was in Michigan for a month at the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research working on Quantitative Historical Analysis under Dr. Margo Anderson - simply one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever had. The program is amazing - very rigorous and challenging, but very fun, too. Ann Arbor itself is also charming ... and I took tons of pictures... 

Came home in late July and have been very, very busy, first with getting reacclimated to Memphis and, well, putting things away... Crash discovered all the books in the house and I had to shuffle everything around and figure out how to shoehorn everything in. It finally worked... and I got a lovely new antique desk in the bargain. Again with the pictures. 

In the midst of all that, I found out I am going to Belgium in April! Back in May I put in a paper proposal to the European Social Science History Conference for 2010... and it was accepted!! I could not be more excited! It means lots of work ahead polishing the paper... but dang. It was accepted. :::smile:::

Meanwhile, I am still working on comps for November, and am putting together the classes I am teaching in the Fall - they start in three weeks. I'll be teaching first half American history (pre-1877), which is an all-new prep for me, so it's a bit of a scramble, but it's good for me to stretch a little. Well, a lot. New syllabi, new lesson plans, new lectures, new power points. New everything. But it will be *mine*.

There's really not much else... it's just been... busy!! I'm tired, but satisfied. Things are good.

Will catch up again later.

Laura

Goodness!!

It's been a terribly, terribly long time... and I had just vowed with my last post to be so much better about posting!

Things got very, very busy after my last post! VERY busy!

• After working up to nearly 5 miles every Tuesday and Thursday at PT, they released me! :( I am... both happy and sad... glad because I have progressed this far and sad because... well, I have lost much of my support mechanism for going and motivating. It's hard.
• Speaking of health stuff, the numbness is subsiding and I am getting around better - the changes in the meds seem to be doing the job and it does seem to definitely be the migraine aura issue. Good to know and to have something to finally fight against. Not only that, but the migraines themselves aren't as bad for the first time in... decades. ::knock on wood::
• I managed to finally produce a partial chapter of my dissertation a couple of weeks ago - something which has been plaguing me for months and months - almost two semesters now. It's still got a lot of work to be done on it, but it is really, really moving along. On top of that, there are two papers to be pulled out of it, one we are hoping to push for Fall '09, and one for Spring '10.
• Yesterday brought the news of a possible paper presentation opportunity in Belgium in Spring '10. Will be following up on that pronto - it's been receiving very favorable pushes from some folks here in the University, so I think that may be something to strongly explore.
• Had some really nice family interactions in the past couple of weeks - some very unexpected. Very, very nice. ::smile:: I was so glad for them!
• Then there are the bragging things:
  • I am being inducted next Saturday into an honor society ;)
  • I am being inducted next Sunday into Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities
  • and there is one other thing I will tell you about at another time.
• I plan to spend part of the summer attending a workshop in Quantitative Historical Analysis; in history geek terms, this is learning a whole lot about how to statistically quantify the numbers I am pulling from the various sources down here in Memphis for my dissertation. I am applying for a full scholarship, travel funds - everything I can find. I *need* this course. Anyone have any extra money for a needy scholar? I need room and board!!
• Once again, I will also be grading AP US History exams this summer as well. ::chuckle:: Yes! Back to it!
• Applying for and working on a couple other things, but they are so early in the working stages that it's silly to talk about them. Will catch you up on them when they are further down the pike.

Well, there's not much else happening other than teaching and the ever-present grading. ::grin:: Hope all my dear friends are doing well; I need to make the rounds again and see how all my blogging friends are! I miss you! Heck... I miss me!!

Will catch up with you soon again - I hope.

Much love,
Laura

My Memphis is My Voice

I am so thrilled! One of my students and his colleague put this together for a Memphis tourism contest... I helped him *a little* pointing him in the direction for some background material and research... and this is the result of their combined efforts.

I am just... thrilled! Go! Watch! It's only 3 minutes long!

South Carolina Shows Its Pride

I ran across this article on Gadling via AOL: Gay travel: South Carolina in an uproar over advertising campaign and thought three things:

1. Good on the Brits for getting SC to sign on to this. From the Stars and Bars and the General Lee to the Pride Flag in one fell swoop is a tremendous accomplishment. Gotta love the panache of this ad campaign and the cajones on the account manager at Amro Worldwide; it's not every day you place the whole of South Carolina and Big Gay Fun in the same category, yanno? Kudos!

2. Isn't tourism good for the economy, SC? Europeans with Euro-to-dollar exchanges - and plenty of it - ought to get your attention really quickly, I would think. Money, Money Money!! ALWAYS SUNNY!

3. Whaddya mean, SC, that your "market is families..." and that you seem to think your advertising dollars have been mis-spent. Are you implying, Mr. Smith, that gays and lesbians don't have families? :::pointed look::: I didn't think so. Because that would be bigoted, and I *know* you don't embrace *that* now, do you?

::thinking about a beach visit to South Carolina... just because:: BTW... were I to visit SC, I would let them know I did so *because* of the Amro Worldwide ad campaign. Just sayin'

:::smooches::: to Amro Worldwide on this coup. Y'all are just awesome.

Two Pics - C&TSRR

Here are two pics I have converted to B&W from the Cumbres and Toltec SRR trip. I think they turned out pretty well! (Click to enlarge)

Lunch at Osier 

Crossing Hangman's Trestle

Pics Are Up!

I haven't put up a HUGE number - after all, I do have bandwidth to worry about - but there are quite a few up there at Colorado '08.

Gotta run... Enjoy!

Home Again Home Again

Jiggety Jig!

We got home yesterday, about 5:15 - easy traffic across the I-40 bridge coming into Memphis, though we were a little unnerved by all the huge fires in eastern Arkansas. No clue what they were doing, but we saw at least 10 HUGE fires start and then get put out as we were driving from Little Rock to the state line. So weird. Couldn't figure it out - and nothing on the radio, so it must have been something business-as-usual - but what?

Came home and found everything in order - except that one of the burners on the stove had been accidentally jiggled in the morning when our house sitter came over and gas had been seeping into the house all day - freaked us out, but no harm done, thankfully. Took a good airing out, but all is well, and the kitties are just fine.

Turned in someone for driving erratically in a company van in western Arkansas, too... they had a "How Am I Driving?" sticker on the back of the van, so we told the folks at the 800 number just how they were doing! We've never done that before, and it was a little unnerving - Crash actually called it in, but it just had to be done - this woman was nuts. Driving 69 in a 70 - then 80 - then right on our butt (within a car length or two) for a mile or two - then slamming on her brakes and swerving out into the passing lane to pass us doing 80 - and doing the same with semis and other cars. For 25 or 30 miles. We finally had a opportunity to get the number down just before she got off the interstate. Hope she gets the book thrown at her.

The earache has subsided a lot, but I still went to the doc today - and she is sending me to an ENT on Friday... this has become chronic and must be dealt with by a specialist (another one???) at this point. Sinus infections and ear infections for six weeks straight? No thank you. We'll see what the ENT says and go from there. Can't believe the number of specialists I am collecting.

ANYWAY... about the trip! It was INCREDIBLE!! Two train rides (yes, I will get the pics up tonight or tomorrow - I took more than 250 and it will take a while to get through all of them), fantastic food (True Grits AKA the Shrine to John Wayne... and the SLV Brewing Company, both in Alamosa, CO, serve terrific food, and the home-cooked meals at Dad's were FANTASTIC), unparalleled company (gotta love my dad and stepmom, and my uncle)... and the wildlife. Saw deer, elk, TWO BEARS (I only saw one - a yearling - and saw it within about 20 feet - YIKES - Crash saw the second, larger one, from about a 1/4 mile), bighorn sheep, antelope, golden hawks, eagles... just incredible. But I am very tired - drove all but three hours of the 19 home - and with the earache, I am just beat. As I said, it will take me some time to get all this up on the website - and I will not be posting anywhere near all of them - just some select few of them - but you will get the idea. This was perhaps the most incredible trip I have taken in the past decade... really amazing.

It's good to be home to the kitties and Jenny, though. And my own bed and soft, soft sheets. But I surely do miss the mountains something awful. Did you know it was in the 40s at night and in the 70s during the day where we were? ::poking at all y'all who've been suffering through the nineties::. Yeah. But I'm in the land of the double and triple digits now too, and am looking back wistfully on the weather, the scenery and the company. What a treat.

More later.

ADDENDUM: Forgot to mention the hummingbirds - probably between 18-23 at the feeders at the house, dining on a 2:1 sugar:water ratio. They were going through 8 cups of sugar/water mix every DAY AND A HALF when we left, and that wasn't even peak season. WOW. And so many different colors and varieties of hummingbirds up there. Just beautiful.

Hello!

Having an incredible time, but heading home tomorrow ::pout:: I will miss the mountains. Saw a bear today, and bighorn sheep yesterday. :::grin::: Love it.

Just haven't had a lot of time to blog, but have tons of pics and will post them when we get home. The train trip? Beyond wonderful... it really is the train trip to measure all steam train trips against. Fantastic! And lots of pics. LOTS AND LOTS. I think I took 200, so there are plenty to choose from.

Figured out the car trouble today - the (plastic) mounts holding the air filter in place are broken and will need to be replaced when we get home. Not happy. We can pop the thing in place but in the meantime, the sensor doesn't like it. The oil leak? A filter that needed tightening. Done.

Beyond that, I have had a relapse of the ear/sinus infection, but the doc gave me a round of antibiotics and antibiotic eardrops and painkillers before I left home three weeks ago thinking this might just happen again, so I will see her on Wednesday and figure out where to go from here. I'm feeling much better tonight than I was feeling last night.

We're planning on making it to Ok City tomorrow and Memphis on Monday. ::smile:: It's been a terrific trip.

Colorado Photoblogging

I've been remiss - we've been having a lovely time, but I haven't been taking the loads of pictures I had been planning on. We haven't gotten out a lot - the car is having issues and we need to get it into the shop, but tomorrow we will be heading deep into the mountains (in Dad's truck) and will have lots of opportunities to take lots of pics. We may be delaying the return home by a day just to get the car looked at, but we think it's an oil leak and nothing major - I had the oil changed just before we left home, and the stuff on the driveway appears to be oil... and is in the right place for a filter problem. Anyway, I hope that's all it is.

Back to the photos. The two random inside pics of a pretty day were taken on Sunday from the top of Dad's house looking over the western mountains... Crash and I had a quiet evening with wine, fruit and cheese up there and enjoyed the sunset and a young golden hawk with practically iridescent wings flying overhead - so beautiful. Almost made me cry it was so stunning. Lots of storms to the north of us, but a stunning sunset to the the southwest.

Yesterday was cold and very windy. I went into town (about 2500 feet lower in elevation) and hit a cloud bank you wouldn't believe. Could hardly see my hand before my face, but once I got up here, there were no problems seeing - clear skies; mostly sunny though very, very windy.

Today, however, we had a gentle, sweet picnic at the Rampart Reservoir in Teller El Paso County and took some pictures there, which are on the Colorado '08 photo album. It's been hazy and stormy here in the afternoons and the picture taking opportunities haven't been great even with good filters... but I did get some decent pics. I like the one of the thunderstorm building over the hills and the one of Crash in front of Pike's Peak.

The hummingbirds are going through a mix of 8 cups water/4 cups sugar every day and a half out of three feeders. No red dye, just pure sugar water and my, are they are greedy suckers - and it's not even peak season yet; at peak season Dad will be going through that amount of sugar water every day. These birds are beautiful, too - there are ruby throated ones, green ones, tan ones, ones with black bands around their necks and more... just a stunning array. I sit and watch them for half an hour or more at a time sometimes, and their communications are as complex as their pecking order - just amazing little creatures.

Crash has been taking long hikes every night - LONG hikes - sometimes we don't see him for hours, and it gets me to fussing, but he is enjoying playing out in the valley and into the crevasses and ravines. He has to be careful, though - the elk have very young ones and they are in the woods down in the valleys, and they will kill if anything inadvertently comes between them and their young.

Wildflowers are just now really coming out - hope to have some new pics of them soon. We'll see what's in the high country and further south. With the late Spring, things are terribly delayed. Usually we're here a little later in the year - early-to-mid-July - and everything is really in season or just past, but this year we're almost a half month too early and maybe more with the late snowstorms. The last snow here at Dad's was about two weeks ago and it has thrown things wildly out of whack. But, like I said, we'll see. The columbine and all may really be popping with the snow runoff just hitting in the high country. Will let you know when we return on Friday night or Saturday.

Speaking of... there will be radio silence for the next several days while we travel down to Antonito, CO / Chama, NM with the family - I am traveling very, very light and will not have the computer with me, but will have all the camera equipment, so never fear - there will be lots of pics. LOTS.

Anyway, all is well (except the car) and I am terribly, terrifically happy. Lots to do when we get home, but I am not thinking too much about it at the moment. Too much wonderful stuff happening.

::smile::

Sign me,

Delirious in Colorado

ADDENDUM: Added two sunset photos from tonight.