I'm old.

So, tomorrow I turn 29 and I suddenly feel very old. It seems like most of my friends have a dozen kids by now and are all settled into routines. While I'm definitely okay with having less than my alloted 13 kids right this second, I'm definitely not settled into a routine. Hell, I'm still going to school. So basically, I have no kids, no job, and I'm pushing 30. Omigosh. I'm almost 30. I thought that by 30, life would be routine and I'd settle into the comfortability (and quite possibly boringness) of a routine, predictable life.

And as for predictability, my life ain't. For a planner like myself, I hate not being able to answer the question, "So, where are you going to be next year?" I fly to Montreal next weekend for a conference and first-round interviews for the academic market, but even that's not a guarantee. The market is very tight this year: 60-70 positions worldwide and 9 Ph.D.s are coming out of my school alone. I will say that I have a few things working for me: Arizona's MIS program is top 5, I'm a girl, and thanks to my marriage, I appear magically Hispanic on paper. Still... I'm hoping I can do well next week, secure some solid fly-outs, and then have options. We'll see.

(For those of you wondering, I have applied to positions in the western US, Texas, Florida, D.C., and Canada. I'd list my favorites, but that's a definite jinx, though I will say my mom is holding her breath for the University of Utah and UNLV.)

I'll also warn you now that I'll probably start blogging less (if you hadn't already noticed). I have a dissertation to finish by summer and job interviews to prep for. I'll try, though, and I love reading your blogs when I take a break.

Wanted: System Administrators

I have come to the conclusion that being a PhD student and conducting research primarily consists of pimping out my study in the hopes that I'll get enough responses to actually write a dissertation.

So I'm asking any of you that actually read this blog: do you know any system administrators? Does your significant other know any system administrators? Basically, these are the guys that keep your work computer and network up and running. If you know one, I would be absolutely thrilled if you would point them to my online survey here:

http://www.questionbuilder.com/console/TakeSurvey?id=38817

It only takes about 30 minutes for them to complete and they could win a new iPod. And I will love you - and them - forever.

Thanks!

Tag - I'm it

Sorry it's been so long, kids. Since passing my orals, I've driven from New York to Tucson (thanks for joining me, Brett!), gone to Vegas for the weekend (my mom wanted to see my hubby - so cute), and now I'm in Dallas all week for a conference. Seriously, all I want to do is unpack.

But in the meantime, Julia tagged me, which apparently means I have to come up with seven things to say about myself and then tag six other people.

1. I am getting old. And I don't mean chronologically old (though that's true, too); I mean physically fall apart old. I just don't bounce anymore. (Remember how great it is when you're young and fall down? You just bounce.) It takes me months to recover from car accidents and weeks to feel better after pulling a muscle. Or yawning too big. I don't even know how I'm going to be able to handle pregnancy or motherhood... Can my body really handle all of that?

2. I stress way too much. About everything. And I'm fairly certain living in New York for those four months only made things worse. (Xavier says I'm much better since moving back home.) And how does my body deal with stress? It falls apart, which I'm sure goes hand-in-hand with me getting old. I have shingles for the second time in 15 months. Ugh... luckily, trusty number 3 helps pull me through and calm me down:

3. I love me some trash TV at the end of a long day. Girls Next Door, The Hills, Real Housewives of Orange County... I Love New York. Okay, so maybe that last one is just a train wreck and I can't change the channel once I land on it, but still. I know it's stupid, but that's sort of the point. It distracts me and gets my brain to shut off for a bit.

4. As much as I love movie night, I just can't handle scary movies. Ever. I think the last one I saw was in junior high and I couldn't sleep for a week. Oh wait - I did see Event Horizon in college and liked it, but again, couldn't sleep for a week. I'm a serious chicken and any opening weekend for horror flicks turns into boys' night out. (Don't worry about me: I'm watching my trash TV and eating ice cream.)

5. I love reading books. Scratch that. I love pleasure reading. Reading for research or for my dissertation just isn't relaxing. When I finally do take a break from school and work, the vacation doesn't officially start until I'm reading a book... and the funny thing is, I'll read it as fast as I can so I can move on to the rest of my vacation. I don't get it, either.

6. For those of you that have seen "When Harry Met Sally," you'll know what I mean when I say that I think I might be the worst kind of girl: I'm high maintenance but I think I'm low maintenance. I really always thought I was low maintenance - and I do think I was low maintenance back in the day - but I'm having to acknowledge evidence to the contrary. I'm picky with food, I like the towels folded a certain way, I think Speedway is the best way to get across Tucson (Xavier is laughing at this one), and I can get moody. Poor Xav.

7. I have the best family ever. Especially Xavier. I don't know how he puts up with all of my crap and still thinks he's lucky to be with me. He's incredibly supportive, he's tons of fun, he lets me pick what we eat, and he even takes Speedway when we're going across town just because he knows it makes more sense to me. (No, really... I noticed it last week. Whenever we go anywhere on the east side, he takes Speedway now.) Then there's my mom. I swear, she's even more convinced than I am that I'm falling apart. She's always calling to check on me and I'm pretty sure I'm on every temples' prayer roll. Tiffany is hilarious, has the cutest little girl ever, and is kind enough to help me rent my house out. Brett is cool enough to marry my favoritest person ever (thanks for not ruining family parties!) and crazy enough to fly to New York just to drive back to Tucson with me - in 3 days. And Tim is tons of fun, but needs to come visit me in Arizona. :)

7 1/2. I completely make fun of people that call their pets their kids, but our dogs are great. There's nothing better than coming home after an icky day to a puppy that is just so excited to see you and play with you.

So I'll tag: Xavier, Justin, Myr, Mom, Tiffany, and Lauren.

42 hours and counting

How will I know if my eagerness to leave New York is too obvious and bordering on offensive to those to live here? Maybe the hourly countdown isn't the best idea, but at this point, I don't really care.

I have already packed and cleaned... My final presentation is this afternoon and my department is doing a happy hour get-together this afternoon. If my favorite-est brother wasn't flying in on Saturday morning to drive back with me (the boy is a life saver), I would be beyond tempted to call in sick on Friday and leave a day early.

Just so I don't forget what I loved (and didn't quite love) here, I've decided to make a list. I love me some lists.

Things I will miss:

• Autumn - the smell of it, the colors, the sweater weather. Love it.
• Having a CPK a couple miles from my house.
• Living in a great neighborhood for running. It was big enough so that each lap was 1.7 miles and after a couple of weeks, everyone started recognizing me and waving.
  
• Mass transit. This didn't really apply to my everyday life, but when I went into the city, the subway system is great. And cheap. Dear Tucson... get a train.
• Honking horns. I'm completely allowed to honk at idiot drivers here. It's great.
  

Things I don't care to deal with much longer:

• Loud, obnoxious people with annoying accents. Remember Janice on Friends? Yeah. It wasn't an exaggeration. At all.
  
• Narrow roads. I have learned that there are terrible drivers everywhere you go. Unfortunately, they don't quite fit in their own lane here, so it's a bit more dangerous.
• Cold, wet mornings. And it's not even November yet.
  
• Rude people. They aren't being mean; they're just incredibly rude.
  
• Twisty, windy roads that make no sense and change direction and name all the time. I miss my wide roads that meet at right angles.
  
• Traffic lights that are directly over the stop line. I'm constantly leaning forward to try and watch for the light to turn green.
• Loud, obnoxious people with annoying accents. Trust me, this just grates on you... especially at the end of a long day or long week. Ugh.

Let's just say I'm excited to get home. Brett and I are hoping to make it in 3 days, which works out to 14-15 hours of driving each day. If anyone wants to call and visit Saturday through Monday, we'll have the time to talk. A lot.

ABD

For those of you that don't know, ABD stands for All But Dissertation. I just passed my orals and have gone from a lowly Ph.D. student to a Ph.D. Candidate. :)

Now I just have to get that pesky dissertation done...

Yay!

I've been instructed to post and be witty...

I don't know about the latter but I suppose I can do my husbandly duties and type out some stuff. I've never been very good at keeping up with a blog (three failed attempts so far) but with the diligent nagging of my loving wife, I'm sure I'll do much better this time, I think.

I suppose the cynic in me has always had two...no, three problems with blogging. One, I never understood why anyone would want to add to the cacophony of 90 million other blogs on the intraweb but apparently people do read these things so that's out.

Two, I've doubted anyone would want to actually read about the goings-on in our lives but I suppose if I stick to the big, exciting stuff and avoid the twitter, I suppose I can get over my fear that no one really gives a shit about what we're doing.

Three, I'm lazy. I guess now I have Nicole to "help" with that.

So, dear reader, you have to look forward to seeing some of nifty things we've been up to like our visits to NYC and Washington, D.C.. Also, I'm sure I'll put up some stuff about seeing the SEMA show, and some other cool stuff going on in the immediate future -- that is when I get around to actually downloading the pictures. You also get the pleasure of my caustic attitude and reading more colorful language than you might be used to.

Hey, all I can say is: she asked for it.

X.

Tucson or bust

I'm sure all of you are sick of hearing about me missing home, but I do. I miss knowing the streets and knowing that there is room for my car in my lane. I miss sleeping in a bed that is long enough for me. (Sleeping diagonally gets a bit old and disorienting.) I miss my puppy. I miss having In-n-Out Burger just down the street at the end of a bad day. And I really miss my husband. I keep telling him it's so much different being away from "the good one," and it's true. ;) I miss just chatting with him and telling him stories about crazy stuff I see everyday. And I'm sure he misses my nagging about stupid stuff that only wives nag about.

So I'm excited to fly home to Tucson for the weekend, even though the real reason I'm flying home is to take my orals on Friday. I'm nervous and getting more nervous by the hour. Failing just wouldn't be a good thing right now; I need to be a candidate when I head to Montreal to interview for positions in December. Oh - and I need to pass them so I can focus on my dissertation. But at least if I do fail, Xav will be there to cuddle me and take me to In-n-Out. And probably ColdStone after that.

Hopefully, though, the plan will be to fly in tonight, work and cram on Thursday, stress through the exam on Friday... then pass and celebrate. The exam is Friday at 10:00am PDT and will probably take a couple of hours, so crossed fingers and prayers and hail mary's are all welcome. On Saturday, I plan on cheering on my cute (crappy) little U of A football team; maybe they'll get lucky and win one, too.

My Dæmon - rawr!

According to Julia and the Internet (so it must be true), a dæmon is a physical manifestation of a soul. This one just happens to be of my soul:



I thought for sure I'd end up with a ferret or something.

To get your own: http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/

Yay pictures

I have learned from my in-laws that Mexicans never take pictures and if they do, they never get them developed. Apparently I've been Mexican all these years and never realized it.

As promised, here's a picture of me at Yankee Stadium. This was taken shortly before rain that caused a 92-minute rain delay. A big thanks to Wesley for letting me have his extra ticket that day! Sysadmins are the coolest.

I also went to visit Rockefeller State Park this weekend. Yay for super rich people who decide to donate cool stuff for normal people like me to visit. Over 1,000 acres of their estate has been deeded to the state of New York, which has woodlands, meadows, wetlands, and a lake. Twenty miles of paths originally created for carriage rides are maintained for the public and we can even bring our doggies and horseys.

I'm only here in New York for a few more weeks - if anyone has any requests, start sending them in now. :)

Better than the track

Thanks to some inspiration from Julia's blog, I've decided to get off my arse and do some jogging. And by jogging, I mean bouncy walking. It's the same jog that got me through the Honolulu Marathon and back then, I could speed walk faster than my jog.

Anyway, aside from the accompanying soreness - especially the first week - it's been pretty nice. I'm finally over my jet lag and I sleep through the night. Even better, I get around my neighborhood and have been watching some of the leaves start turning. It's reminding me how much I love the smell of autumn and how much I need to sneak out of work on occasion. Spending countless hours in front of a computer screen and under fluorescent lights just can't be good for you.

Weekend in NY

So I had another authentic weekend in New York - especially Saturday. I went to a Yankees game with a friend and sat next to an Italian with a Bronx accent named Frankie. His mom was next to him and his fiance was behind him. Wow. Now *that* was some entertainment. (I'll post a picture once I get around to downloading them.)

Sunday I decided to drive around and look at the leaves starting to turn after church. I miss autumn... but am too much of a sissy now to put up with the winters that come with it.

Some of you have been asking how much longer I'll be out here. My last day is supposed to be Oct 12, but I'm trying to get an extension to Oct 26. I could use the money (I'll join the ranks of a starving grad student once I return to Tucson) and it will give me a bit more time to finish up my projects here. For those of you in Tucson, I will be back the weekend of Oct 19th to take my oral comps. I'll ignore you all for my last-minute cramming until Friday afternoon, but then we can go hang out. :)

PS If anyone wants to join me on my cross-country drive back to T-town, lemme know. I'll probably leave Oct 27 and have to make it to Tucson by/on Oct 30.

Yarrr...

Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day, matey. (Does that mean we get a bottle of rum all day?) So have some fun and annoy your coworkers. :)



I know Xavier is excited.

Brrrrr.....

So, as much as I love autumn and sweater weather, it sure is getting cold. After spending the last seven years in either Tucson or Hawaii, I'm afraid I've turned into one of those people I used to make fun of in Rexburg.

After looking through the clothes I packed for my internship here in New York, I've decided I need to go shopping or I'll die of hypothermia. I packed all of my warm clothes - the term "warm" being used very loosely here - and they still aren't good enough. My sweaters are hardly sweaters... more like a double-layer Shade shirt. At least they're long-sleeved. Even when I show up to work wearing my faux sweaters, people look at me all funny and make comments about how it's not even cold yet.

Looks like my fairy princess costume just isn't going to cut it for Halloween. Nor will my slutty maid outfit. Maybe I'll be the grim reaper and hide a full snow suit beneath the cape. Or, better yet, I'll stay home and watch a movie under a blanket. Or two. With hot chocolate.

Good thing I'm only here until November.

365 days and counting...

Wow. So Xav and I hit the one year mark on Friday. Poor bastard.

He flew out here and we spent the weekend in the city. It was tons of fun, and we saw (and heard) even more loud and obnoxious New Yorkers. Once I get a few pics from Xav (they're on his fancy shmancy camera), I'll post them.



For our anniversary, we went to Perilla so I could try some of my TV crush's food and hopefully catch of glimpse of him. (I heart Harold Dieterle.) Unfortunately, he's as professional and shy as he is cute, and he stayed hidden in the kitchen. The food was amazing and the cute gay boys next to us were equally impressed.



After dinner, we hopped the subway to our first Broadway play, Wicked. This is definitely good - better than I had expected. The ticket and playbill were my first anniversary gift (paper). So sweet. We had so much fun, Xavier and I will try to hit another Broadway delight either here or when it comes to Tucson: Avenue Q. I'm looking forward to hearing puppets sing "It Sucks to be Me" and "The Internet is for Porn." Classic.

Saturday was spent walking all over New York - Central Park, the coolest Apple store ever, Soho, and Chinatown. We saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We ate dinner in a hole-in-the-wall place in East Village that was great and eventually stumbled into a night street fair in Little Italy, the feast of St. Gennaro. We somehow made room for Italian sausages and zeppoles. Yum.

On Sunday, we visited Ground Zero and even met a rescuer survivor. The rest of the day was spent walking through Soho and finding a great sushi place for Xavier.

After all of the fun, Xavier was sick of me (or was it the other way around?) and hopped a plane back to Tucson. Hopefully I can get him back here before I leave to see the leaves turn. Autumn is my favorite time of year and Xavier, a Tucson native, is totally missing out.

WWMD

... because MacGyver knows everything.



Apparently the world trusts MacGyver more than other fictional heroes like Bond and Indy to save the world. Yay! I always knew my childhood crush was the hero of the world.

http://www.celebitchy.com/5900/macgyver_to_the_rescue/

Blogging is for SUCKERS...

... and we're in. Who knows if we'll actually keep posting.

(PS. Yay plagiarism. Thanks for the line, Betty.)