So far, classes are going well. I have some great students, although I'll say that as a whole, they whine more than Arizona and Boise State combined. Ha!
I have been sneaking in some walking in the mornings. About once a week, I walk with Linda, and I've been trying to get out another couple of times on my own. I live next to a golf course and one lap has a few hills and is 2.25 miles - if I add in some neighborhood time, I come in around 3 miles. I'm hanging out at 15:00 miles, but it's about all I dare do at this point. My ITB has been acting up and if I keep it at a brisk walk, I feel okay. And for those of you wondering, walking with audio books is great. (For my own mileage tracking: I went 8 miles last week, 3 miles the week before, and 3 miles the week before that.)
I'll probably be MIA for another month or so. Coming up:
- LISA in San Jose Nov 8-12. I'll be attending the knowledge management in system administration workshop Monday morning, then some technical sessions Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. If anyone wants to cover a cost accounting class for me that Tuesday, lemme know. I can offer baked goods as bribery.
- CHIMIT in San Jose Nov 12-13. I'm chairing this, and it's oddly similar to planning a wedding: I need to have final numbers for attendees (guests) for seating, AV, and food finalized in the next couple of weeks. I'm also waiting to hear back on invited talks and panels. And once we get closer, I'll be putting the proceedings onto CDs or USBs (favors!). Thank goodness I have a great co-chair and committee members. Otherwise, I'd be in big trouble.
- Tim's homecoming Nov 14. I'm pretty sure I'm in trouble for not getting there on Friday for more family time, but this is the best I can do. Anyone in the SLC area, come see him try to speak English again after two years!
- SCCUR in Malibu Nov 20. Accepted papers aren't announced until Oct 26, but I think the research my students have been doing has a good chance. If it does get accepted to SCCUR, the presentation happens this day.
- DSI in San Diego Nov 22. (And possibly also the afternoon of Nov 20 - straight south after SCCUR.) I will be a presenter and panel discussant in a session on engaged research.
- Nov 28. Weekend off? Maybe? Crossing my fingers.
- Various research completion deadlines: revise my dissertation and submit, expand my HICSS paper, finish and submit a paper I'm working on with Alex and Rajiv (goal: by the end of the year), and then write up another paper or two with Alex and Rajiv (one is outlined, the other has data analysis done). And then on to my Spring project with Kerry!
Somewhere in there, I also have teaching preps, grading, and exams. It's not bad, but it always ends up taking more time than I expect because it's my first semester and first prep out of this textbook. And yet... I still decided to switch textbooks next semester. I've heard this a million times before, but holy cow my first year is one giant sprint. I'm so exhausted by the time Sunday rolls around, I can barely roll out of bed.
In other news, I'm a bad wife. I essentially missed our anniversary because I had late class that day. (When I finally got home, I was exhausted, so we just had leftovers.) I might be out of town for Xavier's birthday on 11/21, and now it looks like I might have a work function on my birthday, too. I am not doing a very good job of keeping up with our personal days.
Xav is wonderful, as always. He has been holding down the fort and helping with our places in Tucson as well. (Dear renters, please pay. kkthxbai.) He even got us tickets to see Carrie Underwood at the Hollywood Bowl on October 2. OMG. The venue is amazing. The concert was great. My favorite part was when Randy Travis came out to sing "I Told You So" with her. (And yet, my crazy schedule still almost ruined the day. We were hoping to get to the Bowl early, take a picnic and spend the day. Unfortunately, the SCCUR deadline was the next Monday, so I went to campus to help my students with data analysis. We missed the picnic, but did make it on time for the concert.)
Following up my new year's resolution, Xavier tells me that my excitement for September was our fourth anniversary (and five years together). It's kind of sad, since I missed most of the day, but it was pretty exciting hitting the day that I was officially married to Xavier longer than my ex. It may sound strange, and it wasn't anything monumental, but it was comforting to hit that day and still be so happy. My excitement for October was the Carrie Underwood concert. Credit for both of those go to my hubby.
