Pleasant Surprise

When I got home today I found a pleasant surprise was waiting for me. My friend Julie's parents sent over a vase filled with a dozen multicolored roses - simply gorgeous! It was just to congratulate me on my successful defense and graduation. I was stunned. They sent Sam a big basket of fruit and tasties (he isn't here to see it so it is sitting on the dining room table waiting for him). Julie, if you are reading this I have to get your parents' address so I can send them a thank you card! The flowers were too beautiful not to share, so I took a picture for all to see

Ok back to cleaning/packing....

Two-O-Two

Yep that's right... the cheapest gas I have seen in a Loooooooong time. $2.02 "two-o-two". Wow almost under two dollars! Funny how a year or two ago that would have been considered so high! I am glad gas prices are starting to come down since when I move I will be driving to and from work.

So there is this fast food chain down here called Chik-Fil-A. I am not sure how many of you are familiar with it, I had never heard of it until I moved to Memphis; apparently it started in Georgia. Anyway it's good fast food, but even better are their advertisements. They always have these crazy billboards with cows painting a phrase. My previous favorite was "New Diet Kraze: Low Cow". The recent one I saw this afternoon (obviously holiday-inspired) was "Wize Men Eat Chikin" - painted in green and red. I just had to laugh. The idea to use cows to promote a fast food chicken place was really smart.

Oh and for those of you who aren't familiar with these ads, no I didn't mis-spell them, they have spelling mistakes in them on purpose (I bet that was another clever way to draw attention to the ad).

Well I have a busy week of cleaning, organizing, shipping, packing, and all that jazz ahead of me. Hope all is well with you.

Giving Thanks

Well today I hosted my first Thanksgiving Day. Sam and I invited a few friends over and we cooked up a storm. On the menu were: Turkey (of course) with gravy, cornbread dressing, sweet potato crunch, garlic mashed potatoes, squash, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, and cranberry sauce. For dessert, pumpkin pie. There were 7 of us in all, and it was a great time to share with friends and LOTS of food. Nobody took any leftovers with them so I think Sam and I will be eating the remains for the next week or so. I may not need to do much grocery shopping before I move. I took some photos of our spread. (to prove we really did it... haha)

Understanding Women - Lost in Translation?

Two things to celebrate today before getting to the topic of today's blog.

1. Tom passed his dissertation defense on Saturday (we all knew he would) but now we can officially call him Dr. Scotto! Yay TOM!

2. Lynne turned 29 today... Happy Birthday Lynne!

Now onto more amusing reading material. Sam sent me a forward on understanding what women mean. I found it so funny and accurate that I decided to publish it in my blog today. Since I have such a huge reading audience (JOEL) I hope they (HE) finds it equally amusing.


WORDS WOMEN USE
FINE -- This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

FIVE MINUTES -- If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

NOTHING -- This is the calm before the storm. This means "something," and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with 'Nothing' usually end in "Fine"

GO AHEAD -- This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it.

LOUD SIGH -- This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders whyshe is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing"

SOFT SIGH -- Again, not a word, but a non-verbal statement. "Soft Sighs" mean that she is content. Your best bet is to not move or breathe, and she will stay content.

THAT'S OKAY -- This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how
and when you will pay for your mistake.

PLEASE DO -- This is not a statement, it is an offer. A woman is giving you the chance to come up with whatever excuse or reason you have for doing whatever it is
that you have done. You have a fair chance with the truth, so be careful and you shouldn't get a "That's Okay"

THANKS -- A woman is thanking you. Do not question it or faint. Just say you're welcome.

THANKS A LOT -- This is much different from "Thanks." A woman will say, "Thanks A Lot." when she is really ticked off at you. It signifies that you have offended her in some callous way, and will be followed by the "Loud Sigh." Be careful not to ask what is wrong after the "Loud Sigh," as she will only tell you "Nothing."

A Dynamic Duo

Today I handed in my final copy of my dissertation along with all the necessary paperwork/signatures to the graduate school. I was finally "done". Such a relief, but the reality has hit now that I have very little time left in Memphis. It is exciting to be moving on, and I have been looking forward to it for quite some time now. What I will miss most of all is my friend Sam. I have been in Memphis for over 4 years, and Sam has been my roomate from day one. It's the longest I have stayed in one place (well not EXACTLY one place thanks to the wind storm of 2002...) but you get the idea. It will be weird to not have him within earshot (no pun intended). The picture is of the two of us in our tiny kitchen after we re-tiled the floor. We were so proud =) It's so hard to believe it's almost over. Sam and I won't be rid of each other for good though. The field of Audiology is so small, we are bound to see each other on a regular basis at conferences... oh and then there is always the perk that we both have summers off! can anyone say VACATION?...

The Agony of Defeet

Or should I say toes.... today I went in for my third partial nail evulsion procedure, thanks to my chronic ingrown toenails. I had both lateral and medial sides of my right big toe sliced and diced, and my podiatrist was nice enough to show me the pieces of nail he took out... mmm yummm! just what I wanted to see! (Actually it was pretty interesting to see what was lurking beneath the skin surface).

So a not so fun morning turned into a dreadful afternoon. The weather here has been awful, dramatic thunderstorms, hail, wind, the works. But that's not the worst of it. What was so awful was my advisor telling me that there was something drastically wrong with my discussion chapter of my dissertation, that it is circular and doesnt talk about what the results mean. Why is this a big deal? Hmm well.... the deadline to have a final revised copy to the Graduate School is FRIDAY! Yep, that's a mere three days away.

I proceeded to go down and see the Dean, who by the way is also on my dissertation committee. Fortunately for me, he was very pleased with the dissertation and felt that it was much tighter and comprehensible. So I have pleased 2 of the 4 committee members. I have a meeting with member #3 tomorrow at 9 AM. If I can figure out what he wants, then all I need to do is get it done and somehow please my advisor (member #4) in the next 48 hours so I can GRADUATE. I may be visiting Starbucks in the next few days for some extra doses of caffeine...

I am so stressed out that my hair is falling out in the shower. This neeeds to stop.
Pray for me.

Harry Potter vs Star Wars

I can't believe how time is flying by. I have only three weeks left in Memphis before I say goodbye and head out to Colorado. It's so weird. Fortunately, Rob is going to fly down to Memphis to make the trip with me, it will be so nice to have company on that LOOOOOOOOOONG drive.

No much going on right now. Trying to please my dissertation committee so I can get a final draft turned into the Graduate School for a formatting check.

OK, so getting back to the title of this blog entry... I am still reading Book 6 of the Harry Potter series. Came across a good quote in it today. "Greatness inspires envy, envy engenders spite, spite spawns lies". That was said by a young Lord Voldemort to Dumbledore. It made me think of what Yoda said to young Anakin Skywalker "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." Harry Potter and Star Wars, love em both!

Anyway I should be getting to bed. I am having my toe sliced and diced tomorrow (darned chronic ingrown toenails). I already had the procedure done once, but apparently my toenails are ultra resilient. It's gonna be a ton of fun walking around with a numb big toe.

Crocs Rock!

So I have been noticing this crazy new shoe fad for the past several months, people walking around in what appeared to be gardener's clogs... strange plastic looking shoes in an assortment of bright colors with holes all over them (some form of shoe air conditioning). I laughed when I would see people in public wearing these things, they just look retarded. But I have come to learn you can't knock something 'till you've tried it. Sam bought a pair last week, and let me try them on. Oh my gosh!!! so comfortable! I went and bought a pair myself. The shoes in the photo are mine. They are so light yet so supportive, I love them. I will bring them with me to NY and I bet a lot of people will look and laugh, but I don't care, now that I know better. Go check 'em out.

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

On Sunday morning, an old Memphis Hospital was imploded... the biggest implosion in the country this year. Baptist Memorial Hospital, has been standing tall (and deserted) since I moved to Memphis. I drive by it every day on my way to the Speech and Hearing Center. Now it is just a pile of rubble. I admit it gives me a very eerie feeling looking at pictures of the implosion of this building and now looking at the rubble which will take nearly a year to clean up, and think about how small a scale it is compared to what happened at WTC a few years ago.

Also, I saw a very wide load make it's way down Union Avenue, escorted on both sides by the Memphis police - it was a very large TREE. HAHA what a site to see, I later read that it made it's home in front of the FedEx Forum. The thing was so big it nearly tore down a traffic light on it's way. I think it's a little early for Christmas, but that's just me. It must be fun to watch them haul in the Rockefeller Center tree (I think they actually fly that one in).

In other news, it was Tom's birthday yesterday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM!!! Poor guy is so worn out getting ready for his dissertation defense, I am looking forward to celebrating with him in December. It's nice to have a friend with the same career path as mine, we can vent to each other about job related crap.

Hard to believe that a month from today I will be in Colorado. Wow! It will be the farthest from 'home' that I have ever been. So many people are excited that I will be out there and have said they will want to come visit me... I hope they do =)

Things are looking up for Sam as he continues to hope for a finalized dissertation defense date on December 6th. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him, he has worked so hard... if any of you out there are reading this and know him say a little prayer for him. Thanks!

Let's Agree to Disagree

WHEW!!! I have been having quite the conversation (or conversations) with several people on the Bing listserve about evolution, creation, separation of chuch and state, neural networks, and lots of interesting things. I have come to find that amongst my friends there are very different view points, and that email is not the best venue to debate such issues... too much frustration from the miscommunication that is going on. I really have a very well educated group of friends though... and such varied strengths... some who are well versed in Politics, others in History, others in Biology... it's really neat to hear what everyone has to say, as long as nobody gets offended along the way. I've learned rather than overreacting emotionally, sometimes I have to just agree to disagree.

Dave passed his comprehensive exams, he is now officially a doctoral candidate. Sam and I and Dave went to Outback for a beer to celebrate. YAY Dave!

Anyway less than 2 weeks until my edited dissertation is due to the graduate school. My advisor has gone analysis crazy on me and has all these ideas about different ways I can look at and present my data to try and make the 'non significant' findings more valuable. I admit the ideas are interesting, just frustrating that I can't just be DONE. So that's what I will be busy with all day tomorrow.

I think I am late for my date with my pillow, good night y'all.

Stuck in the middle with you?

I was looking through my documents trying to find some notes I typed up months ago. no such luck. But I did find a poem I wrote a while back, when I was kinda down on myself that some of my friendships were slipping away. I figured I would go ahead and publish it. Just my feelings of disappointment that all those miles had distanced some of my friendships, and my desire to just find a common ground to pick up and start again. I think I am starting to get there with some people. So that is exciting for me. I wish I was able to let me friends know how much they mean to me, even though some of us are so far away.

Meet me In the Middle

Hand in hand, side by side
We conquered the world, you and I
We laughed, we cried

Years went by, on and on
Our friendship grew, we were strong
At dusk, at dawn

Way down south, day by day
I think of you, the sky turns grey
Miss you, we say

Miles between us, on and on
Both of us, moved along
Got busy, withdrawn

Far away, mile by mile
A long way to go, all the while
To laugh, to smile

We can move on, step by step
Without haste, lest we regret
Our bond, did we forget?

We can be, side by side
Even though the miles are wide
Just meet me in the middle.

--TMP February 2005

Oxymoron

What a cool word, oxymoron. I actually saw one today that I felt compelled to report on. I was driving down Union Avenue today, and noticed a guy with a truck (yeah we have a lot of those down in Memphis)... anyway on his truck was not ONE but TWO bumper stickers. This guy had these stickers prominently displayed in the top corners of his rear windshield. They were yellow and black and said "Hang up and Drive!" For a minute I thought, that is fantastic! Finally a bumber sticker that has value. Of course then I looked to see what kind of wonderful person would choose to put a very important message on their truck... turns out the idiot was ON HIS CELL PHONE! How messed up is that? I have to admit I love the ability to talk to anyone whenever I want to, but I do not like the fact that people abuse that priveledge while driving. We shouldn't be talking and driving (hands free or not)... I don't care what anyone says, and I am just as guilty as the next in having done it in the past, but it is darned distracting. We have enough bad drivers on the road, we don't need to encourage them to be any worse...