an official break

After 611 posts since May of 2005, I've decided to officially take a break from my blog. I plan to come back to it, but right now I just can't find the energy or things to write about when my life is engulfed with the dissertation. I hope you all will understand. I know how annoying it is to keep checking on a blog, hoping for new posts, so I wanted to let you know you can stop checking for the time being.

Keep the address in your favorites, though, because I promise to start up again once I start to have a life outside the ivory tower.

damn outlook

Sometimes I love outlook, which I have at work. It helps me organize and sort things, and keeps a to-do list, and I can color code things, etc. But today, after I've received a dozen email, and 5 of those email still have that checkmark by them that I use to indicate that I still have to do something about the email, I'm feeling defeated. I mean, really? Five checkmarks that I couldn't plow through? Some days I leave one checkmark to take care of the next day or later that week, but I just can't deal with all five checkmarks/emails. Maybe my "outlook" will look brighter after I've had a rest.

6 wonderful years

Today marks six wonderful years being married to david. We have had such fun and exciting adventures and have plans for many more.

Happy anniversary sweetie!
I love you!

family, family

Will and Sandy Litzler were visiting recently and just left yesterday. We had a good time and I got to see some WA state places I had never seen before, like Gig Harbor, Silverdale, Poulsbo. It sure is pretty in western washington!

And today my sister arrives for a work trip. I will get to see her because she was able to add on a day to her trip so we will see each other friday night and saturday until her plane leaves. Enough time for a group workout and some H&M shopping ;-)

I'm planning to do another dissertation day tomorrow because I've got to get some time in for writing. Unfortunately, I've also got an NSF proposal revision that is due in less than 2 weeks now, so that has been taking up quite a bit of my time. Hoping to get some help from others on the revision.

feedback

I'm waiting on feedback from my advisor on Chapter's 3 and 4. I feel a bit like I can't get started with chapter 5 until I get some feedback on 3 and 4. but maybe part of that feeling is that I feel a little lost in what should be in chapter 5, and what the actual analysis should encompass. I have a couple different ideas, but never really got an "okay" on one of them in particular.

It looks like this week will have to be a 2 day dissertation week instead of a 3 day dissertation week. I've got to try to carve out some time.

Unfortunately, I have a proposal revision to NSF that is due in mid September that will be taking up my time. That combined with trying to write a journal article for the PACE study, and preparing for the PACE conference in DC in September, I'm going to be pretty busy at work (and home).

Danskin

Danskin is over and I did better than last year..only looking at unofficial times but I'll know for sure how much better in a day or so.

I had been worried about the cold water in lake washington but it was not too bad. I made sure that I got wet before the race started--took my breath away. Better to have it happen then instead of the race start.

progress!

I sent my advisor drafts of Chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 3 is my methodology and data chapter and Chapter 4 is my exploratory analysis chapter. Those are the easiest ones. Now I've got to dig into Chapter 5 which is another analysis chapter, but more complex.

So, making progress. Headed to Lake Chelan, WA for a bachelorette party and wine tastings. I have a feeling I may come back with some wine for David and me. I am hoping to get in a run and a swim this weekend but we'll see. I'm bringing my stuff!

support

I am thankful to have such good friends and family who write such wonderful things on my blog in support of my dissertation quest. Thank you!

I spent a good eight hours working on it yesterday and plan to do more dissertation work on friday, if a work deadline doesn't eclipse it.

We are having record temperatures here in Seattle this week. Last night David and I blew up our air mattress and we slept in the basement where it felt a good 15 -20 degrees cooler than upstairs. thank goodness for basements. I think we will sleep down there for the next few nights!

not working

okay- the few sentences everyday is not working. I just don't feel like I have the time for it. I just drew up my calendar and I have about 50 weeks until I would need to defend the dissertation. When you look at it all on one page it is kind of scary!

I think right now I've got to figure out the timeline for getting chapters out and work backward from there.

It is not that I'm not working on the chapters, but that I just can't seem to do a little bit everyday. Maybe that advice is for people who don't have full time jobs?

a little bit every day

I've heard lots of different writing advice. I've been thinking a lot about this lately as I try to make progress on my dissertation. I haven't spent a good chunk of time on it in more than a week. This past weekend I was just too busy having fun with David and Matt here in Seattle to work on data analysis or writing.

So, one school of thought is that you need chunks of time--like 2-3 hours at least in order to make good progress. This I can see would be important for times when I am in the middle of data analysis and leaving something off in the middle will make it difficult to come back to it without spending a bunch of time orienting.

The other school of thought is that you should try to write a little bit each day. Now, this I can see as possible, given that writing does seem to be something you can leave off in mid-sentence and come back to fairly easily. Of course, I don't know if this advice is meant for someone like me who works full-time and has to find time every evening or morning to do a little writing. But I am thinking about trying it. Last night I worked for maybe 30 minutes on revising and writing, and I'd like to do the same tonight.

I'm leaving for a work trip tomorrow, so I don't know how much I can do while I'm traveling, but I am going to try to get at least a few sentences every day.

a few tri photos

A few pictures from the super sprint tri I did on saturday.

testing out the cold water.

where's lizzy? find the #76 on the arm.

last few strokes.

heading into T1.

heading out of T1

First bike lap finished.

first one back (on my rack) to rack my bike after the bike ride.

heading out on the run. getting a little hydrated.

finished!

gmaps pedometer

David and I have been taking long walks a couple of evenings a week with Sam. We usually head into one neighborhood where there are beautiful houses and yards. The past two times we went for a walk I sat down at the computer when we got back and mapped out where we had gone on gmap-pedometer. Last night after I did this I was shocked to see that it said we had walked almost 5.5 miles. I didn't think we were gone that long--but- wow! that's a long walk!

hold me to it

Okay- I am going to be starting my 10th year in graduate school. Not that I was actually enrolled all that time. I've taken about 3 years on-leave, but nonetheless. The Graduate school has a 10 year rule. You have to finish within the 10 years or you have to re-apply or petition them or some such rigamarole.

So, I'm hereby declaring that I plan to finish my dissertation and graduate in spring 2010. It will take much more dedication and time than I've been putting in to date, but I do understand that life will have to change for a year so that I can finish. I hope that everyone else in my life will understand that as well. I really want to be PhinisheD! ;-)

There is one other person who started in Sociology the same year I did. She is also gearing up to finish in the Spring. We've both got our work cut out for us, but hopefully we can use each other as a support network.

So, please help me to finish by providing your support, encouragement, and understanding of my time constraints...and in return you'll have my eternal gratitude.

weird or interesting?

Today someone called me at work and asked me about the "Litzlers". She said she was a Litzler and she didn't think there were many other Litzlers in the US. Or, that her brother didn't think there were that many other Litzlers in the US and she was trying to prove him wrong. So, I explained what I knew about the Litzlers, given that I am one by marriage, and she asked me to put her in touch with any one else who knew more about the Litzlers. I did ask her how she found me...apparently she found my name associated with UW and she is in the general Puget Sound area and figured she'd give me a call.

Overall, just seemed a little weird, although she sounded like a perfectly nice person. However, given that anyone with computer access can google "Litzler" and find dozens of people online that they don't know, surely they could have settled their argument that easily. She did seem interested in which area the Litzlers are originally from, so maybe she is getting into some genealogy stuff...weird or interesting?

anyway- thought I would try to pass her on to someone who knows more about the Litzlers, because she did seem genuinely interested.

Mentoring

I signed up as a mentor for the danskin this year. I have 22 mentees, although only 10 or so have responded to any of my emails. I went to an info session at REI tonight to help answer questions. And last week I went to a mentor dinner where they gave us some swag--a nathan fuel belt (which rei was selling for 45 bucks) and a water bottle with a handle which has a special name but I can't think of it. It was nice to meet other mentors--most of whom have done many more tri's than me. Anyway, I'm having fun volunteering my time. Once danskin is over I may have to find something else to volunteer for. (Maybe I should volunteer to work on my dissertation? ;-)

swine flu

All the hubbub around this has died down, but David and I learned last weekend that one of our direct neighbors had swine flu recently. At first I was shocked, but the swine flu hasn't been that much worse than the regular flu and I haven't been sick, so I just sort of forgot about it. But I figured it makes an interesting story...I mean how many people can say they know someone who had swine flu?

On another note, I planted my vegetable garden. I re-arranged the rows this year, and gave certain veggies more prime spots than others. We'll see how it works out, but i'm hopeful that the crop will be good.

I planted: 3 kinds of tomatoes (1 big, 2 cherry types), zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, buttercrunch lettuce, romaine, spinach, red pepper, yellow pepper, broccoli, basil and cilantro. I plan to plant some pole beans, but I haven't figured out what they will climb on yet, so I haven't planted them. I think that is it....Can anyone tell me how to harvest my lettuces and will they grow back after I harvest or do I just get one head out of each plant?

so much to say

So much has happened since I last wrote. I've been to Google in California for a National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) meeting. Google was cool- they had sand volleyball courts, a ton of different cafes- they grow some of their own food and herbs that are used in the cafes, they have those lap pools that have the current in them for swimming, and everything is google colors. It was a good meeting, although I'm always exhausted after these things.

I swam last monday (first time in a while) and I was so sore all last week. I'm going to swim again today since the doc said I should only be swimming and biking. I've got to get my bike tuned up and everything for the nice weather. It was about 80 degrees here in Seattle yesterday. I couldn't believe it!

Saw Angels & Demons on Sunday. It followed the book pretty closely. Jodi- I think you'll like it. Plan to go see Terminator this weekend. I can't believe there have been so many blockbusters coming out one after the other. Star Trek was awesome too! I remember watching Star Trek as a kid (with Dad?) and the movie really captured the characters well, I thought.

happy mother's day

Here is a little "word cloud" from wordle.net that I created in honor of mother's day (click on it to see it bigger). sorry to post a day late---Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers that I know!

tree pics pt 2

Here are a few pictures of the progression of the new crabapple tree over the past week or so.





Yea for pink flowers!

ankle update

Most of you know I sprained my ankle about 2 months ago. It has still been bothering me, especially after long walks, so I finally went to the sports medicine doctor. The sports med docs here at UW are great--they are the folks who take care of all our varsity athletes, so they really know their stuff.

They took an x-ray and good news- my doc said there were no bone chips or any other abnormal looking things going on in the x-ray.

She gave me some new exercises to do along with the old ones I was doing, and she told me that I need to increase my activity in 3 levels. Level one is non-weight bearing - like swimming and biking- and I should do that for about 2 weeks to see how things feel. If it is feeling okay, I can progress to weight-bearing but non-impact- like ellipticals and stairmaster for another 2 weeks. Assuming that goes well, I can move on finally, to walking for exercise and running. So, I think I should still have plenty of time to get in shape for the running part of the triathlon this summer.

The doctor did say that about 40% of ankle sprains still hurt after 4 months, so I guess I shouldn't have been too worried about it. But I'm glad I know now that there isn't something bad that happened that I ignored.