This week has been crazy and I think after this afternoon's meeting I'm going to hit the wall for a day or two. Well hit and just stick there I guess while I write, write, write; since sleep is out of the question.

Here's the overview:

• Sunday May 5 - Slept in a little, very little. Drove back from Illinois - yes I still have to post about the conference. Since it was Mother's Day, everywhere I stopped the restaurants were full with long lines even the drive-thru's had long lines. So I finally got lunch at 3:00 pm at a place within 30 minutes of the house. Good thing too, I was about to resort to one of those egg salad sandwiches from the Buy Food and Get Gas places. Can you say salmonella poisoning to-go?
• Monday May 9 - Was one of those wonderful fun filled errands sort of day. Started off with tooth-cleaning at the dentist and ended with a 3.5 hour board meeting with LOTS of discussion. Read too much talking, too tiring.
• Tuesday May 10 - Drive to Bloomington and back for a meeting with my Advisory Committee, well two members of my committee - Susan Herring and John Paolillo. These meetings are always good gatherings, helpful, and supportive; but they are also stressful since there is a ream of paperwork to prepare in advance which will have modifications up until the meeting. Invariably some new requirement, or clarification of an old requirement, will be announced by the front office within days of the due date - just something else to pull together and something else to add stress to the process.
• Wednesday May 11 - Drive to Illinois and back for a face-to-face meeting with Norman Denzin. Norman is a member of my Advisory Committee. We had tried to get together during the conference but we unable to make it work out while I was there. Since we had not meet face-to-face since 2003, our regular monthly communication has been via email ever since, so I wanted to do this one face-to-face before I defend my quals later this year. I will meet face-to-face with Gary Ingersoll, the remaining member of my committee, later this summer for much the same reasons.
• Thursday May 12 - Drive to Bloomington and back for a meeting with my collaborators. Also had a meeting on campus to fill out paperwork. Paperwork paperwork everywhere EVERYWHERE. LOL While I was in town I also sat down with Pete Welsch and did an interview that became my most recent Ultimate Blogger entry.
• Friday May 13 - Take the car to the dealership and wait for them to replace my catalytic converter...they said it was a 30 minute job. Turns out that my hybrid car has two catalytic converters and the replacement of both takes two hours. Which made me late for my scheduled phone call with Eric Peterson to discuss life as we know it, and our NCA panel, among other things. Picture me in jeans shorts and an old HangLoose t-shirt, talking on the cell phone, and pacing next to my car under a tree in a Baptist Church parking lot. LOL There was no way to get home in time to call from a land line. But Eric has a great sense of humor so I'm sure he would have adapted had the cops shown up during our call.
• Saturday May 14 - Drive to Bloomington and back for a meeting with my collaborators. Can you tell we have submissions to go out shortly. LOL Research and writing never end...though I really need to get back to my writing tomorrow. My invited book chapter it due at the end of the month, and quals is looming ever larger. Oh and then there are the syllabi to complete for fall semester. *sigh*

Next week is much quieter so I sincerely hope to get my chapter edited and to get notes, etc. posted from the conference. *crossing my fingers* Let's hope.

Posted by prolurkr at May 14, 2005 11:30 AM

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