Nerd Alert

So, two intensely nerdy things have happened in the last few hours.

First, I had my honors thesis defense, which many of you have heard me whining about for months. I do not like giving talks, but it went well, and everyone had nice not-too-brainwrenching questions, and more importantly, they handed me some results I hadn't (and Dr. Smith, who is NOT, as of this afternoon, competing for "greatest mentor in the world" award any longer) thought of, and suffice it to say that I have some work to do tonight.

That DOES blow, on one hand, because I'm not finished with the damn thing, and I now have to bust my ass again to get this all where it needs to go and rewritten and bound by Friday at the absolute latest. Now, the worst part is that I have to do some weird-ass stat thing I've never heard of that you have to do manually, and that sounds daunting. SO, that being the bad news, the good is that the thing as a whole went super well, they were really nice and it was, nerdily, *fun*

And it rules because on the other hand, they were all clamoring for publication, so I said I'll redo the stupid thing with sound, and bust my ass to do it this summer, and they'll help me, specifically, with the going through the steps of submitting it. And that's fucking worth another couple of days of busting my ass to get things finished. Plus, it all makes a lot more sense to me now than it did this morning. Or yesterday, or any other day. Goddammit.

So that's what I'll be up to tonight, bashing my head on the wall because I can't remember how to do square roots, and tomorrow they're all supposed to be around in the lab to look over it and help me more if I need it. Ahhh, teamwork.

So it's over, thank god, it went really well, and that's about enough detail for you non-thesis non-nerd friends of mine.

The OTHER nerd thing that just recently happened is that my FABO graduation present that I alluded to has arrived, I am typing on it right now, and I am giddy with liking-it-ness. Oh Apple, you gorgeous company. You gorgeous machine builders. And FUCKING THANK GOD I CAN NOW USE A LAPTOP LIKE A LAPTOP, and not be chained to my fucking desk when the whole point of having a laptop was to avoid that. Also, this one is badass. I can't express that enough in words.

So, to Mike and Stacey, and anyone else who maybe wanted to consider buying my ibook, just lemme know. It's going for $400 or so on ebay, so since you guys are my friends I'll take $350. Or if no one wants it, I'll just sell it on ebay. AND, you should know that it works fabulously EXCEPT for the problem with the battery, which is NOT that it needs a new battery, but something more sinister. So you can't unplug it unless you get that fixed. But, if you need a computer more than you need a laptop, it's perfect. And of course, you don't have to pay me right now. Whatever.

I should also point out that I named my new hard drive "Trogdor" because I am the world's nerdiest girl, second to Raedy.

Yes, anyway. Good luck with finishing up finals, and I'll be posting next time I have something to say.

Titus Andronicus

In the past few days, I have done several uninteresting things. In case you were wondering what they are, I have decided to list them for you, in no particular order:

1.) I cut about four inches off my hair, and dyed it its original color. Actually, this may be slightly more goth than the original color, but I rid myself of four inches of pure split ends, and it feel luxurious

2.) I just now cut JD's hair again (I'll never learn) and it's not half as bad as I was afraid it would be, so I'm quite pleased with myself. He looks dashing.

3.) I orchestrated the best-ever hapkido picnic/rock climbing social, which was fantastically fun and included such highlights as Justin putting an uncooked hotdog through his fly and sneaking up on Meredith with it, Patrick flying a kite like a five year old, and lots and lots of food.

4.) I wrote and have now practiced to death my honors thesis talk, and am SUPER PSYCHED to get the damn thing over with tomorrow. Pass or fail, I am finished thinking about it after 1pm. Damn, I'm going to miss Passions.

5.) I took a final tonight, and instantly forgot that I ever took that terrorism class. that's how easy and unmemorable it was. Except for the prof saying "ethnic persuasion" and "you don't want to step on your DONG" in reference to Middle Eastern peoples, somehow.

6.) I have panicked about money as I realized that I am owed over $1600 in reimbursement funds (and have thus written enough checks to overdraft my account) which is now trickling in gradually. Dammit, I fucking hate money.

7.) I have noticed periodically that NO ONE seems to have time or inclination to update their blog this week, which is causing me considerable agitation when I take a break from constant honors thesising to check out your updates and there aren't any. Come on guys, we need to work together.

8.) If I pass my defense tomorrow, I get to drive basically directly to Indy and drop the thing off at the bindery. That sounds like tons of fun.

9.) After tomorrow, I have nothing left to do except for a final in a class that is also taught by the professor that makes uninformed (but hilarious) comments, so I am basically home free. Suck it, world.

10.) Until I am finished with my defense, I am too nervous to type anything worthwhile. So, everyone please to be sending me happy thoughts tomorrow while you watch Passions, and I'm sure I'll let you all know how it went, assuming I don't fall right on my face. sigh. Yeah, go thesis girl 2, you can do it!

Concrete Island

So, guys, I have finally calmed down. Thanks to everyone who A. said I was smart and B. told me to stop freaking out. Both those things always help when I am freaking out.

So you all must be wondering how the conference went. It was boring, and the talks I was most excited to see were abysmally disappointing, and it made me feel as though I very well could've submitted my unfinished honors thesis back in November, when it had about half the subjects, and even with no data and no paper I could've given a better, more interesting talk.

Sigh.

Except for free dinner, getting to play with grad student's children, swimming in the hotel pool, and the mall that had an Apple store, the weekend was more or less a waste of my valuable time.

But oh well, it's over with.

This week has sucked ass, but now everything is turned in, finished, written, presented, etc. EXCEPT for a tiny remaining to-do list of two easy finals and, oh yeah, my defense. I'm going to start writing the talk tonight, and should have pleeeeeenty of time to get it the way I want it and practice it thoroughly. I am, actually, not nervous about the thing, although I maybe should be somewhat apprehensive...we'll see though, it should be "fun"

Last night was the poster session/banquet that I was so dreading, but it was relatively painless, and most of it was banquet rather than poster presentations....there's some issues with BULLSHIT BUREAUCRACY and the awards they handed out; both Raedy and I were excluded from the consideration (these are prestigious awards that you put on your vitae, not to mention ones that carry cash awards) for these BECAUSE certain faculty members are "sick of Dr. Smith's students always winning" (as told verbatim BY a furious Dr. Smith) because in years past her students have done exceptionally well, imagine that.

I don't know if it needs saying, but Raedy and I BLEW AWAY that fucking class, as far as "quality" of research goes, and I am PISSED. Mostly because past years have nothing to do with us, and it's just not fair. But oh well, you know....who knows if we would've won anything....even though there were EIGHT awards and only 14 people in the class.....they actually opted to give one of the awards to someone who WASN'T EVEN IN THE HONORS THESIS CLASS, rather than me or Raedy. So much horseshit, I cannot fucking believe it. Also, the vast majority of winners were from ONE lab. Hmmm. Someone's fucking that mysterious person I couldn't figure out when I wanted my thesis returned to me.....hahahah

Anyway, it's not that big a deal, really, but it's fucking irritating. Nice of Dr. Smith to tell us WHY, though. We were alarmed at how many retards in that class actually received the awards. Sigh. Fucking A.

So, in more funner news, I have very few things left to be worrying about. There's the Hapkido picnic/rock climbing outing I'm busting my ass to plan for this weekend, a final Monday, a defense Tuesday, and a final Wednesday night. AWESOME POSSUM. And in the absolute best news of all, my mom has crazily decided to get me a graduation present to end all presents. I won't rant until it's here in my lap. top. Laptop. It burns DVDs, for christ's sake.