So Boot Camp is almost at an end. On some level I’m sad, on some I’m not. After today I see I have gotten a lot done this week. By Friday, heck possibly by Thursday, I’ll have 100 some pages to send off to my adviser to read, part of the much over do data analysis chapters. I just have to make sure I continue to get these 4 hours minimum of work in a day. I now have at least some structure to these final chapters that have been a headache for far too long.

Of course what I won’t miss are driving into Philly each day, and especially the parking fees! I will miss the yummy food I’ve been eating, but my waste line won’t. I am NOT a morning person. I do not drink coffee, I do not drink tea. So I’ve been reaching for Coke to wake me up these past 2 weeks. Coke = a giant sugar bomb! I can’t believe how much of this stuff I used to drink and not put on weight. Yes I could drink diet coke, but frankly it tastes like stale ass. I can’t do it. I mean come on, I don’t like water cause of how it tastes, do you think I’m drinking diet coke? I do like diet Dr. Pepper, but it makes me belch like Shrek, so I have avoided it too. The yummy delicious high in sugar and other bad for you stuff Chinese food I’ve been getting daily probably isn’t great for me either. I know it isn’t, cause by mid-afternoon there is a brick sitting in my stomach.

Basically the 2 weeks I had Pink Eye I lost 5 pounds, lets just say I’ve gained it back and then some. I’ll be happy to get back to more normal eating and back to the gym again. As for what is normal eating, I’m rethinking the vegetarianism yet again. I’ll probably give it till mid-July and make a decision. Lately I have been keeping track of various budgets (via Pocket Money on iPhone), and let’s just say the grocery bill sky rocketed this month. Morning Star Farms makes great veggie foods, but they aren’t cheap and they don’t go on sale that much. Meanwhile I have a stockpile of Lean Cuisines downstairs in a freezer that I haven’t eaten cause they are chicken dishes mostly. Yeah, we are talking 2 weeks of pre-bought food. Hmmmmmm. I told John to start eating them for lunch last month (he’s trying to lose some weight too) but he never did. Don’t get me started on his lunches!

Let’s see, what else to update on. My friend Heidi is coming to visit in July, woohoo! We met on a cruise a few years back. She’s coming for a weekend, so I have to figure out what we are doing. There is tons of stuff I’ve never done in the 11 some years living here (Gettysburg, Hershey Park (okay did that at 10 years old, but want to go back), Valley Forge, Atlantic City, Wildwood). So I’ll make up a list and we’ll figure it out or play by ear. There is also just seeing Philly and going to a nice Steven Starr restaurant too, most of which I also haven’t been to (cause he owns so many).

Sometime in August I’ll be trying to figure out where to apply for a J-O-B. The dissertation should be pretty much done by then, with only the defense left. So I’ll probably just look for something part time at first. I could work at the farm, I probably will end up there, let’s not go there yet though. I am in the midst of a total redesign of the farm’s website though. I hope to get it done soon, like real soon, as I’m sick of the old website, which I have to update and think is user-unfriendly.

So this past week was the first week of dissertation boot camp. This coming week is only 4 days (because of the 4th weekend), so we have to work longer each of those 4 days. As of yet, I’m not sure how productive it’s been for me. The first week I felt I spent far too much time writing lists of “things to do” out as well as trying to explain to my mentor what my project was about (I should have just given him the intro chapter). Finally I said “how about I start writing this chapter, and we’ll see if it makes sense and where it goes.” So that’s what I’m doing this week (and what I wanted to be doing last week, which I only did some of). I think more than anything though it’s gotten me back to sitting down and just writing a good chunk of the day (which believe it or not is not as easy as it sounds if you don’t consider yourself a writer of some type).

Anyway, I need to actually write some today still, but looking outside I see bright sunny clear skies. I’m going to take advantage of it and try and tackle some of that yard work I said was a goal this summer. Like I said, with all the rain, it looks like we live in a swamp. SOMEONE I had recently made friends with had no idea I lived where I lived and actually said “OMG, I thought two old queens lived in that house.” Yeah, it does look like the run down overgrown yard the scary old lady on the block lives in. Once upon a time when John didn’t have the added job responsibilities he does now, he used to like to do all the flowers and landscaping. Now though he has no time for anything (something which is gunna have to change or he’ll have a mental breakdown like I did several times running the soap pages), so it has gone to disarray.

Perhaps I’ll try and get some before and after shots up later. Or maybe a before and in progress shot, cause it’s that bad I tell you 😛

One of my mom’s favorite, if not her favorite, artist is Adam Ant. She has all his albums. During the 80s when MTV was coming into fashion, my parents were the ones with all the “cassette tapes” of the latest artists. My mom in particular had Journey, Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club, Thompson Twins, Adam and the Ants . . . . you name it and she probably had it. My dad, who traveled to Europe often for his job, would come back with versions you couldn’t even get in the US. Thus my parents were the “cool” ones on the block, listening to all the hip and modern music.

This week Singstar (the best videogame ever!) put out some Adam and the Ants. I quickly grabbed “Stand and Deliver.” It’s probably the one rap song I own I actually can score above 6000 in. I think I’ve gotten up to around 8000 on this song. If I’d actually try and sing the verses to the harmony on the screen I might score higher, but I like being nutty as this video shows 🙂

I dedicate this to my mommy 🙂

As I was driving yesterday I thought “is it time to decorate for Halloween yet?” No, sadly not for months, but it won’t stop me from thinking what new things I can do this year. First though our yard needs serious landscaping. With all the rain we’ve had recently the weeds and overgrowth is out of control. I’m going to try and start clearing stuff out this weekend, assuming the sunny forecast isn’t changed to rain. I’m really tired of this rain, where is summer?

Speaking of Halloween, yet again I am thinking of trying to have a party. Every year I want to have one, I just never do, or figure enough people aren’t around to attend. This year I might actually have enough people who might be able to come, so we’ll see.

Switching topics, the dissertation boot camp has begun. So far I can’t really say how useful it’s been. The first day was basically getting to know everyone, talking about our issues and meeting with advisers/mentors who are supposed to give us some help and feedback. I meet with mine again on Thursday, he wants me to basically have some summary paragraphs for my data chapters written as well as a list of everything I still have to do. I spent today basically making the list and writing some, but I don’t feel I accomplished all that much today. I actually did, as I had to dig through all my notes and files and make this “to do list,” but I didn’t get much writing done. We’ll see how tomorrow goes, as all I have to do is focus on the writing.

So Thursday I headed to Philly to meet Emily as well as Becky. We went on a ghost tour around Philly, then went out to dinner. At dinner I ordered a veggie boxtie, an Irish equivalent of a quesadilla using potato pancakes. I was so starving that I dug in, and near the end realized they had given me chicken! I think I had gone four weeks with no meat and then ruined 🙁 Oh well, I’ll live.

After dinner we hit the drag show at Bob and Barbs. This used to be a weekly event the students at the anthro department would attend. One of John and mine first dates ended up here too. I hadn’t been in years though, probably since a friend I would go with moved away. Oh my God, it’s still as much fun as it was years ago.

The next day we hit New York to meet up with Aravis. We walked around the city for a bit then went to Serendipity for dinner. Emily talks about how they have the best burgers ever. I was supposed to eat there a year ago with another NY trip, but I had a major hangover then and bailed while others went to dinner that night. I did decide my vegetarianism had been accidentally interrupted, so I had a burger so I didn’t have to keep hearing Emily talk about what I missed out on. It was good, but it was no Five Guys! Anyway, I am back to being a vegetarian today . . . though still will eat fish (I would eat tuna even the 7 years I was a vegetarian before).

Meeting Becky and Aravis was awesome, I wish we all had some more time to chill and hang-out. I’m sure I’ll see them again though. Speaking of hangovers, if you have not seen “The Hangover” then you must see it! I laughed so hard I thought I would piss myself. It is seriously that good of a movie, if you like dirty potty humor movies that is 🙂

Last night I did not fall asleep until around 6am this morning, which I guess counts as this morning and not last night. I just COULD not get to sleep. When I finally did though, what dreams!

I dreamed I was back in Glen Cove in Fairfax, Va; where most of my childhood was spent. However someone had painted our old house in this ugly hippy design, attaching all these giant artwork butterflies and stuff to it. I decided to take some photos to put on Facebook. Then I went around back to where the old woods we played in were. These were town homes, and I found almost everyone either had added these silly shacks onto the back of the house, or had trailers back there. It was for all the extra kids they had and didn’t have enough room for in the house! So I took photos of that too. Oh did I mention by this time it was dark out? Well some woman though I was a pervert and started chasing me with intent to kill. Running from her I ended up running into a giant black bear, which then started chasing the both of us. As I’m trying to use my phone to simultaneously take photos and call for help, it broke. Then I realized I had two days to get it fixed before the year warranty ran out, cursing myself for not buying the apple care for 2 years.

Then I finally woke up. The iphone 3.0 software update is out today. Clearly that influenced my dream 🙂

Today was the first day I woke up not feeling like total crap. I think I’m finally over this cold/pink-eye bug.

As you can see from the side bar, I brought twitter back. I tried to follow as many people as I could find again. This is a new account though, my old one is dead as a doornail and not working. So if you wish, you can follow me at the new one through the side bar (click through to the twitter page and follow me there).

I registered for the dissertation boot camp, which begins next week. It’s going to be hell, but hell I need. I know I’ll be able to make a giant dent in my pile of stuff and be almost close to done when it ends.

I downloaded about 5 html editor/design programs for the mac and have to find the time to fiddle with them and see if I like any enough to fork the dough over for them. I’m coming up with ideas for how I want the farm’s site to look.

Oh, the farm is running a full page ad in a local paper soon. I’ll scan it and post it, as I helped with it 🙂 A lot of the photos I took are going to be in it too! We’ll have to add this to my resume!

So I’ve been running the farm’s website since last fall. However I didn’t make the look, someone else did. I don’t really care for it honestly and want to revamp it. Given I got this nice iMac I have been wanting to use iWeb to do it. Unfortunately I haven’t taken the time to learn iWeb yet. So I’m scouting for some cheap templates on the web with the look I like, and maybe can modify down the line to more of my liking, to use.

As part of their website I recently implemented Twitter to it, cause you know all local small businesses are using it nowadays. So yes I’m back on Twitter. I also keep getting comments here, on facebook and via email about how I’m missed on Twitter. Honestly I miss reading others on it too, I didn’t think I would as much as I do. So I’m probably starting up a new account soon. Actually I have one, I’ve only just used it for news stuff rather than personal use. That might change soon.

Anyway, back to cleaning my house, which is what I’m taking a break from to write this blog.

Just reporting in. I’m getting somewhat better. Well my eyes are. They aren’t as red or goopy. The rest of this cold, not so much. I was told to use the drops for 5 days and report back if I wasn’t better. So I will be calling the doc soon if I’m not feeling better. I wake up in the morning okay, but within an hour or two I’m done and am ready to go back to bed. I keep joking I have tonsillitis, the swine flu, mono. John has our doctor’s cell number so I keep saying “text him to make a house call.” Did I mention our doctor is sex on a stick?

Anyway, I grabbed some real coke from the farm today, you know with caffeine and high fructose corn syrup. Hoping it will give me a jolt to stay up in the morning so I can get back to working and not sleeping most of the day.

Other than that, I have nothing. I’ve gotten sucked into “Janice Does The Jungle” . . . I mean “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here” as there is nothing else on TV lately. When they vote Janice off I probably won’t watch anymore, she makes it fun and drama filled. Did you see that bitch steal the granola bar and then lie about it? For shame!