Thursday 13: April 2012 Snapshot

This just in: Yours truly is now 75% doctor. The door closed on another academic year this week (finals not withstanding) and I realized… just now… I’m three quarters of the way done with my doctorate. Woohoo!! Talk about time flying…

As I sift through the related piles of papers waiting to be graded, the interviews needing to be transcribed and analyzed, and the manuscripts begging to be edited and sent out, it seems a perfect time to think about Spring and Thursday 13 things that have happened this month (ha).

1. Recent reads: The Hunger Games series. Color me skeptical, but a series about kids killing each other did not sound like a good time. After dragging my heels, I admit, I loved the books! Should probably see the movie before it disappears from theaters.

After the GPSA Teaching Excellence Award luncheon. From left:
Sarah Tracy (my awesome advisor!), moi, Kendra Knight (an award winner),
Jess Alberts (Kendra and Geeta’s advisor and all around fabulous woman),
Geeta Khurana (award winner and my dear friend!), Belle Edson
(teaching mentor) and Tara Hack (award winner and my peer mentee).

2. Good news: I’m swimming in accolades lately. Yesterday I received an Outstanding Researcher award from the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication. Last week, I happily accepted a Service Award and Teaching Award from the ASU Graduate Professional Student Association. Pretty cool.

3. Musical obsession: Okay, so I’m on the Gotye bandwagon, I can’t help myself. I went out and bought his latest CD and I mostly love it. Also, I created a Gotye station on Pandora… LOVE it!

4. A recent splurge: Not one but two cute pairs of shoes… on sale mind you. And appropriate for school/work.  I did admit to the cashier, “I left the house for groceries. How did I end up here?”

5. Something that touched my heart: Thank you letters from the first grade class at Crockett Elementary. At the end of March, the Hugh Downs School at ASU painted a giant mural at the school (see here for tons of pictures), and the thank you notes have been coming in.

5. Movies watched: The Time Traveler’s Wife and Horrible Bosses. I can tell we’ve been busy when our Netflix envelope stays on the counter for weeks at a time.

6. A delicious dish: Cheesy potato soup. Now, this was supposed to be healthy(ish) potato leek soup, but after getting home from the grocery store, I realized I bought everything except leeks. (Apparently I used up my memory power buying cute shoes, see #4 above.)

7. Nerdgasms: Attended the Qualitative Research in Management and Organization conference in Albuquerque at the beginning of the month. SUCH a cool conference… very small and intimate, with long sessions and time for actually having conversation. Which makes my most embarrassing conference presentation moment (see here) even more mortifying. Ah well.

8. Heartbreak: Lost a friend to suicide.

The rest of the squares are now filled with seeds, and I’m praying the
recent Sacramento storms haven’t displaced all of my effort!

9. Green thumb therapy: Although my default grief management strategy will always be cooking (and eating), I find that gardening also helps. Went a little overboard on the tomatoes this year, if that’s possible. Two Early Girls, two Big Beefs, one Purple Cherokee heirloom, one Mr. Stripey heirloom, one Pink Brandywine heirloom, a Husky cherry tomato, a Black Cherry, and something else I can’t remember. Come ON harvest time!

10. Something I’m looking forward to: The West Coast Ravens RV Formation Flying Clinic this weekend! T’s organizing and flying, and I’ll be photographing and spectating. I think there will be 50 or 60 pilots involved. Stay tuned for a ton of photos! (Photos from last year’s event here.)

11. An exciting realization: Only one more 6 a.m. round trip Phoenix flight of the school year!! I will miss gorgeous sunrises over the Sierras.

12. Most embarrassing teaching moment: Accidentally telling my students I was a stripper (full story here). I aim to be memorable, but wow.

13. On the horizon: Dissertation, dissertation, dissertation. If you know of any TSA agents who might like to chat about their jobs, send me a note! (Seriously: bluestmuse(at)gmail(dot)com

xoxo,
shawna

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