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Jul. 17th, 2013
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Jul. 17th, 2013 11:32 pmI did a bit of running about today.
Last night, after I'd bought the Lumina, a friend I hadn't talked to in person in five or six years posted on Facebook that he was looking to sell a truck. Perhaps irrationally, I was very tempted.
I talked to my parents about possible options. I was torn. As well as not wanting to deal with the paperwork of buying and selling one car, buying a second, and selling a third, I had to admit that I'd already started getting personally invested in the Lumina. I felt like I'd be letting it down. Anyway, after discussion, they decided that they would be potentially interested in buying the car from me for my brother Tim to use to get to school, since he's starting at Parkside this year. If I bought the truck, they'd take the car in lieu of a couple months of rent.
So today, after working at the archives, I biked over to said friend's house. (Yeah, he lives in the city, but I hadn't seem him in person in more than half a decade, before I moved to Michigan and back. I'm a bad dog sometimes....) I looked at the truck, and as much as I'm tempted by it (it would be so nice to have the cargo room), I decided against it. It's really an issue of fuel mileage. It's got a 4 liter straight-6 and would likely get 18 to 19 miles per gallon. I do too much driving.
I spent three hours or so chatting and catching up with him though, and that was really cool. We talked about what we've been up to in the intervening span, and about getting together for a board game or two, or even just having me drop by on my bike on the way home from school for a quick glass of Kool-aid. He's really great, and it's nice to be more in touch.
He's got a motorcycle/scooter type vehicle in the garage he suggested too. And that was possibly even more tempting than the truck. But even setting aside issues of finance, I just can't feel alright about riding a two-wheeled motorized vehicle without health insurance. Even with health insurance, I'd be deeply leery. I know too many people who've been hurt or killed on motorcycles through no fault of their own. I don't trust the other people on the road enough. And it sucks, because a motorcycle would be just perfect for those long, light-weight photo road trips I like so much to take. But I just don't feel safe enough on one.
---
I've written emails to a good number of the colleges I'm hoping to visit while I'm in the Toronto area in August. I still have more to go, of course. Hopefully there'll be time tomorrow, along with getting stuff together for meetings with two professors on Friday. I can't remember if I've said so in this space, but it's so much like writing to someone on a personals site. "Hi there! I see you're interested in A and B. I'm interested in B and C. I'd love to get together to talk!" I'm so nervous about making a good first impression, saying the right things. And the more I think the program is neat, or the professor in particular is doing really great work, the more I get anxious. I'm a little envious of my brother. When he was looking at law schools, he told me, it wasn't really like that at all. He just picked good schools and applied.
Anyway, I've heard back from a couple professors, and the responses are encouraging. One recommended I contact another specific faculty member as well, who I just sent an email to this evening. Yay!
I've received an email regarding my role as a supplemental instruction leader for the upcoming fall semester. This is basically a teaching assistant job I think. I had to interview for it, and it is paid, and it should look good for grad school applications, especially ones where I'd be doing teaching. The training dates are happening at the tail end of August though, so they slightly restrict the potential time frame for the Toronto trip. I think it will be alright though.
With that, and the paper I'm going to presenting in November, I'm feeling pretty positive about what my record will look like. UW-Parkside is not a top-tier undergraduate institution by any means, but it's a legitimate university, and I think all the things I'm doing will help me when it comes to getting admittance into some neat grad programs. I just wish I had a little more time of my own. Of course, as Danae has pointed out, in the life of an academic, the distinction between personal time and work time is more than a little blurry.
---
I haven't written about weekend plans yet. Maybe next post.
---
I don't have a lot of pictures of myself in profile. So here's one.
Profile - Pic-a-day 17 July 2013
Copyright Stormdog 2013
(I guess I missed a patch while I was shaving this evening....)
Last night, after I'd bought the Lumina, a friend I hadn't talked to in person in five or six years posted on Facebook that he was looking to sell a truck. Perhaps irrationally, I was very tempted.
I talked to my parents about possible options. I was torn. As well as not wanting to deal with the paperwork of buying and selling one car, buying a second, and selling a third, I had to admit that I'd already started getting personally invested in the Lumina. I felt like I'd be letting it down. Anyway, after discussion, they decided that they would be potentially interested in buying the car from me for my brother Tim to use to get to school, since he's starting at Parkside this year. If I bought the truck, they'd take the car in lieu of a couple months of rent.
So today, after working at the archives, I biked over to said friend's house. (Yeah, he lives in the city, but I hadn't seem him in person in more than half a decade, before I moved to Michigan and back. I'm a bad dog sometimes....) I looked at the truck, and as much as I'm tempted by it (it would be so nice to have the cargo room), I decided against it. It's really an issue of fuel mileage. It's got a 4 liter straight-6 and would likely get 18 to 19 miles per gallon. I do too much driving.
I spent three hours or so chatting and catching up with him though, and that was really cool. We talked about what we've been up to in the intervening span, and about getting together for a board game or two, or even just having me drop by on my bike on the way home from school for a quick glass of Kool-aid. He's really great, and it's nice to be more in touch.
He's got a motorcycle/scooter type vehicle in the garage he suggested too. And that was possibly even more tempting than the truck. But even setting aside issues of finance, I just can't feel alright about riding a two-wheeled motorized vehicle without health insurance. Even with health insurance, I'd be deeply leery. I know too many people who've been hurt or killed on motorcycles through no fault of their own. I don't trust the other people on the road enough. And it sucks, because a motorcycle would be just perfect for those long, light-weight photo road trips I like so much to take. But I just don't feel safe enough on one.
---
I've written emails to a good number of the colleges I'm hoping to visit while I'm in the Toronto area in August. I still have more to go, of course. Hopefully there'll be time tomorrow, along with getting stuff together for meetings with two professors on Friday. I can't remember if I've said so in this space, but it's so much like writing to someone on a personals site. "Hi there! I see you're interested in A and B. I'm interested in B and C. I'd love to get together to talk!" I'm so nervous about making a good first impression, saying the right things. And the more I think the program is neat, or the professor in particular is doing really great work, the more I get anxious. I'm a little envious of my brother. When he was looking at law schools, he told me, it wasn't really like that at all. He just picked good schools and applied.
Anyway, I've heard back from a couple professors, and the responses are encouraging. One recommended I contact another specific faculty member as well, who I just sent an email to this evening. Yay!
I've received an email regarding my role as a supplemental instruction leader for the upcoming fall semester. This is basically a teaching assistant job I think. I had to interview for it, and it is paid, and it should look good for grad school applications, especially ones where I'd be doing teaching. The training dates are happening at the tail end of August though, so they slightly restrict the potential time frame for the Toronto trip. I think it will be alright though.
With that, and the paper I'm going to presenting in November, I'm feeling pretty positive about what my record will look like. UW-Parkside is not a top-tier undergraduate institution by any means, but it's a legitimate university, and I think all the things I'm doing will help me when it comes to getting admittance into some neat grad programs. I just wish I had a little more time of my own. Of course, as Danae has pointed out, in the life of an academic, the distinction between personal time and work time is more than a little blurry.
---
I haven't written about weekend plans yet. Maybe next post.
---
I don't have a lot of pictures of myself in profile. So here's one.
Profile - Pic-a-day 17 July 2013
Copyright Stormdog 2013
(I guess I missed a patch while I was shaving this evening....)
