Done at Last

Great new look for the blog.

I turned in my dissertation to the Stanford registrar today. Then I tried to drive home, but my car overheated. Since we are planning to buy a new car this weekend, I seriously considered renting a car and abandoning mine if the repairs were going to be expensive. Luckily, I was only half a mile away from the Barron Park Shell in Palo Alto, where I had taken the car before, and they were nice enough to look at it immediately. Thirty minutes later, they told me that my coolant was low, that they had topped it off, and that it was running fine now. They also tested the system, but there were no leaks. When I asked if it was low because I suck at maintaining my car, the mechanic just gave me a look that said "You know it, baby."

In the meantime, I missed my office hours.

Then I drove to my old roommate's house to sit on her porch and check my email, only to find a pile of emails from my students who can't get the book to do the homework that's due tomorrow. I call the bookstore and find out that they are out of the 70 copies they ordered, but will order more right away. 70? There are 170 students in the class. Ok. I have 100 students without a book and there is homework due tomorrow. No problemo.

So I called my assistant and had him make copies of the chapter they are supposed to read for the next two class periods and I sent out an email to the class telling them they can get it from him. Five seconds later, the email comes bouncing back, telling me that I don't have permission to post to that email list. HELLO. I'M THE PROFESSOR.

I'm sure I will get the hang of Berkeley bureaucracy soon enough. In the meantime, I'm just glad I got my car fixed and got home. And I'm glad my office doesn't face the field where the marching band practices every afternoon, so that I can only hear them faintly instead of full blast.

gas prices

First I must say though: oooooo pretty. :) I like the new look for our blog.

Now, to the gas prices. So I take the train and bus to work. On the way, I pass by 2 gass stations right next to each other. They were selling regular for 3.29, plus for 3.39 and premium for 3.49.

So, what are prices like in CA?

The funniest thing was the reaction of the people on the bus. I heard at least 3 people gasp out "And there are still people filling up!" hehe. Public transportation users are funny.

I will post a pic soon. (Must go home and take one first).

Enabled comments...

Ok, I've enabled comments. That is a really different process than last time I did it. Now you can just click a button--no more inserting the correct HTML code into the right place...So much for my learn HTML goal.

Devin--You need to post a pic with your new hair.

Nikki--the really easy way to post a pic is simply to hit the landscape picture above when you are making a new comment. It will allow you to browse on your computer and find a picture to put up.

Work email is indeed a tricky line to walk. You don't want them to be overly long and hence annoying, in fact you would like them to be short and humorous--but it is hard to do funny over email at all- and then in an 'official capacity' and to people that you don't know, it is almost hopeless--but press forward--I believe in you!

Hi again. My usual randomness:

Very cute picture and a good idea. I'm not good with title ideas...

I'm totally obsessed with wedding photo albums now. I guess since the wedding itself is over, this is my next thing. But we haven't even gotten our pictures yet! It will be much easier to be obsessed once we get pictures. :)

Apparently a family friend (very very rich and really into photography) made an amazing album with 8x10s from the wedding (the type of album where each picture is matted) and framed 3 8x10s and gave all of that to my parents, plus a few extras. My mom sent me 4 prints but I really want to see the rest of the stuff. I feel like we got the leftovers. :) Of course, the leftovers were very nice too.

Our other "hobby" is unpacking wedding presents and packing away all our old stuff. We're making really good progress. We're going to have to make a trip to a thrift store soon - we have *so* much stuff to donate. If you know anyone in Boston who needs house/apartment stuff (luggage, pots and pans, plate sets, kitchen appliances, bakeware, glassware, silverware - we've got it all) let us know.

Oh, and I'm doing this introductory Accounting workbook. It's so much fun!!! It's like doing homework. I love homework.

(I did chop my hair off 3 days after we got back from the honeymoon, but I haven't done it again since then (dispite a few urges))

Suggestions for the new subtitle of our blog:

Three married women. Three jobs. Zero babies.

or

Three weddings. Three haircuts. (Devin, have you chopped your hair off yet?)

or

Something to do while we're supposed to be working.


And with that, I have to get back to work.

Proofread BEFORE you send

I sent an email to someone in the copy/printer place, asking how to connect to network printers. My exact words were "I can't figure out who to print."

I reread the email after sending it and sent a follow up emailing saying, "Actually, I need to know "how" to print, not "who" to print.

Later he sent me a response to the first email telling me that that he didn't know and that I should contact the computer helpdesk (which I did) and he gave me their email.

Then he sent a response to the second email saying, "I guess you are still having trouble. Here are is some additional contact information that might be helpful" and gave me a lot more information.

At that point I realized that he must have not read my second email until after he responded to the first and that he must have thought the second one was a totally snotty response to his lack of ability to help. I responded and tried to explain what I meant and apologize, but I feel like a dufus.

I think I'll go take him a chocolate bar tomorrow and apologize again.

That's why you should never try to be funny over email. Especially to people you don't know.

Almost Done

Cute picture, Becky. I'll have to figure out how to upload pictures too. Then I can show you guys my new house.

I finally finished the last paper in my dissertation and sent it to my committee today. It's such a relief. Now I just have to keep from slacking off long enough to write the introduction & conclusion to the whole thing, put it all in dissertation-happy format, and do any revisions they request. It should all be over a week from Monday. I seriously don't know what I'm going to do with myself all day. Unpack my house, I guess.

I'm grateful for the deadline I'm facing because it made me stop analyzing and start writing the paper. And amazingly, as I wrote I was able to wrap my mind around the issues much better and I think the final product is pretty decent. I guess the moral of the story is to do what older academics always tell you - spend some time writing every day.

Photos

becky at cheesecake factory
Originally uploaded by rbrunson.

I think that since we do not see each other nearly enough anymore that we really should start to include photos occasionally. (I reccomend Flickr hosting service -- makes it really easy to upload and blog photos)! I'm excited about the rebirth of this blog as well. Nikki--so glad to find that you got such a cute place! Devin--have you gone back to Boston now?

Oh, also I think that we might consider a name changed as well as subtitle change -- any ideas?