Friday, November 21, 2008

knit knit knit

oh, ps by the way, knitting is coming along nicely.

Huz bought me this for my bday, and I'm pretty pumped. I can now knit just about ANYTHING!!

gifts: brothers, WIP
mom, need to start
sis, DONE
hizuz, need to start
dad, beer, done :)
stepd, done
stepm, 1/2 done. gauntlets maybe?
ball, yet to begin. too ambitious??
sil, haircut, done.
bil, idk. hmmmm
stepfil, DONE
stepbil, DONE
fil, DONE
mil, hmm. thinking.
old bro, idk
sil, idk
nephews, ihnfi!!


darn. i have some work to do...

Soldiering On

My first apps come due in just 10 days. Eek!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Day of the Week

For about the last month, the days of the week have been especially perplexing. I am never certain what day it is--although in my reality, there are no tuesdays for some reason--and i'm always wondering what's going on.

For example. Monday was Wednesday or Tuesday, I couldn't decide. Tuesday was Monday. Wednesday was Thursday. Thursday was Friday. Today is Thursday. So, effectively, my week went: Weds, Mon, Thurs, Fri, Thurs.

I hope this isn't a sign of mental instability. I should also note that I regularly don't know what year it is. Or the date, although I'm getting slightly more reliable on this. If I ever do get questioned, I might end up in an institution somewhere because I won't be able to answer these simple questions.

Another note: I'm tired of writing samples.

Writing

Draft 1 of the complete writing sample is almost complete!!

Rock ON.

Now, I need to edit it so I don't sound like an idiot. Or, as h suggested, 'rewrite all the sentences so they don't sound stupid.' Thanks, hub.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Watched the results last night and was delighted. I couldn't believe it, still can't.

We have (or will have in just a few months) a president who can SPEAK, actually MOVE people. And I helped elect him. Wow.

Today is a very good day.

I also am almost finished with gift hat #2. It looks pretty nice :)

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Submitted

I just submitted my NSF proposal.

Now, all I can do is sit around, wait, and think of all the reasons I won't win.

Also, my references are size 11 and they're supposed to be size 12. I'm an idiot.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Exciting

Am turning in my fellowship app tomorrow. Good riddance!
Now, on to the writing sample!!

My work companion decided to not come in today--I'm a bit jealous, but appreciative of the peace and quiet in which I am now working :) --and I've gotten quite a bit done. I started my WS for (what must be) the 15th time last night and have nearly 3 single-spaced size 11 font pages with 1" margins. My goal is 12-15 pages double spaced, size 12. (I would love 15, but am willing to settle on 12.)

Goals for this week:
today: NSF, WS
Tues: WS (5 pg ss, sz 11)
Weds: WS (6 pg ss, sz 11)
Thurs: revise WS
Fri: Huz revise WS
Sat: Phil prof revise WS, praise my insight (haha)
Sun: get frustrated and rewrite large portion of WS
... Sat: final version to Phil Prof

I'm not sure why writing this thing has been so painful. I've spent most of my summer/fall being frustrated at myself for my failure to produce clear writing that puts forth ideas. However, now I just need something to send places. Preferably something that doesn't make me look like a blathering idiot, although at this point, I can't be too picky.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

KnitTastic

I've been working on these John Deere-themed hats with some cascade 220 and they just aren't coming...I keep thinking of all these other things I need to be doing.

That said, I started hat #2 last night and have a decent amount of ribbing done on it (about 1"). These are supposed to be weekend projects, they're just not turning out that way. Harumph.

I'm still pretty excited about x-mas, even if my knitting has slowly withered down to barely anything. Oh well, there's always winter break, right?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Work is for the Weak

I have 20 sick days to use by May/June.
1 down.

Working on essays, trying to work on my writing sample.
I'm nervous that I haven't heard back from the professor. Either he's busy, thinks it sucks, didn't get it, or changed his mind. I really hope he doesn't think I'm an idiot. He could also be proposing insightful tweaks to my otherwise great paper. Or not.

I feel like I'm almost done with my essays. Hard telling though. I still need to retake the GRE. Still don't want to do that, either. Eff.

Monday, October 27, 2008

ahh, weekend

Had a great weekend. Judged a math competition (fun), had a homebrew party (really fun), caught up with a professor from undergrad (fun in a different way), went out for burgers and drinks, then bought knitting stuff and played super NES (super mega fun...even though I died, a LOT).

And now it's Monday.
Darn.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Progress!

Found another person(s) to read over my research proposal (the people whose work I'm building upon) and am thrilled.

AND nervous they'll think it sucks/miscategorizes their work/is too ambitious/is not ambitous enough.

I hope they look over it quickly! (Perhaps sending a response like, 'this is the most profound idea I've ever encountered'...but I'd settle for, a 'this looks really good!')

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Graduate School Timeline

Primarily, I want to hold myself accountable for this schedule. Things need to start happening, like yesterday now.

This week: NSF
Next two weeks: Writing Sample
Mid-November: GRE retake (?)
Nov 20: begin applications
Dec 20: complete applications

Starting Over

I'm redoing this blog, hoping that I'll actually keep up with it this time.

What I'm doing:
applying to graduate school
applying for the nsf fellowship
writing essays

More on this later.