exhausted

I'm exhausted. Little T is sick. Mr. T is still out of town. It is days like today that I wish he was home so he could take off some and I wouldn't fall so far behind. I haven't had a chance to work on my dissertation in a couple of weeks and am saddened by this. I have so much to do in so little time. But I'm tired. By the end of the day I'm so exhausted that I have trouble putting mental effort into anything. *Sigh*

Babies and Academia

A friend of mine at another university told me that another student didn't want to take classes from one of the professors because he heard that this professor wasn't a good professor. My friend found this odd because she thought this professor was a great teacher, so she asked what he meant by "good professor" and he said that he had heard that she was too into her babies and didn't have time for her classes/students, etc.

I'm floored that because someone has children it affects how other people see her as a professor. My friend said her program is pretty family-friendly and most of the professors have children so it makes me wonder what is really going on. Is there one person running around talking shit about this professor and will one bad evaluation via word of mouth hurt this professor? Is this professor slacking on class duties because of stuff at home? Life happens and sometimes things at home do get into the way of work but from what it sounds like from my friend, this professor is still a good teacher. She has a new baby - (6 months I think) - maybe during the adjustment period she wasn't up to par as usual? Does this give people the right to write her off as a good professor? As long as she is still meeting her roles and responsibilities, I don't think so. No one is perfect...maybe that's the problem, students see their professors as perfect beings instead of real people with real lives. I just don't know. Maybe I am seeing things differently because I have a 10 month old?

Amazon Meme

So this meme sounds cool although my current Amazon account only goes back to 2007 and I can't access my old account...I got married - got a new email - and got a new account. I have no idea when I started using Amazon but I know it was well before 2007. Anyway, the first item I ordered in 2007 was Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Lessons Learned!

I just got back from a conference and learned so much!

My research made sense to other people! This is a big deal as I've been having trouble articulating my research.

I did a good job presenting...I spoke loudly although there wasn't a mic and one was needed...I wasn't shaky although there were a lot of people there and I was really nervous...I felt confident afterward. Overall, it was a good experience.

I presented some research for a friend...I was second author but I was only really, really familiar with part of the research. My friend was sick and couldn't come so I chatted about her poster for her. I answered questions (there was only one question I couldn't answer). I felt that I did a good job. I was proud of myself for taking the challenge and not caving into my insecurities.

I can do this.

blogging

I am going to try to blog more frequently this summer. I have a lot to say and not a lot to say but am not sure what I want to put on my blog so I end up not blogging. So my goal this summer is to take it from Nike and just do it...