A little piece

I have been so busy lately. It's a blessing to have so much activity in my life, but at the same time I feel somewhat breathless. I like being able to stop and look around every now and then.

Tonight, Patrick and I are taking a night train to Turku, Finland. We are attending a meeting of Finnish Astronomers which will be action packed and fun-filled for two days. I am presenting a poster there that I sort of slaved over needlessly. The meeting is packed with so many talk that I doubt anyone will have the time to read my fabulous poster. Too bad b/c it's a gem.

We have decided to stick around southern Finland this weekend to do a little touristing. So, Saturday we will poke around Turku and probably visit a castle. Sunday we take a train to Helsinki to poke around there for a day we may visit a fortress or a rock church or the natural history museum. Monday afternoon we are hopping a train back to Oulu. It should be fun, and I am not taking my laptop so that I can unplug for a bit.

I'll post photos when I return if I'm not immediately sucked back into the vortex of 'work work work faster faster faster'!

Finland -- Where Finnish People Come From

Hello all! We made it to Finland without a hitch; although, our bags have a different story to tell. The bags didn't show up until Friday morning, and they won't tell us where they've been.

So far, I really like Finland. The people are very friendly. They don't scowl at me for not knowing Finnish. I've seen my office, which lacks AC, but more than makes up for it with having more than its fair share of awkward scientists.

Our apartment is much bigger than I anticipated. We don't have much in the way of furniture, but our boss and a friend of a friend are loaning us a couch, desk, TV, beds, cookware etc. We are pretty well stocked up. I will upload photos of the apartment another time. Here is a view from the kitchen window to hold you over:

We have freaking dinosaurs roaming outside. crazy.

Anyway, the night we arrived, we slept for 12 hours. nice! Friday night we went to a concert in downtown Oulu. They had 3 bands playing in a blocked off area of the town. I tried to take video of the first band, but it didn't come through very well. I do, however, have a photo of Oulu at 2am!

2am! soooo bright.

We had just left a bar called the .45 special, which I liked very much. They had "oldies" (e.g. Nirvana, Van Halen, Blood Hound Gang) downstairs, and a live band upstairs.

That's all I've got for now. More later!

Thanks Megan for the funny video

I turned in my dissertation to my committee today. It's a relief to have it done, but I don't quite believe it yet. It doesn't feel real. I'm really tired, and I keep thinking "what next? what did I forget? I need to make another plot. I need to make another figure. work. work. work." aahhhhh!!! This anxiety is very clingy.


I'll get used to it and move one to more important things like this:



Actually, now I've got to prepare for my defense and apply for a Jay-Oh-Bee.

WATCH OUT!!!

dude. you almost got assimilated. You gotta watch out for the Borg-cat hybrids. That's some serious shizz.

I've been feeling like a cartoon character lately

Spending hours upon hours interacting with a computer has made me feel like a cartoon character in the presence of human beings. It is a bizarre feeling. I feel like Chester the Terrier. Remember him? He used to jump around Spike the Bulldog asking a million questions and talking non-stop. I'm getting a lot of work done, but I'm buried in my thoughts. Conversations feel surreal and slightly forced as if I'm watching the conversation from a distance. I'm ready for this to be over, but the end is not yet here.

Great News!!

I've been working hard, so I haven't had time to post my great news. I heard from the graduate school Thursday. They have approved my extension request, and I will be able to graduate in May. What a relief! Now, I'm in the final stages of putting together the dissertation, and I hope to defend February 1st. It is amazing to me that the end is in sight. I'm surprised at my perserverance. I wanted to give up so many times, but I never did.

I hope y'all have a great Saturday. I'm at work, but there isn't an ounce of resentment about that.