A Month Long Break...sort of

Whew! Fall quarter is over. All assignments are in and I am waiting to see my grades (life as student). I've graded everything and posted final grades for work (life as professor). Both NEU and teaching start up again on January 9th. In the meantime, I've got a month-long break.

Well, sort of. I need to develop the coursework for the class I'll be teaching in winter - such is the life of the new instructor. I also need to make some modifications to my Doctoral Problem Statement per my professor. I need to do that right away and submit it with my application for an advisor. Delaying would cause a delay in advisor assignment, which would trickle outward, causing a delay in beginning my dissertation. Needless to say, that is NOT going to happen! I will make the modifications tomorrow and get it submitted. Next quarter I am taking my final elective and the second of the three research classes. Spring quarter will bring the final research class, followed by the dissertation. I can't believe I'm so close! From what I hear and read, the dissertation requires a lot of self discipline - sitting down to work on it daily is a must. I must be a geek because I'm actually anxious to get going on it.

In other news, I ran another half marathon over Thanksgiving weekend (Seattle Ghost) and just ran a 25K yesterday. The race was at Deception Pass - an amazingly beautiful spot close to where I grew up. The views were simply stunning. Most of the trails were single track, though there were some that were wide and clear. We had some tough climbs and fast descents, lots of rooty, rocky, technical sections, and some soft, pine-needle cushioned clear trails. We also ran across the beach a couple times through deep sand and over seaweed crusted logs. All in all a wonderful, wonderful course. The highlight of the race was getting to run over the bridges twice. I've visited Deception Pass many times in my life - in fact I broke my arm on a camping trip there when I was in Kindergarten - and I've always wanted to run the bridges. I'll go back for this race again.

Let's see...what else? Web was home for Thanksgiving and Riley will be home for Christmas. Starting with this weekend, we have house guests for four weekends in a row. I'm excited and looking forward to all the visits. Life is good in Mukilteo!