A post as scattered as my brain

I'm starting to feel the end of the summer looming. This sucks for several reasons.

1) I hate Michigan winters!
2) Thanks to a particularly cool summer, I have ~4000 green tomatoes on the vine, and have gotten exactly 4 ripe ones.

3) The end of the summer means the end of my high productivity and the start of job-market madness.

4) I have a grant proposal due in two weeks...a grant proposal that is in its twinkle-in-my-eye stage.

5) Did I mention how much I hate Michigan winters?

I still don't know what I'm teaching this coming semester. Good thing classes start late this year--Sept 8th.

On a related note, I have no idea how much I'll be making next semester. I could be teaching

.25 (8-12 hrs/wk)

.5 (18-25 hrs/wk)

or

.75 (35-45 hrs/wk).

Needless to say, this uncertainty (and the associated income uncertainty) scares me a little bit.

We spent this past weekend moving everything out of Ross's apartment (we're hopefully renting it out this fall). It now looks like something exploded in our living room.

The cats have an ongoing battle over a chair we brought from Ross's place--a chair that will forevermore be known as The Best Chair On The Planet.

We've started training Roxy to be less of a little shit. We're using something we've decided to call "ham therapy".

Ham Therapy:

Step 1: pet cat

Step 2: feed her chunks of ham

Step 3: repeat

She's responding quite well.

Did you know that a package of ham chunks costs less than a similar-sized package of cat treats, and is approximately 1 zillion times better (according to the average cat polled in our living room).

My brain is working about 1/4 speed right now. Could you tell?

A pleasant surprise...

I've settled on the phrase "pleasant surprise" to describe our current situation. We'd planned on trying to have kids in the near future, so this really just moved our timing up by a few short months. However, those were kind of a crucial couple of months. Consider the following time table:

~June 23rd: LMP (don't ask if you don't know)

~Dec 7th: 24 weeks and the bleeding edge of viability

~Jan 4th: 28 weeks and the date of the big job conference in my field

~Jan 11th-Mar 1st: 29-36 weeks and the time that I'll (hopefully) be having flyouts for job interviews.

~March 30th: my due date

In case you missed it (or lack a phd in pregnancy-related math) that means that I'll be doing my first round of job interviews at ~6 months gestation (which is, bizarrely, 7 months of pregnancy) and I'll be flying around the country giving talks at 7-8 months gestation.

Ross is looking into purchasing a "business mumu" as we speak.

Goals for the Year

So last week, I turned 29. As I mentioned last year, I don't really dig resolutions of the Jan 1st variety--I prefer to let the goals come when it feels right. And right now, it feels right. But first, a recap/update on my goals from last year.

On the whole, this was a bad year, goal-wise. I didn't think that it was possible, but my life seems to have kicked into a new, higher gear this past year. This forced me to re-prioritize a bit, and one needs only look at the state of my kitchen, blog, and waistline to see the effects. But I'm giving away the ending...

First, the shameful:
run/swim/bike a triathlon: This goal did NOT happen. Moreover, it's not going to happen anytime soon. And I'm ok with that. It turns out that I'm just not that interested in triathlons. I like the idea of it. But the reality is totally unappealing--any sport that requires you to practice putting on your shoes is not for me. Besides, if I wanted to work really hard at something I'm naturally bad at, I would learn a new language. Or teach myself to juggle.

bike a century: This also did not happen. Not even close. I did accomplish one of the subgoals of this goal--I fixed my bike's drive train. Good news is, I've already been on my bike several times this spring--which is several times more than I was on my bike last year! Bad news is, my bike partner-in-crime is graduating and moving on to bigger and better things (ok--maybe that's not really bad news--congrats, Ann!), and without a riding partner to spur me on, I doubt I'll be able to motivate myself for a really long distance ride.

climb a 5.10: Again, not so much. Turns out that writing a dissertation is somewhat incompatible with finding time to exercise. But I'm thinking about taking a climbing technique class this summer, so who knows?

show my photos in a gallery in Ann Arbor: I'm terrible at this stuff--self-promotion is really hard for me, and getting a gallery show is all about self-promotion. I made some lame stabs this last year, but nothing substantial. I'm hoping to enter The Shadow Art Fair this year, which would kind of count.


Now the slightly less shameful:

take care of my back: I did ok with this. I didn't make my (perhaps overly optomistic) goal of daily core exercise, but I have had markedly fewer relapses this year, and I've learned much better how to keep myself in alignment.

go on the job market: Um. I went on the job market...I just didn't get a job. That counts, right? Seriously though, my job market process this year went through more pointless twists and turns than a Season 2 episode of Heros. Some of those twists were my fault, others were out of my control. On the plus side, going on the market halfway last year has set me up perfectly for my full on attack this year. I'm calling it Job Market II: Kate's Revenge.

And now, lest you think I'm a total slob, the successes!

take all of my (important) pills: I have been really good this year. I still have an occasional lapse, but nothing to get in a twist about. And I feel good.

finish a second paper: Holy crap! I actually finished this one! And it's good too!

get married: Score!


Also, here's a list of things I didn't list as goals last year, but accomplished anyway:
Set a personal record for distance hiked in one day (~20 miles)
Went to a new country (the Czech Republic)
Adopted a little fuzzy asshole
Planted a successful community garden plot
Presented at a prestigious conference
Taught a short course
Gave an invited talk
Was paid to take photographs
Won a photography contest
Came within a whisker of getting my dream job


When you put it that way, it wasn't such a bad year. However, the disconnect between what I actually accomplished and what my goals were has made me rethink what makes a useful goal. This year, I'm going with broader goals, which have many possible pathes to fufillment. We'll see how that works out.

Get a job or move on: This is the big one this year. I've decided that this is my last year in graduate school. I will get a job that I want in my field, or I will move on and do something else.

Submit one paper for publication: Pretty self-explanatory. The publication process in economics takes forever. I need all the time I can get.

Drafts of two other papers: The two candidate papers at the moment are both coauthored (yay!). One is with my advisor. The other is with my officemate. I'm looking for real paper drafts--not just results!

Prioritize Exercise: One of the things I let slide most this past year was exercise. In the past 2 years, I've gone from Amazon to lump. I've gained a size, my knees hurt, and I have no energy. This is totally unacceptable! I have several strategies for this. I'm planning to take at least one exercise class at the University per semester. I'm back on my bike, and I'm hoping to start riding regularly, even if it's only short distances. I've also started weightlifting again. I need to figure out some way to keep that interesting and learn more. Any other (low/no cost) ideas?

Eliminate anything I don't use from my house: We have way too much stuff. Garage sale this summer, followed by a trip to the recycle center!

Spend less free time staring at a computer screen: Part of the reason I don't have time for things I love is that I spend my down time surfing the web or watching TV. I've already made progress towards doing more away from the computer. I want to do more!

Acheive more balance in my life: This is related to everything else above. If I spend too much time working or thinking about work, then my brain stops working well. And if I spend less time staring at a computer/TV screen, then I should have more time for those things that exercise the non-research parts of my brain--photography, art, music, gardening.

Eat more cake: I figured I needed at least one that I'd be able to acheive.

I'm not dead! I swear!

So it's been a while, I know. I have a good reason, though. If you might remember from my list of goals, I am going on the job market this year. Given the amount of time that particular goal is sucking up, I am hereby revising my list of goals.

Goals for 2008-2009
1) Get a job.
2) Stay sane.

I think that I can accomplish that.

Anyway, this is my way of saying that posting might slow down a bit. I'm hoping to use blogging as a break from writing my thesis. However, that activity competes with such perennial favorites as eating, sleeping, petting my cats, and kissing my husband, so that may not happen. In the meantime, here is a short play-by-play:

1) The kitten is huge. Like, the size of a small adult cat. We're thinking of renaming her Mongo. I need to take more current pictures, but here's one from a few weeks ago. Maggie is still unimpressed.

2) The garden has been hugely productive. We've had over 100 tomatoes, probably 25 Anaheim chilies, a ton of carrots, many many lemon-drop peppers, pounds of potatoes, and more lettuce than I know what to do with. Our plot has to be cleared out by the 16th. I'll try to do a final count before then.

3) I got an Ipod touch.
Ok, so it actually belongs to Ross, but he lets me play with it, and I'm plotting a way to steal it for myself. So it's kind of mine already.

4) I think that the bread shop around the corner from me is run by the mafia. I would go into more detail, but I wouldn't want them to find out. In fact, on second thought, I definitely don't think that the bread shop is a front for an illegal drug business. Not at all.

5) I have developed a tremendous addiction to the show House. Ross is even more addicted than I am, which seems impossible considering how much of my addiction is fueled by Hugh Laurie's devastating attractiveness. I even liked him as Bertie Wooster. Ross, on the other hand, has no excuse.

6) I have thoughts on the financial crisis, the bailout, and the presidential and vice presidential debates. Some of them are even worthwhile. But I don't have the energy to write them up. Sorry about that. Maybe next time.

A non-post post...

Sorry for the lack of regular posting. R and I are driving to a wedding in NJ this weekend, and next week I have a back-to-back thesis proposal defense/ field prelim exam marathon. So I may not post until weekend after next.

GAMES 2008: the Revenge of Nash

Just a note to say that I'm on the road again--I'm attending a really great conference in my field, which has an almost comically megalomaniacal title--The Third World Conference of the Game Theory Society: GAMES 2008. Last week I was explaining to people why I was going out of town YET AGAIN, and had considerable trouble making myself understood. Is GAMES 2008 a variation on comic-con? Do you have to wear a wizard hat? It does sound a bit dramatic, given that we're mostly doing math..and is that the Third World-congress, or the Third-world Congress?

Anyway, the talks have been great and I've been getting some great research ideas. But there aren't many graduate students here, and try as I might I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go to a bar...so I'm kind of stuck in my room tonight.

I'm staying in one of the dorms on campus, which was apparently designed by evil trolls. The buildings are squares with a courtyard in the middle--basically one long, square hallway stacked on top of another. This would be ok (every room gets a window...albeit at the expense of a whole lot of wasted space) but the architect/troll made no effort to distinguish one side of the square from another. Every hallway is the same as every other hallway, which makes it very difficult to keep track of where exactly you are. Moreover, every door is identical to every other door--it took me 10 minutes of wandering around, trying random doors before I finally found the bathroom.

More irritating is the fact that only two of the four corners on this floor have a stairwell, and of those two corners, exactly ONE takes you to an exit. And since all four corners are FUCKING IDENTICAL...well, let's just say that Lewis Carrol couldn't have designed a better rabbit hole. This morning, I set out looking for the exit, tried a few doors, and suddenly found myself back outside my room. Creepy.

So here I am, a bit bored, but afraid that if I leave the room I'll never find my way out. So I guess I'm warning you that you might be getting more than one blog post tonight (if I can manage to make the wireless work--otherwise you might not even get this one). I'll start with the garden post that I've had completed for a week except for the pictures stuck on my camera. Then...well...we'll see how bored I am. You may get that wedding post after all.

(By the way, this is one of only two events I've been to where the line for the lady's bathroom is SHORTER than the line for the men's (the other was RAGBRAI...most cyclists are men). I had kind of gotten used to the fairly mild gender gap in economics as a whole, but economic theory is a whole different can of trout. I'm used to being in the minority, but damn...)


UPDATE Getting a connection was harder than it should have been. I braved the magical stairwells to use the wireless at the business school, but the wireless access pass they gave me at registration doesn't seem to work. I don't have an ethernet cord with me, so I'm using the cord in the lectern of one of the classrooms. But I'm pretty sure they don't want me doing this, so I probably won't get the garden post up until tomorrow. Ah well.

Goals--Update!

Remember my post about goals? Have you been on the edge of your seat, wondering how I've been doing?

Well too bad, because you're getting an update anyway.

1) Run/Bike/Swim a triathlon: some progress
I haven't done this yet, but I *have* fixed my bike and I've been looking at what event would fit into my busy summer schedule. I'm thinking maybe the Claire Lake Tri/Du. I'm contemplating doing the duathlon (2.4 mile run/ 13 mile bike/ 4 mile run) instead of the tri, mostly because I don't want to have to add a swimming workout into my schedule. And since 4 miles is about the maximum I've ever run before, a 2.4 mile run followed by a 4 mile run will be quite a challenge. The 13 mile bike ride will be pretty easy--the bike distances on tris are comparatively short at all levels (even the ironman--I'd take a 100 mile bike ride over a marathon any day). Hopefully Ross will train with me--and by "train with me" I mean run with me--not bike along behind, whacking me on the butt with a spatula (ala Run Fatboy Run).

2) Take all of my (important) pills: yes!
We'll have to ask Ross, but I think I've been really good with this. Unfortunately, despite how well I've been treating it, my body has been conspiring against me. I went to the doctor because I haven't been feeling well, and left with a blood test, a prescription, a multivitamin, and an appointment for a hearing test (don't worry--the worst it could be is a food allergy). Oh--and I also have a bunion. Apparently, I'm 67 years old.

3) Take care of my back: uhh...
Not really. Not only have I failed to keep up with my core exercises, I managed to hurt my back gardening last week (or maybe it was the half ton of books at the Great Media Divestment Project). The good news is, that unlike the last time, it took me only a week to start walking normally again! I can even pick things up off the floor without making a sound like a pygmy hippopotamus!
Um...yeah...need to redouble my efforts on this one.

4) Bike a Century: some progress
So far this summer, there seems to be little time for biking. But my plan is to schedule my rides, and work towards replacing my old regular ride (Dexter--25 miles) with a longer one (Chelsea 40 miles). My friend Ann, who is now practically a PROFESSIONAL CYCLIST (Hi Ann!) has promised me a century ride later this summer. My dignity tells me that I need to get my butt in gear, lest she doesn't drop me like last last month's egg salad sandwich.

5) Climb a 5.10: Thbbt
This may happen by December. It may not. Climbing shoes are about the worst thing in the world for your feet (I'll try to post a picture sometime...it's a pretty dramatially shaped shoe). But I can't realistically blame my lack of progress on the bunion. We just haven't gotten to the climbing gym--and probably won't until it gets cold outside.

6) Finish a Second Paper: Slow but steady
This is what I've been doing instead of biking and climbing. But it is paying off. I have...well...something. Whether it is better than the paper I have already finished remains to be seen, but at the risk of bringing the force of the universe down on my head, I'll say it's looking good so far.

7)Go on the Job Market: All systems go!
Good thing too.

8)Get Married: Check and check!

The Lame Name Game

Since people have started asking, I figured I should say something on the subject of last names--specifically, what mine is now. So here it is, broken out into two easy-to-read (translation: lazy) bullet points:

1) Legally, my name stays the same. I will use that name for all work-related activities, including publication.
2) In all other contexts, I am going by Ross's last name.

I don't have some deep reason for that choice. Basically, it came from piecing together the following three facts (note the bullet points):
1)I have a really really common last name (shared with over 30% of the US population) whereas Ross's name is much less common
2)Having two different names can be inconvenient, especially with kids
3)My name is better professionally, both because I've already published under it, and also because it falls near the front of the alphabet (author order in econ is almost always alphabetical)

I may choose to change the legal aspect eventually, depending on whether it is more irritating to go by a name that is not my legal one socially or professionally. Either way, the outward appearance will remain the same.

June just became my least favorite month...

This summer is going to be just a teeeensy bit crazy for me.

May
3rd: get married
5th - 19th: Hawaii
June
1st: Grinnell College Reunion
2nd - 4th: Talk to MAP students at Grinnell about agent-based modeling
6th - 8th: Printer's Row Book Fair (if my folks get a booth)
9th-11th: Resource Economics Conference in Toulouse
14th: High School Reunion (I wouldn't go, except my best friend is going)
21st: Wedding I'm photographing
July
13th-17th: Games 2008 conference
August
8th-?: Wedding in Czech Republic

All of this will be liberally interspersed with work (recall that I'm going on the job market next fall), gardening (R and I have rented a community garden plot this year), and house repairs/renovations (we are going to be selling 2 houses next spring).

At least it will be bookended by vacation!

My Goals This Year...

I know that March 31st != January 1st, but I figure that there is nothing special about the first of the year, goal-wise. In fact, spring seems like a much more appropriate time for goals than the depths of winter. In January, my list of goals looked something like this:

-Perfect down-blanket-and-pillow cocoon

-Finish watching all available episodes of "Good Eats" on You Tube

-Complete research project entitled "Interactions between conflicting cracks in the ceiling above my bed"

March, on the other hand, is when Michigan transitions from more than 12 hours of dark to more than 12 hours of light. The crocuses and daffodils are peeking out of the ground, and my goals turn to something slightly more ambitious than finding a service willing to deliver me cookies in bed. So here, in no particular order, are my goals for the year:

run/swim/bike a triathlon: I just learned to run this last year (as an aside: was anyone else aware that you had to learn to run? isn't that one of those bipedal things that should come naturally? apparently not) and I have transitioned from an initial, burning hatred of it to something bordering on enjoyment. Since my basic failure at bipedal locomotion was all that was standing between me and completing a triathlon, I should get my butt in gear and do it. The goal is a sprint triathlon. Bonus points for something longer.

take all of my (important) pills: I've been really good (read: less stupid) about this lately, but it bears repeating. Some pills are more important than others. I had a painful lesson recently in what happens when I don't take my pills. I will strive to be even less stupid this year than last year. I don't know how to quantify this--maybe Ross will have to award me an appropriate number of points.

take care of my back: Hyper-mobility of the lower back (aka "noodle spine") runs in my family. Last summer/fall I got it under control via a strict regime of core strengthening exercises, but this winter's blobification (it turns out that hibernation leaves remarkably little time for weight-bearing exercise) has left me basically back where I started. Since I do much better when I have a routine, my goal will be a core-strengthening session every morning before work. Hopefully, the routine will be enough to carry me through my final (!) Michigan winter. Goal is something (anything) every morning and a full set of reps at least once a week. Bonus points if I start doing a full set more than once a week.

bike a century: I've done this before, but this is really representative of a recommitment to cycling. My bike has been in bad shape, and without my usual goal of RAGBRAI, I rode less than 100 miles total last summer! Subgoals include: fix my bike (replace the cassette, rear dérailleur, chain, cables, tape), attend at least one race clinic, and start riding at least once a week. Options include One Helluva Ride, The Apple Cider Century, Evanston Century, or The Holland Hundred.

climb a 5.10: For the non-climbers in the audience, in the US, climbing routes are rated according to a universal (though basically subjective) system. Any route below a 5.0 is (supposedly) "walkable", but most people (myself included) would feel uncomfortable climbing a 4.x route without a rope. Almost all routes that I climb are a 5.x. I can currently "flash" (climb without falling) all 5.7 routes, and almost all 5.8 routes. I can climb all 5.9 routes (and flash some of them). Five months ago, I was starting to climb 5.10 routes (note that it isn't exactly a decimal...5.10>5.9) but hurt my shoulder. Goal is ability to climb most 5.10a and b routes (the rankings start subdividing into a/b/c around 5.10). Bonus points for climbing a 5.10c.

show my photos in a gallery in Ann Arbor: Currently, I'm showing at a coffee shop around the corner from me. I like the place, but it is probably doomed (I'll probably write about their often-hilarious business plan later). The goal is Sweetwaters Gallery, which is attached to the ritzy coffee shop in town. Bonus points for a gallery not attached to a coffee shop. Double bonus points if I actually sell something.

finish a second paper: I have 3 candidate papers in the works. The goal is to finish one this summer. Bonus points for finishing two. Unfortunately, I need at least one more paper to...

go on the job market: Not really so much a goal as a necessity.

get married: If I don't manage this one, then I am so screwed.

In which I enter the so-called "blogo-tubes"

Hi all! Welcome to my blog.

First things first--why moot point tango? Well, it is a combination of words that is infrequently taken, and thus it is my default for many titles--including my photography "business" (so-called, because I have a tax number, not because it actually makes money). I also happen to like the way it sounds--so there.

I intended this blog as a way for my friends and family (most of whom live far from me) to find out what I'm up to. Thus, I'm probably just going to run the gambit topic-wise. Some entries will be work-related--things that I'm thinking about, research problems I'm having, and interesting bits of things that I've read. But hopefully those will be liberally interspersed with the other parts of my life. At the beginning, I'll probably write quite a lot about impending wedding items--because that has taken over my life like a bad b-movie monster--but in a month or so that will be over, and we'll be back to my regular life, full of fast cars, cat acrobatics, and secret ninja-stuff.

Or maybe I made that last part up.

I'm not particularly good at this informal writing thing--so I expect that this will be a rough start. But bear with me! Hopefully, it will get better as I go along. And if not--well, I apologize in advance. Oh--you should also be aware of my affinity for the double-dash, ellipses, and lengthy parenthetical. I'll try to rein that in, but it will be very difficult. Also, I'm not nearly as funny as certain other people we all know--so I won't try!