Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

I created this in honor of a little discussion on my dad’s blog. You can make a magazine cover, too.

Aaron: "Are you Google Image searching baby hedgehogs? How far down your to-do list ARE you?"

Today, I went to Square Foods for lunch, armed with a camera. It was my last day at the Exchange Club (I can tell you the name now that I’m gone), and I wanted to see if I could catch Sheri for a chat and a picture. She got there was after I did, but she did arrive. She saw me, walked up to me, and asked me if I’d seen the sign out front. I told her I’d already taken a picture and showed her. She wanted me to take her picture in front of the sign, and I meant to, but then we got to talking, and by the time I left, I’d totally forgotten. I did get a few nice pictures of her though. Here’s my favorite:

She doesn’t go online much, but she said her husband does. "Hi, Sheri’s husband!"

Do try to make it on Saturday, and if you can’t, they said they’d put out a little jar for donations on the deli counter in the back.

It sure doesn’t look like this this anymore.

Yesterday, I got this e-mail:

Hi Abby,

Congratulations.

Your submission has cleared all of the necessary checks and will be delivered to UMI. If you have questions in the future about the status of any orders for printed copies or the publication status of your manuscript, please contact ProQuest/UMI Customer Service.

Your official graduation date is August 31, 2005 and your degree will be posted to your university records on this day.

The Graduate Recorder

Today was the final luncheon honoring all the interns in my program. We were warned that we were going to be "roasted," but it wasn’t too harsh. I was given several gag gifts, including Boston Baked Beans, Grits to remember the South, a little ribbon for participation, since I lived in Midtown and actually saw the city while I was here, a picture of a slum since Boston is so expensive, and some crime tape to remember the little incident that happened across the street. Kinda cute. I also got my certificate of completion. It’s really big! I know this is dumb, but I wish it were smaller, so I could just stick it in a file. I’m not hanging this massive thing on the wall! I’m still proud I got it though.

I have two more days of work, which will mostly be finishing up paperwork and logs. Then I have four days here hanging out with kind of nothing to do except pack. Then Aaron gets here, and we can play a little for about five days before we head out.

I got my Oberlin Alumni Magazine today. I’m in the alumni update section, picture and all. What’s also weird is that there is this article about how for years, Oberlin has graduated more future PhD’s than any other college in the country. It’s funny because I’m not even getting my PhD in an area I studied there. It was just a really good place to become a curious, life-long learner. I think they also recruit that type to begin with. I was lucky to go there. My mother was the one who insisted I visit, and after seeing the hippies chopping broccoli in the co-op and the hundreds of Steinways in the practice room building, I was in like Flynn. I’m glad she dragged my ass up there. At the time, I was like, "I am NOT going to the middle of Ohio for college." But in the end, that’s what happened. I’m so glad it did. Not only that, but my parents paid for it. (No, none of those insane loans have anything to do with undergrad!) Not only was it a great place to learn, it was groovy as hell (see Fury and the Sound for more on that).

Maybe it’s nerdy to be so into where I went to school. I don’t care. Many Obies are too cynical to be boosters like me, but that’s just my way. Doesn’t mean I’m giving them any money or signing up for the freakin’ planning committee or anything. I just liked it. It was a good place to be. Lots of grads end up in NYC, Boston, Chicago, Portland, and SF. I’ll be around a ton of them in my new neighborhood. I’m pretty excited about that.

And I’m VERY excited about being done with this PhD thing. It’s been hard as hell!

My Supervisors