<1146>

I've been both too busy and lazy to update. NJ, NYC and Canada were all good, working this week and next (including trying to get a handle on the job market and dealing with life issues), and then Joe and I are going to Long Beach Island for Labor Day and the subsequent week. School starts next week, but no on has asked me to TA, and I probably won't take any classes, so I don't really care. Maybe more detailed updates later.

<1431>

In yet another attempt to stop being fat, I have started the insanely sensible No S Diet. This is something I had seen before and considered overly simplistic, but I'm ready to give it a shot. I lost loads of weight last year doing SparkPeople, but, let's face it, the calorie tracking got really old. This diet is really simple and solves what I think is my major problem: grazing. I think I had this idea that grazing would make me feel less hungry all day, but really I think it means I just eat constantly. So, under the No Snacking rule, I'm going to attempt to just eat three times a day. I might stuff myself all three times, but my stomach can only hold so much food, so I think it will greatly limit consumption. I can already tell that it will improve *what* I eat, given that I actually assemble an entire meal and can see what I'm eating all at once.

The best part about it is the allowance to forego the diet on weekends. This is nice, because while I don't really need dessert every day, it's good on weekends. The other nice thing is that there are no actualy restrictions other than sweets on what to eat during the week. If I have pizza, that's fine. I probably own't have pizza unless I'm at a party or something, but it doesn't place the kind of restrictions that other diets, including calorie tracking, places on food.

In other news, I will probably be adding a new job to the slate coming up. A faculty member emailed me to see if I wanted to work on her project, so I'll be starting that up soon for about 10 hours a week. This is good, because I think my current 10 hr/wk job is going to run out of steam come September. I guess if it doesn't, that means more money, but at some point I should probably write a dissertation. Of course, if I worked like a normal person, I'd have 20 hours a week to write my dissertation if I work 20 hours a week, but I seem to be incapable of working that much. I better get on it, though, seeing as I plan to have a job next year.

Speaking of which, I spent part of last night totally freaking out about how utterly unprepared I feel to actually be a professor. All the job descriptions say you need teaching experience and a research plan and a million people who wil testify to your greatness, and I'm like GAH! Postdoc! I feel like I haven't really had any real teaching experience, because TAing here is pretty low key compared to what other grad students do, which is, like, run seminars and stuff. I grade papers, I don't run classes. I also have no idea what I want to do for research. And what I might think about doing is probably different if I'm thinking comm or public health. I am also freaked about approaching comm, not only becuase I'm not even sure I want to be in comm, but also because I've never actually taken a course in a communications department and I feel utterly out-of-place in that environment. I don't know if you can go from a mismash discipline like public health to a more fundamental discipline like communications (although I'm sure there are those who would argue that it's actually just another kind of mismash discipline). So, I dunno, usually these sorts of things freak me out for a long time and then work themselves out and I'm right where I want to be or where I should be.

Tomorrow Joe and I head to NJ in the evening. Friday we'll goof off there, and then Saturday we'll train to NYC for the conference until Monday night. My original plan was to then return Tuesday, but since there's no TV night I may just come back Wednesday. Thursday morning I have a doctor's appointment, and then Lynn and I will drive to Stratford, ON for the Shakespeare festival, returning Sunday. And then it will be late August! F'd up! The next weekend there is talk of Six Flags, and then school starts and the next weekend will be Labor Day weekend, when we'll go back to NJ. The plan for that weekend is to do some Philly stuff, some Liberty Science Center/, Statue of tourism, and some shoreness. It's a busy time. I'm sad that I haven't had a chance to go to Boston, but I've been pretty booked up this summer, esp given that I lost half a month at the beginning in Africa.

<1542>

Today is kind of a bummer because we have to leave the awesome house. At least we have a consolation prize of getting to watch Talk Sex with Sue, which we haven't been able to do here. I won't miss the dog much either. But we've had total grill feasts the last couple of nights. Baltimore is really going to be difficult after this. But next weekend we're going to New Jersey and NYC for the Soc conference, and then I'm going to Canada with Lynn the next weekend to see Shakepeare, and then Labor Day weekend we're going back to Jersey. And then school will start and we'll be hopefully too busy to care about how much Baltimore sucks.

<1322>

OMG, it's already August. I've been delinquent about updating the blog, mostly because I've been immersed in Harry Potter. I forgot how damn long books 4-6 are, although 6 was fast. I'm glad I reread them before delving into 7, because I can never remember things, and the new book goes much better if the older books are fresh. I was pleased with the final book, flaws and all.

In other news, housesitting has been good, although it's coming to a close. We had some people over for a cookout last weekend. It was the most vegetarian friendly BBQ of all time. Total opposite of old Cube BBQs.