::alio!::

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I didn't hear from A.C. so last night I emailed the two profs I met with.

And this morning Andy threw my laptop on the bed and made me check my mail.

Nothing.

An hour later, I decide to go through my morning laptop routine.

And there it was.

WE'RE MOVING TO NEWFOUNDLAND.

a small ray of light

Okay so I couldn't take it anymore. I just emailed A.C., the graduate director in St. John's.

The email went as follows:

Hello, Prof. A.C.,

I hope the beginning of term treated you well. I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to meet with me back in January on such short notice (and thank you again for the tea!).

I remembered that during our meeting you suggested that if I were to email you at the end of February, you might be able to let me know the status of my doctoral application.

I really enjoyed St. John's and Memorial, and in fact it was my favourite of all the places I visited last month, so I was wondering if you could give me some good news about my application?

I know you are busy, so thank you for your time. Have a great week,

- Me.

So I might hear back at any time. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, just because of what happened last year with Dalhousie, but my chances were so much better this year that I can't help it just a little bit. I know I'm going to be horribly disappointed if it's a no.

On the plus side, Andy and I filed our taxes yesterday. We made it official with the government and filed as a common-law partnership. As a result, with Andy making as much money as he does, and with me having years and years of stored education credits, we're getting a joint return of $4004.48.

So that's kind of awesome.

guh

I got a nice rejection letter from SSHRC yesterday. So no $37k a year for me. There's a lot of emphasis placed on publishing and presenting at conferences, but there's no time or money for me to travel to conferences and no sports conferences for me to present sporty papers at in the first place. They should give me money based on my ingenuity and drive to save the game.

Alas.

But I was expecting a rejection so it's not a big deal. It just means that we'll both need full time jobs while in Newfoundland, if we make it there.

So I'm really hoping we'll make it there.

still waiting . . .

This has literally been the longest month of my life . . .

Andy's in a holding pattern, waiting to hear whether or not we're going to Newfoundland. He hates his job so much right now that a lot of hopes are riding on this decision.

I spend most of my time aimlessly puttering around, waiting and waiting for the end of the month, when I can email the grad director at Memorial and find out once and for all if I'm in or if I'm out.

Normally when I putter, I work on the house: home improvements, laundry, cleaning, baking . . . Problem is that I've run out of those things to do. So in order to take my mind off waiting and worrying about this decision (and worrying about the contingencies - did you know it will cost us nearly NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS to move?) . . . I've kind of been planning my own wedding.

I KNOW.

I know.

Stop it.

I DO realize that I'm not exactly engaged.

But you know who's been actually helping me with some things?

Yes. Him.

So I'm not being a total crazy person here.

In any case, it's mostly a result of my puttering, but at least when the time comes I'll be ahead in the planning stage, right?

DEAR GOD WILL THIS MONTH EVER END?

*sigh*

It's still February. It is, in fact, sunny outside; however, it's also -25 Celsius.

Oh. AND. Rogers, remember, who sent our bills to the wrong place for like six months and then we had a thousand dollar phone bill?

Well, we've been paying religiously since then, but the company changed our account number (without telling us of course), so we've been paying our money into the wrong account for about three months. *mind explodes*

However, I do have a pretty piece of picture for you, courtesy of my boss. The guests at this Small Fries Valentines Social are, from left to right of the bottom left picture, Bella the Pug, Lola the Boston Terrier, Priscilla the Chihuahua-Schnauzer Mix, Finnegan the Miniature Doberman Pinscher, Stella the Miniature Wire-Haired Daschund, Penelope the Yorkie-Poo, and, in the next photo to the right, Barrow, the Shih-Tzu Maltese Mix. Another guest is Paddington, the Morkie, who can be seen in the second photo from the bottom on the left hand side, next to Priscilla. Strange that they look so much alike and are two totally different mixes. And they're best friends to boot.

s.a.d.

Ugh.

It would be nice to see some sun these days. As most of you know, I suffer from seasonal affective disorder, and if I don't get my daily D, I get really tired and grumpy.

AND to top it off this is also the most stressful month of my life to-date.

I have a full spectrum lightbulb that Andy bought me but it's not the same. I needs me a sunny day.

don't ask - it's complicated

- but I don't like February much, either.

Happy February!

So basically I need to count down 29 days until I can email the dudes at Memorial to ask them if I got in.

That's what I plan to do this whole month.