Hmmm, maybe I’ll have to go to one of these places for my “future” (as in not right away I want to be not in school for a while) PhD….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/bikefriendly-universities_n_844696.html#s261054&title=Stanford_University_
Ok, so I’ve been sort of neglecting this blog thing in the last few weeks, I can’t imagine why (cough *thesis* cough). Aaaaanyway, here’s what I’ve been doing since Friday and will continue doing until the end of the month. It’s called 30 Days of Biking and the rules are fantastically simple: bike, for any length of time or distance, each day for 30 days, and tell people about it. I’ve been cheating slightly and while I have been biking at least to work every day, I’ve only been writing it down on my Forward Facing Feet page. But I tweeted this morning (70 degree rain yesterday and now its 35. Oh Indiana #30daysofbiking) and now I’m blogging! So take that, communication! The Star Tribune had a great little article on it which is fitting, considering the event is Minneapolis based after all.
So how did I, a lowly masters student all the way in Indiana, find out about this event (which I also did last year, btws) you may ask? Well, that would be the fault of Kate Roarty, what a Chatty Cathy (or Lazy Loretta, if you read both her blogs). Kate and Adam (that ever elusive brother of mine) live in the great City of Twins, which is evidently full of bike lanes, paths, pedestrian bridges, and the spirit of alternative transportation. Kate did the 30 Days last year, so I had to copy her and do it here.
I’m having fun so far, even though I really should have brought a second pair of pants to work yesterday so I wouldn’t have had to slowly dry off for the next few hours at my desk after my soaking wet ride, but whatever. Details. It’s day 5, and I’m still going good. Work is only 1 mile from home, so it’s not like I’m doing anything fantastically exciting, but maybe I will once I get this “defense” thing over with next week. Oohhhhh, ok, have to go do something else so I don’t start working myself up too much. Dddddddeeeefense…… But yes, here’s an oldie but a goodie to put my biking into picture form. Enjoy. Now stop reading my blog and go for a ride already!
Quick post, still trying to finish my thesis. I’m going to start a “Dailies” page or section or something, so I can post a picture every day. Hopefully. So here it starts –
Sometimes routines are OK. In my case, I have a set list of things that I inevitably do before any sort of productive writing can be accomplished. Productive thesis writing, that is. This blog writing is productive too, but in a very different way, and indeed is part of the list I run through in the mornings. I used to get fantastically anxious before trying to write anything important, with things like “what if I never finish it”, “I have too much to do and too little time”, “my writing’s not assertive enough”, and “I’ve only sort of skimmed these citations what if they don’t match my text” running through my head, obviously increasing my amount of discomfort for writing instead of helping me get stuck in and get things done.
Now, however, I allow myself to “kill time” before being productive by doing fun things like listening to fairly catchy but, admittedly, fairly “trendy?” “crappy?” whatever(y) music on YouTube (see my new Sounds for Sore Eyes page for a list), looking at the news pictures on the HuffPo (I almost never actually read any of the articles), briefly flicking through Facebook to see if anyone has put up fun pictures or said anything particularly pithy, hopefully writing one of these fun posts, and occasionally watching some Eddie.
These “distractions” are now tools to get me calm, cool and collected (and awake, less annoyed, and more functioning) in the mornings where the last thing I really want to do is sit at a computer, reworking pieces of text over and over and over again until its not as boring as it started out being a month ago. Coming to the realization that this is time spent not time wasted has really helped me balance the chore of writing with the chore of being happy. Both need to be worked at some times, but both need to be recognized for their importance in my daily life. Soon, however, that writing will be done, and my job here will be something completely different. A welcome change to which I will now start a semi-formal and probably slightly inaccurate countdown.
T minus 9 days to release the thesis to the committee (and the start of my full time organic ag temp job).
T minus 23 days to final defense.
T minus 39 days to permanent submission of the thesis to the graduate school.
T minus 55 days to graduation.
T minus 70 days to Trinidad.
what Was, what Is, and what Will Be 
