Friday, December 31, 2004

Proudful of Hugsband


proudJ
Originally uploaded by loftindupuis.



proudofhugs
Originally uploaded by loftindupuis.
I promised Ilona some graduation photos.

silly Lilly


sillylilly
Originally uploaded by loftindupuis.
We had a great time with our niece when we were in Illinois. I love it when she's a little naughty. Surprisingly, she did not bite me on this trip.

redbelly


redbellyatfeeder
Originally uploaded by loftindupuis.
The weather is amazing today. There's still snow, but it's at least 50F. Perfect conditions for a bare-handed snowball fight.

Thursday, December 30, 2004

by popular demand

my travel schedule:
12/19 & 20- Cincinnati
1/3-1/4- Boston
1/6-7- New Haven
1/7-10- Baltimore (visiting ChimChim before the interview)
1/10-11- Chapel Hill

I will be done before I'm 30!

I liked Cincinnati, but it's probably my least favorite of the final 5.

Hugsband and I are at home and not (technically) working until I leave for Boston!

Monday, December 27, 2004

sick of K3

We aren't going back to Indiana until tomorrow night. I am not sure if I can make it that long.

TRU was incredible. The celebrity chefs, who weren't there when we were, are signing our menus and they will be sent to us. We're getting really dorky about that kind of thing. Hugsband had a caviar staircase. I will add a picture later, when I am not sitting in the sucky Bradley Public Library.

Also in Bradley, there's a sign on Kennedy Drive that says "Caution Autistic Child". Every time we drive past it, I cannot decide whether to laugh or be outraged, so I make jokes about how ignorant people are about disability. In doing so I kill 2 stupid birds with one hilarious stone.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

trop tard

Chicago -27 F. I am in a coffee shop near my mom's, and I can see other customers' breath when they speak.

Phew! What a week or so. Hugsband's party went well. There was an over-abundance of cheese, but no one complained. I coerced everyone into a fun game of what some folks call "Celebrity" and what I call "the name in the hat game". The highlight was when my dad, trying to guess Frank McCourt to Hugsband's clue of 'this is guy wrote Angela's Ashes and his last name sounds like a basketball field'(which is funny in itself), yelled "Frank McBalls!!!"

Last night we gorged at Fogo de Chao. It's one of those Gaucho places where waitstaff circulate with swords full of meat. Even as a vegetarian, I was overwhelmed by the mounds of food. It was ridiculous. Very tasty, but silly. Hugsband and the other meateaters thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I still don't believe it's Brazilian. It felt very Texan.

Tonight we're going to TRU, which will be the highlight of our post-Trotter's dining experiences. Our meal is a graduation gift for Hugsband from my mom.

p.s. Chicago has very few wireless places, and many people seem pretty uninformed on the topic. I even asked a comic store nerd at Chicago Comics, and he thought I meant cell phone. I didn't realize that Indiana is so technology forward.

Friday, December 17, 2004

addiction

You know Antabuse, the drug that makes people violently ill when they consume alcohol? I need the cheese equivalent. Seriously, if anyone develops it, I will volunteer for the clinical trials- on the down low, too, so we won't have to wait for the g.d. FDA. We can call it Fromagabuse.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

nope

Sometimes at night Hugsband will yell to me from the shower, "Come shave the back of my neck." I get angry and shout back at him that I don't want to because why should I have to get up? For some reason I think it's amusing to act very angry and put out by simple things. When he asks me to fill the humidifier, all hell breaks loose. "I AM TRYING TO TRIM MY CUTICLES! YOU CAN FILL IT YOURSELF AT 2am WHEN YOUR FINISH GRADING 4,000 EXAMS!!"

I need to invent a long and curved back-of-the-neck shaving stick and a self-filling humidifier. Those may be the secrets to eternal wedded bliss.


Wednesday, December 15, 2004

boooo-ya!

Now I really don't care about Columbus turning me down- not just that bravado from the other day. Yale called and offered me an interview today. I am giddy with excitement. I get to interview at my 3 top sites: Chapel Hill, Baltimore, and New Haven, along with some others. Yippee!! Now for weeks of grueling travel!

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

awwwww


old cookie party shots. this is Hugsband and our "little brother". thanks, G!

I got an interview in Baltimore! only one site left. they have until tomorrow to tell me whether I will get to interview. Posted by Hello

Monday, December 13, 2004

no Columbus

I got rejected!! Or, rather, my objectives were not aligned with those of that site. Thanks, JK! It's true- my objectives are not aligned with Ohio's. So screw them! The whole process is so odd. North Carolina, where I was offered an interview, is a much more competitive site. They receive over twice as many applications as Columbus.

Allegedly, it is very difficult to obtain a teaching position in Ohio. So, maybe this is all for the best for Hugsband and the lucky children of whatever state we settle in who get taught by him.

Did I mention that I am not crazy about the autism guy at Ohio anyway? I don't like his line of research. So there!

Sunday, December 12, 2004

bookies

That's what we call the book club. We have a tradition of drinking mimosas at meetings, which I love. This month's book, Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit, kinda sucked. I am also trying to get an autism reading group started with doctoral students and faculty who are interested. Isn't that dorky? I started not one, but TWO reading groups this year!!

Interview tally: Boston, Chapel Hill, Cincinnati, and Nebraska (boo!) are scheduled.
Still waiting to hear from: Baltimore, New Haven, and Columbus. From what I hear, all 3 tend to wait until the last minute.

I was very social this weekend, sometimes under duress. I've grown accustomed to working most of the weekend, and rarely have more than one social engagement. I would have preferred to work, but it all turned out well! On Friday, we went to a brewery with people from work. Luckily, I like the people I work with and enjoyed myself. Saturday I attended a party for the Special Education Department. The Special Education students are great and predominately Turkish. The Turkish government is apparently starting a system for educating students with disabilities, and the government funds their study in exchange for selling their soul to the Turks. I was the token psychologist. Finally, today we had book club.

It was nice to have a break, but I have a lot to do. A manuscript of mine was accepted for publication on Friday, and I want to crank out the revisions tonight, as well as send out another. I guess that's not very funny. It makes me happy, though!

Thursday, December 09, 2004

merry christmas, movie house!

I e-mailed my cousin and suggested he apply to be on the Jeopardy clue crew. He wrote back "...no, I won't be part of the freakin clue crew. They're a bunch of pretty boys who
take the focus off the answers and contribute nothing to the show." I love the fact that he has such strong feelings about a small, benign aspect of a gameshow.

I decided against the all-sweet menu for Hugsband's party. I will also have spicy roasted almonds, my now famous spinach-artichoke dip and veggie dippers, and sausage rolls in puff pastry. Hugsband will go apeshit for that last one.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

is it just me, or did today feel kinda infamous?

Some points for Nebraska (though I do not want to live there):
elk, wild ferrets, and whooping cranes

Some points against Nebraska:
it's Nebraska

This internship application process sucks. Sites are supposed to offer interviews by 12/15 at the absolute latest, so these next few days will be rife with e-mail and voicemail checking. I'm a pretty compulsive checker as it is. Despite the griping, I am excited to visit the sites and interview with well-known researchers and clinicians in my field.

Is it weird to dread Christmas gifts? Every year I end up with something with a name like 'true American country home apple pie potpourri' and then I have to try to seem un-bitchy and appreciative, neither of which is accurate. It's very fun to have my niece around, though. This year we bought her gifts that adhere to 2 central themes: cookie decorating and bath time. She loves animals, so I bought her animal cookie cutters and decorating supplies. For the bath, I bought reusable stickers that go on the walls of the tub, bath-friendly finger paint with tiny fingertip brushes, and tablets that make the bath water bright primary colors. I am a little nervous about the last item- seems like it could cause urinary tract cancer or something.


Sunday, December 05, 2004

countdown to house cleaning: 6 days!!!

I can't wait for the semester to end. My dissertation data will be collected, my "just-for-fun" doctoral seminar will be over, and my home can regain some organization and cleanliness. Hugsband is over-worked too. He usually picks up the pieces when I am too frenzied to sweep the floor and wipe off the coffee-stained counters. Not lately. He needs a vacation. Yesterday I asked him to put away a tarp that was on the backporch. I found him 10 minutes later in the parking lot playing with his mini yo-yo. He was narrating his moves too. "I call this one the Dups-ya!!!"

Thursday, December 02, 2004

The culprit

How about this for the menu for Hugsband's graduation party: pecan cookies with orange cream, marble bread with chocolate ganache topping, chocolate cake, Irish coffee, mulled cider, and hot chocolate? Is it OK to have an all-sweets party? He's a choco-holic. More so than any woman I know.


He was caught red handed, fat on stolen birdseed and feeling quite guilty. Posted by Hello

the latest hilarity

From the same 8-year old child with autism who asked about the girlfriends (see my 2nd entry).
Him- Who's your favorite Yu-Gi-Oh dragon?
Peer- I don't know. I don't know their names.
Him- Just say Amazon.
Peer- OK, it's Amazon.
Him- What? Amazon's not a Yu-Gi-Oh dragon!! Are you stupid?
Me- (muffling laughter, trying to observe and collect data unnoticed)



Wednesday, December 01, 2004

owl-tastic

Tonight Hugsband and I saw a great horned owl right by our house!! We heard 2 others nearby but couldn't spot them. I thought about drawing a comic about it, and Hugsband said it wouldn't be very funny. I suggested drawing him pooping his pants in excitement. He found that much more entertaining. Toilet humor never fails with him.

When the owl swooped overhead, I could not believe how huge it was. Hopefully, it won't start picking off my feeder birds as they sleep. We went on an owl walk once, and the guide referred to great horned owls as the 'tigers of the skies'.

All of the Christmas lights are lit in downtown Bloomington. It's gorgeous! Pictures coming. I won't say they're coming soon. I am in the final rush of dissertation data collection and will finish next week. That's top priority these days.

Hugsband quote of the day: The next time we go to Urban Outfitters, I'm tryin' on those $140 jeans. And those suckers better fit like a dream.

p.s. He's not getting them as long as I am the bacon-bringer-homer.

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