anthony's graduation!

so, today, I woke up super early and drove 400 miles to surprise my brother, Anthony, for his graduation from college. he thought I was only coming for the party on Saturday, but I figured that I should come for the actual ceremony as well. I knew the day was going to go well because I was listening to NPR in the morning, the Diane Rehm show was talking about the book Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, which is my most favorite book. so that was nice. there wasn't too much traffic so I made pretty good time, and got here just minutes before my brother showed up. he was definitely surprised. the graduation itself was fairly boring (of course), but I'm glad I was there. :)

Anthony's Graduation

earlier in the week (and last weekend), I was puppy-sitting Steve and Keely's new puppy Bella and their dog Jasmine. it was a lot of work (that mostly involved cleaning up "accidents" and entertaining the hyper puppy) but Bella is so cute it didn't really matter.

Bella, the puppy

puppy!

I started my new research with my new advisor in the college of education this week. I have another office, this time on the other end of campus, complete with a door and an actual window! (for those keeping count, I officially have three offices right now, but starting in the fall, I am giving two of them up so I just have this one.) the work is really interesting and it's a good project to be working on. also, my new advisor is great. I've been working a lot, he expects a lot, but that's good; I will get a lot out of it.
this weekend I am puppy-sitting! steve and keely got a new puppy yesterday so jasmine would have someone to take care of, so I will be at their house for the next few days making sure little bella is doing well. she's sooo cute. just about all the astronomy people are going to a conference in hawaii so I'm really jealous, but at least I have a puppy to play with instead. :)

end of the semester

so, after taking my final this morning (for the easy stats class I was taking), I am officially done with the semester. I really can't believe I've been here for almost three years. that feels like a long time. and parts of it have dragged on, but some days it feels like I was just at UCSD last week. anyway, the semester being over means that the summer is here, which means it's going to be ridiculously hot again soon. like next weekend. yesterday was probably the last day it will be under 90 degrees until October. yuck.

as for my masters, it was officially when I turned in my thesis to get bound at the bookstore on thursday. they handed me my receipt, and said, this is your temporary diploma. hilarious. I swear, graduating is a form of extortion. I had to pay so much money just to get it. really annoying. but, yay, I finished! my phd program is starting basically now. I am meeting with my advisor on wednesday. it never stops.