Too long

I was looking at the calendar today and it seems it has been over 2 weeks since my last post. Well, that is way too long and I have 2 excuses for this. 1: we went on vacation. YEAH! 2: I have been crazy busy with school.

Excuse #1: New Orleans vacation

We went to New Orleans (our first time) for chris and dana's wedding. new orleans is a very, very crazy city. the dj at the wedding said, you know how people say "what happens in vegas stays in vegas", well "what happens in new orleans, no one remembers". it is pretty true. everywhere you look, people are drinking, no matter what time of the day it is. you can drink on the street there, so everywhere you go all day, you can see people drinking. There were tons of bars that had signs saying "drinks to go". how crazy is that? well, we had a chance to hang out with some old childhood friends and it was great. i actually joined the boys for the bachlor party since i have known chris (the groom) since we were young kids. it was pretty fun, they didnt do anything too disgusting. on friday, we went for a bbq dinner at chris and dana's new home. they bought it after katrina and it was basically totally gutted out. so, they have rebuilt it from scrach and it looks amazing. Congrats you two!! the wedding on saturday was tons of fun. the ceremony was beautiful and chris cried like a baby. how sweet is that? there was great dancing, excellent food, tons of drinks and great friends and family. all that makes for a damn good wedding. now, the best part of this story (one that will be told for many, many, many years to come). so, chris and dana decide to leave their wedding reception in a 72 pontiac lemans that chris has been restoring over the years. the engine sounds beautiful. well, they get to the hotel and it seems that chris burned some rubber in front of the hotel and got arrested. they took him to jail in his tux and all in front of his bride (still in wedding dress). it was insane!! well, after a lot of drama, he finally got back to the hotel around 4 in the am. it seems that they couldnt even charge him with anything. he wasnt drunk or anything. they just gave him a ticket for reckless driving. I think it was so wrong of them to take him to jail on his wedding night when he didnt even do anything they can charge him for. anyway, all is well that ends well. chris and dana are now happily off on their honeymoon. we had a blast guys and we wish you both the best.
the rest of our time in new orleans was spent sight seeing and eating some soul food. it was quite delicious food. we got to see a bunch of art galleries and lots of street performers. it is a very old city with a lot of great history. we bought some spices and some art. overall it was a fantastic trip.

Excuse #2: phd school

so, i knew phd school would be challenging, but i guess i really underestimated the challenge. if you know me well, you know that i can handle a lot of things, but one thing that is quite hard for me is that feeling of being overwhelmed. well that is how i have felt the past few weeks. i am only taking 2 classes on monday and tuesday nights after work, but i am still working full time and attempting to make time for some fun (ie: vacation and musicals and stuff). well i have a 20 page literature review due on monday and a debate project due on tuesday. i also am way behind in my readings since i have been working on these projects. i am certain that this entire weekend will be spent studying, but i am ok with that as long as i can get it all done. i have been working hard each night after work so hopefully this weekend will be enough time to finish it all up. anyway, the classes are going well. i just think i need to readjust my expectations as to how much time i need to spend studying each day. i am sure it will work out, but i guess becoming a dr. is much harder than i originally thought. :) anyway, send smart and efficient thoughts my way this weekend.

what else can i tell you all about? oh yeah, we went to see the lion king on sunday after returning from new orleans. we went with my parents and gabe and a friend of his. it was a good time. i really enjoyed the show. they had some amazing costumes for all the animals and the songs were great too. good times. well, i am off to continue working. i will attempt to post more often.

PhD 101

Yesterday in class, we learned about a gazillion things in a 3 hour time period. It was quite a whirlwind. Basically our professor went over a ton of information in an outline format and told us to figure out the information to detail the outline from our book. It was definitely overwhelming, but that is OK. I am sure i will figure this out, shwiya bi shwiya (as they would say in Morocco, which means little by little in English). One thing that really interested me in yesterday's class was this idea of evidence based social work practice. Social work is a fairly young profession. It is just recently that there has been more research done on the effectiveness of social work interventions. so, the new idea in social work follows the medical model of requiring evidence of effectiveness before implementing an intervention. for instance, if a social worker has a new patient who is a young child suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) due to being abused, then the social worker must search the evidence available for the best treatment option for such a client. in the past, social workers just did what they were taught in school. But, now with the new evidence and research base, there is the opportunity to truly see which interventions are most effective and then implement those with clients. I definitely don't think this is a new idea, but i like that it is being so widely discussed now in the field of social work. I think that ethically, it is crucial for social workers to practice interventions that have been proven to be effective. well, that is phd 101 for today. :)

this weekend was great. We went to austin for matt and hayley's wedding at the salt lick. the bbq food was delicious and the wedding was tons of fun. we danced, caught up with some old friends, spent some good time with family. it was good fun. It was a short, but very fun trip. it was really nice to catch up with some old friends from high school. we are all getting married now. it is quite crazy how we are all grown up. :) when we got home sunday afternoon, we basically spent the rest of the evening studying. not so fun, but necessary, i guess. :)

This week at work is looking to be pretty busy, but that is ok. It makes the time go by faster. I am looking forward to next weekend. We don't have any big plans, but I have a ton of studying to be doing before we head to New Orleans the next weekend. :) yeah for new orleans!! I cant wait. I am also hoping to get some decorations on our walls this weekend. keep your fingers crossed on that one, we have been trying for some time now.

well, i am off to class again. i will let you know how it goes.

Is there an absolute truth?

In class yesterday, we had many different discussions, but the one that I enjoyed the most was the question, is there an absolute truth? I do not think there is an absolute truth in most cases. One example where this is an absolute truth in my opinion is if i see a child actually get hit or abused, then I can say with all certainty that they were abused if i was asked to testify in court. But, i do believe that theories and ideas change so often and easily that is very hard to state in most circumstances that there is an absolute truth. One woman in class stated that she believes the existence of god is an absolute truth. I do not agree with her because some people do not believe in god, so who is to say for sure that this is an absolute truth. she said that all of mankind will know one day (i am guessing the day the world ends) that there is a god and this is an absolute truth. anyway, it was quite an interesting conversation. The PhD program is definitely quite a bit of work, but i am really enjoying the class discussions. it is stimulating my mind in way that i have not felt for some time and i like that.

well, this weekend was tons of fun. 3 days off, you can never go wrong with that. i got some studying done, which was great. Michael and I also finished watching the first season of Heroes, since we missed it while we were in Morocco. It was a really great show. It really makes you think about all the possibilities in this world. I also think they did a really good job of getting the audience involved and concerned for the characters. I am looking forward to the second season starting soon. Sunday night, we got some dinner with Marla. it was a great time. it was nice to talk about the uncertainties in life. Michael, Marla, and I are all uncertain about what we want to do career wise. she is currently looking for a new job and both Michael and i are constantly talking about what the future holds for us. anyway, it was nice to hear someone else's point of view. then, we crashed at my parents house and enjoyed a full day of swimming and eating on Monday. Gabe, Lucy and Raymond (my parent's friends) came over and we had a great day. we also got to take home some of the delicious leftovers. thanks mom and dad. :) it was a great weekend and it was quite hard to come back to work yesterday. but, i will say at least it is a 4 day work week. :)

this weekend, we are heading to Austin for Matt and Hayley's wedding. It will be fun to catch up with some old friends. i also have some serious studying to continue doing, but i have a feeling that is going to be true from this point forward. :) well, I will post again soon. see you later.