Another semester down

Well, yesterday was my last class day for this semester. YEAH!! here's to 3 weeks of freedom. Today, I am leaving work and going straight home (after I stop by the tailor to pick up my new pants :). I am not going to a 3 hour class after working an 8 hour day. that sounds so nice. I am going to go home, play on my computer, possibly go for a jog, maybe even take a nap. good times ahead.

I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks. there is a party, a wedding, my sister's 21st birthday, mother's day, and a trip to Vegas. that's a lot to do in 2 weeks, but i am ready to hit the ground running.

well, my classes this semester went well. The PhD program has been harder than i imagined it would be, but I just keep telling myself to take it one paper at a time. :) my professors this semester gave me a lot of information about what it is like to be a professor. It seems like you are always working towards something, which is ok with me. I like to have a goal or direction for my work. basically after you get your PhD and are hired as a tenure track professor somewhere, you have 6 years to work towards getting tenure. most universities require quite a bit in order to get tenure (which means they cant fire you). it sounds like you have to work pretty darn hard during those first 6 years to get tenure and then if you get tenure, you spend the next 6 or so years working towards becoming a senior professor. it sounds like academia is very flexible as far as the whole 9-5 thing goes, but it also seems like you have to have a lot of personal discipline to continue researching and writing in order to get things published because no one is looking over your shoulder and setting deadlines for you. Some of what they said made me feel a bit overwhelmed, but I will just keep chugging along and see what I decide to do with my PhD when i finally do get it.

I am looking forward to my summer courses. i am actually teaching the third class during my summer course. the course is human behavior and diverse populations and i am teaching the class on religious diversity. I think it will be a fun class to teach. I am thinking i might get a guest speaker. I will see.

other than that, i am still doing pretty good on the weight loss. I have lost a total of about 35 pounds now. I am learning all kinds of new weight watchers recipes. also, we are trying to eat more fish, so i am eating this crusted tillapia from costco and it is not too bad.

other fun news, michael, gabe and i had a battlestar gallactica marathon this weekend. i know it sounds crazy, but michael and i started watching it in morocco because we ran out of other stuff to watch. well, we missed the third season and now they are into the fourth, so we wanted to catch up. we watched it all weekend and now have a few more episodes left. good times. it reminds me of the lord of the rings marathon from morocco times.

well, that is all i can think of right now. keep sending us ideas about where to vacation. we are not looking to spend a lot of money, but we want to have some r and r. Let me know if you have any ideas.