I'm No. 1!!!

Woohoo!  I'm the first of my cohort to be graduating!  Yea me!!  I think I'll reward myself with a caviar dinner :)  ...when I have time... :-\  for now I want to reward myself with sleep.

Snack time!

I realized that when I'm hungry my first thought is savory foods and when I'm in a munchy mood my first thought is salty fried food, like chips or popcorn (which can be healthy if air-popped).  What I started doing recently is taking almonds with me everywhere (when I remember) and just munching on a couple almonds when I get hungry or anxious.  I need to buy celery and take celery stick with me too.  I'm better about healthy munching when I'm at work rather than at home.  I think I need to take it a step further and place my healthy snack food on my desk at home rather than on my dresser, it needs to be somewhere where I can easily see it.  Problem is I have a small writing desk that barely fits my laptop and Kindle and I hate cluttered work spaces.  I'll have it figure it out somehow...  Well, time for bed!

Do not disturb!

I love using the do not disturb function on the iPhone! I love it maybe a little too much. Recently I've been putting my phone on do not disturb for half the day at a time, (yikes!) on top of the usual do not disturb between 11pm-7am…I have a self-centered friend who doesn't quite grasp the functions of e-mail and texting...  I think it's great that we use all the functions of our phone and not be disturbed by texts, calls, Facebook notifications, tweets, etc.  Thank you Apple, for do not disturb :)

Regressing to childhood

I'm such a type A, I made behavior stamp cards for myself to encourage myself to eat at home more often.  I made the card (picture below) using the business card template in Word.  I deleted all the extra text boxes and left only two: "Behavior:" and "Reward:" for reminding yourself what it is your working on and towards, respectively.  Then I added five circles to the top and bottom borders using the shape tool.  After 10 stamps I get a reward!  Not sure what the reward will be yet.  Let's see if it'll work in modifying my behavior :)

Hooray for Curfew!!

I'm glad Curfew won for best live-action short.  Not happy about Paperman winning for best animated short.  I was hoping The Gruffalo's Child or Head over Heels would win but I kind of knew they wouldn't.  The Simpsons: Maggie Simpson in the Longest Daycare was good too, hilarious if you're a Simpsons fan :)  I went to my first Oscar party tonight, it was nice.  Maybe after I graduate I'll have time more things like that...you know, stuff normal people do.  If the Oscar nominated shorts are still playing in your town, go see them!

Reliving childhood joys can be painful

Well, I am definitely not as good with a paddle ball as I used to be, and I have the marks to prove it.

She's from Birmin'ham, way down in Alabam'

I have this song stuck in my head:


thanks to this video game for the Wii U:


Here is an early recording of Black Betty sung by a Texas chain-gang:


And another one, with an interesting...though mostly unintelligible conversation, due to the poor quality of the recording, at the end:

Progress

Today I was asked if I wanted to order food from a certain restaurant for dinner or if I'd do something else for dinner. Ordinarily I'd order the food and then feel bad afterwards (physically and psychologically) for eating the food. But today I remembered how I felt and thought maybe I shouldn't. So I didn't! I'm proud of myself. Making behavioral changes bit by bit!

Lists

Ok, so like I said yesterday, I always seem to fall a couple items short of my to-do list.  Here are tips I found.

This is an interesting way to look at the to-do list, I used to use both a to-do list and a weekly schedule...been slacking on the calendar:
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/to-do_lists_dont_work.html

But, my problem isn't that I don't have the time, it's that I lose steam after lunch...

Helpful, but not sure it's exactly my problem, I mean as a PhD there is definitely a fear of criticism, but I'm not really that hung-up over it as I know a lot of other students are:
http://99u.com/tips/7062/Why-Cant-I-Finish

Last one:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-to-create-a-to-do-list-that-makes-you-smile.html

Focus

Why do I always fall couple items short of my to-do list?!  So frustrating!  Here are some tips that bear repeating:

Not sure why this one is specific to ADHD...seems like tips anyone could use, of course I also have a hard time believing so many people have ADHD in our society...seems a little too much like greed from multiple sides:

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20480962,00.html

I didn't understand the point of multiple desktops when I got my new Mac, but then I started using it to easily switch from my fun desktop to my work desktop when I'd hear my advisor approaching and now I see the light:

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57481580-285/seven-smart-tricks-to-stay-focused-on-schoolwork-and-projects/

:(

Ugggghhhh didn't make progress on my dissertation today, though I did get feedback from my advisor.

Umm...I don't recall inviting you...

Yesterday I spent some time with my mom's friend's daughter.  I'm not really friends with her but we saw each other a lot as kids since our moms are good friends.  Man, that girl is hard to shake!  She said she didn't want to spend the whole day together because she had work and I said that was great, because I couldn't either, but then she kept dragging it on and on.  Every time I tried to make my escape she would tag along!  She even started planning a trip for the two of us together.  When I said I was planning on going to South America after graduation she said she's not interested and instead we should go to Central Asia together.  Umm... I don't recall inviting you...

Gift Cards

Well, I'm following one resolution, and using my gift cards more and not hoarding them.  I used up two gift cards!  I have three more stores left: Macy's, Body Shop, and Ross.  I think I'll buy perfume from Macy's when I run out.  Not sure what to buy from the other two stores.

Refund!!!!

Taxes done!  Woohoo!

Valentine's Day

Had a nice Valentine's day :)

Randomness

Lucky day!  I woke-up 20min late and still made my train!  Only to waste my day at work doing mindless crap... :-\

Oh, and Dean still hot even in stupid hipster glasses.  And, I'm glad we finally got to see what hell-hounds look like in Supernatural, but not impressed with their hell-hounds.  They should have taken a page out of Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of Baskervilles.

Sugoi!

The time is close, boys and girls :)  I ordered my grad gear and diploma frame.  Also, submitted an revise and resubmit!  I refuse to call it and R & R because I want to continue associating R & R with rest & relaxation, not revise & re-submit.

Waste of time!

My advisor wanted me to sit in on a class...for god knows what reason, but I'm so close to being done, I don't want to start a war, so I'm sitting in when I have time...not that I have a lot of time and today I wanted to finish revisions on another chapter and apply for jobs...but that didn't happen.  Anyway, so I sit in on the class and it's a waste of time!  Shocking!!!  I mean there was some useful information, but not 3 hours worth, not to mention time wasted commuting back and forth for that class.  Ugggghhh!!!!!

Impromptu alfredo pasta recipe

I was getting hungry and had less food in the fridge than I thought.  So I made do with what I had (need to go shopping tomorrow) and it turned out really good!  I made pasta with a modified alfredo sauce.  Here's the recipe, I never use exact measurements so just eyeball it.

Sauce:

Almond milk

Goat cheese with honey from Trader Joe's

Kraft parmesan cheese

Mozzarella string cheese

Roasted turkey breast slices from Trader Joe's

Start by pouring the almond milk in a saucepan then mix everything else in there, let it simmer while stirring so as not to let the sauce burn.  After the pasta has finished cooking and you've drained the water, throw the pasta in the saucepan and mix everything together.  Serve and enjoy! :)

The Booth at the End

I finished watching season 2 of the Booth at he End.  It's nice how there are only five 22 min. episodes in each season, so I easily marathoned the whole second season.  I think I like this season better than season one because we got to find out a little bit more about the man and the book.  Both seasons are available on Hulu and only take less than 2 hours each.  The show asks one basic question, "how far would you go for the thing you want most?"

Here are some articles about the show:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Booth_at_the_End
Huffington post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/billrobinson/the-new-twilight-zone-boo_b_1733356.html

Being Human

It's sick how in our society we don't even have time to be human, to have emotions, and work through things.  I had planned a day to deal with everything that has been happening recently but family and life  got in the way and it didn't happen.  So today without me wanting it, it just happened.  I even told my bf I should stay home and just deal with it but he doesn't listen and instead suggested I go out.  Well, that was a horrible mistake.  I was down all day and all I wanted was to just be at home curled up in my bed with a box of kleenex and maybe some TV background noise.

Expense Journal

I've finished my expense journal!  Now to go back and observe patterns in my spending and try to spend less.  I'll update when the analysis is over.

Bleeeeehhhhhh!!!!!!!

Why is it that when I'm so close to finishing my weekly to-do list I run out of steam and become unfocused?!  I haven't made any progress on that chapter :(  I've just been doing other work for my advisor (not difficult work) and wasting time cleaning out my inboxes for my campus and personal e-mail addresses, organizing files in my Dropbox, catching up on Once Upon a Time (I was only 1 episode behind), reading the school paper, and playing sudoku.  Now I'm sleepy because I woke up earlier than usual today.  I don't want caffeine because then I won't be able to sleep tonight.  Bleh!!!  At least Supernatural will be on tonight...

Almost there!

I'm finally almost caught up with everything!!  This has been a crazy couple of months but things are finally settling down for me and I'm almost caught up with everything, just one more chapter to revise and send to my advisor and then I can focus more on my job search :D

Getting Organized!

Wow!  I'm impressed I got through my to-do list for today!  Monthly resolution to manage my time better is off to a good start!  Also, I finished watching Little Mosque!  Nice show!

More academic frustrations

So my advisor sends an e-mail to another grad student and me saying that we should sit in on a class because those types of analyses we would need for our dissertation........... Really??????  You mean the dissertation I've already written multiple drafts of???

Relatives

It's interesting seeing relatives you haven't seen in over a decade

One-sentence journal

I can't believe it's been a year since I've started my one-sentence journal!  I've written in it everyday for a year!  That is a record for me.  It's interesting to read what I wrote a year ago and remember where I was then and see where I am now.

Now on to something different: