Movie Review

I just watched the movie "He's Just Not That Into You."

I hadn't heard such good things about it, just that it was 'eh'....but I *really* liked it. I really did. I just got so into the characters, and they got some really pretty good actors to do the film, who could show quite a bit of depth just with subtle expressions on their faces. I was reminded that Jennifer Connelly is SO. GOOD. I had forgotten how much I like Jennifer Aniston. I'm not a fan of Ginnifer Goodwin, but I'll admit she really had me into her character's plight, even if I don't relate to her insanity.

Was it a really smart movie? A really exciting movie? Really suspenseful? No.

But I liked it, a lot. I suspect I will think about it for the rest of the night. Have any of you seen it? Did you like it?

I will also take heart i knowing that I don't have to wonder whether a dude is into me. I have a dude. Who is really into me. And I'm into him. How lovely!

Working: Industry or Academia?

I am finally getting used to the cadence of working.

What this means is that when I get ready for bed on the weekdays, I don't think, "What? Time for bed already? And do it all again tomorrow!? Wtf, where did the time go?" I now feel like my evenings are THERE, not just ethereal slots of time that slip away before I realize it.

This also means that on weekends, I do not sleep until 11:30 or 12:30am....I am getting up around 8 or 9. This is good, because my weekends had seemed pretty useless, spent entirely in recovery, kind of like a weekend long post-work hangover. Now, I feel ready to....do stuff on weekends.

Unfortunately, for the time being, the "stuff" I should do is really work on getting my thesis finished. It's really something I've just got to get done, otherwise the time will pass and I'll eventually just give up on it. This is not allowed to happen.

So...how do I feel about work? I work in an industrial lab. This means I have a boss who really directs the overall vision of the research work that we do, which is kind of different from (my) grad school experience, where I had almost complete freedom of direction. However, I know many graduate students who are very micro-managed by their advisors and might feel there is a *decrease* in direction management when taking a job like mine. Especially though my boss directs things from on high, he does not direct from below - at a certain point, I do have almost complete freedom. I'm given a huge sub-branch of the gigantic tree of potential research, and I can do what I want in that sub-branch.

The other thing about working in an industrial lab is this -- let's face it, the economy sucks. Industrial labs of old were basically smart people fucking around the best way smart people know how to and just doing, "what if" type stuff. What was born of that? Um, Unix, awk, sed, C...the TRANSISTOR.....really awesome stuff. But now that the economy sucks, even the amazing industrial labs of old don't really do that anymore. It's much more directed; the hope is eventually what you do will help the company bottom line.

The thing is, I'm kind of fine with that. I personally have never been super comfortable in crazy-out-there research space. If you're making this industrial vs. academic decision, then I'd imagine this is one of the more important factors.

The other thing about working in industry is that I do not have to beg for money. The longer I work, the more I'm pretty excited about that. The more I realize that this is the way to go for me (at least for now). I used to really feel motivated about teaching the next level of students...wanting to do that, but now I just...feel flat in that regard. I am enjoying my job too much to care about that right now.

It all depends on what you care about. Right now, the thought of making up slides for a class, for teaching students, particularly ones who try to grade-monger, the thought of publishing endlessly and writing grants...it makes me tired. It makes me glad I'm not doing that.

There are others, of course, who would chafe under the infrastructure that I am currently under. Their eyes would glaze over when considering the business aspects of their research, the utility for how it would or could actually be deployed, drilling down to the details of making something ACTUALLY happen.

It all really depends on what you would prefer. I'm just laying it out how I see it personally.

I'm happy with my job.

Good News All Around

I have booked a trip to see Mr. Phizz, so there will be another visit between now and Labor Day.

I have gotten permission to think about setting a date for my defense.

Cheney

I've always believed this, but I'll say it again...Cheney is such a motherfucking douchenozzle.

TdF

Is anyone else enjoying the Tour de France?

Dude, it's so awesome. I'm loving it.

I want to see some fucking hammers dropping as the mountain stages continue. Yeah!!!

Now that I am working....

It alarms me to the degree that today being Friday makes me happen.

Not that I don't like work - I like it, I really do, but it's frightening how glad I am that it's Friday...however, the new cadence of how work is - 5 days of work in a row where I go to this place and work, then come home and chill out/work on thesis, then 2 days of just doing whatever...I kind of like this cadence. I am ready for this to be my new life, as opposed to the academic life where all day, every day, I was thinking about work, or thinking that I should be working.

In the meanwhile, it is fucking not easy to work on your thesis while you are working another job. This is another thing I dont' recommend!

Long Distance is Hard

Mr. Phizz, my own personal Mr. Amazing, as I've blogged about many times before, and I have been having some difficulties with the distance, because it's exacerbated by a number of things:

1. Before, when we had to deal with distance, we both went to new places. This time, I am in the new place and I have left him behind.
2. Before, we were in the same time zone. Now we are not.
3. Before, I did not have a job that demanded a lot of my attention and time. Now I do.
4. Before, we were not married, now we are. This means that a lot of logistical decisions about life affect both of us and merit discussion, whereas before I would just do what I did because it was my life and he was just my boyfriend.

All told, we are holding up well, but I do not recommend doing what we are doing. Fortunately though, in the grand scheme of things we are still good - he supports me and my job and is not blaming me for leaving him behind at all. The difficulties are just artifacts of the circumstances we are in.

I love the guy. But man, I wish he could visit me more.

Insurance and Gender Shiz

So I'm shopping around for car insurance. I'm applying for a bunch of online quotes. And a few websites (though I can't remember who), really really pissed me off.

Several, upon finding that I was married, then asked for the information on my spouse, and auto-filled the spousal last name to be the same as mine. It just struck me as strange, to see Mr. Phizz's first name paired with my last name. It made me just a little bit mad, that they made this assumption that spouses have the same last name.

Then, there was one website that actually HAD NO FIELD AT ALL for putting in the spouse last name. In other words, they had no means for me to indicate that Mr. Phizz and I have different last names. At all. I was like, wtf?

For some reason, this made me really really mad.