Just to let you know that I will be out of town this weekend and half of next week, so I will be on a blogging hiatus. I have to help my mom move this weekend and I am attending a conference next week in Indy. Can't wait until my life is back to normal and there is no more out of town engagements. Not that travel isn't nice, but not for 3 weeks straight.

So, this is the weekend where I send my childhood toys to G**dwill. In fact, I was supposed to drive up to my mom's last night, and here I am at the office today when I should be going thru the G**dwill pile right at this very moment. I better get my work done so I can get going. Be back in a week or so!

Had a great time in Boston (So proud of you Manda!) despite the rain and chill...now must never take a vacation again b/c work piles up in my absence. Blarg.

This is a very sad day, indeed. My academic advisor, mentor, and a favorite professor has turned in her letter if resignation and is packing up her office. She will be moving back to NY and taking a research assoc. position at C*rnell. When an institution of higher learning denies tenure to an outstanding scholar and well-loved professor, it defeats its very existence as an instituion of higher learning. They should change the name from F&M College to F&M Money-Making Machine. That's how it seems to me. It's a very, very, very sad day....

Okay, no more complaints about my blog if no one is going to leave comments...This will be short anyway since I have yet to prepare for my monthly evaluation and I need to get crackin'...Work is good but busy, as usual. And I can't believe it's time for another evaluation. Time passes so quickly...I can't believe I have been here 3 months next week. Crazy.

Well, I am very excited about Amanda's graduation in 2 weeks--and not just because I get to go to Boston to see her graduate. An Ode to Amanda is forthcoming, I swear, but I just wanted to say how excited I am. Amanda, I am so proud of you! I am looking forward to time spent with my second family (Mrs. P included) and since this is really the only vacation I get this year, I intend to enjoy myself. And then, the following week, I have to help my mother move into her new apartment. While I am very excited about said apt. I am not looking forward to moving all this crap again. And it forces me to move out the rest of my stuff...even tho I have no place to put it...And not only that, but I have found that it is no longer practical to save childhood toys and whatnot for the imaginary future children that Matthew or I may have. I saved all my C*bbage P*tch dolls and furniture and the B*rbie corvette, etc. and now I am going to give almost all of it to G**dwill (a very fine UW agency). I am kind of sad at having to do that but I can't store it anywhere without paying an arm and a leg to do so, nor does my mother have the space to keep it for me, and who's to say any kid will want to play with this stuff in 10 years anyway? So, I picked out my favorite ones and will have to find someplace to hide them from dog-that-destroys-all-things-soft-and-furry. Suddenly, I find myself missing my 8 year-old self...

Alright. You complain that I don't blog frequently enough and then you don't even have the decency to come and comment. Darn you! Darn you!

Ahem...Ode to my dog on her 8th Birthday...I guess Shana can now be a member of AARD (retired dogs, get it?)...anyway...to my faithful animal companion who gets fur all over my bed and ocassionally gets in my hamper (little stinker)...who is always excited to see me even when I'm only gone long enough to take out the trash...who greets me with hugs and kisses when I come home from work...who loves me unconditionally and has outlasted a number of boyfriends (and even vomitted on one of them, hee!)...who never forgets to take me on our daily W-A-L-K (I dare not say the word)...who is so kind as to "help" me cook my dinner by standing under my feet and trying to catch anything that falls...who helps me spend my hard-earned money by eating foregin objects that force me to take her to the emergency animal hospital and pay to have said object removed or be forced to place a $30 phone call to animal poison control...who is a loyal, faithful and loving pet (kid with fur) who hates baths but loves to play and makes me the crazy dog lady I am so proud to be. Happy Birthday Shana!

Ahem...An Update by Kelly...well, you know who I am already. Yes, I apologize, I am a very bad blogger. Bad Kelly, very bad Kelly. Anyway, I will spare you the reasons for my poor blogger posting habits and I will now launch into my Ode to Angie and big, huge, enthusiastic congratulations to Alissa for a job well done. 3 more years to pillow hats. Sorry I couldn't be there:< I am so very proud of you!

Ahem...Ode to Angie on her 24th Birthday (are you really that old?) Happy Birthday to the person who: remembers every foreign object eaten by my dog...always helps me with the job application process...made pet resumes for Shana (loved those)...is a tireless cheerleader...talked me thru many a moving-back-to-Lanky strategy...remembers that I love yellow roses...whose *butt* calls my cell phone and leaves funny "ketchup, please"-type messages on my voice mail...is also a crazy dog lady like me...writes down predictions for the last 3 HP books and tells me all about them on a train ride to the F**ld Museum in Ch*cago...spontaneously decides she wants to make homemade soap in the Br*dy B*nch kitchen at 11:30 at night...shares almost all the same fun, fearless feminist values I do. Happy Birthday sister of the heart! I love you!