Well hey there loyal fans, been a while. How you doin? How's the family?
Let's be real, most of you ARE my family, so really I'm just asking you to report back on how I'm doing. And that's just silly cause I'm doin' just great. Except for the fact that right now I"m typing with 9 fingers instead of 10 due to a nasty run in with a cooking knife yesterday. Don't panic, it's still attached. It's just covered in 2 inches of medical gauze and band aid. And no, it's not a princess band aid, much to my dismay.
This is why I don't cook.
Right now I'm doing everything I can to avoid my very last questions of my take home exam due Friday. I answered all except for the most beastly one, so, naturally, I'll push it off until later.
For the most part grad school is still going great, except for the fact that I have a constant dark cloud of anxiety hanging over my head most of the time. It's that constant weight of case studies, exams, projects, papers, client scheduling, SOAP notes, getting ahead on next week's stuff, etc etc etc. The biggest difference between undergrad and grad is that the stuff you do in grad school ACTUALLY matters and you're expected to just get it done. But the good thing is that the professors treat you like equals. It's tough, but extremely fair. I've said this before, but literally I've never worked so hard in my life. But it's paying off! So far I have a perfect 4.0 GPA. Is it easy? Not even close. Have a sacrificed? Absolutely. I've been sitting for so many hours in my cubicle chair doing work my butt has become flat. .
..Or maybe that's just because I don't have time to eat anymore. The whole flat butt thing could be a consequence of any combination of sitting for up to 13 hours a day in a chair, not having time to eat, and working out every day. I force myself to have time to work out at least an hour a day because that's the only time I don't feel guilty for not doing work. I gotta have a LITTLE me time!
So yesterday I stretched out the 'little' me time to a 'big' me time and went for a 13 mile run. It was fabulous. I ran all through Logan Canyon, then down to mainstreet, through campus, and all the way home. Most of the run was on trails and it felt so great to just get out of my dungeon cell-block room. I've been doing a lot of bike riding, too. Sunday I did a 40 mile bike ride and saw ...you'll never believe it....a MOOSE!
First time I've ever seen a moose in the wild. He was so incredible! I came around a corner behind a cliff, looked down into the river that went beside the road, and there he was! Just chillin' in all his moose glory. I sat on a footbridge and watched him for a while, we even looked at eachother and I'm pretty sure he gave me a "sup?" head nod. I'm so happy I finally saw one, I've been waiting for years to see a moose in the wild! I'm sure Chris is happy he won't have to embark on any more of my crazy "moose-sighting' trips through the woods...or maybe I'll continue to do them anyway. Now that I've had a taste of what it feels like to see such an awesome animal in the wild, I want to see more!
I also saw a deer. Much less impressive. Still beautiful. And the deer up here are ginormous - so much bigger than in the midwest!
Some more updates: To fully make Logan feel like home, obviously I have to do a race. So I signed up for a triathlon on July 7th (Shanna's birthday!) I"m really excited for it but it'll be sad because I'm doing it alone! I've never done a race without a team before so it'll be sad when I cross the finish line and wont' have anyone to 'race chat' with. But it's given me something to train for and focus on, so that makes me feel better. It's super short though, so I'll probably finish in about an hour and then go home and sleep. At least I'll get a t-shirt!
I also have a 5k mud run that I'm doing with my professor and some of my classmates in September. I'm REALLY excited for that. It's more an obstacle course. I've never done a purely "for fun" race so hopefully I can pipe down my competitive side just long enough to have fun with it.
And of course it wouldn't be the fall season if Chris and I didn't sign up for a marathon. We signed up for the Top Of Utah marathon in late September. And we even decided for once we're going to run it together! That'll be interesting. A 26.2 mile run with my boyfriend? What will we talk about!?
The latest, latest update is that I'm talking to a guy in salt lake city who has a Gary Fisher Trek Marlin bike for sale for $500. It's a $900 bike with the updated components he put on it, he put it up for sale for $500, I asked him to take pity on a poor grad student and come down to $300, and he came back with an offer of $400. So we'll see. I can do $400...it would just hurt. I might not be able to eat for a week. It's just a matter of:
A. How bad I want it (REAL bad)
B. How much I think I can stretch my funds (not much wiggle room there)
C. How much I think I'll use it (pretty much every day)
So I'm leaning towards yes but I don't want to jump into anything....I'm trying to be responsible here and not let my "fly by the seat of my pants" attitude take over. I've been wanting a mountain bike for over a year now, and now that Chris has a gorgeous $1500 piece of fabulous equipment sitting in his garage waiting for me to get mine...well, it adds pressure.
I'm going to say it again...I need a sponsor. Maybe I'll go door to door and ask for donations.
"Help me, I'm poor."
The thing is though, I can always justify a purchase like this, even an expensive one, because it makes me a better person. It's not like my hobby is shopping or gaming or watching movies. With triathlon and racing I get out of my room, get great exercise, see parts of the world I would never see if I just were in a car, and it's a great adrenaline rush. And it's also something I can do with my friends and Chris. I really think that the discipline I've gotten from doing races and training has carried over into all the different parts of my life. I have to have time management because if I don't get my work done, I can't for a run. I have to eat healthy because if I don't then my training flops. I have to get a lot of sleep otherwise I'll be too tired to bike.And the list goes on. So that's why I can justify any purchase of equipment...because I have the best hobby in the world.
Speaking of time management, I have to get this last question done, otherwise I won't be able to bike tonight!
More soon,
Katie
Let's be real, most of you ARE my family, so really I'm just asking you to report back on how I'm doing. And that's just silly cause I'm doin' just great. Except for the fact that right now I"m typing with 9 fingers instead of 10 due to a nasty run in with a cooking knife yesterday. Don't panic, it's still attached. It's just covered in 2 inches of medical gauze and band aid. And no, it's not a princess band aid, much to my dismay.
This is why I don't cook.
Right now I'm doing everything I can to avoid my very last questions of my take home exam due Friday. I answered all except for the most beastly one, so, naturally, I'll push it off until later.
For the most part grad school is still going great, except for the fact that I have a constant dark cloud of anxiety hanging over my head most of the time. It's that constant weight of case studies, exams, projects, papers, client scheduling, SOAP notes, getting ahead on next week's stuff, etc etc etc. The biggest difference between undergrad and grad is that the stuff you do in grad school ACTUALLY matters and you're expected to just get it done. But the good thing is that the professors treat you like equals. It's tough, but extremely fair. I've said this before, but literally I've never worked so hard in my life. But it's paying off! So far I have a perfect 4.0 GPA. Is it easy? Not even close. Have a sacrificed? Absolutely. I've been sitting for so many hours in my cubicle chair doing work my butt has become flat. .
..Or maybe that's just because I don't have time to eat anymore. The whole flat butt thing could be a consequence of any combination of sitting for up to 13 hours a day in a chair, not having time to eat, and working out every day. I force myself to have time to work out at least an hour a day because that's the only time I don't feel guilty for not doing work. I gotta have a LITTLE me time!
So yesterday I stretched out the 'little' me time to a 'big' me time and went for a 13 mile run. It was fabulous. I ran all through Logan Canyon, then down to mainstreet, through campus, and all the way home. Most of the run was on trails and it felt so great to just get out of my dungeon cell-block room. I've been doing a lot of bike riding, too. Sunday I did a 40 mile bike ride and saw ...you'll never believe it....a MOOSE!
First time I've ever seen a moose in the wild. He was so incredible! I came around a corner behind a cliff, looked down into the river that went beside the road, and there he was! Just chillin' in all his moose glory. I sat on a footbridge and watched him for a while, we even looked at eachother and I'm pretty sure he gave me a "sup?" head nod. I'm so happy I finally saw one, I've been waiting for years to see a moose in the wild! I'm sure Chris is happy he won't have to embark on any more of my crazy "moose-sighting' trips through the woods...or maybe I'll continue to do them anyway. Now that I've had a taste of what it feels like to see such an awesome animal in the wild, I want to see more!
I also saw a deer. Much less impressive. Still beautiful. And the deer up here are ginormous - so much bigger than in the midwest!
Some more updates: To fully make Logan feel like home, obviously I have to do a race. So I signed up for a triathlon on July 7th (Shanna's birthday!) I"m really excited for it but it'll be sad because I'm doing it alone! I've never done a race without a team before so it'll be sad when I cross the finish line and wont' have anyone to 'race chat' with. But it's given me something to train for and focus on, so that makes me feel better. It's super short though, so I'll probably finish in about an hour and then go home and sleep. At least I'll get a t-shirt!
I also have a 5k mud run that I'm doing with my professor and some of my classmates in September. I'm REALLY excited for that. It's more an obstacle course. I've never done a purely "for fun" race so hopefully I can pipe down my competitive side just long enough to have fun with it.
And of course it wouldn't be the fall season if Chris and I didn't sign up for a marathon. We signed up for the Top Of Utah marathon in late September. And we even decided for once we're going to run it together! That'll be interesting. A 26.2 mile run with my boyfriend? What will we talk about!?
The latest, latest update is that I'm talking to a guy in salt lake city who has a Gary Fisher Trek Marlin bike for sale for $500. It's a $900 bike with the updated components he put on it, he put it up for sale for $500, I asked him to take pity on a poor grad student and come down to $300, and he came back with an offer of $400. So we'll see. I can do $400...it would just hurt. I might not be able to eat for a week. It's just a matter of:
A. How bad I want it (REAL bad)
B. How much I think I can stretch my funds (not much wiggle room there)
C. How much I think I'll use it (pretty much every day)
So I'm leaning towards yes but I don't want to jump into anything....I'm trying to be responsible here and not let my "fly by the seat of my pants" attitude take over. I've been wanting a mountain bike for over a year now, and now that Chris has a gorgeous $1500 piece of fabulous equipment sitting in his garage waiting for me to get mine...well, it adds pressure.
I'm going to say it again...I need a sponsor. Maybe I'll go door to door and ask for donations.
"Help me, I'm poor."
The thing is though, I can always justify a purchase like this, even an expensive one, because it makes me a better person. It's not like my hobby is shopping or gaming or watching movies. With triathlon and racing I get out of my room, get great exercise, see parts of the world I would never see if I just were in a car, and it's a great adrenaline rush. And it's also something I can do with my friends and Chris. I really think that the discipline I've gotten from doing races and training has carried over into all the different parts of my life. I have to have time management because if I don't get my work done, I can't for a run. I have to eat healthy because if I don't then my training flops. I have to get a lot of sleep otherwise I'll be too tired to bike.And the list goes on. So that's why I can justify any purchase of equipment...because I have the best hobby in the world.
Speaking of time management, I have to get this last question done, otherwise I won't be able to bike tonight!
More soon,
Katie
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