random phone pictures

I tried to capture the coolness of the view out my kitchen window this morning, but my phone camera just didn't cut it, and my good camera's battery was dead.  The rain/fog was really awesome, and then there was this strip of blue sky below it, and below that you could see San Francisco.  I'll try again sometime, now that my battery's charged.

A car parked on the street right by my house.

Pelicans.  Chillin'.
(See the guy perched on top of the outhouse structure?)

An awesome display in someone's front yard as I walked home from campus the other day.  In retrospect, I totally should have played with the dinosaurs and signed the guest book.  Probably would have made some kid's day.

I'm really tired, but I don't know if I can sleep yet.  I had a really productive day, despite the fact that the amount of time I spent working was fairly short.  I heard back from the IRB (finally!) and I don't have too much to change about my dissertation study before it gets approved and I can start collecting data.  So I did all my revisions and re-submitted my protocol, and I'm hoping I can start collecting data in November!!  Wow, I typed that and then realized it needed an extra exclamation point, because it hadn't really sunk in yet, but that is really exciting!

I also roped an undergraduate research assistant in to recording the voice stimuli for my experiments, and we set a time to meet later this week, and my friend who's drawing my picture stimuli is hard at work on them, so they should be ready to go in the next week, too.  I also managed to do a little bit of writing today, and am hoping to have my methodology chapter done (or at least in working order) by the end of this month.

We lost our softball game tonight, but I was still really proud of us.  We played totally respectably against The Best Team in our league (they actually recruit players... ugh) and had a pretty good time, too.

And then I walked all the way home (it's a bit of a hike from the softball field), and some of the packages I ordered with birthday gift cards had arrived.  Yay new dishes and silverware!  And then I read through a dissertation chapter written by a friend of mine, because she needed feedback by tomorrow.

So now it's time for bed, and sleep, hopefully, and an early start tomorrow.  What a day!  Good night.

delirious conversation with myself

me: You know what will be nice?

me: Lots of things, but I think I know which one you're referring to, me.

me: Yeah, I'm thinking about Thursday night when this dissertation prospectus is turned in.

me: True.  Actually, I was thinking about Friday morning, when you don't have to get up at 4:00 am and write about syllables.

me: You're right, me.  I'm not sure which one will be nicer.

me: You know, maybe you should go to bed, since it's only 8:40 pm and you're already typing up a conversation with yourself on your blog.

me: Yeah, probably.  Guess that Boston pictures post will have to wait until later this week.  Good night.

I'm only 27.

And yet I've apparently turned into one of those old people who wakes up at 4:00 am after about 5 hours of sleep.

I did not intend to get back on a schedule that includes waking up at 4:00 am every morning, but that seems to be the inevitable result of not being able to force myself to get work done after 6:00 pm.  I worked on stuff for nearly 14 hours straight yesterday (ok, maybe only 4:30 am to 6:00 pm), and then partially against my better judgment went out to my favorite bar in Berkeley and played Boggle.

And then I woke up at exactly 4:00 this morning (without setting an alarm for then, mind you) and laid in bed for 2.5 hours thinking about stuff.  And then I remembered that I had leftover pancake batter in the fridge and a Portuguese test today, and I obviously wasn't sleeping any more anyway, so here I am.  Pancakes and blogging at dawn, which is only 7:00 am these days.  (The end of Daylight Saving Time will be nice in that respect.)

I'm going to see the San Francisco Orchestra tonight, and I hope I can get a nap in before then.  If not, then I should be able to sleep in tomorrow and/or Sunday before I head to San Diego for a few days.

San Diego!  And Boston!  In 2 days!  Ooh, I should remember to pack my camera.

Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right.  Time to start my day for real.