Presentation

Today I'm giving my first presentation as a Ph.D. I have to admit it feels good to have those three letters and two little dots after my name.

It's a good day.

New Things

Two observations about my new world/home:

All Things Snow

Today it is snowing. According to the weatherpeople on the radio, we are experiencing snow "showers," in contrast to the snow "flurries" predicted for later in the week. At times it does resemble rain showers; it's whiter and fluffier, but people still use their umbrellas while walking in it. I haven't heard any other words used to describe the snow yet, but I'm sure there will be more (including dirty snow and *&^#%* snow that won't melt away - we won't go into all the Eskimo words for snow).

Right now...it's beautiful.

And I'm excited for the adventure-aspect. It's similar to when I moved to the middle of the desert and encountered warning signs on the highway proclaiming certain areas "Blowing Dust Areas," but WAY more fun. Snow in the eyes is distracting, but dust in the eyes really hurts. And again, snow is prettier.

Wait! I live in a real neighborhood now!

Several weeks ago I ran into a nice brother and sister on the sidewalk while I was walking our dog. The little boy was selling popcorn for the Boy Scouts, while his sister was selling cookies for the Girl Scouts. As I signed myself up for one container of popcorn and three boxes of cookies (relatively the same price, to keep things fair), I was reminded of my many years of girl-scoutery in actual neighborhoods. What a weird realization to be on the other side of the order form.

However, all things weren't completely comparable. In this case, the children were British (from London), and they live in the house that my husband has jokingly dubbed "Tara." Ah postmodernism (or whatever you'd like to call it), where the British family lives in a home reminiscent of Southern mansions in the Northeast. When I was selling cookies, the most exotic part was delivering the cookies in our little red wagon.