Just an update. Routine procedure.

Wow, longest break between blogposts for me this year! Sorry, I have been really busy...so how about an update?

PSA went really well, and Seattle was just great. I'm so glad PSA is over but I'm also glad I went. It was good for me. Not to mention all the really good food I ate there...a sourdough smoked salmon bacon clubhouse sandwich, Manhattan clam chowder bread bowl, amazing pennoni pasta with chicken and vodka cream sauce, French food including an excellent spinach pastry, Starbucks hot chocolate (there really is a Starbucks on every corner, for those of you who have never been to Seattle), Cheesecake factory, and more...oh man. Good stuff. I especially love seafood. But the conference was great.

Then on Monday, Pie Day, my sister K had her baby! My new niece is super cute and I love holding her. My mom drove up to help out K and her husband R adjust to this whole new parenting thing. It has been great to spend time with them as well as with my other sister and her family. It was a very busy weekend with them all--busy but good! K's birthday and my mom's birthday were also last week, so it was great timing. Ceeeeellleebrate good times, come onn!

Also, I finally found a place to move to. The city where I live has two universities in it, and most of the housing contracts in the area are organized around semesters. That means most places where students live have contracts from the beginning of September through the third week of April, and they also have contracts for May through August. It's kind of weird. So since I still live in BYU-approved off campus housing, I have to move out in a month. Luckily, this past week I found a new place to live! Since I'm a grad student and I don't have to live in BYU-approved housing, it's a quaint little condo where I can just rent for a year and renew the lease as desired. I can move in any time, too, which means I don't have to worry about that one week of no-man's land that most students have to face when moving in and out of BYU-approved apartment complexes. (That's the week when they all do carpet cleaning and the like.) It'll be nice to be in my own place, with just one other person in the condo, our own private rooms (I can't believe I'm 23 and still in a shared room), and we can do whatever want with the place. Hallelujah.

Work and school keep me super busy, and I'm behind in both (yay). I'm really ready for a break; this summer can't come soon enough. Other than that, life is moving right along! More blogposts to come soon.

P.S. March Madness!! Loving basketball, and loving how well BYU is doing. Let's see how far we can go!

post PSA: post Persnickety Seattle Affirmations? er...

So, remember how I've been working my tail off for PSA for the last few months? And remember how a few days ago I drove 14 hours to Seattle to present at the 2011 PSA Conference?

Well, I'm done. =)

Yep, that's all I feel right now. No exclamation points, not in all caps, I'm just glad to be done. It feels really anticlimactic -- one of the three presenters didn't come, so it was just the two of us, and only four people came to watch the session...which means we had an hour and a half long time slot but took up only thirty minutes of it, including three questions at the end. But it was great. I'm really glad it's over.

Now to watch the basketball game...GO BYU!! Thank goodness for Fox Sports Grill right around the corner from our hotel, or we couldn't watch it!

Done with PSA, BYU game (which we better win...), and a clam chowder bread bowl for dinner tonight...yeah, that's all I need to make this a great night. =) See ya on the other side!

Hello Seattle, I am a researcher going there for PSA...

One week from now, I will be on my way to PSA in Seattle. Why? Oh yeah, because going to Conferences is good for networking and putting your research out there, not to mention getting research ideas from other people. But here it is, one week before I leave, and I feel ridiculously behind on preparation. Well, that's because I am behind...I'm struggling to run data, impute missing values, recode, etc before even analyzing the results. Ah well, it'll be worth it, right? In nine days and two hours I will be done with my presentation. I can't wait. At least I know I like Seattle! I'm looking forward to a sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder on the pier...yep, that's all I want. Some potential job opportunities would be nice, too.

Did I mention we're driving? From Provo to Seattle? Yeah. It won't be too bad, though; we've got those big BYU vans with a bunch of us riding and partying together, playing car games until we die of boredom. At least we won't miss our flight--the last time I went to Seattle with a school group, the bus was late and made us miss our flight, and we spent two full days in LAX just waiting for another flight to take us to Seattle. Now THAT was fun. Woo hoo! Sheesh, I sound like such a pessimist. Really though, as soon as I get this data to work properly for me, I will be excited. I'll be nervous to present research and have to sound smart, but it'll be great. And I do love Seattle. "Take me above your light, carry me through the night, hold me secure in flight, sing me to sleep tonight...Hello, Seattle..."