Since some of you will be interested to know the status of the various applications I’ve made–which will determine where we will move to in May–we’ve put a ‘Application Status’ feature in the sidebar. We’ll post news as it arrives and you can use the sidebar feature as a ‘at-a-glance’ reference. Once we’ve finally made a decision, we’ll post it here.
Archive for December, 2005
… Canada in the winter! (You probably thought I was going to say ‘Christmas’ didn’t you…) We made it safe and sound late Wednesday night. We spent yesterday with nephews Owen and Simon, and then had our family Christmas get together last night (my family). We’ll be busy over the next few days seeing friends and family, giving and receiving gifts, etc. Hopefully things slow down a little next week so that we can relax a little as well.
Two bits of news: First, I received my first offer of admission the other day from St. Andrews (yes, that St. Andrews). This is a little early. I don’t expect to hear from other schools until at least the end of February.
Second, I just received word that I’ve had a paper proposal accepted for a conference on development ethics… in Uganda! So, we may be going to Africa in the summer (the conference is in late-July). We’re not sure yet. We’ll probably be in a better position to make travel plans once we know where we’ll be going next year.
… Canada in the winter! (You probably thought I was going to say ‘Christmas’ didn’t you…) We made it safe and sound late Wednesday night. We spent yesterday with nephews Owen and Simon, and then had our family Christmas get together last night (my family). We’ll be busy over the next few days seeing friends and family, giving and receiving gifts, etc. Hopefully things slow down a little next week so that we can relax a little as well.
Two bits of news: First, I received my first offer of admission the other day from St. Andrews (yes, that St. Andrews). This is a little early. I don’t expect to hear from other schools until at least the end of February.
Second, I just received word that I’ve had a paper proposal accepted for a conference on development ethics… in Uganda! So, we may be going to Africa in the summer (the conference is in late-July). We’re not sure yet. We’ll probably be in a better position to make travel plans once we know where we’ll be going next year.
Barb and I head north tomorrow for 2 weeks. Aside from the sloppy weather forecast, we are anticipating a good time with family and friends. It should be a good time of relaxation, away from the pressure of deadlines. Maybe I’ll get a chance to catch up on some recreational reading.
By the way, if you’re wondering what happened with the Extreme Makeover–Home Edition outing… it never happened. The weather ended up being terrible and the friends we were supposed to catch a ride with didn’t want to venture out into the cold and rain. Sorry to disappoint, but there’s no story to tell.
Letdown #1 (The first of probably several yet to come)
Published December 14, 2005 Uncategorized Leave a CommentIf you don’t deal well with rejection, then academia is probably not the place for you. Rejection is a common experience for academics; from having your ideas rejected by your peers to having papers rejected by journals and conferences and applications rejected by the bodies to which you are applying. That being said, rejection still sucks, even for academics. Which is why I was disappointed to find out today that I will not be receiving one of the applications for which I applied: the Commonwealth Scholarship.
Actually, the Commonwealth Scholarship process is a two-stage process. First, your application is considered by your home country (in my case, Canada) for nomination to the host country (in my case, the UK). I never made it past the first stage. Apparently the competition was quite stiff; to be polite, the rejection notice included the paltry acceptance rate of applicants. Such information is meant to make you feel better about being turned down, but it rarely (if ever) accomplishes that end.
Oh well… I’m not distraught about it. I still have many ‘irons in the fire’, so to speak, and I still feel quite confident about my chances at some very good schools. Nevertheless, I would rather have been accepted than not. Maybe next time…
I dropped the last of my PhD applications in the mail this morning. That means the ‘waiting game’ has begun. I should start hearing back by late-February/early-March. We’ll see how it goes. I feel pretty strong about my application, but you never know… There’s a significant element of this process that is beyond any control.
Barb is a little more anxious to hear back than I am. She wants to start making plans and preparing for the move. Certainty always provides some measure of security. I don’t have much time to be anxious. I still have some significant things to do before I can start thinking about the next phase, things like finishing the current phase! Speaking of which, my thesis is coming along just fine. I’ve drafted three chapters and will probably finish a fourth (and hopefully final) chapter next week. I’m meeting with my advisor on Thursday to get some feedback on 2 and 3.
The fall term has ended here, which means 6 weeks of few ‘official’ obligations. (I do plan to get some work done on my thesis.) We head north on the 21st for a 2 week stay. After the ice last week, we’ve been reminded why we don’t like Niagara winters. Although I’m looking forward to seeing family and friends, I’m not looking forward to the ice and snow.
Dave told me the other day that I would make a bad reporter, because I always post on our blog a week or two after the event has actually happened! So I said to him that maybe if he started paying me and it was more like a job for me then I would be more on top of posting. He didn’t go for it!
Anyway I am posting for the week of November 27 to December 4.
I think I left off on my previous post on Departure Day (Nov 27). Well Dave’s sister Jessica flew back to Texas with me and met up with her husband Mike and Dave at the airport. We drove the long way around Houston (a wrong turn was taken) and then finally made it into College Station. We attempted to go for Mexican but the restaurant was closing in 20 minutes so we decided to go to “Chicken Oil”. This place is a converted gas station and has really good food. On Monday we–minus Dave (who had to be at school)–took on “Post Oak Mall”. Mike and Jess were looking for a few Christmas gifts to buy and I, of course, never turn down a trip to the mall! We met Dave for dinner at “Freebirds”, an amazing Burrito place. Tuesday, we all went to campus for a tour, and Dave told us stories and traditions of A&M. That evening we met with some of our friends for dinner at “Koppe Bridge” for burgers and Texas Toothpicks, which is deep fried onions and jalapenos and, of course, they’re always dipped in ranch dressing. Mmmmmmm. So good. Wednesday we did a bit more shopping and we watched alot of episodes of “The Family Guy”. We ate at a great mexican restaurant called “Gina’s”, and played cards into the evening. Thursday morning came quite early because Mike and Jess took the 5.30am shuttle to Houston for their trip home. We had a great time with them, ate alot and laughed alot too.
Dave and I only had a few days to rest and get the place cleaned up and the sheets washed before more company would arrive. Abe and Eleanor came on Saturday at about 3pm. They had flown in to San Antonio and drove the 3 hours to our place. We had a great time with them too. I made a roast chicken in a milk and lemon sauce (from Jamie Oliver’s cookbook) along with Goats cheese mashed potatoes, beans, corn and a grilled salad! Everything was delicious even the ice cream from “Marble Slab Creamery”. We took a tour of the campus and saw Dave’s office, and went for lunch to a great fish taco place called “La Bodega”. Abe and Eleanor left at about 4pm Sunday afternoon! A Short and Sweet visit!
Now Dave and I are relaxing and getting the place back to normal.
Now for some up to date activities that have gone on! This past weekend we helped with a Habitat for Humanity project where we laid floor tile with several of our friend from church. We finished the whole house by 11.30am. That evening we attended Dave’s Department Christmas Party. It was a good time, with not as much Philosophy talk as I thought there would be!
And just to give you the heads up for next weekend, we will be helping with the final clean up for Extreme MakeOver – Home Edition!
And now you have the reporter’s edition of the past few weeks of our lives!
We’re having freak weather these days. (Well, freak weather for Texas.) We woke up this morning to icicles hanging from the trees and roof. It had rained overnight and then froze. Our parking lot looks like one big ice rink. Schools are closing down for the morning. The cold snap started yesterday and is supposed to run until tomorrow.
Don’t believe me? See for yourself.
This is all very bizarre. On Saturday, it was 30C/86F — 30 degrees! Yesterday and today it has hovered around freezing, but by Saturday, it’s supposed to go back up to 18C/65F! We’re on a temperature roller coaster here…
Well I’m back in Texas after 10 days in Ontario! I left on November 17th and spent most of my time there shopping. I am proud to say that 95% of my Christmas shopping is finished. The gifts are all wrapped, labled, and in the closet waiting for family gatherings.
I spent a few days with Kim and Sean and their new baby Kate! Those few nights were great and I didn’t hear Kate wake up in the night. Sean made some great food and smoothies and we enjoyed some great wine. Kim and I did alot of shopping, we also ventured out to Ikea in the Mini Cooper! What a great Car, and so fun to drive. We caught ourselves several times going over 140kms and when we slowed down to 120kms it felt like we were crawling. I have to get me one of those!
Then I packed up my bags and moved to Jon and Karen’s house for the night. I played with my 32lb, 8 month old nephew, Sam. He is so cute and happy (and heavy!) Oh, Saturday, I had dinner at Jeff and Becky’s house and played with their boys Owen and Simon. (I don’t have any pictures yet, sorry!) Owie and I played in the basement for a long time while Simon was sleeping and Becky was making dinner!
Our Girls Weekend began Friday morning with Champane and Orange juice. Debbie (mom) made awesome Belgian Waffles, to be topped with vanilla custard sauce, strawberries, chocolate and caramel sauce and real maple syrup. She also made bacon and a Fritatta. Everything was so good. Once all was cleaned up we went to MAC cosmetics, where each of us girls were given $25 to spend on what ever we wanted. I bought 2 eye shadows “Malt” and “Sumptious Olive”. After that we went to have our nails done. I got a manicure and they said my nails were too short for a “French” (white tips) so I decided on a pinky-red colour and the name was, ironically “Nice Colour Eh?” No kidding. Then we went back to the house and watched a movie called “Wide Awake”. Then we got dressed up and a Limo picked us up at 6.30 to go out for dinner in Burlington. Mom made a bunch of appetizers for the long drive in the limo and we brought a bottle of Champane and made several toasts. We ate at a restaruant called “Sonzi”. The food was great and so was the company!
Saturday morning, I was a lucky recipient of a massage from Becky. Then, later in the afternoon mom made some old favorite food (from when her kids were little). We made crackers and dill dip, and carmel popcorn. While doing this we drank a unique drink called “Skip and Go Naked”. It consisted of Pink Lemonade concentrate, a bottle of beer, and vodka, blended with ice. What a great little drink! We watched another movie “The Notebook” and then ate dinner: Lemongrass Stuffed Pork Tenderloin, Bacon and Brussel Sprouts, Yams and Garlic and Lindor Chocolates for dessert. it was another wonderful day!
Sunday was departure day.
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