Proud Owner

One thing I love about being a poor grad student in a college town is that several of my friends are also poor grad students as well. We all experience similar frustrations; no money, heavy work loads, dirty dishes, trying our best to eat well, living in dumpy apartments, experiencing one disappointment after another and somehow just trying to stay sane. We don't have a lot of money and so we become pretty creative. We consign clothes, diligently return cans for the deposits, share groceries, collect coupons, look for sales, walk and bus so as not to put miles on our cars.

When I first moved to town, I met a friend who was willing to barter with me: food for babysitting. She prepared and froze meals for me-- I played with her child. There was no need for money. It worked well for both of us. Recently, she asked me to watch her son again while she and her husband went out. Upon return, she offered the following for payment: cash or their canoe.

I am now the proud owner of a fiberglass canoe. For all intents and purposes (registration) it is handmade. I can't tell you much more than it is a seaworthy green fiberglass canoe, approx 15 feet long with newly caned seats. When I asked why they wanted to part with it, they said because the canoe had trouble steering. They must have seen the look of confusion on my face and so continued to clarify that the canoe had trouble steering ...with two people...with alpha personalities. Enough said.

Storage? I can just keep it on top of my car, right? Year-round?

Generously, I've had offers of storage space that I might take advantage of. Of course, we've had unseasonably warm weather yesterday and today that would be perfect for testing the boat. However, the temps are going to turn and we will probably see our first snow in the next week. But when winter is over... I'm going to have a boat waiting for me!

foreshadowing

I have a final exam and a meeting with my adviser tomorrow. So happy I will be after 4:30 tomorrow!

Sometimes all you can do is laugh

Oops. I sometimes hate auto correct... and the realization that I didn't scrutinize my own work as well as I needed to. At least it made me laugh and not take myself so seriously today!

One of my favorite parts of my daily walk

Bath Time

The garden gnomes got a once a year bath. They worked very hard in the garden this season. I'm proud of them. With the advent of fall, the garden has closed. I will admit that my efforts waned in August. Once my car died, and the weather became hot and rainy, I just didn't make it to the garden but every other week or so. Despite their best efforts, the gnomes could not keep up with the weeds. I was able to harvest basil and delicious tomatoes, but really, by the end, the garden looked unkempt. The next garden will be smaller, closer to my home and will have a more reasonable square foot to gnome ratio.

Latest

Why do insurance companies cover drugs but not massages?

I'm not naive and can probably answer that on my own. But, still it is frustrating.

I opted not to take meds at this time.

Midterms are approaching and I hate it when professors reschedule midterms that were going to be in the evening for two hours to a take-home exams over a weekend in which you planned to visit friends.

Rigor

An acquaintance who graduated from the program with an MA left to finish his PhD at school in the South. I asked him how the new program was going for him. He smiled and said, "The program is not as rigorous as the program here. I feel like I might loose my edge."

It just confirmed what I thought. The program here is challenging, demanding, and there are certainly easier ways to go about getting this degree-- but here I am.