passed!

its been a busy last month! the most recent news is that i passed my dissertation defense last friday...and it wasn't because my committee members were playing an april fools joke on me! the defense went well. after getting over a fear that began the morning of that i would have a brain dump of everything i had learned in the last 4 years 5 seconds into my talk, every thing went smoothly. there was some good discussion with my committee members and then the asked me to leave the room so they could discuss amongst themselves whether i should pass or not. about 5 minutes later they invited me back in to tell me that i passed!

now i have to wrap up odds and ends--get a few forms signed and make a some corrections to the text of my dissertation...and then there's that whole bit about getting all the knowledge in my head about lab equipment bequeathed to other people. i'm the only one who knows how to use some things!

eric and i decided to move to the washington dc area. i'll be starting a postdoc in june at the university of maryland and am very excited about it. i'm extremely excited to be closer to family too. since college, i've never lived within a few hour drive of so many aunts, uncles, cousins and even a sibling! i'm looking forward to seeing people more often and getting to know everyone better. i'm also looking forward to exploring the dc area more. i only visited museums and such as a kid and eric has only passed through for a brief period as well...there's a bike trail that goes 187 miles from dc to cumberland (?)...i could do a point to point 50 mile training run on a (paved--maybe there's dirt on the side?) trail--multiple times!

this past week, the weather in texas finally hit the mid- to upper-90s in temperatures. its summer folks. i am writing this morning as my run has been temporarily canceled due to a rather large thunder and lightning storm. its weird though because i can still hear birds chirping just outside the window.