Holiday Season Crunch

The title almost seems like it could refer to a breakfast cereal (probably a really sugary, colorful one), but instead it refers to the crazy busy-ness that has descended as finals week, pre-holiday break work meetings, and holiday preparations all come together. This has been part of why I haven't written in over a week.

Last weekend, I spent most of my time trying to do the work that I hadn't even looked at during the Thanksgiving break in Minnesota. That lasted basically until Sunday, when I flew to Charleston, SC. I then spent all of that week in a work meeting in Charleston.

Now it's back to another crazy weekend of catching up on work. To be fair, I do manage to do other things - some important and some purely for procastination. In the former category, I finally had a chance to get together with my friend Pooja, who I haven't seen in person in over a year! She spent about half of the last year in Africa, and came back to the states while I was in Barcelona. She and I work together on our engINdia project, so we talk once in a while, but haven't had the time to travel (she lives in NYC) to visit. In the procastination category, I managed to watch all of season 2 of "The Sarah Jane Adventures" - a spin off of Doctor Who. I also started reading "Three Cups of Tea."

Originally, I was supposed to leave for Minnesota last night, but instead I have another work meeting (this time in DC) on Tuesday, and then I'll fly back to Minnesota on Wednesday. Due to this last minute change, Jeff is still on a flight to leave for Minnesota today, so he'll be there a few days without me - hanging out with my family.

Here's my agenda of things to do between now and flying back on Tuesday:

1. Finish my independent study paper - big final paper, draft is complete, but need to finalize it.

2. Turn in my "Politics of Earth and Space Science" take home final - which is a three-page paper about the Mars Science Laboratory (a very awesome NASA Mars Rover that's been in the news a lot lately because its over budget).

3. Raytheon Work (and preparing to present at my meeting)

4. Space Foundation Work (assorted writing and editing)

5. Apply for Graduate School (I am hoping to do a PhD next year, and need to apply to the programs!)

6. Send Christmas Cards! Which actually takes longer than you'd think...

Alright... I better stop blogging and work on those things.