PUBLISHED!

In all the busy-ness of the last two months, a rather major event occured in my life; an event that in times past would have had me gloriously celebrating rather than feeling anti-climactic. Last month saw the publication of my first research paper in a major peer-reviewed journal.

I'm still tying up loose ends from my Master's thesis - moving to England put a monkey wrench in my plans to finish everything up in a timely manner - and have to admit that I had hesitations about posting this. Would it sound too much like tooting my own horn? A bit silly to be proud of something that I really should have accomplished a year ago? I guess I see it as an achievement to be pleased with, but not something that will materially change my life. Just another one of those milestones in a moderately academic career.

Between all the months of research, the year of writing (as part of my thesis), the re-doing of the statistics, the re-writing of the paper, the submission to reviewers and MORE re-doing of stats and re-writing, the final acceptance and correction of author proofs, I think I expected to feel something...more. A greater sense of satisfaction maybe? I have certainly waited a long time for this. Closure on that chapter of my life? It isn't really, as I have one more paper to finish up before the entire thesis is published. Fanfare? Plain and simple relief? Hmmmm.

In any case, you can bet that the rambly writing of today's post in no way reflects my writing style in said publication!

NEUROTICS ANONYMOUS

Some of you may not know this about me, but I am a Clean Freak. Capital C, capital F. Hard to believe, isn't it?

I love having a clean - okay, spotless - house; it means that we are ready to throw a dinner party at a moment's notice, that we don't have to spend a whole day cleaning because we keep on top of things during the week, and that I can safely eat food off my floor without worrying about contracting salmonella. But I do recognize that I am a bit neurotic about cleanliness, and that a few more germs certainly won't hurt me. Thus: Kappa's role in the household, beyond being elevated to King Cat and being spoiled silly.

Kappa is a big boy, and he leaves a lot of hair around the house. This, I tell myself, is GOOD. Hee hee, what's a little kitty hair on my clean couch? (Maybe I have gone through an awful lot of lint roller in the last few weeks). Cat drool? Lovely - means he's feeling at home. Kitty litter? Still nasty, but a quick scoop and sweep deals with that.

While I no longer feel completely confident picking food back up off the floor and popping it right into my mouth, I am so so happy to have Kappa in our family. He enriches each day, and who can argue with someone who loves to cuddle so?

COUCH. POTATO.

Wow. Today was a bank holiday and the weather was, typically, pretty rotten. Early morning started out promising but most of the day was characterized but short bursts of sun followed by downpours and thunderstorms. What did I get done today, on a perfect opportunity to get tasks accomplished? Butt nothin'.

I read, I played with the cat, I visited with Ray, and I spent several hours mindlessly surfing the internet. Didn't even get around to doing much emailing or, obviously, blogging. And I realized that I was using the internet as a bit of a television substitute; reading junk sites that didn't require brain input in much the same way I would view a comedy or drama program. Bad internet, bad Amanda. Think of all the cleaning I could have accomplished! The cookies I could have baked! The posting of photos I could have finally caught up on!

Oh well, there's always tomorrow night...

SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST CLUB

On those odd occasions when Ray and I are actually in Cambridge and have nothing scheduled for a weekend morning we try to drag our butts out of bed at a reasonable hour. Our goal is to mosey into town and soak up some atmosphere, coffee and pastries while people-watching and just spending time enjoying each other's company.

We are guilty of coffee infidelity and can be found at any of Cambridge's coffee shops on these mornings; no one shop brings us in on a steady basis. Some have great coffee but suffer in terms of atmosphere; others have the opposite problem, and the best coffee in town is besmirched by being served in a smoking establishment. Switching between shops causes us no end of problems because we can never remember which size is which - tall, venti, grande, primo...they all sound about the same to me. And to Ray, apparently, who ordered what he thought was a "small" Americano but ended up with this:





Note the TWO handles on that mug, which is really more of a soup bowl with handles than a mug. This is clearly illustrated in the photo of Ray drinking; the mug is almost the size of his head! Despite Ray's best efforts, he couldn't finish the tankard; I was relieved because I have no idea what that much caffeine would have done to him. May have turned our relaxing Saturday ritual into a jittery excursion indeed!

MOMENTARILY ANTI-COMPUTER

I've been very bad in terms of not posting regularly lately. And...tonight's post is only going to be a short excuse! I just seem to be on an anti-computer kick lately - have a lot of good books to read in the house, the evenings are getting longer and nicer, the garden/house needs tending to, the cat needs cuddling, and I'm just getting over one heck of a cold. Computering comes in pretty low on my list of things to do, which is also why I've not sent out many emails lately (sorry if you are waiting for one from me!). I've no doubt I'll get that tingle in my fingers that compells me to post again soon...until then, seeya!

MY TWO BOYS

I'm feeling much better today than yesterday; how could I not be when I look across the room to be greeted by the above scene? However I am still pretty groggy and trying to get my strength back as I couldn't eat properly while in the depths of my cold. I'm about to go to bed and it's only 9pm...better get a good night's sleep because I'm determined to go back to work tomorrow. I really miss the routine of my job, as well as all of my coworkers. They are fun people! And I need to give Ray a break; he has been taking care of me and catering to my every wimpy request for the past week and it's time I start returning the favour.

UPDATE

I am SO SICK. I spent all day on the couch and feel no better than this morning. If things don't start to improve by tomorrow then I am going to have to take myself to the doctor. I hate doing that, though, as the resources of the medical system are so stretched (much like in Canada) and I worry that I may be being a wimp. But I really don't want this to develop into sinusitis or something equally nasty. I have work to get back to, a husband and cat to play with, and Megan (one of my best friends from Canada) will be in Cambridge this weekend!

In any case, I've been far too stuffed up to organize photos today despite my ambitions. I thought I should add a comment about the photo of Kappa where his mouth is open - he's meowing because he wants me to play, not opening his mouth in a snarl about to attack. My mellow kitty has been quite happy sleeping beside me on the couch most of the day, once he realized that I wasn't going to be any fun.

Thank-you for the kind thoughts regarding my cold and for sharing all your kitty stories. Bev, your experience with Penny is exactly what we hope for Kappa!

BOR-ING!

At least that's what Kappa seems to think. I'm home from work today, sicker than a dog (I'm on Day Five of one of the worst sinus colds I've ever had), and Kappa wants to PLAY! I'm trying to explain to him that I'm so stuffed up that I can't even bend my head to pick up his toys, let alone race around with him, but he's not buying it. Five minutes ago he was wandering about the house, meowing disconsolately:



And now that it's become apparent that I am utterly useless, he's settled on the couch and given me THIS look:



Hey buddy, wish I was feeling better myself! Right now I'm so sick that the best course of action is to seal myself off from the unsuspecting, healthy world, and repeatedly dose myself with cold meds, hot packs and showers to try to clear out the congestion. I am going to try to make use of this time, however, to get seriously caught up in terms of posting photos - in between naps and fits of sneezing.

OUTNUMBERED

We've just about caught our breath from the adventures/travels/visitors of the last six weeks (photos to come!) and so decided it was an appropriate time to add a bit more excitement to our lives. May I introduce Kappa:



Kappa (he came with the name) is a 9-year-old white/tabby cat, and he's decided he'd like to make a home with us. We've wanted to include a furry critter - Ray insists he doesn't count - in our lives for quite some time, and this weekend we took the plunge.

We brought him home from the shelter yesterday and he's spent the first 30 or so hours exploring every inch of our home, demanding to be allowed to drink out of the toilets, turning up his nose at the salmon-flavoured treats we bought him (apparently chicken is more to his liking), and charming the heck out of Ray and I. He's very cuddly and spends a lot of time sleeping on the couches, the stairs (a good perch to watch us cooking dinner!), and on Ray's chest and lap. He's already getting adept at squeezing in front of Ray's laptop for a cuddle.

We needn't have worried that he wouldn't settle in last night - I made the mistake of getting to bed about two minutes after he and Ray did, and arrived in our room to find Ray on his side of the bed, and the cat on mine. Kappa certainly didn't mind sharing the space with me, but he certainly wasn't going to go out of his way to make room. I think the majority of the night passed with Ray and I each sleeping half out of our respective sides of the bed, with Kappa happily stretched out between us.

So now it's two men to one woman in this household - the first time I've been outnumbered! Still, it's not such a bad position to be in: outnumbered because I have a wonderful husband and a special cat.

QUICKLY CHECKING IN

Movements: Spain - Birmingham - Cambridge; Lake District - Cambridge; London - Cornwall - Cambridge.

I've finally dragged my holiday-logged butt back to work although Joan and Alan are with us for another day and a half. We've had a very nice visit but have been incredibly busy, hence the lack of blogging. I should be back on track by this weekend, and I've got so many photos and stories to share (and I still owe you Budapest x2 and Amsterdam photos!)