I am TERRIBLE at this whole blogging thing

So, instead of actually posting interesting things as they happen, here's a short summary:

Dissertation:

Intermittently, both good and terrible.  The days that I actually bring myself to work on it are awesome.  But there are at least as many days where I don't quite manage to do anything dissertation-related at all.  Those days suck, not least because I procrastinate by beating myself up about not having gotten anything done.  It makes for a fun cycle, especially if by "fun" you mean "hellish and demoralizing."

So obviously the ratio of days worked to days spent agonizing about my lack of progress needs to change.  The good news is that having an office all of my own at Victor's workplace is working out fabulously, and has led to nearly all of my productive days.  I need to find a rhythm that will work for me at home, too - I just started a long-distance writing group with a friend from grad school, so hopefully that will help.

Recreation:

Victor's dad was here a few weeks ago for the Earshot Jazz Festival.  We only got to talk to him briefly, but it was fun (as always) to hear him play, and it was nice to see him.

My friend and former co-worker Tom was in town for a conference just after that.  I played hostess, and acted like I know something about Seattle and showed him around the city.  It was a blast, and reminded me that I actually am getting to know Seattle, at least a bit.

Davin was in town the weekend after that (documented on my flickr page, and more extensively by Aaron).  It was uber-fun, and they actually convinced me to sing some karaoke.  We also went to Bainbridge Island, which is one of the Seattle places I really wanted to visit while the weather was still good this fall.  So, I can check that off the list ;-)

I went for a ride on Saturday with the Cascade Bike Club.  I was a little worried about my ability to keep up, but as it turned out we did a very easy 20 miles and I barely broke a sweat.  Also, it was a much flatter route than I had feared - biking up the hills here still completely winds me.  I'm planning to keep working on the hills around my house (which, truly, are massive), and also do some longer rides with them on the weekends.

Sit & Knit Tuesdays at the Fiber Gallery continue to be fun - and are a big part of feeling like I'm settling in here.  It's a fun group - so fun, in fact, that I just signed up for some classes at the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat with them.  It will be a weekend of knitting geekery, for sure.

Food!:

Haven't tried many new restaurants, although we did find an excellent dim sum place (I don't even like shrimp, normally, but have been craving their honey shrimp ever since we had brunch there). 

We went back to Macrina, which I enjoyed a hell of a lot more than I did last time (which was during the Terrible Flu in June, while I couldn't smell or taste).  We probably should just stick to their bakery items, which require less waiting and are phenomenal (as opposed to their sit down brunch, which requires a lot of patience and is just good).

We re-visited the Malay Satay Hut, which continues to be tasty.

Also, I've been cooking up a storm, and actually baking (just muffins, but still).  Our freezer is filled with lost of tasty goodness, so when (hopefully) I'm too engrossed in dissertating to take time out to cook, we won't simply be eating take-out every night.

So, now that I'm all caught up, perhaps I will be magically transformed into a regular poster.  If not, just imagine that I'm too hard at work on the dissertation to have time to post (even though I'll probably be surfing videos on YouTube).