I've been blogging for a few months now - originally because of a class requirement but then for other reasons (to keep up with writing skills, to keep family and friends 'in the know' of my life). I wanted to get a few posts in to ensure I was going to keep up with it before sending out the link to people. Well, here we are. You got the link. So, for those of you that I don't talk to as much, here is whats going on with me in a nutshell.
1. Renting out my house. Since 2008 I've lived in Athens, GA. In 2009 I bought my first house thinking that it would be a good investment and a good place for me and my 2 dogs. Now that I'm moving, I need to either sell or rent the house. Selling proved not possible as a realtor suggested I'd be lucky to lose only $25,000 in the sale. No thanks. So, I'm renting it out. Also, because I'll be moving out of the country, and I don't have family in the Athens area, I decided to sign with a property manager to take care of things while I'm gone. You can see my listing here. So far I have had several people come look at the house but nobody has signed a lease yet. Hopefully it will happen any day now...
2. Trying to finish my dissertation. I moved to Athens to attend the University of Georgia's PhD program in psychology. I'm (hopefully) months away from graduation and all that stands between me and a diploma is my dissertation. I work on it literally 6 days a week (I have always taken Saturday's off, no matter what) for several hours a day. I have my proposal coming up in a few weeks and then the final defense in early July. This is second hardest paper I've ever written (I would say my first was my comprehensive exam paper that took over a year).
3. I'm moving! My plans for after graduation include a 6 month stint in Melbourne, Australia. I had some extra funding from a pre-doctoral fellowship I received through the National Science Foundation and am using it to fund additional research experience in Melbourne. While I'm there I'll be working with both the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the University of Melbourne on various research projects. One paper I'm pretty sure I'll be working on is examining father-infant relationships with infants with chronic cardiac conditions. I'm very excited about my trip. As of today I have a plane ticket purchased but no where to live. I also am looking to borrow a VERY large suitcase if anyone has one to lend out for 6 months.
4. Looking for a home for Charlie. As you'll see in a post below I'm looking for a temporary home for one of my dogs, Charlie. My parents will take my other dog - Tank - while I'm gone but Charlie is too much for their house. He is a young (3 yrs) hound mix that is really a fantastic dog but struggles around other dogs. I have been working with a trainer for several months now and he does very well with obedience. I feel confident taking him places off leash and having him stay close or calling him back if he runs too far. So, I need a temporary home for him with someone that could take him on regular walks or let him run around a back yard. Ideally the person would not have any other pets unless they had experience with aggressive dogs. I'm going to be sending out an email to everyone I know soon to see if someone knows someone.
5. Spare time? The above is basically my life right now. I work like crazy on my dissertation, I'm teaching a class this summer (Social and Personality Development), I'm running a research project, and writing two other papers. In my spare time I try to take the dogs out for long walks and I play on a community kickball league.
I'm going to do my best to update this blog as often as possible to keep the family in-the-loop of my life, particularly when I change continents. You should be able to post comments below, as well, so we can keep this a two-way street. Let me know if there is anything special you'd like to know about!
