More College Town Research

I'm trying to get back into my research paper on college town transportation, but it's like pulling teeth. I'm now on the track of community college transportation issues. Random data points I'm too tired at the moment to connect:

• TDM: Transportation Demand Management. They make parking more expensive, then use the money to fund buses.
  
• It costs at least $250 a year per parking spot, plus annual lot maintenance. Parking decals cost $10-$100 a year for students and faculty.
• College towns are those where a significant number of students live in the surrounding community, and where students make up more than a fifth of the population, among other things.
• Nobody thinks community colleges influence communities. Maybe except for the third of community colleges which are located in small rural towns, and form the epicenter of culture and education... and there are more community colleges than colleges. (There may be a even more "rural community college" towns than traditional college towns.)
• A lot of community colleges have dorms. They're not always just commuter schools. Why dorms? To attract more diversity, international students, and reduce transportation costs.
  
• On the other hand, if more students live on campus, and fewer live in towns, there is less "college town" interaction between college and town.
  
• community college students can travel up to 50 miles each way to class.
  

I'm horribly blocked: the idea that I've got to product a 40-page paper is making me choke. I'm trying to remind myself that I'm really just writing 6 5-page papers, and then just rehashing it all a couple more times for an intro and a conclusion. Ya, that'll work...

Weekend Wrap

My wife had been a bit down about her birthday this weekend, so I figured, what could be better than a surprise party? I decided to throw it on Friday, before her actual birthday, and when I knew she'd be out of the house with the kids for a few hours.

And here's how the whole thing went down:
-5 Days: She mentioned that her friends didn't think I was going to "do anything special" for her birthday.
-4.5 days: lightbulb appears over my head. It's not too late to actually plan a surprise birthday, is it? I mean, if it weren't a surprise, I would have had to mail out invites about a week ago...
-4 days: casually rifle through cell phone call lists, address book, and every other scrap of paper in purse without her or kids noticing. And it seemed like nobody would leave me alone... Then, make lots of phone calls without anyone noticing.
-2 days: plan menu, schedule of preparations. Call home of friend she was visiting to make sure she left at a specific time.
-1 day: Perfect the blank stare I'd use when asked "what we're going to do this weekend" for her birthday. After teaching nearly 200 students, I've witnessed an entire range of blank stares from the roughly 75% of those awake at a given moment.
-10 hours: use aforementioned blank stare.
- 8 hours: talk about ENIAC, artillery, the origins of modern computing, and how/why to convert sound into a digital file.
-7 hours: dismiss class, run to store, buy stuff. Matt picks me up and drives me around for my errands, since I don't have the car on Fridays. Note to self: buy Matt a couple of rounds next time.
-5 hours: Matt drops me off at home. He goes home to make an ice cream cake, I start cooking.
-1 hour: I sit down, with the tables set, food done, and a cold Polar Seltzer.
-10 minutes: guests arrive in rapid succession. Matt brings in ice cream cake.
- 1 minute: car in driveway.
0 minutes: Surprise!

The kids were quite excited about the party. My wife was quite happy too. About a dozen people came in all, not including a half-dozen overtired, over-sugared kids under the age of 6 who promptly scattered Legos and Pokemon playing cards throughout the living room. I was challenged to a cooking contest, since I'd made Buffalo Chicken dip, a batch of meatballs, a veggie platter, and Pigs In Blankets in about 3 hours while refilling the kiddie pool to float tea lights, and stringing party lights around the back deck.

But it went quite well, for my first surprise party. It wrapped up around 11 pm, after only a couple drinks spilled. After my first taste of Vodka since 1999 or 1998, I put the rest away, as well as the unopened bottle of Tequila for the Margaritas I never got around to making. I suspect they'll be left alone for quite a long time... Somehow with kids, I don't have any interest in mixed drinks, and drinking in general. (With the notable exception of Matt's Wedding a couple of months ago...!)

And that was just Friday...

Back to Square 1

I'm back to Page 1 (literally) on my last Incomplete project. But with the last couple of emails from my adviser, I've got a better idea where to go from here.

I teach in 40 minutes. That's pretty much the highlight of the week. On the bright side, reaching Candidacy is in sight, even if it's still a moving target. Finish paper, submit paperwork, start dissertation. Then, graduate.

Not in Portland...

Almost a year ago, I was in Portland, Oregon for a conference. And a week ago, I was in Portland, Maine for a vacation. Not only do both places share a name, they both rock. I'd live in either one, though I think Maine has tough winters.

Maine is drivable. Despite all the warnings about Labor Day weekend traffic, I hardly saw any. We slowed down, and there were cars lined up at the toll gates. But I spent a year and a half near Los Angeles, and a decade in New Jersey-- I've seen real traffic.

Both have walkable downtowns, culture, restaurants, coffee shops and seafood. Maine has lots of lobster. Oregon has salmon and crabs. Both are real working port towns. Maine had a really great kids museum, and is listed as one of the top ten places to raise kids. And they have a large college, so I guess I'd have a place to teach.

Times like this, it's tempting to just dump everything and go somewhere new. I'm only a few days away from becoming a PhD Candidate. Or at least filing the paperwork, which take a little while to process. I just wish I knew what all the steps were ahead of time. Some of this stuff could have been done a year ago or more.

Then I can officially start my dissertation, which cannot be formally accepted for another year...

Finally.

Maybe it's like Fois Gras...

I've submitted another paper, a makeup for the general comps I had a marginal fail for. I had to fix some issues with my essay. It was annoying.

Then of course I get an email regarding the draft of my last Independent Study. My methodology had problems. I'd like to know how many of 30+ pages I can keep. I'm hoping for at least 10. I have to deliver 40 by the weekend if I want to be a PhD Candidate this semester.

A thought occurred to me as I poured myself a quick glass of box wine before bed (to counteract all the coffee I've had since dinner). Maybe school is more like Fois Gras, less like Mac and Cheese. Why? I'm finding that some of these papers, like the one on Case Study as a research method, are actually pretty interesting. Maybe even perspective altering (in a good way).

Yes, but not when they're essentially ground up and shoved down one's throat in rapid succession, while one is confined and unable to make any use of it. Once sufficiently fattened with this material... you get the picture.

I don't even like fois gras, though I've tried it on a number of occasions. I did like it in a lentil soup in some bistro in Paris (as cliche as that sounds), back in the summer of 1999, but you could throw a little of almost anything into a soup and still eat it if it's dissolved...

There's an analogy to PhD life in here somewhere, screaming to get out. Speaking of screaming, and of getting out...

But, it's time to go to bed. I have a 40-page paper to eviscerate and rewrite tomorrow.