Blog slacker here. I've been using up all my writing urges at school, I guess. So, what has been going on in the last month or so?

New president-elect: yay! My map was pretty close, but Indiana, Ohio, and one district in Nebraska pleasantly surprised me.

Fleas: I think they're gone. Well, there's none on the cats since we treated them with Advantage, but hopefully we were able to vacuum up all the eggs so there are no outbreaks later.

Scary big-ass essay exam that I was supposed to do last fall: I passed! In fact, one prof said mine were "far and above" the others he's seen in the last few years. Which means I'm ready for the next step: the A exam (well, my department calls it something else). I already have a thesis committee picked out and sent them my research proposal. They're looking it over, and on Dec. 9 I give a little seminar about it and then they ask me questions. My advisor said that based on the quality of my proposal, I'd really have to bomb the Q&A in order to fail. So I'm still preparing diligently (except right now, where I'm writing here instead), but I'm expecting the opposite of fail: WIN! After I "win," it'll be relaxing for the holidays and then mucho field work through all of 2009 and 2010. Then during 2011 I write my thesis and hopefully have an EPIC WIN! Taking a semester off didn't really set me back any time, probably because I am full of so much win and awesome.

Tomorrow I'm baking pies because we're hosting Turkey Day. It's going to be chaotic with the influx of 5 insane people. They're only staying two nights, then once they leave Ryan and I will be hitting up every CVS in a 15 mile radius. Wooooo Black Friday deals!

Oh, Ryan and I went to the eye doctor a couple days ago (same doctor, consecutive appointments). Based on how much our eyes suck, she jokingly said, "You two can't have kids! Or start saving up for a Lasik fund now!" So, after I'm out of grad school I'm sure Ryan's mom is going to start asking about grandkids. Now I have a rock-solid excuse. "Our doctor said we aren't able to have kids." Mwah hah ha!