Vegas Busted

Aaahhh...the smell of freedom...it's never been so close and yet still so distant!

I'm long since back from Vegas and the Great Basin Conference. I've spent, I confess, the past few weeks doing very little and loving it. But Dr J has kicked me back into gear big time so now I'm back to blogging for the sake of avoiding what I now know I've got to do by Monday! Sweet procrastination linger longer!

The Conference went really well. I got a cold and spent a good deal more of it asleep in my room than listening to lectures, unfortunately, but I did get everything necessary completed for both papers I was involved in.

The adaptive diversity Fremont paper you've been subjected to for the past months went particularly well, I'd say. The room wasn't horribly packed, and it was a smaller venue than I'd expected which made the presentation infinitely easier. Steve Simms, who I will forever after refer to affectionately as the Little Elf Man (LEM) came in all his supposed grandeur to hear the upstart present her reserch. I gave a 12 or so minute powerpoint which I might try to figure out how to attach here. In short, I softened the blow to him directly by saying it was the theory rather than the theorist that was infamous. =)

LEM wandered up to me after. I saw him coming and gave him a preemptive [respectful and apologetic tone] "Dr Simms!", which probably caught him off guard. Tee hee. Thus beginning to deflate, LEM commented on some burial data that he felt contradicted my over-arching accusation that his theory was untestable. I rebutted and deflated him more. I think he expected me to be unfamiliar with this data, but I know it, I've read it, and I think it makes its own set of fallacious assumptions. He ended our brief 'tete a tete' with a mumbled "Well, I guess the theory needs work" , shook my hand and walked away.

What?!! I can't believe I got off that easily. I expected atleast a head-butt to the stomach or something =) He's a really good researcher, despite my views toward his behavioral ecologist junk theories, but his temper is notorious, so I'm still trying to process the civility act. I did get a couple slight evil-eyes later in the conference. Dunno. Maybe he thinks I'm not enough of a threat to lose his temper over. Let's hope so. Then I can just quietly publish my research and start a tsunami of data tests that will bury his untestable theory before he can remember the source.

Well, other than that, things go on quite as they ever have...atleast this semester. I'm behind in my work on the field school report and have to go stick my forehead on the ground in front of Jim today to beg forgiveness. Joel is temporarily placated, but as I said, expects the final draft by Monday. The only thing I'm not feeling pressure about right now is my actual coursework!

On a more personal note, I've gone out on three dates in the last 2 weeks and have another one in a couple of days. How refreshing...go me =) The complication, of course, being who they're with and where the heck I stand in all this. My Bishop asked me what my hopes and dreams are...I told him it was easier to just say that my greatest fear is being trapped and that he could assume any hope or dream is focused irrevocably on freedom and a desire for variety. Might have scared him a bit as regards my ability to settle down once and for all with one of those husband things. Oh well. ;)

Happy Holidays! It's come around so fast this year, but for the first time in as long as I can remember, I'm actually excited to hear the carols on the radio and know the house lights are increasing exponentially in the neighborhood as each weekend brings us nearer to the arrival of jolly ol' St Nick.