Back and Forth Across the Pond

After I wrote the previous post, I decided to take a look at WordPress and see what it would take to get it configured. Next thing I knew, I had my new blog set up. I've even posted a couple of entries on it. So this will be my last post on this blog here in Blogger. My new blog is at www.ashtonland.com/blog The new website is not yet finished. I'm slowly working my way through. So if you go and check it out, be prepared for dead-end links. Bye bye Blogger. You've served me well. Deanne

The new website is coming along nicely. It took me hours to get it set up the way I wanted with the web builder application provided by the web host. I was beginning to think that hand coding was better, because I could not make the site look exactly like I wanted. I had to work within their template limitations. But now that I have it together, I'm happy with it. One thing I didn't realize was how many files are involved with the new photo galleries I'm creating. Big albums that have several hundred photos end up generating a couple thousand files! Thankfully, my phone has a fast connection so I'm not sitting for hours trying to upload everything. I'm probably about a quarter of the way through the upgrading and uploading process. I will definitely meet my November 1 deadline. I actually thought I'd get it done by next weekend, but when I was finishing off an album yesterday, I decided I was really quite sick and tired of the whole process. So I don't see...

Our web hosting contract with our current provider is up and we've decided to move to a different service. The move will both save money and provide greater perks. I'm excited. I haven't done anything to our website in ages, and I'm totally caught up with the notion of redesigning it. I'm particularly thrilled to have discovered Shozam software. Easily 99% of our website is photographs (the other 1% being links to this blog and to some short videos hosted on YouTube). I have wanted a Facebook-esque photo album for our site for years. Steve said he'd create one for me, but he never found the time to do so. Most of the digital album programs out there allow only for the photos and maybe a short tag. I wanted an album that allowed me to write long descriptions of the photos. Happily, Shozam gives me everything I wanted and then some. I've been spending a lot of time (too much, probably) converting all the photos currently on the website into albums. I'm hop...

I happened to catch today's Dr. Oz show. I don't normally watch the show. I happened to have the tv on that channel when I finished watching a show recorded on the DVR. One of his topics was dehydration. Since I have an ongoing battle with dehydration, I watched to see if he mentioned anything of value. He did and I'm glad I caught it. I know that caffeine is a diuretic. I don't consume a lot of caffeinated beverages, but I don't avoid the stuff, either. When I do have some coffee, or tea, or a diet soda, I don't count those drinks in my daily fluid intake. I thought I was being smart by doing that. Come to find out, that's not enough. It turns out you have to drink extra water to counteract the diuretic in the caffeine! So it's not enough to drink two liters of water along with your two cups of coffee. You have to drink two extra cups of water, as well. This explains a lot. As I mentioned, I battle dehydration. My body is very sensitive to it and I will...

I fly out to Houston tomorrow afternoon. It's a direct (and cheap) flight on Southwest from Jax, so it takes less than 2.5 hours plus airport time. I'm traveling with my aunt Jody and meeting up with my cousin Jason, but my main purpose is to go and see what Houston's like. Where it's a holiday weekend, I won't be able to go and meet anyone at the university. But I hope I can at least go and see the campus and have a walk around. Mainly, I hope I like Houston. I'm going to be living there for a few years. It'd be helpful if I liked it. When Steve and I travel somewhere new, I always imagine what it'd be like to live there. Some places speak to me when I do that, like New York. Others do not, like Chicago. And others have to grow on me a bit first, like Boston. Here's to Houston being either a New York or a Boston rather than a Chicago.

I graduated yesterday with my Master of Arts degree in history. It's been an intense but rewarding two years. My friend and fellow history GTA, Amanda, graduated with me. I'm glad we shared the experience. It made it more special. Especially since Amanda leaves in just a little over two weeks for Kentucky, where she's going for her PhD. I'm envious that she gets to start the next round so soon, and in such a lovely place, but I'm also glad to have a few months off before I go for my doctorate. I need the down time. I also have a lot of packing to do. Festivities began Thursday, but first, I had a paper to finish. I took a Crusades class over the summer and its final paper was due Friday. I wanted to graduate knowing I had finished everything, so I was trying to get the paper finished by Wednesday. I didn't quite make it. I still had a couple of pages of information to add, so I was in the GTA office at 6:15 a.m. doing just that. I spent the morning doing that, g...

I'm totally into the World Cup this year. This is my third World Cup series since I married Steve, but this is the first time I'm really engrossed. I think it's because of my thesis and its intimate ties to the birth of football in Preston. I feel a kinship with the English team, and am rooting for them wholeheartedly. We went to Five Points Theatre to watch the England - US match live. I went thinking I'd be happy regardless who won, but quickly discovered I was pro-England all the way. A big part of that was the behavior of the US fans. And that continues to be my beef as England and the US advance to the next round. Soccer is not a big deal in the US, which is a shame, really, because it's a great game. But we have our baseball, football (the one played with your hands), and basketball to dominate our sports channels. So soccer is an also ran. That means, most people don't know the game. Which can be a pain in the ass when you go to a big match like England v...

Last week, I waited for Steve as he did his physical therapy session at the Brooks facility in Deerwood (he has bone spurs which are wreaking havoc on his Achilles tendon). Brooks also contains a YMCA and the PT office is near the front of the building, so I was in a good position to people watch as folks came to work out. The thing is, the glass door on the PT office has a large stripe bisecting it that effectively obliterates the heads off people. All I could see was torsos ambling about. I could occasionally see hair if a person was either particularly short or rather tall, but I never saw a head. Let me tell you - it's unnerving. I didn't feel like I was watching people at all. It was like a Doctor Who episode run amok. I know the eyes are the windows to the soul, but I didn't realize that the head was the heart of humanity. I like people watching, but from now on, I want them with heads.

After a lot of waiting, and intermittent emails from Dr. Melosi insisting he had not forgotten about me, I got an offer from Houston for a research assistantship. It includes a tuition waiver (the big expense) and a monthly stipend. I will be doing various assistant-type tasks for the Center for Public History. In other words, I'll be working for Dr. Melosi. I don't know the value of the stipend, yet. Dr. Melosi gave me the email addy of the program director with instructions to contact her. I immediately did, but have yet to hear anything back from her. So, I'm back to waiting. But at least now I can work on my application package and know that I'm going to Houston. Technically, there's a chance I wouldn't get accepted. After all, I've done this all backwards and have not actually applied, yet. I sent Dr. Melosi an official transcript of my studies here at UNF, a writing sample, my CV, and a short personal statement. If he didn't think I'd get accep...

Wow, the last post I wrote was from February. It was when I got my acceptance at Lancaster. I was so excited. I eventually received acceptances from Stirling and St. Andrews, too. St. Andrews was quite exciting. It's well respected here and my advisor would be the head of the environmental history center there. So lots of excitement and feelings of accomplishment. Unfortunately, none of the acceptance letters came with funding. The economy in Britain is a lot worse than here, and what funding it does have is left for UK and EU students. It makes sense, but it's a big disappointment for international students, like me. After much soul searching, I let go of my dream. It hurt, but it was the right decision. I have moved on, and I know that I will get to spend time doing research in England down the road. So I just consider it a postponement, rather than a cancellation. In the mean time, I have to sort out my future. I have decided to go on for a PhD here in the US. I still fret a...

Thursday started out like pretty much any other weekday. Steve dropped me off on his way to work, and I settled into my morning routine of email and Facebook. I opened my UNF email account and quickly scanned the inbox. That's when my day changed. Near the bottom of the new mail list was a message from Lancaster University with the subject "The result of your offer has been updated." My heart thudded in my chest as I clicked open the file. It was an automated message advising me to log in to my application to see the new information. Nerves taut, heart still thumping, I followed the link. And . . . forgot my login name! A few seconds later (thought it felt like long minutes), I got the right login/password combination input and the decision appeared on the screen: Unconditional. I blinked. Unconditional? Okay, I had read on the St. Andrews site a description of the different statuses. Unconditional there meant complete acceptance. Was it the same here? Then I saw the note...

I've heard nothing from Lancaster or Manchester univerisities about my applications. I actually just got everything squared away with Manchester, so I'm not surprised. And I don't care if I do hear from them. I'm not that keen on the program there. Though if they offer me admission and money, I will give them sincere consideration. I did get an email from Dr. Jotischky (man, hope I spelt that right) letting me know my file had been given to a couple of potential advisors and he would get back to me shortly. That was about two weeks ago. I'm trying not to fret. Like I think I mentioned before, even if I get accepted, I still have to wait and find out if I'll get any funding. But I want so badly to live in England. I've wanted it for some time now, and staying there over the summer just reinforced it. Steve's not keen, though. We had talked about leaving Florida, and I remind him of that when he laments leaving behind the life we've built here. Of cou...

It's been about a week-and-a-half since Steve injured his eye. The doctor declared his retina healed (no more swelling or bleeding), and gave him the all-clear to return to sports. The doc did suggest protective eye gear and I'm very happy Steve followed his advice. He bought a pair of safety glasses designed for raquetball/squash players. They should do the trick, should Steve kick any more balls into his face. Despite all the good news, however, Steve's vision has not improved. His pupil remains dilated, he still has the blank spot in the bottom half of his vision, and he doesn't see as clearly as he used to. The doc says it's a waiting game. Maybe Steve's vision will improve. Maybe it won't. Steve's worried most about the blurriness. His left eye compensates, but is he making its vision weaker as a result? Hopefully the doc will have answers when Steve calls today.

It's amazing how something so quick can have such lasting effects. It was the last few minutes of Steve's soccer game. His team was up 3-2 after coming from 2-0 at the end of the first half. Steve was playing defense. The other team was crowding the goal, trying ferociously to tie the game. Steve got the ball and attempted to clear the goal. He kicked it - hard. He was trying to launch it to the other end of the pitch. But the team's fast runner swooped in from nowhere and was less than two feet in front of Steve as the ball flew. The ball hit the guy in the chest and bounced backward - right into Steve's face. Steve tumbled backward. Play continued, but I wasn't paying attention. I watched Steve as he rolled up onto his hands and knees. When he slammed his fist on the ground, I knew something was very wrong. I thought he had injured his foot or ankle in the tumble. He crawled to safety on the sidelines. I quickly joined him and asked what was wrong. The ball had hi...