Birthday!

Happy (belated) Birthday Mari! And Happy Birthday Chris!

We also recently celebrated Justin's birthday. He was in College Station most of the day, which gave me plenty of time to put up balloons before he got home:

I also made a cheese pie, and even though I put candles on it, I was too nervous about setting off our super-sensitive smoke alarm to light them.

Justin's parents sent him a funny birthday card that doesn't actually open. They secretly informed me ahead of time, so that I would be sure to be watching his face to see his reaction. I had my camera ready and everything... I watched him open it, and he chuckled slightly... "what's happening?" I thought. He had taken the card out backwards, so the first part he saw was the back that said "...birthday cards that won't open" and had a birthday message from his parents and sister. I snatched the card from him and turned it around, but it was too late- he already knew the joke. Oh well. He still got to appreciate the funny card, which I think is the main goal.

Back To School

Last Friday was the last day of our Summer internships for both me and Justin. I'm happy to report that they both ended on a good note. During my last week of work I had informal review meetings with both of my bosses at work to discuss my internship experience. Both bosses reported that they were very pleased with my work and that they would be happy to have me come back to work for them. They said they thought I fit in well with the company and seemed very capable and intelligent. It's always nice to get positive feedback! Right now I'm focusing more on school, and looking forward to being back in academia, but it's nice to know that there's a spot for me in the working world if I choose to go that route.

Justin's bosses seemed very pleased with his work as well. He gave a presentation summarizing his summer's work on Tuesday, and there were high-up geoscience people there who were listening, interested, and asking good questions (which Justin was able to asnwer!). Over the next few days he got lots of positive comments from mentors and coworkers. This makes us feel optimistic about his job prospects after he graduates in December 2011.

I'm really looking forward to going back to school. I like school. Last year I had an office on campus, but it was in building all the way across campus from where we had class... and it was in the basement... and it was pretty small... and I shared it with the 6 other first year grad students. So we never used it. We found that it was convenient to work in the Library or coffee shop. But this year I've been assigned to an office in the building where all my classes are! Well, it's actually just half of a cubicle in an office in that building, but still, at least it's in the right building.

All grad students have some TA assignment. Last year I was a grader for a freshman-level undergrad class; my job didn't involve any teaching. This semester I'll be a TA for a graduate-level class! I think it will involve some actual teaching / answering questions. The class is in microeconomic theory, which is what I want to study, so it will be a good review of the basic concepts. And I feel like it's kind of a promotion, showing that the professor (who's the director of graduate studies, I think) has confidence in my abilities. I'm looking forward to this new job.

Work and Exam Results

I started my Summer Internship a week ago Monday. Overall I like it. It's a long way from our apartment, so that's not ideal. But it's in the same direction as Justin's work, so we've been carpooling. I really like this. Even though we don't get home until 6 pm, I feel like I'm home at 5:25 when I meet Justin because that's when I get to chat and relax. But it would be nice if work wasn't as far.

The company I'm working for does price consulting. Even though I've had some boring moments of staring at screens full of data, at least the data is meaningful. For example, I've been looking at a table of dates, prices, quantity sold, and promotional info, trying to determine how much a certain promotion (price reduction, newspaper flyer, grocery store display, etc.) affected sales of an item such as chewing gum. After studying economic theory for a year, it's neat to be able to sit down in front of a bunch of real world data and see how it works.

Speaking of studying for a year... Friday before last, June 4, I took my last qualifying exam. We were told to expect results in 1-2 weeks. I'd heard that last year results were out 10 days after the exams, so on Monday (June 14, 10 days after my last exam) I was anxiously checking my school email all day. Nothing. Same thing yesterday. Still nothing. Again today I was disappointed time and time again as I looked at my email account. As I was getting ready to leave work today I gave it one last check... RESULTS!!!!! I had hoped to be able to tell how I did based on the subject of the email, but the subject was ambiguous: "Results of the Qualifying Exams." Nervously I opened the email. The text read, "Please click the attachment to view the results of your qualifying exams." I clicked the attachment, heart pounding. It opened up a zip file with 2 word documents. I clicked the first one. After about 30 seconds of nervous waiting, my computer spit out a message the this document wasn't compatible with my version of Microsoft Word (I've been using the boss's old computer). I tried the second document... [drumroll]... I PASSED! ALL 3 QUALIFIERS!!! NO RETAKES!!! I'm so relieved.

On the way home, Justin proposed that we go out to eat to celebrate. We went to Two Rows, which is pretty much across the street from our apt. They have $1 beers on Wednesdays! We enjoyed a relaxing meal of burgers, fries and beer, and Justin ordered me a surprise ice cream sundae cake. YUM!

Me vs. The System

When we first moved into our apartment in August, we paid a deposit for the apartment, plus a $50 deposit for a clicker that opens the garage. The apartment people will henceforth be know as "the system". We were told that each apartment was entitled to one garage spot; if there were empty spots once everyone who wanted one had been assigned a spot, the remaining spots would be allocated to those who wanted a second spot.

In September I got an email from the system saying that there were indeed extra spots available, so I claimed one for my car. At the time I went by to pick up the second clicker I didn't have my checkbook with me; the guy in the office said I could just drop the check in the rent drop-box, which I made sure to do next time I left my apartment.

Since then there have been some move-outs and move-ins. Recently I got an email from the system saying that a new move-in wanted a parking spot, so we had to give up one of ours. Apparently we're at the bottom of the priority list, since we live in a one-bedroom apartment. Bummer. But the good news is that we get one of our $50 deposits back... right?

I moved my beloved Beigey out onto the street in front of the apartment and returned the clicker. The girl in the office at the time said she'd make a note, they'd do some paperwork, and I'd get my deposit back shortly.

Later that day I got an email from them saying, "it appears that the second payment of $50.00 for the second clicker had not been received. I now show that we have $400.00 on deposit which is $350.00 for the apartment and $50.00 for the gate clicker you still have."

Hm. I thought I had paid that... I replayed the scene from last September in my mind. I did drop it in the rent box, didn't I? Perhaps it got stuck in there and they never picked it up. Ok Hannah, time for some detective work! I checked my bank account. Unfortunately they don't keep check images online after a certain number of months, which was more than the number of months since the incident. I found a check for $50 that had been deposited on October 7, which happened to be the same day that my rent for that month was deposited. I couldn't see to whom the check was made out, but the fact that it was deposited on the same day as my rent suggested that it was collected along with my rent (i.e. from the rent drop box), making me highly suspicious of the system.

I called the bank and fumbled through their automated voice guy to finally speak with a real person. The girl was helpful and said she could get me my check images, but unfortunately I'd have to wait 5-7 business days for them to come via snail-mail. The suspense! But I found my evidence convincing enough to attempt a follow-up with the system. I sent them a polite email along the lines of "I really think I did pay the second deposit back in October. Please check again." I expected a reply of either, "Our mistake! Here it is! We'll get this refunded right away," or at least, "We've checked again and I am still not seeing it." I got neither! No reply! They seem to be underestimating the value of $50 to a poor graduate student.

Today I received the check images from my bank. As I suspected, the original (apartment + first clicker) deposit AND the second clicker deposit were both made out to and deposited by the system. Vindication! Well, not yet. I guess vindication will be when I get them to refund me my deposit. But I sent them a strongly worded email stating that I did pay the deposit and that if they had lost the record, I had obtained check images that I could show them. Hannah: 1. the system: 0.

My Wonderful Mother

And here's a picture of my wonderful mother on Mothers' Day, doing what she's always done so well- taking care of us little ones.

But I don't Want to Study

Lately I've been feeling the need to justify anything I do other than study. I have my second qualifier (macroeconomics) coming up on Monday and I'm sooooo tired of studying for it. My excuse for this break is that I need to keep everybody informed about my important goings-on (wink wink).

This is where we live:

Here's Justin and me outside our apartment building, about to go on a nice walk to Rice Village. That's one of our favorite things to do.

On Mothers' Day we had a nice lunch with Mama and Daddy and Luke and Amber and kids after church. Then later in the afternoon we went over to Luke & Amber's house for some bocce ball!

It was fun. Also, Sunday, May 9, happened to by my and Justin's anniversary. We went on a date the night before so as not to compete with Mothers' Day, but we did enjoy the top layer of our wedding cake! Mama had kept it in the freezer all year! We were happy to share with the kids and everybody.

Recently when we were babysitting the kids, we gave them an extra helping of berries and cream for dessert. As we sat around the table snarfing down our dessert, Joy, whom I guess has heard "snarf snarf" to describe such an eating situation, looked up from her berries and said "snawf snawf" in a delighted little voice. It was cute. Apparently they don't think of us as real adults- when we were discussing our wedding anniversary, Joy said "and even though you're just kids, you still got married." I sometimes feel that way.

Now I have to go squeeze in a few hours of studying so I don't feel guilty about having fun with the kids later today when we go babysit! I'm really looking forward to being done with qualifiers and getting to work on research and stuff I'm actually interested in.

Reflections on Our First Year

Justin and I are coming up on our first year of marriage! Good for us!

I'm sure every married couple has patterns that they see a lot in their interactions; I wonder how similar those are across couples, i.e. are our quirks unique to us, or are they the same ones that all married people experience? Here are a couple of examples:

Sometimes after we've had a moderate argument, one of us will try to make a joke, thinking "hey, this will signal to my spouse that I consider this argument over and am ready to move on." Unfortunately, this is usually the person who was less disgruntled by the argument, so the more disgruntled person, who may still be in the process of becoming un-angry, feels they're being made fun of. We've observed both parties being guilty of the post-argument joke, but now that we're aware of it we are better about avoiding it. And when it does happen, the other party can simply state "too soon for a joke".

Here's something that I've noticed myself doing: I feel a tiny bit disgruntled (or maybe even not), and somehow Justin gets himself in the path of my annoyance. It escalates, and before I know it I find myself in an argument thinking "what's going on? Why am I arguing with my beloved husband about this? I do not feel strongly about this issue! Why can't I just stop? For some reason I feel committed to this argument!!! STOP! " It's like I'm rolling down a hill too fast to be able to stop.

It tends to happen in the following manner:
Hannah: [frowning]

Justin: What's up? Are you mad at me?

Hannah:[Hm. Maybe he is part of the reason I feel grumpy] Well, I'm not mad, but I'm annoyed that you ... [insert imagined offence]

Justin: What? That's ridiculous! [insert self-defense, plus one degree of intensity]

Hannah: [He's just getting defensive! I must make my point] It's your fault because ... [etc.]

A few lines later is where I start realizing that we're actually becoming angry, and I start wondering why we're arguing.

Recently I had my first realization and successful stop of the pointless argument. It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Justin had spent the morning reading, and I had been studying or doing something un-fun. Around noon we got in the car and headed to an event with Justin's family. The day was so pretty that I felt the only way to fully take advantage of it would be for a day-trip through bluebonnets. So I told Justin it was his fault since he had been reading all morning. After a minute or so I realized what was happening and said, "I'm sorry. I know it's not actually your fault that we've been inside this morning. I just don't know how to take full advantage of this beautiful day and I feel frustrated about that. I should not have blamed you."

Justin said "Wow. That's never happened before. Thanks."

So we're growing!