Baby Countdown

I am now about 7-1/2 months pregnant with our first baby, a boy! We've decided on a name for our little son, but we're keeping it a secret until he's born, which should happen in mid-August. We are very excited and also nervous. We've been taking weekly childbirth classes in which we're learning the Bradley method of natural childbirth. I am kind of nervous about this whole birth thing, but I take comfort in knowing that millions (billions? trillions? quadrillions?) of women have done it already and most of them turn out fine, including my own brave mother who had 4 all-natural births. But still, I hear it's not a pleasant process. Sigh.

Justin and I bought a house in Katy, and we moved in almost a month ago. This is Justin and me the day we closed on our house.

The house was a foreclosure, and we got a pretty good price on it. It was in good shape overall, but it was quite dirty. Thankfully we had a lot of help from family and friends in fixing it up and cleaning it the weekend we moved in. We really like living here- it's so spacious, especially compared to our one-bedroom apartment in Rice Village! We still have a lot of work to do to get the baby room ready for our little guy. Speaking of which, is anyone wanting to get rid of a crib, dresser, or high chair?

This Summer Justin is working at an internship, which is scheduled to end Aug. 12, 6 days before my due date of Aug. 18. I'm kind of hoping that the baby will come a few days early, like maybe Aug. 13 or 14, to give us maximal time at home together with the baby before we go back to school (me on Aug. 23 and Justin on Aug. 30). After this Summer, Justin will have one more semester of school before completion of his Master's degree. I will still have several more years (2? 3?) before finishing my Ph.D, but for the rest of the time I'm in school I will mostly be doing research and only taking 1 class at a time (if any). As a theory person, my research can mostly be done from home, so I'm hoping to be able to continue school on a flexible schedule while taking care of my little guy.

I am not working this Summer. Or, I should day, I'm not working outside the home. I have been spending most of my time getting our house unpacked and arranged in a homey way, and now I'm starting to have more time to work on my research. My goal is to get some good progress on my research before our son arrives in August, since I'm guessing his arrival will shake things up a bit and may forestall my school work for a while. I'm trying to finish my field exam, which for micro theory is just a paper surveying current literature on our intended topic. I'm studying public goods. My paper is pretty much written, but I still need to go through a few iterations of getting feedback from my adviser and fixing it up according to his recommendations. Finishing that paper is my first academic goal for this Summer. My second is making some good progress on my own research- maybe coming up with some theoretical results that I can work into an outline for my first original research paper.

So there you have it. That's what's going on with the O'Shays right now.

Happy 2011!

Here are a few videos I took shortly after Constantine (my nephew) was born. I wanted to email them to the fam, but they were too big. So here they are:

In this first one, I thought it would be cute to have each of the kids record a message for their new baby brother for when he's old enough to talk and watch these. I only got around to recording one with Joy... it was less wonderful than I had pictured.

This next one is just the kids running around upstairs.

Last weekend Justin and I went to Washington D.C. for a few days. Over a year ago I used the rewards points from my credit card to get a Hyatt gift certificate. We still hadn't used it last November when I realized it expires this Jan. 31! We had been thinking it would be fun to visit DC, so I checked on hotel and airline prices. We found that we could stay at a nice hotel for 3 nights for the gift certificate price, and plane tickets for mid-January were pretty cheap! So we decided to go.

It was fun but super-duper cold. We spent a lot of time at the Smithsonian museums. Did you know that there are a bunch (maybe 8 or 10) different Smithsonian museums, and they're all free? We only made it to two of them: the American History museum, where we got to see the first lady ball gowns collection;

and the natural history museum, where we got to see lots of rocks and fossils and stuff. (no pictures yet- those are on Justin's camera).

We also spent some time shivering as we walked around the monuments. The highs were in the mid-30s while we were there, plus wind that made it feel like it was in the 20s. Notice that all the reflection pools are mostly or completely frozen!

Justin in front of the Potomac, with ice chunks floating on it.

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.