Wow, it's been a long time. I'm not even sure I remember how to do this. I haven't given up on blogging, it's just that I've been so freakin' busy lately that I haven't been able to post anything. Though there's sure been plenty to rant about.

Anyway, I got an email from some people who are actually still checking this page--even after months of neglect--and since I was up way too early this morning, I figured I could update the page.

I'm trying like mad to finish my "damned dissertation." That's my excuse. Those who don't really know, would tell you I'm just wrapping things up. And in the grand scheme of things, when you consider four years of undergrad, and seven years of graduate school, and the fact that I'll be at my new job by August, yeah, I guess you could say I'm just wrapping things up. Unless of course you're the one wrapping things up. From my perspective, it looks like I've got about six months worth of writing to do in one month AND I'm working a second job. So no, I'm not done.

But I will be soon. I'm stressed, yes, but I will finish and defend sometime in mid to late July, depending on when I finish writing the thesis. With each passing day, it's looking more and more like late July. But it will get done.

If you've never written anything as extensive as a thesis, you have not idea how hard writing is. I would rather pull my own teeth out with rusty pliers. Not long ago my dad suggested I just get one of those programs that lets you just say what you want and it types everything for you. I could not get it through to him that typing was not the hard part. Figuring out what I want to say and how I want to say it is. Yeah, all the research is done, but organizing everything into a nice story is still difficult. But it will get done. I fell a little behind schedule last week with some problems outside my control, but I'm hoping to make up for that this week.

I'm not sure if I've already mentioned this and since I'm already writing I'll just risk saying it again rather than go back and check previous posts, but I do have a job lined up out in California. I'm not sure why, but I'm still trying to maintain a wee bit of anonymity with this site, so I won't say exactly what company or where. But it's somewhere in northern California and it's just the best possible job I could ever have imagined getting. I am so excited to be done and working for them. There are very few people in my life who really now how tough grad school has been for me--how much I've hated it at times, etc. I think we're all pleased it worked out so well in the end--I'm pleased and a bit surprised. I'm thrilled to be coming back to California and looking forward to all the perks of gainful employment.

Hopefully, when I finish and get settled into my new life, I will be able to start blogging regularly again. But right now, writing my thesis is sucking up just about every waking hour. I will also update my flickr page again once I have more time. I've got quite a few pics to post actually, I just don't have the time to go through them and put on the finishing touches. Soon. Very soon.

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Now for some real blogging--or was that stuff real blogging too?

Michael Jackson. I like to think of myself as someone not obsessed with the stars and who dating who and who's wearing the latest Versace, etc. But for some reason, I do seem to follow along whenever one of them gets in trouble--a la Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson.

I was not surprised at the verdict yesterday. I'm not convinced he's guilty of anything more than being really freaky. The jury deliberated for six days and I take that to mean they took their jobs very seriously, mulled over all the evidence and just found themselves with reasonable doubt. Let's be honest here. Yes, Jacko's a whacko. Yes, he sleeps with boys, something really weird, but not in itself illegal--if it's just that, sleeping. The kicker is the boy and his mother. They're just not credible. The mother is a known scam artist. The boy accused his own mother of molesting him when he was five and he told a school counseler that Jacko did nothing to him. To my mind, the fishyness surrounding the boy and his mother present reasonable doubt. And that's all that's needed. Remember, in our system, you're innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Maybe he's done something wrong--but in this case, there IS reasonable doubt.

I still wouldn't let my kid go to Neverland ranch, and I just can't imagine what demented parent would. But I couldn't convict him on the evidence.

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Anyway, I better get back to work if I'm ever going to finish up. Thanks for writing me--it's nice to know I'll still have a few readers once I finish up this degree.

Posted by Hey Paul   |   Tuesday, June 14, 2005