A few decisions.....

Well, I've heard that if you really want to make a commitment to yourself (and keep it), a good way of going about it is to announce it to people you know. -If you leave it to yourself, you can let it slide, but if you tell others, it might provide some external motivation to do what you're saying you'll do.

So, I'm going to officially announce that I am going to apply for PhD programs next academic year to (hopefully) begin in Fall 2011. I'm also going to put in an application for the advanced women's studies certificate program here. I may decide not to do it (the courses are at very inconvenient times), but I figure there's no harm in applying and seeing how I feel about it come fall 2010. Plus, I'm almost done with my program - a few extra classes will keep my brain going. Since the advanced women's studies program requires three letters of recommendation, I finally got stuff together. -I asked three professors for letters of recommendation, and I created a password-protected professional website with my resume, biographical information about me, academic interests, goals, links to .pdf's of my transcripts and links to writing samples. I also let those three professors know that in a year I'll be asking them for letters for PhD programs as well.

So in addition to surviving work (insanely busy), class (higher ed law is awesome), and working on my presentation for the conference next week (ack!), I've got to make sure I stay on top of the whole PhD program search thing (though I'm pretty sure I know where I'd like to apply...and almost all are west of the Mississippi), not to mention the GRE's.

I also got a late start on my resolutions. I didn't make them outright, they just sort of fell into place and felt right: take better care of my skin (it's gross to be 28 and occasionally break out like a 14 year old), and to take the time and effort to eat more fresh foods.

Here's to 2010!