Snow Day II - The Revenge of the Snow

The girls are on their second snow day in a row. Yesterday we got smacked with 6 or 8 inches and lots of wind. Today, the heat went out in the school building, so they are at home watching Gravity Falls, cleaning their rooms, and driving Suzy mad, no doubt.

Here at IVCC, they canceled classes after noon  yesterday, so I got to go home and have a really peaceful afternoon with everyone. We made brownies, did a bunch of laundry, watched tv, and I graded a bunch of papers. (Seven to go but I'm writing right now, thank you very much!) Classes are back in session today, so no snow day for me. There was a foot high drift at the bottom of the driveway this morning that I had to chop away at in order to make it to work on time. I think I messed up my throat and lungs pretty good while frantically scooping away a knee-high drift. I have a nasty, hacking cough now that wasn't there before 8:30 this morning.

Several of you have asked if I've heard anything from Delta College. Yes and no. Yesterday, the phone rang and I saw the fateful 989 prefix. I actually got shaky and sweaty. I thought, "This is it!" But it wasn't it. Not at all. It was the HR lady calling back to answer a couple of questions I'd emailed her last week. No news yet. Sigh. At Delta, they generally only teach Monday through Thursday and then reserve Fridays for meetings. So I figure the committee will meet this Friday at the earliest, make their decision, and I probably won't hear anything until next week. At best. These guys weren't exactly greased lightning when it came to the application or phone interview process. I assume we'll find out one way or the other sometime in March, but I really have no idea when.

The other big news is that my PhD work is actually rolling forward for the first time in way too long. My prospectus committee chair likes my latest version (draft #8) and says it's ready to defend. This is momentous because I've been waiting for that news for basically two years. My chair is new - the old one, the scary woman from New Zealand, is gone - and this guy seems much more interested in moving me along than in keeping the gate, you know? I thought there was going to be a problem when my outside committee member bowed out. (I have three people from Wayne State on the committee and then I'm supposed to have one other person from another institution.) In the two years it's taken me to get this far, my former outside person got a job directing a graduate program at MIT. She's kind of busy these days to say the least. So for a day or two, I thought I was going to be sunk again. But lo and behold, again my chair comes to my rescue and approves a non-traditional suggestion of mine - a retired BYU theater professor named Eric Samuelson. I know Eric slightly through my membership in the Association for Mormon Letters. He was president for a couple of years, we met at one of the conferences, he's a Facebook friend, and I read his blog. (Mormon Iconoclast - the link is just to the right.) Anyway, Eric knows Mormon culture, history, aesthetics, and film. Plus, he's a really smart guy and a really nice guy. I asked him, he said yes, I have a full committee again. Yay. So, if all goes well, I could be pounding away at my dissertation by as early as this summer. If I can knock out a decent draft, maybe I'll be Doctor Brown sooner rather than later after all.

It is now 11:50. There is a Tupperware full of noodles and non-horsemeat meatballs waiting for me in the mini-fridge next to my office. If you need me, I will be over there stuffing my face.