just call me Master J

a very special loved one reminded me tonight that i haven't announced my choice of grad school, so here it is:

i'm going to UT's LBJ School of Public Affairs next year! yay!

between the outstanding faculty, the close-knit-but-not-claustrophobic student body, the sophisticated-yet-flexible curriculum, the location, the price, and the vast array of research groups, guest speakers, internship & job opportunities, developmental workshops, alumni, and other resources/opportunities/events, i'm just totally convinced that the LBJ school is the perfect public policy school for me.

AND now i don't have to move all my stuff (expensive!) or store all my stuff (also expensive!), and i can stay near all my friends and family (with one notable exception, of course), and i don't have to move the sweet owen j across the country, and i get to stay in my favorite city in the world, and my darling eb can move back to warm, friendly home in a year, rather than killing time somewhere for a year after graduation while i finish up.

so all that is fantastic, and i am quite happy. : D

oh, and here is a photo i took outside the LBJ school the other day:

pretty, isn't it (even with the scaffolding around the LBJ Library)? for those interested, the LBJ School itself is based in the building on the right, behind the flags. i love it when they have the fountain on outside!

hooray for cheryl

Currently Playing:
Begin Here
By The Zombies

Before:	After:

hear ye, hear ye

Currently Playing:
Armed Forces
By Elvis Costello

every category of my gallery, except for the government section, has new photos for you to see! some are new, and some are old (and therefore possibly on second or third pages of each sub-gallery), some are blue, and some are gold. so go check 'em out! and eat a fish from your fish wish dish!

other details of note on the update:

• my nasa gallery is now complete. there may be a stray photo here or there on my computer or a burned cd, but more or less, that's all that i took as a co-op.


• the owen gallery has now reached all the way back to when i first adopted him! so from now on, all new owen photos will be *new*-new photos. his history is complete.


• there are still more old eb and family photos to come (at least).


• my gallery now spans from August 2002 to March 2006. impressive, no?

in other news, i've got a lot going on these days. but i guess that's not really news for me. i'm always thinking of this or that to post up here, but the ideas usually slip away before i get a chance to write.

and i'm blanking now.

so i'll hit the hay, and tell you i miss you and that we should hang out soon. because we should.

oh here's something: if any of you are ever in the campus area and looking to get lunch on MWF between 11am and 1pm, call me! i'm in a weird way right now, with no real peer group left at UT. i'm very much looking to belonging to a class/"cohort" again next year.

which i guess is some other news. i've decided where i want to go to grad school, but i don't think i should announce it just yet. but you can now know that i now know at least what i'd *like* to do. so you've got that going for you.

which is nice.

other news:

• i know it sounds totally lame, but i'm taking an aerobics class at the union. the lady who teaches it really knows what she's doing, and i'm getting a lot out of it. plus, it makes me laugh when i let myself consider how absurd the room of us looks doing the exercises.


• my mom got a kitten, and it's freaking adorable. she took some video tonight. hopefully she'll get it online for viewing somewhere sometime soon.


• my classes and professors this semester are outstanding, especially devin stauffer (my political theory professor from last semester that i was thrilled to get to take another course from) and ken apfel (my social policy professor at the LBJ School / ex-Commissioner of the Social Security Administration / one of Clinton's Cabinet members).


• i've actually been kinda keeping up with the news, thanks to the personalizable google homepage and my BBC news screensaver. oh yeah, and thanks to itunes multipasses for the daily show and the colbert report. which is just so amazing. i mean, jeebus pete. so funny. so dead-on.


• julie b lives right up the street from me now, which i'm so so happy about. and what's more, my bike makes quick work of that mile between our houses.

AND! it's only about 1 month + 1 week until ethan comes home for my graduation! hooray! and then a few days later, i'm flying up there to help him pack and clean up, and then we'll be taking a ~6-day road trip back home for the summer! fun!

owen is twitching in his sleepy kitty dreams. must be time for me to join dreamland myself. hasta luego, mis amigos.