Hello Braunsey public. I was hoping to have some more news for you about my application but as of yet there has been no news on that front. It's still undecided but I have heard that everyone who is either in or out completely has heard. Since I haven't heard anything that means that they are waiting to figure out if they can fit me in. Either way though I will still be going up to Edmonton. I bought my tickets this week so as on March 20th I am heading back up to Canada.
But enough about my application troubles. Today is Valentine's Day. A day of love, even for those of us seperated by international borders. Alexandra and I have been talking on line for most of the day. Earlier I took a little walk and stopped by all of the buildings where we had classes together and the room where we met for the first time. We have been doing a lot of reminiscing about last year at this time. I did absolutely nothing on Valentine's Day and she went to a lame party where according to her all of the girls gathered around and bad mouthed men. We talked on line the next day and that is actually when we first started becoming closer. It was really nice to reminisce today. But that isn't all.
Tonight we are going to both get dressed up in our nice clothes. Then we are both going to prepare ourselves dinner and eat it with the video chat on and have a nice meal together. We did this for our last anniversary and it was so nice. We also both sent each other Valentine's Cards a few weeks ago and have been waiting until tonight to open them. I've had her card tucked in between a history of Latin and the biography of Arthur Conan Doyle for over a week now. I am looking forward to seeing what she wrote. I know that in my card to her I filled up an entire page.
There is also a tradition in my family of my parents giving us kids gifts on Valentines Day. Usually a bunch of candy and a small present. This year Chelsea and I were in Port Angeles last weekend so they gave us our gifts then. I got some mint chocolates and an Uncle John's Bathroom reader. SCORE! The card came this week in the mail and I am also waiting to open it until tonight as well. Alexandra got a card and some white chocolates (besides strawberries white chocolates are her very favorite) from my parents as well so we are waiting to open the cards until tonight as well. We are both very happy that every one in my family welcomed her with open arms. She is a wonderful girl who I love more each day and I am looking forward to making her a permanent member of our clan. And since this is the day for romance I have other piece of news. If all goes as planned and I either get accepted with funding to the University of Alberta (ideal) or I get a job in Edmonton and can save up money (less ideal) I plan on proposing some time within this coming year. I'll keep everyone posted on the details as they happen. Happy Valentine's Day!!! I wish everyone here a wonderful day with your loved ones.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Limbo
I know it has been a long, long time since we have posted anything. Now I cannot speak for my sisterly half but I have been waiting so long to post because I wanted some real news to blog about and I have been in application limbo for the last several weeks. Now this application limbo is not the "how low can you go?" kind of limbo where you dance under a stick. This is the "wait a long time to hear anything back from your grad school and then when it looks like you are going to find something out have that thing be that you will have to wait even longer" kind which is a lot harder to say and a whole lot less fun to do. Because this does not appear to be likely to change anytime soon I will now show you into my own little limbo.
Now first a word about this limbo. It is not the peaceful kind where you just sit and wait and relax; the safe and boring kind. This is the kind of limbo where just when you think everything is nice and steady something comes along and sets off a loud shrill warning siren.
First off, when I got back to the UW after an amazing Christmas vacation introducing my girlfriend/preance Alexandra to the family I checked my email only to discover that one of the people I had asked for a letter of reference had trouble figuring it out. I had to scramble around to make sure it got out soon as mail takes forever to get to Canada. (Alexandra and I sent each other Valentine's cards at the end of January and have just now recently received them; mine on Friday and Alexandra today) There is a website for checking the status of your application so after my source sent out my letter and my pulse returned to non-aneurysm levels I checked it out. It said they had nothing of mine. Needless to say we were very upset as the deadline was a week away and it seemed like somehow nothing had made it through. After emailing the professor in charge of the admissions I was relieved to find out that they hadn't updated it in a long time and sure enough by the end of the week I was all finished.
It sounds like all should have been calm and quiet in limbo, and for the most part it was for a while. I was supposed to hear back somewhere in the late 20s of January. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Which is really all there is to do in limbo. The last day they said we would supposedly hear back passed without one word from the department. After even more panicking Alexandra found out from some friends who were both applying for PhDs there and in the know that they had a lot of applicants and were taking a long time to decide and call everyone, especially people in exotic foreign lands like Seattle. Even so they would email me before they called but there was still no email.
Another week or two passed. We were getting restless again. Finally Alexandra and I could wait no longer and so she asked her teacher who also happened to be in charge of organizing the admissions (also someone whos work I greatly respect and admire by the way) and she said I was at the top of the short list. In other words if anyone turned them down I would be one of the first to fill their spots. She told us not to worry too much and to be "moderately hopeful". We have received a few more bits of news and gossip here and there and things are actually looking pretty positive. We are still in limbo now.
So after all of that waiting and scramnling around getting an application together we are still here in limbo. At least now it looks like we are entering the safe boring part. I for one am happily putting up my feet, enjoying a nice refreshing glass of tea and letting out a long and contented ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh of relxation. Let's hope we stay in this comfortable place until they tell us fore sure what is going on.
Now first a word about this limbo. It is not the peaceful kind where you just sit and wait and relax; the safe and boring kind. This is the kind of limbo where just when you think everything is nice and steady something comes along and sets off a loud shrill warning siren.
First off, when I got back to the UW after an amazing Christmas vacation introducing my girlfriend/preance Alexandra to the family I checked my email only to discover that one of the people I had asked for a letter of reference had trouble figuring it out. I had to scramble around to make sure it got out soon as mail takes forever to get to Canada. (Alexandra and I sent each other Valentine's cards at the end of January and have just now recently received them; mine on Friday and Alexandra today) There is a website for checking the status of your application so after my source sent out my letter and my pulse returned to non-aneurysm levels I checked it out. It said they had nothing of mine. Needless to say we were very upset as the deadline was a week away and it seemed like somehow nothing had made it through. After emailing the professor in charge of the admissions I was relieved to find out that they hadn't updated it in a long time and sure enough by the end of the week I was all finished.
It sounds like all should have been calm and quiet in limbo, and for the most part it was for a while. I was supposed to hear back somewhere in the late 20s of January. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Which is really all there is to do in limbo. The last day they said we would supposedly hear back passed without one word from the department. After even more panicking Alexandra found out from some friends who were both applying for PhDs there and in the know that they had a lot of applicants and were taking a long time to decide and call everyone, especially people in exotic foreign lands like Seattle. Even so they would email me before they called but there was still no email.
Another week or two passed. We were getting restless again. Finally Alexandra and I could wait no longer and so she asked her teacher who also happened to be in charge of organizing the admissions (also someone whos work I greatly respect and admire by the way) and she said I was at the top of the short list. In other words if anyone turned them down I would be one of the first to fill their spots. She told us not to worry too much and to be "moderately hopeful". We have received a few more bits of news and gossip here and there and things are actually looking pretty positive. We are still in limbo now.
So after all of that waiting and scramnling around getting an application together we are still here in limbo. At least now it looks like we are entering the safe boring part. I for one am happily putting up my feet, enjoying a nice refreshing glass of tea and letting out a long and contented ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh of relxation. Let's hope we stay in this comfortable place until they tell us fore sure what is going on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)