Bright Woman Blog

Last night we had huge thunderstorms, so everything is looking nice and crisp this morning. It was a cool 68 degrees when I took Stella to the park with clear blue skies. She had a great time fetching the ball while I took pictures of trees, birds, flowers, etc. On the way home, we swung by my neighbors house so that I could check out his lily patch. Since I haven’t had much time to garden in the last couple of years, I delight in having a neighbor who is a fanatic gardener. He has half of his front yard devoted to a patch of tiger and day lilies that are blooming (and looking amazing) right now.

It’s been months since I have had the time to sit down and right something here … and, alas I have found time as I sit fumbling through all of the material for my first comprehensive exam on Monday morning. It’s funny how easy it is to find time for other things as I prepare for what appears to be my largest academic milestone to date. At UT, comprehensive exams come in fours so I will be whittling away my time preparing for them for the next four weeks, or until my last one on August 13th. By all accounts, it is going to be a both interesting and exhausting process. I can’t wait to be finished!

In other news, the last five months have proven to be both trying and exhilarating at the same time. I taught my first solo class in the Spring (Advertising on the Internet), secured my first journal publication (due out next year), managed to make it to several conferences, both for presentations and just to attend, and was able to secure three fellowships that will pay my way as I complete my dissertation next year. I flew back and forth across the US several times, to San Francisco, Las Vegas, Panama City Beach and Burlington, and came home relatively unscathed, minus the cracked rib from a nasty fall down a rain-drenched flight of stairs in the Dulles airport in Washington, D.C. I hadn’t experienced that degree of physical pain in quite some time and have since made an effort to slow down, especially when dealing with stairs. Oh, the things PhD students do to get more presentations on that vitae!

This summer has been good so far … some how we have reached the end of July without breaking 100 degrees in Austin which has to be some kind of record. It has been raining on an almost daily basis, bringing to life plants and fungi that I have never seen in Austin before … it truly is a jungle out there. In addition, it has brought all sorts of rodents and insects out of the woodwork which has proved to be interesting and slightly revolting at the same time. It will be nice when the water subsides and all of the little creatures can find their homes again … which are hopefully not inside my house.

For now, I am making it my job to enjoy the rain and cool weather while I try to prepare for my information science exam on Monday. I’ve managed to flip my mental switch into getting things done mode, finally, so I believe I am ready to sit in a cubicle and write for four straight hours on how user-generated content is impacting both usability and advertising life cycles in the interactive environment. Sounds pretty interesting, eh?

Just think, by the time I am done with these exams and the oral defense of them, I will be well on my way to turning 30 and getting my dissertation underway. Boy am I ready for a new decade … this one is getting a little old … no pun intended!

Btw, if you are reading this and have something brilliant to contribute to my thoughts for Monday, don’t hesitate to send me an email ;). My horoscope has advised that I beware of gaining knowledge without character … so, if you’ve got a good usability story, please pass it along for me to add to my collection!

Last night I, along with my brother, his wife, and my husband, attended the Jeff Tweedy (lead man of Wilco) concert at a nice auditorium on the UT campus. We had a good dinner and a few beers at the Dog & Duck Pub before hand. The concert was great and Jeff was just as funny and surly as he always comes off as being on the albums. The most humorous part of the evening, however, was not Jeff or the other band, but the people sitting directly next to us. It has been a long time since I have seen a concert goer scream and holler for a song with such fervor. At one point I got so tickled that I was crying and no longer making a laughing noise although I was still laughing. My personal favorite line was … “Play California Stars … Damnit .. It was our wedding song …” … repeated about 10 times during the evening, between every song until he played it. As my husband put it … “Of course they are married … it takes a team to be that annoying.” ;)

After spending a week in San Francisco for the AEJMC conference, I am finally back to the land of the living. Although I love the big city and everything it has to offer, I must say that it was nice to get home and hear the crickets singing in my yard and the wind blowing through the trees … if only it weren’t so blasted hot while enjoying such things.

Since returning home, I have been making a valiant effort to enjoy what is left of the Summer before the Fall semester onslaught of work, classes, and running the media lab begins. For me, this means hunkering down somewhere with air conditioning and working on websites, crafting projects, reading old J.D. Salinger books, spending time with long lost friends, and watching all of the movies that I missed during the school year. So far, it has proven to be a fruitful effort … many scarves and trivets have been knitted, countless beads have been strung, many movies have been checked off of the list, and I am well into my second reading of Frannie and Zooey, a book that is far more interesting than my fourteen year old mind could have known during its first reading. I suppose reading a book about a family wrought with tragedy is more freeing than sitting around worrying about your own family, equally engulfed with stories of love and loss. Sounds pretty ‘pure and complicated’ … just as Salinger let on.

With that in mind, I will set out to live a pure and simple life for the next two weeks as the Summer winds down. To do this, I will continue being a crafting goddess, will change authors once this book is through, and will head to Florida for a nice vacation with my husband and girl dog … and, in true Bright fashion, will return from that vacation the night before school starts with the road on my mind and not a care in the world.

Come Wednesday the 30th it will be back to that whole pure and complicated way of life again.

Well folks, we are officially 6 days from the San Francisco presentation for AEJMC and I am sitting in a coffee shop close to campus procrastinating some more on getting the final version of the presentation done. My favorite coffee place, i.e. the one I am sitting in, is located on the main street that runs alongside UT’s Western border so there is plenty of people watching and puffy white clouds to distract me from getting work done. Alas, the coffee is very strong and delicious so I should have some energy to get things done shortly.

In other news, Grace, Galit and I made a trip down to Barton Springs last night at 9 PM. Entry is free after 9 PM … the only disadvantage being there is no sun to warm you up after taking a dip in the frigid water (62 degrees year round!). The ladies brought swim caps and I laughed loudly as I watched them try to get situated. It was almost as humorous as listening to Grace quietly cuss in Portugese as she got into the water. And, of course, once we were all swimming, I proved to myself once and for all that there is nothing like taking a nice swim at night, in a completely spring fed pool with a view of the Austin skyline. Next time I will be testing by diving board skills … I’m hoping some of my old moves come back to me ;).

So, now I must go get to work and stop daydreaming about swimming and all things fabulous in San Francisco. This weekend brings a birthday party at my place, some time to get crafty, and the completion of the presentation. Oh my, it sounds like I am getting back to a normal life indeed!

On a somewhat breezy yet hot night in late July in Austin, I am writing from my new office setup at the house. It was a much needed change and I am quite content in my new, decidedly girly southern gothic surroundings. Much has happened since my last post … a cousin’s wedding, my grandmother’s funeral, a summer school stats class, the completion of two very long papers, several excellent concerts, countless dog walks, a few dips in Barton Springs, and many delicious meals. To say the least, it has been an interesting couple of months around the Bright family … here are a few things I have learned along the way:

1. When going on a family “vacation”, pack an extra since of humor … or two, or three … you will need to start unpacking them by day two.
2. There is something magical about a tumultous thunderstorm on a hot Summer day and I absolutely never tire of them.
3. If you’re having a bad day and all else fails, have a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich and a fizzy drink to make yourself feel better.
4. When reason doesn’t work, kill them with kindness.
5. The phrase ‘Life is for the living.’ is one of the most comforting things to think of when someone passes away.
6. Some mistakes are too fun to only make once.
7. Watching the World Cup with a Brazilian soccer fan is hilarious fun.
8. Sometimes the best thing to do is just sit back and watch your brain work out all of your fascinating contradactions and see what wins.
9. The only thing consistent in life is change so it is a good thing to know how to manage.
10. The Clash really is one of the best bands of all time.
11. And, last but not least: how to conduct experiments, analyze data, and interpret results for experiments containing more than 2 groups :).

So, we know for sure that Summer school paid off … as for the rest, we’ll just have to see. For now, I must prepare a presentation for a conference in San Francisco next week. Grace and I are presenting and my Mom is coming to join us so it should be a fabulous time. We’ll get to see Greg and Beth Anne, shop, eat good food, and drink wine … sounds like just what I need right now. To boot, my horoscope has advised that it’s high time for me to untame myself … (insert cat noise here) … woohoo!

Today in Austin it was 95 degrees and breezy which reminded me that we have definitely settled in to Spring in Central Texas. The streets are coated with mulberry pollen and everything seems to have come into bloom all at once. In fact, my strawberry plant is sporting two very red berries which generally doesn’t happen until sometime in June. I’ll be happy to eat the berries, but it makes me wonder what it’s going to be like outside when June rolls around this year? Alas, I digress …

Spring time in Austin always brings lots of beautiful flowers to look at in the parks and yards that extend through the several miles of road I walk on or take to and from work everyday. In particular, at the 45th and Guadalupe interchange, as you begin to head South along Guadalupe, there is a long row of rose bushes that bloom this time every year. The bushes are large and grow along a chain link fence that creates the barrier for the Texas State Mental Health Facility that takes up about 8 city blocks in the center of town. The facility itself is a conglomeration of structures built in what looks like the 1940s. Many are similar to old post offices or doctor’s offices - as you look at them you can easily imagine the terrazo-like floors, the musky air conditioning, and the unique smell that only years of exposure to Southern heat and humidity can get you. The roses, however, can’t help but make up for this in their extravagant shades of red, apricot, white, and pink. I bet everyone living in the facility looks forward to this time of year when they can stop and smell the roses.

Speaking of which, Spring also brings the arrival of music season, as I have come to call it. The nights are magnificent this time of year - the temperatures dip into the 60s and 70s and a light breeze keeps things fresh - making for nice surroundings when standing outside listening to music. This weekend will bring a trip to see Todd Snider, then on the 29th it will be Drive by Truckers. Later this Summer, Beck will be playing at The Backyard and then the Flaming Lips in September. I don’t think I’ve had a music season like this in almost a decade. Needless to say … I am looking forward to some good tunes and happy times. The rites of Spring are treating us right this year indeed!

For now, I will get into my car, roll the windows down and drive down to my favorite gelato place for something sweet. Because, after all, you can’t write a consumer behavior paper until you’ve had some cinnamon gelato and a coffee drink :).

That’s the rule for tonight, anyway.

This post is coming to you from the SXSW Interactive Conference at the Convention Center in Austin. Ironically, I just attended a blogging panel that addressed the issues of merging personal and business identities through blogs that are accessible, for example, from the website your resume is on. So, hopefully this post won’t offend those I work with … Ben, I hope you’re listening ;).

The conference is absolutely packed this year. They have overflow rooms for when the keynote speaker rooms get too packed … it reminds me of the ‘Riff Raff’ room on the Ellen Degeneres show for folks who show up too late to be in the studio audience. Of course, I was in the Riff Raff room for today’s keynote because Rachel and I were enjoying margaritas at Manuel’s for lunch and got back late :). Needless to say, the margarita has made the spotty wireless access and huge crowd a bit more tolerable.

For now, I am going to stand in line for coffee and wait for the ‘Wisdom of a Crowd’ piece to start … it’s about Wikipedia and should be pretty interesting stuff. More later!