Workin' in a Coal Mine

I started an entery when I went to go get Kim, but by the time I got going on it Kim was there to pick me up. Here is the entery that was started:

Here I am in New Haven, CT. I spent an hour on the road to get t Omaha. That drive went a lot faster than it had seemed in the past. Probably since I was only driving to Omaha and not to Minneapolis. About half way there I realized that I forgot two things. One of which is easily fixable and the other I know is going to be an issue...possibily. I forgot to grab the extra key that I was going to give Kim. Not a big deal and I / we can easily go to a hardware store and have a new one made. The other thing that I forgot was my cell phone. It is sitting on the kitchen table right where I left it, charging. I put it there last night to make sure that it was charged for the trip. I just know that this is going to be an issue. It always becomes one. At least this time, she is not trying to get ahold of me, well right now anyway. I don't think... The Omaha airport was pretty easy to navigate and I already had the bording passes for my flights. I didn't know that one of the airlines didn't assign seats. I hadn't used Southwest since I was a freshman in college, and that was only once....at Thanksgiving...and I never flew on it again.

So, I am now back in Lincoln. The drive back was long, but we finished it relatively fast, 12 hours each day. Kim drove on Saturday and I drove on Sun. We finished unloading her stuff by 9:30 Sunday night. Monday was a lot of running around and getting things taken care of that need both of us like the banking and the car insurence. It didn't take all that long, but it was done.

Then the next day the real adventure began... I officially started my doctorial program. I thought being a teacher was enough to keep me busy, but this is insane. Basically this first year we (the four of us in the cohort) are just told to do things and report back. The level of expectations are very high, as one would think they should be. However, it doesn't really hit you until it is being pushed into your lap and on the floor around you. The group of us are getting along pretty well. I think a bit more stress and we will start to see each other's weaknesses come shining through. Right now, we have about 35 hours of work a week assigned to us. Really that means about 60 hours with all the research and library time and figuring out exactly what it is that they want us to do and making it look good. Next we get to add on 12 hours of class. So far things just have that "tettering on the edge" feel. I hope these classes don't push us toward the bottomless pit.

Things with Kim have been going through a bit of adjustment as she is getting used to not being in school and living with me again. We have had some talks about it and I am sure that we will continue to work with it. With her here, it feels like we are already married in a way. We were talking about it yesterday and it feels like "Oh, yeah, I guess we need to go have a ceremony, too" but it is more of an afterthought.

Also, I need to roast some coffee. Probably tomorrow morning....that sounds good...fresh roasted coffee...

I am Mr. Peabody and I am figuring out what the hell I am doing.