Happy Boxing Day!

As we are a half English household, we celebrate boxing day. Since we spent most of Christmas playing the wii, we are very sore...and are celebrating by resting....

But tomorrow we are off to San Louis Obsipo for a few days...then back home for New Year's Eve with some of our pals and probably some more wii!

Happy Holidays from the Gerbil-Bear-Cat Family

Wishing you a Happy Christmas (if you celebrate it) and New Year!

Tiger finally agreed to let me take some holiday snap shots of her...she is kind of a pain like that.

I won't regale you with our adventures, because you can skim through them here.

We are looking forward to an exciting New Year with the Gerbil part of the family moving to LA, getting a new Cat family member and a big trip to New Zealand.

Huggles to all of you out there!

Who was afraid of Santa

Of course it was me. In general I was scared of all men with facial hair. Gerbil family legend states that it was because of me Papa Gerbil had to shave his cool 70's facial hair. Sorry!

But Back to the holiday theme....there is an entire photo gallery of kids being freaked out by santa....click here. But there is also someone who actually studies this topic...click here.

Honestly, if I was in charge of a kid, I would be glad if they were freaked out by Santa. Who wants to be held by some weirdo in a red suit, usually with a fake beard and probably smells...

Luckily, Tiger is not into sitting still so, she is spared a trip to animal santa....but she did find her christmas presents...this is the problem of buying catnip toys for your cat....she was trying to wrestle them free of a petco bag...she is a very special kitty. But you are in luck, in the next day or so her holiday photos will be posted right here.....

So the moral of this tale...santas are creepy and don't make your kid sit with them....

TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I managed to get myself an assistant professor position. In July I will be starting at Cal-State Northridge. This will be my first experience in a school of this size, but I am sure I'll be able to figure it out....

It will mean that Sir GB and I will be living in different places for awhile, but we'll figure it out. It is only an hour flight and about $100, which these days is way cheaper than driving...

But the other good news, is that means we get to add to the Gerbil-Bear-Cat family. Tiger will be getting a sibling, a little brother or sister kitty to keep me company in SoCal. Soon, I will be soliciting entries in the cat naming bonanza....

Job update

Unless something changes in the next 30 hours, I'll be moving to LA this summer. Not such a bad thing. I liked the people in the department, I can definitely get tenure there...and I need a change of pace from around here.

So I'll confirm on the blog tomorrow....but tonight I am having dinner with the delightful and ever charming, Dana D, who is out here interviewing at Santa Cruz...

But until confirmation...here are some holiday whales...b/c we all need to see whales in santa hats

Who has a wii

I have a wii!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But Sir GB says I have to wrap it for christmas...I think he doesn't want to be distracted by it....

We are busy getting ready for the holidays! I am very excited for the break!

How I think that Sir GB thinks I drive

Not only is this a good song, but it pretty much depicts Sir GB's description of my driving

Finally, some good job news

Right before turkey day! I'll be heading to CSU Northridge to give a job talk in early to mid december. I guess I better firm up my job talk...everyone keep their fingers crossed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIR GB

Today is Sir GB's birthday....We are having a quiet night at home as he has been gallivanting around the globe lately. Although next week we are going to spend two days up in San Francisco to celebrate...

Happy Halloween with some Red Sox

This is actually from a hazing experience, but I thought it appropriate for halloween...

Plus it has Jacoby in it! Oh and another blog favorite Papi

Gerbil in the Earthquake

I am ok….Tiger was fine. It was a 5.6 quake the strongest one I have ever felt. It was pretty scary.

Tiger was actually out when it happened so I went to go look for her. I grabbed Sir GB's keys b/c Tiger responds to them.

I find her and we are walking back….and I get to the door, it is shut, and um…Sir GB doesn’t have a front door key on his key ring. I don’t have my cell, or anything….so I go to the main office to see if there are any instructions, which there are, but I don’t have my phone. And none of our neighbors are home. So what did I do…I pulled a tiger and climbed up onto the balcony. Let me just say, although I work out 5 days a week...I do not generally climb trees and balconies..From there I got in…but that was pretty exciting. I thought you would enjoy my adventures today.

I am going to have a drink now

I am waiting to hear from my friend Linda the epicenter was near her house.

Congratulations Red Sox

I have to say I was a little disappointed that the MVP was Jacoby, but if it wasn't going to be him. Mike Lowell is a nice guy. And he brings tacos to fans waiting in line for post season tickets...which makes him also a bringer of tacos, so that is all good. But if you ask me, the highlight of the game was when the home plate umpire get hit in the man bits with a pitch. I had to rewind it and watching again....b/c if he didn't get hit, it was the most egregious bit of man bit touching I have seen in a long time.....

Adventures with Tiger

Sir GB is in England, so it is just me and Tiger. We have been having such adventures. Ok...mostly we have been sitting on the couch snuggling....but I thought you might enjoy some photos of her antics...my favorite is the one with the lei. I also like that I found her all snuggled up under the covers one day...comedy.

Not only does he win all of america tacos

But he also kicks some serious ass. Four hits (three doubles) tonight, and that is only through the 8th. I am on tivo delay b/c I hate commercials. Damn Jacoby...You rock.

I don't know how i became a red sox fan...well actually Sir GB is a huge fan, so I was forced to watch them. But I have discovered that I am a natural baseball fan...why you might ask....because it is all about random knowledge. But Sir GB is in England for his nephew's christening, so I am forced to share my random baseball facts with Tiger. She was delighted to learn that Jason Varitek is one of two people to play in the little league world series, the college world series and the MLB world series....I know fascinating. But when you have a mind for random facts...well this is an awesome game.

By the way. I don't know how anyone on the east coast can stay up to watch this. Tiger is already in bed.

Jacoby won us all free tacos!!!!!

It is no secret that I have a little crush on Jacoby Ellsbury, but he is now the great TACO PROVIDER. He stole a base tonight, now we are all entitled to a free taco at taco bell on 10/30 from 2-5 pm.

When Kitties Want to Wake up.

Yup...this is kind of like Tiger, but the ending is a bit different...she just bites

Two Degrees from Big Papi!

Mother of B.I.L. met one of my favorite baseball players....Big Papi. He is so damn cool...look at his ice! We have a Papi grumarumi at the house, and he is a very happy. This also now puts me in three degrees from Manny, and I love Manny.

GERBIL-MANIA

sometimes I wish there was gerbil-mania, especially on the job market...so far I've sent out 27 applications....I am a wee bit addicted to my phone and email in case someone would like to contact me....

But there is some mania in the family BIL mania..... what a rockstar....

The life of Post-Doctoral Gerbil

I think you know you spend too much time in your office alone when you think you hear the tardis and are very excited that the Doctor might be visiting....I do hope it is that version of the doctor, not one of the old ugly ones.

Yup that is my morning reaction...maybe I need more coffee or more sleep or maybe both....

Life has devolved into much administration and running of social science programs that are without directors at the moment...for a week or so I was the interim director of MAPSS. I was/am the interim diversity coordinator for graduate studies in social sciences (they don't actually let me see anyone--then they would know I was white and the gig would be up). I am running a search for a Survey specialist....oh and doing my same old same old running the lab. And let's not forget the most important part...trying to get a job.....Needless to say I am a bit busy...so the idea of running off on the tardis, not so bad....

Winning = Awesome

My brother-in-law, who is a gerbil by marriage is a chess expert (I will use the correct terminology---I wondered about that). I don't know what all of it means...but....winning = awesome.

On another gerbil chess related story, did you know that there is a chess program called gerbil....
Clearly everything is coming together....this explains BIL's love of chess and gerbils..it is all inter-related...

Gerbils in Space

No, I haven't joined NASA (although they have a branch just down the street)....but the Russians have sent 10 gerbils into space


By the way, who knew Link Hogthrob was so tall.....

things heard recently at the gerbil/bear/tigercat household

Yes, we are big dorks at our house, well except for tiger cat....she is too cool for the rest of us. So I thought I would give you a sense of the conversations around here....be prepared, you may not necessarily understand all or any of this....

EXTERMINATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gerbil: If we got a tardis, appa could live in it.
Bear: We would have to address the door issue...unclear if the door actually could expand

What do you think the symbolic interactionists and the existentialists think about each other (I'll spare you the on-going conversation beyond this)....

Along similar lines....I wonder what would have happened if Lenin had lived (and actually I wasn't the one who said this)...

No whorebuckets allowed

Where do you think I could get a sonic screwdriver?

So, in case you can't guess the hidden themes....I have a new favorite show (Dr. Who--I prefer the new versions) and I am writing a ton of applications for jobs to teach theory...The whore buckets that is a totally a random phrase I used to describe the broncos field goal kicker, who really just ruined my sunday...

St Lucia pics

Click here to see an abbreviated album, only 57, not 360...

Despite the hurricane, we had a delightful time, it was really nice to have a break, I don't think I realized how much I needed it.

Hurricane Dean you bastard

So we have survived most of Hurricane Dean. We re on the tail end of it. We are in St Lucia. We went for a walk today during the calm, but then it started right back up again. I got some great pictures. The damage isn't too bad where we are. We have power, and internet, just no cable or phone. Obviously things could be much worse. So for those of you who were worried, we are a okay and our hotel is making sure we get fed and have water and what not. Obviously if you come to St Lucia, you can stay here and not worry about being taken care of!

Welcome to St. Lucia

Well...so far so good...but....Hurricane Dean is on its way...should be here tomorrow, so we are trying to enjoy today to the fullest.....I will keep you all posted.

New York was good, but I am glad it is done...I am sick of schmoozing

Let's go Buffalo, or "You make me wanna Shout"

What you may not know, is that the Gerbil was born in Buffalo (many moons ago) and as a Buffalo native you get imprinted with this bizarre love affair with sports teams that always break your heart. My first experience...you guessed it the Buffalo Bills....They ripped our hearts out with a wide right all those years ago (I think that phrase might be banned in Buffalo), and then continued to do so for a few more years. Today, I was reading Deadspin (if you don't read it, you should, because espn wants to suck out your soul) and they had a fabulous preview of the Bills' upcoming season. It epitomizes what like is life for a Buffalo fan. His opening line about when people say "sorry" when you tell them you are a Bills fan--it happened to me in the middle of nowhere England, a land that hates American football...even they know how bad it is to be a Bills fan. Now, being a west coast Gerbil, I don't get many Bills games, but I track them on the web, and every time I get a little bit excited, they seem to self distruct.....Ah, the Joys of Being a Buffalonian (I think I made that up).

By the way, I still love Marv Levy!

How do I know I am a grown up academic

....because I am busier than ever. I have articles to review (this is a first), papers to write, courses to design, students to help...oh and I have to find a job for fall of 2008. At least I haven't been rejected from anywhere yet. But there is still plenty of time for that. So to entertain you all for the day, I am posting a picture of gerbils in motion (ok...it isn't a gerbil, but a guinea pig...close enough)

Trumpet Fanfare...May I introduce Dr. Gerbil the younger

Yup! Today I filed and I have a piece of paper announcing that I am a Ph.D.! Sure you might remembered I walked last year. But that was partly because the Drs Gerbil, the elders were in CA for the event... Being non-flying Gerbils, they had to take a road trip. In the course of evolution, I became a flying Gerbil (as are all of the Gerbil kids).

In a few years we'll have the next Dr. Gerbil....

Where have I been

Many of you have been wondering about this....well...I have been locked in an office finishing my dissertation. It is all done...I just need to find my committee members and make them sign the papers they have agreed to sign and turn it in to the registrar!!!!!!!!

So hopefully, now I can devote more time to random blogging.... but to give you a brief update on life....

Just saw DD (C) last night along with her family...which is always a delightful experience

I am now obsessed with the English Premier League....Sir GB pulls for Man U and I cheer for Liverpool (I LOVE GERRARD) and Chelsea (also a big John Terry fan).

We are headed off to St. Lucia in mid august, as a post dissertation experience.....

And I am eagerly awaiting my new Harry Potter book which will be delivered tomorrow morning.

Oh...and I think Tiger has a boyfriend....he is big, fluffy and orange...so I named him Crookshanks...he is the only cat she tolerates...so I figure they are going out...thank goodness she is fixed....I don't think I could handle kittens....

Happy Birthday Big Sis!

I hope you are enjoying your birthday!

This puppy seems to be enjoying it!

Mr Lee the cat

Yes, I am working on becoming a crazy cat lady....although right now we only have one...although I keep trying to steal this delightful orange cat who I call crookshanks (yeah i am a dork).....I keep thinking it would be so awesome to see what Tiger does during the day. Well this guy in Germany found out...his cat...Mr. Lee has a camera that is programmed to take pictures at different times during the day and the we get to see what Mr. Lee is up to....it is sweet

I recommend checking it out...

In the mean time....back to work for me....

Yup, I've been HIDING

So, yes, I have been missing quite a bit lately....but I am been trying to finish the bitch that is my dissertation. The next to final version went to my advisor on tuesday...So I am getting ready for my next vacation, to the beach house...

But in other news, I had this dream awhile ago and I got two dogs, Skwiggles and Aloysius....so I found a picture of what skwiggle looked like in my dream....apparently he was a cockapoo....I am still looking for Aloysius.....

New rankings of graduate departments

based on crabbiness of the professors....well someone suggested this somewhat jokingly....but actually this piece brings up quite a few good points. I mean if I had known what I know now, I may have chosen differently in many respects. I don't mean to imply my advisor is crabby, she isn't, she is actually one of the least crabby and loveliest people in my department or even the university. But she is way too overstretched, and there just aren't the faculty to really handle the number of students we have in the right way. So would I have done something differently academically --yup, I probably would have gone to cornell if I knew then what I know now....but instead I ended up with a fabulous boyfriend and a pretty ridiculous cat.....so life isn't that bad

Dornbusch Award in Social Psychology

Yup, I am the winner. It is just a departmental award, but it is nice to be recognized. I will miss the ceremony b/c I'll be on the beach...which is where I would rather be.....but Kyra will pick it up for me...since we are twins, no one will know the difference :)


Ok...back to my dissertation revisions.

Once these revisions get off to the copy editor I'll have more time to post.

Little Miss Sunshine

I have to say, this is the best movie I have seen in a long time. If you haven't seen it go, please rent it, or netflix it or how ever you watch movies get it.

Ok so you may ask Gerbil, why did you like this, you hate everything....

well, this has some of the most interesting characters I have seen in long time...I am particularly fond of Dwayne, Frank and Grandpa.

I guess for me Dwayne and Frank are pretty close to home....Dwayne reminds me a bit of a high school Gerbil...all I wanted to do was get the hell out. Frank is what I could be in 10-15 year, but instead of a Proust scholar I'll be a trust scholar....but the pettiness of academia and what it can drive you to is only too apparent if you hang around too long without appropriate balancing mechanisms (like Sir GB).

But I also have to say, I enjoy the statement it makes about children's beauty pagents. Olive is the only kid that actually looks like a kid, not a shrunken barbie doll. I won't ruin the movie for those who haven't seen it. But she is the only one with integrity.

It isn't often I moved to write here about a movie or anything I have seen, so I think that should be good enough for some of you to check this movie out.

Picturs from Kauai

We are back...and it was fantastic.

If you want to see them, click here

Here are a few highlights!

if you haven't been, you should go...

Aloha

So far so good....sure we have coral cuts and blisters, but we are having a fabulous time. We have had 4 honu (green sea turtle sightings) many awesome fish sightings, as well as a fred willard sighting at LAX. We were supposed to go on a helicopter adventure yesterday, but it got postponed due to weather...So we will go tomorrow. Today we went on a kayak adventure....and yes I paddled, and didn't even put my feetin the water the entire time. The kayak trip was up to a waterfall....it was so totally cool...we are having a fabulous time!

Animals in Need

So I was reading one of my favorite blogs stuff on my cat, and I read about this horrible fire at the jacksonville, fl human society. All but two of the puppies made it, but most of the kitties didn't. You can read about it here and make a donation if you would like.

you may wonder where i have been lately

well here is the answer....Tiger and I have been asleep....

Actually we have been working our butts off...well Sir GB and I have...Tiger has been busy playing.

But we are headed to Kauai on sunday. In the mean time we see the A's and the Yankees tomorrow, and then spend all day saturday getting ready....

Need help procrastinating...

Ok...sure I did the dishes, watered the plants, organized my bathroom cupboards...but then I found this....a flickr stream of famous basketball players with random people

In honor of my favorite holiday...please enjoy this break before the madness starts tomorrow morning. I'll be holding holiday festivities at home with tiger with some visits from the regular crowd.

Oh, some of the highlights of the flickr stream...the chrish duhon lapdance and cherokee parks...you kind of wondered what happened to him didn't you. Oh the comedy....I remember when we were in school...he was a poser then too.

New Sports Blog that I love

Ok....maybe it wouldn't be to everyone's liking...but Ladies... is the kind of sports blog I would have if I had a bunch of my ladies friends help me out. For example I have been loving their panty raid feature, which gives you the lowdown (not the down low) on each conference tourney, but also picks an all-hottie team. Now this is the kind of information I like. Quality analysis of the teams, and someone spent the time looking at all of the rosters to see who was hot.....this will save me so much time as I am watching games/writing my dissertation....It all makes sense my friends. So check it out. And if you get bored of that and want to dress up your favorite athletes or celebrities go to stardoll I had fun with tom brady...but who hasn't...he is a ho.

The most wonderful time of the year

For some people it is the winter holidays....for me...it is march basketball. I havve fully gotten into the spirit by watching some little conference tourney games, and the ACC women's tourney. Yeah, I have a dissertation to write....I'm working on it as I watch games.

Congrats to Penn being teh first team to make it to the big dance. Yup for them it is just nice to be invited....the poor ivy league...they just never make it that far. We'll see who else gets invited today as a few automatic bids are determined. For some reason I am tranfixed by the VMI vs Winthrop game. I am pulling for Winthrop.

Marcus Matthew

So we have confirmation that this is the name of Sir GB's nephew....and we finally got a picture!

I'm in love

no, i haven't dumped sir gb, but i have found a puppy so damn cute I don't know what to do. Check him/her out....given my previous dog named spike (who was a girl) I won't make gender assumptions....hmmm...what will it take to make sir gb and tiger agree this would be a good idea.

Puppy Bowl vs the Super Bowl

I was pretty into the puppy bowl....the cutest golden puppy ever, named jackson....

but then I changed to cbs as Tiger was getting kind of jealous of all of the puppies (but I told her we would watch the kitty bowl at half time) I saw a former classmate of mine is one of the captains of the bears...Pat Mannelly he is the long snapper

all i'll say so far is the colts look like crap. the bears returned the kickoff for a td, and then intercepted payton. i might go back to the puppies if this game doesn't get more competitive, but rex hasn't been oout on the field to mess it up for the bears yet.

Sir GB rocks

So some of you know I have been kind of down about this job search thing. I have gotten more sleep in the past few weeks than I have in a long time. But to cheer me up, Sir GB is taking me to Kauai in April. Yup that is Hawaii.

If you want to find out some information you can click here

So now I have something to look forward to...and maybe this will help our gym routine...got to get in shape for the beach!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARISA

Here is a little crazy pup also celebrating his birthday!

Hope you have a great day!

Sir GB is now Uncle GB

those of you who have been keeping track of my infrequent posts may know that Sir GB's nephew is a bit early. Actually he is really early. Poor little Marcus (Sir GB thinks that is his name) weighs 3 lbs and will be in the hospital for awhile. That is all I know right now. So keep this little gu n your thoughts and hope he gets bigger soon!

Who would believe a scuba diving cat

Well apparently it is true....check it out here

Pictures are up

Click here

I think you all will enjoy them!

We are back!

So we have returned!

I am in the midst of uploading over 300 pictures, which I will post links to once they are all uploaded.

I have to say I had a wonderful time! But just a few quick notes, as I mentioned before--Paris is the city of stairs...but as I discovered, do not go to England without your wellies (aka rubber boots), I love it there, but it is a wee bit rainy and muddy and if you want to save your pants and your shoes, get some wellies, I will have a pair for my return voyage some day. Also much to my consternation, England does not have street signs, yes they have speed limit and stop signs, but hardly any of the streets are marked...let's just say this causes some confusion

Now Madrid on the other hand was not wet or muddy and in fact has lovely street signs, all hand painted tiles, that are really lovely, but it is a hot bed of mullets. I haven't seen so many mullets since I don't know when...strange.....

Upon our arrival home yesterday we discovered that Sir GB is going to be uncle GB, of course we had christmas dinner with his brother and sister in law, and no mention....but c'est la vie. So he will be an uncle in April.

Nothing else really exciting to report...but I'll be posting photos soon...it takes a long time to upload 300 pictures....and never fear some of your favorite (ok...my favorite) areas of my photography will be there....there are sheep, birds, plants (but not so many ferns), but you will also find gargoyles (I love them and I got to see them up close at the top of Notre Dame), and lots of architecture (I am also a big fan).....

by the way! Happy New Year!