Big Weeks!

The last few weeks have been pretty intense. I've attended three concerts, survived my first seminar and had my life totally changed.

Let's start with the concerts.

On the 17th, I went and saw Sugarland at Hilton Coliseum on campus. We had the highest seats in the arena, which didn't actually detract from the concert. In addition to seeing an amazing high energy show, we also coined a new phrase: country tramp. Apparently there's huge style market that I'm completely unaware of that combines cowboy boots and mini-skirts with a little midriff showing. Think Jessica Simpson in the Dukes of Hazzard (even thought that was over five years ago). I realize that with that statement, my age is showing. Oh well...turning 35 this year means I can be a little cranky now and then.

From the non-cranky side, here's a video of what we saw that night. I'm not a huge country music fan but this was one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

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Fast forward a few days and I'm at a concert at Hoyt Sherman. Hoyt Sherman is a historic building in central Des Moines that houses a theater akin to an opera house. For the Madison folks, imagine a classy Barrymore. Now add three bands: Cage the Elephant, Manchester Orchestra and Silversun Pickups. All these are up and comers with some current radion play. All are also good and loud. And unfortunately, I don't think the space was conducive to the type of music. It was super loud, super warm and a little too "thumpy" in terms of out-of-control bass. But I am a huge fan of the song below. And they totally rocked it out.



Finally, I got to see my third Brandi Carlile show of the year at the O'Shaughnessy in St. Paul. After a delightful dinner at the Happy Gnome, we went over to St. Catherine's for the show. The O'Shaughnessy is a staple in the Twin Cities music scene and I couldn't have been more impressed. Amazing acoustics, great seating (except for that the rows are VERY long and without a middle aisle, which made getting to the bathroom a little annoying for those to my right) and a classy feel for an older space. This was the first Brandi show I have seen that wasn't more acoustic in nature. She had a great drummer and some wonderful steel guitar pieces. Below is a clip from the concert of one of her newer songs, Dreams, off of the album that will be out on October 6. In addition to seeing a great show, we went with some folks who wanted to have Brandi sign an album afterward. So we hung out for a bit, me lagging back a bit because I have a kind of weird belief system about performers. I recognize that musicians like to hear how much they are appreciated and how wonderful their music is but I also like to think of it in terms of strong boundaries. I'll sit in the audience and enjoy your show, you sit on stage and enjoy putting it on. Maybe it's the growing introvert in me but I wouldn't have considered hanging out outside of a tour bus waiting to meet a musician. But I did on Wednesday night. And here is the outcome.



Gah! I managed not to stumble over my words and say something rediculous like, "you're pretty....." but it was still a little thrilling.

And it's also my Facebook pic.

Here's the video from the concert.

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Seminar....blah. There's a required seminar series that all PhD students are required to take. The outcome of the seminar was me rethinking whether or not I want to get my PhD. There was a bit of useful information to it but generally speaking, it was in direct opposition to the mantra of "you're an adult and your time is valuable" message that is shared by the department. All in all, a bit of a frustrating day.

Finally...life changing.

On Tuesday, September 22, the first day of fall, Madison Marlee Olds made her presence in the world. Eight weeks early, weighing in at three pounds and thirteen ounces, she's here! (leave it to an Olds woman to do things on her own timeline and in her own way....) Matt and Heather have updates on their blog that include some wonderful pictures of her looking up at her mom and dad with so much love and trust. And she has a head of dark hair, even at this early of a time. I could go on and on about how amazing it is to be an aunt and how I didn't sleep very well until I saw the pictures of her and her tiny little fingers. Or how talking to my brother and hearing the awe and love and fear all in one voice made my heart ache. But I will leave it at this. She is a lucky lucky little girl and I have spent so much time thinking about how lucky I am to have the family that I do and the life that I do. I cannot wait to see her grow into the woman she will be. But first, I can't wait to meet her. And for Matthew and Heather, I could not be more proud and happy than I have been this last week.



OK...back to studying for stats. Real world awaits.

Hello!

Hi there, have we met? I'm Kris...you must be Kris's blog. You look familiar but I can't place from where. We must have been friends a long time ago.

*sigh*

There have been a few things that have come up in the last couple of weeks where I thought, "gee! That would be a great blog post!" For example, Patrick Swayze dying. I distinctly remember being at an 8th grade graduation slumber party at Linnea Kuhlmey's and watching Dirty Dancing on VHS and using the remote, which had a CORD, because this was 1989, to rewind to see if we could Patrick Swayze's butt as he crawled out of bed after he and Baby had their big moment. The answer was that you couldn't, which was probably what kept it at a PG rating. But that movie was the first time I thought "Hey...there's an awkward smart girl who catches the attention of the super good looking hero. It Can happen." At various time through my own awkward years and even into my less awkward but confused and conflicted adult hood, there would be the line "no one puts Baby in the corner" and I would smile. I realize this reads as incredibly dorky and not a little teenaged-ish but it does hold a dear place in my heart.

Classes are going pretty well. I have a stats class that has started to kick my butt. The first few weeks were a pretty decent review of what I already knew but now we are on to formulas that mix numbers, letters and greek symbols. I never considered myself a purist but I just don't think my brain knows how to make sense of those combinations. So I've been spending a lot of work on that.

I'm helping facilitate a class for first-year Construction Engineering students around the area of leadership and learning. There a few of them that don't look a day over 15. They are really exciting to work with in terms of being at the beginning of their academic careers and the growth I can see occurring on a weekly basis. Some of them are also a little skeptical of the "soft" stuff we are talking about so it can be a challenge to keep them engaged. But it does feel great to be back in the classroom.

Willy continues to be great. He had his first vet appointment since moving to Ames is a healthy 30 pounds. He can be a bit squirrely, as most puppies can be, but his endearing factors outweigh his annoying ones.

That sums it up as halftime of the Packer game has ended. Go Pack go!