Midnight Oil and Oil Changes

Has it really been 22 days since my last update? I thought I'd at least tell the world that, yes, I am still alive, although I have yet to come up for air, and maybe a margarita or two as well. I'm almost there, though. Comps are *almost* done! (Think good thoughts for me).

I need to take deep breaths and tell myself to take things one step at a time, because otherwise, I'll panic at the fact that to make the May graduation cutoff, I somehow need to spin everything into a quality dissertation, and defend it by April 1st. (Don't ask me why the deadline isn't later in April).

I have no doubt I'm prematurely aging myself, damaging my health, and probably gaining weight by burning the midnight oil so much lately--really throughout grad school. I'd love to hear what my acupuncturist has to say at my next appointment about my "depleted" this or that, or my recent salt cravings. I wish it weren't that way--I'd love to be curled up in bed by 10 or 11 every night. But one of my biggest problems, if you can call it that, is one of my strengths. And that "problem" is that I'm tenacious and persistent, and if it takes staying up until 2am or 3am to get something done, and do it just right, I will. (Long-time readers may recall the statistics exam that took me 30 hours to finish. If you want to know what it's like to stay awake running fancy regressions and other math problems at 4am, don't try it. Just ask). It's just a little scary, though, to realize that my age is catching up to me and at 35, I actually notice I don't have as much push power as I did in my 20's, when I was in college, or even my Master's program.

So yeah. Still alive. I want to catch up with everyone when I emerge from this hole.

Yesterday, a friend of mine told me about a spinning class at the gym that I should try. It's called "K1ller Hills". Right now, that seems like a metaphor for this late stage of my Ph.D. program, when everything seems so huge and insurmountable as it towers ahead of me. Ever since this conversation with my friend, I have had this image stuck in my head of that green digital "hill workout" program image on the exercise bikes at the gym. I hope that hill workout imagery doesn't turn into a recurring nightmare as I move into my dissertation over the coming months.

Maybe I should swim laps tomorrow instead. There are no hills in the pool. But first, car maintenance appointment. I'm still floored. Last year's oil change cost: about $30. This year's quoted price over phone: $349. That is because it's a 15,000 mile check-up for my 2007 Honda Civic. I can't help but wonder if I'd be charged less if I were a guy but we'll never know. Is the car maintenance department at my Honda dealership ripping people off? No doubt.