changing diapers

I have taken care of my nephew for the past two days. He is almost a year old (April 10th is his b-day), and yesterday was the first time I changed his diaper. Yes...it was my plan to not have to do that at all - if I could avoid it. I just figured I really don't need to be involved in that aspect of his upbringing. But no worries...I believe I have now changed around 9 diapers and I'm still alright. But really ewww, gross, yuck, ack, peeyew, etc.

Tomorrow, I'll be leaving for Mexico. A cousin of mine is getting married. We haven't been down to the Rio Grande Valley since my family reunion a couple of years ago. It'll be nice to see family and to see my grandparents' ranch again.

That'll end my spring break. I have to go back to work on Monday. My plan for spring break was to read and get some stuff on paper for my dissertation. My plans usually don't come to fruition...especially when I convince myself that I deserve a vacation and people that are on vacation don't do schoolwork. So, that'll have to wait until closer to when I have a deadline. Deadlines are good things for me. Alright, y'all be good.

Thanks for reading.

teeth and dissertation and superiority

My wisdom teeth are coming out on Friday. I'm ready for them to come out - they bother me sometimes. I hope it isn't too uncomfortable.

I need to start putting some thoughts down on paper for my dissertation. My topic has changed slightly to religiosity/spirituality of incarcerated adolescents compared to r/s of non-incarcerated adolescents. I'm reading a really cool book right now called Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. One of the things I've learned so far from reading it: the Mormon church seems to be doing the best job of passing on it's faith and traditions to it's young people.

Is it just me, or do you ever get fed up with people and want to yell, "I'm smarter than you...if we take tests, I'm sure I would do better than you!!" More specifically for me, I want to yell, "I'm almost done with my PhD...and your degree is what??" Now for those of you that are thinking I think this around you, please don't. My friends usually do not tend to foster this reaction in me. It is when I'm feeling defensive and quite unsure about myself that my superiority personality (disorder???) comes out. I know tons of people are way smarter than me - even those that aren't formally educated. Sometimes, though, I just want to make sure people know. Just being honest.

Thanks for reading.