Melli Mel, Ph.D. tbd.

Week 1 bites the dust...

2011-08-28T13:25:00.001-04:00

Part of me wants to be like, "Where the hell did the first week of classes go?" but the truth is that I'm still trying to figure out where my last year went. Suffice it to say, Fall 2011 has started and methinks it's going to be a great semester.

I'm taking three classes, all of which are going to rock my socks. They're all going to be a lot of work (a lot!), but that's expected at this level. I have two assistantships, both with professors I really like. And both professors have asked me to spend my assistantship time working on projects for them. (Oh, darn!)

For fun, let's add this up: I'm still volunteering for the Curley Center, am working on two projects/assistantships with different professors, have my own independent study to complete, have three classes that will require individual/varying projects, still have a book chapter to complete, am an unofficial officer in a student group, am a communications officer for the AEJMC sports interest group, have two studies I need to clean up for conference submission... and that's before I add in course work. Speaking of, on top of regular article/chapter readings, I only got assigned two 200+ page books to read by Wednesday next week.

And here's the thing; I'm NOT complaining. This is freakin' badass stuff!

You probably think I'm being clever and showing you
Hurricane Irene (I am). What this really represents
is my next four months.

The other really nice thing about being back to the grind is getting to see everyone again. The new cohort is going to be lots of fun, and in general I've already been to two social outings hosted by groups in the college. I even managed to get sick in the middle of all this, but my willpower is stronger than my germs and I won this round.

Things helping me through my first week include The Joy Formidable, Pearl Jam Radio, Slatkin & Co. candles and lots of water. My weight loss kick is about to get a dropkick to the face 'cause I'm going to buy a bike. And I'm going to use it. (Crazy talk, I know.) Natural disasters abounded. First, there was the earthquake I didn't even feel. Next, there was the hurricane that completely passed me by. (I'm actually a bit disappointed. When I worked at Disney we had three hurricanes in a 5-week span and the best thing in the world was going to the parks the day after a storm. Walking directly on to rides is no joke.)

And despite all this, my favorite thing that happened this week managed to occur this morning. There I was, minding my own business, reading a book about how to build social science theories (aptly called How to Build Social Science Theories). As I get to the chapter about model-building, the last thing I expected to read was that "Models help build theory, but they do so mainly by maiming and murdering," (Shoemaker, Tankard, & Lasorsa, 2004, p. 113).

Just chew on that until you hear from me again.

Toodles,

Mel(li) :)

The one where I discover I still dislike smoothies

2011-08-20T17:32:00.000-04:00

I've tried. With all my heart and patience, I've tried. But whether I buy them at some fancy place or make them at home, I just don't like smoothies.

I suppose I should back up a bit. I'm on a health kick these days after I topped an embarrassing weight on the scale. In a way, this is the start of a culinary adventure for me. I'm a picky eater. Waaaaay picky. Just introduced peas to my diet kind of picky. Ethnic foods, for the most part, are out (unless they include a lot of bread and cheese, in which case I'm all in). Part of the problem is I'm a texture-eater (whatever the hell that means). I can't stand when things are too mushy or tough. So when it comes to smoothies, I strongly dislike drinking something that requires chewing or navigating seeds.

Even so, when I went to the grocery store the other day, I saw the prettiness: peaches, apricots, raspberries. I thought, "Alright, I'll give it a try." I've never been a big fruit eater, but since arriving in State College I've at least tried things I would normally avoid. (I've also watched enough Cooking Channel to be tricked and inspired into trying new things. Jamie Oliver can probably get me to try anything except anchovies at least once. I'll give him that.)

Today I decided to break out this huge Disney smoothie maker Mom bought me years ago. (It's turned out to be more of a fridge decoration than a useful appliance.) I tossed in ice, a peach, two apricots, a handful of raspberries and a cup of orange juice. I dispensed, I drank, my face puckered like all hell... back into the blender goes the mix, add two teaspoons of sugar.

Although the smoothie wasn't bad, I just couldn't get past the seeds. Once again, the smoothie won. But then I realized I was hungry, and that's when the magic happened. I got out some chicken and got it cooking... then I cut up my last peach... then I strained the smoothie and added balsamic vinegar. I toasted and made a bed of slivered almonds and next thing I knew I had the best freakin' piece of chicken I've ever put in my mouth. No, really. That ish was delicious!

At that point I realized, "I want to tell someone! I must overshare!" So here I am, oversharing my meal on my blog and possibly beginning a new trend: Stuff Mel Eats. I probably won't do this often, but be warned that I might start talking about food other than ice cream. (Frozen Friday happened quite frequently last year, despite the lack of posts regarding it.)

In other unrelated news, two days until the semester starts. I have one chapter essay done, one to go, and a bunch of other stuff to catch up on. Meetings are already starting to pile up for next week, syllabi are showing up online... ahhh, beginning again.

Toodles!

- Mel(li) :)

The Sarlacc Pit

2011-08-15T11:41:00.000-04:00

If you've been following this blog you've probably forgotten about it. Not posting in almost a year will do that to a tiny, smidgen corner of the internet. But I'm OK with that.

To say the least, this has been a wild year. After making it through my first semester as a doctoral student, my second semester was a breeze. The first semester had its ups and downs. I felt like the semester started without me and spent the rest of the time feeling like I was playing catch up. I had a project that took a lot out of me confidence-wise, and that was compounded by a constant desire to just go home. It's odd to be in the middle of a lot of life changes; moving out of my home for the first time was difficult, so I decided to do that, move out of state AND start a doctoral program. No pressure. There were successes, though, and I clung to those. I went to my first conference (NASSS in San Diego) and banged out a couple of papers worth turning into something more than semester-end babblings. Then I went home, recuperated, and came back ready to kick ass.

My second semester went much better than the first. I was ahead of my work and got a lot done with my assistantship. Apparently I'm really good at making codebooks; who knew? I didn't do a lot "extra" in terms of writing immediately publishable or presentable papers, but all my semester papers are getting tweaked for conferences in the coming months. I got through my classes easily and actually started to enjoy State College more. Homesickness waned considerably and I really started to feel like I was in the right place.

After taking a six-week course at the beginning of summer I returned home to a bit of craziness. Not only did our home sell, but we also moved into a new place. There was a two-week lull between closings, and a whole lot of madness outside of that. After packing up a 4-bedroom home in two weeks (it's amazing how much shit closets hold) I got to semi-relax for a couple of weeks. I spent that time catching up on assistantship work and hid in my friend Joe's kitchen as a way to de-stress. Then the townhouse closed and, with the help of my dearest friends, we painted a three-bedroom, two-story townhouse in two weeks. And got the floors changed out. And got all new electrical stuff. And cleaned up the messes left by past tenants. And started actually moving in. All in all, I had my first all-nighter (the day we moved out of the old place) and Joe and I had two nights working 9-5 (that is, 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.) packing and unpacking a huge storage unit.

My blog, like Lando, gets saved from
ten thousand years of digestion.

And somehow I managed to gain 10 pounds. *shakes fist at weight gods... then remembers that week spent cooking*

So that's how my last year of blogging nearly fell into the Sarlacc Pit. With everything going on, the last thing I thought about was dedicating 30 minutes to an hour per week talking about the monotony of my daily routine. Only it wasn't really monotonous. It was kind of hectic monotony with a bouts of insanity and a whole lot of Cooking Channel.

All that said, I'm hoping to be a bit more diligent with this blog. I'm also planning to launch my hockey communications blog, which was started and stopped but will have a place in my CV when all is said and done. I have two book chapters I'm wrapping up, an independent study to bang out, and three planned conference submissions this semester. I'm starting new assistantships (two; research and teaching) and hope to continue my involvement with various on- and off-campus groups (CGF and the AEJMC Sports Interest group). The ball is rolling faster down that doctoral hill.

Adieu, mes amis! It's good to be back!

- Mel(li) :)

Frozen Friday: Take 4

2010-09-12T19:46:00.001-04:00

Things are finally starting to settle a bit... and by settle, I mean I'm getting back in the swing of 12+ hour days, 6 days a week. The adjustment has been slow (by my terms) and somewhat arduous. Who knew that taking 2.5 months off work and everything would throw me off my work mojo so badly?

Alas, there is no time for whining. Things are going well and it's hard to believe I'm about to start the fourth week of the semester.

Of course, if a new week is starting that means a few days ago I had... Frozen Friday!!!

The truth about this week is that I totally had ice cream on Wednesday and Friday. On Wednesday I went to the Creamery with one of my classmates... and had the Death by Chocolate. That ice cream is going to be my ultimate vice, I can already tell. Then, on Friday, I had Apple Cobbler Crunch.

If you like apple pie, then Apple Cobble Crunch is pretty much the way to go. Per the Creamery site, this awesomeness is cinnamon apple flavored ice cream with pie pieces and apple sauce swirl. Um, YUM. I don't even really like apple pie and I really enjoyed this ice cream. There are, quite literally, chunks of pie crust in the ice cream. The apple sauce is mixed in such a way that you get these bursts of appley goodness. Mmm. Yum nom nom.

On that note, back to work. I have procrastinated enough!

- Mel(li) :)

Frozen Friday: Take 3 and PSU Football

2010-09-06T13:30:00.002-04:00

I'm late on the Frozen Friday update, so this is a combined Frozen Friday and ZOMG I WENT TO A FOOTBALL GAME post.

First thing's first: Ice cream. After last week's terrible predicament, in which I had to pick between Death by Chocolate and Espresso Fudge pie, I decided to make the logical ice cream choice this week. I went with the Espresso Fudge Pie. The name really doesn't give away anything about the flavor itself. Per the Creamery site, Espresso Fudge Pie is coffee cinnamon flavored ice cream with espresso fudge pie mix and fudge swirl. All I know is that what I got had chocolate chunks and I have no idea where the fudge pie mix was, BUT... holy hell was it good! My first thought at the sight of "coffee cinnamon flavored" was something akin to, "coffee huh?" I wasn't sure how I felt about that combo, but I'm now a fan. The cinnamon was ever so slightly present, so it really gave the ice cream this awesome, deep flavor. (I've been watching too much No Reservations to be talking like this.) Apparently I'm also in love with their fudge swirl... if it's the same thing that was in the Death by Chocolate, which I'm sure it was, then fill up a bath tub with that stuff and call me Happy.

Other than the ice cream, things have been OK. Both of my computers decided to act stupid this weekend, and one of them had to be fully restored. (Poor Molly Mini.) This put me back a bit, but such is life... a game of catch up.

More exciting is that I went to my first Penn State football game. (Hey, Keverz. BOOOO, YSU!!) It was kind of unreal and hard to describe. For you USFers, imagine the mall parking lot times three or four (size wise). Imagine hundreds of RVs and campers... people who set up entire living rooms, complete with icicle lights, fluffy chairs, and even stand-alone DirecTV dishes. Prior to the game the sheer mass of people was a bit disorienting, which says something considering about 20k people showed up somewhere between the first and second quarters. Announced attendance was 101,000; not capacity. One thing I found humorous is that you can pick out JoePa no matter where he is on the sidelines. As far as I could tell, there's no beer in the stadium (noooOOOooOo). They use songs that I'm used to hearing at Bulls games, so I pretty much sat there humming my little USF heart out at completely inopportune moments. Worst part of the game? The Blue Band made the afternoon imperfect by doing a Star Trek themed halftime show... complete with a Starship Enterprise formation. Blargh!! (OK, so it was really awesome, but I have Star Wars loyalties to remain true to.)

Anyway, that's it. I have to get back to the mountain of work that sits waiting for me.

If you're on Facebook, I'll post some pictures soon!

- Mel(li) :)

Frozen Friday: Take 2

2010-08-29T16:44:00.002-04:00

My life is terrible, right? I sit through classes, do fun stuff for work, then celebrate my insufferable week by taking myself out for ice cream (ise keem!!).

Whoa is moi.

So, I had this super awesome idea on Friday and thought I would finally update the blog on Friday. On location. (That's so Jim Cantore of me.) Unfortunately, the score of the battle between me and Penn State's campus wireless network is Wireless: 1, Me: 0. What that means is that it's Sunday and I'm updating the blog entry that's supposed to happen on Friday. Makes total sense.

For the first time since my love affair began with the Berkey Creamery, I had to wait on a line. This quasi-Disney queue went out the door and put me through 15 minutes of hell as I endlessly debated: Death by Chocolate or Espresso Fudge Pie. Death by Chocolate won... and oh, did it win.

As the dear, sweet ice cream boy scooped my ice cream from the bottom of the tub, he expressed concern. Apparently a lot of fudge had made its way to the bottom. He offered to rescoop my cup and suggested there was too much fudge. Really, kid?! Too much fudge?! Who in their right mind thinks there is anything called "too much fudge." Balderdash, says I. So, I kindly told him it was OK and I was fine with the additional fudge. He made a crack about it killing me, then we har har har'd about it being Death by Chocolate and finding me slumped over my laptop under one of those beautiful blue and white umbrellas.

My friends, I lived to tell the tale.

Holy mother of everything that is good about goodness and Ryan Miller... that was the best freakin' thing I have ever consumed. (I feel like I keep saying this every week.) I am going on record to prematurely claim this as my favorite Berkey Creamery ice cream. Death by Chocolate (n): Chocolate Ice Cream with Chocolate Flakes, Fudge Pieces and Chocolate Swirl. I'M JUST SAYIN'. And that dripping you see happening down the side of that cup is as messy and glorious and delicious as it looks. I have no idea how I'm going to continue Frozen Fridays because I will be seriously tempted to buy this every week. I mean, I have to walk by the Creamery daily and know that this ice cream is in there. Life, you're so unfair.

In other news, the weather has been stunningly gorgeous, so I sat outside and enjoyed my treat. That picture is my ice cream enjoying its last moments in the warm shade.

With all that said, I have to get back to work. I leave you with a picture of the seating area outside the food science building.

- Mel(li) :)

ETA: I totally forgot to mention that the Creamery was named the top ice cream parlor in Pennsylvania (and listed in the top 51 in the U.S.) by local experts approached by USA Today. Yaaaaay for living five minutes away from the Creamery!

Oi Vey

2010-08-26T09:53:00.001-04:00

We'll get the pointless updates out of the way:

1. Frozen Friday: Take 2 was temporarily delayed until this week because of The Apocalypse. OK, so maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but it WAS Freshman Move-In on August 20. Once on campus, my usual two-minute driving trek to the parking garage near the Berkey Creamery turned into 20 minutes of my eye twitching. So, this means I missed out on Mocha Fudge, which was the flavor of the week. This also means that no matter what university I attend, I abhor Freshman Move-In.

2. Tree Hugger Tuesday: II was also delayed. It was my first day of class and, quite frankly, I have felt somewhat frantic all week. The good news is that a rather pretty tree in my parking lot is already changing colours, so I have something pretty to post next week.

In other news, my first week of classes is complete. For the first time in four years I have non-evening classes... and multiple classes in a day. Let's just say that's screwing with me big time. Getting to class at 9 a.m. actually felt strange, and then knowing my second class of the day (also strange) was going to run from 5-8 p.m. was the icing on my day-long cake.

The good news is that all my classes are going to deprive me of sleep, but they should be interesting. Admittedly, there was nervousness on my part because I wasn't sure how prepared I felt. After introductions and flipping through the texts (one of which I've used for a class at USF... Yay, Dynamics of Persuasion) I feel like I've seen all the material, but I could also stand to get refreshers or better understandings of the readings. My Proseminar course actually made me giggle because it's essentially Killebrew's theory class. And from Holtzhausen's intro class, I can say that Popper makes me want to stab my eyes out, but it's nice to see a familiar name in the readings.

As for my assistantship, I think I could be persuaded to believe in Heaven... I don't think that I could be asked to sit down and describe my dream job and come up with anything even remotely close to what I'll be doing for the Curley Center for Sports Journalism. (Speaking of, I'll be posting a link to my first blog post on the Sports, Media and Society Blog within the next few days.) But, more to come about the assistantship later.

Other random tidbits:

There's a rooster that lives somewhere near my neighborhood... and it never shuts up.
I've lived in lots of loud places in my life, including downtown Stamford, CT and Trieste, Italy. But NOTHING in this world has ever kept me awake like the loud ass crickets that live in the Forest Moon of Endor. No, really. It can take me up to an hour to fall asleep just because of how loud the damn crickets and animals are. Don't get me wrong, I love my forest, but shut up when I'm trying to sleep.
The people here are ridiculously, amazingly nice. Meeting other students in the program has been an absolute breath of fresh air. I can talk sports with them and be nerdy about it. And the best part? I am surrounded by hockey fans. *makes sound of angels singing*
After talking to one of said hockey fans, I found out there is still hope for me to get Center Ice on my TV (and not just via the internet) this season. Fingers crossed, my friends. Fingers crossed.

OK, that's it for now. I have work to do... lots and lots of work to do.

- Mel(li) :)

PS -- Love and hugs to my Tampa peeps. I totally wish I could have you guys up here sharing and experiencing everything with me. The place is awesome, but it is missing all of you. <3

Tree Hugger Tuesday: I

2010-08-18T08:14:00.002-04:00

I figure that if I'm starting these weekly blog posts late, I might as well get Tree Hugger Tuesdays (THT) started this Wednesday.

As we know, I'm a freakin' tree huggin' hippy. To this point, I am absolutely dumbfounded by all the trees around my apartment and campus. Florida this is not. So, I thought I'd start THT.

Basically, THT is going to be a once-a-week look at some of the amazing trees and foliage on and around Penn State's University Park campus (where I'm located). The university has a history of planting and preserving elms and other trees, which -- to my knowledge -- is part of PSU's Forest Science program. I'm going to try and do a bit of research on the different trees I take pictures of ('cause it seems a lot of the older trees have history of some sort), and sometimes I'll visit the brand spanking new Arboretum that is located between my apartment and campus.

To start THT, I thought I'd offer a shot of the awesome that's outside the window right above my home office desk. (In other words, I'm taking you on a brief tour of the Moon of Endor.) This, my friends, is love.

The second picture is a closer shot of the big tree you can see; probably my favorite of all the trees outside my windows. Right now there's a sparrow sitting in one of the branches, and since moving here I've seen my bunny (story to come later) and a groundhog eating by it. Way too cute for me to handle!

As the seasons change, I think I'll definitely keep posting pictures of my window and that particular tree. Yaaaay for season changes!

- Mel(li) :)

Frozen Friday: Take 1

2010-08-17T18:59:00.002-04:00

OK, so this first edition of Frozen Friday is three days late. Sue me.

After a weekend of chilling out with Mom (and by "chilling out" I mean working ourselves ragged getting my home set up) I am finally back online in such a way that updating the blog is possible. (Oh, yeah... I'm uh... in Pennsylvania. Haven't updated the blog in a while.) Anywho, a new tradition begins: Frozen Fridays.

Back when I gave my reasons to love Penn State I suggested there would be Frozen Fridays at Melli Mel, Ph.D. They began last week, on Friday the 13 (how appropo), with the Mombot in attendance. Love it.

From this point forward, Frozen Fridays will involve me eating different types of Berkey Creamery ice cream. I'll report on the flavor, provide photos to create mass amounts of jealousy, and unwind from what will undoubtedly be really stupid-crazy weeks of work. Sounds like a plan to me. In the future I'll probably let you guys vote on what flavor I should try, but we'll k.i.s.s. (keep it simple stupid) it for now.

ANYWAY...

Mom and I totally indulged in the awesomeness of Berkey Creamery ice cream on Friday. I tried the Bittersweet Mint and she had the super popular Peachy Paterno. To say these flavors were amaaaaazing is the worst understatement of the year.

The Bittersweet Mint was, hands down, the best mint ice cream I've ever had. Creamy, the chocolate just melted away, the mint wasn't overpowering... om nom nom.

Mom's take on the Peachy Paterno was that is was simple deeelicious! The peach flavor wasn't overpowering (which I can attest to) and was sooooo nummy. (I'll let her post her official review as a comment. :P)

All in all, this was a super-de-duper way to start my new weekly jaunt to the Creamery. I figure ice cream always makes me happy and the flavors change so often (I can't find the link that shows which flavors are available this week) that I'll always have something new to try.

Woohoo! ISE KEEM!!!

- Mel(li) :)

PS -- Mom dominated a half gallon of the Lemon Meringue Pie in five days and swears it's the best ice cream she's ever had. Ever. Anywhere in the world. I, however, failed to get a single picture of the half gallon's awesomeness.

And two more pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Peachy Paterno

THE END!

So why do I keep counting?...

2010-07-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has seen my Facebook account this weekend knows I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled on Friday morning. This is, oddly enough, one of those things that makes my upcoming move that much more real. My dentist has been trying to talk me into getting this done for some five years now... at first I refused to do it out of fear. Then, I refused to do it because I had no dental insurance (paying for cleanings out of pocket is a bitch). Now, those four useless teeth are gone. And it really makes things real because I never would have done it if I didn't have something motivating me to do it: Cue my move to Penn State.

After a couple of weeks on the phone with a bunch of moving companies, I have finally settled on a mover. Three cheers for finding a company that didn't use a single sales pitch on me and didn't talk to me as though I was an idiot. I have not experienced this a lot in life, but this was definitely an exercise in listening to men talk down to me because I am a female making a "big move" on my own. Of course, this meant that I got to take out months of stress and anticipation on a bunch of people I'll never talk to again. If I have a sarcasm bank, I overdrew my account...

But enough about the shitty people! The nice people I found will pick up my belongings on August 2 and deliver between August 7 (my move-in date) and August 12. I plan to leave Tampa noonish on August 4, giving me three days to drive. I won't tire myself out by driving 18 hours in two days and I can stop as often as I want. Mom won't be coming with me, as originally planned, but that will work out for the best. She's flying to PA from August 11-16; Instead of sitting around looking at a potentially empty apartment, she'll be there to help me unpack. Then, we can go get ice cream and everything will be awesome.

And really, as much as I'm not ready to leave Tampa (I have no less than 15 breakfast/coffee/lunch/dinner/party commitments between Monday, July 26 and Sunday, August 1), I'm ready to go. I'm sick of looking at my home stuffed to the gills with boxes (see the shoddy picture of my current view in my living room). I'm sick of planning. I'm sick of sitting around waiting for things to happen. These last 10 days are going to fly, and as much as I hate the fact that I'm probably leaving Tampa for a really long time (if not forever), I'm ready to taste some more of that sweet Berkey Creamery ice cream. I'm ready to go from high 90s and 150% humidity to high 70s. Mostly, I want my mouth to heal so I can get moving on this next chapter.

With 10 days left at home,

- Mel(li) :)

Three Weeks and Counting

2010-07-17T08:22:00.000-04:00

For a variety of reasons, I never updated this to recount the second day of my visit to PSU. Suffice it to say, it was amazing. Awesome. Exciting. Intimidating. Inspiring. You name the feeling and I probably felt it. I met with five professors, three students, discussed my future in the program, toured the campus (read: fell in complete and total lust with the library), and ate three awesome meals. Everyone was beyond nice and helpful, and I truly sat there thinking that this is the place I need to be.

As for what I'll be doing when I'm up there?... um, pure awesomeness! (For reference: You have to pronounce that "aw-SUM!" to get the full effect of what I'm trying to say.) They love their sports research, and they want to start doing more strategic communication stuff. Enter moi, apparently. They are strongly encouraging me to keep diving into the strat. comm. research I've already been doing, and in the meanwhile I'm going to be working on what seems like a crap-tonne of other sports-related projects. I'll be thrown into the 12 ft. end of a pool when I arrive, meaning I'm going to start working my ass off the moment classes kick off.

Depending how well you know me, you know I've pretty much found my Mecca. My manna from heaven. The cream to my Boston Cream donut.

In other news, today marks three weeks until I move into my new apartment. (Whether my furniture arrives when I do is a completely different story.) It's odd to know that the end of my time in Tampa is sharply breathing down my neck. There have been lunches and dinners, parties and outings are being planned. The finality of it hasn't quite hit me yet, but considering my roller-coaster moodiness I can tell that it's starting to creep in. Even so, it is what it is. Thankfully I was raised by a family of nomads, so I'm sure that I'll be fine once the move is made. (I also gather I'll be too busy to really think about it.)

On that note, time to go to Dinosaur World! RAWR! *stomp stomp stomp*

- Mel(li) :)

PS -- I RAWR Penn State.

Visit, Day 1

2010-06-15T16:55:00.002-04:00

Wrapping up my last weeks of work at the Humanities Institute has been nothing short of relaxing... yet, I still kept forgetting to update the blog. Oops. So, here's the update:

I'm in Penn State RIGHT. NOW.

In what will end up being a two-day whirlwind extravaganza, I've come to Penn State to check out my apartment, eat ice cream and meet a bunch of people from the program I'm in.

The short (this is for Mike): This place is awesome.

The long: ... ... ... This place is amazing. I probably walked 10 miles today and it's just gorgeous things after gorgeous things the whole time. The mountains (?) that serve as a general backdrop to most of the campus are just... well.. not in Florida. I've already decided I'm going to get my bike fixed, because if this is one of the trails, I'm there. The old buildings are to die for. The Carnegie Building (heretofore known as "My Building" even if I never actually attend a class in there), which houses the College of Communications, is just awesome. The huge columns, the relief work... I could see what looked like a big staircase. Um, LOVE.

Other bonuses:

I saw my first chipmunk. Obviously, I named him "Dale."
Nearly got killed by a rabbit when I arrived at My Building.
Old Main is just this gorgeous, towering monster of an old academic building. I'm glad I invested in beach blankets, 'cause I plan to sit in the grass and read a lot outside of that building.
DUCKS!
Not only did I find a pottery place (YAAAAAYYY) but it is located one storefront away from... a cupcake place. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Wait, hold on. !!!!!!!!!!!)
Walkable everything.
The trees! The trees, the trees, the treeeees!! I was going to start Treehugger Tuesdays on the blog TODAY, but just had too much other stuff I wanted to ramble about.
I found the moocows!
The moocows are obviously happy cows because holy crapamoly... outside of real Italian gelato I have never, EVER tasted such good ice cream. Ever. It's also worth mentioning that it took me 30 minutes to eat the whole thing, which is a testament to the portion size (especially considering I'm known for being a food vacuum). And the chocolate milk was sooooo good. (Come on, like you didn't expect ME to buy choccy-milk?!)
The people here are uberfriendly. Love it!
My apartment is nestled in the hills (at least by my perception) and going to be super awesome. My red couch is going to make the walls jealous.

Uh... I could go on and on. For now, rest. I wore myself out today and have something like eight meetings in a span of seven hours tomorrow.

Peace out, homies!

Apartment Hunting

2010-05-24T14:15:00.000-04:00

I get this from Mom, but I've always been bad about making knee-jerk decisions. I see a computer, identify it as the one I want, buy it. Saw the Nissan X-Terra, wanted it, bought it. Mom came to Tampa to check the place out and ended up putting a down-payment on our house. The good news is that when we make decisions like this we tend to be really happy with them. My laptops last me years, my car is nearly nine years old, and Mom has never lived in a single country as long as we've lived in the house.

So I continued my apartment-hunting yesterday and started looking at reviews today (during work hours, I know, whatever) and just didn't like what I was seeing from the available apartments. Apparently when 40,000 students attend a single campus and there is NOTHING but that campus in the city, apartments go quickly. Who knew?

Anywho, the first complex I really liked when I started looking a couple months ago is also the first complex mentioned by two completely unrelated people I have spoken to in my quest to find out more about where to move. Call it a bad case of cognitive dissonance, but now I'm going to go on and on and on about the Toftrees apartments because that's where I just nailed down living arrangements for the 12 months of my life ranging from August 7, 2010 - July 31, 2011.

Holla!

The place looks pretty sweet and it's in a quiet location. I don't have a balcony or patio, and my particular apartment doesn't have walk-in closets (UUUGGGHHH)... in fact, I think I'm getting the step-child of my apartment type. But, I don't care. The fact that so few apartments are available kind of bothers the crap out of me and it's not like I'm really going to have time to care about my apartment. I should probably just invest in a cot and live in the library, but I'm sure the university would frown gently upon me bringing a coffee maker to the stacks.

Apartment: DONE.

- Mel(li) :)

DONE!

2010-05-23T12:38:00.001-04:00

Does anyone remember the old Monster House series on Discovery Channel? Steve Watson used to tear up rooms and get a team of carpenter/electricians-extraordinare to make the rooms into man caves on steroids. Guitar-shaped bars, motorized recliners, diamond steel cabinets. When each project was done they'd put a big stamp on it...

DONE!

Let's just say I have finally, mercifully, excitedly put a DONE! stamp on my USF education/career/slavery.

After nine long years (more than five in the School of Mass Communications), three degrees, a minor, two theses, three internships and three jobs (one at the mall, which probably doesn't count), I am done. Done done done done DONE.

Did I mention I'm freakin' DONE???

I happily walked the stage on Saturday, May 8 (also the birthday of my bestest friend in the whole wide universe) to the tune of some 15 people screaming and yelling at me from the stands. The walk itself was short yet blissful. Judy Genshaft doesn't like shaking hands and Karen Liller doesn't realize what a mistake she made by questioning my ability to work 50 hours a week and complete my thesis. Dean Eisenberg and Dr. Werder offered huge hugs, and the line to get photos felt like Disney World. I don't remember when I looked up, but I know I saw my friends (special shoutout to Melissa and Mike, who came out from San Antonio to see this!) and family jumping up and down and screaming -- especially Carlos, thanks to the hat and white shirt -- and it was one of the most awesome moments in my life.

You see, as I hibernated for two months -- capping off a wild eight months of working, teaching and thesising -- I knew I had an awesome support system. My peeps may not have seen me much, but they were there for me at the drop of a hat. Just knowing they were there meant the world to me. And for those reasons it meant more to me to have my support system in the crowd than it meant to actually walk the stage.

This degree, for many reasons, means a lot of things. I was wholly unexcited about my undergrad degrees, but maybe that's because I knew I wasn't done. These last three years have been a whirlwind of change, and I know I've changed a lot in that time. I'm confident and happy with my direction, but I also feel like I wouldn't have that confidence or happiness if it weren't for the awesome people who surround me. There was Milca forcing me to eat lunch and visiting me in my office almost daily, Carlos and Sheila convincing me to go out for a drink on random Friday nights, and Sarah listening to me rant about my job via IM... (Dr.) Bob (Batchelor) showed confidence in my writing and patiently sat through my ramblings as I tried to analyze and justify reasons for applying to multiple doctoral programs... Dr. Kelly Werder dealt with me on a weekly basis as I plowed through the thesis that became a mere drop in the bucket of what I originally planned. And, of course, there was Mom -- she listened to me analyze my entire thesis daily while continuously replenishing my supply of Publix mac 'n' cheese, sugar cookies and Coke. All this and more helped me get through the last three years. But most importantly, I know it will get me through the next three.

Ultimately, this degree is so important to me because I know what my next step is. For once, I know where I'm going, and even better is that I like the direction. Moving is going to be the toughest thing, but the excitement of this new journey largely outweighs the fear of change that sits quietly in the background. It sits quietly, though, because I know no matter where I am, my home is where my friends and family are.

So, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me in this journey. After nearly a decade, I'm proud to say I'm a USF Bull (although I'm more of a heifer, actually) and I'm looking forward to the next chapter of this incredible journey.

With tons of love,

- Mel(li) :)

PS -- Looking for apartments SUCKS.

Fellowship WIN!

2010-05-07T15:37:00.001-04:00

I was leaving an appointment this morning and did my usual every-five-minutes-ADD-OCD e-mail check via my phone. Loading... loading... e-mail from Penn State. I've been corresponding with their seemingly wonderful admin assistant, asking about hotels, and figured it was about that, but no. The subject came up:

"Additional Funding Letter."

Wait, wait, wait... funding WHA?! Of course, it's a PDF attachment. So I called Mom, rushed her into opening my e-mail, and lo and behold, I am a recipient of the Robert W. Graham Endowed Fellowship. This is apparently a premier, university-wide fellowship for incoming grad students.

Pretty sweet, huh? Happy graduation to me!

Shredding Extravaganza

2010-05-04T20:14:00.002-04:00

Is it me, or is it going to be soooo much fun tomorrow when I shred all my Ph.D. application paperwork?

JUST SAYIN'!

- Mel(li) :)

PS -- Yes, that's a toy Doozer laying on her side.

Decision: Made

2010-05-01T22:18:00.003-04:00

This post is long overdue.

The last six weeks of my life haven't been hell, but they've been ridiculously packed. I survived the busiest month of Humanities Institute events, which was nice. I survived the last month of class, which is nicer. However, most importantly, I FINISHED. MY. THESIS. Which is nicest.

I never felt overwhelmingly stressed, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't exhaust myself. The day I submitted my thesis, I think I actually felt my brain seep out of my right ear while I was driving home. Then, I came down with some weird crud. At that point I understood my body was flipping me two birds and punishing me for consuming mostly Publix mac 'n' cheese, sugar cookies and Coke for three weeks. Two weeks after the final submission, I'm starting to feel normal again. (Normal by Mel standards, which is, of course, completely subjective.)

All this work meant that updating this blog and gathering my thoughts totally fell by the wayside. So, here's what everyone has been waiting for...

I'M GOING TO PENN STATE!!!

A long summer of planning has started. I won't be teaching at USF, which will give me some mental rest. In the meanwhile I'm going to start packing after my graduation (which, for those of you keeping track, is next Saturday, May 8. Like, ZOMG). After a chat with my wonderful PSU contact this week, I am about to start looking for flights to State College (aka: Whoop-Whoop) for the weekend of June 11-12. I'm going to meet with a bunch of people, try to get an apartment... fun things like that. Right now, I'm aiming for a move date of either July 30 or 31. My two week notice is remaining a secret, but I have settled on a date. Planning, planning, planning.

In other news, I officially got rejected by Syracuse, meaning they joined Ohio State as my only rejections. Three out of five ain't bad. I'm bringing my stuffed Otto the Orange to PSU with me, though... his new name is Motivation.

Before I forget, feel free to start getting your jealous on by visiting Penn State's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pennstate. All I'm going to say is, "baby ducks... hell yeah!" (That's for you, Milca.)

- Mel(li) :)

PS -- Photo credit to Penn State Live, another wonderful PSU site. I can't wait to experience four seasons again!

Choices

2010-03-24T19:06:00.000-04:00

I was going to take a cruddy cell phone picture and post something thoughtful, but... yeah, I don't have time for that. (Doing a content analysis of 282 newspapers articles is slowly draining my soul out of my left ear.)

BUT!... I have good news. FEW has been successful: Not only have I been offered a fully-funded assistantship to Penn State, but I've also been offered a (mostly) fully-funded assistantship to Florida. I've been chit-chatting with people from both universities and have been weighing my options. I've also been contacted by Temple, so maybe they'll offer me something nice, too.

Either way, this is the general update. Both schools have their pluses and minuses, and I'm 99.9% sure I've made my decision. I'm sitting on my offers for a few more days before I do anything about them. The main point, and the nice thing, is that I have multiple options. I've been accepted by two amazing programs (which is a feather in my cap) and know that, no matter what, I will be starting a Ph.D. program in the fall.

What joy!

- Mel(li) :)

Fat Envelope Watch: Semi-Success!

2010-03-08T18:30:00.004-05:00

For those of you who recall, Fat Envelope Watch (F.E.W.) began in January. After a month and a half of (im)patient waiting, I got my first fat envelope today!... only it turns out it was actually thin.

BOOO!!

OK, so it was physically thin. If you read the details, though, I'm not going to complain... 'cause it's actually worth about four and a half times what I make in a single year. (Of course, that doesn't actually say anything about what I make in a year, but that's neither here nor there.)

My first question: Why the hell don't these things come fully loaded with confetti? This envelope totally needed confetti.

Mental note: When you run a department, send significant offers in envelopes filled with confetti.

- Mel(li) :)

Rejection: Ohio State

2010-03-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

Welp, I got my first thin envelope. In what ended up being a rather anticlimactic experience my first rejection came from...

*drumroll*

... Ohio State.

Really, Ohio State? Really? OK. Bye bye. *waves*

(This also means I will not be offering my "Reasons I want to go to..." post for them. Not that I care. They fluctuated between being my fourth and fifth choice anyway. :P)

I am!...

2010-03-06T10:22:00.002-05:00

Alright, so last week's blog post with all the Penn State goodness was a bit planned. (And I did intend to do Florida and Ohio State within the next two days, but life got in the way.) Anyway, I was being tight-lipped about who was going to potentially contact me, but I did want to get my "Reasons to Go" post in about ~~Penn~~* Penn State before I was like, "Oh hey, guess what!..."

SO. GUESS WHAT?

I've been offered a fully-funded assistantship to Penn State. Like, OH. MY. GAH.

The short story is that I was contacted last Friday night by one of their top administrators. We ended up getting in touch on Saturday, talked a bit about my work and then BAM! "The reason I'm calling is because you're going to receive information about a fully-funded assistantship..." At that point I think I actually heard neurons popping in my brain. So we talked a bit more and she expressed that they think I'll be a really good fit for them, I expressed that I wanted to visit, and it was like, "Alright, cool, we'll be in touch."

We ended up talking again on Thursday and I received a PDF of the official offer via e-mail. Basically, the offer is wonderful. More wonderful is what we've spoken about to this point. Right now my 20 hours of work per week is not defined -- what would happen is that I'll report to a single professor, but my work might be all over the place. I'll likely teach a class (yay!) and also assist someone with their research. What's really cool is that the person I've been in touch with is also high-ranking in the center for sports journalism, and they're apparently really excited about the possibility of getting me involved in the work they do.

Basically, it sounds like I know where I'm going to be come August. Although I haven't heard from a few schools, I can't imagine their opportunities being more suited for me than this. Right now, ~~Penn~~ PSU loves the fact that I'm working toward a strategic communication degree and they have plenty of crisis communication scholars for me to work with. At this point, I can't even say the center for sports journalism is bonus, because the potential learning and teaching opportunities are really more like icing on a rather scrumdiddlyuptious super spifferiffic cupcake.

As such, stay tuned! I'll likely make my first visit to the campus in early April. Unfortunately I can't be there for the Rick Reilly event on April 8, but I have a thesis to defend that day.

And for those of you whose cats are killed by curiosity, some links for your viewing pleasure:

On that note, back to my thesis. (Which, for the record, is moving along swimmingly. April 8, people. Mark those calendars!)

- Mel(li) :)

*ETA: Rookie Mel just learned that it's either Penn State or PSU, not "Penn." Glad I learned that one before going up there!

A Little Penn State Lovin'

2010-02-27T11:30:00.003-05:00

I've really slacked on these lately, so here's another edition of:

Reasons I want to go to ~~insert college here~~ Penn State.

The Fun: OK, so here's the deal: Penn State is pretty much totally freakin' awesome. I know I haven't said that much, but they are. The fact of the matter is they have a "cow to cone" Creamery, a more than 100-year tradition of studying the awesomeness that is ice cream and is now part of a food science program. I mean, honestly, just look at this list of ice cream flavors. You can bet your sweet bippy we'll be having "Frozen Friday" blog updates if I get into this place. It turns out that PSU also digs their trees, which we know is something that'll make this tree-hugging hippy quite happy on a season-by-season basis. Anyone that knows me knows the only thing I hate more than Florida's sweltering heat is the complete lack of color-changing trees. I have a neighbor with a tree that actually mimics dying in the fall (more like in January) and coming back in the spring (more like in February) and I watch the stupid thing with idiotic fervor. So really, a picture like this makes me want to pack up and move even if I don't get accepted into the program. Now, the unfortunate thing is that my new "home team" would be the Pittsburgh Penguins, but I guess that'll be something to make Bob Batchelor happy. (I have to even out the nastiness of attending Penn State in some way, right?)

Of course, I can pretty much babble endlessly about things like Amish friendship bread, the fact that this is a 150+ year old institution, or the fact that the Carnegie Building (which houses the College of Communications) is pretty much the epitome of what I think a college building should look like, BUT... (you knew the "but" was coming)...

The Education:

Penn State's College of Communications is awesome. Their faculty is deep, they apparently dominate at conferences and paper-writing, and they're one of the best comm. places around.
They have a strategic communications track for their Ph.D. program. I can't make that up. The best part is that they actually tailor your doctorate education to your personal wants/needs and research direction. Mmm. Hockey.
They also boast the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, which is rad. Although I don't necessarily study sports journalism (yet), I think there's a wealth of information to be found in that area of study, especially if you're talking about sports communication. If nothing else, I know I'll be able to see a lot of great lectures. Hell, I might even be able to find the kids who plagiarized my paper about the league's integrated marketing campaign following the NHL lockout. *evil grin*
The faculty seems fantastic, diverse, and they bring a wealth of professional experience to the table. Dr. Bortree does non-profit relationship building work, Dr. Haigh does public relations and multimedia work, and Dr. Dardis studies messaging and has worked in MLB. They also have a USF alumna, Dr. DiStaso, which is totally bonus.

So yeah, Penn State rocks my socks. Tomorrow: Why the University of Florida rocks my socks (despite the fact that it's Florida, that is).

Toodles!

- Mel(li) :)

General, Late February Update

2010-02-26T14:40:00.000-05:00

I took the day off work-work to work on my thesis and decided it's time to provide a long overdue update. The past few weeks have been insanely busy with work and teaching, and the thesis is moving along swimmingly. My weekends are generally chewed up by my thesis and then having a fun day with friends. Olympics have consumed what little spare time I have outside of all that. Generally, I'm chipper.

Even so, the last few weeks have been long, hard weeks of reflection.

Two weeks ago I pestered (in my own way) Syracuse into letting me know my status regarding the e-mail I received. The news was the opposite of what I wanted. I wasn't on their initial list of interviewees, but they would inform me if anything changed between then and now. Judging by the lack of posts in this blog, I think anyone can assert that I didn't get the inform I wanted. Today, I woulda, coulda, shoulda been snowed in at some hotel in Syracuse waiting for an interview. Instead, I'm at home, working on my thesis, wishing I could go to Orlando to check out the Manchester Orchestra/The Features show. C'est la vie.

The unofficial rejection, of course, threw a whole bunch of stuff into light for me. School and personal matters aside, I spent a week licking my wounds, prematurely making the decision that I just didn't want to go anywhere. I wanted to try getting into Syracuse again next year. Until then I'd just remain at USF building my supposed professional experience. The Week of Sulking passed, I stopped hoping for thin envelopes, and I got some potentially good news from another university.

Hope, my friends, is restored.

I won't say anything about the news 'cause now I'm paranoid and returning to my superstitious hockey roots. But I will say that a school is interested in me, it's a really good school, and I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to go there if accepted.

And really, that's what the last two weeks have boiled down to: Come hell or high water, I am bound and determined to start a Ph.D. program in the fall. I've been on the fence about the whole thing only because I feel like August 2010 will arrive too soon, but August 2011 is too far away. Now, not so much. I started reacquainting myself with the schools I applied to (mostly to take off the Syracuse-colored glasses I had stapled to my face) and I am excited about getting started. For the first time I ~~wasted~~ took time to look at apartments and the area around the school that has expressed interest in me. Frankly, I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. I'm trying to remain grounded, but keeping me unexcited is like trying to contain a squirrel on leftover Starbucks. (I've seen it. It's scary.)

Add on how genuinely, utterly HAPPY I am working on my thesis... really... "happy" and "thesis" just appeared in the same sentence. I know I'm not made for the constrained 8:30-5:30 job I have, and I know that what really makes me happy is learning and researching and thinking about all of it constructively. I'm a nerd, and I'm OK with that.

So, fingers crossed. Hopefully I'll have more details sooner rather than later.

Peace out, and GO TEAM CANADA!! (Yeah, I did it.)

- Mel(li) :)

The Waiting Game

2010-02-03T14:17:00.000-05:00

On my shortened lunch break (I don't even know why I pretend I take lunch breaks), I have decided to do a little Waiting Game venting... UGH! This stuff is killing me!

OK, it's not killing me, but it's certainly nerve-wracking.

Today has been a particularly big day in terms of my thesis. I sent 30 requests to 30 NHL teams requesting they help distribute my surveys. As expected, I've received a handful of polite rejections. (Even if one of my favorite teams rejected me quickly, I am happy to report that my first rejection came from a team I'm not so fond of. More reasons to be bitter and aggressive toward them when I'm not being professional about hockey. Muahaha.) Watching the inbox has been an exercise in futility, but when I do receive an e-mail I'm completely giddy and gnawing at my own arm just to see if it's positive news.

WELL (!), that said... Melanie is working her tail off while waiting impatiently to hear about thesis survey distribution, right? Why not make it worse?! I mean, if we're going to have a day of playing the Waiting Game, I might as well go all-out. As Mom always says, "If you're going to do something, do it right." (This applies to screwing up as much as succeeding, of course. I mean, if you're going to go down doing something, might as well do it with flames, sparkles and fireworks going off in your wake.)

So I decided to e-mail all the programs (sans Syracuse) and ask when I might hear from them and if/how they handle any university visits. (Hell if I'm going to dedicate the next three to four years of my life to a city and NOT visit the place first.) The reports are flying in! Florida sends a notification 2-3 weeks after a file is complete, meaning I should hear from them soon. Ohio State likes to have their decisions made by the end of March (really? March? That's like 20 years away!). Then, of course, we know Syracuse is doing their interview dealie at the end of February. Oh, the excitement! Here's hoping I hear from Penn State and Temple soon.

Toodles, yo.

- Mel(li) :)

Syracuse E-mail Update

2010-01-26T11:22:00.004-05:00

Is it normal that I just received this and am STUPID happy?

"Dear Melanie,

Thank you for your application to the Newhouse Ph.D. program!

Our plan is to conduct Skype interviews with top applicants and then invite a smaller pool to campus. The date for the campus visit will be February 26 with travel dates being February 25 and 27.

Please let me know if you have any questions as you go through the application process.

Thank you"

I want to respond with, "I already have Skype! Call me now! Feb. 25, you say? Perfect. I'll be at the airport tomorrow. I know we haven't met yet, but I think I'll love you. I'll totally bring my stuffed Otto as a travel buddy... wait, too much? OK, I don't love you. It's lust, I know."

Houston, we have made contact! SO EXCITING!!

Fat Envelope Watch

2010-01-20T21:14:00.007-05:00

I had a nice chat with a USF School of Mass Communications faculty member today, prompting this entry. One, it occurred to me that I have never truly gone through an application process. Two, I am officially on Fat Envelope Watch.

When I was in high school, USF did the whole automatic admission thing during a trip to Sickles High School. Apparently I had a super awesome GPA and they were like, "Oh hai, we want you! Have some monies!" So, as a naive 18-year-old, I was like, "Alright. Cool." And that was it. (No, really. That was it. I think I applied to Stetson out of guilt because they kept sending me information, but otherwise, I never applied to any colleges or universities.)

Fast forward to 2007. After some hmm'ing and haa'ing on my part it was one Dr. Derina Holtzhausen who finalized my decision to go to grad school. Before I graduated in Dec. 2006, I swore I was done with school. (I'll give you a brief moment to laugh now, if you'd like.) Then, the day of my graduation, I realized I still wanted to learn. In Aug. 2007, I returned to USF, took a couple classes as a non-degree seeking student, and joined the ol' club. Now, a little less than three years later, I'm fully entrenched in the educational trenches. If you don't believe me, I spent some 15 hours on campus yesterday, working, teaching, and thesising. I mean business this semester. And truthfully, aside from being tired and whining in the evening, I actually had a relatively enjoyable day.

So anyway, I give all this background information because at 27 I am finally learning what high schoolers go through. I'm fighting this constant urge to e-mail the schools and ask, "Have you picked me?! Do you like me?! I like you! Let's hang out on Saturday." Directly related to this urge -- and what really tickled me about this morning's conversation -- was what I was told about the envelopes. If I receive a fat envelope, time to rejoice. If I receive a thin envelope I might want to "consider going inside and enjoying a glass of wine before opening the letter."

(Aside: I went looking for a graphic of a "fat envelope" and found Fat Envelope, a company of consultants who guide people through college admissions. Who knew? So I'm stealing their graphic and simultaneously marveling at this fat envelope concept.)

With that, it begins: We're officially on Fat Envelope Watch. I asked if funding (i.e.: cash) actually falls out of the envelope in celebratory fashion (apparently it doesn't), but even without that I will argue that looking out for fat envelopes seems much more exciting than looking out for regular letters.

- Mel(li) :)

Temple, and Deadlines: Done

2010-01-16T22:35:00.004-05:00

After months of toiling, typing and paying for pieces of paper I never even got to touch, the application process is done. Fini. Finito. закончена. Finished.

Yesterday marked the last deadlines I faced: Florida and Ohio State. Penn State's deadline passed on Jan. 10, and Temple's passed on New Year's Day. Now, the waiting really begins. A few schools have written to inform me of the various levels of completeness of my applications and each time I get this weird pang of anxiousness. I've written about it before -- "it" being the yin and yang of my Ph. D. application experience -- the sense of total excitement versus total terror. (This will balance out eventually, right? Har har har.)

Of course, there's this one thingy you need to pursue a Ph. D.: a Master's. And that whole graduating with a Master's deal relies on another thingy: a thesis. I'm happy to report that I finally feel like I'm going to accomplish these little thingies. All things considered, this semester (my last as a student at USF *gasp*) is off to a great start. I jumped right into my thesis work this semester, and I've actually filled out my graduation applications. The class I teach is organized and the students seem mildly enthusiastic (mild is good, considering I teach grammar). Work poses its own set of challenges, but also comes with a new intern and set work hours. (Who knew I would need a job to confine the hours I allow myself to work? This is probably why I feel I'm suited for academic life.) The Sabres are still holding a home-ice position in the playoff standings and Ryan Miller leads the league in a few stats. So really, life in general is good!

All that aside, I thought it would be a good time for another installation of...

Reasons I want to go to ~~insert college here~~ Temple.

The fun: Located on Broad Street. As a hockey fan, I know how to love to hate the Flyers. There's something magic about earning a doctorate on Broad Street, though. There's also cheesesteak, that big cracked bell, and accessible transportation to other, more respectable cities... like Newark. (I'd say I'm kidding, but hey, they have the Devils. That's all they -- and I -- need.) No, really, I actually have very fond memories of a 5th grade field trip to Philly and have always wanted go back. (No trademark sarcasm in that comment, I promise.) I really love cities with history and would relish the opportunity to live in a top 5 media market. (Not that anything is wrong with Tampa, coming it at #14.)

The education:

The Mass Media and Communication Doctoral Program at Temple is generally considered one of the best in the country. It's definitely an established program. In my opinion, it doesn't hurt that it was originally recommended to me by Dr. Derina Holtzhausen a couple of years ago.
The faculty. Oh my. The faculty. Dr. Priscilla Murphy. Dr. Donnalyn Pompper. We're talking public relations, crisis communication, reputation management (you know, my whole thesis). Throw in a little activism. That's just good stuff.
As part of the program, topics that are covered include new media and international communication.

There are obviously more reasons I'm interested in Temple, but for now I'm going to wrap this entry up and hit the sack.

Until next time (hopefully less than two weeks from now!), adieu.

- Mel(li) :)

Three Down, Two to Go

2009-12-31T14:39:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (Chanukah), Happy Festivus for the rest of us!... Oh, and Happy New Year!

As some of you know, I was blessed with a week off of work. (OK, so I just took the week off, but that's neither here nor there.) I figured I would take the time to chip at my thesis, read for pleasure and do things of that ilk. I ended up baking, having an awesome Christmas, and getting no work done whatsoever.

The push toward application deadlines is beginning to bear down on me, however. I have responded to this pressure appropriately. In the previous week I have become far too familiar with USF's Office of the Registrar. The thing I love to hate about my lovely academic bubble is the paperwork. There is always so much paperwork.

Case in point: I printed out different transcript request forms for three of the five schools I'm applying to. Of the five schools, four of them want multiple copies of my transcripts. Of those four schools, three of them want one transcript sent to two separate locations. Have I lost you? Fantastic.

What kills me is the paperwork on USF's end. I have to go to the Cashier's Office to pay a fee (surprise, surprise!). There, I pick up these cute little carbon-paper forms that have to bear the Red Stamp of Paid Destiny from the Cashier's Office. Next, I take these little forms and, individually, write out the addresses of the 40 different places (OK, maybe eight) that are receiving my transcript at five schools. Then, I get to go to the registrar's office, putting my transcripts and destiny in their hands. Will they really process my requests in two days? Will they seal the envelopes with the USF Sticker of Sealed Destiny (placed precisely 1/4 on the top flap and 3/4 on the bottom flap, per applied-to school's request)? Frankly, as nice as the front desk lady is, I live with this incredible urge to go into the back room and watch them follow the instructions each school provides. In fact, I walked over my last 1,200 transcript request forms this Monday and at midnight I still felt like going back to the office just to check on my requests. The good news is that I only have to do this for one school -- imagine if I had attended another school or four? Yuck-o, yo.

BUT, enough whining about paperwork hell. I have two reasons to celebrate right now:
1. I have completed, submitted and paid for my application to Temple, and I have finished my application for Florida.
2. Also, I received this for Christmas:

No, my friends, your eyes do not deceive you. That is a 100%, totally awesome, totally squishy, totally rotund stuffed Otto the Orange (what, what, Sarah and Mike!).

With the new year approaching (like, tomorrow), though, it's an odd time of reflection. Mostly, I sit around asking myself what the hell I'm doing. I walk across campus and look at the beautiful blue Florida winter sky. I go to Disney World when I want to. I have cookie parties with my friends. And I'm leaving all of that (and less superfluous stuff) behind to pursue a Ph. D. It's terrifying, to be honest, but it's also exciting. I don't pray, but I do hope out loud (a lot) that I'm making the right decision. And in that sense, 2010 could be a big year for me. An exciting and terrifying year. But I'm more excited than terrified, and ready for the challenges I face. I'm simultaneously bracing myself for rejections and already planning cupcakes for celebrations. I'm simultaneous wondering how I'm going to get my damned thesis completed and already planning cupcakes for the graduation party. (Just pretend the cupcake theme is a total coincidence.)

So, adieu 2009! Welcome, 2010! I hope you have all the acceptance letters, cupcakes, and painless-as-possible moves a girl could ask for.

- Mel(li) :)

One Down, Four to Go.

2009-12-11T10:18:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I updated. Hopefully I'm not making like an NHL lockout: out-of-sight, out-of-mind. (Although even when they came back, they were still out of mind. Funny how that works. /sarcasm)

Truth be told, nothing has really happened on the Ph.D. front during the past two weeks. Because I have that whole TA dealie going on, my attention was turned toward my students and their grades. The good news is that my class did really well. The better news is that I finished grading papers a little more than a week before the grade submission deadline. Go Team Me, yo.

Although I haven't focused on my applications all that much -- I have all of Christmas break to do that -- the first application was due yesterday. Syracuse. *insert DUN DUN DUUUUN music* I confirmed that the materials I am responsible for arrived and now, I suppose, the waiting begins. I have to admit I'm both excited and terrified.

I'm also extremely impatient, but that's nothing new. If it were up to me I'd just get them to look at my file and yay or nay it on the spot. Can you imagine? "Oh hai, Syracuse. Would you mind looking at my application, like... yesterday? Really, just accept me. It'll be OK. We'll work out the details later." In the meantime, Plan B is to bribe them with cookies.

So, that's the big whoop on the Ph.D. front. Syracuse application: Done. (And apparently they'll start looking at files and information within the next couple of weeks.) Hopefully, this won't be too nerve-wracking. Up next, Temple (Jan. 1).

- Mel(li) :)

School Review: Syracuse, Etc.

2009-11-25T01:31:00.006-05:00

I started writing this more than a week ago. Things have been either busy or coma-inducing. I find that I'm either running full-throttle or passed out on the couch. The latter will be the speed of choice this Thanksgiving weekend.

The past seven days have been active in regard to the push to my Ph.D. I paid for and submitted the application to Ohio State. (And we all know that once money is involved, it's totally official. Kind of like changing your relationship status on Facebook. You know it's not love until it's on Facebook.) I also called Syracuse last week, which was a small accomplishment unto itself.

You see, I hate making phone calls.

I especially hate making phone calls to ask questions of people who might be judging me. When I called I tried to feel better by imagining a sweet lady named Betty sitting at the other end of the line. The thought was ruined when I visualized her giving me the stink eye before quietly sliding my file into the recycling bin. I suddenly hoped Betty wouldn't answer the phone.

The good news is that a woman NOT named Betty answered the phone and she was super nice. (I'm also fairly confident she kept my file.) I asked relatively mundane questions and found out that no, I don't need to pay a $75 application fee -- $45 is all I need. Yes, it's OK that my responses went over the 320 character limit. (I have to say one of the most amusing parts of this application process is seeing universities seemingly try to outdo each other on word and character limits. "How do you feel about War and Peace? Please explain in 10 characters." I bet if I wait five years I can just tweet them my credentials.)

That said, the phone call was relatively painless. Not-Betty was very nice and said she enjoyed speaking with me. (I refrained from blurting out, "Do you like me?! Will you fly me to Syracuse so we can meet in person?!") We also discussed how everyone admitted to Syracuse is fully funded in some way. Which leads me to my first installment of:

Reasons I want to go to ~~insert college here~~ Syracuse.

I actually plan on doing this for all the schools, not just Syracuse (SU). But let's face the facts. Let's be honest with ourselves. Let's not beat around the bush. (I'll stop now.) SU is totally my number one choice. (Unless you're a recruiter from another school, in which case I can assure that your school is my top pick.)

Something about SU sets my heart aflutter, and it's not just Otto rolling in the end zone. Maybe it's the fact that it's located in upstate New York. Maybe it's the excitement of experiencing four different seasons for the first time since I was 12. Maybe it's the fact that there are no less than ten (TEN!) Tim Hortons in the greater Syracuse area (plug in "Syracuse, NY" for all the TimBit-laden goodness your heart could desire). There's also the measly 245.41 mile distance from SU to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. I don't even need to remind you that Ryan Miller and my beloved Buffalo Sabres are about two hours away. So, yeah. I think it's apparent I'm falling in love with Syracuse for all the wrong reasons.

I am falling in love with SU for the right reasons, though, and I honestly can't wait to visit the school. Why? Reasons include:

(Slightly obvious) S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. (You can also check out the beta site, which is pretty but still missing some information.) Their course offerings look awesome, and in their Ph.D. program I can specialize in public relations.
Seemingly awesome faculty. Comstock, Longstaff, Shoemaker. I've been reading their stuff since I got to grad school in 2007. Wrigley has done work in crisis communications. I just cited Yang while building my fan/comm. manager surveys, 'cause he's got love for reputation management. No less than four faculty members are listed as crisis communication specialists. Manna from heaven, if I do say so myself.
The facilities are supposedly super high-tech and relatively new. They actually have a public relations lab to simulate a professional agency atmosphere.
Being fully funded for three years doesn't hurt, either.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure I'll revisit why I would give my firstborn and their firstborn for a chance to attend this school, but right now my pillow is begging to be used.

May your dreams be filled with visions of sharing TimBits with Otto.

- Mel(li) :)

A Brief Welcome

2009-11-15T13:12:00.001-05:00

I guess this is the part where I'm supposed to introduce myself and make myself seem interesting.

Awesome.

I'm going to forgo that nonsense and move on to the good stuff. I'm a master's student at the University of South Florida (heretofore known as "USF") earning my (guess!) master's degree in mass communications, strategic communications management. It seems there's this natural progression that exists in which a master's student sometimes becomes a doctoral student. Turns out I'm following that progression.

As of last month I began the application process. I researched, I narrowed, I came up with this list of awesome schools:
Syracuse
Penn State
Temple
Ohio State
Florida
(I will neither confirm nor deny whether this is the list in order of preference. I can tell you it's not alphabetical.)

In the meantime I've been writing essays, handing out numbers I didn't know I had, and awkwardly wondering if these places are going to request full dental exams. (They ask for a lot of stuff. It's as though applying to a Ph.D. program is important or something. Sheesh.)

Anyway, if you've found this blog, welcome. In here you will find ramblings. Ramblings will be about the schools, the programs and the application process. Hopefully there will be a celebratory post of some sort early in 2010, and I will announce which school I'm going to (or where the pity party will be).

Then, I'll switch gears. I'll document my life as a doctoral student. I'll bore you with theoretical discussions about why the Phoenix Coyotes can survive if given another decade in the desert. I'll talk about anything bizarre I see on campus. For the most part, I'll use this blog as a way to keep everyone (or all four of you... whatever) posted on life as I leave Tampa for the first time in 15 years.

Sound good? If so, stay. I promise to make this a fun ride.

- Mel(li) :)

PS -- I plan on making the blog all purty-like and stuff, but that may take some time. I'm busy working on my thesis, after all. *grin*