Winding Down

We have thirty-three days left before we leave. Thirty. Three. Days.  That still feels like a lot but, heck, it's a lot less than what we were looking at when we left back in January. I have to say I'm really happy to see that number and to think that we're only about a month away from coming home. Although not everything about Hong Kong is horrible, the homeland is infinitely preferable, and I can't wait to be back at the table and drinking wine and eating food with our friends and family.

Of course, that'll only last about three months, after which time we'll be packing up and leaving again, this time for Utah. For those of you living in a cave or who just have no other way of following us, I accepted Utah's offer the other day and I'll start working toward my PhD there Fall 2012 (that means the first of September which, frankly, isn't really in the fall but, hey, that's what they call it). I'm looking forward to being back in a US program, although I can only hope that the level of rigor and depth of discussion is what I remember it to be. So far I've only done work at Duke and UNC prior to my stint in Hong Kong and, let's be honest, those are two of the best universities in the nation for the work I do. That sets the bar pretty high, but I'll remain hopeful.

I'm also hopeful that we can figure out something for Carina to do.Utah's department of education looks, to be honest, kinda' like crap on a cracker. I'm tempted to beg her to stay in Durham and finish her MAT, but I know she won't have any of that. I also know that she'll probably end up working remotely for her boss here in Hong  Kong, but that shouldn't stop her from finishing that degree. I really think she could fulfill her dream of opening that school and revamping our crap education system if she'd just let herself. I'll keep encouraging her.

What else is there to talk about? Well, apparently HKU is finally starting to move on my thesis defense, having dragged their feet through the mud for as long as possible. Chris was nice enough to light a fire under someone's ass and explain that the candidate will be leaving mid-May! Apparently they had the examiners' reports when he asked (heaven knows for how long they'd had them), and the committee is going to try to squeeze in my defense ASAP. I'm not sure what that's going to entail in my case. Most students are done in around forty-five minutes tops, but I get the feeling it's not going to be so brief for me, not if some of the powers that be have anything to say about it. Then again, maybe it will go perfectly smoothly and quickly, in which case that would be awesome. I just want to finish my work here and then move on to my next projects which, frankly, are a lot cooler.

Other than that, I can't think of much else to say. Good on Florida for finally charging Zimmerman? I figured I should follow up my last post, at least.

Night-y night,

Colin