Hows this for down an back. Less than 24 hours later I’m back at Kennedy airport waiting for my flight. The baptism went well and I would have liked to stay longer, but I have many things coming up in Rochester. Including a job interview. And thesis writing. In the meantime, here’s a picture of my Cousin-In-Law Mara and the man of the hour Evan:

One more picture, heres a shot of the backyard of my family’s house in Amityville including the canal.

I’m sitting at the Jet Blue terminal at Kennedy Airport on Long Island and taking advantage of wireless access here. I’m down on LI for less than 24 hours to attend the baptism of my Cousin’s son. Actually, I’ll be playing a small role in it as I am honored to be his Godfather. The idea of this is still a bit of a weird concept for me.

The reentry week has been really difficult. Rewards and wonderful and also stressful for a variety of reasons. On Monday I’ll begin writing.

As a slight distraction, everyone should check out Elina’s Blog. E’s a good Anthro friend, fellow MAPSSter, and new owner of a well traveled futon. She’s in Brazil for the summer conducting some field work on Candomble and playing Capoeria.

I made it here in one peice, though I still have a LOT of unpacking to do. More to follow once I get my internet situation sorted out.

Here is most likely the last shot of me working in the Reg taken just a few moments ago. Frazzled. Still packing. But done (although trying to solve a number of last minute moving problems).

I’m enjoying my last $1 shake. Never has a chocolate chip shake tasted so bittersweet. I also gave away my futon today to a friend from the MAPSS program who will be staying at the U of C to get her PhD in the Anthro department. Its strange to have it gone as its the first peice of furnature I owned in my adult life.

Packing is going too slow. But I’m working at it.

I just got two class grades back for this quarter (both A’s!!!).

And I had a great meeting with Village Voice and Wired journalist and all around good guy Julian Dibble to talk about my thesis. Very useful as he pointed me in a number of good directions. Then I also got to talk with my friend Tina whose working on blogs. I’m really going to miss the many face to face ideation sessions I’ve had here. Its been amazing to have so much time to talk about ideas with so many specialists. Its something I really want to help to foster where ever I end up working.

As for now, back to packing.

The Chinese Medicine paper is finally in. What a debacle. I bit off more than I could chew and delivered late (literally a week late). Not an ostentatious finish. But on the plus side, I’ve gotten good feedback on the thesis. And I got a free lunch from the head of the MAPSS program (perspective MAPSS students: know John. love John. Again, his bark > his bite).

Now it’s packing time. Bleh.

My brothers come in on Friday. I leave for Rochester Sunday. I have a hell of a lot of packing to do in between. And a couple important meetings in there as well.

Hey all, for those who might be interested here is a rough version that outlines where the arguement is headed and contains a breakdown of bot interactions. Download it here.

The tally of remaining work stands at:

• 2 short (4 pages each) final essays outstanding from fall quarter. Yes, I know it’s terrible. They’re outlined, I just need to finish them. They’ll be done over the summer
• 20 page final paper for Culture and Media. The draft of this is done and represents the outline of my thesis. I’ll be handing it in on Wednesday.
• 10 page paper on how Chinese Medicine is being taught in the states. I have the data, and have parsed it, but I’ve yet to form opinions. This is due on Friday.
• 20 page paper on Photography. I have no idea where I’m going with this one and it will be worked on over the summer. I have a feeling I’ll be looking at photo blogging.
• ~40-60 page thesis. The biggie. First draft is due around July 11th. I’ve got approximately 28 pages. So I need to at least double it. This will be the official challenge of the summer. You can take a look at the first pass here.

What can I say my works cut out for me. Less than two weeks before I’m back in Rochester. I really need to start packing.

Today was the last day of classes. Done. Good god. Three quarters are all but over. I still have a lot of writing to do. But I’m almost done. I can’t believe it.