Tony, Aunt Nancy, Gina, her new husband Rich, and Chuckie after the ceremony
MomMom, Aunt Mary, Patti, and me at the reception
Brian, Billy, Chuck, and Tony
Nana and Mr. Dick were big hits on the dance floor, as usual!
This week, we had dinner with Vickie and heard about her fun trip to the northwest, and though I couldn't make it, Billy went out to dinner with his family to celebrate Chuck's birthday. The other exciting thing about this week is that we got plenty of good news!
Our weekly OB appointments began with another good checkup. We learned that we have to get flu shots this year, and the doctor confirmed that the baby is ready to go in head down position. My weight gain and belly measurement are still right on track, and so is the baby's heart rate.
Billy also had a meeting with his James Webb Space Telescope supervisors to go over his yearly performance appraisal. He was given universally high remarks in every category, and his bosses have been very pleased with the work he has done this past year as well as the leadership responsibilities he has taken on. He let me read the write-up they gave him, which goes into quite a bit of detail about all of the ways he has met and exceeded their expectations. As his wife, I really appreciated the effort his supervisors put into writing up his review and enjoyed getting a chance to see how much they appreciate the hard work he does. Anyone who knows Billy knows he believes that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well, but being this hard of a worker sometimes leads to frustration in a work environment if others are not willing to work as hard. In his first few jobs out of college, I often felt like his employers took advantage of and didn't show much appreciation for his work ethic. So even though he doesn't like everyone calling attention to his successes at this job, I do! : )
I missed Chuck's birthday dinner because I was scheduled to give my presentation on my Katherine Anne Porter paper to the theory colloquium, which I mentioned a few weeks ago. The presentation format was a little unsettling because after giving my opening remarks, I had to sit quietly and listen to my colleagues discuss the work for 15 or 20 minutes before I was allowed to say anything. Listening to their feedback was really interesting, and some of their comments were very useful, but when I was finally allowed to talk, I wasn't sure how to address all that conversation at once. Then there was about 30 minute of a more traditional question and answer format about my paper before we switched gears to discuss two unrelated articles for the second hour. I had read and taken notes on those articles, but I wasn't able to focus enough to join that discussion because I sat there thinking about things people had said about my paper and scribbling notes to myself. I came out of the session feeling good about the feedback I'd gotten but unsure about how well I had done in addressing the issues that were raised. When I talked to my friends who've attended the colloquium for several semesters, though, I felt reassured. They thought I did a good job of taking peoples' suggestions into consideration and defending my project when necessary without seeming defensive or unprepared. A few of my classmates also mentioned that they'd like to talk to me about the project more when I have a chance, and that always seems like a mark of success. Overall, I'm mostly just glad the presentation is behind me-- I've not only finished my requirements for the Critical Theory Certificate, but I also have some good ideas about how to move forward with the Katherine Anne Porter project.
Plus, we're one week closer to baby!
(How to Be Good is a novel by one of my favorite contemporary authors, Nick Hornby. I don't actually recommend it, though. My favorites among his books are High Fidelity and Fever Pitch.)
Congratulations on a successful presentation! I do miss hearing and reading about your work. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, AM! I wish you could've been there, too, but it is enough to know there are other KAP enthusiasts out in the world who might eventually take in interest in what I'm learning about her.
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