Life in one month

It's been a long time since we've had a chance to post anything to the blog, as you already know. So many things have happened, so this will be a quick summary of events with a couple of more detailed blog posts to follow in the coming days: one about the Wedding and another about our move.

Essentially, in the past month, well, we have lived a lifetime!

TJ defended her dissertation and is now Dr. TJ Baker (October 10). 

Our little family drove to New York in a humorously packed and crowded vehicle, and the drive of course had some unexpected surprises! OK, one really unfortunate (for PJ) unexpected surprise (October 14 - 16).

We spent about one week frantically planning the last bits of our wedding, which included things like getting TJ's dress fitted, finally visiting West Point and planning the ceremony, making the chuppah, receiving family from all over the country, making the wedding favors and programs, having a family get together for pumpkin carving ... yes, loads of stuff! (October 17 - 23)

The Wedding, which we will make an entire post about with pictures. It was a lovely day and a beautiful ceremony that we were blessed to share with about 50 of our beloved family members. It was also a send off party of sorts for us (October 24). It was an amazing couple of days with the pumpkin carving party and wedding. It was good to see so many people and to share such an important moment in our lives with them. 

TJ went to Sri Lanka for a meeting the next morning after the wedding ... it was a sad day (October 25). 

And finally, one week later, we hopped on a plane with our pets in tow and moved to Accra, Ghana, which we will of course make a nice long post about this weekend at some point (November 1). 

After arriving in Ghana, we quickly set forth on many tasks such as getting Collin enrolled in school (starts Monday), visiting the Embassy and voting in the US of ass-kickin' A election, finding a home (not yet) and car (nearly confirmed), but sadly no good coffee, and finally, promising Collin in matrimony to a lovely young seven-month-old girl (November 8). 

Hmmm ... life may get pretty boring after this whirlwind of a month!

So, in the next few days you'll get to hear about all the humorous and fun details of our new life. The most important thing to know right now is that we are doing great and having fun here in Ghana. We are learning the city (IWMI loaned us a car for the weekend) and adjusting pretty well to the ebb and flow of life here. We are making friends and looking forward to all the new things that will come our way over the next two years. Even the doggers are enjoying life and making friends ... the Guest House manager (Kwame) took Marcy out in the city for a walk one morning. More soon ...

Much love and hugs to all!

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Oh Doctor!

Well, this is just a quick short post to say that yesterday TJ (that's me, but all people with PhDs talk about themselves in the third person) successfully defended her dissertation and is now a Doctor of Philosophy in Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management. 

It was a long and exhausting day. All total, my defense was about three and a half hours. I gave a one-hour presentation, which was followed by two and a half hours of questioning by my committee. I don't really know what to say about it other than it is finally O-V-E-R. I think it takes a while for these things to really settle into the psyche. PJ came to my presentation and said it was well-done and that he heard many people afterwards giving compliments about the work I have produced over these long six and a half years (including my MS work). My adviser, Scott, afterward said that there was a never a discussion among the committee members regarding whether I would be granted the PhD, and that they were all more than pleased with both my dissertation and presentation. That doesn't mean they let me off easy. The questions they asked afterward were rigorous and they challenged me on many things. I have dissertation revisions from each committee member to work on during the coming months as part of the preparation of my manuscripts for publication, but it doesn't appear at first glance to be anything terribly difficult. 

I was really nervous going into yesterday and PJ did his best to make me laugh throughout the day, which was a good thing. The hardest part of the whole day: when I got to my aknowledgements slide ... PJ said it would be the hardest and it was. When I got to that final slide, I cried because there really are a lot of people to acknowledge. No one stands up there alone on that fateful day, and when you're there at the end, it really hits you how many people have been there for you in one way or another. I wasn't even able to get it all out because every time I tried, I got more choked up. Even now, it is difficult to write because I start to feel overwhelmed with so many different emotions. It was a long road and along the way there were many challenges and adversities in both my personal and academic life, and many times when I questioned whether it was worth it. I am happy that I stuck it out and more than thankful that I had the love and support of so many people along the way.

Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul.

But as he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart: How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.

Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?

Too many fragments of the spirit have I scatterd in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.

It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.

Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.

-Khalil Gibran

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Captain's Log ...

Stardate -314262.5512295083

On this historic night, TJ has completed and turned in her dissertation entitled, "Spatially Explicit Multiple Objective Decision Support for Rural Watersheds".

I owe a big thanks to PJ because he has been so supportive the past few weeks by cooking meals; grocery shopping; cleaning around the house; walking the dogs; listening to me complain about how sitting all day and furiously typing was making me ache all over; making me laugh when I really wanted to cry or be angry at: a) my advisor, b) Bill Gates, c) existence, d) myself, e) cars daring to drive down the street making too much noise and ruining my fragile concentration (I know who you are...), or f) all of the above; and he even watched Out of Africa with me one night. I am truly blessed.

They came to sit & dangle their feet off the edge of the world & after awhile they forgot everything but the good & true things they would do someday.

That is all. I have written a lot today (seriously ... you have no idea), so PJ says there ain't no need to write no mo'! But, he says if I want, I can go streak down 3rd St. I think I'll just settle in for the evening instead.

Stayed tuned for the next exciting installment: TJ's Ph.D defense, 2:00 P.M., Friday, 10 October, 2008.

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Plans are coming together ...

This is a quick and rather bland post to share a few of the new developments in our life. It appears that slowly but surely our plans are coming together.

TJ's Ph.D defense is officially set for Friday, October 10th at
2:00 p.m.

PJ and Collin are all up-to-date on their shots. TJ went and got a TB test to express sympathy for their pin cushioned arms. PJ was a bit unwell following the Yellow Fever inoculation, which is normal, but not a good feeling whatsoever.

On Monday, our passports will be sent off to Washington, D.C. for their Ghana visas. Applications are nearly completed ... in quadruplicate as they asked.

And, the big news is, we are officially booked into our temporary accommodations in Ghana! We will be staying at the Airside Hotel. We can stay there for up to a month, but hopefully we will find a house rental quickly. Hotel living is not fun!

We are still working on flight plans and air freight for our stuff with IWMI. We do not have any special requirements to fulfill for taking our pets, other than the paperwork required by the airline. Whew! There is also still no positive word on getting Collin into the US Embassy School, which we may simply have to take care of in person in the weeks following our arrival.

We have many things beginning to fill out our list of things to do over the next few weeks. For example, we need to pick up several pounds of coffee to take, lest we suffer the fate of drinking instant coffee. In time, we will locate a place to buy overpriced coffee beans. You would think that coffee is easy to locate in Africa, right? Not so! It is all shipped to Europe and America. For the most part, Africans enjoy tea and not coffee. And then there is the soap, shampoo, conditioner, bottles of Frank's Buffalo Wing sauce, various medicines to have on hand, Jelly Belly's, rawhide bones for the pooches, and more coffee.

In essence, our lives are becoming crazy hectic!

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Typhoid PJ!

This is an actual update on our Ghana moving preparations! Recently, we've been posting more about our lives in New Jersey and Laramie. But now, we have some Ghana updates to share.

Yesterday, we headed to Albany County Public Health to update our shots. Much to Collin and PJ's dismay, TJ didn't require any shots! Collin required a Typhoid vaccine, Tetanus, and Meningitis. PJ, on the other hand, required, well, everything: Typhoid, Hepatitis A&B, Meningitis, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Yellow Fever (ouch!!!), and MMR. They were able to take the oral Typhoid vaccine, and they even got cool orange bracelets to indicate that for the next week they are taking pills for Typhoid ... or NOT Typhoid as PJ likes to say.

PJ took issue every time the nurse said, "Now, you are getting [insert disease name here]". As he pointed out, you aren't getting the disease, you are getting the vaccine so you DON'T get the disease (hopefully).

Last night and today, both PJ and Collin were feeling a bit under the weather. PJ is worse off because of the Yellow Fever vaccine and Typhoid combined. His body is trying to produce antibodies for some pretty serious diseases right now, which can wear a person out quickly.

And now, an update on our tentative travel plans...

TJ has been asked to attend an IWMI research planning meeting from October 28 - 30, which is prior to her original start date (November 3). Another complication with the meeting is that the meeting is in Colombo, Sri Lanka and not in Accra, Ghana. So, we have been working on suggesting logistical options to IWMI on how to proceed. TJ's dissertation defense is scheduled for October 10 (tentatively). One potential plan?

Fly from Denver to New York on October 14th. Spend one week in New York. Depart New York for Accra on October 21st. We would arrive in Accra on October 22 in the morning. We can then get ourselves settled into our temporary housing and spend a couple days figuring out where things are in the city. TJ would then depart for Colombo, Sri Lanka (via London) on October 25, arriving on the evening of the 27th (yes, that's two days of flying halfway around the world, again). The research meeting takes place on October 28-30, and then TJ can begin the return trek to Accra on the morning of October 31st, arriving on the evening of November 1st.

After much consideration of various options and plans, this seems to be the best option for us. We haven't heard back from IWMI if that option is acceptable, however. If they don't like our plan, then we will probably stick to the original plan.

We momentarily considered TJ going to Sri Lanka and then to Ghana, with PJ and Collin meeting her there (Ghana) a few days later, but then decided that wouldn't work for two reasons: first, the State Department doesn't allow unaccompanied minors to leave the US without a parent, so Collin can't travel with PJ. Second, PJ has never traveled to Africa and it's not something to experience alone for the first time. The Ghana airport is a madhouse and getting through immigration and customs with all of our crap, pets and Collin would not be the best way for PJ to begin this trip.

So, that is the update ... written in sand. We hope to know more in the coming days. It is hard to believe that we are actually getting ready to really move. Things are beginning to happen at lightening speed for us, though we are managing it quite well. We're getting outside just enough to keep the stress levels down, playing games, going to see Cowboy Football, and watching movies when we get a chance. TJ is finished with her first two out of three manuscripts. PJ has finished some important manuscript revisions and is working on publication preparations from his summer research as well as attending a conference in Tucson, AZ next week. Collin is enjoying his few weeks of school here in Laramie, attending swim practice, and will attend a four-week Saturday art program at the University for our final weeks here. We'd like to climb Medicine Bow Peak and get down to Great Sand Dunes National Park if time and weather permit before we leave, but at this point we are cutting it rather close.

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