There's a hole in my living room... and in my heart

There just won't be room for my reclining chair in our new house. Even so, I never thought the chair would sell so fast. And when they came to pick it up I wasn't prepared for the emotional response I would experience. The gaping hole in the living room is a fitting representation. This phase of my life has ended, and none too soon: next week makes a full year. I can't remember sitting at the desk to work, but I guess it is time to get back into the habit and leave the cripple chair behind. How did the girls feel? Claire just thought it was cool to see them disassemble the chair and Ayden was a little treasure hunter once the chair was out of the way.

I slept in my chair last night. Not as a final farewell. In fact, I didn't know it would be gone at the time. I did it because I got home after 4:00 am and I didn't want to go into the bedroom and wake Wendy. I was up late finishing slides for my thesis defense. While it is true that I have had months to finish them, what would life be without procrastination?

My thesis defense went well, although longer than I expected. One of my committee members asked a lot of questions. However, they were questions of curiosity about my work, so I didn't feel intimidated. My committee gave a very favorable report, so I was pleased. Also, I was informed on Tuesday that the main results for my thesis have been accepted for publication in the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications.

On a sadder note, our first choice for a house fell through. The inspector found very serious foundational issues, so we bailed. We are working on putting in an offer for our next choice: cross your fingers. This one was built in 1971, rather than 1925, so hopefully we can avoid foundations slowly sinking into the Michigan mud on this one.