Fox

I don't watch a lot of TV, but every so often I find myself with random blocks of time to fill. In those times, I watch things on Hulu. So a couple of weeks ago, Fox allowed Hulu to play the pilot of the new Zooey Deschanel show, New Girl, before it even aired on TV. I watched it. I felt "eh" about it, but I sort of like her, so I thought I'd give it one more shot. So tonight I thought, "oh, I'll check out the next episode of that show that I saw 2 weeks ago."

Well, turns out that Fox, despite letting the internet see the pilot episode before it even aired, is now doing this thing where you can't watch something online for 8 DAYS after it airs. Unless you sign in with a Dish account. I get that they're trying to make money, but 8 days? The next episode is going to air before I can watch this one. So...let's say I wasn't doing anything on Tuesday night, when the show regularly airs. I MIGHT watch it when it's on TV, but since I missed this week and they won't let me catch up online, I doubt I'm going to bother... Why not wait 6 days, that way it's still an annoying delay encouraging people to spend money, but allows people to catch up in time to watch the next show when it actually airs. Hell, you could throw in an ad for the real show, saying "hey, if you watch this tomorrow night on TV, you won't have to wait a week!"

Anyway, I'm now complaining about TV, which is a little absurd given the fact that I watch so little of it I don't even have cable. I use an antenna...

(Side note regarding TV: When Mad Men returns in 2012, I will be going to the gym to run/walk on the treadmill with the TV tuned to AMC in order to watch it. I contemplated returning to cable, but paying for one show seemed a little excessive. And this way I have motivation to work-out. Win-win!)

Also

To the Oregon Psychological Association: You clearly know that I no longer live in Oregon. My current state of residence is printed on the address label in your mailing to me. WHY DO YOU KEEP MAILING ME STUFF?!

Milestones

I sort of live my life as a set of milestones. I know, I know. I should "revel in the moment" and in the "journey" instead of always waiting for the next achievement, but well, I sort of LIKE working toward milestones. I DO enjoy the in-between times, but I view it as the enjoyment of the process toward the next step. Maybe that's why I entered a career where my life will continually be another paper or grant application to submit. I enjoy working toward something tangible.

Because then I get days like today. Days when I:

• Send off a big packet of papers to Germany. The culmination of a couple months of emailing, writing, collaborating, editing, and finally printing an application for a fellowship in Berlin.
• Email a job application to 2 different universities for faculty positions.
• Email a grant application to the UCLA grants office (this one is a little less climatic since the grants office is notorious for being a pain in the ass with regard to getting everything off to the potential funding agency) - but still the culmination of many many months of writing and editing.
• Email edits of 4 essays for a friend's internship applications. This one didn't take too long, but it was fun and nice to send back to her so that SHE can get to her next milestone of submitting those apps!

I just feel really good about checking things off the "to-do" list, you know?

It also doesn't hurt that I'm going to Oregon this weekend for a wedding and short backpacking trip and to see some good friends. And that the following weekend I get a visit from another good and long-lost friend and celebrate my birthday. Life is pretty good right now...