Hello, world! I am back! The past three weeks has been one big blur of activity which explains my absence from the web. Plus of course John and I did not have internet hookup yet (which we just got today...so yay!).

Labor pains
As I was defending my dissertation, my sister was in labor. A few hours after I officially got the signature that said I am a certified Ph.D., Giovan Miguel Estepa was born into the world! I guess I will never forget the anniversary of my defense :)



Farewell week
I don't think I ever had the chance to say thank you to everyone who hosted us for lunch/dinner that last week in Manhattan. We appreciated not having to worry about cooking when we were in a rush to get everything done. Trying to pack five years of your life at the same time as wrapping up your dissertation is NOT advisable! I defended on Monday, got my revisions in on Friday, and drove to Mississippi on Sunday. John, on the other hand, was helping Nick set up the studio, doing most of the packing (hehehehe), and trying to get all the tracks down for the Ruckus album. Phew...Tired is definitely an understatement! We apologize to everyone whom we did not have a chance to say bye to (paging Disha)...we'll see you all in December. hehehe

Rollin'
Living in a relatively bigger city meant that we needed to get around without killing ourselves over gas (Technie, our old car was a gas guzzler...Jay, kumusta naman ang budget mo for gas? nyaahahhah). In our first week at Hattiesburg, we decided to buy a Yaris. Cute, small, and economical! We love it!!! (Plus the roads here are a lot more crowded and narrow than KS!)


Hello, Golden Eagles!
No more purple, now it's all gold and black--well, except for my [mandatory] K-State coffee mug in the office! The campus has a completely different vibe from K-State so it'll take a while to get my bearings, but my first few days at work have been wonderful. I am excited with the [applied] research projects that I have been assigned to at NFSMI. The people I work with are awesome! They even brought some groceries when they met us after we got into Hattiesburg. They have been very helpful in easing us into this new life:)

Even the priest at St. Thomas (which is their version of St. Isidore's) is unconventional. I don't know if the word "hip" necessarily applies to priests, but Father Tommy definitely is that! Imagine someone with a strong Irish accent AND a Southern drawl! Hahaha...I really had to focus when he was giving the [very upbeat and funny] sermon. Oh, and John will be playing with the church band too:)

No pictures yet, but will upload some once the dust settles. hahaha. More updates soon. Stay tuned.