Suck it in...

I was going to my 15 year high school reunion on July 22...I was a bit worried about having gained 80 pounds since high school (145 to 225). I told my wife I was going to have to suck in my gut the entire time and talk like I was constipated. She replied, "What are you going to do, suck in your cheeks too?" :)

I was second in my class for "most changed since high school." I like to think it is because I am so handsome now, but I think it is actually because I gained so much weight.

Map challenged...

I have decided that I am an idiot...I was in Yosemite on Friday afternoon and after taking some pictures headed to Utah. I looked at the map and saw that Highway 120 looked very windy and 395 to Carson City looked really small. I then looked at 120 to Modesto and for some idiotic reason decided it would be faster to drive halfway across the state of California in a Westerly direction so I could hook up with I99 and go up to I 80...It ended up taking an extra 3-4 hours than if we had just driven the small highways up to Carson City and to I-80...I'm not sure why I thought that would be faster, or even a good idea.

First is worst, second the same...

I was in Hollywood video last night getting a dvd for my kids. There were two cash registers and one line. Some bratty girl decided to start her own line even though there were about 8 people standing in the one line waiting on the two registers. I sat there getting more irritated and finally said to her, "There is one line for both registers." She turned around and said, "I know! I just started my own line!" to which the girl in front of me said, "What a bitch!" and she smugly replied, "I can be." When she was leaving I was kind of glaring at her and she and her friend began laughing. I can't believe there are people in this world that completely ignore social mores for their own selfish wants. I was irritated with the girl, but took some consolation in realizing that girls like her will probably end up in prison, or murdered by a white trash boyfriend sometime down the line. In the very least, if she continues to treat people rudely and ignore the social order she will have few, if any, close friends.

My second gripe from yesterday....the adults who when the freeway has a lane closed, feel like it is their right to fly past the mile of backed up traffic down the lane that is going to be closed, and scooting in at the last second. Since when is their time more valuable than mine? These are the adult versions of the little brats that cut in line in elementary school.

Costa Rica Butterfly

My friend Scott Livengood took this picture in Costa Rica...I think it is cool...I added the quote...

More pics for the month...

Check these out for sale at
http://stores.ebay.com/Photo-For-You

Our Dog Cora

Here is our cute dog...she is like 40 pounds and we found out she isn't even 4 months old yet...I hope she doesn't eat us when she is full-grown...

Major Revisions Required...

I did not pass (nor did I fail) my oral defense. There were some major problems with my measurement variables/theory so I have to put in a lot of work to remedy them. I am a bit depressed, but also hopeful that the finished project will be much stronger. The last few weeks, I had begun to realize some of the problems with the variables...but had hoped that it could be chalked up as a limitation of the study instead of having to redo the analyses. :) I was pretty sure I was going to have to do some pretty big revisions...so it didn't come as a complete shock. I was glad that everyone, together, offered me the direction I need...
I was also glad to hear that Drs. Hilton, Warren, and especially Olsen are going to be able to provide me the support/consultation time to finish up the project.

Here are some of the major problems I need to correct with the models/writeup:

Make statements re: the relative level of distress compared to norms (US or others if available). Complete t-tests to determine if the Bosnian youth are significantly different from the norms.

Enter a table with all of the means/sd of all the variables in the study.

Explain in greater detail what psychological control is, how parents can be psychologically controlling, and how common it is? (I'm not sure how to answer that last question)

Explain more clearly in the text what items ended up composing the externalizing latent variable, including the information re: the items you included at the end of the Hightower to beef up the externalizing questions...

Match the Parenting variables (Connection, psych control, monitoring) with the parent completing the questionnaire in order to form a latent variable of parental connection/parental psych control, and parental monitoring, instead of using maternal for Time 1, and mixed reports for Time 3. I need to do the same for parental psychological distress...match the parent-report to the adolescent report (i.e., if mothers completed the questionnaires, use the maternal measures...if fathers completed the questionnaires, use paternal measures...combine these into a new variable labeled parental connection/parental psych control/parental monitoring, etc.)

Remove hostility as a component of parental psychological distress and adolescent internalizing as it seemed closer related to externalizing.

Remove Time 3 parenting variables from the internalizing model

Better explain why I only did a cross-sectional analysis of the externalizing behaviors and explain why the externalizing measures changed (or your addendums were absent) at Times 2-4.

When the data is fixed, and models rerun, explain similarities and differences between the models...also Joe suggested I keep the two models as close as possible to each other, so I will add Time 1 monitoring to the internalizing model.

It is going to be a tremendous amount of work...I plan on getting started on it today...I feel a bit overwhelmed and disappointed, but like I said, I expected this to happen...and I am glad to have everyone's input into what to do to remedy the flaws.

I am especially glad that I didn't put even more time into the current paper and try to defend at a later date and run into these problems...that would have been even more discouraging. I think if I work diligently, I can have the analyses rerun and the write up done by Mid-September...then my committee needs to reconvene and I have to do it all over again. :) Too much fun...

My family is disappointed too...I guess we will just deal with it...

My daughter thinks she's a monkey

Since I have been home (the last 2.5 days), my two-year-old has hung onto me nonstop. She wants to "hold me" nonstop. It was pretty cute for the first 2.49 days, but since I am trying to get my oral defense ready for tomorrow..it got a little annoying today. :)

Wish me luck...

Teen flasher...

To the female teen flasher in Oildale, CA...Next time you flash your breasts at someone, make sure he isn't on probation for molesting children...

"Daddy...are you home?"

I called my wife the other day and she let me talk to my 2-year-old little girl. She got on the phone, and said in an excited little voice, "Daddy...are you home?" It made me feel so sad for her...she used to get so excited when I would get home from work, and she would run up and almost tackle me as she hugged my knees and said, "I want to hold you." I miss my cute girls...Good news is, I am going home this weekend...hopefully to defend my dissertation on the 18th and then frantically get it ready for binding in the library before the 21st...I'm still not sure it is going to happen, but I'm doing my darndest... :)

Green Moth...

This is a picture of a green moth taken by my brother's friend...I fixed it in Photoshop...

Some new photos at my Ebay Store "Photo For You"

"Don't let the dog lick your face..."

The other day our 2-year-old went potty all by herself...She went to wipe her bum, and our dog came running in and went crazy licking her butt, so she didn't have a chance to wipe. :)

At this point, it would be good to explain that our kids have a problem with letting animals, especially dogs, lick them on the lips. I swear we have to ask them at least 10x a day to stop letting the dog lick their lips, mouth and face. My wife had asked the kids several times on this day to stop letting the dog lick them on the face.

Well, unsuspecting A****** came in, picked up the dog and immediately let it lick her face. My wife asked, "Does M***********'s poop taste good?" and busted up laughing. I think A***** was traumatized, but it's not like she doesn't know that dogs lick butts, their own, or otherwise. She started crying, but I bet later that night she was letting the dog lick her face again. :)

"Does Daddy Miss Me???"

My wife said that my precious 2-year-old daughter was following her around when she was getting ready for work saying, "Does my Daddy miss me?" over and over again. I definitely do miss her. She is a sweet little girl and I think it is so fun that she knows how to talk so well. I also miss my other little girl...and it has almost been long enough for me to miss the teenagers too...the break from them has been relaxing, but I am sure by the end of this week, I will be missing them too. :)

Finished Revisions on Dissertation...Keep fingers crossed!

I finally finished up all the changes my chair wanted me to make on my dissertation. I emailed it to him tonight. Now I have to see if it is good enough, and if so, hope that my department can pull some strings at the University level to allow me to graduate even though I can't meet the 7/7 deadline to defend.

I asked my chair if he will be able to fly up to Utah mid-next-week for an oral defense. We will see what he says.