We kissed Carbondale Goodbye!

After Joel's graduation we spent several days with Joel's aunt and uncle (and the rest of Joel's immediate family) in Batavia, Il. We had a lot of fun relaxing after the busy weekend. Batavia is a beautiful suburb of Chicago and we enjoyed going for walks and consuming several of the local delicacies (fried cheese!). The men went shooting for an afternoon while the women did a bit of shopping.

A bit more rested and relaxed, Joel and I spent the next week packing up our house. We sold most of our stuff at a garage sale (thanks for your help, Ronn!) and the rest went in storage. I completely underestimated how long it would take us to pack up and move -- there were so many little things to take care of! And, of course, there were several things that didn't go exactly as planned. But, we (finally) packed up our car, including Bodhi and Lola Mae, and headed for Austin. After a stop in a rather seedy part of Memphis to ship our books to Copenhagen, we arrived at my parents house in Austin at 2:30 the morning. Bodhi and Lola Mae will spend the next two years with my parents (and will be thoroughly spoiled I am sure!). They immediately made the house their own and have my parents at their beck and call.

We were only able to stay in Austin for a few short days before we headed to California to spend some time with Joel's family. I had to attend the International Communication Association Conference annual convention in San Francisco for several days, but we are now all in Carlsbad enjoying the cool but sunny weather. Joel's uncle Bill and Grandma will join us in Carlsbad for a few days. They should arrive tomorrow.

The next stop in our magical mystery tour is Florida to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of my grandparents, William and Virginia Little. 60 years together! Joel and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary yesterday -- I can hardly imagine 60 years together! That said, I hope I have 60 more years with Joel. Who knew marriage could be so fun!

Joel Graduated!

Date: May 12, 2007
Place: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.

Joel and I traveled up to West Lafayette to meet Joel's parents and brother Travis and attend Joel's graduation. After a busy week trying to finish up our grades and pack our house, we arrived in Lafayette Friday night. Silas and Marsha (Joel's parents) told me I was boss for the day (Saturday) and I was responsible for making sure Joel was in place at the right time and we had good seats for the commencement exercises. Well, as most of you know, I never pass up the opportunity to be the boss... so I ran a pretty tight ship that day! The good news is that Joel was in place with plenty of time to spare and we were in line early enough to push our way to the PERFECT seats! For those of you unfamiliar with Purdue University commencement exercises, seating is open -- no assigned seating. So, everyone has to line up until they open the doors and then we push to get to our preferred seats. It reminded me of a rock concert! Anyway, the ceremony was wonderful -- the speeches meaningful and short, the choir and band inspiring and in-tune, and the graduates handsome (see enclosed picture) and orderly.

After a few hours of pictures around campus (the weather was beautiful-- sunny but not too hot!) we joined our long-time friends for a wonderful celebratory meal at our favorite steakhouse, Mountain Jacks.

It is hard to believe our time with Purdue is over -- we are both officially Drs.! We leave with much gratitude and excitement. Our years at Purdue were thrilling, stressful, challenging, and happy. We made life-long friends, discovered the depths of our own creative and mental abilities, and met each other. Not a bad six years! All Hail Purdue!

Too long since last post!

I can't believe its been over a month since my last post! So much has happened... Joel graduated... we moved... etc. I promise to update our blog (and include lots of pictures) over the next few days!

Robyn has a job!

I accepted the position of professor at the Copenhagen Business School and am resigning my position at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. My new position at CBS will be very similar to my current position at SIUC -- half researching, quarter teaching, an a quarter service. I will be teaching organizational communication and gender and communication. I am very excited to work with the other scholars at the CBS (several of whom I know by reputation already!). You can check out their website: http://uk.cbs.dk/forskning_viden/institutter_centre/institutter/ikl. I will also be working with other departments and research centres at CBS. Check it out!

We have a flat!

Our new home in Copenhagen is a cute 3 bedroom furnished flat! We found an advertisement for the flat online and contacted the owners. They are very nice and we signed the lease (which has been an adventure with an ocean between us!). The flat is on the third floor (we think) and the building is over 300 years old! The flat is located right in the heart of Copenhagen's City Centre and is about a 10 minute walk or ride on the metro from our offices. There is plenty of room for visitors! You can check out pictures of our flat at
http://www.expatnet.dk/housing/search_results.asp?hID=170 .

Helpful websites

This is the website for the Danish National Research Foundation: Center for Subjectivity Research:
http://cfs.ku.dk/. This is where Joel will be spending most of his time. And, for those of you planning your trips to Copenhagen, here is a helpful website: http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/

This is a test...

This posting is really just a test so I can learn how to post pictures... but this is me and Joel while we watched the Texas A&M band march to the capitol for the big football game last Thanksgiving. We won't discuss who actually won the game... but it was great fun to be there!

Welcome to our Blog!

Welcome to our blog. Please be patient with us... this is our first blog! But, we will try to keep it updated and loaded with pictures, especially once we arrive in Copenhagen.

Moving to Copenhagen

Joel has accepted a two year fellowship with the Danish National Research Foundation: Center for Subjectivity Research in Copenhagen, Denmark. He will move to Copenhagen in early June. We are still working on my plans – I am still teaching here at SIUC. I hope to join him in Copenhagen for at least a year, if not longer.

We don’t have many more details, but will keep you posted as our plans materialize. Visitors to Copenhagen are always welcomed!