I arrived in Bakersfield last night. My so-called six hour train trip took nine hours, but I used the time reasonably well (fixing some problems with my data, reading a few chapters of the book I just started, taking a nap, etc). So far things here are typical. Emma is bigger and about as obnoxious as before. My mom and my sister-in-law and I went shopping today and had lunch with my brother, who had to work. I got a Christmas present for DWE, but I'm indecisive about whether or not he'll like it (or, on a more fundamental level, whether or not I even want to get him a Christmas gift...I feel like it might be a more "relationshipy" gesture than I want to make).

At the moment I'm sitting around in a t-shirt and my underwear, waiting for my laundry to finish drying (all my pants are in the laundry). I made the Chex mix and the caesar salad dressing (all while not wearing pants, which I think mildly disturbed my mother). My bro and sis are bringing dessert and the veggie dish, and apparently my brother is also making the stuffing and bringing it over to us in the morning so we can stuff the turkey, because for some reason he doesn't trust us to make it how he wants it (Thanksgiving analogy: Jenn is to mashed potatoes as her brother is to stuffing). So all my mom and I really have to do tomorrow is cook the turkey and make the mashed potatoes (and put the caesar salad together, which will be easy since I will probably also make the croutons tonight).

I really need to work on my International Econ Seminar paper. It's not due until the 4th, but I have to give another presentation on it on Monday, at which point I'm supposed to have it pretty much done (yeah, I can fake being done with it, but since I also have to give my Econometrics paper presentation on Wednesday, I should probably actually have it close to being done). I don't mind the thought of doing schoolwork right now, I just mind the thought of working on that paper. I guess it just still feels big and overwhelming, and if I came up with one small part to work on it wouldn't be so bad.