I was so buzzed last night that I actually wrote after midnight, and knowing it still put down yesterday’s date and scribbled my brief entry. I looked at my watch, it was 12:20 and the date had already changed.
Tonight I expect to catch up on my sleep. I already took an hour’s nap after work and feel pretty good, but I’ll go to bed early just the same. It’ll be the first time this week or so it seems. Plans may be changed though, I saw Russ Soules in the Peace Corps Office, and he said he was coming out. Jay {Hasheider} said he might also, vamos a ver {we’ll see}!
I did some more stuff on the fishermen’s co-ops study today. I saw that in their last revision they eliminated the part of my analysis of “El Socio Adentro de la Cooperativa” {The Member Within the Cooperative} where I discuss sample size & sampling method, and the limitations it places on the generalizing of the study. Oscar told me a few days ago that they were going to change some of my stuff because the small numbers of respondents would be criticized by other “tecnicos” {technicians}. I thought he meant they’d have to yank some of my tables. Instead they eliminated my disclaimer, siting the study’s limitations, but left all my tables & analysis! That’s being rigorous! I consider it somewhat (get me “somewhat!”) unethical, and will now try to get some info. on the data collection, sample size and limitations of the study put into the methodology section of the write-up, where it really belongs anyway.
Chico {Rodriguez, Peace Corps Agriculture Program Director} has been busy writing up & refining his prestudy outline. It’s coming along. Now he needs to dig into some pertinent literature to reinforce and rigorously define his research problem. Chico’s got the soils & forestry volunteers all excited & enthused about his subproject within the Tamalasco watershed, so I hope he keeps on it. Even Fred Tracy is fired up about it, and he’s been a PCV {Peace Corps volunteer} as long as I have. Even us old-timers still get inspired (and sometimes fool ourselves!). I hope the whole thing goes. It’s a chance to make more fruitful use of some PCV manpower & technical expertise in something which could provide a firm basis for the development of the upper Río Lempa valley.
<Yesterday at work I wrote Sofia.> Jay had got me worrying about the problems of being married & studying, and about the mess I’ll be in if they don’t give me a year’s extension in Costa Rica. <How can I ever be sure that after we’re married Sofia won’t turn on me and say, “Look man, I don’t want to (or can’t, etc.) work and can’t study in the U.S., and you have to support me. What does it matter if you don’t ever go back to school, you can get a job with what you have if you want to.”> I told her again in the letter how important it is that I study, & that it’s not going to be a life of luxury; that if she thinks we ought to each complete (or at least get through undergrad.) our studies before marrying, I could handle that. She tells me so little of what she’s really thinking. Perhaps she fears she doesn’t have much of a hold on me yet, and doesn’t want to risk offending me. When she has me on the line it could be a whole new ballgame! I certainly hope not. As I get older I am becoming less and less of a sports fan.
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