PhD Day!

PhD Day is finally here. And while I should be practicing my talk at this moment, instead I am writing this little note.

My stomach is all tied up in knots and I've been awake for three hours already today. More coffee anyone??

I cannot believe today is finally here, it was not too long ago it felt like this day would never come, and now it is here!

so, to help with the calming of my nerves, i visited a shoe i am in absolute love with (if only it wasn't so tall and i wouldn't break my ankle attempting to walk while rocking these beauties)

Naughty Monkey Side Swiped in purple $35.10 at 6pm.com. oh they are so so pretty...

a well needed break...

I have been hard at work on chapter 1 of my thesis today (aka, a review of the literature). After 6 hours, I have not gotten nearly as much done as I had hoped, and I am exhausted. This is the first day I've had coffee since Tuesday, and can I just say, OH SO delicious. I forced myself to drink tea to help get over the illness, and now that it is mostly gone, bring on the coffee!

I am currently surrounded by papers and binders, on the table, on the floor. There is a slight method to the madness, but the method keeps getting mixed up. I have three or four piles of mice deficient in different proteins, drug treated mice, cells deficient in proteins, 5 different diseases. This means about 10 piles. And I keep coming up with more needs for piles.

And when I don't know what else to say or I can't find a paper I'm looking for, I start to play with my hair. I found out today that my hair is long enough to be in a side ponytail. If I wanted to dress 80s, I could. Not after Friday when I'm getting my haircut (thank goodness), but now, bring on the 80s.

sick thesis writing

I'm sick. My head feels like it's either going to implode or explode, and I'm not quite sure yet which one. The illness is in my ears and therefore I am dizzy all the time. It's not pleasant. At least it's not as bad as the drunk-need-one-foot-on-the-floor-dizzy. But since I'm at home, this would be perfect thesis writing time. Except that I cannot seem to stay awake. And thesis writing puts me to sleep when my head is normal.

But, found out about a neat website yesterday: www.wordle.com
You can paste any text in and it turns that text into a picture and words used the most are the biggest, second most second biggest, etc. So I pasted Chapter 1 of my thesis in the website as is, and it gave me the perspective of what I haven't talked about enough yet. When chapter 1 is done, I'll wordle it again and paste it on here.

You see, I was a little bit productive!

no snuggle time? oh no!

I've been writing materials and methods all morning and I need a break. My fingers therefore brought me over to my blog.

I am able to get the most writing done while sitting at the kitchen table. I can spread out papers on fabulous things like mice deficient in essential enzymes and the distraction of the television is in the other room. This whole sitting at the kitchen table thing has thrown poor puppy for a loop. She enjoys her mommy snuggle time when mommy gets home from work, but now that mommy has a very specific deadline and lots to write about, mommy doesn't technically ever come home from work. She is home, yes, but still working. And not snuggling. Which means puppy stands or sits at mommy's feet with the saddest look of "but, i need to snuggle" and breaks mommy's heart. And she then throws a few "whine whine whine"s in there, driving mommy crazy. I'm a giant softee... I need to toughen up! I am the master of science, hear me roar! No softee here in master of science-dom! Puppy, you will have to deal without snuggle time. If I can, you can!

defense insomnia

it is 4 am and I am awake. I have been awake for a while, and I am honestly in SHOCK that it is 4 am. When I looked at the clock I didn't believe it. But all the clocks say the same thing, and they can't all be lying. I was laying in bed thinking about all that I need to get done and where we are going to go to celebrate my phd-hood (I cannot help but think about the party). So, I am up and I thought since I was thinking about finishing up, I should get up and write something. Maybe awake in the middle of the night = inspiration.

I think I'm just going to have to start taking benadryl before I go to bed.

defense day

I have finally finally finally scheduled my defense. Friday, January 23 at 2 pm. I have less than two months to finish up lots and lots of experiments and write write write. I am so excited and so scared that I won't get everything done in time. I know that I have done enough and anything that I don't finish will be my underling's job to finish, so I'm trying to not get completely worried. I just want my thesis to be as complete as possible. I just need to remind myself that there is no way for me to tell the complete story, so much of the story is still unknown and it is not my job to finish it. It's only my job to write what I know and a long list of future directions.

Heather defended today. We started together, it's been a crazy 5.5 years, and she's finished! And I'm not far off!! It's just been such a long time, an amazing time, and it's so crazy that it's ending. Finally finally ending, I've been wishing for the end for 4.5 years (give or take), and I'm kind of amazed that it's here. I knew it was close, but actually having a date and watching Heather defend on the same day is throwing me for a loop. Wowie zowie!