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Today was very productive!  I even let myself out of my room to work at a coffee shop for the afternoon (I got decaf).  And guess what?  I am now on page 20.5 of my 20 page paper!  That’s exciting and I am definitely ahead of schedule, but I still have major editing to do.  Two more days for this first question and I’m feeling kinda good about it.  I hope it lasts. 

Quick update, in a non-stream-of-conscious format:  Today was really great.  Yesterday I didn’t finish my whole to do list, but today I caught up and got ahead!  9.5 pages down, 10.5 (plus editing) to go! 

Get up this morning, dress in comfortable clothes, ring and earrings are diamonds, make decaf tea, my challenge, meditate, wisdom, love, his eye is on the sparrow and he watches over me, use me, love in research, husband presets coffee, smile, but no coffee this week, eat breakfast outside, it rained, steel cut oats, coconut yogurt and blueberries, wannabe vegan, boy kicking chestnut shell, homeless man waiting for the bus, the 12 passes, two 4s pass, still waiting and staring at traffic, the man with the shih tzu smokes briefly, school’s out, read for pleasure, it’s all wrong, mom calls, free, go in, hug husband, bed is made, get started, feet are cold, examines belly, gather all books, takes a picture for blog, gathers more, new picture, reads intro to important book, how could you not have read this? moron. reads advisor’s book, this will help, still cold. hate that my days are all different, craving the same, but not in my work?

for just one question

Today was my last day of freedom for four weeks and Dan and I had a busy day.  We started by going to church, then visited the Columbus Museum of Art (which is free on Sunday!).  We saw some really neat glass art and a cool Alice in Wonderland chess sculpture.  Then, we went out for some Italian and then Dan needed to shop for some short-sleeved work shirts for Arizona.  Then, we cheated on Jeni’s and tried a new ice cream place called Denise’s.  They are kind of a Jeni’s rip-off (They even have a salty caramel flavor! Copy cats!), but they had a few extra flavors and they were good, so I won’t complain.  Then, we came home and Dan caught up on soccer, while I did some work for my professor, paid bills, started laundry, etc.  Then, we went to get groceries, picked up Chinese food and watched some more Lost.  Now, I’m starting to freak out a little about starting my exam work in the morning.  Can I do it?  I don’t know.  Pray for me, Forrest.

1) Ran 7 miles

2) Ate cereal

3) Read on the porch for a few hours

4) Ate lunch (leftovers)

5) Did work for my professor

6) Watched team USA lose

7) Picked up carryout from the Happy Greek, while dodging hundreds of happy Comfest goers

8 ) Watched Lost

9) More Lost

10) Bed

Starting Monday, for the next four weeks, I will be hunkered down working on my candidacy exams.  Candidacy exams are basically the culmination of my coursework as a doctoral student.  Once I finish these exams, which includes an oral defense, I will become a PhD candidate, which means that my committee feels that I am prepared to work on my own research in the form of a dissertation.  If I pass these exams, “all” that stands between me and the PhD is the dissertation.  So, what I’m trying to say is that they are very important.  I’m going to be on lock down for the next four weeks, and am apologizing in advance if I don’t answer the phone, respond to email or if I decline invitations to do fun summer activities like a rent a boat for the 4th of July (Sorry, Julie!  It sounds like a ton of fun!).  My exam schedule is Monday-Friday from 8-5 from June 28-July 23.  On the evenings and weekends, I will likely be doing extra reading and working on a research project with a professor of mine that contracted me to do some work over the summer.  It’s going to be a very busy and stressful time, so please forgive me as I disappear.  I promise to reappear with gusto, bathing suit and grilling tongs in hand on July 23rd at 5pm, hopefully still smiling.

I decided to structure each week so that I wouldn’t drive myself nuts digging around in my mountains of books, articles and notes.  I’m sharing my structure really for my own benefit, but I’m sure you’re interested too. 

Monday- Sort and organize pertinent readings; select and gather pertinent quotations from those readings; create a thorough outline for the paper

Tuesday- Write 7 pages according to outline; reread as necessary

Wednesday- Write 7 pages according to outline; reread as necessary

Thursday- Write 7 pages according to outline; reread as necessary

Friday- Revise paper; revisit readings as necessary; revisit outline to make sure I addressed what I intended to; cry (just kidding… sort of)

Repeat three times!  Here we go.

Good news!

I met with my advisor today and set up my exam schedule!  I will officially be a hermit from June 28-July 23.  During those four weeks, I will write four 20-page papers and will probably not be answering my phone and blogging very minimally.  In fact, I may sequester myself in the woods for a while, but I swear, I will only be a temporary recluse.  And then, a few months off to worry about defending my papers before the actual defense, which is tentatively scheduled for (dun, dun, nuh, na!) October 6!  Progress.

In other (good) news, my sister got into graduate school at Akron U and will be pursuing a Masters degree in Special Ed!  Yay Julie!

Wednesdays this quarter are (were) my busy day.  I work from 8-noon, then have class from 2-7.  Tonight was my last night of class (ever?), and I’m really going to miss my Tech and Society class.  We had some good debates in there.  But, onward now to working on my candidacy exams!  Bring it!

Today I did some schoolwork (this did not go well) and then cleaned up the house a bit.  Julie and Katie are in town for the weekend for Katie’s volleyball tournament, which just so happens to be right down the street at the Convention Center!  Julie wanted Katie to see campus (sort of a pre-screening visit), so I contacted a former Heritage student of mine who is a freshman here (who I’ve talked about before here) and asked if she might give a little tour of her dorm room and a dining hall.  She was nice enough to agree to that.  So, when Julie and Katie arrived, we went to one of “the towers” and poked around.  It was giving me flashbacks like you wouldn’t believe.  Ah, dorm life… cramped living conditions and showers shared by waaaaay too many people.  They actually have a really nice dining hall right in the dorm, so that was pretty cool.  I think Katie liked it.  Then, we walked over the RPAC (the rec center) and were permitted to walk around, but only with bright yellow visitor’s cards.

My visitors!

The next logical place to visit was the newly renovated library.  Julie went to OSU for a bit back in ‘96, so she was really impressed with the makeover.  I even showed them the cool view from the reading room on the 11th floor.  After the library, we puttered across the Oval toward the new Student Union.  We looked around for a bit and then headed to Five Guys for some food.  Right across from Five Guys is the bookstore, so we shopped (and danced… they play good music in there!), but came out empty handed.  It started raining pretty good just as we had to make the trek all the way back across campus to the car (go figure), which was parked by the stadium.  Julie and Katie both ended up needing to take off their shoes, but we made the best of it, and we even walked through a neat little scenic area near mirror lake that I hadn’t been to.  Julie said it looked like Central Park and it was nice that as it was getting dark, the streetlights were coming on and reflecting off the wet sidewalks.

Now we’re back in the nice, dry apartment, tucked into bed.  Good day.

Yesterday was all work at ODE and class in the evening.  Today, I woke up to do some schoolwork before I headed back into “the field” (otherwise known as a suburban school district) to conduct more teacher interviews.  I had three today.  It was a gorgeous day and I thoroughly enjoyed my drive out there.  I met with a K-8 STEM coordinator first at the district’s central office, then I had an hour to kill, so I found a park and ate my lunch at a picnic table.  I also did some more schoolwork in my car in the parking lot with the windows open and a nice breeze flowing through.  Then, I headed up to a middle school to interview one teacher.  I had another hour break, so I went to Wendy’s and got a frosty and sat in their parking lot doing work.  I hope no one was following me around or they might have thought I was nuts.  Then, I had my final interview and headed home.  The interviews all went well.  Now that I’ve done more than one interview on the same topic, it’s been extra interesting to hear similar and dissimilar answers to the questions that I ask.  I also noticed that I asked different people questions in different ways.  I don’t know why, but I felt like I was dumbing down some of the questions for the female teachers.  I suck.  It’ll be good to relisten to these recordings to see how it really sounded.  And again, it was just nice to be in a school and talk to teachers.  They’re good peeps.