Done

I think I'm now UNOFFICIALLY a doctor...I have the thumbs up from the gatekeepers but I have to fill out paper work and what not before I'm officially a doctor. It is really nice to be done, but what made it super nice is that a good portion of my family was able to come and get to see what I really do and celebrate the completion of this phase of my life. Then the day was topped off with a nice quiet evening with Dem eating pizza, watching Arrested Development, and playing a little bit of tetris....oh yeah, life doesn't get much better. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from yesterday to share due to the lack of a camera. However, today I got a picture from the talk I gave in Korea and as luck would have it I'm wearing the exact same thing (so just picture it in a much smaller room with less people).

Giving my talk in Korea wearing the same thing I wore for my defense.

Almost Time

Showtime in 11.5 hours...can't wait.

It's interesting that I have the same feelings that I use to have the night before a big game in high school. It's a weird mix of anxiety, excitement and confidence. Anywho, time to practice the talk one last time, relax and try to get a good night sleep.

Looking Back

I visited PhD Comics for the first time in a very long time (besides when Sherry passes a good one on to me), and it just captures the life of a grad student so well. So I decided to recap my graduate studies with several comics that I think capture something that can only fully be appreciated by those that have been through the fire...but I hope everyone enjoys them (click on images for larger versions).

The Early Days (years?)

Middle Ages


The Past Year

The successful representation of my past academic career gives confidence that we can use PhDcomic to extrapolate even into the future...

This Coming Wednesday


My Life as a Postdoc

PhD Defense Countdown

5 days to go...I'm ready to be finished.

The month and a half of nonstop writing and thinking was so much easier (in terms of motivation to work) than this period of trying to make my presentation...motivation seems to have significantly dropped ever since I distributed my dissertation.

Another Hoop

Today I made the leap through one of so many hoops necessary to obtain my doctorate. This was a very important one...I distributed my dissertation to my committee. Bonus, I got to learn how to spiral bind papers since my dissertation was too large for binder clips. I'm super exhausted and in need of a break, so I will take the next two days to do only like work before getting to work on making the presentation for defense in less than 10 days.