Calling all PS thesis-tacklers, researchers, and students!

[Elegant]

Welcome SarahLovesJS, princess, and AmberGretchen!

 

[WishfulThinking]

Welcome, princess! Your story cracked me up. Your thesis topic sounds FASCINATING, though. Right up my alley, actually. If you want to share more about it I would love to hear it! I am always so interested in everyones'' research.

As for the GMAT, I can''t be much direct help with that, but I am using a Kaplan prep course and books to prepare for the LSAT, and they do GMAT prep as well. I have heard good things about their prep materials, but I can''t speak to them myself, not being very far along in the program. Good luck studying!

Hi there Selkie! Congrats on your research and giving the talk. I sympathize with your fear of public speaking, and in some ways I am completely the same way. It can be very scary! As long as you are excited and know your stuff it should be just fine. Feel free to vent as much as you want, and even to share some of your impressive results with us! I am always interested in what everyone is working on. You will most likely be the most knowledgeable person in the room on the topic you are presenting in. Good luck putting together your presentation.

Delster- You''re going to laugh at us... they''re not until the beginning of October.

I''m sure you''ll have pleeeeenty of opportunities to wish us luck before they roll around.

You of course likely think we''re off our rockers for stressing out so early. It''s true, we are off our rockers. We were driven to it, though, by all of those numbers-obsessed law school admissions boards!

Your own meeting sounds like it was just too odd to comprehend. Wow. Your supervisor really pulled a big one on you with the illness, and it must have been strange to go into the meeting with a plan about what to talk about and ideas about how it would likely go and have it go so very differently. I am glad that your supervisor is being kind, but agree that you should stay strong and keep in mind the things you have to do on your own personal timeline that supervisor doesn''t know about. If you have goals you need to meet for specific reasons, there is nothing wrong with doing things that way. The positive outcomes are fantastic, though, and things sound like they are only getting better from here. *hugs* By the way, you''re the cutest rottweiler ever.

Elegant- Yay for finally getting excited! It sounds like you are on the right track with knowing what you have to get done, buckling down to do it, getting feedback, and all of that is so positive. Good luck meeting your goals for this week.

 

[Selkie]

Thanks for the reassurance, all. I definitely won''t be reading off a script when I present, but I find that my talks usually go easier when I have written them out beforehand in the same conversational tone I want to have when I''m actually speaking. My slides are a bit dense with visual data, so I don''t want to forget any crucial bit of info that I might not be able to fit into a bullet point.

I study toxic algae in the ocean, and am using GIS to analyze and map the environmental causes behind red tides. I get to make lots of pretty maps, in other words!

 

[gwendolyn]

Delster, you need some big hugs, I think. I hate to hear about you crying and crying.

****HUGS****

About your supervisor being all lax and gentle--I think that''s sweet, but unhelpful. If you want to strive to be finished by December, then do it. If you feel you need a break now like it''s being suggested, then I think you should take it, and then keep on your own plan. Do what you feel you need to do to be successful. If you get to a dead end and can''t keep on without help from your supervisor, explain that this is how you best work and your supervisor is supposed to be there to help you do your best work. Say that the fluffy, laid-back approach (ok, maybe don''t quote me exacty on that

) doesn''t work for you and only makes you more stressed. Once you have a basic idea of what your structure/organization should be, then you can do the bulk of the work at your own pace. Although editing can be difficult sometimes, I find I feel MUCH better once I have something on the page--if you are the same way, I''d strongly encourage you to do what you can when you are able. Staving it off seems like it might only invite more problems and pressure in the long run.

It''s nice that your supervisor was up for a chat about life and engagement and all. I think that sort of thing is important, but your supervisor seems to be using it as an excuse to take it easy, which I don''t think is especially constructive.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Hello all! How is the week going? What is this I hear about Del crying?

((Hugs)) Don't cry! Wishful how is the LSAT practice going?

ETA: Something you might find funny Wishful..I was talking to my friend yesterday and she started to sound like an LSAT question. It was very frightening. She was telling me, "I will only go hiking if X is in town. Y will only go hiking if I go hiking. If X is out of town, then Y won't go hiking." Something like that..it was so logical reasoning!!

I was like AHHHH flashbacks!

 

[WishfulThinking]

Selkie- That is exactly how I do presentations. I find it works really well for me. Good luck!

Sarah- My LSAT practice is going sort of poorly, actually. I got all my prep materials in the mail, but I am afraid to look at them before the classroom portion of the course starts. I think if I start trying to teach myself without the instructor''s help, I might confuse myself and do it less efficiently than if I wait for them to teach me and practice a ton using their [probably far superior!] methods. I am leaving it alone for now.

I have, however, been reading Foucault non-stop for three days now.

It might help if he was a little less obsessed with the gorey details of torture and more obsessed with succinctly outlining the basics of his theory [biopower] that I am using. I am not writing about torture! I am writing about welfare reform and abstinence education [and not in favor of either, just so there are no mistakes about that

]! I don''t need to read about torture! AHHHHH! Whatever, I think I am understanding him well, and getting the basics in between all of the nutty stuff. It should translate VERY nicely to what I am doing, so I am pretty excited about that. When in doubt, work on the thesis!

The logical reasoning incident sounds just too funny, by the way. Maybe that''s the trick, and I should teach my brain to operate like that all the time. 180, anyone?

 

[princesss]

Wow, sorry this took me so long to get back to!

The book I bought is called One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding. It''s all about how the wedding industry has sprung up around the business of weddings, and the way weddings have spiraled out of control.

I used it more for background, looking at the wedding as a whole, but it has some fascinating information.

My research was a lot of fun! I kept reading about how the bachelorette party was where a woman really embraced the fact that she was a sexual being before the wedding, which really seemed cool. Then the same author (yeah, so far only one has really written about them) would talk about how they''re not supposed to become aroused. And she didn''t seem to see the contradiction there! I got so frustrated with her for not seeing the issue that I wrote about it. My argument was that even though it is the only pre-wedding celebration that recognizes and celebrates sexuality, because the bride is not allowed to act on any arousal, she is reinforcing traditional gender roles, just in a way that allows her to feel subversive and "modern".

It was really cool to research, and if I hadn''t been trying to accomplish a LOT last year, I would have gone further with it. Oh well...

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Almost forgot, wanted to say thanks for the welcome everyone!

 

[WishfulThinking]

Princess- That sounds fascinating! From what you''ve described there it sounds like you were spot on noticing that contradiction of the author''s. If you don''t mind my asking, what discipline were you studying in? It sounds very much like what we do in Gender Studies, but obviously many people study the same sorts of topics within specific disciplines, so I always get curious.

In other news, my Foucault reading is really coming along for yet another day in a row!

 

[Delster]

bee, elegant, Wishful, gwen (we miss you!) and Sarah thank you so much for the kind words!

It is all very strange. I spoke to my friends and they all agreed I shouldn''t derail my other plans because of supervisor''s new lovey-dovey approach. Supervisor is going to explode though and I''m afraid there''s going to be another episode of ignoring me. Thesis would be done already if supervisor hadn''t avoided me for the past YEAR and now I''m expected to live in supervisor''s pockets this coming year (which is impossible both financially and for the sake of my sanity). I''m so stressed about it all I can''t think straight

Gwen you hit the nail on the head about supervisor using life stuff as an excuse not to talk about work. Most of all supervisor loves to talk about supervisor''s life. In sometimes (I think) inappropriate detail. It''s a delicate path to walk

wishful we''ve got lots of time to cheer you on still so, yay! Although I bet you just wish it was over with...

princesss that is interesting about the bachelorette parties (we call them hen parties). It probably says something about our attitude to women''s sexuality in general I think...

Selkie I wish you could show us your pretty maps but I know you probably can''t. This thread could use some colour

Wishful wow, you go girl, battling with Foucault and winning!!!

 

[princesss]

Wishful, it was for my Anthropology degree. The books were written by a sociologist, and so I had the fun job of tying it all together from an anthro POV. It was great, and really thought provoking. I guess that''s the benefit of selecting your own topic (we were only the second class that was able to do so).

Delster, it absolutely says a lot about the way we view female sexuality. I started looking at the ways people decorate bachelorette/hen parties...it''s nuts! All sorts of phallic objects, but all for mockery and nothing for true arousal. It says a ton about the fear of unrestrained female sexuality if you ask me.

 

[WishfulThinking]

Delster- It must be really hard going through these interactions with supervisor all the while knowing that eventually it will blow up. What a bum situation. It sounds like supervisor has some... issues, and that they''re impacting your ability to move forward with your thesis. I agree that you shouldn''t just put everything aside due to loveydovey vibes, especially since it sounds as if it might not last, and eventually there will be another "episode." Sounds like this person is just not worth humoring, which is too bad. Hang in there!

I do wish the LSAT was over with already, but I guess it''s fortunate for me that it''s not, since my score as of right now [well, anticipated score] wouldn''t do much in terms of marketability as an applicant. I''ve decided to take a truly obnoxious approach to it where I refer to studying for the test as "getting smart" and am overly cheerful about how I''m going to get sooooo smart and dominate over the evil test and get into the schools I want to. Of course, that is a little overblown, but it''s giving me a bit more confidence, especially since I am making fun of the fact that I am *already* smart, and sarcastically dissing the fact that one stupid test has become more important than my past history of good work and motivation, even in the face of serious adversity. So far it''s been working pretty well, and I am feeling motivated, even though I am not going to start studying until I start my class, so as not to confuse myself too much. We''ll get through it!

Foucault is just a real joy, honestly.

I love him, and think he''s probably the most brilliant person ever [okay, maybe short of Judith Butler, but F is a bit more well-known], but man is he dense and long-winded. He also looooves semicolons, and his sentences go on FOREVER. Then again, so do I and so do mine, so perhaps my thesis-readers will overlook my use of them as simply honoring the original work?

princess- Oh, anthro! That is an interesting and useful approach to the subject. Cool! My Gender Studies-obsessed self is all over thinking about bachelorette parties in terms of sexual preference. It''s a tradition that has heterosexism written all over it [well, most things marriage-related do...] and interesting for me to think about because FI and I are still not sure what we''re doing the night before our wedding. Weddings are a reeeeeally interesting topic to study academically, in my opinion.

I can''t believe that there was a time when thesis topics were assigned! I am not sure how that would work, exactly, but it sounds awful. At my college we have a running joke that the theses are so intense to complete that everyone HATES their topic by the end of it. That makes me sad since I love my topic, and am interested in maybe following through on some more complex research along the same lines if I do a PhD. Anyways, I can''t imagine having to work so hard and for so long on something someone else told me to write. It''s bad enough writing a paper on something I don''t want to write about. I''m glad for most of our 20-30 page length papers for classes that our profs let us choose. I am very stubborn about stuff like that.

 

[dockman3]

Date: 7/31/2008 2:54:58 PM
Author: WishfulThinking

I can''t believe that there was a time when thesis topics were assigned! I am not sure how that would work, exactly, but it sounds awful. At my college we have a running joke that the theses are so intense to complete that everyone HATES their topic by the end of it. That makes me sad since I love my topic, and am interested in maybe following through on some more complex research along the same lines if I do a PhD. Anyways, I can''t imagine having to work so hard and for so long on something someone else told me to write. It''s bad enough writing a paper on something I don''t want to write about. I''m glad for most of our 20-30 page length papers for classes that our profs let us choose. I am very stubborn about stuff like that.

Just wanted to give you a bit of insight into how my topic was "assigned". I have no idea how it works in the humanities, but in engineering, I picked my adviser and he only has funding from a couple of grants that he has written. I had my "choice" of working on one project or the other, and this one sounded more interesting. But basically, it wasn''t really a choice. I am getting a little sick of my topic after just over 2 years now and I''m itching to be done. This is actually the third project I''ve worked on in my graduate career. I started on one, but the funding ended on that, so I went to another one and the funding dried up there. Finally, I landed on this project, which he happened to get funding for 3 years, which was perfect, because I wanted to be done in three years from that point. That was about 2 years ago, so I''m in the last year of a three year grant right now.

That''s just a little insight into how things work in my world. I''d be interested to hear how it works in your program?

 

[WishfulThinking]

Date: 7/31/2008 3:46:06 PM
Author: dockman3

Date: 7/31/2008 2:54:58 PM

Author: WishfulThinking


I can''t believe that there was a time when thesis topics were assigned! I am not sure how that would work, exactly, but it sounds awful. At my college we have a running joke that the theses are so intense to complete that everyone HATES their topic by the end of it. That makes me sad since I love my topic, and am interested in maybe following through on some more complex research along the same lines if I do a PhD. Anyways, I can''t imagine having to work so hard and for so long on something someone else told me to write. It''s bad enough writing a paper on something I don''t want to write about. I''m glad for most of our 20-30 page length papers for classes that our profs let us choose. I am very stubborn about stuff like that.

Just wanted to give you a bit of insight into how my topic was ''assigned''. I have no idea how it works in the humanities, but in engineering, I picked my adviser and he only has funding from a couple of grants that he has written. I had my ''choice'' of working on one project or the other, and this one sounded more interesting. But basically, it wasn''t really a choice. I am getting a little sick of my topic after just over 2 years now and I''m itching to be done. This is actually the third project I''ve worked on in my graduate career. I started on one, but the funding ended on that, so I went to another one and the funding dried up there. Finally, I landed on this project, which he happened to get funding for 3 years, which was perfect, because I wanted to be done in three years from that point. That was about 2 years ago, so I''m in the last year of a three year grant right now.


That''s just a little insight into how things work in my world. I''d be interested to hear how it works in your program?

Since I am undergrad we don''t have grants or funding [at least not at my college], and get pretty much free reign as long as we can find an advisor with suitable experience to advise us in it. Since I believe princess'' program was also undergrad, I was surprised they had assigned them on the undergrad level at all. Most people I know who did senior theses got to pick their topic, even at other schools, but I haven''t talked to a ton of people, so I am not sure whether that is the norm.

Grad school is a whole different ballpark, obviously! It does sound like it will be tough to be a grad student for pushy old me, and I definitely have heard that funding determines all. Booooo. It sounds like it''s been quite the road for you, dockman. Three projects! Blech. I hope you get to finish before the grant ends, though. It sounds like you are on the right track!

 

[princesss]

Wishful, there is so much heterosexism surrounding it that it''s crazy. I really would have loved to be able to focus on the bachelorette party for a lesbian couple. Is there an equivalent, even? I don''t know, that''s where I really got fascinated, but I didn''t have enough time to do original research (or enough friends getting married).

And our anthro department started my sophomore year, so they really only had a year (now that I think about it) where topics were assigned. Before that, we were just a part of the sociology department, and I''m not sure what they did. I guess they realized that students were thriving in independent research classes (one girl created a class on sex tourism), and the ease of having students research the same topic wasn''t worth the lack of interest.

 

[WishfulThinking]

Date: 7/31/2008 9:34:07 PM
Author: princesss
Wishful, there is so much heterosexism surrounding it that it''s crazy. I really would have loved to be able to focus on the bachelorette party for a lesbian couple. Is there an equivalent, even? I don''t know, that''s where I really got fascinated, but I didn''t have enough time to do original research (or enough friends getting married).


And our anthro department started my sophomore year, so they really only had a year (now that I think about it) where topics were assigned. Before that, we were just a part of the sociology department, and I''m not sure what they did. I guess they realized that students were thriving in independent research classes (one girl created a class on sex tourism), and the ease of having students research the same topic wasn''t worth the lack of interest.

I agree. Marriage "rituals" [bachelor/bachelorette parties, vows, what people wear, etc] such a difficult thing to calculate in terms of same sex couples of both sexes, since there is sadly a lack of information available. It is further complicated because many couples'' unions are difficult to record due to their lack of legality and visibility in a wider context. However, I would field a guess that many same sex couples decide not to replicate the more gender-specific activities such as bachelor/bachelorette parties due to concerns of conforming to traditional gender roles. Or maybe that is just the gender studies queer-folk I know and their heightened awareness of those things. It is also likely that couples that do conform to more traditional heterosexual gender roles, such as butch/femme relationships, might have more traditional approaches. I think of off the top of my head a rather embarrassing example- Shane and Carmen, both female have separate "bachelorette" parties, but Shane''s is more of a traditional bachelor party. If couples have mostly friends in common I would guess it is common to have a single celebration with everyone there [we are probably taking this approach.] I think it might be a more wild card tradition with no specific tradition in place, now that I''ve written all of that wishy-washy speculation. I would field another guess here as well: once same sex marriage is more prevalent and legal, more concrete traditions will arise to accompany them and make room for the fact that both people in the married couple are of the same sex.

I would love to do more research on this, but my legal self begins to fight with my social sciences self and I can''t decide whether I want to focus on making marriage legal for everyone or tearing the institution down in all of its historically oppressive glory. Joking, mostly, but I bet you''ll understand what I mean.

 

[Selkie]

Date: 7/31/2008 3:46:06 PM
Author: dockman3


Just wanted to give you a bit of insight into how my topic was ''assigned''. I have no idea how it works in the humanities, but in engineering, I picked my adviser and he only has funding from a couple of grants that he has written. I had my ''choice'' of working on one project or the other, and this one sounded more interesting. But basically, it wasn''t really a choice. I am getting a little sick of my topic after just over 2 years now and I''m itching to be done. This is actually the third project I''ve worked on in my graduate career. I started on one, but the funding ended on that, so I went to another one and the funding dried up there. Finally, I landed on this project, which he happened to get funding for 3 years, which was perfect, because I wanted to be done in three years from that point. That was about 2 years ago, so I''m in the last year of a three year grant right now.


That''s just a little insight into how things work in my world. I''d be interested to hear how it works in your program?

Dockman, are you familiar with the online comic PHD? There''s one strip in particular that reminds me of your experience (and that of pretty much every science grad student I know).

 

[princesss]

Date: 7/31/2008 9:56:29 PM
Author: WishfulThinking

Date: 7/31/2008 9:34:07 PM

Author: princesss

Wishful, there is so much heterosexism surrounding it that it''s crazy. I really would have loved to be able to focus on the bachelorette party for a lesbian couple. Is there an equivalent, even? I don''t know, that''s where I really got fascinated, but I didn''t have enough time to do original research (or enough friends getting married).



And our anthro department started my sophomore year, so they really only had a year (now that I think about it) where topics were assigned. Before that, we were just a part of the sociology department, and I''m not sure what they did. I guess they realized that students were thriving in independent research classes (one girl created a class on sex tourism), and the ease of having students research the same topic wasn''t worth the lack of interest.

I agree. Marriage ''rituals'' [bachelor/bachelorette parties, vows, what people wear, etc] such a difficult thing to calculate in terms of same sex couples of both sexes, since there is sadly a lack of information available. It is further complicated because many couples'' unions are difficult to record due to their lack of legality and visibility in a wider context. However, I would field a guess that many same sex couples decide not to replicate the more gender-specific activities such as bachelor/bachelorette parties due to concerns of conforming to traditional gender roles. Or maybe that is just the gender studies queer-folk I know and their heightened awareness of those things. It is also likely that couples that do conform to more traditional heterosexual gender roles, such as butch/femme relationships, might have more traditional approaches. I think of off the top of my head a rather embarrassing example- Shane and Carmen, both female have separate ''bachelorette'' parties, but Shane''s is more of a traditional bachelor party. If couples have mostly friends in common I would guess it is common to have a single celebration with everyone there [we are probably taking this approach.] I think it might be a more wild card tradition with no specific tradition in place, now that I''ve written all of that wishy-washy speculation. I would field another guess here as well: once same sex marriage is more prevalent and legal, more concrete traditions will arise to accompany them and make room for the fact that both people in the married couple are of the same sex.


I would love to do more research on this, but my legal self begins to fight with my social sciences self and I can''t decide whether I want to focus on making marriage legal for everyone or tearing the institution down in all of its historically oppressive glory. Joking, mostly, but I bet you''ll understand what I mean.

Completely. I''m really at war with myself on it, too. There is so much about weddings that is ridiculous. About the only thing that really makes sense in weddings is joining two people that love each other. I think my legal side wins, though. I think you''re right that as same-sex marriage becomes legal in more states, more solid traditions surrounding the same-sex wedding will emerge. How much fun will that be from a social science perspective? I''m jealous of all the students that will get to do anthro/gender/queer studies work as this progresses. SO COOL! I think it could provide a much-needed wake-up call for some pre-wedding traditions, too, and just change the way the whole ritual is seen. Awesome awesome.

 

[dockman3]

Date: 8/2/2008 1:57:50 PM
Author: Selkie

Dockman, are you familiar with the online comic PHD? There''s one strip in particular that reminds me of your experience (and that of pretty much every science grad student I know).

Selkie-

Not only am I aware of it, I read it daily! I love that one in particular! I''ve got so far as to write to Jorge and send him an idea or two. He came to my school and I went to see his talk. I''ve read every comic since he''s been writing it. (I had to go back through the archives for that one, but I did it!) So yeah, you can say I know PhD Comics

. Anyway, thanks for brining it up. I love that one.

 

[WishfulThinking]

Date: 8/2/2008 2:12:59 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 7/31/2008 9:56:29 PM

Author: WishfulThinking

Date: 7/31/2008 9:34:07 PM


Author: princesss


Wishful, there is so much heterosexism surrounding it that it''s crazy. I really would have loved to be able to focus on the bachelorette party for a lesbian couple. Is there an equivalent, even? I don''t know, that''s where I really got fascinated, but I didn''t have enough time to do original research (or enough friends getting married).




And our anthro department started my sophomore year, so they really only had a year (now that I think about it) where topics were assigned. Before that, we were just a part of the sociology department, and I''m not sure what they did. I guess they realized that students were thriving in independent research classes (one girl created a class on sex tourism), and the ease of having students research the same topic wasn''t worth the lack of interest.

I agree. Marriage ''rituals'' [bachelor/bachelorette parties, vows, what people wear, etc] such a difficult thing to calculate in terms of same sex couples of both sexes, since there is sadly a lack of information available. It is further complicated because many couples'' unions are difficult to record due to their lack of legality and visibility in a wider context. However, I would field a guess that many same sex couples decide not to replicate the more gender-specific activities such as bachelor/bachelorette parties due to concerns of conforming to traditional gender roles. Or maybe that is just the gender studies queer-folk I know and their heightened awareness of those things. It is also likely that couples that do conform to more traditional heterosexual gender roles, such as butch/femme relationships, might have more traditional approaches. I think of off the top of my head a rather embarrassing example- Shane and Carmen, both female have separate ''bachelorette'' parties, but Shane''s is more of a traditional bachelor party. If couples have mostly friends in common I would guess it is common to have a single celebration with everyone there [we are probably taking this approach.] I think it might be a more wild card tradition with no specific tradition in place, now that I''ve written all of that wishy-washy speculation. I would field another guess here as well: once same sex marriage is more prevalent and legal, more concrete traditions will arise to accompany them and make room for the fact that both people in the married couple are of the same sex.



I would love to do more research on this, but my legal self begins to fight with my social sciences self and I can''t decide whether I want to focus on making marriage legal for everyone or tearing the institution down in all of its historically oppressive glory. Joking, mostly, but I bet you''ll understand what I mean.

Completely. I''m really at war with myself on it, too. There is so much about weddings that is ridiculous. About the only thing that really makes sense in weddings is joining two people that love each other. I think my legal side wins, though. I think you''re right that as same-sex marriage becomes legal in more states, more solid traditions surrounding the same-sex wedding will emerge. How much fun will that be from a social science perspective? I''m jealous of all the students that will get to do anthro/gender/queer studies work as this progresses. SO COOL! I think it could provide a much-needed wake-up call for some pre-wedding traditions, too, and just change the way the whole ritual is seen. Awesome awesome.

We sound very much alike. I agree completely about the legal side "winning". For me it might be more of a temporary win, since after I get my law degree or preferably simultaneous to it, I hope to be able to pursue the more academic/activist side of these issues of gender and sexuality through the feminist theory and queer theory lens. I am really looking forward to this academic adventure, as geeky as it sounds!

 

[Delster]

So I''m still on my supervisor imposed work ban (

) but how is everyone else doing?

At least I had a lovely weekend away and I forgot all about the PhD for three blissful days. It was a bank holiday in Ireland so everyone had Monday off and we took off with some friends to an island off the west coast. Oh it was so gorgeous. Heaven exists and it''s just off of Ireland...

 

[katamari]

Hi everyone! I have been MIA because our major conference just happened and I have been out of town with that. But, my presentation went well. I met and talked to some fascinating scholars in my field. And, like conferences always do for me being the geek that I am, I was totally reaffirmed that I am in the right field. Yay! Now, though, I have to table the project that I was working on for the conference and get back to work on my paper that I am trying to get into review by September and the dreaded dissertation. I think I am amped enough to make the transition, though. We will see.

Delster: I am so glad to hear that your meeting with your advisor went well and answered some of your questions. I do certainly hope the funding situation gets worked out. That is so much stress that you just don''t need. I am glad to hear that you got a break, too. I do want to point out, though, (and I am sure you are already thinking about this) that if you are on a time frame where you have to wait three weeks, reflect on a question for a month, for a May timetable, etc. that is not necessarily organic. Right? It at least doesn''t feel that way for me. I say organic development is to keep writing as much as you have been and let the project develop through working. Just my initial reaction. It sounds like you are very dedicated to finishing on your schedule, and commitment to deadlines seems to make things work in academia that seem impossible. Best luck.

Dockman: Glad to hear that you found your constant! That IS a major breakthrough! Have you gotten to talk to your advisor about it? Hopefully the theory behind the .5 will come to him and you can plot along.

I do have two questions for you: 1) since you had your topic quasi-assigned that becomes your dissertation, does this pigeonhole you as a researcher? Does this have to be your focus for the rest of your career? I am fascinated by this? And 2) Did you decide if you were proposing in Yosemite or not? (Just curiosity FYI).

WishfulThinking: Sounds like you are hugely dedicated to the LSAT. Kaplan will serve you well. I worked for a similar company doing SAT/ACT prep courses for awhile and they really have learning the tests down to a science. With their knowledge of the test and your ability/willingness to learn, you will be fine. I also heard once that they (and other companies that offer free trial exams) give you a poor estimate on the first trial so that you may be more willing to buy more of their materials. No proof, but having worked for one I totally believe it. Of course a bad score also gives us perfectionists the crazy motivation to study which is never a bad thing (except for our mental health). I actually thought about you at my conference. I went to this session on Foucault and governmentality. Very interesting.

Choro: Congrats on finishing your first version of your program!

Hope everything else is falling into place now!

AmberGretchen: How goes the interview process?

Elegant: Excellent news that things are falling into place. If the literature review is the struggle, you are going to be doing fabulously from here on out, I am sure. This is wonderful news! I hated to see you struggling earlier in the summer, and you definitely sound much more refreshed and optimistic in your recent posts.

Selkie: How did the talk go?

Princess: What is an anthropologist doing taking the GMAT? Stay true to the social sciences! (Totally just kidding, of course!). Good luck with the prep.

Sarah: Welcome!

Sorry to hear that you didn''t get your dream score on your LSAT, but your posts make you sound really grounded. That is great! Good luck to you.

Elledizzy: Also, welcome!

Good luck with the 6 courses in a semester. You are going to need some serious cheerleaders for that. We are ready.

 

[choro72]

Yay, welcome back Katamari! Did you create more network?

I''ve been working on another part of programming. Almost done. I hate C. Nothing much to add really. If I''m MIA, it''s because I''m off writing another piece of code that''s not interesting enough to report here. Last week when I showed him what I thought was a major step I had accomplished, he gave me a brief peek on what I''m supposed to do from now on. Turns out the thing I finished last week was insignificant. Bleah.

 

[WishfulThinking]

Hey Katamari! Welcome back! It sounds like the conference was awesome. Isn''t it fun when your love of your area of study is reaffirmed through the hugely geeky clustering of similarly-interested people? This happens to me pretty often, and it''s very helpful in keeping me motivated and on track. Good luck with the transition from your conference project to your paper and dissertation.

Kaplan better serve me well for the $$$ I am shelling out for them! What you''ve said is encouraging, though, because I am *more* than willing to put in the hours and sweat studying, so anything they give me to work with will be put to good use. I''ve heard that the trial runs are harder to make you panic. Gee, thanks Kaplan.

Definitely NOT good for my mental health, but I am pretty sure law school admissions could care less about how I got to the score... just about what it is. They''re so kind... really.

I am totally pumped that you went to a session on Foucault and governmentality! I am so jealous! I''ve never been to something like that, and I''d love to go. I feel like the transition from [VERY] small town and undergrad college to a large city and larger grad program will be the right thing at the right time. I am ready to be more in the thick of things where I have access to great events and opportunities that are a bit more focused than the forums and lectures we have on my campus. I would be salivating over a session on Foucault, for sure!

Hi Choro! I hope your "not interesting" code [I don''t believe that

] is going well, even if you''re not here updating us every step of the way. Sorry to hear that your major step might be less major than you''d hoped, but at least it''s something that you''ve accomplished and completed. It might be just one more thing, but at least it got done, you know? Good luck with everything.


As for me... nothing here. I need to start to write up my annotated bibliography that should be done within the next 3 weeks or so. About 50 books, so it''s a little more extensive than I''d prefer [lazy!], but I''ll get it done. The next week is wedding planning stuff, which I am trying to get done before the semester starts. It''s going to be a rough ride, but I feel much more rejuvenated!

Good luck with your various projects, everyone. I am rooting for you!

 

[dockman3]

Date: 8/7/2008 11:17:01 AM
Author: katamari
Dockman: Glad to hear that you found your constant! That IS a major breakthrough! Have you gotten to talk to your advisor about it? Hopefully the theory behind the .5 will come to him and you can plot along.

I do have two questions for you: 1) since you had your topic quasi-assigned that becomes your dissertation, does this pigeonhole you as a researcher? Does this have to be your focus for the rest of your career? I am fascinated by this? And 2) Did you decide if you were proposing in Yosemite or not? (Just curiosity FYI).

Hey Katamari! Good to see you again! I''m glad that the conference went well. I love going to conferences. Its such a nice break and you just get to sit back and enjoy yourself and immerse yourself in your field. I''m sure you''ll be fine with your paper and get it submitted on time.

As for your questions, here are my answers:

I have talked to my adviser about the 0.5 and he thinks I''m on to something, so I''m still pursuing it. I''ve gotten sidetracked building my next set of experiments, so I haven''t done a whole lot of theoretical stuff lately, which is nice.

No, this doesn''t really pigeon hole me as a researcher. I can take all of the experimental techniques I''ve learned and apply them to other problems. I can also take the general knowledge I''ve picked up in the field and apply that to other problems. Basically, a PhD in engineering is just learning how to learn and how to apply what you''ve learned to new problems.

My current topic will definitely not be the focus for the rest of my career because once I''ve solved it, its done! There''s no more work to do, so I''d better find something else to work on. The tricky party, so I''m told, is to learn a whole new field and just branch out into something that is related, but not really the same. Just to give you an example, my current work is in aero-acoustics and vortex dynamics. I''m looking at doing a post-doc that will involve vortex dynamics over flapping wings and will have nothing to do with acoustics. So its a baby step, but totally different field. Plus, if my adviser continues along this line of aero-acoustic work, which he will, I don''t want to have to compete with him for grant money. So there''s a long answer to a short question.

As for my proposal, I''m still kind of on the fence about that. We leave for Yosemite a week from today and I''m definitely going to take the ring with me. We''re going to a wedding of one of her high school friends the first weekend we are there and I''ll have a chance to ask her parents before we leave for Yosemite. I''ve been trying to push her, but she doesn''t seem like she''s going to budge, so I don''t know if it''ll happen. If it does, its going to be a fantastic proposal and I''ll be sure to post lots of pics. If it doesn''t, I''ll come back and have to think up a new plan.

I''ve been talking about marriage a lot and she gets in her lovey-dovey moods and asks (as she bats her eyes at me) "Do you love me?" to which I always respond "Yes baby, I would marry you tomorrow if you''d let me." to which she responds, "No you won''t, you don''t even have a ring yet!" Hahahaha. Anyway, once we''re at the top of Half Dome, I''m going to say something along the lines of "You know, I''ve always thought this would be a great place to get engaged." and then judge her reaction and go from there. I''ll have the ring with me on the trail and it will be in my pocket at that point. If the moment presents itself and it feels right, then I''ll be all set. And if it doesn''t or something else just doesn''t feel right, then I can always wait a bit. What do you gals think? If you haven''t read my other posts on this, I think I''ve got one or two in Hangout and maybe one in LIW for all kinds of background. But long story short, she''s a very independent girl who never even really saw herself married and is scared of the whole idea of marriage. There''s no doubt we love each other and we work great together, she just doesn''t want to get married right now. Even if she did, we already figured out that we probably won''t be able to afford the wedding we want until Fall of 2010 and she doesn''t want a 2 year engagement. That''s why it might not happen on this trip, but either way, its going to be a fantastic vacation and I''m really looking forward to it.

Well that was a long update on me. This took me longer to write than I thought it would and I''m heading out for the day now. I''ll try to check back tomorrow and see what else I''ve missed!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Thanks again for the welcome! How''s the LSAT studying going Wishful?

 

[katamari]

Choro: Yeah, I met a lot of central people at the conference. I am going on the market next year, so I figured it was time to start shoving my cards in some noses. It wasn't as awkward as I anticipated, but I am so bad at that kind of stuff. Hope the C is going well. I am sure you are going to stumble on something significant soon! Pleasing advisors is so difficult

Wishful: Yeah, going to a big university is awesome! I love all the lectures and stuff that money can bring to a school (I also went to a much smaller school for undergrad). How's the wedding planning going? Sure sounds better than an annotated bibliography

Dockman: Glad to hear you still have a lot of agency in your career. In sociology, your dissertation defines you somewhat (at least limits you through tenure), so I would hate if I ended up doing something outside of my interests just to get school paid for that ended up shaping my career forever. I assume engineering is a field that you almost have to post-doc in to be competitive. But from what I can understand from your post (BF is a computer scientist/mathematician with a background in electrical engineering) the position sounds fascinating.

I hope the engagement works out for you. It sounds to me like she is ready if she is teasing with you about it. You know my take on this because I posted on your other thread, but I do think, as an independent woman, that she should and will appreciate that you are not holding her to gender stereotypes by making the engagement about her instead of about the two of you. Plus, I want to see some proper handshots of that beautiful ring! Hehe.

I agree, though, that you will know what to do when the time comes.

 

[AmberGretchen]

hi all - sorry to be MIA. Its been a little crazy balancing lab work plus interview schedules plus a PI who doesn't get why that's hard

Anyway, a little update on me: lab work has been EXTREMELY slow, but I'm making good progress on interviews. I passed the horrible test, even though it was so hard I had to guess on a lot of the questions, and I'm on to the second round of interviews next week (Ack!

). I'm practicing twice a week though with a group of people in the same position, so I think that will help a lot.

katamari - sounds like your conference was very productive. I'm sure that making those connections will serve you very well in your job search next year.

Delster - your weekend away sounds lovely. I could use one of those

I really hope that things move forward with your supervisor soon - it sounds very frustrating.

wishful - I think you have such a great attitude and approach for the LSAT. I'm sure it will serve you well!

Dockman - sounds like you are making steady progress. Good luck for continued progress

Choro - sounds like you're making progress as well. I'm sorry that the piece you thought was major turned out to be a small part of what you need to do. But hopefully now that you have more defined objectives, you can focus on the main parts and be more productive?

Anyway, I'll continue to check in - second round interviews are what is coming next week, and then final rounds would happen after that if I pass through. So fingers crossed!!

 

[dockman3]

First off, I''ve got some good news. I just got the email this morning that a paper I submitted a while ago was accepted! Whoohoo! This will be only my second peer reviewed publication, so I still get pretty excited about them. Just wanted to share the news.

Katamari - A post-doc is pretty much essential if you want to stay in academia and not go into industry. If you just want to go work out in the "real world" then a post-doc isn''t necessary. We''ll just have to see what positions are available come May when I plan to graduate. As for the engagement, I''m getting excited for the trip. I''m going to take the ring to jeweler tomorrow to have it properly cleaned before we leave. Hopefully I''ll have proper handshots when I get back!

Amber - Congratulations on passing the "horrible test"! Keep up the good work and good luck with the rest of it!

 

[WishfulThinking]

I apologize in advance if I miss responding to anyone... I am not sure my head is screwed on straight today.

Delster- A weekend away sounds just fabulous! I would love to go to visit Ireland... someday. It must have been great to be able to relax for a little bit.

dockman- I hope your 0.5 turns out to be on-track! Your schooling and career path sounds so interesting to me. As for the proposal, it sounds like you''re taking the right approach. Your girlfriend is definitely a strong, independent woman, and you seem really great at respecting that part of her. Congrats on getting the paper published! That is such a great accomplishment- you must be so proud.

Sarah- Horribly.

I''ve pretty much deserted it until the class rolls around [Sept 8th] because I''m afraid if I plow through on my own I''ll confuse myself. I think it''s better to wait until they show me their bag of tricks and work from there. It will, of course, be absolutely joyous to do that as Fall semester gets into full swing.

How is everything going with you?

katamari- Wedding planning has been pretty horrid the last few weeks. So many false starts and tentative plans that have fallen through right and left. We *think* we have found something absolutely perfect, but I don''t want to jinx it! The contract is in the mail, and it should be here in a few days. Once that is signed I will post on the wedding board about it. It''s TOTALLY different from what we were originally going to do, but perfect for us. Sorry to be so cryptic! I''ve posted here twice already with what I thought were our plans only to have them change, so I don''t want to be preemptive!

Amber- Congratulations on getting through the first round!!! That is so great. Good luck with all of your practice in the coming weeks.


As for myself, I am kind of at a standstill with the academic stuff. Wedding planning took over the a little bit, since we are trying to get as much done before Fall semester starts, since it is going to be so nutty. FI actually got her dress already [!!!] and I think I am going shopping next week. I really should post this in the wedding board, but I don''t have the energy. Soon, though!

Just when I thought my advisor had decided not to give me feedback about my summer work [she gave me an A for the study but never got back to me about it, which was sort of awkward] she emailed me out of the blue to let me know what she thought and to suggest a phone conference. We will speak sometime this week. She really threw me for a loop with her comments; oddly enough, she wants me to drop the Foucault part of the thesis and focus on the policy aspect. This sounds so weird to me because I have been treating them as two components of the same question... I really, really don''t want to drop the Foucault at this point. Reading him and connecting the dots between the policy and his theories was the bulk of my summer work, and I hate feeling like I have wasted so much time. I should expect to do it, and I know it is just part of doing a thesis, but it is disappointing. I think once she hears what I have to say she will understand where I am coming from. It''s definitely true that I need to narrow my focus a bit [okay, a lot...], but I don''t want to do it that way, so hopefully we can work together to figure out where I can cut something out. Again, the hugest problem for me is that I am trying to push the gender studies aspect more visibly than it is when I do it purely out of my own interests. It''s very politics-based, but it definitely has a gender studies aspect [everything in life does]; unfortunately, I am almost positive that the dept. chair won''t buy the more subtle approach. She is such a pain! As of two weeks from now my current advisor won''t be my advisor anymore, and it will be replaced with dragon lady. So sad.

Because of all the stuff above, I haven''t gotten very far on the bibliography. I am totally not doing it until I know what''s going on because I have no energy to do it over again if the course changes again.

I can''t wait for Fall semester to start. I move in on the 31st, and FI comes home the same day. It''s going to be fabulous, and my classes are really interesting.