Friday, March 31, 2006

Dissertation Dump: Part I

The big D has been delivered to graduate studies for the format check!!!

Some other editing and minor changes to make over the weekend before my committee receives the D early next week. Then I'm out of town to a conference (one conference presentation finished, a second to tidy up) for a week!!!

Secret reward to myself for finishing: I'm going to do a nerd workshop at the conference (statgirl loves her stats!). Yes, I know that is totally nerdy. Can't wait!!

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

itunes Oracle

Everyone else has already done this one. I need a break from writing.

You're supposed to set your music player of choice to "shuffle" and then answer the following questions:

How does the world see me?
Walking on Water --Melissa Etheridge / hmmmm? Is this a good thing?

Will I have a happy life?
Plenty-Sarah McLachlan / gotta love this one!


What do my friends think of me?
Hand in my Pocket-Alanis Morissette / Again....I'm confused, who's hand is in my pocket--not sure I want it there.

Do people secretly lust after me?
Little Earthquakes-Tori Amos / Well..I guess that means..no?

How can I make myself happy?
Blood and Fire--Indigo Girls / OK...I'm not a vampire.....what am I supposed to do with this??

What should I do with my life?
Eden-10,000 Maniacs / ???

Will I ever have children?
Elsewhere-Sarah McLachlan / Phew....wasn't planning on it anytime soon.

What is some good advice for me?
Possession-Sarah McLachlan / As in...get some? I am planning on buying a home this summer.

How will I be remembered?
Taking over Me-Evanescence / Again...confused???

What is my signature dancing song?
Come to my Window-Melissa Etheridge / Certainly not a dance song......

What do I think is my current theme song?
Bring me to Life-Evanescence / As soon as my dissertation is done...I plan on getting a life.

What does everyone think my theme song is?
Ice-Sarah McLachlan / OK...this one made me laugh out loud. I used to be known as the "ice queen" among my college friends. (long story)

What song will play at my funeral?
Heavan is a Place on Earth-Belinda Carlisle / OK...I guess this works.

What type of people do I like?
Men: Don't make me come to Vegas-Tori Amos / As in..."I ain't gonna marry anyone that quick"
Women: Independent Love Song-Scarlett O' / Yes! All my friends are very strong independent women!

What is my day going to be like?
My Lover-Melissa Etheridge / Hmmmm? Will I meet my lover today??

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Fun! (OK..avoidance)

Yes, I'm supposed to be writing, but I just had to take this one quiz . . .

A Bit Of Both

You are 50% Calvin and 50% Hobbes
Calvin & Hobbes, like a scruffy yin and yang, are in perfect balance within you. Like Calvin, you're weird, a bit insecure, and can be a trouble-maker. But like Hobbes, you're down to earth and sensitive. It's a risk to say it here, after just a ten question test, but I'll bet you're smarter than most. Both Calvin and Hobbes are crafty, clever characters, and any one made from equal parts of each is a force to be reckoned with.

Take the Calvin & Hobbes test.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

My student profile

This is profgirrrl's meme from some time ago. I've been intending to do it forever, but just now finally getting around to caring about my blog again.

Kindergarten: I went to town to go to school. I lived in a very rural community and the local rural school did not have a kindergarten class, so my dad drove me 20 minutes to town everyday for afternoon kindergarten. I was a pro at this kindergarten stuff after 2 years of preschool. However, I did run into a bit of mess when my teacher suggested that perhaps I was 'special ed' because I was extremely withdrawn and refused to participate in "reading circle". After a one on one with the school counselor, it was then discovered that I was just bored as hell and could care less about Tip and Jane. While the class was pointing out letters and the teacher read the book and talked about how the alphabet we were studying made up the words she was reading to us, I was lost in my own world thinking about what I would do with my imaginary friend when I got out of school and got home. I had already read the entire book cover to cover during playtime, it was a stupid story. I had better books at home.

Elementary School: I attended classes in a two room country school house. I had the same teacher for grades 1 -3 and the principal was my teacher in grades 4-6. There were 6 people in my class. Pretty uneventful, really. My only distinct memories are of being only the person in grade 5 band (therefore getting private music lessons from the school district) and loving the days when the art teacher came to school. We always did some pretty interesting projects that kept me occupied.

Junior High: Whoa! Going from a class size of 6 to 100 was a big change. I got a locker and thought it was pretty cool to decorate it. Best memory: 8th grade English reading A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, I love that book and I had the best English teacher ever. I was a reader and she always had great book suggestions. I was tracked into advanced math and did well there. I was also a band geek.

High School: Band geekiness continued and there were more nerd activites as well: my most favorite--> DEBATE! I loved it and spent all my time with friends from the debate team. I discovered that homework is really overrated and didn't see much need for completing anything that wasn't interesting. I was able to get at least B's in most classes using this method of homework selection and completion. Senior year, I really started slacking...2 art classes, band, debate, and teacher's assistant--had to take English and my teacher hated me. Geez, she was boring....and the only papers that got A's were ones that were a regurgitation of exactly what she said. So, I stopped reading the assigned book and just wrote my paper from her notes (A's all the way); I got into trouble if I read the book and wrote down my thoughts (nothing better than a B-). I could not wait to get out of there....my mom thought I should go to the junior college but I applied for every scholorship possible and got money to go to a big state U.

College: Social world opened up for me. I found out that boys thought I was cute. I made the full circle of frat parties, weekend keggers, and football games. Can't say that I went to class much and I sure didn't know how to study. My GPA reflects this, although it's remarkably OK for someone who did as little as I did. I spent a summer abroad and fell in love with learning languages. I am good standardized test taker, so grad school was the obvious choice to avoid the real world.

Grad School (Round 1): After 2 different grad programs, I ended up with an MA in a language and literature. Hhhhmmm...now what does one do with that??? No clue....so I applied for fellowships to spend a year abroad and think about it. That year abroad was in so many ways the best experience I have ever had (someone who knows me IRL is laughing out loud as she reads that statement). I learned a lot about who I am and what my needs and wants are. I ignored those needs and wants, however, and came back to the US and got a teaching certificate.

Grad School Interlude: I was a teacher.....what was I thinking??? (I am a good teacher, however, K-12 setting is not for me).

Grad School (Round 2): Back for the PhD......and eventually through some twists and turns, *Statgirl* emerged.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Bracketology time!!

Wow...has there been some great basketball games today!! BC v Duke and Texas v Kansas...... can't wait for the selection show coming up soon....let the dance begin!!!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Bothered. . .

Did anyone else see this article in Inside Higher Ed? It bothers me.

Now, I'm not opposed to the idea that we need generate interest in higher ed among students who wouldn't normally consider going to college; however, I'm troubled that this might be making it too easy. Come on, bringing the admissions test to the student? Tax advisors to help with financial aid forms? Does this community college continue to provide this much personalized support to these students after they start attending classes--do they get personal shoppers for their books and school supplies? How about Homework helpline? Do the faculty come to the students home and pick them up to be sure they get to class?? These things are not realistic. Does this program potentially set these students up for failure when the hand holding is no longer there?

What I really be interested in knowing is how many of the accepted students actually enroll? Of those, how many actually complete coursework? Of those, how many complete a degree program? If these things are not happening are they really doing anything about the disparity between whites and hispanics in college?

Hhhhmmmmm?

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Status Report

T minus 28 days....
  • Project X is out the door again (yes, it came back for revisions from another author as I knew it would)--no big deal this time, not such difficult changes to make and I actually wrote a real discussion this time (much better than the previous "this will do for draft #1 discussion)
  • Article #1 feedback is several days overdue from journal editor (which I've decided is just this way this editor works)--however this will mean a short deadline when it does appear again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they liked this version--I am so happy with it--the major remodeling in the last revision produced a great paper (at least in my humble opinion).
  • So...now I actually have time to come back to the dissertation--> I'm reworking paper #3 and have some minimal progress on the discussion (chapter 5). I'm plugging away and still praying that I make it. I will have completed chapters--it's just a matter of if they will pass the DA stamp of approval.

Meanwhile, after reading over comments on my last draft of paper #3 from my dissertation writing group...I'm trying to figure out how this group is really benefiting me. I've wondered about this before. I often feel at the meetings that the input I get is pretty minimal. They are great people and I like them very much...I sometimes just think my area of interest is a bit too far from their own interests for them to really be able to give a lot of helpful comments. I do benefit from their comments about lack of clarity in my writing in general and this is a great help... so I don't really want to sound like I'm complaining here. I guess I just wish that I had a group that could engage more in my topic as it seems we are able to do with topics of other members in the group. In some ways, the difficulty of "getting into" my topic has to do with my own writing presentation and I am working on this; however, I also think that in some ways my topic is really just too disjoint from their work and it would be "out there" no matter how I wrote it up.

All in all, what I am discovering is that I am just really ready to be done and move on--it's time and I'm ready. Let's just tie up all the lose ends on this baby and call it complete.