All that Stuff

Boy, a lot has happened since I last posted. Mom and Dad came to visit, which was a really vitalizing break in what was otherwise a month of Nose -> Grindstone. I wish I'd had more time to enjoy their company- sometimes it feels like eons between visits- but we did manage to have fun while they were here. I also got to participate in the ordination, which was by far the most Massive Mass I have ever seen. By participate, I mean stand up every time the "entire" Diocese of Juneau was thanked for their support and effort for making the trip. Some one had to stand up.

The surge in work ethic was brought on by my First Annual Thesis Committee Meeting. This is a group of 5 faculty members, including Dr. Boss and Dr. Rockstar, who read the Committee Report, listen to the Annual Departmental Seminar, and then give a completely biased prognosis of your work so far. In this case, it behooves one to use all their professional tricks of the trade to get the nod from the committee- I polished the report for a week. I pulled out all the stops to have really pretty data to talk about. I finessed the seminar so that it was sharp, witty- but not comical, and mostly very promising. In the meeting, the faculty sort of banter about ideas of things I should work on, I make placating sounds and they sign off my Meeting Form which says:

"The committee agrees that Sandlin is making sufficient progress towards her PhD"

Yeah! This goes into a file that will be revisited in a couple years when we talk about Defending, and then they'll say "You've been making progress lo, these many years. I suppose it is time you Defend." I celebrated with a trip to the Zoo (I love the Zoo!) in unseasonably warm weather. And then a couple naps. I was so high-strung it is hard to remember how not to be.

My turn at micro-news: I am training to finish my first 5K at the end of the month (notice finish, not win or even come in sight of such a person). I am also coordinating the department's HomeBrew Bash at the end of the month, although I have not brewed an entry. Matt got a blue-tooth headset so now trash talk can go two ways between Pittsburgh and Austin. The final version of our paper is finally being published- I am famous!