This thing just keeps taking longer than I thought

I finally was able to have an unhurried phone meeting with my adviser - hallelujah! When I can get a hold of her, she really is helpful.

Maybe too helpful. She had all kinds of comments about stuff I should add, further measurements and tests I need to do. Oh, and it should probably be around 200 pages, at least. I've probably got about 120 right now. Ugh.

As she said, I probably could get it done quickly, if I had to, but she wants me to have "a really kick-ass dissertation" so it's worth taking an extra month to get it done. But I'm fairly certain her one month will at least double, if not turn into August.

I wonder if I told her that I never plan to get a job in linguistics, she'd feel better about it not needing to be completely kick-ass? Somehow I don't think that'd be the best idea.

Nothing like a snow day or two

Today is snow day number two. On Saturday we got a good foot, last night we got 5 inches and another 8 inches is predicted for this afternoon. This is the best time of the year to be in Houston (i.e., the worst time of the year to be someplace besides Houston!). But if it's going to be cold, I do like having the snow along with it!

The good thing about snow days is that you're confined inside. Thanks to the trash on tv, you're more specifically confined to your computer, which allowed me to finish my revision of chapter 3! I don't actually think it's that great, but it's great that I finished it!

That means I've now sent revisions of chapters 1-3 to my adviser. Cross your fingers and say a prayer that she gets around to reading them at some point!

Roller coaster

I'm back on campus and have taken these past couple days to meet up with all three of my committee members. Within every meeting there have been ups and downs, but here's a broad overview:

Monday
UP: My adviser finally got me comments on my first two chapters.
DOWN: The first chapter needs a ton of work.
UP: The second chapter is basically good to go!

Tuesday
UP: My within-dept committee member was quite helpful going through my statistics with me.
DOWN: That afternoon I had another statistics breakdown, and (again) was unable to follow her suggestions due to requirements of the tests.

Wednesday
UP: First thing this morning I found a way to make one test work! It showed exactly what I wanted to be significant!
DOWN: My outside-dept committee member informed me that none of the statistics I'd done were valid, because they were all violating an important assumption. The tests I've been fretting over for the last 4+ months? Basically toss 'em.


And that's not even including the personal side of my trip so far.

Who knows what tomorrow might bring? Hopefully a meeting with yet another guy who can finalize stats stuff. And oh yeah, giving a colloquium to my dept and presenting my research to all them for the first time. I should really put together that talk, huh?

How could I forget?

The most important thing I could do to ensure that my adviser finally gets back to me is not to call and email her incessantly (although that's a close second). It's to pray for her. Duh.

When I don't post

... it's probably because I haven't done anything. Just wanted to be honest with you.

There was one time that I didn't post because I was actually getting a ton done and didn't want to stop! But usually, if I don't post, it's because I haven't gotten a lot done. Not that I haven't been working (although that's often the case) - just that nothing significant happened.

I've been very prone to blaming other people lately for this. But I really can't. Sure, certain people are super hard to get a hold of and I've been in a holding pattern for a while now as I try to pester them into looking at my stuff. But I knew this was going to be the case when I picked my committee members and when I moved away to finish my degree. So I've had enough of my whole "poor poor pitiful me" bit. I made these decisions, knowing full well what I was getting into. No more complaining. (For at least a week.) No one ever said getting your PhD was going to be easy!

Email from a committee member

"Hi Elizabeth! I did get a chance to look at it, but I was wondering if you would be available to come in to talk about it? I think that would be the easiest way to talk about what to do next."

My response:

"Hi X,
I would love to come in and talk about it, but that will require me to book a flight first :)
I agree that it's much easier to discuss this in person though. So if you think that's what I need to do, I am glad to fly back to Houston. But perhaps we can try a phone call first?"

What kind of pesky student

... calls their professor at home on a Friday afternoon, when that professor has been out sick for two weeks, to beg them to please look at their data?

This kind. It's not something I'm proud of. But multiple unanswered emails leave me feeling more and more desperate, until I do something rash.

Sorry.

And thank you to my kind professor, who is reviewing my work as I type and calling me back shortly.

Warning! Danger!

The alarm started buzzing a few weeks ago. Last week it upgraded to a ringing level, but I was able to ignore it with family distractions. This week is has exploded into a piercing siren and I can no longer brush it off.

"YOU ARE BEHIND SCHEDULE!" the voice in my head keeps shrieking. "YOU WILL NEVER FINISH IN MAY IF YOU DON'T PULL IT TOGETHER NOW! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!"

Last night I actually worked after supper.

This doesn't seem like a big deal, I know. I am a student, after all, and doesn't that mean studying at night?

Well, no. At least it doesn't have to. Yes, it did when I was taking classes (although I think that with discipline even then it doesn't have to). But after I was finished with that and could move on to doing my research on my own schedule, I didn't anymore. I started treating my research like a 8-5 job, and it actually worked really well for me. The motivation of spending every evening and most of the weekend relaxing with my then-boyfriend now-husband helped me to really work hard during the day and get stuff done. It also helped that I had an office to go to: once I was on campus, it was basically linguistics time until the 5:00 whistle.

But I am no longer on campus, and working from home has drawbacks along with its benefits. For quite a while now I have been letting other things interfere with my work day, to the point where I now spend more time blogging, working out, cooking, reading, doing devotionals, and grocery shopping than actually dissertating. This has got to stop.

Ideally this will make me start using my time more wisely and I can go back to having a disciplined work day. But with a conference next weekend (!) that I have not yet made my poster for (!!), I'm seeing more evening work in my future. Ugh.

But once that is over, here is what I'd like my schedule to look like. I've got high hopes that it will be a really good and productive routine. The key will be keeping myself off the internet once 10:00 rolls around, even if I didn't get to read/write all the blog posts I wanted or look at so-and-so's new facebook photo album.

8:00-8:30 Prayer/devotional time
8:30-9:00 Run
9:00-10:00 Shower and Internet time
10:00-4:30 Research!
4:30 Reward with more internet if was productive
5:00 Start supper

How exact?

Well, things are looking up. I sat down all refreshed and ready to do the Chi Square tests. I made beautiful little tables and was able to put everything into SPSS. I'm feeling very happy about that.

My book walked me step-by-step through each click. I realized I needed to do an extra step at the end, and went back to do it. Then I realized that the button I was supposed to push was MISSING. It was not there like in the handy picture. It was nowhere to be found.

I decided not to panic and went to the help menu. That's where I saw this:

Can you read that? It says "Note: Exact Tests is only available on Windows operating systems."

Of course - that's what I get for having a husband who convinces me to get a trendy Mac. (You like how the blame is immediately shifted?) Still no problem, I thought. I'll just put this on my old PC.

So I went to my university's IT website and then it hit me. In order to put it on my PC, I have to go to the IT building and use the installation cd. The IT building that is currently 1,590 miles away. (Yes, I just mapped that online.) That's a problem.