MASTER and Commander
I HAVE A MASTER'S DEGREE!!!!1!eleven
Despite being *really* sick most of Sunday (a combination of Poor Timing (ladies you knwo what I mean) and what appears to be a vicious food reaction) along with dealing with multiple fire alarms and the temptations of my MFU DVDs, I managed to finish preparing my thesis defense in time. Less than 6 hours of sleep later, I was up and trying to get organized -- buying donuts for my defense, packing up my laptop, trying to find our department secretary with the ONLY COPY of my candidacy form that needed to be signed TODAY before my committee members took off for a conference.
Never did find the secretary, but managed to convince another secretary to get me a new "original copy" that I could use. Crisis averted!
The defense itself was slightly delayed (a half-hour) by technical problems. Which was frustrating, but kind of nice because I joked around with my audience (including some of my friends, aren't they sweet) and relaxed a bit. Also it meant no one noticed if my talk was short because we got out so late.
I went through my talk fine -- once I start talking, I get caught up in what I'm talking about. I don't really get stage fright for technical talks, thank goodness. The question period was a little nerve-wracking, especially because some of the questions from my committee were pretty technical, but I think I handled them okay -- and the most technical ones just ended up being my committee arguing with each other anyway. Perhaps they should discuss these things *before* the defense?
Anyway, they deliberated, and then Dan tells me I passed! (Or rather announces, "YOU ARE TEH MASTER!" in a hilarious voice. I heart my advisor). MASTER'S DEGREE FTW!
The rest of my day was sort of frustrating and awesome in turns. I asked my lab last week if they wanted to go out to lunch after my defense; they all said yes, then *brought their lunches to school*. So we went out to lunch...to the campus cafeteria. Whee. I was a little stung.
But I got tons of facebook congrats, calls from family, and a VASE OF FLOWERS! from my mom (pics forthcoming I hope). Plus a book from a friend (d'aww). And I went out to treat myself for dinner and, while walking to the restaurant, passed a friend of mine having dinner at another restaurant -- a friend who moved to Atlanta six months ago! He was just in town for a visit. So I got a hug and some more congratulations. :) Then a little bit of Man From UNCLE DVD watching (two words: ZOMBIE HITLER), good food, and a Cadbury egg. All in all a pretty good day!
Now all I have to do is make some changes to my thesis (sigh), get the forms signed by my committee, pay the cashier, print extra copies of my thesis, fill out more forms, and turn in my thesis! Hooray.
Despite being *really* sick most of Sunday (a combination of Poor Timing (ladies you knwo what I mean) and what appears to be a vicious food reaction) along with dealing with multiple fire alarms and the temptations of my MFU DVDs, I managed to finish preparing my thesis defense in time. Less than 6 hours of sleep later, I was up and trying to get organized -- buying donuts for my defense, packing up my laptop, trying to find our department secretary with the ONLY COPY of my candidacy form that needed to be signed TODAY before my committee members took off for a conference.
Never did find the secretary, but managed to convince another secretary to get me a new "original copy" that I could use. Crisis averted!
The defense itself was slightly delayed (a half-hour) by technical problems. Which was frustrating, but kind of nice because I joked around with my audience (including some of my friends, aren't they sweet) and relaxed a bit. Also it meant no one noticed if my talk was short because we got out so late.
I went through my talk fine -- once I start talking, I get caught up in what I'm talking about. I don't really get stage fright for technical talks, thank goodness. The question period was a little nerve-wracking, especially because some of the questions from my committee were pretty technical, but I think I handled them okay -- and the most technical ones just ended up being my committee arguing with each other anyway. Perhaps they should discuss these things *before* the defense?
Anyway, they deliberated, and then Dan tells me I passed! (Or rather announces, "YOU ARE TEH MASTER!" in a hilarious voice. I heart my advisor). MASTER'S DEGREE FTW!
The rest of my day was sort of frustrating and awesome in turns. I asked my lab last week if they wanted to go out to lunch after my defense; they all said yes, then *brought their lunches to school*. So we went out to lunch...to the campus cafeteria. Whee. I was a little stung.
But I got tons of facebook congrats, calls from family, and a VASE OF FLOWERS! from my mom (pics forthcoming I hope). Plus a book from a friend (d'aww). And I went out to treat myself for dinner and, while walking to the restaurant, passed a friend of mine having dinner at another restaurant -- a friend who moved to Atlanta six months ago! He was just in town for a visit. So I got a hug and some more congratulations. :) Then a little bit of Man From UNCLE DVD watching (two words: ZOMBIE HITLER), good food, and a Cadbury egg. All in all a pretty good day!
Now all I have to do is make some changes to my thesis (sigh), get the forms signed by my committee, pay the cashier, print extra copies of my thesis, fill out more forms, and turn in my thesis! Hooray.