Tough times
I mentioned in my post about GraphViz that I've been getting a lot of dirt kicked in my face lately. Well, the delivering of the presentation I made with it turned out to be a total disaster. It started out with a yelling match between me and the professor because I couldn't figure out how to get the computer to display the files I'd made. Keep in mind, the professor is normally a mild-mannered, self-effacing kind of guy, so it freaked me and the rest of the class out. I tried to handle it as smoothly as I could, but the rest of the class were just staring white-faced at each other and us the whole time. To top it off, after my presentation, the professor remarked that part of it was "shitty," and that's after he spent a good five seconds measuring which word to use! I've had three classes with that professor, and that's the first time I ever heard him get anywhere near cursing--he normally goes out of his way to use as kind of words as possible. There were some problems with what I presented, but: 1) they didn't deserve that out-of-character a response, and 2) the professor flat-out told me at the beginning of the semester that he'd have lower expectations of me because I was working alone, whereas everyone else was working in groups of four.
I've been working hard to finish my thesis this semester. In my scramble to finish, I missed the deadline for some piece of paperwork. Nonetheless, I went ahead and filled it out. Part of the information was my committee. The guy tasked with signing off on the paper didn't like my committee composition. Turns out two of the members are ineligible, leaving me with just two out of the required three committee members. I'm pretty sure I had all my committee members checked out, but I guess I didn't. (In fact, I later learned that one of those ineligible members was similarly shocked, and personally went down to the grad school to talk with them about it. Apparently, he only filled out "half the paperwork" to become a full faculty member, or some such weirdness. Despite that, he's been teaching there for three or four years.)
Andrea suggested I try to get the big computer guru in her department to serve. We went and talked to him and got his okay. I even sat there and watched him plug the date and time into his cell phone. I went to the grad school and made sure the guy was eligible to serve on my committee and he was. The paperwork got filed, and everything was set up, despite my lateness. (The grad school turned out to be much easier to work with than I figured they'd be!)
I sent out the final draft of my thesis the following day, along with the date, time, and location of the defense (though the date was known to all members except the late-add weeks in advance). At that point, the late-add emailed me and suddenly seemed very reticent to serve. He said he assumed that since I hadn't emailed him sooner, I didn't want him on the committee anymore. (What?!) Then he said he booked up the day of the defense pretty solid. I told him that I absolutely did still want him on the committee, and that without him there, I can't defend. Then he started telling me how he doesn't feel comfortable being on the committee for this and that reasons. I told him it's too late to reschedule, so he should just come and we can sort out all the stuff he's uncomfortable about.
We'll see what he has to say about that tomorrow. I have the sinking feeling, though, that he's going to no-show with or without warning. I also have the sinking feeling that, even if he shows, he's going to make as strong a case as possible for why the other committee members shouldn't accept him on the committee.
If this falls though and I don't get to defend, I have no idea what I'll do. The committee member I'm missing has to be someone outside my department, and I don't know anyone outside my department who'd be qualified to understand my thesis, let alone be at all interested in reading it. I guess I'll have to go canvassing the engineering and MIS schools for new members. If I don't find anyone there, I guess I'm just screwed and did a shit-ton of work for nothing.
I've been working hard to finish my thesis this semester. In my scramble to finish, I missed the deadline for some piece of paperwork. Nonetheless, I went ahead and filled it out. Part of the information was my committee. The guy tasked with signing off on the paper didn't like my committee composition. Turns out two of the members are ineligible, leaving me with just two out of the required three committee members. I'm pretty sure I had all my committee members checked out, but I guess I didn't. (In fact, I later learned that one of those ineligible members was similarly shocked, and personally went down to the grad school to talk with them about it. Apparently, he only filled out "half the paperwork" to become a full faculty member, or some such weirdness. Despite that, he's been teaching there for three or four years.)
Andrea suggested I try to get the big computer guru in her department to serve. We went and talked to him and got his okay. I even sat there and watched him plug the date and time into his cell phone. I went to the grad school and made sure the guy was eligible to serve on my committee and he was. The paperwork got filed, and everything was set up, despite my lateness. (The grad school turned out to be much easier to work with than I figured they'd be!)
I sent out the final draft of my thesis the following day, along with the date, time, and location of the defense (though the date was known to all members except the late-add weeks in advance). At that point, the late-add emailed me and suddenly seemed very reticent to serve. He said he assumed that since I hadn't emailed him sooner, I didn't want him on the committee anymore. (What?!) Then he said he booked up the day of the defense pretty solid. I told him that I absolutely did still want him on the committee, and that without him there, I can't defend. Then he started telling me how he doesn't feel comfortable being on the committee for this and that reasons. I told him it's too late to reschedule, so he should just come and we can sort out all the stuff he's uncomfortable about.
We'll see what he has to say about that tomorrow. I have the sinking feeling, though, that he's going to no-show with or without warning. I also have the sinking feeling that, even if he shows, he's going to make as strong a case as possible for why the other committee members shouldn't accept him on the committee.
If this falls though and I don't get to defend, I have no idea what I'll do. The committee member I'm missing has to be someone outside my department, and I don't know anyone outside my department who'd be qualified to understand my thesis, let alone be at all interested in reading it. I guess I'll have to go canvassing the engineering and MIS schools for new members. If I don't find anyone there, I guess I'm just screwed and did a shit-ton of work for nothing.