My diploma came in the mail today.

I just submitted my dissertation to the thesis advisor. Which means I'm that much closer to officially finishing my Ph.D. program. Now I just have to wait for her to get back to me with the 843 formatting violations that I need to change before I can file.

I just got a call from my sister...my grandpa passed away this morning. Not entirely unexpected, given that he's been really sick ever since grandma got sick two months ago, but still, a little more time with him would have been nice. The last few times I saw him, he asked me every time if I had my doctorate yet. I'm about a month away from ( Read more... )

Today I found out that some of the other grads in the department have started a boxing club. Yes, really. A boxing club. They hang out in the phonetics lab until everyone else has gone home for the day, then gear up and spar with each other for a couple of hours. In the phonetics lab. Usually it's on Tuesdays, but the "coach" (whose boxing ( Read more... )

"So who are the sucka MCs that Chomsky is layin' it down for in this section?"

(Answer: behaviorists.)

I passed.

::takes a bow::

So I was sitting in the grad lounge quietly doing my work, when I suddenly had a vague sense that two of the other people in the room were saying the word "penis" over and over. They were having a conversation which I could barely hear from my side of the room, but it sounded something like "murmur murmur murmur penis murmur murmur murmur penis ( Read more... )

Today one of the first-years said to me, "You've been really studious lately. It's like you're trying to finish your dissertation or something."

Received the following email from the grad school today:

Your petition requesting an extension of time to complete your PhD has been approved. Please defend and submit your dissertation by Noon on August 1, 2008 (the deadline for an August 2008 conferral).
Well, alright then. I've been telling people for the past six months or so that I was ( Read more... )

So I'm reading this incredibly dry and pedantic academic text for my research, and one of the chapters starts off with the following sentence:

The critical mass is a powerful metaphor and convenient phrase often used in a deus ex machina1 manner to solve theoretical discussions.

And here's the footnote:

1Deus ex machina (latin [sic] for god from ( Read more... )