Day 115

I'm baaaaaack.

Here are some updates. I defend 11/5. I become full-time resident of California on 11/7.

I've spent the last month totally enjoying myself. Fantasizing about graduation, jetting back and forth across the country, and not thinking about my thesis. Okay, only a little bit.

Now I'm back for the final revision. This is the final push to finish up and turn it in. Well, okay, I'm taking next week off. But still, final push!

Tim has been working on his paper, hence the flat line. :(

Day 94

Today I completed my preliminary defense. That's right. I completed it. And now.... I can set up a defense date!!!

Of course, I was nervous about the whole thing. I had no idea what to expect. The whole thing went down in an unexpected way. One professor completely rejects the literature. Went on and on about the literature must be wrong. Okay. One professor offered very good advice on data I already have. He believes I should be able to extract more information from them. One professor was completely silent. Hmm. I wonder who that was. Although, the silence was surprising.

I'm almost home free. Almost. Still need to revise the thesis, do some extra analysis, set a defense date, defend, and throw a party. Hey, I think I will actually become a doctor soon!

So relieved. And brainfried. Time to cheer for Tim. Go Tim Go. You can do it!

Day 87

Sent it to the advisor. 94 pages. Good enough for me.

Day 86

Hehe. Here's my excuse. I'm not done!

It took all day to edit Chapter 3. It's amazing how reworking it with a clear and sound mind actually helped me elucidate some of the weird parts of the data. On the other hand, that it actually happened made me feel really lucky. I'm sure I was certain (haha) for a while that nothing would make the data sound short of crappy experimental procedure. I made a couple of new graphs, fixed a few old ones, put in the missing section (very short), and nudged everything into good English.

I think I can actually present this chapter without meekly hiding my face behind a billboard.

I beat the page-per-day marker. Haha.

2 more chapters to go. Chapter 4 is kinda wishy-washy so hopefully I will have success toughening it up. I feel a little more confident now that I've gotten over the Chapter 3 hump. And I think I got over it well. Chapter 5 is a handwavy visions chapter. This chapter just needs to sound good and doesn't need deep data support.

Both better get done tomorrow. No excuses. I need time to start working on slides!

My boss will just get it when everybody else gets it.