I feel nervous that I don't feel more nervous for my defense tomorrow. It will likely hit me when I wake up in the morning. However, I'm picking up my outside committee member in the morning and we are having breakfast at 8am so hopefully that will keep me distracted until 9am and then the talk starts at 10am.
I'm still futzing with the talk but I think that will go ok and I'm pretty excited to hear what the committee members have to say about my research.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Do you see the problem?
EcoGeoFemme made an interesting post about reading journal articles. The comments linked to a post from Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde.
I'm not going to summarize the post but you can go read them, what I want to point out is, um, let's call it irony. It seems that many scientist don't particularly enjoy the writing process. Some folks love it but I think many see it as a necessary evil. From the posts I've read on writing and now these on reading this is the process of events I see occurring to which I think a revolution needs to occur to change the process.
1. Scientist comes up with great idea* and does field/lab work** and has a lot of fun.
2. Scientist spends grueling hours trying to make an outline and eventually writes a first draft of a manuscript
3. Scientist has to try to incorporate ridiculous comments by co-authors
4. Scientist waits a long time for co-authors to read second draft (repeat steps 3 and 4 as necessary)
5. Scientist submits manuscript and waits a long time for revisions
6. Scientist makes revisions (or submits to new journal) of manuscript
7. Scientist finally gets paper published and feels on top of the world, decides that writing papers is the best part of science.
8. Scientist #2 reads abstract of Scientist's paper and thinks paper is interesting.
9. #2 prints article
10. Article sits on desk, then gets dusty, then gets moved a few places in the office, then gets put in the book bag and taken to coffee shop, then goes back on the desk.
11. #2 decides that there is just no time to read article
12. Enough guilt has ensued that #2 reads article
repeat
So it seems that all this agony and effort is put into a piece of work that no one feels they have the time to read. I find this depressing and think there has to be some way to make journal articles easier to read or the process of writing less labor intensive.
*I understand that one has to read articles to come up with an idea so you can see I don't necessarily start at the beginning
** I know field/lab work isn't always fun but my feeling is that most people enjoy this stage the most
I'm not going to summarize the post but you can go read them, what I want to point out is, um, let's call it irony. It seems that many scientist don't particularly enjoy the writing process. Some folks love it but I think many see it as a necessary evil. From the posts I've read on writing and now these on reading this is the process of events I see occurring to which I think a revolution needs to occur to change the process.
1. Scientist comes up with great idea* and does field/lab work** and has a lot of fun.
2. Scientist spends grueling hours trying to make an outline and eventually writes a first draft of a manuscript
3. Scientist has to try to incorporate ridiculous comments by co-authors
4. Scientist waits a long time for co-authors to read second draft (repeat steps 3 and 4 as necessary)
5. Scientist submits manuscript and waits a long time for revisions
6. Scientist makes revisions (or submits to new journal) of manuscript
7. Scientist finally gets paper published and feels on top of the world, decides that writing papers is the best part of science.
8. Scientist #2 reads abstract of Scientist's paper and thinks paper is interesting.
9. #2 prints article
10. Article sits on desk, then gets dusty, then gets moved a few places in the office, then gets put in the book bag and taken to coffee shop, then goes back on the desk.
11. #2 decides that there is just no time to read article
12. Enough guilt has ensued that #2 reads article
repeat
So it seems that all this agony and effort is put into a piece of work that no one feels they have the time to read. I find this depressing and think there has to be some way to make journal articles easier to read or the process of writing less labor intensive.
*I understand that one has to read articles to come up with an idea so you can see I don't necessarily start at the beginning
** I know field/lab work isn't always fun but my feeling is that most people enjoy this stage the most
Confession Week 3
As part of the No Eating Out Challenge I am having weekly confessions. This was week 3.
It's been a bad week.
Husband and I went to dinner Thurs. with friends. This was my allowable eating out. I did, however, have two social food encounters this week that involved eating at a home-these don't count as eating out but they as just as much fun.
Then this week-end went all downhill.
Friday my three friends from dissertation town arrived. We had pizza for lunch and I later realized we never ate dinner but I drank enough alcohol to make up for that. In fact I drank so much Friday that I didn't drink the rest of the week-end. Saturday we had a bbq in the parking lot of the stadium that the rugby tournament was at. I bought a water and gatorade in the stadium because it turned out to be a really hot day and they don't allow you to bring things in. Then we all went out to dinner. Sunday I offered to make eggs but we ended up going out to lunch at Subway and then I ate dinner at the airport. Blah.
So for those counting I ate out FOUR EXTRA TIMES THIS WEEK, plus a few too many beverages, plus an ice cream purchase Monday.
What a failure.
This week I'm in dissertation town and I ate out for lunch already. I didn't have any food to bring to the conference for lunch so I went to a local dinner with my adviser and two of his other students that I know but wouldn't call part of my group/lab. I was able to have oatmeal for breakfast since I still had some in my office and I made a trip to Trader Joes so I had microwave mexican for dinner. I am proud that the people I'm staying with wanted to order pizza and I refused. So they ate their leftovers and I microwaved my dinner. I had the excuses that I was tired of eating out-which was so true. I wonder if this week away from home could be any worse than last week . . . . you will have to wait until next Sunday to see.
It's been a bad week.
Husband and I went to dinner Thurs. with friends. This was my allowable eating out. I did, however, have two social food encounters this week that involved eating at a home-these don't count as eating out but they as just as much fun.
Then this week-end went all downhill.
Friday my three friends from dissertation town arrived. We had pizza for lunch and I later realized we never ate dinner but I drank enough alcohol to make up for that. In fact I drank so much Friday that I didn't drink the rest of the week-end. Saturday we had a bbq in the parking lot of the stadium that the rugby tournament was at. I bought a water and gatorade in the stadium because it turned out to be a really hot day and they don't allow you to bring things in. Then we all went out to dinner. Sunday I offered to make eggs but we ended up going out to lunch at Subway and then I ate dinner at the airport. Blah.
So for those counting I ate out FOUR EXTRA TIMES THIS WEEK, plus a few too many beverages, plus an ice cream purchase Monday.
What a failure.
This week I'm in dissertation town and I ate out for lunch already. I didn't have any food to bring to the conference for lunch so I went to a local dinner with my adviser and two of his other students that I know but wouldn't call part of my group/lab. I was able to have oatmeal for breakfast since I still had some in my office and I made a trip to Trader Joes so I had microwave mexican for dinner. I am proud that the people I'm staying with wanted to order pizza and I refused. So they ate their leftovers and I microwaved my dinner. I had the excuses that I was tired of eating out-which was so true. I wonder if this week away from home could be any worse than last week . . . . you will have to wait until next Sunday to see.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Confession Week 2
As part of the No Eating Out Challenge I am having weekly confessions. Week 2 just ended.
It went well with the eating out part, however my grocery challenge didn't do so well.
Thursday night my husband and I went to dinner with a friend. It was fun. We also found out she got a professor position at a University in Canada she is excited about. The three of us shared a bottle of wine and a tiramisu dessert.
That was my once a week allowable eating out event. I wanted to go to the Indian Buffet on Sunday but my husband didn't want to. He saved me this week because that would have been eating out #2, not allowable.
As for grocery shopping both Tuesday and Wednesday I went to the store and bought a half pint of ice cream, which I promptly ate after purchasing. I have to admit the hardest part of the challenge is resisting the urge to go to the store and buy something sweet to eat. Last week I faltered twice but the craving was there every day of the week.
This week I have two lunch/dinner plans but one is at my house and the other at a friends house, so I won't be eating out.
Friday three of my friends are arriving for a visit. I imagine we may eat out more than once. Friday we are going to the city and it could be that only lunch will be eaten out. Saturday is a huge rugby match near by and we will be having a bbq in the parking lot so I maybe able to go all day without eating out. However, I doubt I'll be sticking to a two drink minimum.
It went well with the eating out part, however my grocery challenge didn't do so well.
Thursday night my husband and I went to dinner with a friend. It was fun. We also found out she got a professor position at a University in Canada she is excited about. The three of us shared a bottle of wine and a tiramisu dessert.
That was my once a week allowable eating out event. I wanted to go to the Indian Buffet on Sunday but my husband didn't want to. He saved me this week because that would have been eating out #2, not allowable.
As for grocery shopping both Tuesday and Wednesday I went to the store and bought a half pint of ice cream, which I promptly ate after purchasing. I have to admit the hardest part of the challenge is resisting the urge to go to the store and buy something sweet to eat. Last week I faltered twice but the craving was there every day of the week.
This week I have two lunch/dinner plans but one is at my house and the other at a friends house, so I won't be eating out.
Friday three of my friends are arriving for a visit. I imagine we may eat out more than once. Friday we are going to the city and it could be that only lunch will be eaten out. Saturday is a huge rugby match near by and we will be having a bbq in the parking lot so I maybe able to go all day without eating out. However, I doubt I'll be sticking to a two drink minimum.
Friday, June 13, 2008
It is Official!
At 10am Friday the 27th I will be defending my dissertation.
I was sweating a little because my outside committee member needed to book his plane ticket but the chair of the committee was out of town. The outside committee member went ahead and started a dialog about a day and time and my adviser said let's go with this day and time even though the chair had never responded to the e-mails. Well the chair e-mailed this morning (or last night) and said sorry she hadn't responded and that the time worked for her. Yeah!!
Now, as long as I pass I can go to the West Coast a happy person.
------------------------------------
Again, thanks for the comments. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the co-authors need to approve a manuscript before submission (silly husband).
I do think part of my funk is working from home in the Midwest. I don't think all of it is due to being away from the department. I think department activities would suck up time and possible make me take longer. However, I do miss social interactions. So I think missing the department would be ok if I had more friends in this area to hang out with. This is why I talk EcoGeoFemme's ear off every time we meet for lunch.
And I should get more excited about new projects. Good idea. I don't know what I'll be doing when we move and there are no positions right now I'm excited about but I should just dive back into the literature and see what's hot. Maybe read the -ology of where I will be living.
I was sweating a little because my outside committee member needed to book his plane ticket but the chair of the committee was out of town. The outside committee member went ahead and started a dialog about a day and time and my adviser said let's go with this day and time even though the chair had never responded to the e-mails. Well the chair e-mailed this morning (or last night) and said sorry she hadn't responded and that the time worked for her. Yeah!!
Now, as long as I pass I can go to the West Coast a happy person.
------------------------------------
Again, thanks for the comments. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the co-authors need to approve a manuscript before submission (silly husband).
I do think part of my funk is working from home in the Midwest. I don't think all of it is due to being away from the department. I think department activities would suck up time and possible make me take longer. However, I do miss social interactions. So I think missing the department would be ok if I had more friends in this area to hang out with. This is why I talk EcoGeoFemme's ear off every time we meet for lunch.
And I should get more excited about new projects. Good idea. I don't know what I'll be doing when we move and there are no positions right now I'm excited about but I should just dive back into the literature and see what's hot. Maybe read the -ology of where I will be living.
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