Thesis Update 2

Well, today I applied to graduate with an M.S. from UAH.  I still have three main components of the degree to complete in the next 6 weeks, but I at least now see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully after my meeting with my advisor on Thursday I will get the go ahead to have a progress meeting with the entire committee which would be the last big step prior to my defense.  It's taken almost four years to get to this point, but for all intensive purposes I haven't really completed any part of my thesis, and now all of it will be coming together and needs to be done in the next six weeks.  Nerve racking, but I know I can do it.  So...back to work.  Goodnight!

Thesis Update

So I had my meeting with my committee chair yesterday and it went really well.  We reviewed the power point presentation (about 40 slides so far) I've been preparing for my progress meeting with the entire committee that hopefully will take place in the next two weeks.  He had many great ideas to improve the presentation and I am to make the recommended changes and additions in the upcoming week at which point we will reconvene.  Also deadlines are starting to come fast and furious and how well I manage my time over the next six weeks will determine if I will meet these deadlines and ultimately graduate this spring.  Speaking of deadlines the first is my actual graduation application which is due by Tuesday complete with signatures and a check (of course).  Ok it's late and I actually have plans to run in the morning so......goodnight!

Thesis Progress

Brooke and I are so excited about the upcoming move to TN this summer (and of course the new baby), and there are so many things I want to get done before then.  However, there is one big road block (or opportunity if I'm trying to be optimistic) I need to get around before I can truly enjoy my last few months before school starts.  And that would be the completion of my Master in Science degree from UAH.  I began working on it directly following undergrad graduation in the fall of '07, but when my plans changed a year later my graduate work really got put on hold.  So now after two years, six post-bac classes, two MCATs, and several medical school applications have finally led to one very anticipated acceptance letter, it is time to buckle down and finish my thesis.  I also have to take a comps exam that I am pretty nervous about since I haven't actually had a graduate class in about two years (other than thesis hours).  But that's actually on the back burner for now.  The thesis comes first.  I finally rounded up a committee late last year and have had a few preliminary meetings with the chair and one other member to get some much need guidance.  Tomorrow I meet with the chair again to review my progress presentation that I will present to the committee hopefully in the next couple of weeks.  If tomorrow's meeting goes well and the progress meeting goes well then we will set a date for me to defend.  At times I think, "Oh this won't be so hard  I've already done the toughest part, and then at other times it seems hopeless and want to quit.  But don't.  I won't.  I need to just man up and get it done.  So I guess that's what I'll do.  One quick view of Bluto's "who's with me" speech from Animal House and I should have all the motivation I need to get prepared for tomorrows meeting.  Off to You Tube I go.......Well this is all I could find, check it out.

Christmas and FReuinon

So as promised here is a Christmas update. First of all, WHITE CHRISTMAS. You don't get to say that very often in Alabama. We woke up at 5 am opened presents here and then went to my mother-in-laws for Breakfast and stayed there all day watching the snow fall. Santa was pretty good to O and he had a lot of fun opening presents from us as well. He was very methodical in his gift selection and unwrapping. He would tear a small amount of paper...and a little more...and a little more...finally 5 minutes later he would uncover the thing. He then played contently with the new toy for a few minutes until prompted to open another gift and the process would continue. At Cindy's he crashed before he was done and we had to bring a few unopened gifts back home. He actually did a whole lot more playing with the toys than I expected. I figured he would just play with the boxes and we would feel like we completely wasted our money, but he actually seemed to enjoy each gift. That made me feel proud. What a smart kid.

After that my mom hung out for a day or so and then I went back to Southside on the 29th to prepare for the FReunion. At the last minute Lindsey had to cancel but promised to be at the show early. Randy, Adam and I spent about 2 and 1/2 hours going over the songs that night and hoped it would work itself out. Randy sounded awesome by the way. Saturday though would be a different story (although no fault of his own). I guess the pressures of a headlining tour were just too much for the guy (or staying up till midnight crashed his immune system). He came down with the flu the next day and was barely standing on Saturday, but he showed up. And so did Lindsey, 30 minutes before the show. So after a 9 year break we had one 2 hour practice (in 2007) and one :30 practice the night of the show. But great bands don't need to practice, so we were fine. In all seriousness it was great fun playing with the guys again and it didn't sound half bad given the circumstances. Randy did great just to be there, let alone try to sing feeling like that. This was no American Idol "I slept under the AC last night" excuse. The guy was sick, but he manned up and performed (and then went to bed by 10). So thanks to all of our many fans and to the guys I had a great time. Maybe we can do it again in 10 more years.