The Date Has Been Set

Monday, April 21 at 2:00 p.m. That's my official defense date as agreed upon by the committee members. I can see now why the graduate secretary makes the grad student herself set the date with the committee. What a pain in the wazoo that was! Some can do this time; others can't. One wants 2 weeks to read the whole thing while the others are ok with one week. Then just when you think you're done and the date has been agreed upon, one can't do the same time that the others can. It's a real circus, I tell you. Alas, the one who wanted 2 weeks consented to reading it faster so that we could go to defense earlier as the others wanted to do since their schedules were filling up. (My personal opinion is that this person felt guilty about not registering for commencement and was trying to be more pleasing regarding this matter.)

I've been asking around for best ways to prepare for this event and have received some good feedback. Most people say to relax and trust myself that I know what I'm talking about -- that my committee wouldn't have let me get here without thinking I was ready to be done. That makes me feel better, but knowing myself, I know I have to do something to "prepare" in order to really feel ready. It sort of feels like comps again. What in the world will they ask me?? My plan so far is to go through some of the articles that I think are important to what I'm writing about (especially those I haven't read in a LONG time). I know I need to read through the entire diss again too to refresh, especially the Lit Review. I've been doing that this week as I proof it yet again for the committee. I'm sad to say that I'm bored with my own work. I don't know how many more times I can actually read that thing. Sometimes when I read it, I think "wow - that sounds pretty good." Other times I wonder whether a third grader wrote parts of it.

It's off to Iowa this weekend for me. Ken wants to look at some apartments/condos he's found through the Deere relocation people. Apparently, he's found a really good one for us to view. I plan to take diss reading with me to start reviewing it. I'm also starting to pack up some of the items from my room here to take back (books, etc.) as I'll really only be here for about 4 more weeks. That's scary/sad to think about. But I felt better when I got my graduation announcements in the mail yesterday. It was cool to see my name like that. I haven't had time to get them addressed or anything.

I continue applying for jobs. Sometimes I think I'm applying for one every day. No major leads yet though I did have a phone interview for a publishing job in Dubuque. I found another one in education in that area that I'm interested in as well. I found out last week that I didn't get the Grant Writer job in Waterloo. While initially sad, I realized it's for the best as I don't know if I'd be happy doing that anyway. I was just happy about the location and proximity to family, living, etc. I'm trying to be patient (not easy for me!) and realize that if it's not meant to be, it won't be. I'm still praying that the right job is out there waiting for me.

Perhaps this weekend I'll be able to get the DC pics loaded. Diss has to get done first!