Long Time Gone...

I will post more later, but this semester has been beyond crazy for me, and I have a bad case of senior-itis which is not making it any easier. I received this PhDComic the other day which more accurately describes both my job and my degree. Here is the link, since the photo would not load fo me: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?n=1295

I'm Back

I know it has been a while since I have written. I find I have so much to say, but no energy to write some days.

I survived my stats class with an A. I was so worried about this course, but it was all theory, and no math what so ever. I can memorize theory with the best of them. It made for an interesting course. It was made easier that the only other person from my program in there is a former math teacher.

On a happy note, I am 1-3 on proposals. The paper that I co-authored was accepted to be presented at a round table at a conference in San Diego. I get to spend a week in San Diego just as the Midwest is coming out of winter. I am looking forward to presenting the paper, as well as traveling. I hope that I can get some reimbursement from the university, but I know that travel budgets were one place where the university had to make cuts, rather than less financial assistance for studying.

Spring semester is starting to fill up already with projects. I am putting the finishing touches on my syllabus and preparing to order the books for my last two courses on my program. I am very much looking forward to my course work this semester, though slightly apprehensive in that I have not written an academic paper since the spring semester. Time to get back on the horse!

Where I'm At

Great Tweets of Science

I found this amusing and thought I would share:

Summer Vacation - Grad Student Style

So this is my second summer in my program and it is almost over. I have worked, not just on my own work, at least 10 hours a week, if not more. My crackberry and/or laptop is glued to me at all times, and I am always putting out little fires here and there. I do like that part of my job. I like being the one that people email/call when they need help. Unfortunately, there really isn't too much of a break from this, no matter where I go. I spent a week on a Caribbean cruise and the weekend in Miami. I worked about 12 hours on that vacation. I spent a week in the Wisconsin Dells area with my family, and put in another 10 hours or so. I will be going back to the Wisconsin Dells are with the girls this weekend and hopefully will not have to work more than 2 hours this weekend. What is nice is that I have been invited to present what I do to two different groups, one an entire college's faculty development day, and the other group are the new TA's in the department I got my MA in. While I am flattered by this attention, this I've got to prep for these sessions as well as get ready for my classes this fall. The PhD Comic below sums up how I feel:

I'm Back

I know it has been a while since my last post. I will try and keep this short. I finished my semester, all of my work turned in, with little time to spare, and yet this procrastination was rewarded with A's from both of my professors. This is slightly disturbing to me, I feel like I should be punished for my slacking, but I guess that school is just coming way too easily for me. On top of this, grades don't count at this level any more. No employer is going to ask my GPA, just verify if I indeed received my PhD.

I am still figuring out my fall semester, but hopefully now I will be able to get this taken care of. I was on vacation last week, one wonderful week in the Caribbean, and a very interesting weekend on Miami Beach, was needed to help recharge my batteries and get me focused on a summer of reading DQE books.

There are other things running through my mind about what to write, but I will save that for another day. I did join Twitter while procrastinating the last weeks of school. I find it to be similar to a stream of Facebook status updates, and just as addictive. Check out my page if you are interested.

How I Spent This Past Weekend

Anyone who teaches understands this one. I am just frustrated as i get through the last few chunks of grading. My final grades are due on May 4th, along with my papers. Here is what is left on my list:

• 12-15 page historiography
• 8-10 page paper on Title IX
• 3 page book review (still need to read that book)
• 1 final exam
• Grade 19 final lesson plans
• Grade the inch of late work turned in
• Grade 30 portfolios
• Grade 19 final projects

I know I added more to the pile because I had previously lumped the grading together. Now that my course work is thinning out it is time for me to concentrate on what needs to be graded. Once all of this is done I have to finish one of the courses I am developing. One has been completed for over a month; the second one is about half-way done. The professor teaching the course is also very slow in getting me the material. Either way, I know I can hammer it out during finals week.

Resume vs. CV

I have always hated trying to explain what a CV is to people outside of academia. It is not just another way to write a resume. It is a little more than that. The comic below hit it right on the head. For thouse of you yet to have put yours together, you have my sympathies.

Say It Isn't So...

So, back to reality. After two weeks of doing nothing related to my own academic career other than dealing with all of those loose pieces of paper floating in folders and my saddle bag (my backpack), it is time to get back into school mode. Unfortunately this is not something that I can be eased back into. I have back to back meetings basically for the rest of this week while I also need to prepare the course that I am teaching this spring. I have never taught the course before and over the break two of the four books were changed out. Unfortunately they dropped Maus, which I love teaching. It was replaced by another graphic novel that I enjoy, Persepolis, but I have not taught that one before. So here I am, less than a week away from the start of the semester and I am trying to throw together a course calendar. The other works that we will be tackling are Night, An Ordinary Man, and a few Greek tragedies that I haven't read since high school. If you have any insights, they are welcome. Needless to say, teaching this course will make this an interesting semester. My own classes also start next week as well. I am looking forward to having two faculty members that I have not had in years. I have one education course and one history course, hopefully allowing me to have more of a balance in my mental paradigms.

Again my love of PhD Comics cannot be captured in mere words, but below I have a comic that sums up yesterday:

Grades

I finally got up the courage to look at my grade report from this past semester. Now, when you are at my stage in grad school, grades really don't matter. I mean, you should always get A's and B's in grad school, but it's not as important as it was in undergrad or even when I got my master's. I was not in a hurry to look. I had 6 credits this semester, so only two letters. I know that this semester I did not do my best. I had bit off more than I could chew with everything I was working on. I knew that I did not turn in my best work. This is what makes me sad. For the first time in my graduate career, I feel like I turned in a piece of work that was two steps above garbage. I hate this feeling. I know that there was nothing that I could have done by the end of the semester other than turn in my rough draft. Needless to say, I was not very happy with one of my grades. Hopefully this is the kick in the pants I need to finish the second half of this school year. On the other hand I am dealing with crossing between two disciplines that have very different research paradigms that can conflict and leave me feeling like the student in the cartoon below:

Merry Christmas from PhD Comics

This just made me smile and I thought I would share it with all of you. As the Christmas season begins, and the parties and gatherings commence, so do my favorite questions: "So how much longer until you graduate?" "What do you actually do?" and "What's your dissertation on?" While most people are just trying to be polite, it is frustrating to come up with an answer that is one sentence or less to not have to explain graduate school to someone who never went to college. Any hints?

2 Weeks and Counting...

With two weeks left in the semester here is a list of things to be done by December 12th:

• 10 page paper on the AAGPBL - due Friday December 5th at noon. (I have 4 pages typed so far.)


• 25 page paper on GTTHS's extracurricular activities - defended December 4th, submitted December 11th. (I have 7 pages so far.)


• 5 page take home final exam - due Friday December 12th at 3:30.


• Grade 21 final unit lesson plans by December 12th, they are due Sunday December 7th.


• Finish grading 15 2 page papers by tomorrow.


• Grade 33 3-5 page essays, ASAP.


• Grade 33 writing portfolios by Friday December 12th.


• Select three portfolios to share with writing faculty: one A portfolio, one C portfolio, and one failing portfolio.


• Submit all of the above grades for the lesson plans and portfolios.


• Type up 20 pages of hand written notes and submit to my cooperating professor, then begin hunting through the microfilm for stories about the school board I have been researching for him.

This is all in the next two weeks. I am already tired just writing it out.

On a more positive note I found a cartoon that best describes one of my positions here at the university.

Personal, Sort of...

I have been getting help over the past few months for some health issues, and though they are not following my timeline for how things should go, I am finding the whole process very interesting. The most interesting part was attending the support group meeting last night. This is where this blog comes in. How do I explain what I do for a living without sounding like a pretentious a**hole, or like a workaholic? I mean it is easy to say that I teach college and I am a doc student. When I use the term "instructor" so many assumptions are made. My other position is a little more complicated to explain to anyone, much less non-academics. When I tell people that I am working on my research they think that I spend all of my time in a laboratory, not the reading room of an archive. When I start talking about what I do to correct the assumptions, I get that eyes glazed over look of sheer boredom. How can I find a happy medium? Should I just go back to saying that I am a teacher and not answer any other questions? I guess that my life will be a little easier when I can say professor.

I have found the hardest thing to do this semester is to stay to my "assigned hours" and get the work done that is expected of me. Granted part of my distraction is the very nice, pretty, shinny new 50" LCD TV the hubby and I bought, but I really am just physically and mentally exhausted when I get home most evenings. Allowing me an hour or two an evening to cram in what is stored on my DVR is not a crime, but I can't seem to get everything done in the time frame that is set forth by the professors that I work with. It is not like I am in trouble, but it is like that disappointed look that parents give their children that cuts right through to your self esteem. This makes me hate my pretty new TV, just a little. One good thing is that most of the shows that I do watch have either, a) been cancelled, so I have less TV to watch, b) sucked so bad that I have given up on them, (yes that is you Heroes that I am talking about) or c) are not on currently. If only TV would keep sucking during the school year.

High School Sports

I have been trying to squeeze in as much time as I can find at our local historical society that has information on my school. I have a paper due at the end of November and I am focusing on the extracurricular activities that were available to the students from its inception in 1909 through WWII (a parameter set by my cooperating professor). I have found a number of interesting things about this school:

• The girls canceled their prom in 1943 and used the money to buy war bonds.


• The school had intramural basketball teams as early as 1927.


• By 1930 there were three intramural sports.


• By 1934 there was an athletic club that sponsored volleyball, basketball, baseball, tennis, swimming, and ping pong.

What is great about this, is that it was all prior to Title IX. Most people think that the only "sports" girls had open to them were cheerleading and majorette/drill team. There seems to be a decline in female sports at co-ed schools that is fueling my research.

On a lighter note, I found this comic amusing, and sadly so very true, based on the university that I am attached to. However I am grateful that we do not have a football team.

If Only the World Were Perfect...

I am procrastinating from working on grading portfolios, doing research for my prof, completing a proposal to teach a summer course in Ireland, and from doing my own reading and research. Couldn't I find an extra day of the week to help me take care of these things? I just need an extra 8 hours during the day where I could sneak off to the archives and research without anyone asking me for help. My evenings are open, but my days and weekends are so packed with stuff that I barely have time to remember to eat my lunch. On more occasions that I would like to remember I have had to throw out my lunch because I left it sit out all day and it thawed/spoiled. I just lose track of time so easily, and feel like I have not got done all that I needed to accomplish in that time frame. I know that I am hard on myself with my own expectations of what I can get done, but lately it seems that the time crunch is more acute. On top of this I have just been frustrated with some of my students.

Research...

I finally made it down to the county historical society's temporary location to begin going through the two boxes they have that are all about Girls' Trade and Tech. I spent most of the afternoon reading through the alumnae association's newsletters. This semester I have to deliver a 25 page paper on the school for a seminar course. I have decided to focus on the extra curricular activities that the girls were involved in throughout the 46 years that it was in operation. I have a some good leads on operettas, pageants, and a track team! I have just started digging, and hope to get back there before this coming Saturday.

Again, I have another PhD Comic attached that has really hit home this week. I keep trying to stay up to grade papers, prep for class, or read for my other course.

Proof

Since I am too busy slacking off from researching to write a full update, here is another comic to make you smile. I am not sure how I fit in here because I do own stocks, have a 401K and 403b from previous jobs, and I own a home. I even know what type of mortgage I have. Even so, it reminded me why I am glad to be where I am.

Resolved!

This is so true on so many levels that it hurts. I am very grateful that this semester I am working for two faculty members and they are all relevant to what I like/want to work on. I am very happy to say that this comic has only really happened to me once in all of my years of academia.

Funding