(Actually now with PhD, but Doctor of Philosophy just doesn't have the same evil ring, does it?)Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Odd
At my prenatal appointment today, all measurements were pretty much as they normally are or at least as I expected them to be, except that my temperature was 100.5 degrees. Weird, 'cause I don't feel at all sick.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Requirements...
Received a letter this morning from my graduate Uni, which made my heart (or perhaps my stomach) drop. Heaven knows what surprise flaming hoop could be thrown up next in this crazy academic circus. However, it was simply a brief message from the registrar verifying that "as regards your application for graduation, ALL YOUR REQUIREMENTS HAVE BEEN MET." Or words to that effect. Such a deceptively simple message; such a long, long and rocky road to get to it. I've been doing this for fifteen years. And unlike many who start school in undergrad and then decide later to go to grad school, I started with the PhD in mind, so I've been pushing and pushing and pushing towards this one goal for fifteen years solid. Since my mid-twenties, and I'm in my forties now!
They'll send the diploma six weeks after summer semester is over, which is I don't know the heck when, but probably at the end of July. So maybe mid-September? (Why six weeks? That seems like a heck of a long time for a piece of paper, which is already approved months earlier.)
Anyway, whew.
They'll send the diploma six weeks after summer semester is over, which is I don't know the heck when, but probably at the end of July. So maybe mid-September? (Why six weeks? That seems like a heck of a long time for a piece of paper, which is already approved months earlier.)
Anyway, whew.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Just Regrouping
TheLimey can have a beer while coping with this event, but I must stick with (decaf!) tea. Dangit.
I am working on processing my feelings of disappointment and disorientation, and also on pulling some positive things out of this ("reframing").
1. We (as a family) did get a number of important things out of my taking that position, even if licensure hours (supposedly the main point) were not one of them.
For example, we wanted to move to this state and even to this town, and that happened because of the job. We even got some moving expenses paid. We live in a very nice neighborhood because of where I was working. TheLimey now has a great job that he can walk to. Limelet is in a very nice day care, very nearby, for which we were given preferential place because I was at that job.
I have made connections in town that can help to find future positions and resources. I did get paid for the time and even had some good health insurance that we used a lot; it's not like I worked for free (although, granted, postdoc pay is definitely not the same as "real" pay.) It will be much easier for me to look for work here while living here than in Michigan.
2. I was awake a lot in the middle of the night last night, and this thought occurred to me. I have been dismally picturing having gotten, say, 10 of the requisite 12 months of supervised work, if I had only known to arrange things differently. However, when I think back, my original draft was not in fact returned to me for edits until (I believe) late November. That being the case, if I had really jumped on those edits immediately I might have perhaps squeaked into a December graduation.
Thus the months that would have "counted" for licensure would have been January through May -- only 5 months. I still would have had to come up with another 7 months of supervised work somehow. Losing 5 months is less painful than losing 10 months, I'll tell you that.
7 more months means that I still would have been unlikely (to say the least) to have completed my hours and taken the EPPP before the baby comes. True, 5 months is 5 months. But it's not 10, is all I'm sayin'.
I am working on processing my feelings of disappointment and disorientation, and also on pulling some positive things out of this ("reframing").
1. We (as a family) did get a number of important things out of my taking that position, even if licensure hours (supposedly the main point) were not one of them.
For example, we wanted to move to this state and even to this town, and that happened because of the job. We even got some moving expenses paid. We live in a very nice neighborhood because of where I was working. TheLimey now has a great job that he can walk to. Limelet is in a very nice day care, very nearby, for which we were given preferential place because I was at that job.
I have made connections in town that can help to find future positions and resources. I did get paid for the time and even had some good health insurance that we used a lot; it's not like I worked for free (although, granted, postdoc pay is definitely not the same as "real" pay.) It will be much easier for me to look for work here while living here than in Michigan.
2. I was awake a lot in the middle of the night last night, and this thought occurred to me. I have been dismally picturing having gotten, say, 10 of the requisite 12 months of supervised work, if I had only known to arrange things differently. However, when I think back, my original draft was not in fact returned to me for edits until (I believe) late November. That being the case, if I had really jumped on those edits immediately I might have perhaps squeaked into a December graduation.
Thus the months that would have "counted" for licensure would have been January through May -- only 5 months. I still would have had to come up with another 7 months of supervised work somehow. Losing 5 months is less painful than losing 10 months, I'll tell you that.
7 more months means that I still would have been unlikely (to say the least) to have completed my hours and taken the EPPP before the baby comes. True, 5 months is 5 months. But it's not 10, is all I'm sayin'.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
The Big Catch, Apparently
I was too busy with my busy-busy postdoc position to finish those few teensy edits on my approved dissertation, which I thought had been signed off on by the grad school.
However--pending verification by my department head--it would appear that the sign-off by the grad school has not actually occurred until just now, when I finally had enough time to complete those edits, because my postdoc position is done.
What does this mean? It means this past year was actually not technically "post doc" and did not count towards licensure if I didn't have that sign-off done. So, the postdoc sort of prevented my finishing the doc*. Almost like I went back in time to sabotage myself!
*Yeah, I did read the fine print. And apparently misinterpreted it. If I'd understood the process more clearly, I'd have taken a couple weekends in October to work on it and finish.
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