I wish I had pictures of the clean cabinets where I kept my sieves, of the incubator where I held my colonies, of the walk-in incubator which held my experiements, or the drawers where I kept miscellaneous items such as pens and insects to photograph but I don't.
However, what I do have is the relief that I no longer HAVE to work every DAMN weekend collecting data. I have decided to start taking Friday and Saturday off since one day off is no longer motivating me to get through 6 more days of "crap." For the time being I will continue to go to the lab but only to do more data analysis and create graphs in SigmaPlot.
Oh, yea..................
I looked up the graduate school deadlines and as long as "he who shall not be named" gives me timely revisions I should be able to graduate in December.
YEA!!!!!!
Irregardless, I have drawn my line in the sand; I am leaving KSU in December with or without a job and with or without a degree. It scares me to think that I may not have a job and pisses me off that I may not have a degree but I can't afford another semester, mentally or financially!
Let us all pray to our respective deities that whatever is best for me is what happens to me! :)
On a completely different note, my on-line dating life has became more interesting since I admitted that I'm planning on leaving Kansas in December. Now you might think that these are men that are only interested in casual sex but you would be wrong. You may suspect that they also want to vacate Kansas but all of them are established with good jobs and homes; only one, yes there is more than one (three to be exact), has the potential and desire for moving but only if he and his game studio partner get their game on the market! WTF!!!!? I guess I will just roll with it and see where it takes me; you know I'm praying this isn't a sign that I need to stay here. I love, love, love my "family" but I want to travel to different, new scenery!
Showing posts with label Graduate school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Graduate school. Show all posts
August 18, 2012
December 19, 2011
Qualifying Exams
This week I'm finishing up this semester; one final, one presentation, and one "let's talk about your semester project" to end this semester of "fun."well parts of the semester have been fun but others not so much.
I'm also meeting with all of my committee members to talk about what I need to study and the test format of my qualifying exams. For those of you who don't know what that means, comprehensive exams over everything I know! I must pass these exams in order to defend my thesis and then get a Ph.D! There are five exams: insect toxicology, insect ecology, insect behavior, integrated pest management, and sanitation and food quality. After I pass written exams for the five topics then I get to take an oral exam! This fun process starts the last week of January; I will get less than a month to study for all of these tests. Am I worried? NO Should I be worried? Maybe but I have been working with these topics for four years; I should know everything. If I panic it will be all down hill so.........
My new mantra is "I will not go insane, I WILL NOT go insane!" So let's listen to one of my favorite songs!
I guess that makes my point for me?!
I'm also meeting with all of my committee members to talk about what I need to study and the test format of my qualifying exams. For those of you who don't know what that means, comprehensive exams over everything I know! I must pass these exams in order to defend my thesis and then get a Ph.D! There are five exams: insect toxicology, insect ecology, insect behavior, integrated pest management, and sanitation and food quality. After I pass written exams for the five topics then I get to take an oral exam! This fun process starts the last week of January; I will get less than a month to study for all of these tests. Am I worried? NO Should I be worried? Maybe but I have been working with these topics for four years; I should know everything. If I panic it will be all down hill so.........
My new mantra is "I will not go insane, I WILL NOT go insane!" So let's listen to one of my favorite songs!
I guess that makes my point for me?!
July 1, 2011
Professional Development
I'm sure that many of you have heard the term professional development. I had not heard this term until I became a graduate student. Now it seems like everybody in the department uses this term for a wide range of activities. "You should attend Friday seminar because it is part of your professional development." "Participating in the department activities improves your professional development." "I think that learning how to work with Glimmix enhances your skill base and therefore improves your professional development." "Part of professional development is learning balance and prioritizing." After a while, it seems like the term professional development is used to describe everything that occurs in a graduate students life but no one has defined what professional development means.
Wikipedia defines professional development as the skills and knowledge which is obtained to further personal development and enhance career achievement and advancement. Okay; looking at the definition there are two objectives to consider: personal development and career advancement. While I agree that mentors should play a role in career advancement my personal development is "entirely" up to me and therefore in order to improve my "professional development" my opinions should be heard and considered.
Here is an example: I attended an NCB-ESA meeting where there was a graduate student mixer; I chose to go back to my hotel room to work on homework that was due the day after I returned from the meeting. An hour or tow later I returned to the mixer, grabbed some food, talked to a few people, stood at a table by myself for awhile, and then go back to my room. Later one of my roommates stating that she didn't see why I even bothered to go since I wasn't that social! WOW- how dare you judge my progress especially since you have about 10-20 interactions with me in a year.
Speaking for myself, I was really proud of myself for attempting to go to an activity and participate on some level. Was it the best experience? NO but is my response based on the the actual participation level or the fact that someone who doesn't know me very well acted like judge and jury on my abilities without the evidence. I'm not sure but it could be either one. Should I attend another conference you can bet that she will not be sharing a room with me!!!!
I would like to say this conversation ends here but it does not. Similiar scenarios have occured with individuals who could be viewed as mentors. I realize that as a mentor it is your "job" to identify areas where students are lacking and encourage them to participate in activities which may bolster their confidence or aid them in gaining new skills. However, I disagree the "cookie cutter concept" where what is good for one student is good for all students. Additionally, it irritates me when someone throws the term professional development into the mix as part of the argument for participating in some "required" activity. Yes, in the broad sense, I agree that all activities which the department have a varying amount of professional development. However, I feel that I should have some input into my OWN professional development and be allowed the autonomy to make decisions. After all, making decisions and prioritizing activities (choosing to start your take-home finals instead of attending the department picnic) is a part of professional development. Why should I allow "you" to make these decisions for me? Shouldn't I participate in my own professional development? Additionally, by participating in my own professional development then I'm taking ownership of my development. Once you understand the importance of my ownership then and only then can we have a partnership where "we" can improve my current skills and expand the list to include those which I currently don't have.
Final word(s): As part of my professional development I volunteered (of my own free-will and interest) to serve as the student representative for the Course and Curriculum committee for this fiscal year (July 11-June 12). Today (Friday, July 1st) I was informed that I have been "approved" to sit on this committee. Additionally, the interim department head included charges (objectives) that he would like the committee to achieve. Interestingly, one of the objectives is that "we" develop a course for graduate students on professional skills!!!!!!! Yes, really! My life is often full of similar "coincidences;" I do belive that the goddess is good to me and she gives me purpose.
I hope everyone enjoys a nice long weekend for the Fourth of July. I believe I will be writing or doing some data entry but I'm going to try to watch Independence Day and Last of the Mohicans for the Fourth of July.
Wikipedia defines professional development as the skills and knowledge which is obtained to further personal development and enhance career achievement and advancement. Okay; looking at the definition there are two objectives to consider: personal development and career advancement. While I agree that mentors should play a role in career advancement my personal development is "entirely" up to me and therefore in order to improve my "professional development" my opinions should be heard and considered.
Here is an example: I attended an NCB-ESA meeting where there was a graduate student mixer; I chose to go back to my hotel room to work on homework that was due the day after I returned from the meeting. An hour or tow later I returned to the mixer, grabbed some food, talked to a few people, stood at a table by myself for awhile, and then go back to my room. Later one of my roommates stating that she didn't see why I even bothered to go since I wasn't that social! WOW- how dare you judge my progress especially since you have about 10-20 interactions with me in a year.
Speaking for myself, I was really proud of myself for attempting to go to an activity and participate on some level. Was it the best experience? NO but is my response based on the the actual participation level or the fact that someone who doesn't know me very well acted like judge and jury on my abilities without the evidence. I'm not sure but it could be either one. Should I attend another conference you can bet that she will not be sharing a room with me!!!!
I would like to say this conversation ends here but it does not. Similiar scenarios have occured with individuals who could be viewed as mentors. I realize that as a mentor it is your "job" to identify areas where students are lacking and encourage them to participate in activities which may bolster their confidence or aid them in gaining new skills. However, I disagree the "cookie cutter concept" where what is good for one student is good for all students. Additionally, it irritates me when someone throws the term professional development into the mix as part of the argument for participating in some "required" activity. Yes, in the broad sense, I agree that all activities which the department have a varying amount of professional development. However, I feel that I should have some input into my OWN professional development and be allowed the autonomy to make decisions. After all, making decisions and prioritizing activities (choosing to start your take-home finals instead of attending the department picnic) is a part of professional development. Why should I allow "you" to make these decisions for me? Shouldn't I participate in my own professional development? Additionally, by participating in my own professional development then I'm taking ownership of my development. Once you understand the importance of my ownership then and only then can we have a partnership where "we" can improve my current skills and expand the list to include those which I currently don't have.
Final word(s): As part of my professional development I volunteered (of my own free-will and interest) to serve as the student representative for the Course and Curriculum committee for this fiscal year (July 11-June 12). Today (Friday, July 1st) I was informed that I have been "approved" to sit on this committee. Additionally, the interim department head included charges (objectives) that he would like the committee to achieve. Interestingly, one of the objectives is that "we" develop a course for graduate students on professional skills!!!!!!! Yes, really! My life is often full of similar "coincidences;" I do belive that the goddess is good to me and she gives me purpose.
I hope everyone enjoys a nice long weekend for the Fourth of July. I believe I will be writing or doing some data entry but I'm going to try to watch Independence Day and Last of the Mohicans for the Fourth of July.
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