Thesis Defense

The thesis was successfully defended, but it took quite a beating. There was very little offense by my side. It started at 1 PM and lasted 2.5 hours. I gave a presentation for 30 or so minutes and then answered questions for the next two hours. There were only a couple of questions I had a definite answer. They were all familiar with the research, so there were no softball questions. All of the rest of the questions were geared to take me down a road to see how much I know. The problem is if I start out incorrectly then they just let me keep going down the wrong path until it becomes obvious my mistakes.

It went by rather quickly and in the end they told me I passed. I didn't really fear not passing, but its still intimidating. I've never heard of anyone not passing and I've never heard of anyone feeling they did really well in their defense. I now have a week to fix all of their final corrections and get it submitted to the library.

A three year saga is about to come to an end and I'm very much ready for it.

Thesis Defense

I'm reaching the end of my thesis work (finally) and its kind of a weird feeling. I'm been so ready for it to be over for so long but to reach the end you have to go through the defense. Something I'm not looking forward to. From what I know, its basically a 3 hour questioning of all your knowledge on your topic. Its sort of an academic hazing. The professors like to find out how much you know and exploit what you don't know. The other side of it is, I've only heard of one guy not passing his defense in our department. So, my motivation to really prepare is lacking. I've scheduled my work load to be light this week so I can have some time to prepare. 

I've had this hanging over my head for a year and the end is finally in sight. My professors and I have gone through 9 revisions, most of them major. Towards the end it started to get frustrating because it got to be "picky" things for a paper that no one will probably ever read again. Oh well, after this week it won't be a big deal.

Lab Work and Landscape Work

I spent 3 days back in Mississippi to do some work in the lab for my thesis Wednesday and Thursday, and a flower bed installation on Friday. This was my third trip back to Starkville during this first month we've "been away." I think people are getting tired of telling me bye. I did get to stay with the Franci and relive some Colonial Arms times.

My work in the lab was boring and probably a failure once again. My hope now is to be able to drop it from my research. It is only a small aspect and not needed in my opinion. Unfortunately my opinion doesn't count for much in that area.

Friday, I got to transition from being inside all day to being outside all day. Matt and I got hired to install a landscape bed at a residence in Columbus, MS. These kind of jobs are not my expertise when it comes to recommending materials. The type of stone to use as a border became quite the ordeal. We picked up the rock on Friday morning and got it laid out. They weren't really happy with it and we didn't have enough. So we loaded it back up and went with some stone from Lowe's. It was a manufactured stone, so it didn't have as natural of a look as the other, but it was much easier to work with since it was uniform. We got started around 9:30. Matt had to leave at 3:30 and it took me til 6:30 to finish up. It was quite hot with no shade. I am still soft from working in an office for so long. I probably drank 2 gallons of water, while ( I spent the summer in Asia living off rice) Matt barely broke a sweat. The day went well overall considering all the changes that were made. The large rock was the most difficult step because it was so hard to shovel into the wheelbarrow.

The basis steps to the job were:

1. Dig up the sod avoiding any underground wires or pipes.
2. Dig up soil to create depth to hold gravel.
3. Put down landscape fabric to prevent weed germination.
4. Build stone wall border.
5. Put down layer of pea gravel to mask fabric and soil.
6. Put down top layer of small river rock.
7. Clean up.

Here are some before and after pictures.

Last Day

Today is my last day at MSU. It doesn't feel like a last day because I'm not done with my thesis. So I'll still have to make some return trips for that little project. Nevertheless, today is the last day where I will make the trip to 368 Dorman for an 8-5 shift. I've been coming here since January 2008. Its been a nice transition from full time student to full time employee. Whether or not to pursue grad school was a big debate in my head, and as I approach the end, I'm still glad I have done it for several reasons:

• I've learned a lot
• I've gotten to be with Rebecca
• I have not lost money on the deal
• Lots of great time with friends
• I've gotten to mature before I dive off into a career path

There are certainly things I would go back and change, but I could probably say that about any path I had chosen. I definitely don't think grad school is for everyone, and its not an intelligence thing. Its just an arduous journey with a lot of hoops to jump through. Some career paths its worth it, others not. Just don't do it because you assume it will make your more money in the long run.

Anyways, I didn't intend on getting all sappy on this post. Today got me thinking about other last days I have had at jobs. This is the longest tenure I've ever had at a job, however its probably the most anti-climatic of any of them.

• Chick-fil-a: worked there nearly two years in high school. I quit to make more money at Longscape doing something I enjoyed much more. I don't really remember my last day, however I still crave Chick-fil-a at least once a week.
• Willow Point Country Club: My first internship for my major. It was an eye-opening summer in which I realized I didn't want to work at a golf course. I still learned a tremendous amount about turf on a beautiful course. My internship came to an end and as is customary amongst turf internships, I got thrown into the lake at the end of my last day. 
• Personal Lawn Care: My second internship took place in Memphis, TN with a company I made a connection with during summer missions the year before. I learned a good deal about chemicals, fertilizers, and running a small business. I also had a great time with my gracious hosts the Poschels. Nothing memorable about my last day except a desire to get back to Starkville for a soon to be romantic pursuit.
• Naturescape: This was my third and final internship. This one lasted 7 months in Birmingham. The first half was great, the second half got mundane when I got stuck as the chemical guy after the other guy quit. My last day was much anticipated because previously mentioned romantic pursuit was returning from a month long trip to Peru and we could finally return to Starkville and be in the same city again.
• MSU Graduate Teaching Assistant: My last day has been about like any other, which I prefer. I don't like a lot of big goodbyes with people I don't hang out much to begin with. Its also unwanted because I will be returning as early as next week to get my stuff. So if you have a big goodbye and then see the person a couple days later, its makes it awkward. I prefer the fade method. So I rode my bike to work, ate leftovers in my office for lunch, and did some work on the thesis in between.

Hopefully I won't have another 'last day' for a while.

Day in the Lab

This is what I going to deem a "Mom Post." Meaning, my Mom is probably the only person who will enjoy reading this. So if you're not my Mom just scan the pictures to see if anything looks interesting. The only reason I write this post is to look back at years down the road and remember what I did in grad school.

Part of my thesis involves using radioactive fructose. By using radioactive fructose I can apply it to the plants and then use machines to detect the radioactivity and thus determine if it is in the plant or where exactly it is in the plant. Radioactive particles give off a certain energy that is detectable that allows it to be used as a tracer. Through various methods such as washing, combusting, metabolizing, 14C samples can be collected into small vials filled with liquid scintillation cocktail solution. This scintillation cocktail gives off small flashes of lights when in the presence of radioactive particles. I then put the vials in a Liquid Scintillation Counter which takes each vial and counts the flashes. This gives us a numerical value of radioactivity. If we know how much we put on the plant, then we can say what percentage is in each location. There's a lot more to it, but this is the simple version. Thanks for reading Mom.

I was running some samples in the lab this morning and decided to take a picture of it. This is the Liquid Scintillation Counter.

Summer Stall - Round 2

I'm in waiting mode again for my thesis. Right now I'm holding on two things that are preventing me from moving forward.

My professor is once again editing my thesis. He says he's about halfway through it and should have it to me by the end of the week. He has had it since June 4th. There are still two other graduate students who are also trying to finish that are taking up some of my boss's time. One has been gone about a year, the other since before I started grad school. They left to start jobs and finish their thesis on the side. So its slightly annoying that they decide to get after it at the same time I'm trying to finish.

The second is a machine managed by another professor on my committee. It has some kind of leak and I can't use it until it gets fixed. Once it does get fixed I have three rounds of testing that will each take about a week. The machine has been down since May 12. Every time I ask about it he says he's working on it.

My last day of work is coming up quick with not much progress seemingly being made. I fear I will be making trips back to Starkville to finish this thing.

Thesis - Round One

My boss got my thesis back to me with the first round of edits. It is pretty brutal. He did say it wasn't the worst he's ever read. Scientific writing is so different from every other form of writing, so it is hard to change your mindset. Scientific writing is also the most boring thing to read. With any form of higher academia, whether it be legal writing, medical writing, government writing, or scientific writing, it seems these communities have made it so difficult to understand, one begins to wonder if it isn't intentional. If you write things in a certain way that only you can understand it than you make yourself more valuable if other people want to know what you're talking about. Basically job security. When I go back and read some of the older papers with hand drawn figures and written on typewriters, they are so easy to understand when compared with the stuff from current day. It makes me wonder if all this research we are doing; what purpose does it serve if no one can understand it. Maybe these higher education circles will so isolate themselves they run themselves out of business.

Summer Stall

I feel I am at a standstill in my thesis writing. I am in the 90 page range right now. There is not much else I can do until I get some feedback. I have three things I'm waiting to hear back from other people so I can move forward on completing this thing.

1. My boss: He is in the process of making the first edit of my paper. This will be a bloodbath of red ink, but good because I know what direction to go from here. Been waiting since April 27th.
2. Committee member: I still have one experiment to complete as part of my research. The preliminary results were disheartening, so I need to meet with him to discuss adjusting protocol. Been waiting since May 12th
3. Committee member: He is the stats expert and met with me yesterday to go over some of data. I just emailed him with some of the updates to see if I was on the right track. Been waiting since 11:30 AM.n (Update: committee member called me at 2:30 and gave me some feedback, so that kept me busy the rest of the afternoon)

All of this waiting does nothing for my motivation. With Rebecca and my other interests taking off, it is hard to keep focused on finishing school. Much worse than senioritis. We will be leaving Starkville July 31 whether I am done or not. I would love to be completely finished so I don't have to come back to wrap up things.

"Up here...I'm already gone." - Kramer