Your run-of-the-mill update
So, what's new?
Not much really. Jen and I finally bought a car. We got a 2008 Ford Taurus. It's purty. :) Jen said that she was impressed with my negotiation skills, but I stayed up the next couple of nights thinking about how I could've gotten a better deal. It's more insecurity than anything, I guess. We did get a pretty good deal on it.
Hit the driving range again last weekend. And also went to the Chicago Golf Show. I can't believe that I actually paid money to have people try to sell me things. You walk up and down these aisles and all sorts of people want to put you on their mailing lists or buy their outrageously expensive golf packages. There were a few fun things that you could do, though, like try out new clubs and get a complimentary lesson. Though, again, you could try out clubs and lessons with the idea that you might want to actually buy these things. But anyway...
So the people I go to the driving range with all have their Ph.D.s. Two of them teach at area colleges. And so I get asked about how my dissertation is going, whenever I see them. They keep telling me that the best dissertation is a finished dissertation. And I know that's true and that they're right.
I work on it whenever I can scrape together four or five hours, like yesterday and then again today. But it's not as far along as I'd like it to be. Today, I should finish up recoding my student data. Everything will be laid out in an Excel Spreadsheet, and my next task will be to wade through all of those snippets of writing count them up and analyze their connections and relationships. I wish I knew more about Excel to make that job a little easier. I'm thinking of asking my little bro. to help out with that task. This is the little bro. who showed me up and bought a Cadillac on the same day Jen and I bought our Taurus. So I figures he owes me. ;) I should've become an engineer. *sigh*
It's been interesting to see how my understanding of this topic has become more complex over time. What I'm doing now is miles ahead of what I was doing about a year ago. I understand my topic in completely new and more complex ways. The problem is that I'm in pretty much the same spot in terms of the actual writing produced. Think of it as a volume/density type metaphor. My dissertation is a container that's just as full as it was a year ago, but now everything is packed in so much more tightly.
Not much really. Jen and I finally bought a car. We got a 2008 Ford Taurus. It's purty. :) Jen said that she was impressed with my negotiation skills, but I stayed up the next couple of nights thinking about how I could've gotten a better deal. It's more insecurity than anything, I guess. We did get a pretty good deal on it.
Hit the driving range again last weekend. And also went to the Chicago Golf Show. I can't believe that I actually paid money to have people try to sell me things. You walk up and down these aisles and all sorts of people want to put you on their mailing lists or buy their outrageously expensive golf packages. There were a few fun things that you could do, though, like try out new clubs and get a complimentary lesson. Though, again, you could try out clubs and lessons with the idea that you might want to actually buy these things. But anyway...
So the people I go to the driving range with all have their Ph.D.s. Two of them teach at area colleges. And so I get asked about how my dissertation is going, whenever I see them. They keep telling me that the best dissertation is a finished dissertation. And I know that's true and that they're right.
I work on it whenever I can scrape together four or five hours, like yesterday and then again today. But it's not as far along as I'd like it to be. Today, I should finish up recoding my student data. Everything will be laid out in an Excel Spreadsheet, and my next task will be to wade through all of those snippets of writing count them up and analyze their connections and relationships. I wish I knew more about Excel to make that job a little easier. I'm thinking of asking my little bro. to help out with that task. This is the little bro. who showed me up and bought a Cadillac on the same day Jen and I bought our Taurus. So I figures he owes me. ;) I should've become an engineer. *sigh*
It's been interesting to see how my understanding of this topic has become more complex over time. What I'm doing now is miles ahead of what I was doing about a year ago. I understand my topic in completely new and more complex ways. The problem is that I'm in pretty much the same spot in terms of the actual writing produced. Think of it as a volume/density type metaphor. My dissertation is a container that's just as full as it was a year ago, but now everything is packed in so much more tightly.
posted by Brad Smith at 8:05 AM
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