Finally Dr. Albatross!

I successfully defended my dissertation on Friday! The public talk was well attended* and not too long **. I didn't really get nervous, in fact, after finishing it on Wednesday I was sort of at a loss for what to do with myself. Luckily, my mom was in town to distract me! 

The actual defense part was not what I expected. It was not an exam so much as a conversation with a number of suggestions. My advisor was very diplomatic in figuring out what will actually need to be done vs. what all was talked about. After an hour in the room with my committee, I have to add a descriptive section (2 pages or so), 2 new stats test, and a reorganization of Chapter 3. It is all very doable in the 2 weeks I have until the Graduate College deadline! Yay!!

There was a little cake/champagne thing at school, happy hour and fancy dinner to celebrate on Friday. Since then, we have been lazing around, enjoying drinks, food and the company of my mom and the Grackle. Today I am watching my Fantasy Football players rack up my second straight loss*** and trying to stay warm. I haven't been outside really in 3 weeks- when did it start feeling like January?!

* I thought it wouldn't be. There was a training/seminar series for some new departmental equipment, however it was cancelled the day before.

**All my practices were really long (over an hour).  

***But I'm still in 1st in my league and have already clinched my playoff spot.