Standard Disclaimer

As there is a possibility that this blog may become more public, I feel the need to add a disclaimer...
My experience is subjective, unique and influenced by the life experiences I had before I became a PhD student and my life experiences during this program. Your experiences will inevitably be different. They may even be wildly different!
Remember: my truth is neither your truth nor The Truth.
I want this blog to be honest. For that to be a reality, it must therefore be anonymous.
Politics and religion are fodder for other bloggers; I am a one-trick pony. The PhD nursing experience is all I'm here to write about.
Thanks and enjoy!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Really, really correlated

I know that I am finally reaching my limit of asceticism.

I know this because I've started re-reading the Kinsey Millhone series at night for comfort. Her character revels in living as a minimalist, alone in California. She takes pleasure in all the things that can make me feel lonely if I don't constantly scan for that feeling and nip it in the bud as soon as I notice it. For right now, that series is the most relaxing thing at the end of the day.

It shouldn't be surprising that my current state of bibliophilic decompensation is appearing in week 10 of the 10 week quarter. Today, I added to my grant draft and sent my most recent (incomplete) version to the professor. As the class is pass/fail, and mainly informative, she did not require a completed draft to pass. That is good, since I don't have a completed draft. 

Next, I worked on my final statistics problem set.  I should have known that I was nearing my limit when I got a correlation coefficient of 1.48 (which is impossible for that particular test) and considered writing the professor a note that said, "Hi. I realize that this result is impossible. And that realization is completely due to your excellent teaching. However, I've attempted to find my math error for over an hour and simply can not locate it. How about we just say it's really, really correlated and call it a day?" While I think that the prof, who has a remarkable sense of humor considering his subject, would laugh, he wouldn't give me points for creativity.

I ended the day by completing the first draft of the final paper for my remaining class. This would be a cause for celebration, but I know that it needs work. And I only have a few more days to polish it. Polished papers are really the goal, since they count for so much of the grades in the program.(And of course are focused on our specific topics and therefore teach us as we write them.) This one is worth 50% of my course grade. 

Overall, this quarter is drawing to a close. And while there wasn't any one thing that I can say I disliked about this quarter, it also wasn't as enjoyable as the first. 

Yay! for getting through it.

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3 comments:

  1. ScolaMarch 10, 2011 at 5:58 PM

    Hi Dr nurse;
    I have been thinking about you today....hmmm..could it be because i was accepted into the prestigious, largest nursing graduate program in the state of California and the No. 1 research (phd) program in the United States...hehe..Okay enough with the drama but I can't stop smiling and am too excited I can barely stand it (can u tell)? I sat in one of the lit review classes today with my mentor and the last year cohort (if that's what they are called) and it sure felt great being apart of this community!! I know the excitement will wear off soon and the seriousness and intensity of what it all entails will kick in but i thought i would share this! Thanks again for your insightful blogs and i wish you the best in your journey too :-))))

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dr. NurseMarch 11, 2011 at 8:26 AM

    CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!
    I can not wait to welcome you to the student community in the fall!!
    Yay!
    Don't let the excitement wear off too soon. Stay excited for the whole summer!
    Closer to the fall, we should meet and talk about some of the classes and work out how I can lend you some books and all that logistical stuff, but for now CELEBRATE!!!
    Yay again!

    ReplyDelete
  3. SCOLAMarch 13, 2011 at 12:24 PM

    Hi;
    Thanks for the kind words. And I can't wait to meet you. All your assistance is greatly appreciated!!

    ReplyDelete

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