Does anyone else remember Carmen Sandiego?

I made the picture giant to give you a better chance of guessing the city from the skyline, but I still think that it's too far away...

I am back from my conference! It was a lovely experience. There was a general call  for presenters next year, and I am already trying to figure out a way to be one of those presenters in 2012! I also met a woman who recently completely her PhD and was a presenter. It was encouraging to meet a nurse who has finished. Also, I really enjoyed being back in my favorite city in the whole world! (That paragraph got a little crazy with the exclamation points, right? Well, that is the way of conferences: they raise enthusiasm.)

I spent the last week catching up. Before this I hadn't realized just how much time I spend on the weekends, even when my husband is here, doing schoolwork and organizing for the week ahead.

If I had to make an educated guess, I would say that I spend an average of 60 hours a week on this program. Remember when I talked about a need to build endurance? Well that was one of the reasons. I work on schoolwork every weekday and, unless I make a conscience effort to stop, most weekends. As the quarter progresses, the amount of time spent working increases. Over the quarter, I'd say the average is about 60 hours. Considering that we are in class only two days a week, most of that time is self-directed, in an attempt to make progress on class goals and also to keep reading in my topic area.

I am already a little nervous about next year! I really need to get my research residencies set up. They have to be done before you can take qualifying exams. And I would  like to write my qualifying exams in the summer of 2012. That means that next school year, in addition to my classes, I need to be doing research residencies.... My university believes that the nursing PhD should take an average of four years. My own goal is to finish in five years. I want to walk away really prepared, having absorbed as much knowledge as I can. Based on that timeline, I should be, by the end of this quarter, 20% done.... But I don't feel like I'm that far along. Maybe it's an exponential thing....or a logarithmic thing...? Sort of like cat-years, or earthquake scales, or.....?

Anyway, before I scamper off to work on week four, I'll leave you with two more pictures:

Any guesses on where my conference was held?