I believe you are your work. Don't trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than dollars. That's a rotten bargain. Rita Mae Brown

I have a lot to say this morning. ;) School in Blue, Work in Green, Marriage in Black, Family in Brown

I passed my orals and have been admitted into candidacy. That is the big news around our house this week. My adviser was knocked out! She told me I set the new standard in how students should do on their orals. I feel like I am still in a dream. Happy to be done.

I had one committee member try to give me a hard time during the exam. Ha! She came into this game way too late. I am the daughter of an accomplished attorney. I can argue, debate, and prove my point with the very best of them. This sounds like I am bragging, but I am lightning fast on my feet. It comes from years of arguing with my father as I was growing up. It was verbally kill or be killed in my house, and I am no one's victim. :) (All that said I have never actually won an argument with my father. I always end up losing. Fast on my feet as I am...he is still faster...guess that comes from 25 years plus experience he has on me).

Finishing my oral examinations has not lifted the cloud of laziness that has been following me around the past month. Let me rephrase that...I have not felt lazy about everything just WORK and SCHOOL. Playing video games, gardening, going out in the boat, spending time with family, cleaning my house, running errands, taking care of finances, and a myriad of other things I enjoy. I haven't been lazy a bit. But ask me to do some work or do some school work, and I fall into a coma. I did get caught up on a few tasks I have been putting off embarrassingly long. That is one reason I have not been blogging with the regularity I usually enjoy.

On the school front I need to get serious about my dissertation. It would be nice if I could get my proposal done before August. However it is not exactly what I would call reasonable. I am devoting this summer to SD. She deserves it, and this summer is all hers. I was in a big hurry to get to where I am. Now I am not in such a big hurry. Perhaps this is why there are so many ABDs in the world. I will finish; I just need a small break then motivation will come. I plan to start working on my dissertation every day beginning July 1. I want to spend at least one hour per day working on my dissertation.

Work wise, I spent nearly 15 hours at work yesterday. So maybe the lazy cloud has lifted. I hated having to do it while SD was here. But I was doing the whole work now play later thing. One aspect of working online is that sometimes you have a lot of control over how much work you have while others you have almost no control. I had had quite a few things come at me very quickly that had to be taken care of almost immediately. So yesterday was spent doing them. I traditionally take Fridays off! So today I am off. (I work Saturday and Sunday though). Being the dedicated employee that I am I work 6 days usually.

One of the schools I work for has started a huge push for retention. Attrition rates and retention are something that have always fascinated me in colleges and at schools. I don't know why, but I always want to know what makes a student leave a course, or leave school. Additionally it seems like several schools lately have gotten on the retention push bandwagon. I wonder what is going on with enrollments. I am not involved in any aspect of that for the organization. But logically if they are all pushing about it...it means enrollments and drop rates are not good.

Finally, I think I am going to stop reading a message board I joined a few years ago. It is for Online Faculty, and I used to really like it. It gave me a way to connect with other online faculty. It also gave me a way to interact with peers that I may never meet, but at least would be able to talk to about similar issues. However the board has really gone down hill lately, and I can hardly stand to even read the board now. This is a dissatisfying development. Perhaps I am being too harsh, but the board has turned into nothing but constantly asking for help finding a job. I personally consider the search for the position part of the initiation process thus the board has begun to look like whiners to me.

HH took me to dinner last night for a steak the size of my head. It was in honor of passing my comps. I appreciate the gesture, but wish he would take a bit more interest in this topic. The passing of comps topic. He is a great hubby, and usually hangs on to my every word. But I just didn't feel like I got the attention I deserved about passing quite as quickly as I wanted it.

While I don't consider myself a high maintenance person...I have great hair that never needs to be dyed or cut expensively, don't get manicures/pedicures, do get my eyebrows waxed, don't fake tan, don't spend exorbitant amounts on clothes, bags, or shoes (ok sometimes shoes). I can be emotionally high maintenance. Meaning that I can get my feelings hurt easily if the proper attention is not provided. At least he made up for this by taking me to dinner, but I am not that easily bribed. :)

Things are going well with SD. She has never acted better. I mean it she has been an angel. Her dad and I were discussing it yesterday. I can not believe how good she has been. The only negative there is to her coming is the clutter. I forget this every year, but when the house is just me and my hubby there is no clutter. It stays neat. When she comes the clutter threatens to strangle me. Yesterday we had a talk about not putting stuff away. It won't work, and won't last but at least this morning the house looks neat. ;D

This morning is so gorgeous. When I went outside and drank my Café au lait on the deck I was astounded at how perfect the morning was. The weather was warm with a hint of a breeze, and it smelled delicious all honeysuckle, and fresh cut grass. I wish it could stay that way, but it won't...it is going to triple digits today with 100 percent humidity no less.