Cruise Pics

A word to the wise...

A note of caution next time you want to paint the town red. I would advise against it. After passing my proposal I decided...it was time I lived. Time to paint the town red! Unfortunately I got caught. They took my paintbrush and paint can, and gave me a ticket, and I had to do all this cleanup. Also, it wasn't really all that much fun.

Lots of Love,
IPG
The Literalist

"Performance, and performance alone, dictates the predator in any food chain." SEAL Team saying

I PASSED!
I am now ABD!

Officially admitted into candidacy! Ph. d. here I come.

The good:

• My presentation looked AWESOME.
• I had answers for every question.
• I got several compliments on my writing and research skills.
• oh yeah and I passed!!!!!
  

The bad:

• One of my committee members is clearly clueless and kept asking pointless questions the entire time and wanting changes just because they didn't like it that I use words like juxtaposition, myriad, plethora, leviathan. Number one I talk like that in real life. Number two if you don't get to use your 50 cent words in your dissertation when can you use them?
• I have to make minor changes in my survey.

The ugly:

• Well this isn't ugly...but I completely refrained from making faces, throwing a chair, or throttling above mentioned committee member.
• I have to do structural equation modeling which I was avoiding like the plague...I know it will make my study better, but I just wanted to go the short way!

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Happy Mardi Gras!

Really quickly because I am preparing for my proposal on Thursday, and I am going to do an entire blog post about the cruise...but I wanted to relate this story. So on our cruise I met the fiance of the brother of one of my friends. And we discovered (unintentionally) that we were in the same sorority in college. Different schools but same sorority. For some silly reason we both started squealing and hugging like every scary sorority stereotype you have ever seen in your life. It was pretty funny, because I don't consider myself your typical Bowhead (AKA as Sorority Girl). But I guess you can take the girl out of the sorority, but you can't take the sorority out of the girl. ;) I also need to mention that I thought it was fantastic that I got to use my sorority's secret handshake for the very first time since college. This I realize makes me a huge dork.

One more interesting tidbit. On a lark I sent a paper to a conference on security. It got accepted...and got a very high rating. So I guess I will be presenting a paper in Las Vegas in April.

Have a great Fat Tuesday!

“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” Caskie Stinnett

Headed on our cruise tomorrow. So very excited. Have I mentioned how much I love Bey? Well if not...I do. Here are 2 cutie pics of Bey and I.
I know I could really use a hair brush. My goodness....also it would have been nice if Bey had not given such silly faces when we were snapping pics.

Dear Bey,
Don't ever let anything happen to you. If something does...take me with you so I don't have to spend another single day on earth with out you.

Love IPG

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~Kahlil Gibran

If you read this blog much...you know that I am a teensy bit eccentric...I guess is the word I am looking for here. In July of 2007 my dog died. I always think I am over it. Then something happens, and I cry again. Bey found a video of my dog. I still miss him.

Correlation is not causation- IPG

The term usually used is correlation does not imply causation. It is a phrase used in statistics. It is typically used to show that just because two variables have a relationship does not mean that one causes the other. Although like any good logic argument the converse is true causation does imply correlation. However...I digress.

Take for example that the two variables ice cream sales and murder. As ice cream sales increases murder increases. These two variables have a positive relationship. As the sale of ice cream decreases murder rates decrease. Excellent. That is correlation. However it would be a logical fallacy to insist that eating ice cream causes people to murder. This would prove the correlation does not imply causation. Perhaps there is another variable involved like HEAT that is causing the murder rate to increase.

Anyway, why am I going off about these random statistic facts? Who knows? I am anxious to collect data and write up chapters 4 and 5. I also got involved in some family drama rama that I should have kept my nose out of.

Work? I have been working quite a bit lately. Teaching online provides me with an active career that I can pursue while working on my Ph. D. I started teaching online 5 years ago. Wow! Time flies. At any rate, I enjoy what I do, and will continue to teach online. I enjoy the classes, and the students. I have not decided if I will be seeking a tenure track position at Arizona State although that might not work so well since there is a recession going on...however we shall see.

“I don't care if they eat me alive, I've got better things to do than survive.” Ani Difranco

I kind of have this little countdown in my head about my proposal. Here are some things that I have noticed recently. I used to feel as though I was juggling 1000's of glass balls. However what has happened recently for me is I have stopped juggling. Some of the balls were dropped...smashed. Some were merely placed away safely so that I could pick them up at a later time. I have been pretty much a one song juke box in 2009. This dissertation obsession is the only thing that I have been focused on. The other glass ball I have had to keep in the air is work. So work and dissertation are the only things I have been doing.

NOT personal research ....which by the way although I do not consistently talk about is a big passion of mine. I have several publications, and I have a few more in the pipe line. But this is a glass ball that has been safely placed aside.

My friends and family have obviously suffered the most. That is where I am going to have to apply the most effort when this process is over. I am going to have to get to know all the people in my life again.

And...my den is put back together!

This house is going to be ready for market by March 1. WHOOOO HOOO!

I got the resort wear out and the packing has commenced for the cruise. I bought 2 new bikinis today. And the biggest pair of Jackie O sunglasses that have ever graced my face.

When love is not madness, it is not love. ~Pedro Calderon de la Barca

I love you Bey. I usually write so much...dissertation, grants, papers, research. I wanted to write something really mushy and meaningful for our SIXTH yes SIXTH Valentine's day together. But I am an academic. You want me to write up statistics...I am your girl. You want me to write something meaningful and loving...I am going to have to stand on the shoulders of giants.

Tonight...we are going to bed early with a can of whipped cream to play connect the dots. Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end. ~Author Unknown


Trip over love, you can get up. Fall in love and you fall forever. ~Author Unknown

Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart. ~Author Unknown


A hundred hearts would be too few
To carry all my love for you.
~Author Unknown

We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. ~Author Unknown

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

You know when you have found your prince because you not only have a smile on your face but in your heart as well. ~Author Unknown


Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart. ~Author Unknown

Love me and the world is mine. ~David Reed

My whole heart for my whole life. ~French saying used on poesy rings

Love is metaphysical gravity. ~R. Buckminster Fuller

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost--that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. H.D. Thoreau

What is perfection? Being in love with my husband. And less than two weeks from proposing my dissertation.

Leaving for the cruise this week. Honey and I need a holiday. I started in with him yesterday on the, "We never go anywhere speech." he thinks this is hysterical. We travel a lot...and I like to niggle him a bit.

In the health news...I have had a headache for 2 weeks that will not go away. I don't know why. I can't figure it out, but I would like for it to back off. Headache headache go away.

I lost a friend last year to meningitis so of course that is what I automatically think is wrong. :) Panic queen that I am. Oh and I was supposed to get a Kindle for Christmas, but they were back ordered. We just got the email today...I have been upgraded to a Kindle 2! Ships next week!

“No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.” Albert Einstein

A description of my dissertation writing process in 400 words or less..

Tired. Emotionally fatiguing. Exhilarating one second and suicidally depressed the next. Ecstatic and exhausted. Like my life is not my own. Like I am the dumbest person alive. Like I am a genius. Applying to Mensa. Chewing light bulbs with my teeth. The best thing I have ever done. The worst thing I have ever done. It is totally worth it. Nothing is worth this. I would cut off a limb with my teeth if this process would just get over. This paper is a piece of cake. Would someone please just give me a deadline? What’s my name again? I am dropping out and running off to Belize or to haul fish in Alaska. I am going to color with these crayons and rock and hug myself in the corner. The voices in the radio told me to throw this out. I am flying oh so high. I am nearly done. Almost done. Just about done. Practically done. Ah crap I forgot about this whole part. I am not going to work on this stupid thing anymore. Why did I want this degree to begin with? What is structural equation modeling and why did I think that was a good idea to put into my paper? No I won’t have any qualitative components…I am not running a quasi experiment who said I was? I hate this freaking topic why on earth did I think I could write about it? Where is my other flip flop…I am going to run away from home…I have slept 6 hours in the last 17 days I can’t imagine why my eyes are so bloodshot. I love my husband, but I can’t remember what his face looks like. I hope someone remembered to pay the power bill because I don’t care if the lights go out…this laptop has to work. I am shutting off this stupid laptop and moving somewhere that they don’t have electricity. I am just going to lay down here and take a quick nap. 15 days until the proposal.

annoying note: In changing my blog layout tonight...I accidentally deleted all my links...will be fixing tomorrow. :(

You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. -- Dr. Seuss

In case you were wondering why I was wearing a gas mask last week. I was resealing the concrete. IPG isn't the spoiled little princess you think she is! ;)

Above the Fireplace there was this stupid cabinet that held like a 27" TV. Bey filled that in and sheet rocked it. The flat screen will be going back up on the wall right after the painting is done. In the mean time poor Bey has been stuck with the 20" that I play video games on. :)

House is going on the market March 1. Anyone moving to Starkville, MS and want to live on the water?


In other news I was reading a dissertation today that had the term "social lubricant" in it. As in 'Trust is the social lubricant of all sociological interaction.' REALLY? I think I am going to stick SOCIAL LUBRICANT in my dissertation.

Would you just go lay down in the street while I back over your head with a bus? - IPG

I asked this of a Wal-Mart employee today that was annoying me.
Apparently I should not be allowed out in public while I am this keyed up about my proposal.

However I would like to back over several people's head with a bus. Too bad I don't have a bus.

“Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important.” Lisa Hoffman

I can't believe I haven't blogged in days. URGENT WARNING...this blog post has very little to do with my dissertation if you can believe it.

1.) I love my husband. I have missed the companionship we share these last few months. I am happy to note that the fog and wall that has been dividing us (also known as my dissertation) has lifted recently and we can both see the other side!
2.) The house is nearly ready for the market. We will be listing it the first of March.
3.) The weather this past week has been nothing short of amazing. I am excited by how warm the weather is.
4.) I am considering taking Bey to New Orleans for Valentine's day as a surprise. He hasn't ever seen a Mardi Gras parade, and it is something he shouldn't miss!...
5.) We leave on our cruise in less than 2 weeks! Whoo Hoo! Can't wait.
6.) I propose on February 26th at 11 AM. I am VERY VERY excited!
7. ) Work has been busy, but containable lately. This has helped immensely since the rest of my life has been INSANE!