Mon 6 Feb 2006
Eye of the Tiger
Posted by Erin under Family and Friends
[19] Comments
Wow, life is feeling busy. Last night I stayed up late thinking up sixty reasons why the Mister should finish his dissertation by April 6th. I put them in a little book and illustrated them. It makes me sound like a sweet little wife, I know, but I didn’t think of the idea– it was commissioned by the Mister.
So far I’ve only come up with 42. It really got difficult after the first 30. I cut a picture of a red Dust Devil out of a department store ad. A similar item has been waiting for us in “storage” (if by “storage” you mean indefinitely borrowed by a sister) in Oregon for five years. I wrote,
TODAY’S MOTIVATOR:
You will be reunited with the vacuum cleaner
I wonder if the Mister will read the motivator and decide to spend that day eating ice cream and throwing things off of overpasses. Wouldn’t surprise me. You win some, you lose some.
READER INPUT DAY:
If you have any ideas for the motivation book lemme know. Keep in mind, all the obvious ones have been used. Including free time, a real job, vacation, outdoor stuff, food, money, and the satisfaction of a job well done.
How about being able to say: “It’s okay, I’m a doctor.”
Or maybe something about the true meaning of Ph.D.: piled higher and deeper. I’ll let you guess what B.S. and M.S. stand for.
It will please the Mrs.?
How about being able to live in one of the top three states in the country (alphabetically)?
Why April 6?
And, more importantly, why 60? The number 42 is the answer to the universe, or whatever the heck.
Nate: I think 4a through 4h could perhaps be stretched out to 8 reasons to finish! So your list is up to 13. Well done.
Marie: That doesn’t work because they’ll let me work there even if I don’t finish on time. They’ll just dock my pay, make me work more, and give me a stigmatizing job title. Those last three reasons are pretty compelling though.
Kate: We’re headed to Alaska (the number 2 state in the country) on April 6th to visit Nate’s reasons 4a through 4h. If the dissertation isn’t off to the committee for review by then, I’m in a world of hurt.
1. You’ll be able to turn off the computer, thus reducing energy bills and alleviating global warming.
2. You might beat some poor sap who’s writing his own dissertation and trying to prove an opposing thesis. If he finishes first, you have all sorts of explaining to do…
3. You’ll get to wear a really funky-colored robe to every graduation you attend from now on.
Vacations are way more fun when you don’t have a dark deadline cloud hanging over your head.
If you finish before vacation, your friends might be willing to reward you by performing a capella renditions of your favorite Michael Knott songs while dancing around the living room. If you don’t finish before vacation, your friends will mock you.
The number two state in the country???
Wow. The abundance of good reasons. I’m all verklempt. Well done, readers!
Nate, you get special points for using NESTED TABLES in a blog comment.
Julie, I already got that one.
Sarah, Hah hah hah!
Aaron, I forgot about the robe. I wonder what color Gary’s will be? As long as it’s not mustard yellow I’m cool with it.
Kate, #2 alphabetically, after alabama.
Hi Erin,
It’s Julie’s friend Tara. I got to your blog via hers and thought that as someone else who has recently finished (I love how they call it a “defense,” suggesting an “attack”), I would mention some things I’ve found quite gratifying about being done. 1) TV during the daytime. 2) Reduced symptoms of carpal tunnel. 3) The freedom to get a pet. Feel free to use any of these if you think they would inspire the mister. But then, he may just be more intellectually ambitious than I am.
And congrats on the job!
Erin,
You can check out Gary’s cool new robe at http://www.oakhalli.com/custom.asp
Erin, “verklempt” is one of the Coolest Words Eh Ver.
The funny thing is, I just did a nested list, but your slick theme/CSS makes it look all like that. I don’t think WordPress uses tables anywhere actually.
For the web geeks out there, yesterday I ran across these cool examples of using pure CSS for layout instead of the old table thing, it’s pretty amazing and makes pages better alternative readers like cell phones, readers for blind people, etc.
Tara– AHA! I knew you were lurking around here somewhere. I finally lured you out into the open.
Those are all excellent ones, and as yet unused. They’re going in the book! Congrats on making it all the way through and landing a job, by the way. I read this book one time called “life on the tenure track” and it was a good idea but really lame in execution. Maybe you can write a better one as a service to the up-and-comers.
I thought of another one last night when I was awakened by mumbling: No more talking about coding and analysis in your sleep.
Aaron: Wow. The one from his university is so… red. and regal. If he wore it I’d be looking around for the Knights of the Round Table
I am just curious about how the title relates to the blog?
We’re Knights of the Round Table
We dance whene’er we’re able
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable
Amy– It’s a reference to the theme song of one of the Rocky movies. “It’s the eye of the tiger it’s the thrill of the fight…”
Nate, that css/design site is amazingly cool. Are you going to do something for it?
naw, if I have any time to do something cool it’ll be first for my wife Betsy’s business or for my family blog