Getting closer to the last stretch

MEMPHIS, TN - OCTOBER 25: Carl Edwards, driver...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

This wek has proven to be just as hectic as the last few, but it’s also been a little less stressful somehow. That’s actually a bit odd. I don’t feel bad as far as with getting work in, but I can tell that it’s weighing on me a bit physically. I think I’m starting to get some pretty persistent headaches…probably from increasing hours a bit with going into campus earlier and staying up just as late. I think after this week I might be able to pull back a bit comfortably. We’ll see though.

Making some plans for this summer and next semester which should work out pretty nicely if they hold up. Looking forward to some conference work and maybe some presentations, definitely gearing towards getting research finished up and some writings finished, I have classes settled for at least next semester, and I’m thinking of maybe getting a side project started. Speaking of side projects, I’ll likely try to pick up a few tasks over the summer, since I should have the time and definitely know some things I wanna be productive on over the next few months:  definitely want to learn R so I can get some more analyses carried out without having to trudge into the lab for SPSS, I’m thinking of maybe learning some web coding too while I’m at it (figure it can’t hurt); want to get more into getting some exercise worked in (definitely looking at investing in a bike soon); looking forward to catching up with a lot of people (trips to Tennessee, Chicago, and Appomattox all looking pretty good right now); catching up on my Final Fantasy games (I have a good four or five I still haven’t beaten…); and whatever else I can get my hands on in the process. I’m looking forward to relaxing, but I really want to get some good work done too. I’ll probably try to get some reading in for both casual stuff and materials that I need to keep growing as a student. I want to work on my (quite frankly non-existent) chess game, and maybe get back into some casual music writing. All that and maybe playing with my puppies every once in awhile. I feel like things would be pretty complete if all that was worked in. I might survive if I have to pass on one or two…

Other than that, I’m just looking forward to the semester winding down. It’s been a fun ride, but I’m ready to move beyond year one in grad school, use the lessons I’ve learned to better myself, and keep looking ahead.

BTW, I wish I could write that much for my grant proposal in 8 minutes, as I just did for this…not fair

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
2010
04/21
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
TAGS





Write comment

Checking In

DSC00556 It’s been a hectic past couple of days and it’s only going to continue, but things are going pretty well. We took time last Friday to remember those we lost on April 16th. It’s never easy taking the time for that, but it’s something that helps us move forward and remember the importance that each individual help and continues to influence us with. We also helped with the Big Event on Saturday, which was tiring but worthwhile. Had our team split onto four projects and got a lot of good work done, even if we went home a bit battered and scratched up and sunburned. After this weekend, the next few should be much smoother…then again, school’s almost out. Crazy to think about actually.

That reminds me though, I need to get back to this grant proposal since I need to have a solid draft done soon…

2010
04/19
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
Write comment

Blur

Drillfield to Slusher

Image by Sr. Mike via Flickr

Everything has been busy for the last few weeks, but going pretty well. Successfully proposed my thesis last week. I have plenty (aka a ton) of improvements and adjustments to make, but the project itself should be worthwhile and something that can be built off of. Relay for Life was awesome (except for the cold). I raised $500, the tubas raised over $3000, and Tech raised over $530,000! It was pretty awesome, even if it was cold outside. I’m getting some good writing underway for my grant proposal, and I’m finishing gearing up for a class presentation for Soc Emo Dev on family conflicts and resolution. Should be interesting. Waiting for word back on my last exam in Multiple Regression. I felt that it went okay but there’s never any knowing with this stuff. I just got accepted into a fellowship program for the next two years. That’s pretty exciting. I finished up last week with helping with some on-campus conferences, and am now looking ahead to some future ones like SRCD. The undergraduate research video should have enough interviews to be put together by hopefully the end of this week, if not early next week. The Day of Remembrance, Hokie Focus, and the Big Event are all this weekend. Next weekend is spring game and Symphony Band concerts. The only other big things I know of beyond that are final class projects/exams and graduation. If I can survive the next two weekends then everything should be much smoother sailing for closing the semester. I’m looking forward to it.

Now that that’s all caught up, back to reading on meta-emotions and risk and resilience. Fun stuff.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
2010
04/13
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
TAGS
Write comment

Relay Dinner a Success

Indianapolis - Canal Walk - NCAA hall of champions

Image by Serge Melki via Flickr

Great day. Think I did pretty well on my exam today and I got the chance to get home and fix up everything for the Relay dinner in time. We raised 80 bucks thanks to everyone showing up and having a great time. It was great catching up with folks and I’m hoping they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Now time to prepare for the rest of the week (as soon as I stop being so full). I’m helping with the undergraduate research conference tomorrow, meeting with a student to help with a project she’s working on about child psychology. I’m also gonna work on my grant proposal for class this week and finish getting ready for my grant proposal. I’ve actually got some time this week so hopefully I’ll get that done. I also have a little thesis proposal to get out of the way. Topping things off with Relay for Life Friday and then looking toward getting some work ready for next week. Always fun to keep track of things in terms of each project coming in.

Now to pull for Duke (as much as it pains me) and get some reading in before bed.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
2010
04/05
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
Write comment

In Blacksburg, you go from a high of 30 to a high of 84 in a good week. It’s a bad week if it’s reversed.

Burruss Hall

Image by daveelmore via Flickr

It’s been a very hectic past couple of weeks, but things seem to be going well. I’m getting a lot of work done and I’m not feeling too stressed over this stuff so I’m not complaining. Looking forward to another busy week though, with a test, another conference, maybe a panel on graduate-underagraduate mentoring, and proposing my thesis on Friday. Good news (sorta) is that I’ll be cutting back on some of the lab meetings to make room and I’ll hopefully also catch up a bit on cleaning up data and getting that presentable. I’d like to try and update the data set if possible before Friday and talk to some more professors on how best go analyze the data (we’ve got some ideas but they’re not as concise as we’d like I guess is the best way to put it).

Other than that, it’s just enjoying this beautiful weather (from inside cause I’m supposed to be studying and doing work) and catching up with a few people. Went to see that Clash of the Titans thing yesterday…for a movie that tried to sell everyone on how cool the Kraken would be, the poor thing didn’t get much screen time…kinda a letdown on that much. Also catching up with folks tonight for a birthday dinner and getting stuff together for the Relay fundraising dinner on Monday. Should be pretty good. Also got some other chores out of the way like ordering my tux for the Symphony Band concert coming up at the end of the month. Now that I think of it, school’s gonna be out in a couple more weeks. I should definitely try to make sure I’ve got everything together for that.

The last big projects I really have to focus on are presenting for Social Emotional Development class in a few weeks and getting everything together for my grant proposal in that class. I’m still tweaking ideas, trying to clean everything up and make sure it’s all presentable. I have my grant project idea set for the most part, but I would like to keep adjusting to make sure that things are gonna be as strong as possible. I think I’m going to pull back on family influence as far as infants are concerned and worry more about how family support can influence young mothers and then how mothers’ behaviors and beliefs are related to their children’s temperament. But I’m not sure. That’s still a good bit malleable. Other than that, I need to stay on top of my multiple regression work. That’s going alright, though I’d like to bring up my grades a bit more. This test will be a good chance to do that hopefully. Speaking of which, I should probably get back to reviewing. I’ve been good and haven’t played in video games yet this weekend. I’ll probably just keep that up and stick to focusing on this stuff, and then keep working on a few other side things like data and Soc Emo Dev articles to look over.

Still haven’t played Final Fantasy XIII since Spring Break. It’s a bit depressing.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
2010
04/03
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
Write comment

Spring Roll

Blacksburg, Virginia

Image via Wikipedia

March’s weather has been all over the place (kinda expected actually). We had some great weather in the 60’s, a bit of snow…again…, and enough rain to flood out a few areas. What more could we ask for? Well, temps back near 80 this weekend are a pretty nice start. Too bad I have to actually study for my test this weekend, as well as get stuff ready for the next apartment and my thesis proposal. Kinda insane when considering how fast everything’s moving, but I’m looking forward to it all and just trying to take it in. I’ve actually been fortunate to get a lot of work out of the way today. I’m hoping to keep on top of things and starting off with a run to the gym tomorrow morning, as well as setting my chicken to start cooking in the crock pot so It’ll be ready for an awesome din din in the evening. Pretty exciting stuff.

Still not sure what’s going on this weekend though. There’s a lot of stuff going on in Appomattox and in Blacksburg quite frankly, but I’ve got a lot of things on my own plate I need to make sure get done, so most likely a few people will be let down on one end or another, if not everybody. But I’ll try to get enough done early on to keep that number as small as possible. Quite frankly my preference is to get out of Blacksburg, but I’m also kinda worried that something incredibly stupid is going to happen on the other end that’ll make me regret that aim.

I’m still looking forward to working on some of these community-based projects too though. We’re working on meeting with prospective students right now to encourage them to attend Tech, and there’s Relay for Life and the Big Event coming up in the next few weeks. Once all that’s out of the way, I’ll have most of my major goals for the semester out of the way actually. Still need to finish my class presentation and grant proposal for Social Emotional Development and get all these pesky tests and homeworks done with in Multiple Regression, but those are hopefully going to be pretty manageable. I’ve already picked out articles for my presentation and have really enjoyed reviewing the material for them, now it’s just time to get everything into a pretty nice format for sharing and discussing with others. I also need to tweak my current PowerPoint slides for the ODD project to have that ready for proposing, but I think that should be pretty straightforward also. Once all that’s out of the way, I can pretty much wrap this semester up and begin looking forward to what the summer has in store for me.

I do need to look more into wedding stuffs. I really want to start setting aside money specifically for personal expenses and gifts and the like for those ventures. Quite simply, I have quite a few toasters to start looking toward getting.

Related articles by Zemanta

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
2010
03/29
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
TAGS







Write comment

What a week

Drage på Piccadilly Circus

Image by cglosli via Flickr

Things on campus have been hectic for late, but I’m just trying to roll with it. Plenty of ups and downs  with everything from politics to schoolwork to athletics. Let’s just say I’m looking forward to the weekend for sure, though I’m not sure if I’ll actually be relaxing much or spending it on a final thesis revision (hint:  it’s most likely the latter). Good news is that the date is set for proposing, many of my other presentations and reviewings and the like are now out of the way so I can try to really shift focus to that and my grant proposal for Social Emotional Development. I think I’m settled on looking at the moderating influence of father/grandparent support on young mothers’ beliefs on emotions and their toddlers’ temperament.  It should be pretty interesting if I can get everything together in decent time, figure out the procedures and costs (yikes) and have some coherent hypotheses ready to go.

Other than that, we’re officially looking toward football season now. Basketball did great quite frankly and I don’t really have the time or patience to go watch baseball so I’ll just wait for the spring game I guess. Totally worth it.

Other than that, Relay stuff is still going well. Very close to my personal goal, and once that’s out of the way, I’ll likely look toward another service project to help with. Also finishing up some additional application work for another funding opportunity. It would be amazing to be awarded from one of these for next year. Here’s to hoping still.

Other than that, I really need to get some video games into my system soon. All the stress from other goings on is really starting to wear on me a bit. It’s appreciated up to the point when I start feeling just moody at everything cause I’m getting caught up in one or more really frustrating parts.

Just gonna take it one step at a time though.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
2010
03/25
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
Write comment

Getting there

Lots to still do today but things are going pretty well so far this week. We’re getting a lot of interviews scheduled for the undergraduate research module and should hopefully be making some good progress with that by the beginning of next week. Datapalooza stuff is pretty much organized. I’m getting some review over my latest draft tomorrow then I’ll start rehearsing from there. Aiming for a 20 minute presentation I think. Also need to present my grant proposal Thursday. I think that’s pretty much set now so I just need to have my thoughts together. I’m also trying to turn in an application for a diversity committee on campus. I think it’d be a great way to serve to help on this if I get the chance.

Other than that, things are pretty much just moving along pretty quickly. I’m looking forward to finishing out this semester strong by getting all of these projects out of the way and hopefully hearing some good news on some of these recent applications. Fingers crossed.

2010
03/16
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
TAGS
Write comment

Back to the grind

The Final Fantasy XIII battle system, with the...

Image via Wikipedia

Spring Break is officially over, but I’m feeling good and refreshed and ready to go. Now let’s just hope that’ll last me for the next few weeks. I spent the last few days playing a lot of Final Fantasy XIII (so good), but definitely didn’t finish like I was hoping. Guess I’ll just get it done some other weekend. Also got to spend some time with good friends eating way more food than I probably should have so it was all pretty enjoyable. No stress from anyone on this end or abroad, and I can’t ask for much more than that.

Also got thesis feedback in so now I’m just in the process of trying to work on all of the suggestions. There’s a good deal of stuff that needs to be tightened up and added to, but I think the end product could be pretty good with another revision or two. Hopefully the proposal will come some time in April. Also started definitely kicking up ideas for my grant proposal in Social Emotional Development class. I’ve at least got a pretty good idea of what I want to focus on, now I really need to finish ironing out details and probably should start writing at least a few parts soon. Nevertheless, things are underway and there’s even a coherent idea behind it all, so I can’t complain.

Headed on campus today to get some work in and at least cleaned up the data needed for thesis (and manuscript) preliminary analyses so that should hopefully make things a little easier now. No more splitting up everything into three cards for each event and so on and so forth…entirely too confusing. I haven’t worked on it in a few days, but I also got some multiple regression homework and test review in. The next exam’s not for a few weeks so I’m hoping to have all the material needed to study in soon so I’m not so frantic trying to get it all together next time around. Also, I’m trying to figure out exactly what to present for datapalooza. I’ve technically got all the information to share about my thesis, but not much of the preliminary data that would be a bit more helpful to show at this time (no outcome information at least). I got some work on a PowerPoint for that today, though. Looking forward to getting over the jitters and getting that taken care of.

Stuff for Relay for Life is coming together well. I’m over half way to my goal. Pretty exciting. In a few more weeks I’ll hopefully have everything I was aiming for, if not even a bit more.  Symphony Band will be picking back up this week, and we’ll have a new batch of songs to work on for the next concert. This time I’ll get a tux available well before the week of, so I’m not facing any additional fees. Those are never really enjoyable.

Other than that, it’s back to getting the coding groups settled with additional sessions and making sure to stay on top of things like leadership council services and the like. Probably enough stuff to keep me a little stressed, a little on my toes, but I don’t mind it too much.

 

Oh and side note, we totally got ripped off in the NCAA tournament selection…just saying

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
2010
03/14
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
TAGS







Write comment

It’s quiet.

But too quiet? I don’t think so. I got to catch up with a few friends for dinner tonight and that was pretty cool. I also got the chance to get some work done today (alongside a pretty healthy dose of video games) so I’m feeling pretty good. Hopefully got a new project designed to work on for the rest of the semester, and I can get that cleaned up for next week now. It should be pretty good…of course there’s the whole Final Fantasy thing coming out tomorrow, so I guess that I won’t be working on it too much more, but it’s nice to get that out of the way.

I also might be heading out in a few days and go hiking with a few of the others in town. That’ll be a nice change up and way to enjoy the great weather we’ve been having (so long as it holds up). Also need to remember to send out some more e-mails to get support for Relay fundraising this week.

Other than that, this break has continued to be going great. Real laid back and a lot of opportunities to get some of the work done that I’ve been hoping to catch up on anyway. Still a bit more to really focus on but things are definitely looking up. I’m going too miss how relaxing this has all been, once everything gets hectic again.

2010
03/08
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
TAGS



Write comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.