KUI Wednesday

Hummingbird125

Hey guys! I'm drinking an "Angry Moon" and working on creating new invitations for my future Etsy shop! 

This morning, I started cleaning my apartment and couldn't stop. I took our living room rug outside to try to clean it and realized how absolutely GROSS it was, so I went to Home Depot to buy a new one. I found a decent looking 6' X 8' area rug for about $50 - but I got it for $14!!! It rang up as $28, and they gave me 50% off because it took someone forever to get the SKU to ring it up. As a girl on a serious budget, this made my day.

What are you all up to this evening?

psychbabe314

Lol, yeah... basically you can get anything you want at the Home Depot. They will take back any returns with no questions asked (usually), and they are a push over to make customers happy, to the point that it angers employees.

bethsmiles

I just finished up teaching. My weekend starts tonight. I really like my new schedule for work and school. I work/ go to school Monday through Wednesday then have Thursday through Sunday to catch up on things, work on my thesis, and see BF. I am taking a weekend class but it only meets three weekends out of the semester so it's still pretty nice.

Tonight I'm planning on just relaxing, maybe watching some Doctor Who. The first week of classes is always a bit stressful and I don't sleep well so I'm looking forward to catching up on sleep tonight.

phira

@bethsmiles What are you teaching, and what classes are you taking? I feel bad--I think you told me what your thesis work was, and I can't remember ...

I'm having trouble studying for my qualifying exam, which is tomorrow at 11. My brain is just DONE. Tired. The end. I think I'm going to motivate myself by ordering Chinese food. I want to save money, but cereal for dinner wasn't enough (partner forgot to wash the dishes from dinner on Monday so I can't cook unless I do all the dishes first!). Bleeeeeh.

bethsmiles

@Phira - I teach public speaking. This semester I'm taking Rhetorical Criticism (it's my favorite topic!) and Interpersonal Comm (not my favorite but I love the professor - she is my thesis adviser). I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned my thesis topic on here before but I'm torn between going two different directions right now - I'll either do a rhetorical analysis of books written by Midwives to better understand how they use language to create a birthing experience different from that of a hospital birth or I'll do a rhetorical analysis of plot lines in television shows that feature a midwife in order to discuss how the biomedical rhetoric that pushed midwives out of pregnancy and labor has become so entrenched in our society that it it continually reinforced through pop culture.

I always struggle to focus the night before the test. Ordering Chinese sounds like a great idea! I love Chinese! Good luck on your exam tomorrow!! How long will it be until you know if you passed?

phira

@bethsmiles Ooh now I remember that you teach public speaking, but I didn't know about your thesis work. I'd love to hear how your thesis research goes. I studied sex and gender in college and was frustrated by the ways that midwifery has been systematically de-powered legally and culturally in the US. Basically, if I don't have a high risk pregnancy, I'm not sure why I need to give birth in a hospital with an MD.

I think that biology PhD students (and other STEM students in graduate programs) would benefit very much from taking public speaking courses. And teaching courses. If you can't effectively communicate your research in talks, no one's gonna want to listen to you or hire you.

Chinese food was a good idea, and it got me through my study list. Basically, if I say I'm going to measure levels of glucose in cells after various treatments ... I need to actually know HOW I'm going to measure levels of glucose. Not just, "Oh, I hear there's a kit." I am feeling like much more of an expert now than I did before.

My exam is at 11 tomorrow morning (in about 10-11 hours). My committee is going to ask me questions about my proposal to see if I know what I'm talking about for about 1-1.5 hours. My PI has hinted to me that he won't let it go much longer than an hour unless everyone (including me) seems to be having a good time. After that, they'll kick me out and talk about how I did, and then they'll tell me if I passed. So I should know before 2pm (Eastern time) if I passed.

Then I'll probably leave early, change, get a manicure, and then come home and spend the rest of the day vegging on the couch, hanging out on TK.

bethsmiles

I totally plan on having a natural birth with a midwife either at a birthing center or at home. I've learned so much about how women's health has been framed in the US and it's really concerning.

I really wish more science students would take public speaking. BF really wishes that he had. We get mostly business students because it's required for them.

Good luck tomorrow! I'm sure that small period of time between finishing the test and knowing if you passed or not will be crazy stressful! Sounds like you have the perfect plan for afterward though. That's how I tend to want to relax after being really stressed or anxious.

KeptInStitches

Last night was disappointingly sober, but OMG new jewelry came out AWESOME! I redid some BM's jewelry I had for BF's HS reunion. I'll AW the whole look this evening after work - I feel so gorgeous!

(Apparently I'm lazy with the acronyms today.)

Oh, and what booze goes with celebrating this remarkable achievement?

phira

I passed my exam!!!

The Chinese food was a bad idea last night, though ... I started feeling sick as soon as I went to bed and was up till almost 4am in the bathroom. Oops.

But I PASSED so whatever!

bethsmiles

@Phira - That's awesome! Congrats!!

labro

@Phira Congratulations! So exciting!

minskat30

@phira - Congrats!!!

phira

Thanks everyone!

KeptInStitches

Congratulations!

Hummingbird125

congrats!

Swazzle

Congratulations!

CASK85

@phira - congrats! ABD, say what?!?!