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October 26, 2005
Errands & Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy is one of those things that is necessary 1) because people are dishonest and 2) because people are greedy. Not that I always remain outside of those categories, but it still drives me nuts.
Why am I ranting about bureaucracy in the middle of the semester? Well it's not because I had to pay $25 to petition to graduate in the spring. Instead it is because of some unthinking accountant downstairs who used imprecise language and thus has caused a huge debacle with my pay. Luckily for me the vast majority of my pay comes automatically (do not pass GT payroll) to me. Unfortunately there is a small amount that does not. For example for the past year I have been working 6.5 hours a week on a contract for our lab. I have done this quite happily. This semester however, my supervisor decided that someone else should be put on the contract instead of me. I was perfectly fine with this because 1) I've not really been doing my full 6.5 hours a week and 2) the other student had no other means of support. I was however wary of falling out of "the system" If one is not being paid, one is not in "the system" and consequently one does not really exist.
In the end I ended up getting a 3 hour a week grading job (funded by AE). This means that to be paid the AE department has to send some paperwork over to the IE department. Unfortunately the AE accountant did not explain well that I would be grading 3 hours a week and not TAing. Consequently the IE folks said that I was not eligible to work (now mind you these are the same folks who have been paying me to work for the past year). Of course they didn't really mean what they said. What they meant (had they been precise) is that I am not eligible for either a GRA or a GTA both of which involve 13-20 hours worth of work and come with a tuition waiver.
So then they referred me to financial aid. I spoke with several individuals at financial aid (none of whom was my counselor) and each were succeedingly more senior until I actually popped out of the top of financial aid and was referred to someone else.
This all resulted in me writing an email officially explaining that I really just wanted to get a little experience teaching/grading to the tune of 3 hours a week which was sent in turn to my graduate coordinator in IE and then the NSF itself.
Finally I have been blessed by everyone important and may now have the pleasure of marching myself over to HR to fill out the re-hire paperwork.
Sigh.
OH, the talk by Jorge Cham was really good/funny. I write more about that if I ever recover from the HR trip.
Posted by kfeigh at 09:02 AM | Comments (1)
October 24, 2005
The cold weather is here
Yes, that is right the cooler weather finally arrived on Saturday morning. I, for one, am thoroughly enjoying it. This weekend was calm and leisurely. Friday night Brian and I went out to dinner and Saturday night we went over to Pete's for a dinner party. Now Pete may have a lot of quirks, but he sure hosts fantastic dinners. He even made the brussel sprouts turn out well :)
Other than that not much happened other than chores and errands. Now back to work.
Tomorrow night Jorge Cham is coming to Tech to talk and do a book signing. For those of you who don't know who he is click here.
Posted by kfeigh at 09:23 AM | Comments (1)
October 18, 2005
Computer. Hello, computer
OK, so this is rather random, but I had to make sure that all my techno-geek friends heard about this. Apparently the air force is developing/has developed transparent alumninum, click here. Just like in Star Trek.
Now all we need are transporters!
Posted by kfeigh at 04:18 PM | Comments (1)
October 14, 2005
I passed!!!
Yeah. Now it is just up to me to push through until the end. No more do or die.
Posted by kfeigh at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)
Today's the day.
Yep, today I do my oral defense of my writen answers. The exam will be at 4pm, and hopefully won't last longer than an hour. This weekend is our fall break, and so I'm hoping that the profs on my committee will be more interested in heading off to their weekend than on grilling me.
Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.
In other news, the weather has turned strange here and the weather men seem completely unable to predict it. I'm going to go back to the old tried and true method of sicking my head out the door every morning.
Posted by kfeigh at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2005
Fall is finally almost here
Yes, cooler temperatures finally arrived yesterday with the tropical storm Tammy? It is nice to be able to wear trousers again without sweating profusely. It is still raining, but tomorrow and all next week it is predicted to be beautiful. I love fall.
OK on the comprehensive exam front. I finally have the oral portion of the exam scheduled for next Friday at 4pm. Hopefully everyone's desire to start their weekend will override their desire to grill me and we will all walk away happy.
This weekend will be a whirlwind of errands. Starting tomorrow morning with grocery shopping -- we are down to no OJ, milk or bread in the house. This is a crisis point.
Posted by kfeigh at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2005
Almost Done
Well the 10 days of pain are over and I am one step closer to passing my qualification/comprehensive examination. Of the 5 steps required to get a PhD this is number 2. The others being 1)complete required classes 2) pas qualification/comprehensive exam 3)propose thesis work to committee 4)actually do thesis work and write it up as a thesis 5)defend thesis to committee.
I should have the final portion of the exam, a one hour oral talking shop, sometime early next week. Or so they tell me.
Last night Brian and I celebrated by going for milkshakes. The test was OK. I liked most of the questions I was posed, but by the end was completely tired of them. I had to greatly resist the urge to give up half way through from lack of determination -- well that and some aching hands/wrists.
I'll keep you all posted as to how things turn out. And if you are curious I'll even post the questions once I'm in the clear.
Posted by kfeigh at 10:32 AM | Comments (1)