Dissertation update, Part 2- A fly on the wall

So here is part 2 of my update. Ever wished you could be the proverbial fly on the wall during a conversation? Well today I was, and it was completely unintentional. I was pumping in my cubby (or playpen as we call it) and I heard 2 familiar voices from my committee. It was then I realized that they were going to be discussing me, because I do not believe that they have any other doc students in common (though I could be wrong!). Now part of me wanted to hear what was being said and part of me really didn't want to hear it. Lucky for me the pump drowned out most of the conversation, but I did catch snatches of it. The basic gist is that my chapter 3 is way too long (like I don't know that?!) and I did a cruddy job with the discussion section and well my writing in general is not up to scratch, and goodness I have too many tables and figures. *sigh* And oh did I mention that I'm way behind my peers/colleagues?

I guess maybe to your eyes (ears?) that doesn't sound too bad, but it's killing me. I am working so hard at this and I feel like I am getting NO support from the academic side (I know I said this before). I know I'm not the best writer, but isn't your committee supposed to help you be a better writer? I won't place all the blame on them, I know I have not been the best communicator, but I'm so tired of feeling like they place all the blame on me. Honestly I don't expect any of them to say hey I'm sorry I haven't been better at supporting you, but a let's sit down and go over this in person would be nice. And yes I know- I SHOULD be the one to say that, but I can't/won't. I'm terrified to meet with them, I don't think I can handle this constant harping, supposed to be constructive criticism any longer. I've had too many meetings these past 5 years where I walk in feeling confident and walk out feeling more than defeated, but stupid. Do you want to meet with someone who makes you feel stupid?

So after I overheard this conversation and I finished pumping I just sat there. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry- I wanted to run into the offices and demand that we go over this once and for all. I'm tired of being talked about. It has been happening the ENTIRE time I have been in this program. I have unintentionally overheard numerous conversations about my poor skills at writing papers, writing test questions and teaching style. Quite honestly I feel like I am the brunt of the jokes of our program, and while I have NO EVIDENCE that this is true, it's just how I feel.

Anyway back to today's conversation, so I just sat there and did nothing, cleaned up my pumping stuff and tried to get back to reading articles. Then I hear a voice call out, "anyone in there?" so I say yes and then I hear a door close as they leave. I'm thinking well, situation avoided, until about 5 minutes later I hear "Is that you?" (referring to me). I said yes and opened our cubby door and found myself face to face about to have the conversation I didn't want to have. I *think* someone may have been embarrassed that I overheard things, but I was honest and said I didn't hear everything- I was pumping, but that yes I could hear some things. I left it vague (maybe that was cowardly of me) and open for said person to take the lead. Things were explained that my chapters were too long (again- I know!), my discussions not substantial enough and that were debates about turning my chapters into journal articles. I can say none of this was surprising, which I guess is a good thing? I just didn't like that it went from that to well this is how your peers/colleagues are doing things and you are behind. I know I'm behind, do people honestly think I don't know I'm behind?! I know that I have ZERO articles published to my name, do you think I'm proud of that?! I'm not....... it makes me cry..... it makes me angry and it makes me very disappointed in myself. Do I need a reminder from an outside source? No thank you! I do think somewhere during this conversation said person was trying to make me feel like I was being supported, in that I wasn't going to have to rewrite my entire chapters 3 & 4, but honestly I don't know.

I wish I hadn't overheard this conversation, or any of the others I have heard. But I have to say it's difficult not to hear things when people have conversations less than 5 feet from your cubby and your cubby doesn't have walls that go to the ceiling- hence you can hear anything said within a large radius. I'm *hoping* that maybe they will be more cautious in discussing me and pitfalls in the future, but who knows. 

Dissertation update, part 1

So there has been a LOT going on the past 2 months in regards to my dissertation. So this is part 1: where I am at and what has happened. Part 2 is a commentary (vent?) about something that occurred today.

If you follow me regularly you would have seen the crazy schedule that I posted a while back. We have been keeping to that crazy schedule, though with a few more breaks built in for everyone's sanity. In regards to the dissertation all five of my chapters have been written and reviewed (at least once) by my adviser. Chapter 3 (which is study #1) is off to 2 other committee members and I am expecting their feedback sometime this week, most of which I expect is that it is too darn long (60+ pages, not including figures, tables, or references). I am revising Chapter 4 (study #2) currently and will have it done by the end of the week. Intro and lit reviews (chapters 1 & 2) are waiting on review from my chairs from their second round of edits by me. Next on my list of things to edit and revise is my final chapter, summary and conclusions. This chapter needs a lot of work, especially because I apparently failed miserably when I wrote it. *sigh*

So I know two posts ago I was ranting about delaying my defense and while I could still rant about it I won't (at least for now).  The basic facts are that I am anticipating a defense in May or June. I really can't afford to go any later into June. I HAVE to get a job, earn some money somehow to get us out of this financial pit we are in. On the upside I do get to "walk" at Commencement in May. My name won't be in the program, a degree will not be conferred, yada, yada yada........but to me it's super important to walk. Hubby and I don't plan to be here in December when I could walk and have my name in the program, etc. and it's not financially feasible for all of us travel back here just so I can participate in graduation. So while I really wanted to participate fully in graduation and BE DONE with this process by May I guess I have to suck it up and move on.

So that's the abridged version of what has been going on. You really don't want to hear the unabridged version.

Thanks

Thanks to all the support from my family and friends the past two days. I don't want to be a drama queen, and I hope I'm not portraying myself as one, but it has been quite a journey. So anyways, THANKS again.

I really appreciate all the support and thought and prayers. It really does help to know that people are proud of you and supportive of your choices- no matter how crazy it seems.

THANKS to you all and I will remember you in my prayers tonight.

Dissertation update and rant

So now that you know how crazy life in general is, let me update you on this dissertation. Data collection is done and data analysis is done. I have written all of my chapters except my final summary chapter (which is due Saturday). I don’t think I realized how much I opted to tackle when I designed this study, but lord I wish someone on my committee had sat down/stood up/something and said you MUST cut something out! Honestly maybe that has been the issue from the start is that I feel like I don’t have anyone being my cheerleader and supporter. While I do have one committee member that I adore, he is a junior faculty member in comparison to the others and I don’t think that he would make waves unless he felt it was unethical.

So back to my data. I have 16 variables and 5 subjects for each study. Now for many of you that doesn’t seem excessive, but when you are doing a single-subject design study that means there is NO group comparison. You graph each variable for each subject and you write up each variable by subject. No you do the math: 16 X 5, oh and then multiply that by 2, since I had to redo my first study. Needless to say excel and I are good friends most days.

The not so great news is that I don’t have any clear trends in my data, it’s a jumbled mess! I could easier deal with other things than this mess I brought upon myself. Honestly I have no one else to blame, but me in regards to the massive amount of data. But I wish that it had some clear cut trends. Trying to dissect that much data and figure out what/why things didn’t go as planned has been horrific. It doesn’t help when you aren’t getting the assistance you feel you could use from your support system and they just want to know why your project didn’t work and these others did. *sigh* It’s been a rough past few weeks and I know I have more to tackle.

I’m just seriously disheartened by the lack of academic support and the delays that keep occurring. It makes you want to quit, but you know you can’t when the end is in sight. The difficult part about the end is that in my opinion it keeps getting pushed back by others. It’s frustrating to send an email with a timeline and have not one person respond to it and when you bring it up 1 month later in regards to another issue it is finally addressed and you are told it’s not obtainable, why don’t you wait another 4-8 weeks?! I guess to them 4-8 weeks isn’t bad, but I assume they are not struggling to pay their bills or feed their families or are burned out beyond belief (both hubby and I) and are in desperate need of the vacation that has been delayed (again). I understand that EVERYONE who earns a PhD has setbacks and it is a true journey and test of character, but honestly I feel like I have struggled and struggled and there has not been the support from the academic side that there really should have been. I’m sorry if you think I’m whining and complaining, but if I don’t do it here I will explode. I can’t make complaints at school for fear of repercussions and the honest fact that I need the contacts that academia will provide when I finally leave this place.

So I guess enough of the pity party and back to work. My writing is calling.

My crazy days

     So it’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog. It’s certainly been on my mind, but I have been so busy that I haven’t had a moment to write a few things. To give you an idea of how busy here is an average day:

            7:00am wake-up get ready and get kids ready and eat breakfast

            8:00am out the door to preschool

            8:30-11:30am on Tuesdays work at preschool

            11:30-1:30 get kids home, feed lunch and get the boys down for a nap and my big girl set up with an activity

            1:30-3:30 wrestle B to sleep, hold her for most of the nap, because generally when I lay her down she is up within 20 minutes

            3:30-4:00 get kids up and feed a snack

            4:00-5:00 take them outside to play (or maybe I can put some laundry away)

            5:30-6:30 fix dinner and eat it too…

            6:30-7:00 get myself out the door

            7:00-11:00pm (or later) work at school on my dissertation

WHEW! Are you tired yet?! Don’t mind that when I get home at 11/12 B usually wakes up and wants to nurse and is then up every 2-3 hours. It’s exhausting. Tuesdays are especially challenging as we have dance class at 4:30. Monday and Wednesdays we have swim lessons in the morning, so instead of preschool we head to the Y, where generally (though this week has been bad) I can get in a 30-minute run/walk session on the treadmill.

     Now here’s an interesting note: my advisor says to me- well I did all my dissertation work from 9pm-2am. Bully for her, cause while she had 3 boys who all slept and were not as close as mine I don’t have the luxury of working repeatedly until 2am. I did it Monday night to the dismay of hubby and let me tell you I barely survived Tuesday. 

     Needless to say we are running on full steam here to get this dissertation done. I am writing everynight, except Sundays. I need one full day NOT to work on this project, and today I really want to take a mental health day and do nothing but enjoy this spring day. Sadly, I won’t even though I know I need it, because I will be wracked with guilt when come Saturday I end up being at school all afternoon and most of the evening trying to meet my next deadline. So instead I decided to write this blog post! Lucky you!