So, the qualifying exam is coming. "What's the qualifying exam?" you ask? How I wish I didn't know!
The Qualifying Exam, for those who aren't familiar with it, is the first real step (aside from GPA) toward becoming a Doctoral Candidate and thus the first real step toward getting a PhD. I have two chances to pass this exam, and then I can only get a Master's degree; I must get a PhD elsewhere.
The exam itself consists of 12 questions. The are distributed over three days beginning on the 16th of August this year, and we have 4 hours per day to complete the 4 questions given.
Additional pressure comes from the fact that Shannon's baby-crazy, and this is one of the last few obstacles standing between her and maternity. So you can imagine that she wants me to pass. So badly that she'll let me buy a Linux tablet. Schweet.
So anyway, I've been reading and working problems. I'm almost done with E&M. Quantum I essentially just need to review by working problems and checking a few spots. Classical Mechanics is mostly reviewed at this point; I need to work more problems, esp. constraint problems. Then we have Stat Mech which ought to be fairly straightforward, except for the fact that I've forgotten most of it at this point. :(
So my new plan for the next month is quite simple: STUDY.
G'night!
Well, I've finally gotten my lazy blog posting system up. I won't go into the details here, but suffice it to say that I can now post much more easily than I used to be able to.
Whelp, I am in the midst of studying for quals. I just put this up this evening because I was getting tired of having a blank page. :) My old blogs should come back as soon as I can get them off the old server. As soon as quals are over (or maybe as a study break), I am working to get gallery going for the photos. Gthumb rocks, but I still would like more features.
So, why do I go through all the pain of making autoblog? Well, the answer is simple. Moichendising, moichendising, moichendising.
So anyway, I didn't get much actual work done today. For that, though, I got a goodly chunk of studying for the quals. A good day's work, I'd say
I sent the new font dialog in to Jody for review, but I've not heard back from him. Once that's done, we can move on with this new font dialog business. Next project is up in the air. I still need to finish the infrastructure for the gnumeric design I was working on. Apparently they want changes done in the content, but nobody's really working with me to effect those changes, leading to some frustration here on this end. [Sigh]
Ah well. The family reunion and preceding vacation was fantastic. We stayed in the Country Inn hotel (highly recommended!) in Kentucky and visited Mammoth Cave and Lexington. We then went to Gettysburg, just in time for their 141th anniversary! We were in town on the street exactly 141 years from when the Union army was marching up it, trying to reclaim Gettysburg and taking heavy casulties.
Anyhow, the family reunion photos should be up fairly quickly, then the anniversary photos.
I think I hear the wash calling....
Am I getting through? All of this effort because I'm so danged lazy. :)