Just spent 8 hrs on my master's thesis - it's writing itself!

[Fredda Weinberg]

As I predicted it would. I've been able to reproduce the events that led me to the subject in the first place: SQL cursors and performance issues.

Turns out cursors have nothing to do with Microsoft's problem with huge datasets, but the point is that I've got the references and peer-reviewed articles to flesh out the simple point.

The hardest part of the entire evening was getting the page numbers to show up in the right place; you need Roman numerals for the introductory pages and Arabic for the rest. Tougher yet, they jump from the bottom of the page to the upper right. Damn it looks good now.

But it's only half done and I've still got to run the experiments that'll produce the detailed tables and graphs I want to include. But I was able to commit to outline form the section on AI vs machine cognition - I had to take a couple of days off work to focus on the concepts. I should be able to flesh it out this weekend no matter how frazzled I get.

So now for a four hour nap and back to one of the most stressful (but satisfying) day jobs you can imagine.

[Hissyspit]

1. Congrats!

That's what happens when you do good research.

[BlueIris]

2. I hate you.

I mean...uh, congratulations upon an easy...for now...thesis completion. Good for you. Good luck!

[Fredda Weinberg]

3. I'm taking another couple of days off next week to finish

I left my teammates with a stack of work orders to keep 'em busy while I was gone - still some sites left to visit. And they missed me ... awwwww, how sweet.

But I'm determined to finish this ordeal this semester and if all goes well, take a year off before starting a PhD at the university next door.

It's okay to hate me ... I spent a quarter century to get to this point - I may be middle-aged, but never had it this good.

[Coventina]

5. LOL! Get in line behind me!! I'm struggling through my proposal!

I have to get it in the mail by tomorrow......

:banghead:

So why am I on DU?

:shrug:

:spank:

[alarimer]

4. Good for you. Can you do mine??

Just kidding. I need to get to work but I am clueless. Anybody know anything about canonical correspondence analysis, with regard to species assemblages and environmental variables??

[Fredda Weinberg]

7. Yeah

It's a multivariate analysis technique, developed to relate community composition to known variation in the environment. Need some peer-reviewed articles?

[alarimer]

10. I have a bunch, thanks, including a 400-page book

that came with the program I am using. I think I am understanding it more now but for a while it was like beating my head against the wall.

[Fredda Weinberg]

12. MV analysis is a great tool, but I wouldn't rely on it

It is, after all, circumstantial evidence. Computers should make it look easy but explaining the math is rocket science. Fortunately, when your head has spent enough time recoiling from the repeated impacts, it feels good.

Edumucation ... a wonderful thing.

[Giant Robot]

6. So glad my masters did not require a thesis and defense

But good for you!

[Fredda Weinberg]

8. It was an alternative to a comprehensive, which I don't need

at my age. I'd rather cram for a class then let everything slide out of my head ...

I won't have to defend it - that'll wait for the PhD, if I live that long.

The best thing about going back to school was the internship that got me my current day job - I'm still a temp so I can take off whatever days I like, but the department has plans to double my salary ... I'll be back to making what I was before 9/11.

[dr.strangelove]

9. Me Too - Oh wait, I thought you said 8 hours watching The Masters

Never mind. Way to make me feel dunb.

[Fredda Weinberg]

13. Golf ... almost as mind numbing

As the multitude of articles I waded through - from Microsoft itself - explaining why their product is unsuitable for huge data imports I did for NYC's department of sanitation. Funny, when I was working with Oracle, 3 million records was no big deal. Start a script before you go home and it was there like breakfast in the AM.

[dr.strangelove]

14. congrats

and good luck on finishing up.

[Metta]

11. Someone said, "The harder you work, the luckier you get."

Congrats. :thumbsup: :) :donut:

[Fredda Weinberg]

16. I've been puttering on it for almost a year

The deadline is mid May, but I want to get it before the readers by next week. My team mates seem to be enjoying this, though when I'm out they have extra work.

This is the kinda effort you make only a few times in a lifetime - it can either be an ordeal or a hoot. I prefer to see the lighter side. Sharing takes the serious edge off.

[Metta]

18. Hey, what goes around comes around.

Someone else said that we're just a handful of straw by ourselves. When we get together with like minded others, we sweep a greater area because our straws are combined. :) :donut: :hi:

[CanuckAmok]

15. Tell your master to write his own damned thesis. What is this, 1850?

Cry freedom.

[Fredda Weinberg]

20. It's the passive voice that gets you

Reminding you that you're a mere cog in the machinery of academia. My first proposal was rejected for the number of personal pronouns!

Life in an ivory tower may be enviable, but you're right, it is a plantation system and I'm happy to have a place in the real world.

[wain]

17. Good for you. Weirdly, I finished mine ahead of time.

I can be such a procrastinator, especially when it comes to writing. I wrote my drafts and final early in the morning for two hours accompanied by coffee and cigarettes. Did this for four months. Strange feeling to be done early, but it sure made the remaining classes more enjoyable.

Keep up the good work and best wishes in defending.



:)

[Fredda Weinberg]

19. Oh, no defending yet - the paper will stand on its own

Which is alright with me right now.

Somehow, I can't write in sessions - I need to settle down for a good long stretch and put everything else out of my mind ... that's why I can't seem to accomplish anything worthwhile on the weekends ... I spend two days just unwinding.

Coming back in this morning was unreal - scholarship is tapping into something enormous and while my work is fulfilling and challenging, I miss the intensity of the focused effort. The closer this beast comes to completion, the more thrilling it gets.

If the PhD is anything like this, then Dr Weinberg here I come!