PMP, PhD

Some say it should be PMP-H.

Or PMH

Or PPH

Thoughts?

I say the PhD will belong to me... so even though TMH put a ring on it, his name should not get a doctorate.... and I have always been and will continue to be PMP.

So I know I'm jumping the gun trying out my different PhD names, but I decided it's *mostly* OK since I have learned that grad school is all about confidence and persistence. I CAN DO IT. I am not there yet, clearly, though I am one big step closer. On Friday I successfully crossed over into the next phase of my graduate career. It's weird. It was a very positive experience. I wasn't even nervous in the end... just excited. It was actually fun. I got really good feedback, and I had to defend myself. In the end my advisor said I did a great job and he can tell that I am ready to go and do my work, that I can now "stand up and be a scholar on my own." He said "keep in touch" which freaked me out a bit. But this is when students normally leave. I guess I will be leaving soon enough... and I realized that I really don't have any other administrative hurdles to jump until the B exam (defense of the dissertation). It's a crazy feeling!

So I am transitioning into the next phase of my PhD. Yahoo. In the meantime TMH came to visit. We had a great weekend. We celebrated a bit, but most importantly we got to relax and hang out. We are on the other side of our wedding planning right now; all the big things are *mostly* done. So we get to relax and talk about fun things like where we might get an apartment, and when we should start looking, and what kind of computer I should get when I have to give up my work one, what I'm going to do with my car, how we are going to manage to go to all the weddings we are supposed to go to in May, which of our parents drives us the most crazy, what crap the economy is right now, how grateful we are for where we are, and whether his little niece B, the flower girl, is old enough to wear flowers in her hair and/or carry a basket of petals. Our conversation topics are all over the map, you see.

This morning I met with the florist, which seemed like a funny thing to do on a frigid morning in February. But apparently it's a small town so that's what you do. I absolutely loved her, and I am excited about the flowers we'll have. Yay for pretty wildflower bouquets and fall colors! For the record, she thinks that B is too young for a basket of petals, and a single flower to carry might suffice.

In any case, it's time to get to work again. I hope to have another blog post with the same title sometime in mid-2010!