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Yes, it did happen, and I passed the exam. Also, an update on the pigs flying: http://www.gyroworldwide.com/project_detail.php?i=132 

Mid-January to mid-February was the time for my comprehensive (comps) exam. I had 28 days to complete three questions selected by my comps mentor. It was supposed to test your competency for the field, however, the field being EDUCATION in all its hugeness, the questions covered topics I knew almost nothing about. So I spent most of the time researching. Good to have faculty status at my home institution so I could take the books home from local university libraries! My online university library took at least a week to get me an interlibrary loan article, so I wasn’t about to try for a book (3 weeks). Better to do the searches online and pick up the books locally.

I handed the almost 40 page paper in on Wednesday, Feb. 18th. That’s actually 10 pages short of the limit. I’m now waiting for the blind readers to mark it up and get it back to me for the 2 week re-write period. Or, if pigs fly, I’ll actually pass it and avoid the re-write period. Either way, I’m now on pins and needles waiting for this phase of the doctoral process to pass. Then I can get on with the dissertation stuff.

I was lucky enough to be able to take off work for the entire comps period by compressing much of my off-duty time into that short calendar. And since I kept on top of my work email during that time, life wasn’t too unbearable when I got back to work.

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Lately I’ve been really into Facebook, so if you want to check on my almost daily activities, feel free to look there. Most of my family is on there too, which is why I got into it. It’s like going from zero to TMI in just a few minutes.

Otherwise, I just finished my last class for the doctorate on December 14th. Next is the comprehensive exam, which entails 3 questions, 50 pages of writing, and a lot of time. I’ll be taking a month off starting in mid-January to to that. Once I pass (thinking positively), I’ll be able to proceed to the dissertation phase, which I’m hoping doesn’t take more than a year. I have to keep paying tuition on this monthly, you know. $$$!

Meanwhile, I’m off from school, and have one more day of work before I can enjoy the holidays. So now time is spent on xmas cards, shopping, and general catching up. I hope to head to Cincy for a few days to see some old friends, but that is totally weather-dependent; it took the bf five days to leave SD due to the bad weather in other parts of the US. And it is supposed to rain here next week. Oh joy.

Wild Animal Park Festival of Lights, December 2008

There’s nothing like being a tourist in your own town. Especially when that town happens to be San Diego. There are lots of places to see, and now that it’s fall, the main tourist season is over and we locals can get out there and see what all the fuss is about. So the bf and I have been checking out areas of town like Shelter Island, Harbor Island, and Harbor Drive (the piers, Embarcadero, Seaport Village, etc).

This past Sunday we did the Midway aircraft carrier, just in time for Veterans Day. The museum was really cool, and so was the weather– very windy, in fact. Unfortunately, we only allotted 2.5 hours to cover what would really take about four. So we had to leave the top of the ship for another time, someday.  Here’s the link: http://www.midway.org/

I predict this will photo cause great mortification in about 15 years. Right now it’s pretty cute, though. Thanks, Cindi.

Here’s a photo of my twin nieces, now 6 months old, in their natural habitat. One can sit up by herself, the other can roll around. I’m sure they’ll be crawling soon.

I had to do some research on Multi User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) for my latest class, so I took a closer look at Second Life. I tried it last year on my old iMac, and it was underwhelming; my avatar was just two black pom-pons. Now that I’ve got a newer iMac, the interface is fantastic, and I found out that those black things were actually my avatar’s pigtails. Moving around the environment is pretty cool– you can fly and crash land, walk off six-story buildings, bonk your head, and sometimes get stuck in exhibits. Ok, so I haven’t quite mastered the fine art of movement. But the place seems like an interesting concept, especially for educational purposes. Universities and libraries are getting into it, establishing islands that users can visit. Here’s a postcard I sent from my virtual travels a few weeks ago (this is the furthest I get from my home):

What? Summer’s over already? Wait– I didn’t get a vacation. *Heavy sigh* School started up again, and it’s been nuts. The projects I was supposed to be working on the past three months were pushed back until late July for reasons beyond my control, but somehow (with a lot of help) I got these about 98% done by Monday 8/25. More tweaking was needed the past few days. So, here’s what I learned this summer:

• A video collection requires a lot of time and effort to reclassify and relabel, even with two librarians working on it. This took weeks. Turf battles do not figure into this properly and will cause 11 hour days.
• Proxy servers and their associated software require a lot of time for me to understand. More than the 2 weeks alloted by IT staff. This will cause work at home by almost everyone involved.
• Wireless encryption keys require more explanation than: “Hey, we changed from WEP to WPA/PSK.” This will cause 800 flyers to be printed up with the wrong encryption label (WEP) and frustrated students to appear at the Info Desk with their laptops and proceed to show you that the key does not work. My librarian colleagues are not happy dealing with this either. Oy.

I did manage to reconfigure the library web site while waiting for the software and setups for the other projects. So I got to play with Picasa, PB Wiki, Grazr, and Google Custom Search. Yeah, I can geek-out sometimes.
Thank goodness Labor Day is this weekend. Maybe I can catch up on some sleep. Oh, wait, I have to write a paper….

Getting to play with this stuff is the coolest part of my job. Lately the 10+ hour days are getting to me. It’s crunch time before school starts up again, leaving about 8 working days to finish all major summer projects.

Click here: LRC Virtual Tour

This is great because I can upload directly from iPhoto. And no silly ads, and no thong-clad models draped over cars…although that may have attracted a completely different audience to the library page. Some free hosting services don’t really seem to care what goes on their sites.

The American Library Association’s annual conference was held in Anaheim the last weekend in June. I was looking forward to the conference, but not the transportation aspect of it; I waited too long to book a hotel and figured I’d just commute. I mentioned this to my aunts, who were coming from the East coast to visit my folks out here, and before I knew it, we had a road trip planned to LA. With free accommodations, thanks to one of my aunt’s co-workers, who was also attending the conference and had a time share in Anaheim. Yes! In short, while I did the conference for 2.5 days, my car and sneakers had a better time without me, going to Venice Beach and doing the Hollywood Tour of Homes, among other things. Meanwhile, I did learn a lot, and enjoyed the book cart drill team world championships as well.