good news

I was notified today that I received the full amount ($400) of one of the grants I applied for earlier in the week. Talk about a quick turnaround. Now I can actually stay in a hotel during the conference. 

granted

Yesterday, I spent a few hours working on grant proposals. Nothing too fancy, just some internal funding from the university that helps to pay for graduate student travel to psychology conferences. Best case scenario, I'll get $900 and a few new lines for my CV (resume). Worst case scenario, I wasted a few hours. I also started doing some work on a new study I'm getting ready to launch. I'm going to look at one small way that language might influence altruism. If it works, it will show the importance of using humanizing language to describe people (and dogs) who are in need of aid. More on that as things progress...

fool me once...

This morning as I was leaving the house, Mowgli rolled over on her back in front of me and squeaked out a meow, pleading to be petted. When I bent down to rub her stomach, she snapped her jaws shut and chomped on my hand. I didn't think much of it because it wasn't really out of character. But then I drove to my friend's house to pick him up for school. I went inside for a minute while I waited for him to finish putting his dogs away, and his cat, who has only recently started letting me get close enough to touch her, looked up at me and meowed to be petted. When I bent down close enough for her to reach me, she, too, gnawed on my hand. I know what you might be thinking, and, no, I didn't have tuna for breakfast. (Don't be gross).

recent updates

I've obviously flagged in my blogging activity. I've been busy with school, of course, but I've also been a little bored (with blogging). My day-to-day activity is pretty mundane because I've settled into a routine that works pretty well, and so I don't feel like I have too much to say on a day-to-day basis.

Here's what you've been missing: Every weekday I do exactly the same things: wake up at 5:20, work out for 30 minutes, make my lunch, eat a bowl of cereal in front of the news, get ready for school, drive to my friend's house to begin the carpool, drive to school, do work from 7:45 until 4 (sometimes 6), drive back to my friend's house to end the carpool, drive home, make dinner, eat, watch a tv show, and then go to bed. Saturday and Sunday are similar except I don't have the 2.5 hours in the car to deal with. On the weekends, I typically get work done in the mornings before taking the afternoons off. On Saturdays, I usually end up taking Barney to the dog park for an hour or two. On Sundays, we go to church, make our way to Costco to do the grocery shopping for the week, and then relax for most of the rest of the day.

Sarah has been encouraging me to write more often. She keeps saying something about not wanting to be the only one in this relationship who has a "weird" hobby.

the proposed proposal is proposed

My proposal went smoothly on Wednesday. All the suggestions from the faculty were helpful, and I think the experiment is even going to be a little simpler to run once I incorporate the changes. Those are good things.

To reward myself for the success, I'm going to spend the weekend doing a take-home exam, creating a lecture on persuasion, and grading statistics assignments. I am so good to myself. Maybe too good. The hedonism has got to stop.

the beginning of the end of the beginning

Yesterday I had the day 'off' from school, so I stayed home and 'relaxed.' Of course, by 'off,' I meant that I still had to do work at home. And by 'relaxed,' I meant that I did work at home, took the dog for two walks, and then cleaned out the garage and mowed the lawn.

Part of the reason I had to work on my day off is that time has been scarce lately because I'm doing an oral proposal of my thesis tomorrow. So in addition to the stuff that normally keeps me busy, I've had lots of prep work to complete. This thesis proposal is the beginning of the end of the series of steps required for my MS in experimental psychology (The second of two essentially useless master's degrees. Score!). But it is only the end of the beginning of the series of steps required for the PhD. I've outlined them below, because I know a few people have been curious and there are a lot of confusing steps. Some of the more important steps are in bold.


Fall 2010

• Propose thesis (i.e., ask the faculty if it's ok to do an experiment I've been designing; they vote to pass or fail me)
• Collect data for my experiment
• Take classes
• Do other research projects

Spring 2011

• Take classes
• Finish collecting data for the experiment
• Do other research projects
• Write up the thesis document (the results of my experiment)
• Orally defend my thesis (have my writing and ideas publicly critiqued by the faculty; they vote to pass or fail me)
• Get a master's degree in experimental psychology (if all goes well; if not, this will be postponed by a semester)

Summer 2011

• Take classes
• Do other research projects
• Choose a dissertation topic (another experiment; this one has to be grander and more important)
• Do lots of reading about my topic

Fall 2011

• Take classes
• Do other research projects
• More reading about my topic
• Begin designing the experiment for the dissertation
• Begin writing the dissertation proposal (where I explain the experiment in writing)

Spring 2012

• Take more classes
• Do other research projects
• Keep working on the written proposal
• Take my qualifying exam (another oral presentation; in this one, I have to talk about my past, present, and future research and argue in front of all the students and faculty that I deserve to be allowed to do a dissertation; the faculty vote to pass or fail me)

Summer 2012

• Other research projects
• Finish written dissertation proposal
• Apply for jobs

Fall 2012

• Orally propose my dissertation idea to a committee (they publicly critique it and vote to pass or fail me)
• Collect data for the dissertation
• Apply for jobs

Spring 2013

• Write the written dissertation
• Orally defend the dissertation (again, public arguing for my ideas; the faculty vote to pass or fail me)
• Graduate with a PhD in experimental psychology
• Apply for jobs

When I lay it all out like that, it doesn't really seem very appealing. Oh well: I'm pretty much trapped at this point.

oops...I didn't realize I was going to Hell

Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Seminary, recently wrote an essay about the evils of yoga. John MacArthur, a famous conservative Christian apologist, and himself a president of a seminary, agrees. He calls yoga a "false religion." Although Mohler's main problems with the practice are its roots in eastern religions and its encouragement of meditation, he also believes that the exercise itself is a sin. After all, he says, "you're just not doing yoga."

Question: is it a sin to be an ignorant turd? After all, you're not just being an ignorant turd.