Comments on Å Strikke: Singing the Data Management Blues

Re: diss. I've been doing research (still have SO...

2007-02-03T20:35:00.000-05:00

Re: diss. I've been doing research (still have SO much more to do and haven't really figured out where it's all going to come from yet ::sigh::) and am beginning to write... and I know that sooner than I care to admit I will be where you are now... or perhaps I won't get there because I'll still be stuck where I am desperately trying to start.

Maybe your advisor isn't critiquing because he thinks you're doing just fine. :)

Love your knitty article. Frightening how similar...

2007-02-03T17:04:00.000-05:00

Love your knitty article. Frightening how similar all we knitters are, isn't it? I also have the shame part of my stash.

Re: dissertation. Much sympathies. I just went through the whole process myself a year ago for a science ph.D. I hear the humanities ones are harder - less guidance, more independence expected (yikes!). I can tell you that it will get done though. But knitting is a nice little diversion. :) Congrats again on a great knitty article.

Hi! I read the whole thing and am even going to c...

2007-02-02T15:38:00.000-05:00

Hi! I read the whole thing and am even going to comment! Having lived through a dissertation with my husband (when we met he was writing the first one that was scrapped, then went on to finish the second), I totally sympathize. We spent hours together while he wrote and I sewed. Now I'd knit. That was 12 years ago. Now he is tenured at UNC Asheville. Your life will not stay where it is forever.

I'm new to your blog and I'm sure that the last th...

2007-02-02T15:28:00.000-05:00

I'm new to your blog and I'm sure that the last thing you want to do right now is discuss the topic of your dissertation, but what is it about? I just left a ph.d. program in history (I was interested in Birobidzhan and Russian Jewish history more generally), but I'm on the lookout for a new program and I like to keep my toe in.

And I'm supremely jealous you went yarn shopping in St. Petersburg!

Never went to grad school, so I'm impressed by the...

2007-02-02T11:19:00.000-05:00

Never went to grad school, so I'm impressed by the work you've obviously put in. Kind of gives me the hives to consider suffering that much scrutiny. Keep it up! Your're almost there. And I agree with Louisa, your advisor sounds like every other person who feels he or she must justify his position in life. Being supportive and constructive would just be too "nice", and therefore not worthy of respect from superiors.

I remember my friend's husband - who gradduated fr...

2007-02-02T11:13:00.000-05:00

I remember my friend's husband - who gradduated from Michigan 1 1/2 years ago - having the same complaints and blaming it all on the Michigan advisors. I should let him know that it isn't only Michigan.
You should be great at writing by now and so, I was wondering, as I am about to begin working toward my Master Spinner certificate, if you will help me write my papers?
Happy Chocolate Season.

I **hate** to say it, but it could be..........wor...

2007-02-02T09:45:00.000-05:00

I **hate** to say it, but it could be..........worse?

Only in that my stepfather (poor, poor man) had to do his on a typewriter. With carbons.

All of the same crap back then as now - inane (insane?) advisors, wordsmithing out the wazoo, etc. But think of the agony of TYPEWRITERS!

Makes me amazed that anyone ever bothered. Really, it does!

I think you're brave and brilliant to do this - so go ahead & throw yourself a much-deserved pity party - - but remember, once you finish all of this and pass your defense we'll throw you a REAL party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hang in there. You'll make it. And just remember...

2007-02-02T00:42:00.000-05:00

Hang in there. You'll make it. And just remember, blini make any day better. (They MUST be available SOMEWHERE in NYC.)

Dear Kate, Forgive me for being the one to tell y...

2007-02-01T20:52:00.000-05:00

Dear Kate,

Forgive me for being the one to tell you this but...having a job is *severely* overrated!
--smile--
Best of success in all your efforts.

Sandra @ Fiber Femmes
www.fiberfemmes.com

I've never been where you are, Kate, but FWIW I ha...

2007-02-01T17:56:00.000-05:00

I've never been where you are, Kate, but FWIW I have a suspicion why you get those niggly little "corrections" from your advisor instead of the true critique you're asking for. The advisor doesn't have a clue what to say and is just offering something (stupid as it is) to fake like they are superior. It's a very human trait - bosses in the non-academic world do it all the time. Big hugs! You will get it done! Don't forget to breathe...

Hang in there, Kate! I HATED my topic, with a pas...

2007-02-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

Hang in there, Kate!

I HATED my topic, with a passion I can barely describe! It was "assigned" when I had no topic of my own (Let's not go too far down that road - the one where the advisor I went to work with refused me becasue he doesn't take on women students...). I left grad school after 2 years, and totally blew it off for 2 more. Then I decided to finish, while I still had the oportunity, but SO MUCH had changed in my field (geochemistry) that I basically had to start over with the writing, and even the basic calculations had changed, and it took me two more years to recalculate, rewrite, and get the thing approved.

Oh! And I finished the thing while my now ex-husband was in a different state and I was selling our house, packing everything we owned, and caring for a 2-year-old!

Four years later, I'm glad I finished. But for quite a long while afterwards I wondered if it had been worth it!

I hear your pain...I used to work at a place where...

2007-02-01T08:30:00.000-05:00

I hear your pain...I used to work at a place where every memo, subject paper, debriefing, everything! written went through the Division Chief who would do the same thing! Treat drafts as finals, correct silly things, and insist on including certain things that he would take out afterwards!
Maybe your grad school is preparing you for something,
indeed! :(
I loved your collection! I have one too, full of wonderful yarns from Temuco, Chile that I don't dare touch, they are my precious jewels!

Kate, I've never been where you are now, and not l...

2007-02-01T07:37:00.000-05:00

Kate, I've never been where you are now, and not likely to find myself there in this lifetime....but I do think you're an amazing human being, and will get this paper written and all will be well in the world.
Oh, and hey, I didn't have socks in progress in my hands, and as noted above...not writing a diss and I read every single word. Just so you know.

Yup. We do survive. Admittedly, at the stage you...

2007-02-01T06:22:00.000-05:00

Yup. We do survive. Admittedly, at the stage you're stuck in, I wasn't altogether sure that survival was desirable.

Hang in there. I have my brick (as the thesis came to be known) and can still smile crookedly when I see it.

While I'm a doctoral student still in coursework (...

2007-01-31T22:22:00.000-05:00

While I'm a doctoral student still in coursework (ahh!), I feel your pain. People have done this before us and survived. And hey, loving your subject is more than half the battle. Complaining seems to be part of the process, too. Sometimes I wonder if a PhD just measures how much perseverance and sheer stubbornness we have. So keep going. We all have to. And those of us not yet in diss stage need good models to follow!

The people who will listen are the people who not ...

2007-01-31T19:30:00.000-05:00

The people who will listen are the people who not only have socks in progress in their hands (as I do) but chapters that seem to have a life (or death) of their own and the same kinds of diss-related problems you do: stacks of paper (tiring to even look through them); 1000s of megabytes of scans and photos (bewildering to even know where to begin to look at them); secondary sources that they keep re-reading because they forgot that they already read them. And in my case, I still have 2 big archive trips left to make. So I understand, for what it's worth, and as much as you may feel silly for having a pity party out in cyberspace, it makes at least this knitting/dissing girl feel better. Because I feel the same way. So we can't be all that alone... no matter how lonely it feels...

Chin up! Keep writing, keep thinking, keep trying to see the forest and not just the trees.

And drink lots of water. :)

Ouch. Try to hang in there. It seems 1/2 of learni...

2007-01-31T19:27:00.001-05:00

Ouch.
Try to hang in there. It seems 1/2 of learning is from the process and not just the product!!
It's good you still like you topic though. Can imagine the pain you'd be in if you DIDN'T? Ugh.

I hear you. My PhD advisor would tell me to delet...

2007-01-31T19:27:00.000-05:00

I hear you. My PhD advisor would tell me to delete commas. Wow, thanks for the input. For other publications or grants, he'd tell me to re-write. The whole thing. *sigh* But I did graduate, and I'm happy I did! (Although, my grad program provided a decent stipend and health insurance. What is up with your school?!).

It all sounds terribly interesting, if not painles...

2007-01-31T18:39:00.000-05:00

It all sounds terribly interesting, if not painless.

I'm just a lowly undergrad :D, but I can sympathiz...

2007-01-31T18:38:00.000-05:00

I'm just a lowly undergrad :D, but I can sympathize with editors who seem not to hear a word you say, especially when you tell them you want them to critique the ideas, not the grammar. It seems that even though it is a draft, they are treating it like this is the final paper. Look at it this way though, your advisor can only get better!

Good luck with your dissertation. I'm sure it will all work out.

I just finished my Master's thesis (and am now sti...

2007-01-31T18:02:00.000-05:00

I just finished my Master's thesis (and am now sticking around for a PhD, apparently I'm a glutton for punishment). Every single one of those things you described after showing drafts to your advisor has indeed happened to me in the last few months - except for the part about the book, because that doesn't really happen in my field. Multiple times in fact. I especially like it when I explain that it's a draft and it's mostly brainstorming and I'd just like some feedback on the ideas, and it comes back with corrections to my grammar.

At least he uses a purple pen instead of a read one - I guess I should be grateful for that.

Sending you good data management vibes (from someone who knows your pain).

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