The Big Day

This is a picture of me on the day of my defense. I bought that shirt new Saturday night (it was a miracle purchase, another story for another time). And I loved the combo of the pretty blue with red shoes and red jewelry.

Okay, here's the play-by-play of the day.

Monday night I was still trying to finish my talk, and practicing it, so I didn't get to sleep particularly early. My nerves had been steadily mounting the entire week, but as I practiced my talk, I felt a bit more relaxed.

The next morning I had scheduled to meet with Ted (my adviser). He had flown in the night before for my defense. (And was scheduled to fly out the next morning, so it was a quick trip!) We met to go over any last minute questions I had, which was helpful. Part way through our meeting, Don (my co-adviser) came in, also to go over a few last minute things. He prepped me by asking me some questions that might come up in the closed door session. I started feeling really nervous again when he asked me a bunch of theory questions I didn't know the answers to. Ack! But he kept assuring me that I was ready, and that they wouldn't let me defend if I wasn't. I must have looked unconvinced because Ted said, "When Don says, 'You're ready,' he's telling you, he's not asking you." So eventually they went off and I was left to prep a few last minute things (read over some more of my notes to be ready for the closed door, that's for sure!).

One of my committee members is at the University of Florida, so he was video conferencing in. I went down about 20 minutes before my talk to get set up, and to test the connection with him. While it seemed to work on his end, I didn't have video of him, so I called the computer guy in to fix it. He couldn't, but as long as he could see me, that was what mattered.

There was a good turn out for my talk. I was so happy to have the support of so many great people! My parents were there, as well as several of my friends from church. They are great! I felt a little nervous as the talk started, especially when I lost video connection with the outside member and I tried to fix it, but then just had to let Ted and the computer guy deal with it while I continued my talk. Anyway, I managed to find my groove and I feel pretty good about how the talk went.

The timing of talks is always kind of funny. I needed to make it about 50 minutes. When I practiced it straight through the night before, it was around 70. Ack! So I chopped a few things out. As I was actually giving it, I thought for a little while that I'd go way UNDER time. But I ended up going just right. Whew!

They gave me and the committee a short, 10 minute break between the talk and the closed door. I ran up to my office to drop some things off, then headed back down. There was lots of video equipment set up in the lounge (where my closed door was), and it wasn't working, so they had set up a Mac and we just used iChat. (Good thing we have all that expensive equipment!)

The closed door session wasn't so bad. The first question I got was about the operation of the CTIO 1m telescope (and asked purely out of curiosity), so I felt confident right off the bat. Anyway, it actually felt more like a discussion than a grilling, which was great. It helped me feel more at ease. I couldn't answer every question they had, but that's normal. (They'll keep asking until they stump you.) Overall, I felt pretty good about how it went. (And Fergal would be proud....I didn't leave my chair ONCE!)

After about an hour and twenty minutes, they asked me to leave and deliberated for a few minutes. Ted then called me back in by saying, "Doctor Jeffery, would you please come back in?" Then everyone shook my hand, said, "Congratulations Doctor!" and signed all the necessary paperwork.

Hurrah!! I passed!!

All I have to do know to graduate is make the revisions they want (mostly typos and a few other things, all very minor), and then proceed to the mountains of paperwork required by the University. (Including a copyright test; I have no idea what that entails.) The deadline is next Friday, so I'm doing fine, time wise.

That night there was a party in my honor at Don's house (a department tradition), including the presentation of my T-shirt (another tradition) by Steven. Don took a lot of pictures that night, so I'll post them once I get them.

I'm almost overwhelmed by everyone's support and congratulations. Thank you all so much!!! It really does mean so much to me. All your nice comments on my blog, as well as on Facebook, and in person, mean so much to me! I really do have the best friends, and such a great family. Thanks to all of you for everything!!