Brief rundown of Melissa’s life, which seriously I swear is a soap opera:
My appeal to the executive committee of my department so that I could try to remain a PhD student was denied. I am now transferring to be a masters student, and working on my masters thesis. I will defend my thesis sometime in March, and graduate in May. My boss says I can stay on in the lab as a lab tech until August (which is when the grants roll over for the fiscal year) if there is enough money in the lab budget.
My good friend and host of the podcast Girls Gone Geek I co-host Liana Lehua is ill and in the ICU in the hospital. I am trying to upkeep all of the Girls Gone Geek web presences and update our audience about what I can of her condition. She is a very private person, so please don’t be mad if I don’t directly answer some questions; I’m trying to protect her privacy. I’m collecting postcards/cards/letters/etc. to send to her, email me or DM me on Twitter for my address if you want to send stuff to Liana via me.
My sister’s baby shower is next weekend, and I’m frantically trying to put together a menu, favors, and decorations. Luckily I have tomorrow off, since I’m working an overnight study tonight, and Kevin and I have no plans for the weekend, so I can get some shopping and cleaning done. Still need a Halloween costume though….
I’ve decided to take next year off from school, and work at least for one year before going back to finish my PhD. There are very few places that do the sort of research I do, so I will have to relocate to stay in this field, so it needs to be well-researched, and Kevin’s job situation needs to be stabilized.
Thank you to everyone who has sent me emails, Twitter DMs, etc. and been so supportive through this rough patch! I’m working on it!
