Well, the hard copies of my dissertation have been submitted to the examination office at Stellenbosch. Yesterday, I sent several DVDs that will accompany the dissertation that should arrive within the next week or so. Hopefully, my defense will be scheduled for some time early next year.
So, I guess that means I’m either a couple of months away from being Dr. Thompson or a sad, utterly bitter, young man …
I’ll keep you posted.
For those of you who care … and even for those who don’t, I sent off my major chapters today. Going to start on the Intro and Conclusion while the major chapters are being commented on. And well, I guess that’s something … 😛
a few other family matters have filled my time this week. I just finished up edits of Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. Now, I’ll be writing the intro and conclusion while those are under review probably for a bit more editing.
We had a “snow day” Friday, which for us means everything shuts down because when ice falls from the sky we don’t know how to drive. Also, we never know when our transformers (not the more than meets the eye kind) might blow and our power out. On the great “snow day” of ’08 our power went out for quite a while.
We had a death in the family. My wife’s grandfather, Grandpaw Jack, passed away on Thursday. Though dealing with the death of a family member is never easy, this was not unexpected. His funeral services were a testimony to a life well lived. He and my wife’s grandmother were married for 58 years. What a testimony in a day and time when that is becoming more and more rare! If you are a praying person, please rememer JoAnn Burchfield, my wife’s grandmother as well as the rest of the family.
Finally, in South Louisiana we have a little something called Mardi Gras. Growing up in the city of New Orleans and just outside, I think I had my fill of Mardi Gras growing up. But, we do get a couple of days off, which is nice. That, however, does mean that my kids are out of school and daycare.
So, I’ll probably catch back up with you all on Wednesday. I’ll provide updated rankings and pick up with my regular blogging then. Maybe I’ll squeeze in one or two posts before then …
Comments Off on Consign it to Sheol! And, I was Almost Done Thanks to Ben Byerly for his post and links on more reasons not to do a PhD. Of course I’m trying to be a little bit funny, but more often than not some of us academics only laugh to keep from crying. I will be feeling and have felt this pinch already. My wife and I are both from the South. And, here in the South we don’t generally like to move away from our families. As an anecdote, my dad said that when he was in college not many people even came to South Louisiana to recruit because people here generally stayed home.
At any rate, the harsh reality is that there isn’t a big demand for Hebrew scholars here in South Louisiana. So, the options may be 1) try to find a job in my area of specialization elsewhere, 2) try to find a job that is related here at home (related to Biblical Hebrew?), 3) none of the above (whatever that means or looks like). Fortunately, I have a job now where I work with young people and my employer gives me time to pursue my other interests. For instance, I do a good bit of scripture study stuff in my parish (and of course I blog and run my website). So, I guess that currently classifies under #2. And, right now I’m happy with that. With that said, I guess I’ll go ahead and finish my doctoral degree anyway.
Of course, if all of you clicked on my Amazon links and constantly bought tons of expensive stuff, I wouldn’t have to worry about any of that. But, …