Cold Spaghetti

Update… Penny has all the needed questions for Day One. I will drop off Will in the morning at his school (around 7:40) and then go to Penny’s house to pick up questions. Home by 8… when I’ll start work! I will email the questions by 5pm to show completion and bring hard copies to Penny when I pick up Will, by 5:30.

As for Day Two… she only has one question. The other two questions are from Carl, my committee chair, of all people… and he is AWOL! In the words of a fellow doctoral student, “Oh, this is so perfect!” I have faith that he, and the questions, will turn up soon.

What drama!

The weather has been so incredibly beautiful (low to mid 60s with wonderful sun!) that outside study breaks have been mandatory. So, Christmas decorations went up! 

See those red cheeks? That (and the lacy rash coating his little body from stern to stem) are why I am thinking fifth disease. *sigh* 

In 19 hours, I am suppose to begin my comprehensive exams. Two days of questions, 8-5 each day.

The update: Penny hadn’t received any questions when I spoke to her around 11 this morning. She didn’t even know that comps were NOT moved to next week. She was going to check email and look into things and get back to me… that was two hours ago. (She’s distracted with contractors and getting appliances and other post-storm business, so there is a reason.) I also left a message on my committee chair’s cell.

I have to have faith that this will work out. I figure that the worst case scenario is that at 8am tomorrow, I start calling faculty one-by-one at home and tell them to send me their questions via email.

The good news is… I’m ready. I’ve reviewed some development theory, read a few articles, crunched a few odds ratios, computed a sample size. At this point, I’m sort of doing the same things over and over again… I’m ready. Let’s go, people!

Me, just finishing helping Will into shoes and jacket and ushering him out the door to school: “I love you, sweetheart.”

Will, taking Paul’s hand and looking back at me: “I luvu, seehart.”

We got a call this afternoon from Will’s school.

“We just wanted to make sure you knew that Will has a rash all over his body.”

“Yup, we know.”

“Okay. We just wanted to be sure!”

Yes. Will has had a rash for awhile. It started about when the fever broken over the Thanksgiving holiday while we were in Mobile. When we first noticed it, it was quite pronounced. I did the “tumbler test” to be satisfied that he didn’t have some sort of blood infection and reminded myself that most rashes are usually benign. I remembered that roseola comes after fever and thought it could be that. And then just figured that it would take awhile to resolve and as long as he wasn’t in any distress, he was okay.

Now I am thinking that he may have fifth disease. He’s got those red “slapped” cheeks and a significant lacy rash all over his trunk and extremities. It’s not much to be alarmed over, it’s very common, and there really isn’t any treatment for fifth disease (named because it’s the “fifth” common rash illness… measles, rubella, scarlett fever, some fourth one and then fifth). But what is interesting is that it is very infectious (but now that he is in the rash stage, he isn’t contagious) and can have complications in pregnant women. (Granted, it’s rare. But gosh darn, I have honestly been tired as hell the last few days.)

As for Will’s rash, I couldn’t get a good picture of his cheeks (the red color washes out in the photos). But we did get a great one of the rash on his (ahem) other cheeks. I’d post it, but I’m afraid the crazy-people mafia would get me for indecency.

So much for everyone being well. First the cat. Then Will. Now what? (And one more day until comps!)

It started when Paul noticed something strange on the carpet.

“Uh ho.”

From there, we saw the tell-tale signs… a cat was sick. Both ends. We cleaned up the messes, stripped the bed (that is of course where he ended up), and Paul took the cat to the shower.

This is Scout, a little less fluffy than usually and a lot more pissed. He’d deny it if you asked him, but I maintain that he really likes the hairdryer.

Kate McIntyre, head of the doctoral program, swooped down in her Superwoman cape this morning and — with a few short sentences — fixed the issue. Her final words:

“
So – everyone needs to send their questions to Penny and Carl by 10.00am tomorrow.
“

Yee-haw! We’re on! So… back to studying…!

I think this sums up Tulane: faculty and staff that are truly well-meaning surrounded by ridiculous bureaucracy. Go Kate! I am *so happy* she came to my defense in this regard. I owe her a serious fruit basket.

From a report complied from a survey taken from the graduate students of Tulane’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (SPHTM) regarding the aftermath of the storm, the school, and students’ frustrations:

“
It is apparent that as a whole, the SPHTM student body is grossly unsatisfied with Tulane’s unwillingness to include us in their decision making processes. Many students are irate at Tulane’s mistreatment of its constituents from August 29 onward. The disregard for the well being of the students, the pervasive uncertainty regarding our educational futures at Tulane, the questionable city infrastructure, and apprehension of the early class start date weighs heavily on the minds of many students. Unsubstantiated assurances that “things will be ready” do little to assuage these fears.

We see that some of us have opted to withdraw, but many more express a desire to return. However, this contingent is disappointed and disgusted with how silent our administration has been on matters of substance. Students are finding it difficult to reconcile their desire to return with Tulane’s blatant disregard for its graduate students.
“

From Penny Jessop, program coordinator/student liasion/person who basically runs my department, to me, at 6:07pm last night… two days before the scheduled comps date:

“
After consultation with the faculty, we are going to ask you to take your comps on December 8th and 9th at the SPHTM building. This will be consistent with the conditions under which all other doctoral students have taken their comps. We do not know what the conditions of the SPHTM will be this Thursday as it is the first day we will be allowed back into the building. Thus we can not have you in the building on this thursday and friday to take the exams.
“

Prior to this, it was assumed that Tidewater would NOT be open. Members of my committee had suggested using my or their homes and assured me it would be fine, they’d done this sort of thing before. Why or how the use of the building became an issue, I have no idea. (Well, actually, I do have a hunch.) Nonetheless, what this does tell me is that my family and our planning around these dates (this Thursday and Friday) is inconsequental to the department; they could care less. Too bad if we have travel plans, day care arrangements, appointments, and general life events planned around the original dates (which we do).

I think this is exactly the kind of thing that exemplifies the “blatant disregard of graduate students” noted in the report above.

I feel like I just got stung by Mr. Freeze.