The DISSertation

I met with my advisor the other week and he had some constructive advice for my dissertation. He was concerned I was getting bogged down in too many narrow issues that wouldn't be very applicable to the real world. (I thought that was what research was about though) He suggested I take the weekend to think about changing direction. To paraphrase a comment from our meeting, "Well Jake, you can build a fantastic ski lodge in St. Louis, but what is the point? Who is going to come?"

I told Mary about the meeting and what my advisor asked me to do. She was livid. There are only a few times when I have seen that kind of fire in her eyes. Luckily, this time I wasn't the spark. She was walking around the house like she was looking for something. She kept saying, "I am going to call him! Does he know what he is doing?" She was looking for her phone. Thank goodness she didn't know his number. I imagined her calling up George Bailey style and bawling him out like Zuzu's teacher.

After Mary relaxed, a day or two later, (she still says she will never forgive him), we discussed options and I think we are going in the right direction. Things have really opened up and it looks like I will be able to collect data at my work. Oh yeah, that same weekend I got called into the bishopric. We think things are getting easier.