Rolling with the Punches

I was sitting at my desk.  I shifted my position and my foot tapped my thumb drive.  My screen fluttered and the images were gone.  I tapped the mouse; I pressed the space bar; I took a deep breath.  When it seemed clear the obvious was possible, I checked my settings and computer hard drive options to determine that the computer was no longer reading my data.  Nothing - suspicion confirmed.  I picked up the phone and called my father.  If anyone could walk me through computer trauma, it was he.  He advised me on a few tactics, but they were for naught - I'd either tried them already or they were fruitless.  His final piece of advice was to send it off to a thumb drive recovery company with the equipment to find the data and save it.  So I did.  I sent it. Then I waited... And then I had birthday cake.  For that was my 33rd birthday - spent in the midst of complete horror at having potentially lost 5 years of data.  I blamed no one, I cared not WHY.  I just wanted it back.  Or else I was done.

So I waited.

And waited.

One week later, a new thumb drive arrived with directions on backups.  I was back on track.  I looked at my data - so numerous, confusing and WONDERFUL.  I promised myself I would NEVER have an academic deadline hanging over my head again.  EVER.

I mean - c'mon now, I have a mid-December birthday.  From the time of high school, I have always had an exam on, or around, my birthday.  I spent my 21st birthday in a sad little Saratoga Springs bar with two friends who were venturing out as a final exam study break.  And c'mon now.  I've been in school SINCE high school and I'm 33.  Let's be real.  Time for a change.

It would seem the best change would be a 75-day challenge.  Except it is now pretty clear I won't meet it.  Long story short, my sample size of case studies has more than doubled.  I've gained a bigger burden of a states BUT I have gained peace of mind that I am FINALLY on track with my Chair.  That is really worth 6 extra weeks of work as far as I'm concerned.

So I'm going to roll with the punches.  I've been given a sample size much larger than anticipated.  I'm going to extend my deadline which I HATE doing because it is not the first time.  But I'm going to extend it to December 10 - one day before my birthday. IF/WHEN I meet this deadline I will still have accomplished most of my 75-day challenge goals.  But with a new 105-day challenge I will STILL be "off the academic-hook" on my birthday AND I will NOT have to pay Spring 2014 tuition assuming I defend in January.  AND given good timing, I will be defending PRE-Aruba, so I can head off to Aruba MUCH lighter than before.  And I will have all of spring semester to revise based on defense-edits so that I can graduate in May.  May 2014 isn't my ideal graduation date but really, if my ultimate goal is to be unburdened by my next birthday and to NOT pay another semester of tuition, this should be sufficient to get the job done.

Well see.  I'm just rolling with the punches, folks.