master (almost)

after many hours of research and writing, i have finally finished and presented my graduate thesis work...almost. my complete thesis title is: analysis of form errors in rings of non-uniform cross section due to workholding and machining loads (how's that for a mouthful?!?, and katy almost has it memorized!). i presented it to my committee this morning, and after a long presentation, a lot of questions, and a little deliberation by the committee, they told me they were happy to approve my thesis work. of course, their approval is dependent on me doing a little more work and making a few changes to my thesis. i expect no less from a bunch of phd's who would still like to remind me that it's their world and i'm just livin' in it.

all joking aside, they really did have some good suggestions about how to clarify some of my research and strengthen my conclusions. hopefully the work ahead won't take too long, and i can get my thesis completely behind me. i haven't posted in a while because i've been working on my thesis, and i probably won't post now for another couple weeks.

i'm still enjoying my job, and we're starting to get to crunch time re: looking for a new place to live. we've got several nice prospects in greenville, and we're definitely looking forward to the move. hopefully we'll have more on this front by the next time i post.

in other news, i ordered my season football tickets this week. i was pretty excited to order them for the first time (since i've always been a student before). i know that to some of you ladies it might feel like football season just ended, but i'm already ready for another exciting season. as espn would say, here's to football (esp. when you're no longer a student).

the times they are a changin'

so it's been about three or four weeks since our last post. i was hoping we wouldn't go that long between posts, but the christmas holidays made it inevitable. but a lot has changed since the last time we posted.

i'm now working for ge energy in greenville, sc. i started back on december 17, and i'm hoping it doesn't end for a while. i co-oped with ge when i was in undergrad, so it wasn't all that crazy starting a new job. i already know a lot of people, and i know the workplace, but now i have to think about all the other full time things like benefits, travel expense reports, and pensions (not so bad!), and employee evaluations (yikes!). best of all, i no longer have to work for gra pay! it is kind of different to think that my career will never end until i retire. this is in stark contrast to co-op rotations when i got to work for 12-16 weeks and then go back to the stay up late, sleep late lifestyle of a college student.

so what am i doing you ask? my official label is "engineer/technologist" (i like the sound of technologist), but really i'm a mechanical design engineer. i'm working in the shrouds group of the hot gas path component design group at a gas turbine design and manufacturing facility. katy finds the term "hot gas path" hi-larious, and maybe you do too. call me a dork, i just never thought about it being funny in all the time i've worked there. if you want to know more, feel free to ask - but i'll have to do some drawing.

katy and i will continue to live in atlanta until may when she finishes up her grad studies. i'll be working out of the office in marietta most days and out of the office in greenville every other monday and tuesday. it's definitely nice to work close to home and be able to work with my colleagues in greenville if i have any big questions. the move to greenville is definitely bittersweet. we're very happy to have gainful employment and new life challenges in a new city, but we'll also miss atlanta and our dear friends here. i've been through college, marriage, and many other growing-up experiences while living in atlanta, so it will always have a special place in my (our) hearts. still, we have some friends in and near greenville, and we'll be happy for lower rent, clean air, and less dense traffic!

in other news, i'm drawing dangerously close to the completion of my thesis. the new job has placed a damper on my desire to write in the evenings. but my advisor wants me to be done in a month or so, and i'm happy to have the accountability/motivation. i really have until sometime in april to submit the thing, but i prefer to go ahead and get it done without cutting it close.
t-minus 10 pages and counting.

we had a really good christmas break - we did christmas with my family, katy's family, and both of our paternal extended families (i had to miss out on katy's extended family due to work). highlights of the break include: me, my brother, and my dad working in the cold on my car, not figuring out what was wrong and still having to take it to the mechanic, my whole family seeing national treasure 2 together, the christmas eve service at the retirement home where katy's dad works, all of the food, and watching football with my dad and brothers. maybe katy has some others, but those are mine.

last thing in this post - funny story from christmas eve. we opened presents with katy's family on christmas eve. katy's dad received the game catch phrase. if you don't know the game, you just try to get other people playing to say the word on the screen without saying that word yourself. so anyway - katy's dad is trying desperately to get us to guess a word. his clues range from "kind of a redneck way to say chewing tobacco" and "slang for chewing tobacco" etc. after guessing, dip, snuff, chew, etc. we could never figure out the answer. here it is:


chewbacca! i think that was the hardest i've laughed in a while. anyway, i hope y'all are doing well if we haven't talked to you lately. happy new year!

news and notes...

whoa! it has been entirely too long since i updated on this blog. it's been so long that blakely said, "life must not be so golden" or wtte. anyway - life is golden, blakely, and it always will be! :) but, since it's been so long, i'm just going to give a bullet point update.

we got our first christmas tree. i rank it somewhere about half way between charlie brown and southern living. but seriously, katy did a good job on it - all i did was put it together and put it in the right spot.



i've finished writing a journal paper and a project report for my research. now i just have to finish the thesis. i'm making consistent progress. unfortunately for you, there are no pics to go with this one.

chan gailey was fired at georgia tech. this isn't really all that blog-worthy, but it has been tempting me a lot to read news sites instead of being productive.

we found out recently that some good friend of ours are having a baby and moving to louisiana. jamey and mary have been great friends, confidants, and mentors throughout college for katy and me. we'll miss you droddys.

lastly, the christmas season is officially here, and nothing says christmas like christmas music. every year, i listen to this song - i know it will become a tradition for you too!

if blogging is cool, consider me miles davis.

so katy and i decided to try this blog thing. it seems like all the cool kids are doing it (or at least the kids we think are cool), so we're going to give it a go. hopefully we (read i) won't get bored with it or too busy for it, and maybe it'll help us keep in touch with our friends in between calls and visits. or maybe we can just stalk each other secretly.

anyway, i'm finally getting my thesis started. it's kind of a daunting task - writing a big paper to prove that you should get a master's degree. i think getting started is the hardest part, and i'm already past that, but i'm still having some trouble making it sound like a thesis. i've written plenty of papers before, but never one this important, and never one in this format. oh well - it will be done soon enough!

tonight we went to the gac football game to hang out with wes & blakely. both of their parents were there, so we had a good time talking during the game and going to denny's afterwards. the grand slam hit the spot for me, and i'm looking forward to a day of football watching tomorrow.