Fait Accompli

On Monday I successfully defended my PhD dissertation. It's been 5 months since I passed my comprehensive exam so I missed this development cycle entirely, but I'm looking forward to getting back to hacking and mapping.

Since I've completed my stint in Clemson, I will soon be moving to my house in Virginia. I'm a little wary of starting my new job on the 31^st, but it will be an interesting change from being a graduate student. I'm looking forward to my parents, my brother, and his fiancee visiting next week to celebrate our birthday. Since my parents will be moving to Europe soon, I'll hopefully be able to meet some of my Gnomies from across the pond.

Short Timer

Yesterday, I officially became a short timer at Clemson with the successful defense of my PhD research proposal. The next several months will be filled with the remaining work to complete my research and write my dissertation.

Ph.D. Proposal

I'm excited because my Ph.D. Proposal is off of my desk and has been sent to my committee. Presentation preparation is to ensue.

Update

I just realized today as my dad was asking my brother and I about how to increase his online presence and searchability that I hadn't made a post since Election Day. Wow... The main reason is I'm a PhD student trying to finish my dissertation up in time to graduate in August. Here's a quick run down in bullet form of what I've been up to.

• Improving my local OpenStreetMap data. I've traced the two lakes above Hartwell with the Lakewalker plugin to josm and finished Hartwell itself. These are enormous lakes! I've also added data for the Appalachian Trail from the beginning to about Knoxville, TN, more to come I'm sure.


• Writing and researching are my two main daily tasks. Hopefully in the near future we can add measuring to that list.


• February 3rd I gave a very long presentation on Seahorse at the CLUG meeting. We're having a key signing party at next week's meeting along with a gent from Fedora who is bringing a couple of XO laptops. If you're in the Clemson area next Tues, stop on by.


• Sporadically working out.