Aeolus: Keeper of the Holidays

‘The holidays’ is one of life’s greatest excuses. From November through January, we are required to do nothing but eat cookies and wait on line at the mall. Not only that, but it is permissible for stress levels at this time to be equivalent to or in excess of regular daily activities. All this for [...]

Navigating the choppy sea that is your relationship with your advisor

Sometimes real, always legendary, is the advisor who seems to pump out Ph.D.’s like little baby bunnies. I have talked to students who’ve had the pleasure to work with an advisor like this, but like a child born into royalty, they cannot fully appreciate their good fortune having had no other situation for comparison. However [...]

Oh where, oh where has my advisor gone?

Oh where, oh where has my advisor gone?
Oh where, oh where can he be?
With his vacant office and his absent emails,
Oh where, oh where can he be?
What’s your first response to rejection? Blaming yourself? Lashing out with anger? Reactionary hopelessness? Most likely you’ve had ample opportunity to hone how you cope with unreturned phone calls [...]

Overkill: Antidote to procrastination or just too much killing?

Don’t let anybody tell you different, procrastination has its up side. Actually, it has several. One of the benefits to procrastinating on writing your dissertation is that you could end up doing lots of other productive things with your time.
For instance, you may be teaching a class. You may be working a regular job [...]