Graduation

Well, I guess I officially, more or less, have a master's degree now. I didn't walk, but we decided to go to the main ceremony today anyways, mostly to hear the commencement speaker: Bill Clinton. It's funny - I know people (from church) who absolutely refused to go because they didn't want to hear him speak and he was the whole reason I came. Well, and to get the program because my name is in it! I enjoyed all the speakers actually. All those speeches really get me to thinking about my citizenship and what I can do to be a better citizen - mostly, I would like to volunteer somewhere in the community and also I think I should start recycling and also, I really really need to get my act together and buy some reusable grocery bags - getting so many plastic ones just kills me every time (if anyone has suggestions). Anyways, here are a couple of pictures of graduation.

Oh, yeah, and the main reason I didn't walk is because I saw no point in buying a cap and gown if for some reason I went into labor early. But I haven't. So, at 39 weeks 1 day pregnant, I spent about 2-3 hours sitting in the tiny bleacher seats and then standing in a very crowded non-moving crowd for at least half an hour before walking back downtown. And frustratingly, I swear, if I am wearing a jacket people can't even tell I'm pregnant - arghh.

5 Things You Might Not Know About Me

I am skipping the picture - I attempted to take one, but they all turned out really badly, so to anyone who is interested ...

1. I love to learn new things, kind of like an obsession. In college, after they laid off our entire team at Sun Microsystems where I was interning, I spent the few weeks before starting a research job at school watching lectures on World History, the history of the english language, etc. I still love to watch/listen to lectures, whether at home or whether I am dragging Katsu to physics lectures on Sat. mornings at U of M or to medical lectures at Harvard Medical School.

2. I am compulsive about our personal finances and hate to spend money (but I am getting better ...). Katsu would probably say I am addicted to Quicken, but at least we have quite a bit of money saved up considering we are still in school and both students.

3. I like walking. I still walk to (and from) school almost every day even though it is 1.5 miles away (it is getting a bit more uncomfortable with just 3 weeks till the due date). In Boston, I would regularly walk 3, 4, or 5 miles just for fun, just to get out and see the city. I really want to live in a walkable city.

4. I like to cook, but I hate to cook for other people. I get really nervous about taking food over to other people or bringing a dish (unless it is a dessert) to a friend's house, because I worry they won't like our food. I really feel like I don't know what people like to eat. And we don't eat a lot of meat and we eat quite a bit of beans, so I think people won't like that. Seriously, it's like an anxiety attack trying to cook food for people.

5. I think I am a "mean" wife. At least, I think I expect Katsu to do a lot of stuff. For example, I expect him to do a lot of chores - taking out the trash, cooking a few times a week, cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom, and taking care of the car are all his jobs. I also do not find him coming home late at night on a regular basis (i.e. later than 6 or 6:30) acceptable and will not accept this in the future either. He will have a family-friendly job and it starts now while he is in school. I think at least I have always made this very clear to him - one reason, I didn't like the whole med-school track. On the other hand, making big bucks is not the biggest priority to me. I can manage on not too much money (see #2). I guess I just think that other wives seems so much nicer to their husbands - doing all the housework, child care, picking him up from school (Katsu can take the bus ...), etc. and I am just not like that.

and a few others (I'll keep it shorter)

6. We plan on raising our kids bilingually - i.e. I need to learn Japanese ASAP
7. I have a HORRIBLE memory.
8. I am horrible at sports - basically all of them.
9. I have bad knees and kind of walk/stand funny.
10. My main goal in scrapbooking is getting it done and up to date, so I write directly on the pages without stopping to check spelling (or even the facts ... I get dates/people/things we did wrong all the time).

How much more time I have left in my program

Seeing as everyone seems interested, here's how it goes. I will be done with my Masters in a few weeks as long as I pass this class (shouldn't be a problem ...). PhD programs are not timed programs ... they take a variable amount of time depending on how your research goes, how fast you publish, etc. Ideally, the whole process should take about 5 years, giving me another 3 or so years until I'm done. I have just one class left, but then research looms ahead. I also have another set of qualifying exams to make sure I am an adequate researcher.

On a happy note, I just submitted my first paper last week to IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. I hope they like my paper and don't have too too many revisions and I can get it published this year!