Stefanie's Shoes

I am super stressed out right now. Two weeks from tomorrow I will be done for the semester and start enjoying my summer break. So much is going on right now. I have a presentation in Clinical Trials next Tuesday, and another presentation in Data Mining next Thursday. Besides that I have a part III of my take-home project in Stat Theory II to work on, which I think will be due next Friday, the last day of the semester. Actually, we have yet to get this part III of the project from our professor, but he said he would be assigning it. I have another homework assignment in each of my classes: (1) Clinical Trials (due Tuesday; separate from the presentation), (2) Stat Theory II (due next Friday), (3) Data Mining (due 5/10/07 during finals week; separate from the presentation and take-home project). I also have a paper to write for Data Mining which is also due with the homework on 5/10/07, which is in lieu of the final. Then finals week, I have a final on Monday 5/7/07 for Stat Theory II, and a final in Clinical Trials on 5/12/07 (that's right - it's a Saturday). Let me put this together collectively by class.

Stat Theory II:
(1) homework assignment due 5/4/07
(2) take-home project (part III) due 5/4/07
(3) final on 5/7/07

Data Mining:
(1) presentation on 5/1/07
(2) paper due 5/10/07
(3) homework assignment due 5/10/07

Clinical Trials:
(1) presentation & paper (i.e., protocol) due 5/1/07
(2) homework assignment due 5/1/07
(3) final on 5/12/07

YIKES!!!

In other news, I went to the doctor on Monday for my annual physical, which is 100% covered by insurance (thank goodness). The first thing they had me do was step on the scale. I knew I wouldn't like the results since my clothes are tight! I have gained like 18 lbs since last June. That is nuts. My blood pressure is normally like 95/50, and now it was 104/70. So it's still healthy, but has definitely increased because of my weight and stress level. I cannot wait until I get some time to myself, only 13 days away. I am going to take better care of myself and hopefully get back down to my normal weight range. Running a marathon with these extra lbs will be difficult and it's not safe to lose weight while training. It makes you really susceptible to injury. The month of May will be the month to get this in control again. Next academic year, I will make sure to be more aware of what I am eating when I get stressed out. I think that is where I go wrong. When I get stressed out I eat whatever I want, but obviously that is not good. I don't like dieting so I will switch my intake to healthy foods such as salads and fruit and maybe diet for a few weeks just to feel better. I cannot wait until I can get better control of mind & body again. It will be a well needed, and frankly well deserved break.

Posted by Stefanie Schussler at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So last week was stressful with all my assignments, keeping up-to-date on my projects, and taking another exam. I got my exam back today and I missed some easy points, but I got a decent grade. However, I was shooting for a perfect score, which I knew I could obtain. My mind blanked out on some easy things and of course I realize how simply some of the steps were after the fact. Now I am pretty much getting to a point that if I don't pull off an A then I am upset with myself. That might sound like a high standard, but seriously the faculty holds you to that high standard and you alone are accountable for making yourself achieve it. There is less than a month left of school and still half (and some classes over half) of my final grade is yet to be determined. This means that my performance this next month really matters. Bottom line is I can't allow myself to slack and really must pull through this next month with high standards. Then, the summer rolls around and I can take that needed time for myself.

The weather is giving me spring fever and I want to study outside. I have never been very successful studying outside. I hear noises or just find myself relaxing a bit too much when I do that. I will definitely be enjoying my runs, especially today when we are supposed to be around 77 degrees here.

See I already shifted gears in what I was planning to write because I got some spring fever. I was planning to write about what's left to do this semester. Ok, back to the plan...I have one more assignment in each of my classes: Data Mining and Clinical Trials. I have probably two to three more assignments in Stat Theory II, but the deadline on these is more or less lax. I have two more projects to complete this semester. One is for Clinical Trials, which is working with a group of seven of us, mixed-degree seeking students. The other is for Data Mining, which I alone am going to work on. This project for Data Mining is worth 50% of our final grade, but the nice part is that we will not have a final exam - just this final project. The professor said he would envision us working two full days on this project. I know that I take my time when I can, so I envision more like four fulls days of working on my project. I got my project proposal back with a check mark, so I assume that the topic I choice and the work load are to par with the professor's expectations.

Outside of the projects and homework assignments, I will only have one more take-home exam and two more in-class finals to expect this semester. My final for Clinical Trials is on the very last day for finals - May 12th, which happens to be a Saturday. I have mixed feelings about having this day for our final exam. One feeling is glad to have the extra time to study, the other emotion is seeing myself struggle with spring fever to wrap this semester up! But, I can't complain, so I won't.

During last week, I had yet another birthday. Now I am 27 and classifying myself as in my late-20s, which scares me a little. It scares me because I don't have much to show for myself yet, when so many of my friends do. I still have three more years of school. Maybe when I hit 30 I will be more proud of where I stand in this world, but today I am not. I think one of my worse fears is to grow old and look back on my life and see a streak of regrets. I hope that when it's my time I can be proud of what I accomplished and proud of who I am, and maybe inspired others to take a more challenging yet more accomplished path in life. I thnk everyone wants to make their mark on the world in one way or another. Some want to make their mark through families. Right now in my life, a family of my own with more than just my husband and dogs is hard to envision. I know one day I will want that to be but right now I just want everything. I want an education, I want to be accomplished, I want to be proud, I want to inspire, I want to never stop learning. Hopefully one day I can check off all things things.

Since my birthday fell on a week when so much was due from myself, I was really unable to celebrate it. My brother (Greg), who is five years my junior, shares my birthday. Normally my parents go out of their way to throw us a birthday bash together but this year I had to tell them to hold on to that idea until this past weekend. On Friday night, which also happens to be my sisters birthday (Alyssa, 24), my parents threw us a combined birthday bash at their house. It was fun! Then Jeremy (my husband) took me to Winona, MN this weekend. I attended Winona State University five years ago, so a part of my heart lies in Winona. It was great weather, and a beautiful place to visit. I couldn't help thinking that I have already been out of undergrad for five years. Yikes! But really it was so much fun to get away from everything for a night.

Hope the best for all of you,
Stef :-)

Posted by Stefanie Schussler at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

To all you graduate students out there...check these sites out and you will laught out loud. My friend Tracey showed me these - she is getting her Ph.D. in statistics at Penn State University. Thanks Tracey!

http://www.phdcomics.com/documents/bingo.pdf

http://www.phdcomics.com/

Posted by Stefanie Schussler at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I couldn't figure out a better way to put this online, but I made a calendar of my school related activities to give prospective students a better idea of the work load they can expect if they follow in my foot steps. You will have to download this, but I plan to update this calender:

As of 4/5/07:
Download My Calendar

Posted by Stefanie Schussler at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)