This month is off to a great start. On December 1, I practiced my thesis presentation twice, including once for Jack, who had some good follow up questions. I felt pretty good about it. On December 2, I practiced twice more, and then Jack, Clara, and I all got dressed up and drove to Davis for the actual presentation.
Clara's fancy outfit.
We got to see Erin, Braden, Rachel, Shannon, and Julianna. It felt good that they all came to watch. I also got to introduce Clara to interim director Fred and program chair Kent, who thought she was adorable.
Jack, Clara, and me just before my presentation.
I was the first to give my presentation, and it went just fine. I actually really enjoy speaking in front of crowds and wouldn't have minded if there had been a larger crowd there. Either way I was proud of the presentation because I had intentionally tried to make it easy to follow even for people without much DNA background. Nearly every slide was mostly pictures more than data, and afterward a few people told me they enjoyed it, including people without much science background at all. I was pretty pleased about that. I only got two questions in the end and they were both very easy, and then that was it. I was done with the presentation and with my entire master's degree!
Screencap from the video of my presentation.
Jack and Clara made it through a good 75% of the presentation before Clara got too chatty and Jack had to take her in the hallway. Fortunately he'd already seen me practice so he wasn't missing much. I decided to go ahead and stay a bit after so I could have some of the delicious free dinner they always offer, including some fudgy brownies. Then we drove home and Jack and I got a chance to talk about how it all went and how good it is to be done. I can't believe writing the thesis, writing the manuscript, giving the presentation, and my overall master's degree are all finally off my to do list!
The next day (Saturday, December 3), Erin came over in the morning (bringing a hot chocolate for me) and we started making Christmas cards. Janice skyped with us for most of the time we were together--had to be at least 3-4 hours--while on her end she worked on table numbers for Erin's wedding reception next summer. It wasn't exactly the same as having Janice here in person but it was pretty close.
It may have been the most productive card-making session we've ever had. I made 10 cards in the time Erin was here, and I think she made about 7. It helped that I have all the more craft supplies now thanks to Sarah's generosity; she moved earlier this year and while cleaning out her stuff decided to send me a box of high quality craft supplies (card stock, new punches, ribbons, etc.) that she never really gets around to using. So that made it all the more fun.
Just some of the cards Erin and I made.
In the background we alternated between Clara's youtube Christmas playlist and my Spotify Christmas playlist.
One of the videos from Clara's Christmas playlist.
For the most part Clara did a great job keeping herself busy (Jack was shut in his room studying for a test Monday). She did sit with us at the table a few different times and examine the many objects we had on the table--it looked almost like the pages of an I Spy book. Eventually she finally went down for a nap and she was still asleep when Erin left.
A table like an I Spy book.
Now I have the hot chocolate potluck to look forward to next week! Love this season.
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