Grad School Spirit (courtesy of PhD Comics)

Thought this was extremely relevant as I have yet to attend ONE SINGLE athletics event on my campus (and this is my 3rd year here)! It's pretty funny because at my undergrad institution, I would wait in line for hours or brave the cold bleachers to see our basketball or football team play...by myself! Oh well...  Check out more of PhD Comics h...

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Please excuse the "DUST" : )

The site is currently under reconstruction so there may be a few broken links here and there. You can still read all the posts, which can be accessed from the archive bar on the right. Thanks for dropping ...

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I'm an offical Ph.D. Candidate!

Several proposal drafts later along with practice presentations and presentation of the final proposal... I am OFFICIALLY a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science & Engineering (BY THE GRACE OF GOD ALONE!) Although it was a stressful process, God blessed me with a wonderful advisor and labmates who were eager to help me in constructing a well thought-out proposal document and presentation. This second go-around, I felt much more confident in the material I was presenting and was able to keep my nerves at bay! The main attendees at my presentation were my committee members and a visiting member from my internship experience, which I think helped to calm my nerves. One of my committee members actually had to attend via Skype, which turned out well despite my fears of the feed going out...

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*tap tap tap* Is this mic still on?

Yea..it's been a long while since I last checked in. Let's just say that my 2010 spring & summer weren't so ideal. To make a long story short, I left the lab and advisors I was previously with (for reasons I'll keep to myself) and decided that I needed a new focus. At the time, I wasn't sure if that meant to switch to another lab, leave my program and find a job in industry/government, or switch directions altogether. While I was at this crossroad, I was involved in a serious car accident where another car ran a red light and ended up totaling my car and almost taking my life (just suffered one broken bone in my hand). I could only thank God for His mercy that day! Needless to say, that put a pause on my activities for a while. However, in the middle of the summer (2010) semester, I was...

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"Death and Birth of a Vision" by Os Hillman

I was so encouraged by this devotional thought that a friend shared with me this morning that I couldn't help but share it with others as well : ) Today's Prayer Dear Jesus, You are the key to my happiness. You are the key to my life. You are the key to my future. I have heard You knocking and I'm opening the door. Please come into my heart and guide my every thought and move. Bless me and make me a blessing to others. In Your precious name I pray, Amen. Death and Birth of a Vision TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1, by Os Hillman "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." - John12:24Almost every significant thing God births He allows to die before the vision is fulfilled in His...

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Much Needed Update

So it has been an extremely long time since I've written on this blog. There are two main reasons for this: 1) My natural hair-related blog and YouTube channel have grown to dimensions that I never thought was possible and so most of my free time is spent updating those avenues. 2) For the past several months, every time I thought about updating this blog, I wasn't motivated to because I felt it wouldn't be anything positive and would be more like venting which probably wouldn't have been that pleasant to read. So with that said, I'll try to give a brief update of what has happened since Oct. 2009. So after my qualifier's exam, I felt like I had more time to truly dedicate to my research, which had been postponed for a bit to prepare for my oral presentation/defense. I have an undergrad...

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Grading Endless Papers!

So as a TA, I was given the responsibility of grading 100 quizzes! These quizzes have been such a pain to grade and it's a shame that this is how I am spending the first minutes of my bday : ( I'm so tired and have so much to accomplish this week, including a test on Thursday. I have to present a review on a journal article tomorrow for lab meeting. Didn't even have time to study for my exam today. I'm celebrating my bday on Thursday because of my exam Thursday...blah blah blah Moral of the story: I need a break before I go insane!!!!!!!!! Updates: 12:27a (10/7 aka my bday): why can't college students write their names legibly!! and how do you forget to put your name on your paper...*SMH*...

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My First Lecture!

So as a graduate student, I am required to be a teacher's assistant (TA) for one of my advisor's classes. When I did this last year, I was only required to really help out with the labs, grade papers, and the lectures were done by the professor. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was sent an urgent email saying that my advisor was going out of town and he needed someone to teach his class...2 days later! The senior graduate students in my lab were going to be busy, so guess who got slammed with the responsibility...yes, MOI! Little ol' me that shies away from public speaking at all costs (especially in front of large audiences)! Well, I had no choice really, so I sucked it up and confirmed with my advisor that I'd be able to teach is 100 student class! He sent me a copy of his notes for the class,...

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