Igor, I take my hat off to you Sir. I'm still writing my MA dissertation, so I know what you must have been through! I hope you have an awesome time
celebrating, you deserve it. 
0 Kudo
Small Victories
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 travisbickle275 |
#201 | |||
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Posts: 93 08/23/07 16:00 |
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travisbickle275 |
#202 | |||
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Posts: 93 09/05/07 03:19 |
So, I've got to have back surgery.
Why is this in small victories you ask? Well, when I was first told that I had to have it, I panicked. I slipped a disc in my back about seven years ago, and since January I've been on my third bout of it (cortezone having calmed the other two down after nine months of agony each time). So, after only seven months of agony this time, I had a cortezone injection and... nothing happened. Pain was just as bad as before. When I eventually got a follow-up appointment with the specialist, he told me I had to have... the S word. At which point my mind went blank. He was telling me numbers and procedures and things, I just couldn't take it in. He sent me for an MRI scan, leaving me under the impression I'd be off work and immobile for 6 MONTHS. Needless to say, since then, I've not been a very nice person to be around. So I was a little worried when I went for my follow up appontment, to confirm what the MRI found. He said he recommended surgery. My heart sank. He then told me I'd only be off work for 6 WEEKS... I asked him if I'd heard that right. Damn skippy! I had evidently misunderstood first time around (in my defence, I won't be able to jog or run for 6 months afterward - I assumed that meant everything was off). I could have cartwheeled around the room. Under the circumstances, and not wanting a third slipped disc to go with the two I already have (oh yes - the MRI scan revealed I have two. Crappy MRIs in the past, and a bit of degeneration in the second one, hadn't really highlighted it as too bad a problem), I decided against it. So now, I'm only going to be off work 6 weeks (which will frankly be a good holiday after my bitch of a dissertation), and off playing badminton for 3-4 months (which is a damn sight better than I first thought), and I'm as happy as Larry. Whoever he is. Obviously, any surgery has its potential problems, so I won't be properly happy until its all done and I'm recovered. But to think that what I refer to as my neogenic nightmare (yes, I'm a nerd who knows a bit about Spiderman and nothing about biology) might FINALLY be over... Even that thought alone is a small victory of sorts.
Last Edited By: travisbickle275 09/05/07 03:21.
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Chris Dee |
#203 | |||
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Posts: 796 09/05/07 07:34 |
That IS good news, Rob. Very happy an end is in sight. More in email.
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travisbickle275 |
#204 | |||
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Posts: 93 09/21/07 04:31 |
FINALLY! After a 48 hour stint in which I managed to get about four hours sleep, I have handed in my MA dissertation! The relief is absolutely overpowering.
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Chris Dee |
#205 | |||
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Posts: 796 09/21/07 08:13 |
CONGRATULATIONS ROB!!!
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Jarissa Paxton |
#206 | |||
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Posts: 548 09/23/07 05:18 |
Hurrah! That's wonderful news!
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Igor.gothampm |
#207 | |||
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Posts: 805 09/23/07 18:01 Books. Cats. Life is GOOD |
Huzzah. Have a drink on me. I perfectly understand the feeling. In fact, have a few drinks on me. What the heck, have all drinks on me until you get your
grade.
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Igor.gothampm |
#208 | |||
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Posts: 805 09/26/07 02:27 Books. Cats. Life is GOOD |
I've got a few small victories:
First: I published my first campuspaper, meaning it was my first campuspaper as sole editor-in-chief without any interference. Last year the first campuspaper of the year was only 24 pages, now it's 48. And it's quality, not just quantity. Nobody from my club had any negative comments about it and I got applause during the weekly meeting. Second: my pet-project to get professors to write for the campus-paper to give it more quality seems to be running along smoothly. Fingers crossed. Third: I went to a bar yesterday to celebrate this and found out it was free keg-night and there were only 10 people in attendance...let's just say it was fun. Fourth: after that bar, I went to another one where some exchange students were telling about how great their national alcohol was and how well they could drink. I proved them wrong, decisively, on both erroneous assumptions. (suckers, they should know better when I'm feeling victorious) Fifth: I started my lessons in my MaNaMa (Master after Master) International Relations and Diplomacy and it looks like I chose well. Six: We've started actively looking for a male sealpoint Sacred Birman kitten.
Last Edited By: Igor 09/26/07 02:32.
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Abaddon8780 |
#209 | |||
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Posts: 345 09/30/07 21:29 Titans Together! |
I have a new job now. Just in time too, since my Unemployment claim got rejected. Fortunately, it's all a moot point anyways.
Now comes the task of making it through the first day on the job. Crap!
"And sometimes," Tim muttered, "it's like living with a bunch of second
graders."
-Learning Curve |
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Chris Dee |
#210 | |||
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Posts: 796 10/01/07 07:42 |
 Pulling for you, buddy.
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travisbickle275 |
#211 | |||
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Posts: 93 10/05/07 10:09 |
Got my dissertation mark back today - a 72%, the highest in the class, and enough for a first.
I was honest to God bowled over. My previous highest mark at this level was 61%, meaning I now have an average of 66%, a pass with a merit. My course convenor is really pulling for me to come back and do a phD. I for one am still in shock - I just can't take it all in. A more measured (and hung over) response will follow! |
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Igor.gothampm |
#212 | |||
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Posts: 805 10/06/07 02:26 Books. Cats. Life is GOOD |
CONGRATULATIONS!
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Chris Dee |
#213 | |||
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Posts: 796 10/06/07 10:31 |
Hear hear!
WELL DONE, ROB |
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Igor.gothampm |
#214 | |||
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Posts: 805 10/16/07 01:01 Books. Cats. Life is GOOD |
For the last few weeks my students club was planning to take a four-day trip to Cologne (Germany) in february. I've been to Cologne twice already and let
me tell you one day is more than enough. So I used my seasoned moaning and nagging skills. Now we're going to
LONDON!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! |
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Chris Dee |
#215 | |||
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Posts: 796 10/16/07 09:44 |
I've got one too. About 18 months ago a client who really should have known better let his tech geek DESTROY his website. Mere words cannot describe the
hideous awfulness but I will try:
They are an entertainment company. Those who I showed the site from a distance where they couldn't read it, guessed that they made motor oil. So much for the aesthetic. As for technical competence, all you need to know there is if you had anything less than a letterbox widescreen, some of the content was cropped off and you had to scroll horizontally. Getting the picture? As of yesterday, the site of unspeakable awfulness is no more. It really should have been done the day the tech geek of unspeakable awfulness was no more, but as you all know it was a busy summer. But now it's done, and I can link back to the client and admit to knowing him. 
--Chris Dee
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Superpowers corrupts - superbly. --Identity Element |
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Chris Dee |
#216 | |||
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Posts: 796 10/21/07 08:21 |
One small, one big enough to go in the blog. See you there.
--Chris Dee
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Superpowers corrupts - superbly. --Identity Element |
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Igor.gothampm |
#217 | |||
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Posts: 805 10/27/07 07:56 Books. Cats. Life is GOOD |
As some of you may know/remember I'm the chief-editor of the campus paper this year. I got an email this morning:
Beste Igor, Allereerst proficiat met de huidige Unifacpost. In de vijf jaar dat ik nu aan de UA studeer, is het de eerste keer dat het blaadje het 'waar kunnen we snel en goedkoop zat worden'-niveau overstijgt en zelfs interessante stukken bevat. Doe zo voort. Translation: Dear Igor, First off, I want to concongratulate you on the current Unifacpost. In the five years that I'v been a student at the UofA, is this the first time it rises above the "where can we get drunk fast and cheap"-level and it even has got interesting articles now. Keep it up. I feel good. |
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TwoFace275 |
#218 | |||
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Posts: 2455 10/28/07 04:51 |
:D Very good job, Igor. That's fine praise, and testament to all the hard work you've put into it.
There is a wonderful sentence in Augustine... "Do not despair: one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume: one of the thieves was damned." - Samuel Beckett.
All art is quite useless. - Oscar Wilde The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind. - Bob Dylan |
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stephensmat2 |
#219 | |||
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Posts: 1182 02/01/08 05:09 |
A course of Higher Learning, was completed, at this point, I know not if I passed with flying colors or they are laughing me out of the entire education
system, and frankly right now I do not care, for it is done at last.
And the family is out of debt. First time in Four years. No credit cards, no loans, no payments to make. We are officially in the green. |
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Jarissa Paxton |
#220 | |||
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Posts: 548 02/02/08 02:19 |
Congratulations! Getting out of debt can be one of the most aggravating tasks in any family. One of my conditions for marriage to Darling #1 Husband was that
we not get a credit card, because his parents never had any idea how to manage money and so he never learned anyhow -- a lesson brought home when he stealthed
his way into a gas card, and discovered six months later that, despite making payments as they'd advertised he should, he was over a thousand dollars in
debt. He admitted his problem to me and we pummelled it out of existence, but major crises have been made of lesser troubles.
I would wish freedom from debt on anybody, I think. My own small, not as impressive contribution: Dearly Beloved is home from his Germany, he has since then experienced and mostly survived a horrendous illness (probably contracted on the cross-Atlantic flight), he even agreed to get himself set up with a much better doctor so we don't have to sit in a lobby for three hours next time. Yay, healthy men!
I'm one of those people who "hear" every letter of each word as I read them, and how they shape one another; so, yes, I'm going to
totally miss a reasonable point if it's discussing makeup instead of knaves. Not that there aren't some hilarious correlations! Anyway, please be patient with me on this.
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