I should be focusing on something else at the moment (ahem), but I know how anti-climatic finishing a PhD is for many students. So, again I'm going to write about the moment so that maybe it will feel a bit more "official." On Tuesday I handed over my thesis to my committee and to the thesis office for preliminary review. I had to print out the one that I turned into the thesis office. There was something very satisfying about holding a physical representation of my dissertation in my hands. It was big, and I felt the size was a good representation of all the work that I've put into it the last couple of months. Also, I've never considered writing to be my strong suit, although for most people that's probably true, so it's kind of fun to realize that I CAN write a book if I wish.
Along with finishing the dissertation, I've ordered the food, reserved the auditorium, printed off the official pages for my committee to sign, and set a date for my last day in the lab where I will hand off all my reagents and lab notebooks. After working on my thesis for so long, I can hardly believe that I will be done in a week. Time slowed down to a crawl while writing the thesis, only to speed up to it's maximum velocity in these last days as I finish up my graduate student duties.
I wish I had something more profound to say to mark the occasion. It's more of a relief than anything. All I can say is: I can't express how much I'm looking forward to FINALLY making the complete transition to building my programming skills full time.
