I Made it to the Top!

I’ve known for quite some time that something I wrote was accepted at The Eastern Communication Association (ECA) conference in Boston this year, what I didn’t know is the panel I’d be placed on. Well, that’s no longer a mystery. Turns out my paper, somehow was determined to be one of the best papers submitted to the Technology Interest Group. Apparently through the blind review process (which determines if your paper will be accepted or not) my paper was judged to be one of the best. It may in fact be THE best. Rumor has it that typically the best paper, as judged by the reviewers, is the first to present on the panel. Mine is currently slated as number one. I’ll find out for sure at the business meeting during the conference in April. Regardless of where the paper placed I’m pretty excited, and pretty petrified since the top paper panel will likely get a larger audience than other panels I’ve participated in. The pressure is on!

Becoming a Wino

Indulge me for a second while I gush. I may have had one of the best Valentines days ever. I’m typically ehhh about the holiday. I’ve never felt the need to do anything overly special for it. In fact the last couple of years I’ve been pretty content to just sit and watch TV for a night. This V day however, we decided to do something different. We made wine.

Well, we didn’t actually *make* wine. We just watched it being made, and even that wasn’t overly exciting since it seems there are kits that you just put together. There doesn’t appear to be any real skill involved. But it was just a nice low key night in a local shop tasting wine and eating cheese and chocolate covered strawberries.

We’ll get a call in a couple of months to help bottle the wine if we’d like and take home 2 bottles of red, 2 bottles or white and 2 bottles of champaigne. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was that made the night so great. Maybe it was the low key atmosphere, maybe it was the wine, or maybe the company did it. I’m not sure but I’m going to have to do it again.

Life Wins

I have a bit of a conundrum and it boils down to school or life. I like school. I like school a lot, but as any PhD student knows, it’s not only about going to classes and doing homework. It’s also about going to conferences and publishing. The question becomes at what point have you done enough, and the answer I fear, is probably never.

I have two papers I’ll be presenting at a regional conference in May. I’ve presented at this conference for the last 2 years, this year will be number 3. In an effort to mix up my conference presenting, I was planning on submitting to another conference for October, but now I’m rethinking. The past two years every vacation I’ve been on has surrounded a conference of some sort, and although that is a decent option, I think it’s time to have a week with no work or school commitments. Or at least limited ones. So, I’ve decided to put my “life” life first.

I may come across as all high and mighty on this one, but it’s hardly the case. The conference I was looking at was in England in October. I’m afraid I’m just not sure I’m up for a week of cold and rain for my vacation. Instead I’m thinking of opting in to a warm weather location. Not submitting to a conference isn’t the end of the world right? I have a publication out for review and a book chapter accepted. That has to outweigh a conference paper right?

Writing a Book Chapter is Hard!

This is something I should have known already. I’ve been writing academic papers for several years now and am well aware of the work it takes to write a conference paper, or better yet a publication. However, for some unknown reason, I really expected this book chapter to come together much more quickly , and more importantly easily, than it is. Let’s face it, I’m down to almost a month to get the whole thing done. A month to write a book chapter! How is that even possible?