Jannelle teaching Joel how to sing (at least I think that is what this picture is all about).

Ok, I will get it out.
I had the dissertation defense on Monday, and I did not pass it. I am feeling a bit down about it...but I think that I will be good with re-presenting it once I do a lot of extra review...Not that the main concern was knowing the literature.
I was asked a few simple questions that I interpreted to be much more complex than they were. Then I fumbled and said that I could not adequately answer the question because it involved a complex analysis that could not be answered from the manuscript copies that we all had at hand. Though the complex questions could not be answered, the simple questions they actually asked were answered right in the text.

I can see what happened and I don't feel cheated or anything like that...I just need to be able to interpret questions better. That can be a hard thing to practice, but I need to do it.
The good news is that they liked the manuscript and did not ask for a rewrite.

Anyways, I will be doing an annotated bibliography of the articles that I haven't annotationally bibliographicized yet. Mainly, I will be documenting ideas and questions and I will provide them to friends and family who will listen to me present/will question me.

In other news, Joel is growing up. He got jealous when Anne paid attention to another baby today. It was a "that's MY mom" moment. He was great this morning--he was talking to me the whole time I was making breakfast.

I went to a really exciting Three Meadows Association meeting tonight. It consisted of people asking the same questions over and over. Then we voted to raise the fee from cheap to pretty cheap. I really want to make the place a bit better on my own--like walking around and cleaning up the neighborhood. I have done this a few times already and I think it will be a habit. Man, I am ready for summer.

I also went to the funeral home for Lisa Nycz' visitation. Mike (her brother) and I grew up together (like playing together everyday) from when we were 5 until maybe 11. It was sad (as one would expect when a 23 year old dies) but I guess I had never appreciated how cool that whole Nycz family is--they were just Mikey's parents, after all. I have seen his dad several times in church-related stuff since, and I can see why they have so many people who really truly care about them. The place had a line that was probably 2 hours long...Mike said it had been like that all day. Mike and I caught up for about 20 minutes, so that was nice. I really liked being a kid in that old neighborhood with those old friends. Those were good times.