Thesis approved!

Yesterday morning I got the email with the examiners' reports regarding my thesis, and it has been approved (with a few very minor revisions)! I would like to say I jumped for joy when I read the report, but because of all the emotional exhaustion over the past 6 months, I really didn't feel anything. I was fairly confident to begin with that the thesis would be approved (my supervisors would look bad if it wasn't), so in that respect, the report is what I expected, nothing more, nothing less.

I am glad the approval is official now, though, because that means I can get the revisions done, get the final hard-bound copies of the thesis printed, and graduate in July. From that point on, the Ph.D. experience will be behind me, and I can truly move on. (On a positive note, I emailed the professor for my most promising post-doc opportunity, and he replied back that he would let me know pretty soon what is going on with the funding.)

The revisions will only take me 2-3 hours, tops, and most of that will be spent making sure the formatting in Latex is appropriate. And I am looking forward to holding that final, hard-bound copy in my hands.

Maybe?

I've got a couple of possible opportunities at the moment. One is a proper post-doc in Ottawa. It's an interesting position, and pays well. Plus Ottawa is one of the nicer cities in Canada, with lots of culture. The second possibility is in Winnipeg. That one could be a combination of sorts. I'm applying for an instructor position at the University of Manitoba, and on the side I would volunteer with an eco-car project I read about online. I've exchanged several friendly emails with the guy running the eco-car project, and he likes my qualifications. He's even gone through the trouble of emailing one of his sponsors to see if they would pay for me to work on the project.

Either one of those cities would be nice, although Michelle and I are leaning more towards Ottawa. It really doesn't matter at this point because we are both so ready to be out of her parents' house and on our own again. The nuttiness is now wearing us down more than the cramped conditions we have to live in. I've given up trying to help with the basement, because Michelle's dad doesn't seem to want to give the project a very high priority. He has plenty of time for other interests, like his twice a week coffee chats, curling (twice a week all winter and early spring), "consulting work" for a local charity, and doing free work for the local chapter of the Liberal Party (politics). I just got sick of constantly asking him when will this or that get done in the basement. Work there has been going on since January, and with the remaining items still to do, it will take at least another 3-4 months at the current rate of progress before Michelle and I can actually move down there. And they are opening their cottage for the season at the end of May, so there's another distraction. If one of my job possibilities work out by then, it will no longer be an issue and Michelle's dad can deal with his half-finished basement by himself.

Back on the bright side of things, Chloe can now walk on her own, although she still likes touring the house while holding my hand. It is still such a joy to get to spend so much time with her as she approaches her first birthday.