Rich Reaches the Finish Line

Today, was a milestone event in our lives. Rich successfully defended his PhD thesis to his committee. Wow! After 8 years of blood (from the rats), sweat (from the lack of AC in his bldg), and tears (mostly mine) he has successfully completed the greatest challenge of his life (thus far). Included in the challenge was the completion of his dissertation two weeks ago (which was actually the hard part).

His defense was an oral presentation of his research to his committee, which consisted of Dr. Higuchi (Rich's prof), Dean Moger, Dr. Kern, Dr. Li, and Dr. Berensen (a GI doc). Also in attendence were his parents, Val and Lorinda, his in-laws, Terry and Irene, me (his wife), John Boyden (his mission president--it was so nice of him to come!), and several graduate students.

After skillfully presenting his research, he successfully and knowledgeably answered several questions from the other students and his professors. After a brief private consultation, his committee passed him with flying colors. They were very impressed with the rigor of his research.

What's left? He needs to submit two papers (two of the chapters from his dissertation) for publication, and clean up the dissertation. Then, his degree will officially post. The corrections needed to finish up are pretty minor and he will have at least one (if not two) of those two papers submitted by the end of Aug.

What's next? He starts med school on Aug. 25, 2008. Sigh. Just think, in 9 more years (I'll be 45), he'll earn his first real paycheck.

But, seriously, I couldn't be prouder of him or his accomplishments or goals. He really is interested in making a contribution to the world and in bettering individuals lives. He has and will have the skills and education to do it!

Congratulations, Rich. I love you!

Lynnae

Water lilies

We went to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point today. I took these shots at 12:30 pm (I do mean pm, not am). I adjusted my exposure compensation to -3.0, and this is what I got.

Stone

Here are Stone's 3 mo pictures. I had a lot of fun shooting this very happy little guy.