My paper baby

My paper, baby.

Dear real, live, kicking kiddo, I hate to break it to you, but you aren't the only thing developing around here. Considering I haven't posted for 26 days, readers should be getting suspicious about what's up with us.
Well, I did indeed have my final meeting for the dissertation. Some universities call this a "defense," but at Hamline there's no need to defend. The philosophy is that you really have already defended your choices at the proposal meeting and the committee accepted those decisions at that time. They have also seen and read your work as it's developing so there's no surprise to them about what's happening in your research. They don't need you to defend it, they want you to talk about it. They are genuinely interested in what you found.
That's the reason each of them is on the committee--they can benefit from knowing what you know and discovered through your research. The afternoon meeting was held in the "kitchen" at the MAT office. (Literally. The MAT faculty hold office in a house across the street from campus.) Dan made apple pecan crumble that got RAVE reviews. (Each meeting we have had has been accompanied by a baked good from our house. I think it's helped to sway the committee members.) ;-) Anyway, I wasn't nervous at all about this meeting; it's impossible not to know what it is I was going to talk about given how closely I worked with the participants in my study, the data and the results. It was a lively discussion that resulted in more questions than answers.
Questions > Answers = Success @ Final Dissertation Meeting
However, what comes out of the meeting are recommendations to improve the paper:

The result of my final dissertation meeting: a few edits. Just a few. ;-)

 It ain't over yet, baby. 
For an entire week I worked to get the edits made before I started working on the formatting of this monster. Then, on April 19, I sent it to my advisor. At that point, I started work on my works cited pages (there were over 20...let's say I had a little sympathy for my students who were working on perfecting their three citations for a class assignment).
I learned a valuable lesson: when I really don't want to do something, I really don't want to do it. 
This is why I put off working on the works cited for a year. A year.
And: Someone should pay attention to the tinylittledetails.
This is also why it was such a struggle for me to enjoy college catering gigs. Every napkin has a place. Every plate has a place. Every fork, knife, spoon is precisely located in relation to the other items on the table. The chairs. Oh, god. The chairs. Sometimes they were measured. Seriously.

What my works cited should look like.

It's probably because of this that I appreciate the beauty of perfection, cleanliness and attention. I value it. I notice it.
However, that doesn't make me any more ecstatic about having to do it myself. However, if all that holds me back from finishing this dissertation and graduating are commas and periods, I'll iron my white shirt, crease my black pants and get to work.

Appropriate uniform for dissertation revision.