Dissertation, Turtle Pace

PhDcomics.com

Bills Lead To Applications

Maybe not in your world, but in mine they do. Every month I pay my bills...and then I immediately embark on an intense search for side jobs as a precautionary measure. Usually, this leads to nothing. Last month, for example, I sent this very nice email in response to a Craig's list advertisement seeking a formatting editor for a charter flight company's order of operations manual:

Dear all,

I am a formatting fiend. I am in my fourth year of a PhD, and the primary skill set that I have picked up over 11.5 years of post secondary education is the ability to transform hideous, slapped together documents into clean, sparkly works of art in MS Office and Adobe applications--or, if not art per se, at least into industry compliant, hyperlinked, properly TOCed, footnoted, correctly illustrated, thoughtfully indexed things of practical beauty that would thrill even an airplane mechanic's heart. 

In addition, I have experience as a technical and marketing writer in the Broadcast Engineering sector, managing over 600 pages of documentation in Adobe and Word for customers. I currently do editing, formatting and writing work on a contract basis for two universities. I have attached my CV for your consideration, and would be very happy to supply references if you are interested in my profile. You will find some publicly listed references on my LinkedIn profile.

I charge $35 an hour, and I am fast. 

Best,

Stephanie

Unfortunately, someone else was cheaper...and that somebody probably doesn't shop for groceries in Switzerland. But no matter. This month, it's internship applications, and I think we can all agree that Project Management and HR internships, paid in Swiss Francs, beat airplane manual formatting most days.

onward and upward!

Church Thoughts

"Lately, when I’ve been asked why I still go to church, my first answer tends to be this: Where else would I be required to build community with people I otherwise (and usually inaccurately) label too conservative, too sheltered, too naïve or too closed-minded? Where else would I be required to coexist with and learn from my elders? Where else would I learn the humility that my elders model every time they listen to me?"

--Peter Epp, Why don't young adults go to church?

Spring Collaboration

My beautiful PhD friends Julia and Susi come up with good ideas. Especially on sunny days. Especially when they work together. Not just when I take sneaky photos of them.

Doesn't that look like an office you would like to work in?