Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 2 March 2014

Kyle is dissertating like a madman and it’s taking over our lives!  He is literally attending zero activities outside of church and is working nearly every waking hour.  He didn’t even watch The Big Rivalry Game with our basketball group last night!!  (That is a huge sacrifice!)  I have been feeling a little neglected and lonely (my primary love language is quality time) so Kyle took me out on a proper date on Friday evening, which was lovely.  Well, being together was lovely.  Our expectation for the restaurant was probably too high (some say it’s the best burger in Durham – I don’t think so but if it isn’t that’s kind of sad) and we were accosted by a homeless person as we walked back to our car which was tense and kind of scary.  But anyway, Kyle is trying to schedule a date to defend before April 10 and at this point it can’t happen straightforwardly but we’re hoping he can get one with a little finagling.  If it’s not going to be before April 10 (the deadline to graduate this semester) he’s going to try for later in April for a summer graduation.  That will be disappointing because he won’t be able to walk in the May graduation ceremony, but at least the whole PhD thing will be done!  So we’re reaching an end game now, one way or another.

 

This week marked the end of my Emerging Leaders Institute certificate program.  (Now I can get back to full full-time research!)  We launched our website showcasing career-advancing experiences last weekend and gave our final presentation on Friday.  It went well and people seemed to like what we accomplished over these few weeks.  However of the three pieces of feedback we received (anonymously) through the website, one was positive and two were negative.  One of the negative pieces of feedback pointed out that we had no representation of testimonials from non-STEM PhDs.  I double-checked with my humanities PhD groupmate and it seemed that of the two testimonials he pursued, one person never responded to him and one person’s testimonial was collected as a video, which hadn’t yet made it in to the Prezi (technical difficulties, I think).  So I felt really terrible about that feedback – we intended to collect those kinds of testimonials, but apparently they were much harder to find and ultimately we didn’t put in the one we did get.  If you had a career-advancing experience during your PhD, especially if you are not a STEM PhD, would you please submit it to [email protected] in the format of the other testimonials (seen on the website)?  We would love to add it to the Prezi.  Thanks!

 

 

Posts I Liked

 

Matt Becker from Mom and Dad Money shows you the calculations behind his decision to cancel his comprehensive and collision insurance.

 

Joanna from Our Freaking Budget draws a line in the sand to explain what they are and what they aren’t.

 

Pauline from Reach Financial Independence tells a history of consumerism.

 

Graham from Money Stepper details and Making Sense of Cents several methods for valuing a purchase.

 

 

Mentions

 

Shawna from Money Misfit listed The Danger of Side Hustle Income in her Friday Finds.

 

Jon from Our Fine Adventure relayed the costs of his weekend in Ohio in the way that I did in Mini-Vacation Financials: Wedding in Los Angeles.

 

No Soy Tan Original included The Danger of Side Hustle Income in her link love.

 

 

Carnivals

 

Mini-Vacation Financials: Wedding in Los Angeles was featured in the Yakezie Carnival.

 

Financial Tweaks for Our New Year was featured in the Financial Carnival for Young Adults.

 

 

Top Comment

 

Bryce from Save and Conquer pointed out the upside to the downside of living in a high cost-of-living area (that is awesome): “As long as the companies you work for pay wages commensurate with the cost of living, you shouldn’t have any problem. It’s typically housing that costs a lot more… Other costs, like food and utilities, are similar to other parts of the country. Since people are typically paid more to live in a HCL area, they can often save much more over their working lifetime. My wife and I have done just that.”

 

 

Most Frequent Commenters

 

  1. Well Heeled Blog
  2. E 2
  3. Done by Forty

 

 

Top Blogs Referring to EPF

 

  1. Get Rich Slowly
  2. Done by Forty
  3. The Simple Dollar

 

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11 Responses to "Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 2 March 2014"

  1. Alicia says:

    Thesis writing ate my life so I can totally understand how Kyle is feeling. I’m surprised he is trying to get a defense date by April 10th – my school needed it submitted six weeks prior for the external to read, and you had to have it submitted with corrections by the deadline, so at my school it would have needed to been submitted two weeks ago plus defend slightly earlier.

    Can you not convocate whenever you want? In theory you could both walk across the stage at the same ceremony when you are done, no? I had friends who convocated two years after all degree requirements were completed. You can still put the defense dare down as the completion date.
    Alicia recently posted..A Solitary Woman In A Sea Of Men.

    1. Emily says:

      The timeline at our university is that you need to submit the dissertation to the graduate school 2 weeks before the defense date and then I think you get 4 weeks after the defense to make edits. So the April 10 deadline is placed so that the final submission occurs before graduation (later in May). I think it’s courteous to give your dissertation draft to your committee earlier, but you don’t have to do it until it’s been submitted to the graduate school.

      Yes, if Kyle doesn’t make it this semester we would be able to walk at the same time next year. But we probably won’t because we’ll be living elsewhere. To us it’s not a big deal, but to our parents it is. I’ve not heard of anyone delaying the graduation ceremony so I don’t know if that’s an option. I was hoping that we would actually be hooded right next to one another if we did it the same year because we have the same last name, but I think they separate us by schools (Kyle’s in the med school and I’m in the engineering school).

  2. Almost there for Kyle! 🙂
    Well Heeled Blog recently posted..The Perfect Summer Job

    1. Emily says:

      At long last!

  3. Matt Becker says:

    Thanks for the shout out Emily! I hope you guys are able to get a date sooner rather than later. It’ll be nice to have your regular lives back.
    Matt Becker recently posted..No One Wants to See the Process

    1. Emily says:

      Just in time to start the same madness for my dissertation!

  4. I can sympathize with the all-consuming nature of the PhD program. Thankfully there is light at the end of the tunnel. Congratulations on finishing that project/program, too!
    Done by Forty recently posted..Rashard Mendenhall is My Hero

    1. Emily says:

      Thanks! Kyle always works in sprints but this one is a doozy.

  5. […] and I stepped out of a popular new burger joint on Friday evening after a nice date, checking to see if the rain had resumed while we […]

  6. Thank you for the mention! Glad you guys got some time to spend together, that is how I need to reconnect as well, and the lack of it can be really tough.
    Pauline @ Savvy Scot recently posted..A lifetime of savings part 3: saving money in your 40s

    1. Emily says:

      Thanks! Thing have been better since.

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