My Top 12 of 2012

Since I've left you in the dark during 2012, I figure a good way to catch you up is through listing what I consider the top 12 happenings for me during the year. And since Deidra has been a much better blogger than me, I will link to her take on the events (where possible):

1. Baby brother is on his way: We are really excited for baby number two (and boy number one) who is due on February 28th!

2. Passing my comprehensive exam: The entire first two years of my PhD program was basically leading up to a two-day comprehensive exam on the topics surrounding both organizational behavior and human resource management, including: work motivation, job attitudes, leadership, work teams and groups, strategic human resource management, recruiting, selection, performance management, employee training and development, employee turnover and retention, legal issues, research methods, and statistical methods. I started studying about 5 hours/week in January, 10 hours/week mid-March, and 40 hours/week at the end of April.

On June 26 & 27, I took my exam. Each day, I had one three hour morning session and one three hour afternoon session. I was completely exhausted by the time I was finished. We took off for a much needed vacation with family on the 28th. Upon my return to Lafayette in mid-July, I got word that I had passed the examination. Hooray! What that means is that I have no more required coursework and can begin focusing more on research, and especially a dissertation. Oh, I can can officially refer to myself as a PhD candidate instead of a PhD student. I have found that the right terminology is very important in the academic world.

3. Copper anniversary getaway: I surprised Deidra with a night away from Millie for the first time on our 7th (copper) anniversary. This included dinner at the Copper Kettle, an overnight stay at a bed and breakfast, going to the temple together, and a treat from Copper Cupcakes. All-in-all, it was a fun little vacation, but the best part was Deidra's reaction once she found out we were going away for the night, and not just for dinner.

4. Running the Purdue Half Marathon: I seem to only have motivation to run when I have a goal that I am running to meet. So I decided the inaugural Purdue Half Marathon would be that goal. The race went much better than I expected, and I finished just under my pace from the Top of Utah half marathon a few years ago. I considered that a success, since this marathon did not have the elevation decline that TOU has.

5. Presenting research at a conference (and vacationing) in San Diego: The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) had its annual conference in San Diego in April this year. I was part of four submissions, all of which were accepted into the conference. I was the lead author and presenter for one of the projects, which was my first time presenting in that type of setting. A full run down of the trip can be found here and here.

6. Watching Millie grow: Celebrating Millie's first birthday, seeing her go from wobbling first steps to running, hitting the 18-month mark and sending her to nursery at church, watching her vocabulary explode, and witnessing how quickly she learns has made this a truly awe-inspiring year.

7. Teaching my first undergraduate class: The main reason I got into this whole PhD thing was because I want to be a university professor and hopefully be an inspiration to help some college students find their way in life. My first semester of teaching came this Fall with a senior-level undergraduate Human Resource Management class for business management majors. My class had 91 students and was held in a large lecture hall with theater seating. Some days I wondered if anyone was even paying attention when most students' eyes were transfixed on their electronic devices and no one seemed to be able to answer the questions I posed. But, overall, it was a great experience that I enjoyed and learned a lot from. When the class evaluations came back, I felt good about the mostly positive ratings and comments from students, and even had a few students reach out to me individually to thank me and/or explain to me how I had made a difference for them. It reminded me of why I am here and renewed my vigor for my chosen career course.

8. Erecting a fence: Those of you who know me, know that I'm not the most handyman-man around. But I am learning a thing or two about working with my hands through home ownership. After replacing a water heater last year, this year's big project was going to be fencing in our back yard so that Millie can go out there and play without being watched all the time. Luckily, 75% of our backyard was already fenced, so I only had to worry about 25 feet or so. But, while the fence was something on our "would be nice" to-do list, the time and costs kept me from really pursuing it.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving morning. Deidra's parents were in town and we got together with some friends to do a little turkey trot 5k run in a friend's neighborhood. During the run, my father-in-law spotted a homeowner tearing down a fence. Knowing of our wish for a fence, he approached the man and a few days later, we had more than enough fence panels delivered to our home free of charge. A few weeks, 6 post holes, a 20 pounds of gravel,and 100 pounds of concrete later, I finally got most of the fence put up before Christmas and our first big snow fall - all that's left is the gate.

9. Prairie Home Companion: We got complementary tickets to go see a live taping of Prairie Home Companion, a throwback radio show on NPR, when it came to Purdue. Having only minimal exposure to the show (I had really only heard the "News from Lake Wobegon" segment, which wasn't my favorite), I didn't really know what to expect. But it was such a fun and amazing experience watching bands play, announcers using different voices, and the legendary vocal sound effect guru Fred Newman. It's one of those things that is so much better to watch live and I am really glad that we went.

10. Getting an "R&R": In the academic world, R&R doesn't stand for rest and relaxation; it stands instead for revise and resubmit. When you send an article in to a journal for potential publication, it usually either comes back as a flat-out rejection or an R&R, which basically is the action editor saying "I think there might be some potential for publication, but here are all of the problems that were found with your manuscript by me and the other reviewers. Try to address these issues and resubmit the revised manuscript and we'll take another look at it." So, my first journal submission (as the 2nd author out of four) got the latter response, which is one step closer to publication. We have now completed the revision and sent it back to the editor for a second round. We'll see what comes of it. (Hopefully it eventually gets published, as publications are vital for finding a professorship after my PhD program is finished.)

11. Cheering on the Washington Nationals: I grew up as an Atlanta Braves fan, but switched my allegiance when the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005. I was living in DC at the time and had the good fortune of going to a handful of games during their inaugural season, which was right before I moved from DC. Since then, I have remained a fan. They have always been pretty horrible, but finally turned things around this year. They happened to be playing the Padres while we were in San Diego for the SIOP conference mentioned earlier, so we even got to go cheer them on in person (and check "sit in an all-you-can-eat section at a major league ballpark" off of my bucket list). I also got a Nationals baseball cap for my birthday. It was fun seeing them do well and even get into the playoffs this year, though their breakdown in the final game against the Cardinals was heart-wrenching. But, there's always next year, as the saying goes.

12. Taking the WEPCO league Fantasy Football Championship: For the second time in three years, I won the championship in the 12-team fantasy football league that I have been running for the last ten years. It's a very low-key and low-commitment league, so the only thing you win when you win the championship is bragging rights. And since I have won those rights, I figured I better use them here.

There were many other memorable moments in 2012: Sunday dinners at the Wallins, a short vacation in St. Louis, going to the beach, Millie's Halloween costume, Scout campouts, visits from family and friends, a summer adventure traveling out west, etc. It was a great year, and I am looking forward to 2013!