Another milestone

I am pleased to announce that my extended absence from making any posts has been broken! After a considerably long lapse since my last post, I have finally gotten around to writing again. As indicated by the title of this post, I have reached yet another milestone in my academic career- the end of classes FOREVER! I finished the 15 course requirement for my PhD in the middle of June, and now for the next 2-3 years I will be doing strictly research. The next step for me is to gather a committee of 4 faculty members and present my qualifying exam before December where I will propose the topic I will be studying for the rest of my PhD. Grad school is going by so fast!

It's already midnight, so I won't write much. I did want to mention that last weekend I went to a funeral for one my grandparents- Grandpa Sollars. While I am comforted by the fact that he no longer has to struggle to breathe and deal with recurring bouts of pneumonia and hospital visits, he will be sorely missed. He always had such a warm personality and a great sense of humor, and it was always a treat to come visit him, even as his health started to fail him in recent years. As kids, my brother and sisters and I would always joke that Grandpa Sollars knew everybody, and we would count the number of people he would talk to at restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, etc., because anywhere we went, he always seemed to find people he knew by name and could strike up conversations in a heartbeat. That's just the kind of person he was, and by no means do these few simple sentences do justice to the life that he led and the strength of character he possessed.

We all miss you Grandpa Sollars and love you very much. Rest in peace.