Let me be the first to say Congratulations Dr. Cooper

My defense could not possibly have gone any better. The whole family drove to Dayton and I set up the conference room with goodies. Usually the defendee brings in snacks and drinks for the committee and audience. I brought chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie dough balls, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cup cookies, caramel bars, a cheeseball and crackers, and a veggie tray. My advisor thought I spent just as much time baking as preparing for my defense :).

Erik and the girls waited outside while I presented for an hour. I had pretty much memorized my defense so it went pretty well. I did have to look at my notes a few times. Then I had questions. None of which were really hard. By the way, my results were significant as I had a p value of .0143 if anyone actually knows what that means. After the questions, which were not that hard, the committee asked everyone to leave including me. I stood outside with the girls and the rest of the people.

Dr. Raymer called me in and he said, "let me be the first to say congratulations Dr. Cooper". I almost cried. Wow. 8 years and I've finally made it.
Of course I do have a couple of weeks left of editing and more research to do but not as much as I thought.

Then we went out to Red Robin with a few guys from the lab and the girls made a tremendous mess. It's all good.

What a wonderful day!