Dr. E Toman

Success! I denfended my dissertation at the beginning of August and am now just working on the final edits. I can't believe that I have finally finished my education. It has been a long process and I have loads of people to thank for getting me this far. We had a BBQ the evening after the defense. My parents, Tim and Paige were in town and I had friends from all over come in. It was great to have the original "estrogen lab" back together. Debbie flew in from Kansas, Erica came down from Olympia, Kristin from Molalla, and Kami moved back to Corvallis just in time. We all worked for Arne as grad students/research assistants the first year I was at OSU. In the 6 years since, there have been 3 weddings and 5.5 kids :). Thanks to all to played a role in my success and to those who came to celebrate with us!

Back Online and in DC

Hello all! We have had a crazy whirlwind month but are happy to report that we made it across the country, finally have internet, and are slowly digging out of boxes. Much has happened since the last post so I'll add a few posts today/this week and try to get updated. Eric started work last week and really likes it. He is doing a fellowship sponsered by AAAS (society that publishes Science journal). This program matches up PhD scientists with federal agencies to involve more science in policy-making and allow the academics real-life exposure to policy-making. He has been placed with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) in their climate programs office. Specifically, he will be working on the US Climate Change Report. This is a very timely subject and he is excited to be in on the ground level and hopefully travel to international climate change summits.
I'm hanging out in our tiny apartment, trying not to go crazy with all the moving details and working on the final edits of my dissertation.
We are only here for a year - so come visit! There is so much to do and see in DC and we'd love to have visitors!

177 pages
The disseration is in to my co-major advisors! I'm one step closer to finishing.
Timeline:
July 20: Completed dissertation with edits submitted to entire committee.
Aug 3: Presentation and Dissertation Defense.
Assuming all goes well - that's it! 23 days and counting.
My family from SLC and a friend from Kansas are coming to town for the defense. I'm so excited to be done but have about 23 days of craziness until then. Wahoo!

Nillas
Reduced-fat Nilla wafers do not taste anywhere near as good as the regular variety. Just had to let that out.

Allright, E is having too much fun with her spreadsheets to want to go home yet, so I decided to contribute another post.

Well, I no longer have pins in my right wrist. I went in for my "hardware removal" on Wednesday. Although it was a bit more involved than I anticipated (I was knocked out and groggy for quite some time), things went well (at least we think so, E wasn't in the room when the surgeon came in after the surgery and I only know he was there because the nurse told me so. I met with a physical therapist (or physical terrorist as a friend calls them) who nearly made me cry by doing all this crazy stuff (e.g., trying to bend my wrist) and then told me to do likewise 5-6 times a day. Its weird, but after 8 weeks in a brace my wrist is no longer sure its supposed to be a joint.

So, if you've been following things you'll know we've been leaving some hints these last days about our future employment...here's today's clue. This is actually the "mascot" of our future job.

Corvallis has been sunny and happy these past few days. In a rematch of last year, our baseball team played North Carolina in the finals of the College World Series. Unlike last year where the Beavs repeatedly survived elimination game after elimination game, this year they sailed through the tournament. They only trailed one inning and won a record 4 games by 6 runs or more. Not bad for a bunch of boys from a small NW school. Here's a few photos to highlight the run...

I was able to go to the second super regional game we hosted versus Michigan. The Beavs performed quite admirably and dispatched the Wolverines fairly easily. This was all the more satisfying since I am now contractually obligated to despise Michigan (this is another hint about the job offer E alluded to below...).


2006 dog pile

2007 version

Our Mayor...can't you see why he won in a landslide?

Team with trophy

Lastly, I return to the doc tomorrow to get the pins removed from my wrist. So, here's a robo-arm thumbs up in what I hope is the final day with my full brace. After 2 months in this thing, I think I get a slimmed down version tomorrow and will actually be able to use my elbow again. Three chears for elbows!

Go Beavs!

I've never been a huge baseball fan, but I am really impressed with our little Beaver team. They won the college world series (why is it called that when only US teams are involved?) last year and are trying to do it again. They are back in Omaha and won their first game against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday. They play Arizona State this afternoon. Good Luck Beavs!

Much Excitement

Our lives have been very exciting the past little bit. I'm finishing a PhD and Eric and I have been trying to figure out what we are going to do now. We have been so blessed to have many possible opportunities. Although that has meant a lot of travel and stressful interviews. This week the perfect job offer came our way. While I don't want to make any official announcements yet, I'll give you a little hint.