Sports Sunday Fun Day: Maligayang Bati, Papa Jun!

♪Happy ☼Birthday☼♫ to my Dad today!

Go, *Dallas Cowboys* this NFL ☼Sunday!

Throwback: Papa Jun & I en route to our *Dallas Cowboys* game against the Philly Eagles during the ‘BOYS‘ first season at its new home field (then-Cowboys Stadium/now-AT&T Stadium)

Just like any fortunate child who has grown up with a father or paternal figure, I feel extremely †blessed† and grateful to still have mine as a constant part of my life.

Throwback: Papa Jun & I have a good view of *America’s Team* and *America’s Sweethearts from 6 rows behind the end zone!

Papa Jun is one of the most well-rounded people who I know and admire:

• He was a hardworking country boy in his side of the family’s province in the Philippines 
• He served over two decades in the *United States Air Force* both Stateside and overseas
• He continued his almost two-decade aviation career after retiring from the military
• He stays active as he plays tennis and roots on our football and basketball teams
• He taught me many fundamentals, from math to car maintenance to politics

Even as an adult, I still keep learning from my Dad, who always enlightens me everyday, through his example and his wisdom as a prayerful soon-to-be first-time grandfather with whom I attended Church today. Cheers, Pops!

Maligayang Bati, Papa Jun, at ♥Mahal♥ Kita!

✌ R.I.P., Flip Saunders of the NBA ✌

Study Saturday: Stats Woes

Welcome to my 📚work💻 station!

Crunching numbers on these 💻devices📱 with my 📔manual📙 on hand👋🏽

I now can empathize with my speech🎤 students who consider public speaking to be 😅nerve-racking, while I encourage them to step outside of their comfort zones!

For yours truly, my anxiety😱 lies with 📉stats.

Earlier this week following my final excursion, I spent my Manic Monday at this corner dealing with my raw 📊data before meeting with my 🎓dissertation📜 chair the following day.

• This tutorial helped 📈

Here’s the trick to overcome such challenges:

Add something with which you’re comfortable into the 🔬mix so it’s an easier pill💊 to swallow!

{Just like a re-run of Tia & Tamera that I caught today when new mom Tia introduced her son to new solid food ~ he loved butternut squash while she tried to get him to warm up to peas}

Now that I’ve gotten the hang of it more after going through it in my grad classes plus one-on-one tutorials, I’m actually enjoying it on both my

• laptop

and

• desktop with the much larger screen!

Bearing in mind all of the above, my PhD program has been the hardest undertaking that I’ve ever experienced, and not simply because I initially anticipated stats with dread …

During my doc degree, I’ve encountered many emotional highs and lows:

Experiences	Emotions
Preparing for my final and comprehensive exams plus my statistics	Anxiety, Nervousness
Passing my final and comprehensive exams	Accomplishment, Achievement
Failing my first stats course and having to retake (never let this happen before)	Disappointment, Failure
Getting kicked out of my first study group (never gave anyone reason to want to before)	Rejection
Celebrating my luminary and candidacy convocations	Blessed, Bliss, Happiness
Passing my concept proposal and proposal defense plus my IRB request	Relief
Working hard on my dissertation paper and data	Dedication, Devotion, ♥Love♥

Yet at this point, I still wouldn’t ever trade it for the world!