Dead man walking

Yeh, that's the man who knows his fate months or days into the future as he sits in death row. That's kinda like a PhD candidate I guess :) You and everybody else know what's gonna be in store for you. When I walk around the department building now there is alway that comment "you are almost finished right?" I wanted to reply "if you only know what i know" :) Of course no use scaring other students. Definitely the pressure starts to build once you are done with all the classes and qualifying exams, and of course the department looks at you as the budget equivalent of another student they could admit the next cycle. That's when you know you got to keep walking...