First things first: It looks like I have a 98% chance of going to that conference in the Netherlands this summer! My advisor is putting me in a symposium that he’s putting together with another professor from another institution, so as long as I get the proposal written by the end of this month (which I no doubt will), I’m going! Needless to say, I’m incredibly psyched and excited about what this could do for my job prospects.
The semester has started up, and so far things have been ok, despite the fact that I’m still working towards being 100% healthy. I actually had some work to do for my lab gig yesterday (my first day back in the office), which was kind of refreshing. I got some reading done this morning, had a nice meeting with my advisor, and printed up some more articles to read over the next few days. This semester I need to accomplish/do the following:
- Write up proposal for the Netherlands conference (by the end of the month).
- Have a first draft of my dissertation proposal written by mid-February. This is going to be tough.
- Write up my paper for THE big conference this spring (due by mid-March).
- Successfully defend my proposal by the end of the semester.
The fact that I’m not taking a class helps tremendously. My proposal will need to be somewhere in the 45-60 page range, so I have a lot to do between now and the middle of next month. I may take my friend Stu’s advice and just work a set amount of time (probably 2 hours) a day, every day. No more, no less. That will keep me on a consistent work pattern without making me burn out. It will be nice to get 3 out of 5 chapters done before summer begins and before I have surgery (to fix the OHW). Once I recover, I can get to the down and dirty work of analysis and writing up my conclusions, et voilà! Un dissertation!
This week has been an interesting experience in dog-sitting. Brubeck’s best friend is staying with us while his mom attends a conference in San Diego (lucky duck!) and it’s been a barrel of monkeys. Dogs’ personalities never fail to fascinate or amuse me, particularly when they differ so drastically as they do between these two. The cat, however, is less than thrilled.
