Meeting the First Deadline of the New Plan

So, with 35 minutes to spare, I can say that I read an article this week and made some (brief) notes. The article is recent and directly relevant to my work--so relevant, in fact, that I was worried it would cause problems for me. But I think the article will be helpful. The author tackles an issue that I will address, but I think my "end game" is different from hers. Therefore, I can rely on her work to some degree, but then I can extend her argument or take it in a slightly different direction to achieve slightly different ends. I hope I can articulate the distinctions clearly enough that they don't seem *too* slight.

The article was good, but I think her argument could have been more unified. But she left me in the dust when she came to the philosophical bits. I have So. Much. To Learn.

Here We Go. Again.

Strep throat, round two. Kid #2. Weekend #2. Let the Netflix, amoxicillin, and jello stream like rivers into my household.

In other news, I downloaded a few new articles so that I can read one tomorrow and meet my first week's deadline for the new plan. One of the titles seems alarmingly like my own topic. I'm hoping to find that it is of great use to me rather than a fatal shot to my "originality."

A New Plan, Stan

I am mostly recovered from last week's illness. Could have been a cold, could have been strep. Daughter was diagnosed with strep today. But now I am better, and she's getting medicIne, so I'm really hoping to be able to get my head back in the game at work. Currently, I'm terribly unorganized. Lots of stray bits here and there.

But on another note, I have an idea for how to try to get more dissertation stuff done. I think I should plan to read one chapter or article per week, typing up good notes so what I read won't be lost out of my head six weeks later. I'm sure that this goal sounds ridiculously modest to most of you, but when I consider that this is week ten of the semester, and I have read mostly nothing so far this term, and I've forgotten most of what I have read, the plan actually seems rather ambitious. Of course, I will still be trying to meet various writing dealdlines, but I'm realizing that it's the reading that is so unwieldy and time consuming.

And now it's time to hit the hay after a late-night grading jag. It's nearly 1:00 a.m. I remember when that was my nightly bedtime after my nightly date with Charlie Rose. My how things change.

Pros and Cons of Illness

Downside to being sick: Feeling various levels of crappy.

Upside to being sick: Taking a sick day.

Upside to taking a sick day: Being at home in comfy clothes.

Downside to taking a sick day: Having to use the time to grade papers and write program review (i.e., work) instead of curling up with a book.

What's Up With This?

I thought that last week's cold was on the retreat. But now, my throat hurts like crazy, and I don't know how I'll sleep with the pain unless I put some kind of sorbet ice pack at the back of my throat. Bugger.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Why is it, that when I'm working on my dissertation, I suddenly feel the need do something like look up information on the narrator for Mythbusters?

Carnival

Okay, so I know that this is a lame excuse for a blog post, especially after five weeks of silence, but can I tell you how excited I was this morning when I realized that "The Cask of Amontillado"* was on my syllabus for today?! For Carnival?! I love when that kind of stuff happens.

*a.k.a. to Ink's students as "The Flask of Armadillo."