OMG

Today I consolidated my completed dissertation chapters into a master document. I have written 55 pages so far (not including references). Crazy, huh?

Backing Up Work & References

Generally, I like to have all my work on a USB drive so that I can be mobile and work from anywhere. This means that I am constantly paranoid that I will leave it plugged into the library computer or  break it and lose everything that I have done so far. In order to prevent this from happening I have been backing up all my work each night on Google Drive, my computer hard drive and another portable hard drive that I leave under my socks.

Basically, every person in academica that I have met has given me the same advice, use some sort of bibliographic software. All of my references are in RefWorks which has made my life so easy when it comes time to reference everything and I can access it whenever I have internet through the ProQuest add-on to Microsoft Word. It even makes my bibliography for me at the end! This has been a huge lifesaver for all of my assignments so far. I'm not trying to advertise for ProQuest but I do appreciate the fact that my university provides the account for free, even when I am an alumni (they charge for EndNote).

I'm not really sure where this post is going, just thought I'd share what's on my mind.

It's a small victory, but I'll take it.

I have successfully put on somewhat presentable people clothes and left the house today for the first time since Sunday. Now instead of procrastinating at home by reading the news, phdcomics and pulling hair out of my carpet I am procrastinating in the library by updating this blog.

As I said, I'll take it. 

Dissertation Writing #2

So my last post was a little short on words about how the process is going. I've started 2 countdown clocks on my computer desktop to keep me energized about the looming dissertation submission deadline. One is for the actual final deadline by which the whole thing must be submitted to our program officer. The second countdown clock is for one week before the final deadline to remind me that I need to get it printed and bound so that I can submit it on that day. I give myself the first deadline because it costs a decent 40% more to print and bind a dissertation in one day versus if I send it to the printer five days ahead of time.

I've managed to make decent progress the last couple of days but I have come up with some weird ways to procrastinate. Because people who love me but who should really know better (I'm looking at you parents and boyfriend), keep asking me how many words I've written, I started an excel spreadsheet to graph  the wordcount of each chapter by day. The findings and analysis chapters look pretty sad in terms of word count but I've made some very pretty figures to display my data. Hey I'll take the small victories.

It is comforting to know that a lot of my classmates are in the same boat from via text, gchat and facebook (we haven't seen each other in over a month except for that one time we all happened to be at the library at the same time). For all of you and everyone else who may have forgotten what I look like, you're welcome:

Dissertation Writing

Books I've read for fun since arriving in London...

(in reverse chronilogical order)

Call the Midwife Trilogy by Jennifer Worth

• Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s
• Shadows of the Workhouse
• Farewell to the East End

These books take place not too far from where I live in the 1950s. I've often walked around the Poplar and Stepney Green areas wondering if these were some of the paths that Nurse Jenny Lee and the other midwives rode on their bicycles.

• Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin (partly for fun, partly for an assignment)

Other less serious reading:

• Yes Please by Amy Poehler
• Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
• I Remember Nothing  by Nora Ephron
• A Wallflower at an Orgy by Nora Ephron
• Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
• Bossypants by Tina Fey

(are you noticing a theme? damn you overdrive recommendations)

• The Book Thief by Mark Zusack

Babies and Learning

My homework for this week in Psychology and Learning:

Enjoy!