cheers!

Sorry it took me so long to post! My lap top is shot and still trying to get used to sharing a computer with capnhowdy! LOL He makes me very, VERY happy and the twins too!

Congrats, jujuwwhite. Don't forget to put your foot down, when he tries to get you to climb the ladder, and get that toilet paper off the trees. ;)

Congrats to the dirty old man, too. :haha:

Thanks, Bruce, but you are a day late! That's how we spent our honeymoon! LOL He did hold the ladder for me though.

:eek: :( :lol:

Oh Goodness! That's so brilliant :) Congrats to the both of you :)

Many, many congratulations and lots of love to you both.

Many happy wishes to both of you - great pics! You both look very happy.

Blessings on you both.

Congratulations to you both! What nice news to hear! :)

Mazel Tov!!!!!

Congratulations to you both! I wish you many years of happiness together!

Congratulations!

Congrats!

As you know Zen is going to work up the hill in the real world of academia. I was informed on Monday that I have been awarded Zen's job.

Sweet! Make sure you do it better than he did... I hear that dude was such a slacker, he was always on some messageboard during work hours.

I reckon....now I would never spend my workhours doing such a thing.

39 straight rounds dead through the X from 25 feet. felt good.

We also say "wool" when referring to yarn. I remember the first bathroom graffiti I saw as a kid that I thought was funny: Someone had written "My mother made me a homosexual" below it someone else wrote "If I buy her the wool will she make me one too?"

We also used yarn to mean story a lot. But then my mom is English/Scots so, who the fuck knows what the hell was going on.

Probably downloading bittorrents too.

Not for the X, I imagine.

I'm to busy in the cellar to download torrents.

Actually, one of our colleagues had been doing that until she got "the message" from the IT department.

I'm excited! I think I'm going to drive up to ABQ on Saturday for more piercings!

Nothing like a few new holes for Christmas!

Misfits is on again tonight.
And I have bread & cheese for supper.

I like Thursdays.

Well...I was supposed to turn up at my supervisor's tomorrow with a 'complete' first chapter. I won't be doing this: it still needs a conclusion. I have however managed to get 5500+ words down on paper...albeit they're not right good. It needs extensive rewriting, and I am not much looking forward to delivering the cartload of caveats and disclaimers that will accompany this first draft...

BUT... a week ago I was struggling to see my way past 1000 words, and wondering what the fuck I am doing. The first draft is as rough as sandpaper and I am far from proud of it (really isn't up to my usual standards at all). But the process has been absolutely invaluable. I think i know how to rewrite it to a much better standard. In the process of writing I have rediscovered my 'voice' albeit a little late for tomorrow. I will be spending a good amount of the Christmas break rewriting this beast but at least now I feel I have some sort of a clue. I am sooo grateful to my supervisor for setting me this deadline (even though i haven't quite hit the target). Much better to go through that hell before I have to produce a finished and polished product.

The last couple of weeks have been a nightmare. I lost all confidence in my ability to write cogently. Hell, I lost confidence in my ability to think cogently lol. Some of that lack of confidence comes through in the work I've done, but at least I know why and I think I know how to make it better. Right now, i don't think it'd pass muster as a second year undergrad piece of work; but with a rewite I think it has the potential to be rather good.

More importantly, the process of writing this first chapter has broken me into my subject. I can see the rest of the thesis taking shape now, in my mind's eye. Much less frightening that an amorphous mass of unclear, and ranging ideas that don't quite fit together :P

This was always going to be one of the most difficult parts of the thesis: the military side of a military-domestic equation. If I can get this right, the rest will flow.

I'm slightly annoyed at myself for not getting to grips with this sooner, and so not managing to write a conclusion. But right now, at a little after midnight, I'm just pleased there's enough to take with me in the morning. And I am ecstatic that i can now go to bed :P

Way to go Dana.

Well after five years, and over twenty thousand dollars, I am a full Bachelor of Science.

Congraduations Tiger!

Well done Dana, it sounds like your supervisor knows what they are doing as a supervisor. I am confident that you'll get that thesis-beast in a headlock before it is due. (Probably about 12 hours before it is due, but that will do.)

*grins* he knows what he's doing, and he knows me. Which is great, because I can't play him.

Tora, way to go! That's totally awesome. You're full of good and cheering news :)

Yeah, 12 hours or more. Then she'll watch 3 episodes of Dr Who, take Pilau for a walk, and screw around in the Cellar, for 11.5 hours. :lol2:

Ohhhhhh.....you know me so well lol

an evening (or morning) well spent

:rotflol::haha::lol2:

Essentially half a day today...then off work until the 28th!

I'll be working some from home, but still...heaven!

:happydance:

*jealous*

All four Qicelets home for the Holiday... massive amounts of baking this weekend!!

After today, I'm off till the 4th. :D

good for you AND shaw for snagging some holiday down time.

YAY! nothing like not having to work over christmas - glad to hear some people get some time off.

Ha! Our classes start on the 4th so the time between Christmas and New Year's is going to be crazy.

Enjoy your time off!

Today is the day I drive to the city to pick up the baby kitty :D

Gotta go grocery hoarding first though, with the snow coming... should be fun.

I love my boi the most.
But I will always envy anyone getting a new kitteh.

I got approached for direct advertising for a relevant product on my website. It's not the promise of income (of which I expect there will be no more than pennies) that makes me happy, but rather the air of legitimacy I get to feel. They came to me!

That is pretty awesome! Congratulations.

Great stuff Clod. Just goes to show: if you build it they will come!

Well, my supervision meeting went really well. Having dumped my cartload of caveats and disclaimers onto his desk he just grinned and said: well that's the point of doing a first draft :P

We discussed the basic themes I'd drawn out and possible structures for the thesis overall, along with other sundry stuff about research plans.

Having re-read it this morning I don't think what I wrote is that bad actually. It's raw, yes, and it needs reworking extensively, but there's a strong core to it. It was quite reassuring to find that when I told him about the difficulties I'd had in terms of finding my voice and figuring out the shape of my ideas, he didn't seem unduly worried by that. This is apparently quite normal when stepping up from undergrad to research thesis, because of the nature of the task. So much of the eventual shape and structure is dependent upon research that isn't done yet and there's so much more of it than with a dissertation, that I'm basically approaching a first chapter which needs to set the scene for later chapters, without actually knowing for sure where the later chapters are going to end up. The research informs the writing and the writing informs the research and that process is ongoing and fluid.

He told me I should be more worried if I am coming up with a perfect first draft: if it can be whipped up with ease at first try then I'm probably not saying something worth saying at this level.

So, I left uni feeling more confident, and with a much clearer idea of where I am taking this, as well as feeling more comfortable with the not knowing in terms of the eventual shape. Am back to being enthusiastic again and feeling like this is something I am capable of; and that my ideas are actually worth exploring in a thesis.

what a great feeling and just in time too. Congrats.

Finally found this on youtube:

Nothing's coming up for me...just blank.

try again, I think I fix'd it...

yey!

sex on a stick or what? When those ads were out i emailed them and told them how much I loved the ads and they sent me a full pack of postcards including stormy guy. According to youtube his name's Norwin :yelsick:

Norwin still must bow down before...

EL NINO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEoHz56jWGY

Just booked our tickets to & from Cardiff for January.
£8.50.
London to Cardiff and back. And £8.50 is for both of us, ie £4.25 return each.
Amazing.
They work on a system of charging more for popular times/ destinations.
We got the basic fare of £1 for the return, and the slightly higher one of £3 for the outward journey.
50p booking fee makes up the difference.
Seems like there isn't much call for coach travel to and from Wales at the tail end of January for some reason...

I am made up.
It will cost us double that to get to London to catch the coach!
But that's hardly an issue now :)

What date are you going to cardiff?

Its Yule, and my anniversary today!! So far my day has been quiet and mostly un-eventful. I only have had 2 phone calls from work this morning. LOL

Snow day with the kids making an igloo. Well, not an actual igloo, but a snow shelter.

a weeks' vacation!

Happy anniversary, Jay! Today is my one week anniversary. :)

Har! Happy anniversary Jay and Mr Jay!

Sat 23-Mon25 January. I'm going to see the last performance of John Barrowman in panto. Mum's coming along for the ride.

Happy today?
My Christmas tree.
A wonderful surprise from a Big Dwellar with a very Big Heart. And not Big V - although I'm sure he has one too.

Today is my last day in this job.

Well, I actually kind of like this job so I'm not really pumped up about leaving, but I am off work until 11th January. :D
I've got STACKS to do today and the weather is sucky (40 with a thundery change late) but summer break is almost upon me. :D

Got pictures of my Grand-daughter in the mail today!!!! she is soooo cute!

Because the weather is so dodgy, no-one is Christmas shopping today, so I was ale to breeze through a certain well known toy store and scoop excellent presents for both nephew and neice. Done.