Progress

Would you like an insider look into the fascinating adventures of Writing My Thesis? Then keep reading, friend, for what a typical work week* looks like:

Day 1:

• accomplish nothing
• feel bad about it

Day 2:

• accomplish nothing
  
• feel bad about it
  
• but really plan to get working the next day

Day 3:

• check email a lot
• finally get to work at 5pm
  
• feel good, but inadequate for slacking off on days 1 and 2

Day 4:

• work all day
• feel like nothing makes sense
  
• check email a lot
• send sections to advisor

Day 5:

• accomplish nothing

Day 6:

• meet with advisor
• who tells me my stuff looks good and that I should give myself a break
• feel smart
  
• give self break

Day 7:

• wonder where the last week went
• accomplish nothing

It's really weird that July is over! I don't know where it went. But I am now about to start writing the final section, and the rest of it has 2 rounds of revisions done.

This summer has been completely nuts on so many levels, but I am now just 2 1/2 weeks away from being DONE with undergrad and taking a vacation to Illinois with my husband and packing all my stuff and seeing my parents and my sisters and going to the beach. Crazy, no?

*see also this strip from PhDcomics.

At last! Something blogworthy!

Grim rea-purr: The cat that can predict death

For like a harbinger of bad news, Oscar is able to discern the exact moment at which the angel of death comes to stand at their bedside. It is an unusual skill, certainly. All the more so because Oscar is just a cat.

[...]

Yet his skills of divination are beyond question - and have even been the subject of an article in as august a publication as the New England Journal Of Medicine. To date he has predicted the deaths of 25 patients, and done so with such accuracy that he has completely won the trust of even the initially incredulous medical staff.

"This cat really seems to know when patients are about to die," says Dr David Dosa, a geriatrician at Rhode Island hospital who also attends patients at Steere House.

!!!!!!

earlier signs of optimism fading

a. sickwise, not feeling as good as this morning.

b. somehow, i STILL have barely gotten any work done.

c. this news story: Rock Falls murder trial scheduled to begin today

Paul Bash, 20, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Ryne Thomas

I went to kindergarten with Paul Bash. We used to exchange outrageous lies about our families.

d. in happier news, i just saw the Gazette birth announcement for Riley:

He is welcomed by Jaycee Roberts, 3. Maternal grandfather is Stan Roberts of Rock Falls. Paternal grandparents are Dr. Arun Kalra and Juhi Kalra, both of Abernathy, Calif.

(just ignore the typos)

p.s. happy Lance's birthday. I think he would have been 60 or 61 this year.

Riley Daniel Kalra

was born on 2 July 2007 at 11:00 AM. He weighs 9 pounds, 4 ounces and is 24 inches long. Both he and Jenny (mom) are doing fine. Riley is the first child of Daniel Lawrence Kalra, and is the first baby in his generation on the Kalra side.

Which makes me a bua! HaHA! Sparklers for everyone (seriously-- I bought 6 dozen)!