I didn’t get much done today. Reviewed the comments on my prospectus draft, switched it to LaTeX (I should have just used that in the first place), took care of a bunch of Monday-logistical type stuff, and did my weekly review since I missed it Friday.
I leave work early on Monday for my meditation group, so tomorrow should be a longer, more productive day.
I was up until 01:00h Saturday morning working on finishing the first complete draft of my prospectus write-up, which is pretty late for me. The review was on my desk when I returned, and it’s going to take a lot of work to address all of the comments. I have a few other things to do today, but otherwise this is going to be my primary focus Until it is DoneTM, for it must be done. Soon.
Today is August 7, 2006. I move to Baltimore in 15 days.
I realized something today that I wish I had known a long, long time ago.
When reading a technical paper containing equations, there will be text, and there will be equations. Usually the equations come somewhere in the middle. However, when you come to the equations, you must understand the equations thoroughly before proceeding to the rest of the text.
I used to think that I could still get something important out of the paper without putting the time into understanding the equations, but in my experience that is simply not true.
Be ye warned.
August 1st, and there’s a storm entering the gulf. Less than a month until it’s 1 year post-Katrina.
…
I now have a solid goal. Given that I probably have to be in Baltimore by August 24th, reality is setting in. I have 23 days, or just under three weeks, to defend my prospectus. Until today, I had not set a finite goal for when I’d like to have my draft complete.
The goal is now Friday. I want to have a complete draft, with references, by Friday. I hope that telling Teh Intarnets will help with my motivation.
I’ve given up on keeping papers for reference in manilla folders labeled with the project name, as advised by The David. That works fine for small amounts of paper, but when one has stacks of article copies 500 or more sheets high, it just doesn’t cut it any more. I consulted Molly , who seems to have a pretty good handle on hardcopy management, and she advised me thusly.
She uses 3-ring binders to hold the relevant papers, broken up into multiple binders when needed, for things she’s currently working on. They are clearly labeled in large-face type. More extensive references are kept in little file boxes, using alphabetical hanging files. I’d say the file boxes are about large enough to hold two or three reams of paper. They’re something like this, but nicer. I think she gets them from the University book store. I’m in the process of moving my ever-growing collection of papers to such a system, starting with the file folders.