Plots and Plans

"What is this life, if full of care

We have no time to stand and stare."

As a mark of how much this applies to me, I will draw your attention to the fact that I haven't given a citation to the poem! I know these are the first few lines of Leisure, but I cannot remember who wrote it. I do know that, for some reason, I think of my grandfather (maternal) every time I say these lines. Perhaps he liked them!

Well, I just wanted to mark a placeholder here. I am (finally) actively working on my Prelim ... in the hope that the Final will follow soon after. (According to my advisor, the only major activities left to do between Prelim and Final ought to be writing and applying for jobs! So, I'm pretty much there.) The Committee's all set, the document is in progress (and pretty far along), the work is more-or-less done, the date is all but set, and fingers are being crossed for me. I don't have exact timelines here but I do know I'm headed out for a tiny New Year's weekend vacation to New Orleans between now and the exam. So, you can uncross your fingers for now. I'm hoping that what I have done is sufficient to go onward to the Final exam ... but we'll know that in January. So keep 'em crossed again through the second week of January. I am looking at a mid-2011 graduation, if Murphy decides to hold his peace!