Simple, right?

I've got exactly a month until I have to hand in a copy of my dissertation to Graduate Studies. Freaking out, I wrote out a list of all the things I need to do in the next month. The list doesn't look all that bad. It's only got 6 bullets, and one of them is a note to pull a reference book out of the office and carry it around with me.

Sounds simple.

Except for that whole "write thesis" bullet. That one might be a bit of a chore, although I'm really not all that concerned about that part. I think I can write the thing in two weeks. That may sound ambitious, but the truth is that I have a lot of the writing done. My literature review, for example, is done. Intro is simple, conclusions will be clear. Content??? Uh, that's the problem. I do have things to write about but I don't have the whole story yet and if I need 2 weeks to write the damn thesis then I've only got two weeks and a bit to get all my result ducks in a row. Good luck to me, result duck hunter.

The other thing that is going to take F-O-R-E-V-E-R is the mathematical notation. I use a non-WYSIWYG* program to typeset all the math, which is definitely the way to go in my field. But it takes a while to code it and it's going to take especially long to unify all the notation from all the different articles. Ugh, that is the part I'm dreading.

*WYSIWYG = what you see is what you get. These are programs like Word*. I don't feel like explaining it past that, but if you have ever spent any time at all trying to enter an equation into equation editor - or worse, change an equation in equation editor, then you will appreciate a typesetting program. Steep learning curve but excellent usability once you figure everything out.

**I don't even HAVE Word on my computer.

I don't know what came over me

Yesterday I cracked open a cross-stitching kit. I blame my friend Kathy for this purchase - crafty catalogues are evil, I tell you!

The kit is called Paris Market. Here's the scene:

I think it's pretty. I love the buildings and the flowers and the colours. Who wouldn't want to hang out here for an afternoon? And you know what the best part is? Pre-sorted thread! Holy moley!!! Back in my day, we had to sort our OWN thread, thankyouverymuch. This sure made starting a lot easier. I will have to decide whether to put the thread on cardboard spools or to leave it as is. I am envisioning a gigantic tangled mess of thread after carting the kit around for a few months if it remains in its current unspooled state.

When I bought it I managed to use a 40% off coupon at Michaels to get the kit (pay full price??? are you kidding me???). So it's been sitting in the office (what, you don't store sewing supplies in your office?) for, um, a little while year or so. And I told myself I'd do it in that mythical time period "when I finish my thesis."

But yesterday, sick and tired of browsing the web, sorting through digital photos, sending people e-mails, and waiting and waiting for my (boring) friends to post things on Facebook, I grabbed the kit, swooned again over the scene, found my embroidery scissors, miraculously managed to find an embroidery hoop, taped the perimeter of the fabric, found the middle of the fabric, stabbed myself in the finger while marking the middle, and chose which colour to start with (pink).

I managed 19 crosses before Kid 2 started fussing and I went to bed.