Finally set up a working Table of Contents/Structured Outline for my thesis and I'm starting to fill it in. It's relieving some anxieties and helping me focus. My advisor suggested I just write what know... just spill it onto paper (virtual paper that is)... don't worry about formatting or footnoting... just get a draft out there. It's working out pretty well so far. I've set everything up on Google docs, divided into the Chapters and subheadings which is actually making it seem hard to keep it within the wordcount which is better than trying to fill up the word count. I think as I write I will be able to edit it down to the relevant discussion and it should pull things together nicely. Worse case, even if entire sections get cut, I've written stuff down for another paper down the line. I like the way I've set it up. Anytime I find myself just staring at the computer or my models, I open up one of the files, add a paragraph and then get back to work.
Productive procrastination.
Google Docs seems a bit more stable and less infuriating than last time I tried it. I'm trying to avoid formatting and anything fancy for now so there shouldn't be any problems when I convert it to OpenOffice.
I dug out my old laptop and did a reinstall with XP. It's a bit slow and stripped down to bare essentials but it's stable and I just need it for some Internet browsing, file viewing and word processing and a glorified CD player. Keeps me sane sitting alone in studio. The OS alone takes up almost 4 of the 6G harddrive. ME was giving me blue screen of death every 15 minutes. 2000 was crazy slow and 98 has issues with the wireless network. If need be, I have a 1G mp3 player with an additional 1G card to carry around files.
Studio is starting to be productive. I forgot what a pain pouring plaster can be but I got one decent test and some ideas on how to fix the others for the next attempt.
