End of the first week!

2.5 hours writing, 2.5 hours reading, researching, and ruminating, 1 hour emailing.

I'm finding this is turning out to be more like a regular job than I expected, in the sense that part of my daily work is communicating via email with colleagues, monitors, and other contacts about my project. I had been lumping that under administrivia, but that's really not an accurate characterization. For lack of a better term, I'll just call it emailing.

I have my outline in shape to send to my advisors for comments. I've made quite a few changes: deleting one runty chapter and adding in a couple of context-setting ones, per my posts from Wednesday and Thursday. I find that a lot of what I'm doing is simplifying: whittling the argument down to the very basics. Once I'm confident I've gotten that across really solidly, then I can add in any bells and whistles that make sense and are doable.

I'm going to let the outline sit over the weekend, and take another pass through on Monday morning before sending it to my advisors.

All in all, a successful first week! Many thanks to Steve Boland for being the first monitor, and to other friends and family who have taken the time to read and comment as well. I'll introduce the new monitor on Monday.

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading,
Chris

P.S. One of the many ways in which my wife Cathy is a culinary genius: space pesto. It looks like earth pesto and is made from all the same types of ingredients, but ends up being totally different and good in its own way. Instead of basil: cilantro and mint. Instead of parmesan: feta. Add in serrano chiles and cherry tomatoes, along with the usual olive oil, and it's a recipe for YUM. I was glad to have leftovers for lunch!