AHH!!! My Thesis Proposal!!!!!!

AHHHH!!!!!

My thesis proposal is due Thursday.

So, a month ago, I sequestered myself in the house to write my thesis proposal, so I wouldn't end up caught off guard. Then, I gave it to my advisor, like three weeks ago. Maybe two. Last week, he suggests who one of my readers should be. I email the suggested reader and wait, not wanting to be too pushy. It is Thanksgiving week after all. She has probably gone somewhere fun. The other reader, I obtain by shameless solicitation.

So today, I finally track down this first reader person. Good thing too -- she had never gotten to my email, and I would have been really sunk!

She emails me tonight (THANK YOU FOR THE FAST TURN AROUND!!!) to tell me my related work section needs work (ha ha I made a pun). She says I need to include more about "ad-hoc networking" and "decentralized distributed computing". Fine. I had a feeling that this was going to come back to bite me. I included plenty about smart rooms. Advisor-Mike said that I need more about "sensing stuff". I had those references all ready to go, and it was fairly painless to put in. I am not at all familiar with the ad hoc networking literature, except by its tangental relationship to ubiquitous and pervasive computing, where it is often mentioned as a foot note. I am in trouble!

How has it come to be that two days before it is due I am not ready!!!


Ugh.

On top of this, I am trying to find a job. I had my very promising phone interview with BAE three weeks ago now. I know it is three weeks because the message that was left for me after the interview just came up on my voice-mail thingy for deletion. We are still trying to find a good date for this to happen. I would really like it to happen. I have my slides for the talk they wanted me to give already to go!

On top of THIS, we have to move. So, today I spent an hour and a half calling around to see if we could go see any available apartments. The first place I called was 21st Century, whom I had called a month ago, and whom had told me to call back in a month. They tell me they don't have anything, and that our $1400 ceiling is low for apartments in Newton. (AHH!!) I turn to the trusty interweb and I find some promising matches, and email and make phone calls.

The last phone call I make, the guy actually had someone cancel on him, and he showed us an apartment this very evening! I liked the apartment a lot. Mike (boyfriend Mike, not to be confused with advisor-Mike) was lukewarm towards it. We have a tug-of-war going on about location. He would want to move further out, towards work, and I want to move further in, towards MIT. I thought the location of the apartment we saw today was just dandy. It was two blocks from the commuter rail and the gym. There are restaurants (like Blue Ribbon Barbecue!) and even an Irish pub. Mike was not so happy about it. It is beyond the expensive toll (the one that is $1, instead of 35 cents), going out of Boston, and has not entrance onto the Mass Pike.

This weekend was nice. Ally is very, very cute. I think four days of doing nothing might have been the thing to cure what ails me. Of course, I feel some of my progress towards there being less of me to love more was lost to the strategic pie reserves. Although, I do give myself credit for restraint. I was conscious not to go way overboard. Except for pie. I am also now addicted to Civilization IV. This is not good because this game takes an insane amount of time to play. I spent 5 hours on a single game on Sunday.

And Michael, sweet Michael. He brought me breakfast in bed yesterday!