coleridge78

I have the best wife. In other news, I'm sick of being sick, but that's how it goes.

I just described my job to my sister:

I spend most of my day slamming my head against a wall because people want me to do stupid things. I can't say "no", so I just surf the web until they change their mind and then I pretend that my exasperation is about having to "start over". When in fact I never started anything at all and I just hate them.

I do eventually have to show some production. When that happens, I have to figure out how to break it to people that I gave them something that has very little in common with what they asked for, but that actually does the intended job. They're always very angry at this because they wanted to cross the Himalayas with a cookie and a pony and I gave them a team of sherpas and a satellite phone instead.

In the end, the thing I built usually fails anyway because they resent not getting a cookie and try to eat the sherpas.

Figuratively speaking.

I'm posting this now because I just opened a container of delivered chicken satay. But autumn in general is the season for my following observation.

I love poultry, but boy that smell of wet fart when you open a container of already-cooked chicken or turkey is bad.

A month ago, I met with my advisor for my "capstone" project. It's essentially an exploratory research project done as an alternative to a thesis, for my Master's Degree (master of science in software engineering, specifically). In the grand Brian tradition I started off with a big idea and then immediately was lost in it, unable to put one foot in front of the other to come up with a structure and methodology. Or even to decide what my scope and data set would be. So he told me not to panic, but to keep zeroing in. "Take the rest of March to keep thinking. I want you to be writing by April."

March came and went and I didn't really come up with any more clarity. Started to look like I was going to have a problem on my hands. I printed out the big data model diagram I made back in January and just starting writing on it with pens. Miraculously that shook something loose, and I started writing for real on Saturday. I have a target (personal target, not assigned) of 12-15,000 words, from which to edit down to something closer to 10-11. Something like 40 pages of real text and 10 of diagrams. Which I can do in the time alloted if I can keep up a pace of approx 5-700 words per day, which so far has been attainable.

I've never tried to keep that amount of production going, though. I'm always more of the "do nothing for a while and then write 5000 words in a 48-hour marathon" type. We'll see if I can do it. I'm confident but not totally convinced.

Only six weeks left on my MS. Now, I need to get a much clearer idea of what my capstone project is, and fast.

Rejected by Ploughshares. No surprise, that was "yeah, right" attempt for this round.

So, what's left are the four that I might almost dare to think I have a chance at. We'll find out.