RBO ... the day....

• Good dissertation news in the middle of the night--- and some equally good feedback, so YEA!
• I've de-cluttered the desk once again.... It is more streamlined, so it is easier to work. Also, it is more cat friendly, so New Kitty (who has been here a year, but will be New Kitty until there is another youngest cat) will have places to sit that aren't right in front of me. Now, if only I could train her to actually use those places.
• I'll do a couple of dissertation hours this morning. I'm almost done with a draft of chapter 1 --- it is that boring intro / theory stuff, but it needs to be done. I think I'll hold onto it for a while, as those things may change. But -- I need to do it to get the stuff out of my head -- and so that I can easily reference it in later chapters or figure out that it needs to change...
• My goal is to have the draft done by the end of the week, so I can get a running start on chapter 2 next week.
• I'll get 23 or so papers this afternoon -- the good news is that the are second versions, so they aren't all that difficult to read.
  
• Tomorrow I'm taking my super-tutors to lunch -- they are so wonderful and have been so helpful they deserve it... and -- if I could charge a 'I didn't do my homework' fee of $5.00 for every time a logic student came unprepared, I could take them on a first-class trip to Vegas to forget the little suckers -- alas, all they'll get out of it is a nice lunch....
  
• Other grading news -- I'll have about 29 logic finals to grade -- out of about 70 logic students -- not bad... the rest earned an exemption from the final because their grades were good enough (i.e. on their quizzes they proved they could do the same kinds of problems I'd put on the final...).
• Late afternoon will find me on the deck planting --- phase 1. This is always the most fun, because I'm starting from scratch -- new dirt, new pots etc --- I didn't invest much in the pots, but I got good dirt (the stuff with the water holding crystals...it is amazing) -- and so far all I have are herbs and veggies. The plan is to give the best spots to the working plants -- and then fill in with flowers as needed. In the end, I hope to have a little green oasis on my deck. I already have a couple of comfy chairs and someplace to put a can of pop, so the plants will give me a new place to read a book -- either dissertation or non-dissertation related....
• And -- the view from my office window keeps getting better. My apartment is on the end of the building, and while my bedroom windows face an abandoned golf course and swamp, my office windows face a trailer court -- at least, when the leaves go away -- we can see the neighbors quite clearly. Just yesterday the leaves really started to fill in, thus reducing our view of the trailer court -- the plough (pond/slough) is also quite pretty this morning...