03 March 2010

Graduation is in 72 days.

Since I am posting, it is quite clear that I am procrastinating writing tonight's chapter. Yes, that is right. This is chapter two of three due this week. Topic: Causes of the Plague. Seemingly easy, and yet the various arguments on each side need delicate treatment in order to be thoroughly covered. Also made a bit harder by the fact that today, upon inserting my thumb drive into my computer, I discovered that the file containing copies of ALL of my primary sources was somehow corrupted. I spent hours downloading each individual page of each source, all 133 of them, so that I would have access to the pdf files should Early English Books online go down (or, considering the state of the internet here at SMCM, the internet should take hours to load the site). Considering how large the file was, I was unable to directly save it to my computer. It was located solely on my thumb drive and, as I have found out today, I should have made a backup disk. Let me tell you, hindsight can be a bitch.

Do not fret, dear readers (or, as I rather suspect, just Mum and Dad): I will press on. This is but an unexpected hurdle in a race that is almost over.

In the meantime, I am getting ready to go the gym for an hour in order to de-stress and will then be at the library all night attempting to finish this chapter. Having spent too much time attempting to regather some sources, I've written the introduction and made a very detailed outline. Hopefully running on the treadmill will free up my mind to let the words flow once I come back, hop in the shower, and then head down to the temple of doom - er, the library - until the wee hours of the morning.

Wish me luck.

On the upside, once this chapter is in, I'm halfway done (Left to complete: Remedies for plague, the Galenic-Iatrochemist debate, introduction, and conclusion ) and the next chapter isn't due until Sunday night. Excellent.

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