Another one bites the dust ...

Phew, just finished writing another chapter of my thesis - only another 5 more to get done!

The situation isn't as bad as it sounds though since I have already written a fair bit of the remaining chapters. For example, Chapters 4 and 5 just need some corrections and a pass through expanding each section with a little more detail. At most this should take 2 days to get completed. Similarly, the bulk of the content for chapters 6 and 7 have been written. Just have to go through and clean it up. I don't expect to need more than 3 days for this. Finally I need to write out the final conclusions chapter - add another day, and in total the end of my thesis is just 6 days away!

I hope my supervisors are happy with the two revised chapters (2 & 3) that I sent them today. I think I have addressed the bulk of their concerns, particularly with respect to methodically explaining each aspect of my work. These two chapters have expanded from a combined length of 30 pages to a whopping 60 pages now! Which should account for about 1/2 my thesis.

OK, time to go home and have a break. Chapter 4 beckons ...

Wanted: revolving door

At the rate at which new people seem to be coming and going through my office, it seems I should consider asking the college to replace the door with a revolving one. Over the past 6 months, 2 of my colleagues have left and 2 new folks have arrived to take their place. And then earlier this week I learned that one of the new guys is planning to leave as well - after only about a month of being here! I hope it isn't anyting I said :-)

The thesis writing is going pretty well now and I am confident I will be able to get it done over the next week. Of course there still might be some corrections to be done here and there, but these should be just minor typos and rephrasing to make things read better.

Well, I guess I shouldn't spend any more time updating this blog - even though it is one of my more pleasurable displacement activities! Other fun thing I am doing these days is to take lots of pictures with my new digital camera - will try and post some of the recent photos with my next entry.

Help is on its way!

As I am in the final two weeks of intense activity to get my thesis completed, I not too keen on taking time out for those domestic necessities of cleanig the hourse and cooking food etc. So, it is great news that my mother is coming down to stay with me for a couple of weeks to take care of all these requirements! The really touching thing is that I didn't even have to ask her for help - my parents decided that they wanted to do this on their own initiative, and I have to say it is *really* appreciated. Whilst it is unlikely I would have starved, or been buried under piles of dirty laundry, or anything even remotely similar, having Ammi around is going to really improve my QoL (Quality of Life!) in these last two weeks of frenetic writing :-)

The other good news today is that my cousin Aruni (who lives in Bermuda) just gave birth to a baby girl. My newest niece was born yesterday morning and I am glad to say that both mother and baby are doing great.

Today is the celebration of the Queen's official birthday, so London is a bit of a mess with roads closed off for the parades etc. If I had a little more time on my hands I would have liked to go along myself and try and get some pictures, but this is going to have to wait until next year.

Oh well, I should get back to work now. Just popped into the office to get the power pack for my laptop before heading to the coach station to meet my parents. Then back home, and back to work!

Bring me sunshine ...

Djurgarden, Stockholm
Originally uploaded by akbandara.

The weather here in Stockholm has taken a turn for the better - another reminder of the impermanence of nature! - so I have been able to take some better pictures of the city. We have to take a ferry ride to get from our hotel to the conference venue, which is definitely more pleasant in sunnier weather. It's still pretty cold out on the water though.

The conference is going quite well, with a very interesting keynote talk this morning.

I haven't been able to talk to Uthpala properly for the past couple of days and I am really missing her a lot. Hopefully I get back to the hotel at a reasonable time this evening so we can have a good chat and catch up.

Cloudy Stockholm ...

In Sweden attending a conference at the moment. Weather is not that great - but at least this means I have not much incentive to use up time by going outside and walking about. Instead I can focus on getting some more writing done on my thesis!

Will try and take some pictures and post them here at some point though.

P(ermanent) h(ead) D(amage) ...

P(ermanent) h(ead) D(amage) ... aaagh! Who said PhDs are fun?!?! This writing thing is one of the most soul-crushing experiences of my life. OK, I realise nobody will really relish the thought of sitting at a desk for days on end trying to write about stuff they've been doing over the past 3 years - but I am getting close to the end of my tether! Just got back another bunch of corrections from my supervisor and have major additions to put into the two chapters I finished last week. My supervisor thinks that the end is in sight - but he must have better eyesight than me!:-)

Oh well, enough ranting about it. Just have to get heads downs and plough through this... it is not an insurmountable obstacle, but rather one of those experiences when you climb half-way up a peak and realise that 2/3rds of the mountain's height was hidden from you until that point!

Off to Stockholm on Sunday but I can see that I will have to spend as much time as possible on the writing up. Otherwise this will never get done.

Web sights ...

Bhuddhanet.net is a great website for information about Buddhism and related books, articles etc. I recently was able to find some really nice children's stories with buddhist themes by visiting this site.