Today is day 2 of He** Week, aka Capstone. During this week I have the utmost pleasure of researching and writing 3 1500 - 2500 word essays chosen from a list of ten possible questions.
Yesterday I started off with fire, chose the three questions which most interested me, and was off finding resources. I thought I'd amassed a good amount of sources for each of the questions by about 1 p.m., so decided to start on the first essay. It was the one I had the least amount of sources for, so I thought it would be the most difficult to write.
After pounding my head against the wall immeasurable times, and taking a few mental health breaks, by 9:30 p.m. I had pounded out 1438 words. Not quite 1500, but close enough for a first draft.
Today I broached the second essay. As I reread the question to refresh my memory, and started to really delve into the research articles - I realized there was a problem. The research, while on topic, did not fit the scope of the question. So ... I spent another four hours attempting to find research that DID fit. Nada. Feeling as though I was about ready to pull my hair out strand by strand, I took Buddy out for a potty break. While on my way there, my SD noticed my stress level was quite high and he made a suggestion - why not look at the list of questions and see if there is something else you could try?
After getting a bite to eat, I came back and took a fresh look at the list. I chose another question which I thought was a good possibility, and then checked to see how many sources I could find for it. Yes! A good amount of sources that were on target! So I started printing them out. Ran out of black ink, and am almost out of color ink. One of the sources has its entire background in color - ugh! - so I'm not printing that one. I've read through all of the source materials, and have a good idea of where I'll go with it.
Tomorrow I'll work on actually writing it. Tonight I'm plumb worn out.
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One of the procrastinating things I did tonight while searching some of the more reputable internet sites for info was to click on an interesting link. That link led me to the discovery of a new and very cool add on for Firefox and Chrome. I of course had to try it out, and then I wrote a blog post about it for my living frugal blog - complete with screen shots. 
After that is when I was able to commence with reading my new sources.
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Now I think I'm going to spend some time catching up on the blogs here. Good use of my limited time, don't you think? 
Capstone - Ugh!
February 16th, 2011 at 03:53 am
February 16th, 2011 at 04:27 pm 1297873675
February 16th, 2011 at 05:02 pm 1297875779
February 16th, 2011 at 06:15 pm 1297880102
February 19th, 2011 at 11:59 am 1298116742
Jerry
February 19th, 2011 at 02:22 pm 1298125329