::Sigh::

Now that i am getting back into the swing of things, i have been working almost non-stop on my paper, breaking only to relieve headaches by beating my head against the computer getting my website to work in harmony with its self. While i have had wonderful progress with my paper (13 solid pages of the history of the problem…i still haven't started proposing my ideas yet!), i haven't seen as much luck with the website. In that realm, i am working on getting the registration and login for the main site to work with the forums site (so that a person need only register once, log in once, and get the goodies in both). The people that do tech support for the program i am using for the main site have no clue when it comes to this subject. The people that do the tech support for the program for the forums have a single tutorial that they expect a person with sufficient know-how would be able to adapt to and work with it. Well, they're wrong. (1) i don't have the sufficient know-how (which is why i am not allowing people to register to the website yet…it goes down frequently as i screw up something and spend the next 12 hours fixing it) and (2) their tutorial leaves people with a very rudimentary knowledge of the log-in process of the forums. So, as i have played around (“hmm…what does THIS do??”), i have gotten some things working, but still no single login yet. The single registration is almost done.
As far as my paper, i have settled on it being entitles “Omniscience & Future Actions” and, oddly enough, that's what it deals with. Speaking with my primary professor, he seems optimistic that i may be able to get published in a scholarly journal (not one of the big ones, though), which would look *really* good on my grad school applications. So, i have been bouncing between “get it done” mode and “perfectionist” mode. My rough draft is due Friday (thanks to an extension), with the final draft due about 2 weeks later (Wednesday, 17 November). i hope to be able to defend it before Thanksgiving holidays so that i won't have to worry about it at all. In final summary, i have read a stack of books nearly four feet nigh (not joking, either) and a stack of journal articles three inches thick since the beginning of the semester for this one paper. Now that i am finishing it up, i can start catching up in my readings for class (especially that Heidegger class…i need to read over 200 pages of Heidegger by next Friday!). Things are going much better for me than they were two weeks before Mandie came.
Speaking of Mandie (my excellent, most bodacious girlfriend), i think things are becoming more serious (as we now tell each other that we'll be putting up with each other for a looooooooong time). i can't wait to see her and her family for Thanksgiving. We've also been talking about the Christmas break. Some friends of ours in Corvalis, Oregon (the MD wannabe and his Florida transplant roomie) want us to visit them for New Year's. We also don't want to have some time to ourselves, so we're still undecided on exactly what we'll be doing. Also, thanks to my aunt (the one that used to work for Delta), i will be receiving two “Buddy Passes” where i will be flying on standby (i.e. any open seat on flight day on the plane is mine!) at the cost of the flight taxes ($60 or so).
Also, remember how my car died a few weeks ago? Well, since then, my dad gave me a car that was hanging around his yard (that he repossessed). It's a 1996 Mercury Sable in overall good condition (the interior is falling apart a bit, but nothing too serious). My car that's dead was also sold today for $800 (as is).
Ahhh…back to work!