Final Countdown - 24 days

24 days until my defense

15 days until my thesis should be turned in (and it will most likely be turned in)

2 days until the lab moves away (everything is already boxed up, and the movers/chemical movers are coming back tomorrow to get everything squared away for Tuesday, I think)

7 days until my 6th wedding anniversary (and I remember when it is BOOM)

14 days until my wife's birthday (and I remember that TOO)

I'm not sure how crazy I should be right now.  I spent the last evening and today re-writing a significant part of chapter 1 of my thesis that I accidentally copied over with an earlier, unwritten version.  I later discovered that I had, in fact, printed it out (making me wonder how I had managed to copy down the unwritten version, as I printed it out at work... weird).  Luckily, I read over my first draft (that I deleted) and it turns out that I'm happier with the second run-through, so at least I've got that going for me.  There's still a lot to do, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.  Here's the plan:

At work: luckily, we get to keep our desk space, so I can use my computer there and leave all of my data at my desk (as opposed to bringing it home).  This means that my at-work hours are to be spent working on results sections, as well as updating the experimental sections.  After that's all up-to-date, I can also work on figures and whatnot.  I can also read papers I've brought from home.

At home: it's all about writing the background portion of my chapters, as well as reading up on papers and textbooks that contain information I need (I brought all of those home before I learned that I would have a desk at work). 

I'm a little worked-up right now about one thing in particular - throwing away old samples.  As my boss 1) doesn't really have lab space to work with for the time-being, and 2) will likely not be working with my project after I finish, it didn't really seem like a good idea to ship a bunch of old samples that I had stored away in a cabinet for the last 6 years.  While some may have survived just fine, it just seemed like a waste to keep them for anything other than nostalgic value.  Who knows, she may end up assigning someone else to deal with this project (it may be a much better undergrad project, actually), but it didn't make sense to ship a bunch of stuff she likely wouldn't use that could probably be synthesized easily from commercial sources.  I got all of the data I needed from those molecules, so into the garbage they went.  It feels kind of bad to throw away your work, especially when it's what you're basing an entire part of your life on, but as they say, so it goes.  Better to move on, I think.

I have about 2 weeks to write the thesis - one to get a draft that I can get to the boss (this week), and one that will be going to my committee (next week).  Hopefully it will all come together and I won't have to deal with it the first weekend of July.  The good news that, if it doesn't, my laptop is easily portable and has good battery life. 

Wish me luck!