I passed my first preliminary exam today. Only the second prelim and my dissertation defense lie between me and completion.

Once I’m free to stop commuting to the lab every day (just another couple of weeks…), I am going to stop fooling around and I am going to blast through the rest of my dissertation at a rate that makes my previous 10 pages/week pace look sluggish by comparison.

Prelim II by January, defense by May. That’s the goal. If I need more time, I’ll only give it until August. As long as I’m in grad. school, I’m prevented from doing the research that really matters, so I need to hold fast to my three-year ultimatum.