I should be getting my new computer tomorrow! Bob has been installing software and getting it set up for me. It's a fast, server-grade computer with a lot of space, and should last me until I graduate. I named it Stella.

Bob has also been working on copying my data back-up from June off the secondary drive of Everin, but it's not looking good. He can see the data, but it won't let him copy it. If he can't get it to copy, I'll have lost a year of original work. Most of it should be reproducible, but some of it is not. If I have the correct programs, I can re-download, reprocess, and re-analyze data again. Luckily, I think all the team-written programs are safely on Sandy's computer. Several documents that I wrote are lost if the data is unrecoverable.

If it turns out that I have a completely clean slate, I want to plan carefully about what I want to fill it with. I didn't mind losing data from in work in 2005 and early 2006, because I was still only just learning how to work with the tools and the data. What previously took me days or weeks, I now have the ability to do in minutes. As I learned how to work efficiently, I stopped creating unnecessary products. For example, in almost all cases, I ceased creating and modeling spectra just to see what it looked like. I don't need the practice anymore. If I'm going to be working with spectra in the future, I want a clear goal, something specific that I'm looking for.

At some point this summer, I realized that I was pushing myself to create a specific thesis topic too soon. Having a general idea and exploring options is great, but I don't need to have an exact dissertation title today as if I was going to meet with my committee tomorrow. I know that my dissertation will involve exploring gamma-ray and X-ray data from gamma-ray bursts, using at least Swift and GLAST. If I'm going to get involved in any side-projects, I want them to be related and relevant.

In the meantime, I am working hard in my classes and studying for the very important exam I will take in January. And I will buy an external drive to back-up data.