Smooth Sailing (So Far)

I can only hope that my entire dissertation process will go as smoothly as the past three days have.

Day One: I pulled almost forty books off library shelves. On a typical library trip, I need to go to at least five different libraries, but the books that I needed were all in one library. This was particularly nice in light of the soaring humidity.

Day Two: I got to order two books that I've been thinking about purchasing for the past two years. During my thinking time, the prices have come down. Oh, how I love to buy books.

Day Three: I received the email confirmation that my new books have been shipped. Yay!

I did have one heart attack moment. While working through some online databases, I discovered a book with the exact same title as my dissertation topic. My heart sank at the prospect of some other scholar having already written my dissertation.

When I started reading the book, I was relieved to learn that while the topic was the same, the author had focused on a slightly different time frame, relied on different data, and used a different methodology. Phew!

Here's to many days of smooth sailing!