Study Nook

We have an extra bedroom that I call my office, but in reality it has always been the room-sized equivalent of a junk drawer. The desk in there was really more decorative than functional:

I loved all the drawers, but it didn't have much leg room, and so it happened that I never once, in four years, sat down and worked at this desk. Enter one trip to IKEA plus one day of assembling, polyurethaning, and cursing:

A functional desk! I actually worked at it today. I think Heidi likes it better too.

As far as how the actual diss is going, as opposed to its associated furniture, July was the month of the Dissertation Seminar. I feel like I thought a lot about Dissertation-Related Issues, but didn't make much progress on paper. Now it's August and the library has reduced hours, so I can't spend a lot of time in my study carrel. But now I have a sweet new work space at home!

Evicted from the Writing Room

The library where my study carrel is located is closed due to danger of flooding. I hauled out as many books as I thought I would need for the summer and set up shop in my home office. There will be more distractions, like the cats, one of whom enjoys lolling on my computer keyboard while I try to type, but there are pluses as well, like the ability to open windows. I hope to get back on the writing schedule once I get organized.