I haven't posted on this blog in a LONG TIME.  One reason (which I can see now in retrospect) is that "letting go the ego" has not necessarily been aided by pursuing a dual degree program. Continuing education too easily can become "brandishing" the ego or "building" the ego.

So, with that dynamic in mind, I'm considering making this blog into 'truth in advertising' for a while and blogging about my progress toward completing my dissertation.  This process is most interesting for me to look back and have a record on my journey, but is this writing is live on the internet, perhaps someone else might  find it interesting.  

My current goal is to finish the reading for my dissertation by the end of 2009, and submit a draft -- approved by my advisor -- by December 1, 2010.

There are currently 44 weeks left in 2009, although it's about to be 43 since this week is almost over, and I have 106 books left on my "to read" list.  The trick, of course, is that I keep adding books to the list.  However, I'm reading in reverse order (starting with the most recently published book and working backward).  So, hopefully, the rate at which I'm adding books to my list will lessen each week as I read older and older book and are increasingly obsolete and, therefore decreasingly relevant to my topic.  

So, crunching the numbers, I need to read 2.41 books/week at this point to finish by the end of 2009.