Quiet on the home front

Yes... it has been quiet here. I have been writing, writing and MORE writing, trying to get through the first two topics of my thesis literature review. This requires that I read all academic literature over the past 30 years on each topic and try to come up with an intelligent (huh?) summary of how it all relates to itself (who agrees with who, who built new research and ideas on who, who is completely out to lunch etc. etc. etc.). While the first topic went all right, the second has been about as easy as extracting my toenails with a teaspoon. If that did not paint a visual-enough picture for you... I can honestly say that after 4 18-hour days researching and writing non-stop (except to see our dryer die in a flash of burned-out heating coil and eat Jeff's lovingly prepared meals), I feel something like this:

Thankfully, this too shall pass. In 7 days, to be exact. My thesis concept (of which the the painful lit review is Chapter 2) is due next Sunday.... so let the countdown begin.