Hard Lesson and a Rant

I think one of the hardest lessons there is to learn as a student is that sometimes it is good-necessary to make major cuts in a paper. As I continue to revise (Chapter 1 down, 2-4 to go), I am reminded of how hard this really is. I think that this lesson didn't really hit home until graduate school, and several years into it at that (I'm currently in year 8-wince). With Chapter 1, there was a lot of cutting this time around, but I had plenty to fill it in with. The chapter is now more focused and hopefully sets up the rest of the dissertation much better. Starting with Chapter 2, I am faced with the possibility of cutting out 5 pages with several possibilities for replacement. The problem is that the best of these options would need to be researched and drafted from scratch. We shall see what happens with that.

This morning I was reminded of that someone needs to write a handbook of coffee shop etiquette which would become required reading for anyone who wishes to bring a laptop with them and work on it. A project for after the dissertation is completed perhaps. In my considerable experience in Milwaukee coffee shops, Anodyne is one of the best places to go for just about any reason (caffeine, write-read, hanging out...). One major reason for this preference is that the people who tend to patronize this place understand the as of yet unwritten rules of decent coffee shop behaviour. That said, the jerk who blasted loud music without headphones for almost five minutes while apologizing but doing nothing to lower the volume was an unpleasant reminder that a lot of people lack manners and-or common sense in public situations. If he was going to do that, he should have known he'd be less annoying at the Colectivo down the road (it's a much bigger establishment, so it wouldn't have been so obvious). I know that sometimes the sound comes on louder than anticipated, but what's the point in apologizing for an extended period of time while doing nothing to correct the problem