Tag: grad school (Page 1 of 3)

Dumb Kids

June 12, 2007 / DB

Not my kids, although there are moments where I’m thinking that. No, I’m talking about the kids who edited the paper down at campus the past two semesters. I’ve been digging through the stories I wrote to make copies to send out to prospective employers and thus reading through everything I had published. Oddly enough, I don’t always like reading my stories once they’re printed. I can’t explain why, it just works out that way. Anyway, for most of them this was the first time I read what had been printed. As I read through them, I noticed several articles were published with horrible errors in editing. In one, comments the editor had for me were inserted into the published piece. Things like “I think skeptical is a better word here,” etc. That looks real professional. I give that editor a pass because she was great the rest of the time and that was the first paper of the semester, and kinks were being ironed out.

I thought one of my best stories was one I wrote about a speech on campus by a native Darfurian about the genocide. I was reading through it and noticed the article cut off in mid-sentance at the end. It was my final paragraph, but rather than edit the quote down, they just filled the space and stopped. There are probably people all over the place who read that article and are still wondering how it ended.

Now my debate is do I use these clips, assuming editors at newspapers and magazines will realize it was a college paper and understand those errors, or does it look too unprofessional and I need to let them sit? I think the answer is A, but it makes me feel a little silly. “Here are some great articles I wrote for a paper that obviously wasn’t very good.” Frustrating.

Unloading

April 30, 2007 / DB

A lot of ground to cover and, suddenly, nothing but time to do so. Here goes. 3000 words? We’ll see. Grab a beverage and dive in at your leisure.

A commenter asked Friday how I was celebrating the end of my grad school classes. Well, here’s what I did. First, I grabbed a big, fat carnitas burrito at Chipotle. Normally, I go with the vegetarian burrito. I figured I owed myself a little pork. Next, I read a book. Literally. My latest library book was an extremely quick read, and I knocked it off in about four hours. Then, the wife and kids and I went out to dinner (we’re having some work done around the house and our stovetop is out of commission for about a week). I enjoyed a tasty Stella Artois with my meal. Then, we came home, put the girls to bed and I went to bed shortly after. Why? Because I ran my first 5K in almost three years bright and early Saturday morning.

Like a lot of people, on New Year’s Day, I signed myself up for a New Man Plan. My back was perpetually sore and spasmy, my joints in constant pain, and I grew winded from simply climbing the stairs while lugging one of my kids. It was time to take corrective measures. Unlike most people, I’ve stuck with my New Man Plan, working out on a regular basis ever since. I did fall off the running wagon, a bit, over the last three weeks, so the race promised to be interesting. I just wanted to break 30 minutes, then run one race a month the rest of the warm weather months to stay in shape. I knew something strange was going on when I crossed the one mile marker and my watch read 14 minutes. No way was I running that slow, right? I figured I was right in my normal 10 minute/mile pace. My concerns were confirmed when I somehow ran the next mile in only six minutes. I crossed the finish line in 30 minutes, 46 seconds. But, I heard that because of some last minute rerouting, the course was closer to 3.5 miles instead of the normal 3.1. So that first mile was extra long and the second just mismarked, I guess. Anyway, I figure my official time didn’t beat my desired time, but I would have crossed in under 30 if the course had been the correct distance, so hey, I did it.

As promised, some thoughts on relevant sports issues.

Brandon Rush. Shame he’s going, for KU’s sake. I think he really wants to be in the NBA, so I doubt he’ll drop out of the draft unless something crazy happens. Unlike a lot of players, I think he could really help himself by coming back. But I can’t blame him if the money is there. I’ve gone back-and-forth on the age limit thing. I’ve decided, in general, I’m against it. But, I like what it does for the college game. I’m in favor of a baseball system, where you can declare for the pros out of high school, but if you go to college, you’re stuck there for three years. I think that for purely selfish reasons. It’s harder to fall in love with a team when the players don’t stay around. You can love the program, but the teams don’t mean as much to you when there’s a rotating door on the locker room. That’s a shame. I also think it’s bad for the college game because it means even more of the best high school players will sign with a small number of programs. The KUs, North Carolinas, Kentuckys of the world can load up every single year now, since their coaches can expect several players to either go pro or transfer after one or two years. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, I liked it the way things used to be better. Oh, and KU will still be good without Rush. Top 10-15 good instead of top five, but still good.

Curt Schilling’s sock. Stupid. People are idiots.

Randy Moss to the Patriots. Talk about reacting poorly to not winning a Super Bowl for two years! The Pats have gone nuts this off season. Better on both sides of the ball before the Moss signing. And remember, they were on the verge of blowing the Colts out in the AFC title game last year. It’s not like they were a crappy team. If Moss fits in, holy crap are they going to be good. The Pats have a way of making malcontents mend their ways (Corey Dillon, example), so I expect Randy to shut up and play for at least one season. Pats over the Saints in the Super Bowl.

The Colts drafted a wide receiver and an offensive lineman with their first two picks. Yeah, improving the offense when they’ve lost three key defensive players was exactly what they needed to do. Looks like it will be back to scoring 40 a game but then losing in New England in January because they can’t stop anyone. Enjoy last year.

What the fuck is up with Barry Bonds? There is drug testing now, right? How are we supposed to react to a nearly 43-year-old man who is on pace to hit 56 home runs? Is he on something that is undetectable? Or have all those home runs been legit? I have no doubt, based on the public evidence, that the guy used during his 2001 crazy-wack-funky year. But how much did they help that year? He’s one of the best hitters ever, playing in the juiced ball, juiced stadium, juiced pitcher era. Did they help him hit 10% more? That means he still hits like 65 that year. If he hits only 40 this year, and passes every test, do we have to reevaluate our thoughts of him? Part of his problem is he’s always been a first class asshole. All this indignation about his using has as much to do with the fact he’s an awful person as with the fact he was juicing. It will be interesting to see if his body can hold up.

All this nonsense about Hank Aaron needs to stop. The old man can stay at home if he wants to. He doesn’t owe Barry or baseball anything. As I commented over on The Soul of Baseball last week, what if it takes Barry a week or ten days to break the record? Does the haters expect Hank to haul his ass to every game? What if Barry is two shy of the record, and hits dongs in his first two ABs? Does Hank have to get on a plane and get to the game? Barry has often cried about how unfairly the world treats him. Frankly, I think it’s great that Hank ignores him, since he played in an era where he was the target of legitimate hate.

It’s all a shame. Barry is one of the four or five greatest players ever. How many of us are going to proudly tell our kids that we saw him play? I’ve seen him play live twice, and in each of those games he hit a home run (two home runs in one game, on a crazy hot day in St. Louis in 1997. It was so hot we couldn’t enjoy the fact we had third row seats, or something great like that. We just melted into our seats, slowly.)

I saw Bill Simmons wrote last week that there was no way the Yankees can come back late in the season this year. How many times in recent years have the Sox had a big lead in July and still finished second? I’ll believe it when I see it. Never count the evil empire out, especially when dealing with the slightly less evil empire.

What does Roger Clemens do? Go to New York to try to save the Yankees? Go to Boston and gravy train on what could be the best team in the league (Schilling, Beckett, Matsuzaka, Clemens, Wakefield. Pretty good #4 starter.)? Or stay at home in Houston for another $30 million? Nice problem to have. A-hole.

As I’ve written before, I hate the NFL draft, mostly because of the length and idiot talking heads we have to listen to. But I try to catch the Jets’ pick each year, because that is always the highlight. This year, I loved the kid who was preening for the cameras, heard the pick, and then waited to see how his buddies reacted before he went nuts. “Wait, who did we pick? Is he good?” Well done, Vinnie.

At the risk of jinxing it, Gil Meche has certainly been worth the money so far. In fact, for the most part, the Royals starting pitchers have been a pleasant surprise this season. That bullpen, though, ouch. For a franchise that has been in the tank since the strike, they have managed to produce some bats and the occasional arm. But that pen has been shitty since Jeff Montgomery’s glory days.

He might be a nice guy, but Ross Gload is my least favorite Royal. Just because of his name. Something about that name is really, really bad.

The Bulls sweep the Heat. I’m glad, just because of all the people out there who thought the Heat were going to repeat. Idiots.

I’ve pretty much kicked my NBA habit, so I avoided TNT most of the season. This afternoon, however, I watched a bit of the Suns-Lakers game. I have to say, the NBA in hi-def is a beautiful thing. Much better than college since they can swing the cameras down over the court. It’s like you’re in the front row. Why isn’t Carla Gugino in the front row like on Entourage?

Oh, go Warriors.

Interesting little conundrum developing across the pond. With my long-time favorite European soccer team, Juventus of Turin, relegated to the second division of Italian soccer because of their involvement in a cheating scandal (come on, cheating in anything Italian? How is that a problem?), I finally got over my issues with English football, and adopted Arsenal (the least English of all English teams, ironically) as my team. My choice was based on two things: My hatred of their rivals Manchester United and Chelsea and, like every other American fan of Arsenal, the fact I’ve read Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch, which is his autobiography told through his experiences as an Arsenal fan, twice. So anyway, like several other English teams, a rich American is angling to take over the team. The American in question in Stan Kroenke, part of the evil Wal-Mart cabal that drops truckloads of cash on the Missouri athletic department (that’s not fair, I don’t think he’s nearly as bad as his rivals, the Lauries). So while it would be cool for an American to own the club I follow, he’s not exactly my favorite sports owner. The Arsenal board announced over the weekend that they will talk to Kroenke about his plans, but have no interest in selling out to him. ManU fought a hostile takeover bid from Malcolm Glazer a couple years back, and failed. Mighty Liverpool was just bought out by an American. There is some concern that the Americans, looking more to profit than manage the clubs effectively, will ruin these English giants. It will be interesting to see how the Arsenal situation plays out.

Oh, and I have an addition to the places I need to see an athletic event. I want to see an Arsenal-Tottenham North London derby at the <a href=”http://www.stadiumguide.com/ashburtongrove.htm”>Emirates Stadium</a> someday.

Only 2000 words. Should I keep going? No. Instead, I’ll knock out a Reader’s Notebook entry and get that posted soon. Thanks for tuning in.

Almost Done

April 27, 2007 / DB

Just put the finishing touches on my final article. Kind of a shitty ending to it, but, you know what? I don’t care that much. Just glad to be done. I’ll print it off and drive it down to campus in a little while, and then I will have finished my grad school requirements. How about that?

Seems like we have some things to talk about. Barry Bonds. Curt Schilling’s sock. The NFL draft. Brandon Rush. I’m sure the list will get longer before I get around to it. Stay tuned.

Milestones

April 25, 2007 / DB

Tonight was my last class. Ever? I sure as hell hope so. I always said I would never go back to grad school, because undergrad was enough of a chore. Yet I did return for my Master’s. However, I think it’s safe to say unless they invent a Ph. D. that doesn’t require some kind of quantitative research, the next step is not in my future.

My final article is due Friday, and I’m plugging away at that. Then I have a final meeting with one instructor next Wednesday. After that, unless I hear otherwise from the good folks down in B-town, I’m done.

As big as that is, something bigger happened tonight while I was at class. Mimi and Ampa, our babysitters of choice, report that C. took her first steps tonight. As a good journalist, I need to confirm this with my own eyes before I officially report that she is walking. But hopefully I’ll have the official big news tomorrow. And now that I’ve figured out how to edit our videos, I might even have some video proof for you all.

Professor

April 10, 2007 / DB

That’s what my father-in-law was calling me today, professor. The exciting entry on my calendar today was serving as a guest speaker at a local high school on the crisis/genocide in Darfur. Yes, as scary as it may sound, I was imparting wisdom on the future leaders of this country. And at the swankiest high school in the city, too. I corrupted the best and brightest!

So how did this strange event come about? Well, as I’ve alluded to a couple times, but never gone into great detail about, I’ve become quite interested in what’s going on in Darfur. Some of it was based on guilt left over from my obsession with Rwanda and the feeling that I needed to do something now that genocide is again taking place in Africa. It also stemmed from some school work I’ve been doing. I’ve written one article for class about some locals working to end the crisis, one article for the campus paper about a speech on campus about Darfur, and am focusing my final project in another class on the media’s coverage of Darfur. From all these connections, I suddenly became part of the local movement. That sounds more glamorous than it actually is. I’ve just been sending e-mails to Indiana legislators in support of a divestment bill they’ve been considering, helping to organize some events in Indy, and making some very interesting connections. Indiana, Fort Wayne specifically, has become a center of the Darfur relief movement because of a large population of refugees in that city. It was through one of the people I’ve met in Fort Wayne that I ended up speaking today.

A group of students at this school decided they wanted to have a Darfur week, where they learned about what’s going on, raised awareness across the student body, and raised money for the relief effort. They contacted a few groups, hoping to get a person who’s actually doing big, important things, but all the big, important people were already booked. One of those big, important people is a lady I interviewed and wrote about. She sent the request to me and asked if I wanted to speak. At first, I did not want to. I didn’t think I knew enough, was doing enough, or was a good enough speaker to tackle the challenge. But, the more I thought about it, and the more I thought about why I went to grad school – to challenge myself – I began to reconsider. I checked with the school to see if I was acceptable, they said yes (After a thorough background check, I’m sure), and thus began a week of sleepless nights while I thought about what to say.

I put together a couple outlines, did some serious thinking, and had what I thought was a decent plan to fill my 30 minutes. I would talk about how I got involved, what I’ve done, what the divestment legislation is trying to accomplish, why I think it’s important to get involved, and what they can do. I figured it would interest the kids who had a genuine concern for what’s going on and put the other kids to sleep. Everyone’s happy!

I arrived this morning after about three hours of sleep, thanks to screaming baby #2, with slightly less than my A game. When I checked-in at the front desk, everyone knew who I was. “Oh, you’re here to talk about Darfur?! Great, we’re so excited that you’re here!” That was one of the administrators. Small school, word gets around I guess. My hostess joined me and explained that they had a long presentation yesterday about the background of the crisis and she thought kids would have a lot of questions for me. Oh, and we only had 15-20 minutes tops. There goes half my speech! She then introduced me to a couple other students who helped to organize the Darfur week. One of them shook my hand enthusiastically and said, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Brannan!” (Note: we’re all Brannans since it’s The Brannan Blog!). Ugh, Mr. Brannan? How old am I again?

Some kids strolled in, eventually maybe 30 or 40 were present along with a few teachers, and I got to work. The cold medicine in my head was making my on-the-fly editing job very difficult. As some of you know, I’m a dynamic public speaker….at weddings after I’ve had a few drinks. Unfortunately, I thought it was inappropriate to have a glass of scotch on the podium, so the kids didn’t get the full show. I raced through my information, without too many awkward transitions, so I could leave time for questions. They had some good questions, too! I was impressed. They asked insightful questions about what they can do to make a difference, how they can effectively communicate with elected officials, and asked about some details of both the Indiana legislation and the Bush administration policies. They had done their homework, and I was glad I had done mine.

And then, almost as quick as it started, it was over. The kids raced to their classes, the organizing group took a picture with me for the school paper, said they hoped to see me at a rally this weekend at the Statehouse, and I was off. I hope they got something out of it. It was certainly fun to talk to kids who were so interested in such a big issue. I never would have done anything like this when I was 15-17. One of the most fun elements was the realization that I was doing what a lot of journalists do: I had become an expert on a subject and was sharing knowledge with others. Like those jackasses you see on the Sunday talk shows. I’m one step away from Meet the Press! Of course, I’m blurring the ethical lines a bit, writing about things I’m advocating rather than just sharing information about something I’ve investigated. But I won’t tell if you don’t tell.

You know what? I opened a few minds and saved a few lives today.

OK, joking about genocide isn’t cool. My bad.

Front Page, Bitches! (Plus NLCS)

October 18, 2006 / DB

My M-W class isn’t meeting for a couple weeks, so Tuesday night was my first time on campus since last week’s paper came out. There, front page, above the fold, was one of my stories. As always, I must admit the competition for space isn’t fierce here, but it’s still kind of fun to see your story right up front. And judging by the huge stack of papers left, six days after they were first set out, literally tens of people probably read it. I’m sure Hemingway started small as well. Apparently there is no on-line edition this year, so I can’t share.

I’m working on two stories this week. One is a big profile piece that is for class, although I’ll submit it to the paper as well and see if they can use it. I’ve already done three interviews with the subject, and have one more remaining, plus some chats with people who know her well. This is fun because I really like the profile form, and it’s one of the types of writing I would most want to do professionally. But I’m having a bit of a panic attack on how to condense all this information down into 1200 words or so. How do I tell her story in a coherent manner, with good quotes and illustrations, and write well along the way? I’ve got until Monday at noon to figure it out, I guess.

My other story for the week is about Indy being awarded the Olympic diving trials in 2008. I’ll be talking to some people who run the natatorium on campus tomorrow, and maybe some people from the diving organization if they get back to me.

How much was Fox praying for a game six at Shea so they could rehash 1986? That said, I’ll admit I’m a little surprised there hasn’t been even more discussion of that great series and game six. I’d really like to know what happened to that lady who sat behind home plate and turned her arms over each other, like a referee calling traveling, over and over during every game at Shea. She was annoying, but strangely, I miss her.

I’m kind of amazed the Cardinals are still in this. For a team that limped into the playoffs, they’ve played remarkably well. If they can somehow sneak into the World Series, it will be a great accomplishment. Sadly, for the second time in three years, they’ll run into a team of destiny when they get there. 2004 was the year the Cards should have won it, but they kicked the ball around Fenway in game one, lost the momentum, fueled the Red Sox rocket that was ready for its third stage, and got swept away. But that was the year the Cards had the pitching, the complete line-up, and the bullpen. It’s been a slow decay since then. Seriously, is Scott Rolen kind of like the picture in Back to the Future that slowly fades? Is he disappearing before our eyes?

Published

September 19, 2006 / DB

My first story has been published in the school paper. First time I’ve been published since May 1989, and I have to say it feels pretty good. Unfortunately, the on-line edition doesn’t seem to be updated with new stories, so I can’t link to it. If it ever gets posted, I’ll let you know how to read it. I got an A for my class grade, so I’m pleased with my performance. If any of you can’t wait, let me know and I can shoot a copy directly to you.

I’m struggling with my second story, between finding time to devote to it and getting the right angle. It’s already been delayed a week and will be pushed back another week because of my schedule this week. The good news is I’ve got two other very good ideas to start working on. Both involving politics, the current state of the world, and how students are involved. Should be some fun stuff to report on, and hopefully write about as well.

The Perfect Game Ends

May 9, 2006 / DB

I’ve lost my 4.0. Not unexpected, and not catastrophic either. I got an A and a B+ this semester, dropping my GPA to 3.86. Still higher than pretty much any point in my previous academic history. The B+ was actually a surprise. I was thinking B as best case, B- as the probably grade.

Finished

May 2, 2006 / DB

I just shot my research paper down to Bloomington via the wonders of the Internet. A hugely frustrating experience. I literally worked on it all day yesterday, from 7:00 AM until 1:30 AM this morning, and had almost nothing to show for it. I’d crank out 5-600 words in a section, decide I hated it, delete it all, then move to another section and repeat. At 10:00 PM last night I literally had less words saved than I had when I cracked open the Powerbook in the morning. I managed to get about 6000 words together, though, and while I think it’s probably the worst paper I’ve ever written that I’ve actually put great effort into, it is now done.

Now I have six days off before the summer session starts and I spend three days a week in B-town studying how to write for magazines. Assuming there is no baby this week (knock knock!), I’m even going to read a book for pleasure for the first time since January! Whoo-hoo! Expect a reader’s notebook before next week. Also, with Pearl Jam’s new album dropping today (It arrived in my mailbox Friday, after I left for KC, and I’ve not had a chance to really listen yet), I’ve got a little something about them I’ve been working on for awhile. But for now, a nap is in order.

Wrapping Up The Semester

April 12, 2006 / DB

A little over two weeks and two papers to go, and then this semester will be done. I’ll have a short break, as I’m taking one class in the first summer session, again in Bloomington. So from May 8 through June 15, or something like that, I’ll be commuting to B-town three days a week to take a magazine writing class. Should be fun and interesting, since that’s kind of where I see my career headed. Oh, and we’re having a baby sometime in the first two weeks of class, so it’s not going to be your ordinary, laid-back, summer class.

So my two papers. The third paper for my media & society class is supposed to be based on the effects of various outside elements on journalism. Technology, economics, etc. We’re to pick a TV outlet and a print outlet, and do a 1-2 day survey of their coverage, and compare that coverage to each outlet’s web site, then draw some conclusions based on medium. Should be a kind of fun paper. Our first two papers had a six page limit; this one has an eight page limit, so there’s a little more work involved. I’m hoping to spend this weekend picking my subjects and setting up my monitoring for sometime next week.

The big paper is my research paper for my ethics class. This is the one that I had a draft due last Friday. After some changes and a few tweaks, I’ve ended up writing about public journalism, Communitarianism, and then a case study of a newspaper in Virginia that made a massive effort to convert its operations to a public journalism model. Public journalism, also called civic journalism, is a model that was first practiced in Wichita following the 1988 presidential election. The editor of the Wichita paper was disgusted with how his paper, and most others, had covered the campaign. Issues like tax policy, foreign affairs, and domestic agendas barely received coverage. What did seem to be important, if you read most papers or watched most newscasts, was Michael Dukakis riding in a tank looking like a fool, George Bush visiting a flag factory, 1000 points of light, Dukakis’ inability to answer a question about his wife (A completely awful question, by the way) in a warm, personal manner, Willie Horton, and the Pledge of Allegiance. So leading into the 1990 elections, the Wichita paper surveyed its readers to find out what issues they were interested in. They then made an effort to force the candidates in each race to address those issues. So basically, public journalism involves a shift from letting elites in government and business set the agenda, to allowing the public to set the agenda. It’s more complex than that, but that’s a fair summation.

Public journalism has been controversial because some see it as the media casting aside their traditional philosophy of detachment for one of advocacy. They wonder if the media can play the watchdog role if the public selects what is covered. They worry about how journalists will react if the pubic holds them responsible for issues they’ve pushed but haven’t been resolved effectively. It’s defenders say that journalism is the one force that can reengage citizens in participatory democracy, and thus public journalism is absolutely part of what journalism should be. They argue that public journalists aren’t advocating specific policies, they’re simply asking the public what issues are important and attempting to force those in power to address them. Finally, they say public journalism isn’t some radical shift in how journalism is practiced. Rather, it’s taking it back to its roots and practicing the art in its intended manner.

Again, that’s just a brief overview. But the readings, well some of them, have been very interesting. It’s fascinating to read studies of news organizations that have attempted to implement public journalism and see the internal battles, the adjustments to technique, and the changes in attitude over time. Whether a journalist (or prospective journalist) totally buys into the concept, I think there is a lot to learn from studying it. I tend to think the watchdog role is the most important aspect of journalism, but don’t necessarily buy the argument that practicing public journalism precludes journalists from holding those in power accountable for their actions. I think there are certainly ways to combine each school of thought and examine the doings of the elites while still taking interest in what the public wants addressed.

A big frustration of my writing efforts last weekend was relearning how to write a research paper. My writing style definitely fits the journalistic genre much better. That’s when you read about something, throw in a few quotes or references, but provide most background and arguments in your own words. As I read studies and stories written in an academic manner, I realized I had to adjust my format. Lots of citations, which meant I needed to write things down. How do I do that? Oh yeah, note cards. How do I organize them? Of course, write an outline, number the cards, and reference them on the outline. Stuff I hadn’t done in, oh, 11 years or so. And back then I didn’t exactly do the pre-writing process all that well. So I was laughing at myself a little as I created a method for organizing my material on the fly. I’m pretty sure I’ve screwed something up, so when I sit down to crank out my next draft, I’ll realize something very important has been misplaced or was recorded improperly.

It’s a little ironic that I went through that since I had been toying with a few applications that are designed to do much of that in a paperless setting. (WARNING: Lengthy, geek-based, technology-focused productivity pr0n rant to follow. Proceed at your own risk.) One great thing about the Mac platform is there are tons and tons of organizing apps. Windows users tend to stick with the elements of Office. I could use Office, although I try not to use it unless I have to, both to avoid Microsoft at all costs and because it’s so damn slow on Macs (I have an alternate word processor called <a href=”http://www.nisus.com/Express/”>Nisus Express</a> that I try to use rather than Word). I’ve played around with <a href=”http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonthink/index.html”>DEVONThink</a>, which is very cool but probably beyond what I need and somewhat unnecessary if you leverage the power of <a href=”http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/spotlight/”>Spotlight</a> effectively. I checked out <a href=”http://www.barebones.com/products/yojimbo/index.shtml”>Yojimbo</a>, which has a cool name, pretty look, but is probably a little light. <a href=”http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/”>OmniOutliner</a> came with my PowerBook, and while it’s promising, I’m not very reliant on outlining as my sole method of organization. I’ve been playing around with an app called <a href=”http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/product/mori”>Mori</a> which is very cool and I may use going forward, but at the same time isn’t really a tool that I see as useable for large research projects (It well could be, I just haven’t figured out how yet). After I started, I found an app called <a href=”http://www.bartastechnologies.com/products/copywrite/”>CopyWrite</a>, which looks very, very cool and even has a perpetual free option if you keep your projects within a certain scale (they tout that as the perfect option for students, hey, that’s me!). That may be something I’ll have to try out after I get through this process. Anyway, if you’re still with me after all of that, I thought it was funny that I’ve casually been checking out some cool toys, but hadn’t made a choice by the time I really needed one. When I hit writer’s block moments, I would load up a trial app and plug away for a little while, thinking, “Wow, if I had just started using this three weeks ago, I wouldn’t have note cards scattered all over my desk.”