You could be excused for thinking I was dead.

I actually nearly almost was - well in a metaphorical way. I have officially started the PhD. In itself not so scary, you have to break it all down into easily digestable bits. So, at present it is reading, reading, reading - and worrying, about what I am reading, that is, if it is relevant. A this stage it probably doesn't matter toooo much. The idea initially is to develop a comprehensive annotated bibliography, one that summarises all the major angles around the topic one is studying. You need, I guess a hundred or so significant pieces of work that capture the main debates and wisdom of the area.

That's what I'm doing at present. I've discovered a cool piece of software called Scholars Aid which helps one do this very well. The chopped down freeware version (Scholars Aid Lite) is available.

The Topic!?
Ok, lets run a little competition here. If you think you know post a comment. Haha, no one will guess (that is no one that doesn't already know).