Ok, so I had a face-to-face on campus with my DoS.  Very productive but so many things to do.  Has a very tangible feeling of ‘in it’ rather than looking ‘at it’.  Got some great input from DoS, academic librarian, research information specialist, and GT group.  So much to do now to implement and process everything that came out of these meetings. Working towards a PhD is a kick-ass, hardcore, focused graft – not for the faint of heart.  One of my mottos moving forward is: ‘Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well’ John W. Gardner