Acknowledgements

So I've been reading a lot of dissertations lately - like you do, when you're trying to write one - and hands down the best part of any dissertation is the acknowledgements section.  It's like the gossip column / family tree of academia.  A real place for discoveries like, "oh, so you're not gay after all" or "I see that so-and-so helped you work through your argument in chapter four -- interesting."

Anyway, since it's pretty much the only part of my project that seems manageable right now, I've been giving mine some thought off and on today.  Non-human entities that are getting a shout-out will most definitely include Google Books.  Do you know how many times today alone I've read a footnote referencing an obscure, unpaginated [love that word] 19th-century journal and thought, where the hell am I going to find this RIGHT NOW on the day after Christmas so I can read it RIGHT THIS SECOND?  And then there it is, right there, on the interwebs.  I don't even have to put on non-pajamas-type clothes and venture out into the snow.  A real life-changing source for 19th-century nerds.

And speaking of snow, pleaseohpleaseohplease let tomorrow be a snow day, but only if I get paid on snow days.  It's really important that I sit at home and read again.  And build a snowman in my front yard.