300 days to go

Work today was rather uneventful.  A typical day in the lab and at my desk.  I set-up an experiment that I'll run tomorrow and I spent a few hours in the afternoon preparing my talk for the workshop later this month.  However, when loaded my blog this evening to write my post, I noticed that there are 300 days until thesis submission.  This particularly worries me, not so much because of the work leading up to turning in my thesis, but because of the drama associated with the final year of PhD study (at least at my university).  In a nutshell the final year is plagued with visa renewals, financial uncertainty and tedious paperwork.  All of which are burdens not faced when you're in the middle of your studies.  Even without looking at the countdown clock this evening, I have already been distracted and bothered this week by these final years stresses, which are a very real part of studying at my school.