One step closer to being done ...
Though there's still that ton of work and actually writing the bloody thesis anyway. The plan is to walk in May 2009, which for those keeping score, would be 7 years of grad school or 10.5 after taking the first required course. CS proposals are public and one of the ex Mach guys I was working with in 1999 stopped by, which was just "holy crap that was a long time ago."