So much for the committee being available.

So, I found out last night that three of my committee members can't be here, just as I feared, for the dates I wanted to defend.

One of them I knew about - he's on sabbatical - and we'd always intended on him conference-calling in.

Having three on conference call would mean I'd be confronted with a telephone for pretty much the entire thing, and that includes the external examiner as well as my boss.

This May graduation is slipping away more and more every minute.