Crusty old journal

This summers task is to write a coherent proposal (and get ready for the Oral in the fall). The latter will be the real challenge given the naivete and ignorance with which I am approaching some of the most obscure physics on the planet.
Here I'll try to keep track of the digital side of the work. Not sure how detailed I'll be about my own theory. I guess maybe I'll keep my own umble ramblings to the paper journal and the reasearch to the online half.
I've also starting keeping google notebooks along with the Personal Library on NASA ADS. Hopefully one of these methods will help tackle the record keeping problem.
The problem:
Most new PhD students have advisor guidance through the maze of literature. I must find my own way here, at least to do this first serious attempt at topic finding. I should come out of this with a good understanding of the basic problems as well as ancillary "mail room"/intro problem areas that are good possibilities for PhD work. I should also have gained familiarity with some of the community I want to work in. Who are the personalities, where are the meetings, what are the seminal events they might remember, secret handshakes, etc. All I know right now is that out west the Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting is a big deal.