Stress stress stress

Y'know how I've been saying that I really need to get moving this semester, and buckle down and tool hard? But that in the meanwhile, I would go to the occasional movie or do some pleasure reading instead of tooling? Well, it's finally caught up with me. Yesterday, I took a closer look at my calendar, and realized that I had 7 days to get my research project for the semester up and running. Otherwise, with the trips I have stacked on top of each other, I only have two weeks in town before it is due. Two weeks is about half of what I need to complete the research itself, not to even think about writing it up. Arrgh... there were so many other smaller jobs around the lab that were easier to tackle than starting to chip away at the 'big research project' monolith. Oh yeah, and in these seven days, I need to also finish up a letter report and presentation.

Just like my last fall semester, work trips are causing major amounts of stress. I think I'm really not cut out for this school thing. Even though everything will likely work out, visions of total disaster are constantly there.

Whine. Nobody understands me. What color should I dye my hair?

On the lighter side, I picked up a gift for my advisor while browsing at the Lego store a few weekends ago. His nickname among the group is Enzo (as in Enzo Ferrari, "in charge of a finely tuned machine" [snarf]). So I thought that the Duplo Ferrari F1 Race Car was just the thing for him.



I like knowing one's advisor well enough to tell him, "And I thought this was ideally suited for you--it's a Ferrari, you can put on the stickers by yourself, and there are no small parts to be a choking hazard!" (he has this occasionally spazzy behavior that makes the last item seem like a valid concern).

To quote chief grad student: "Groups often work better if there's a healthy amount of disrespect for the leadership. Then again, our group has probably gone way beyond the healthy range."