I told you so.

We're a month into school and I'm neglecting this blog right on schedule. Thank goodness everyone else gets busy at the same time. Nice job, team.

I don't often talk about my weekends but this past weekend is worth talking about, though I believe that two-thirds of my fan base was in attendance and the remaining one-third probably knew about it anyway. Here's the summary: Jill's parents roasted a lamb, fried a turkey, cooked loads of food and, in general, opened up their house to a group of lucky folks including me, Mom, Dad and a handful of Doverites. We talked about their animals, we talked to their animals and we listened to Dave Ketchen rattle off tales of shooting coyotes from his basement doorway. Mom got lots of compliments on her hair, even after she left. I know for certain that the Ketchens were very pleased to have my parents as their guests because they mentioned it no fewer than four times after Mom and Dad left.

At school today I was caught off guard and under-prepared, which hung over me throughout the day. I didn't forget any hand-in work, but when we started off with a problem to consider, it took me too long to get my brain going and we moved onto other topics before I could work on it in depth. I really didn't come up with a satisfactory answer until after class was over which means that I have to wait until tomorrow morning to run that answer by my professor. This happens a lot - I arrive at a solution or resolution long after class is over; I think it's because I don't always respond well to the competitive-answer-shouting portion of our program.

I did respond well to my afternoon at the MIRL. Hyomin has charged me with the task of building the piece of equipment that will house some data collection circuitry; that means designing the layout of the components and cutting out holes of many shapes and sizes. The challenge for me is that though we have a very competent machine shop on hand at the Space Science Center, they're really busy with more complicated and interesting projects so I have to machine all the holes, large (for a plate of mounted input/output jacks) and small (the wee on/off switch) with a drill, a little metal snipper called a nibbler and all the differently-shaped files a physics undergrad could ever wish for. I think it's coming along well. Hyomin certainly seemed please with what I got done today and I'm just tickled to think that I'm producing something that will be part of someone's research.

And that brings us to our final subject. Today's work at the MIRL reminded me of some of the aspects of the restaurant biz that have really gotten under my skin over time and are likely the reason that I can't stand to be at Friday's for more than twenty-five hours each week. I hate sweating and hurting myself in a process that I'm just going to have to repeat the next day. I hate putting my time and energy into a batch of food that, by the nature of the job, I will have to remake soon. These aren't the only things that aggravate me when I'm working at a restaurant but they were on my mind today as I worked on the equipment for Hyomin - a step in the research process that I won't have to do all over again tomorrow, that I can think about and take my time with, and that I can leave for the next day when I've worked long enough on it. I think that's all I wanted to say about that...My intent wasn't to bitch and moan; my intent was to highlight some of the reasons that I'm so excited to be working at the MIRL.

Go to bed.

Okay.