Ugh....brain is mush, body is tired and out of shape, and wardrobe needs some serious emergency care. Why you ask has this transformation occured? Well, it's a little something we like to call graduate school.
Take your best day. The day when you really know what you're doing. When your friends and coworkers enjoy you and tell you you're cool, and smart and funny. Do you remember days like that? I do too, and they don't happen in graduate school. You've left those great days behind for late night paper writing sessions and uncomfortable moments when you have to let your advisor know that you didn't get around to doing 1 of the 150 things he mentioned in passing. How were you to know that was the important item? In addition to being treated like a serf, you live in virtual poverty. I've never considered beans so important. And rice has a whole new meaning. The luxuries in life, chocolate and ice cream for instance, are replaced by a night of mind-numbing tv watching. The glowing screen is sooooo pretty....ah.....
Why would one put themself through this veritable cabre of unpleasantness? Because society tells us we need a Ph.D. to be really successful. Nevermind being good at the job you're doing now, or liking the lifestyle you currently lead. There are always bigger and better things that await the blossoming doctoral candidate. It's complete bullshit, but it's there.
I'm going to end this with saying and attitude change is in order. Not mine of course, but the system. And as always - Damn the man.
Cheers.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
Gray hairs and coffee stains
I am an old fart.
It hurts every time I say it. I thought I would just ignore the social security update that came in the mail. I've simply neglected the budding crop of gray hairs on the top of my head. I accept that I am older than the students I teach.....but when grad students all start saying, "Oh yeah, you are older than me....wow...." What's so freaking amazing about that? Argh.
So, here is another point to prove my new found academic situation: current pages on favorites.
Mycology
Dr. Fungus
Statistics for Dummies
iTunes (this is becoming a serious habit)
Bamboo Society of America
New York Botanical Garden Virtual Herbarium
You get the general idea....nerd.
So, just to prove I'm not that geeky I've posted this picture of Debby and I at our dress-up party. We were Captain Canada and the Royal Purple Crusaders!
So not geeky.
It hurts every time I say it. I thought I would just ignore the social security update that came in the mail. I've simply neglected the budding crop of gray hairs on the top of my head. I accept that I am older than the students I teach.....but when grad students all start saying, "Oh yeah, you are older than me....wow...." What's so freaking amazing about that? Argh.
So, here is another point to prove my new found academic situation: current pages on favorites.
Mycology
Dr. Fungus
Statistics for Dummies
iTunes (this is becoming a serious habit)
Bamboo Society of America
New York Botanical Garden Virtual Herbarium
You get the general idea....nerd.
So, just to prove I'm not that geeky I've posted this picture of Debby and I at our dress-up party. We were Captain Canada and the Royal Purple Crusaders!
So not geeky.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Back in the Academic Saddle again
Here's how Monday went:
6:30, Son of a bitch, is that the alarm? Find it, find it, find it.....where the hell is the snooze on this thing? Could it sound any worse?
6:33, well, I'm awake now, might as well get up.
Breakfast consists of cold cereal with bananas....now I have to get my stuff ready for school and ready to work out.
7:08 catch the bus (did I mention that I was running to catch it because soeur, with whom I am staying, is perpetually late, it's a good thing she's a track star)
7:16 arrive at the gym/rec center. If this place is any indication of the school's populus, I am in serious trouble. Make resolution to work out more, eat less, and stop drinking beer.
45 minutes on elyptical machine, do those things really work you out? It said I burned 400 calories, but I feel like I just walked for 10 minutes....hmmm......sit-ups, more sit-ups, did I mention the sit-ups? Must burn off beer gut, no more beer, no more beer.
8:30 Head to showers -I am a stinky beast
9:10 I'm in the office reading about Enteroblastic development.....I don't know what it is either.
It's interesting being back at school. The student body is very young, and I feel ever so slightly like a old fart, knowing I'm not, but still.
Classes are interesting. It's weird that I spend what would be a "working" day in class. Seriously? I'm getting paid to do this? Not much, but paid none-the-less.
Insurance is also a bonus in this whole equation. No longer will I put off going to the dentist! Drills and scrapers - bring it on!
I have yet to teach my first lab course. I'm trying to make it as fun as possible, because these people need to be entertained in order to like science. It's a small price to pay to define the difference between the lay term "theory" and the scientific definition of "theory". Maybe we'll finally put that ridiculous child of IDT to bed....maybe not. We'll see.
Anyhoo, I have regular internet access on my own computer, so this should be updating far more frequently than before. Until then, travel the winding road, and try not to trip on the potholes.
6:30, Son of a bitch, is that the alarm? Find it, find it, find it.....where the hell is the snooze on this thing? Could it sound any worse?
6:33, well, I'm awake now, might as well get up.
Breakfast consists of cold cereal with bananas....now I have to get my stuff ready for school and ready to work out.
7:08 catch the bus (did I mention that I was running to catch it because soeur, with whom I am staying, is perpetually late, it's a good thing she's a track star)
7:16 arrive at the gym/rec center. If this place is any indication of the school's populus, I am in serious trouble. Make resolution to work out more, eat less, and stop drinking beer.
45 minutes on elyptical machine, do those things really work you out? It said I burned 400 calories, but I feel like I just walked for 10 minutes....hmmm......sit-ups, more sit-ups, did I mention the sit-ups? Must burn off beer gut, no more beer, no more beer.
8:30 Head to showers -I am a stinky beast
9:10 I'm in the office reading about Enteroblastic development.....I don't know what it is either.
It's interesting being back at school. The student body is very young, and I feel ever so slightly like a old fart, knowing I'm not, but still.
Classes are interesting. It's weird that I spend what would be a "working" day in class. Seriously? I'm getting paid to do this? Not much, but paid none-the-less.
Insurance is also a bonus in this whole equation. No longer will I put off going to the dentist! Drills and scrapers - bring it on!
I have yet to teach my first lab course. I'm trying to make it as fun as possible, because these people need to be entertained in order to like science. It's a small price to pay to define the difference between the lay term "theory" and the scientific definition of "theory". Maybe we'll finally put that ridiculous child of IDT to bed....maybe not. We'll see.
Anyhoo, I have regular internet access on my own computer, so this should be updating far more frequently than before. Until then, travel the winding road, and try not to trip on the potholes.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Mel 1, Gators 0
Unscathed by alligators and South Florida cultural weirdness, I continue to press on in the Everglades. It isn’t easy selling this veritable mud hole to school children, but someone’s gotta do it, and until April, that someone is me. 
The birds are really starting to come in here, and I saw roseate spoonbills for the first time ever. They look like flying Pepto-Bismol – they’re such a bright pink. The wood storks have also been hanging around, and for any Everglades buffs, the wood stork is one of our species of major concern. Turns out – when we take their habitat aw
ay, well that seems to have a negative effect on their populations. Go figure. The other thing we tend to run into as a general problem with selling the Everglades to South Floridians is that most of them are more concerned with how to get off the Dolphin Express alive during rush hour than what’s going on with the Everglades. And really, who can blame them? I-95 and its off-shoots are a sure fire way to ruin a day.
But, onto the niceties of the Panhandle. I’ve been able to get out canoeing on a couple of occasions, although many of the park’s good canoe trails are still closed due to the one-two punch from Katrina and Wilma. In addition, January tends to be one of t
he coldest months in Florida with lows in the forties and highs in the sixties, and winds out of the east, and to a very mediocre canoeist such as myself, that seems to be a hindrance. I don’t know – just don’t like the thought of getting dumped in shark or gator infested waters. I know, I know, you’re a big sissy Mel. Well, sue me; they have bigger teeth than I do.
There was a moment of excitement when I thought Lindsay Lohan was going to come to the Everglades as part of her treatment for “allergies” over new years, but alas she did not show. Other celebrities who live in or around the Everglades include Dave Barry, Shaquille O’Neal, and Ricky Freakin’ Martin! Needless to say, I don’t see much of them, but there are these three gators on the anhinga trail, and I named them Ricky, Shaq, and Gloria (don’t forget the Estafan machine!). Coming from the Northwest, South Florida is a bit of a culture shock. You don’t have any of the general niceness that you get in the northwest, and people use their car horns so frequently, I’ve started to be able to decipher what different honks mean at different times. There’s the “It’s green, you moron, I’ve been waiting 1/16 of a second, now go!” honk, then there’s the “I can’t believe you slowed and stopped on a yellow light you loser!” honk, then finally there’s the “Hey pretty lady walking on the street, look at my sweet Hyundai!” honk. So much to learn and so little time.
There is talk of doing a little international travel while I’m here. You can get super cheap flights to the Bahamas and Jamaica. Not sure what to do if I get there, but I’ve got a current passport, and soon, the money will be rolling in once I start harvesting my cash crop of ghost orchids out of the cypress swamps. Susan Orlean eat your heart out!
Until the next installment, I wish you all health and happy days in the new year – oh yeah, and I’m up to running three miles a day if anyone is keeping track. Boo-yeah!
The birds are really starting to come in here, and I saw roseate spoonbills for the first time ever. They look like flying Pepto-Bismol – they’re such a bright pink. The wood storks have also been hanging around, and for any Everglades buffs, the wood stork is one of our species of major concern. Turns out – when we take their habitat aw
ay, well that seems to have a negative effect on their populations. Go figure. The other thing we tend to run into as a general problem with selling the Everglades to South Floridians is that most of them are more concerned with how to get off the Dolphin Express alive during rush hour than what’s going on with the Everglades. And really, who can blame them? I-95 and its off-shoots are a sure fire way to ruin a day.But, onto the niceties of the Panhandle. I’ve been able to get out canoeing on a couple of occasions, although many of the park’s good canoe trails are still closed due to the one-two punch from Katrina and Wilma. In addition, January tends to be one of t
he coldest months in Florida with lows in the forties and highs in the sixties, and winds out of the east, and to a very mediocre canoeist such as myself, that seems to be a hindrance. I don’t know – just don’t like the thought of getting dumped in shark or gator infested waters. I know, I know, you’re a big sissy Mel. Well, sue me; they have bigger teeth than I do.There was a moment of excitement when I thought Lindsay Lohan was going to come to the Everglades as part of her treatment for “allergies” over new years, but alas she did not show. Other celebrities who live in or around the Everglades include Dave Barry, Shaquille O’Neal, and Ricky Freakin’ Martin! Needless to say, I don’t see much of them, but there are these three gators on the anhinga trail, and I named them Ricky, Shaq, and Gloria (don’t forget the Estafan machine!). Coming from the Northwest, South Florida is a bit of a culture shock. You don’t have any of the general niceness that you get in the northwest, and people use their car horns so frequently, I’ve started to be able to decipher what different honks mean at different times. There’s the “It’s green, you moron, I’ve been waiting 1/16 of a second, now go!” honk, then there’s the “I can’t believe you slowed and stopped on a yellow light you loser!” honk, then finally there’s the “Hey pretty lady walking on the street, look at my sweet Hyundai!” honk. So much to learn and so little time.
There is talk of doing a little international travel while I’m here. You can get super cheap flights to the Bahamas and Jamaica. Not sure what to do if I get there, but I’ve got a current passport, and soon, the money will be rolling in once I start harvesting my cash crop of ghost orchids out of the cypress swamps. Susan Orlean eat your heart out!
Until the next installment, I wish you all health and happy days in the new year – oh yeah, and I’m up to running three miles a day if anyone is keeping track. Boo-yeah!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)