Signs of the end….
Apr 29th 2006WallabyGeneral & nerd alert & thesis
You know you’ve been working on your thesis too long when…
* You look at Flickr to see what’s going on outside the lab.
* You can’t remember the last time you did laundry.
* You’re sitting in the lab at 1 a.m. on a Saturday (or is it Friday still?) writing lists like these.
* The total number of ibuprofen tablets and cups of coffee (real or instant) per day exceeds the number of hours you’re awake.
More coming as I think of them. If I think of them, that is; I’m not looking to waste too much creativity on this site right now.
Just mounted a specimen for the very last time. It was a very exciting moment. I’ve never liked that procedure but I haven’t been able to come up with a much better way, at least not without a thousand dollars’ worth of machine shop work to build a cute little gadget. (The student who’s taking up my project — first thing on it that’s hers is that cute little gadget. Then again, she was trained as a mechanical engineer rather than a chemist.)
Something I wish had been much more strongly emphasized about five years ago: The time to start writing one’s PhD thesis is right after candidacy. I could’ve — I should’ve — had my introduction done a year ago, and the first two chapters six months ago. Then I could’ve graduated today instead of December.
Oh well.