Whirlwind Update

Have been swamped. SWAMPED I tell you! But I have managed to accomplish an amazing amount, including the following:

- completed first draft of my PhD proposal (although it needs much revision)

- found out that a journal paper of mine accepted for publication (with NO revisions - woohoo!)

- taught a robot to operate my machine for research (hoping it won't replace me as cheap labor... wait, nothing's cheaper than grad student labor...)

- took a cooking course at the culinary school, called "South of the Border" where we cooked Mexican food. I got put on the dessert category - the teacher must have known my type.... :)

- attended a John Mayer concert. Fantastic!

- got tested for allergies at the dermatology clinic, which involved not showering for three days while test strips were affixed to my back... lovely. Found I am allergic to nickel and lanolin (wood alcohol, found in various cosmetic items).

- listened to entire conversation between a bus driver and a very twitchy passenger with insider knowledge about the drug underworld (industry? trade?) here in Boston, and the associated jail stories.

- entered myself in a lottery for Red Sox tickets. Fingers crossed!

- ended my stint as Treasurer of the student club, and took a minor Officer role for next year. Mostly because the cute boy asked me to.

- organized a conference call between Boston, San Francisco, Cambridge UK, Canada, and Iceland. What an amazing thought to have all those people connected across continents, timezones.... the conversation was fascinating.

- wrote my very first exam problem as the TA for a class. I just finished writing solutions, and now I am answering the desperate emails flooding in from students ahead of the exam tomorrow morning. I'm taking internal bets on the time stamp of the last email I get tonight... I expect I won't be awake to see it.

- was complimented sincerely by THREE business people on my presentation skills. Score for the engineer!

I miss blogging, because I have some really good stories I haven't been able to properly get out. If things calm down (possibly) or if I become more efficient in my time management (one can dream) I hope to share more adventures with you.

And with that, to all a good night!