Unusually efficient
That's me! Today I cooled down my cryostat and began taking data. I think this is the first time ever that I actually started taking data on the same day that I cooled the thing down. That is not because it is a particularly difficult or time-consuming task. It is because it took about three days to cool down the cryostat that I used during graduate school, so when this one hits 10 K, I feel like I've done at least a complete day's worth of work, even if it actually only took a few hours. Likewise, if I spend about an hour in the cleanroom, I feel like I've worked a full day. It's all about mindset, people. Mindset and low expectations.
I realized that I have no plans for the rest of my time in Santa Barbara. Well, there is the trip that we plan to take to DC to find housing in September, but we have no set weekend plans (that I can think of) for the rest of my employed time, which will be down to two months, starting tomorrow. That amounts to 43 official university work days. That's not so many, I guess. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly overburdened with responsibilities these days. It takes me approximately one hour to figure out that my results look nothing like Tizzed's, even though I'm measuring the same samples at the same temperatures. Exactly the same samples and exactly the same temperatures. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it's driving me crazy. In any case, it doesn't take long, and then I don't know what to do next. Some people would be jealous of my low-intensity work days, but they are boring and leave me feeling kind of lousy (the days, not the people). I spend a lot of my days fantasizing about how fabulous life will be when we have a two-bedroom apartment. JR will have a room of her own! She'll probably still sleep with me anyway. She likes to curl herself up next to my side while I sleep, which I really like. She never sleeps on Matt's side of the bed. (Oh, JR is our cat, in case anybody doesn't know.) But anyway. When we have two bedrooms, we'll have a futon in one that will fold out to offer guests excrutiatingly luxurious sleeping conditions. We'll provide breakfast in bed. That's how great it will be. They'll never want to leave the guest room, it will be so inviting. Er, or at least it will have a door that closes and a non-air-filled sleeping surface. That will be nice.
Oh! That reminds me of my most exciting news! Dr. J and Big T are coming to visit us in DC! (I haven't told Matt about this yet, by the way.) They are flying to LAX to visit Dr. J's parents for Christmas, and then they're returning to Germany via DC for a three-day layover, Dec. 30 - Jan. 2. We'll have New Year's plans! We'll stay up past midnight! Yes! Of course, we'll have to drag them away from the comforts of the guest room. It will be worth it, though.
That's me! Today I cooled down my cryostat and began taking data. I think this is the first time ever that I actually started taking data on the same day that I cooled the thing down. That is not because it is a particularly difficult or time-consuming task. It is because it took about three days to cool down the cryostat that I used during graduate school, so when this one hits 10 K, I feel like I've done at least a complete day's worth of work, even if it actually only took a few hours. Likewise, if I spend about an hour in the cleanroom, I feel like I've worked a full day. It's all about mindset, people. Mindset and low expectations.
I realized that I have no plans for the rest of my time in Santa Barbara. Well, there is the trip that we plan to take to DC to find housing in September, but we have no set weekend plans (that I can think of) for the rest of my employed time, which will be down to two months, starting tomorrow. That amounts to 43 official university work days. That's not so many, I guess. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly overburdened with responsibilities these days. It takes me approximately one hour to figure out that my results look nothing like Tizzed's, even though I'm measuring the same samples at the same temperatures. Exactly the same samples and exactly the same temperatures. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it's driving me crazy. In any case, it doesn't take long, and then I don't know what to do next. Some people would be jealous of my low-intensity work days, but they are boring and leave me feeling kind of lousy (the days, not the people). I spend a lot of my days fantasizing about how fabulous life will be when we have a two-bedroom apartment. JR will have a room of her own! She'll probably still sleep with me anyway. She likes to curl herself up next to my side while I sleep, which I really like. She never sleeps on Matt's side of the bed. (Oh, JR is our cat, in case anybody doesn't know.) But anyway. When we have two bedrooms, we'll have a futon in one that will fold out to offer guests excrutiatingly luxurious sleeping conditions. We'll provide breakfast in bed. That's how great it will be. They'll never want to leave the guest room, it will be so inviting. Er, or at least it will have a door that closes and a non-air-filled sleeping surface. That will be nice.
Oh! That reminds me of my most exciting news! Dr. J and Big T are coming to visit us in DC! (I haven't told Matt about this yet, by the way.) They are flying to LAX to visit Dr. J's parents for Christmas, and then they're returning to Germany via DC for a three-day layover, Dec. 30 - Jan. 2. We'll have New Year's plans! We'll stay up past midnight! Yes! Of course, we'll have to drag them away from the comforts of the guest room. It will be worth it, though.
6 Comments:
You're not letting the magnet cool down overnight? For shame, what would Beth say?
You can try sending me a copy of the raw data if you like. After all, I practically used your resume as my own (I just erased 'Dartmouth' and inserted 'University of Chicago') I can try my best, and are you doing DC measurements?
By
Anonymous, at 10:41 PM, June 30, 2004
Ah, Tizzed. I'm going to be pissed off if we apply for the same job and you get it....
By
Heather, at 10:47 PM, June 30, 2004
Of course I'd get the job if we both applied for it. We have the exact same qualifications, but I'd be a male. ;) I think this has been proven.. especially if the job is at WalMart
-tizzed
By
Anonymous, at 11:25 PM, June 30, 2004
About your results looking nothing like Tizzed's, are you referring to the sketches of naked women all over them?
By
JS, at 11:43 PM, June 30, 2004
Maybe it is because tizzed recorded all of his data with a sparkly gel pen....
--Robbie
By
Anonymous, at 3:07 PM, July 01, 2004
You're both right--Tizzed used a sparkly gel pens to draw naked women in his notebooks. Kinda weird, but if it helped get him through grad school, I say good for him.
By
Heather, at 7:58 PM, July 03, 2004
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