NeuroDojo

Another day, another dollar... ^*

Here I am. In my office. Again. Working on lectures. Devising questions. Writing harassing emails. Checking animals.

Earlier today, I found an old poster I made at the start of my grad school days at UVic. It proclaims:

SCIENCE

knows no bedtime!

The text is printed against a window looking onto a nighttime moon, surrounded by icons of clocks with digits spinning off the face, file cabinets, computers, and the like. The image looks a little clunky, which is not surprising considering that I made it on a Radio Shack Color Computer and a graphic package called CoCoMax 2, and a dot-matrix printer. (I compare it to what I work on now and laugh at people who say there's no such thing as progress.)

Finding that poster seems oddly appropriate, as I was earlier tallying the number of days I haven't been on campus this year. It didn't take me long: one. That was the first Saturday after the New Year. I wasn't on campus Christmas, or the first Saturday after Christmas... I can't quite remember the last day I wasn't here before the Christmas break. Note to all grad students out there: the grass ain't much greener after the degree and the job offer, sleep wise.

I think I'm going to keep a running total of that "off-campus days" number. Out of sheer masochism. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my work, but splud! My advice to follow and future Assistant Professors: the most important word you can learn to say -- with absolute and utmost conviction -- is "No." Add curses and/or threats if necessary.

* A saying that sometimes feels dangerously close to financial reality.