the rules of undergrad/grad life (not what you think, d-mike!)

so it's saturday and i'm proud of three (3) things:

thing the first: that i made it through my first week of school unscathed, more or less prepared for class each day, and still on top of demands and commitments to my time.

thing the second: that i made it to the gym three times through said first week of school. unscathed. see "demands and commitments" above.

thing the third: that i know when to use "its" and "it's". see "more or less prepared" above.

it's a funny thing, really, how time's perspective (as opposed to conceptive) ebbs and flows depending on a variety of factors, some of which are controllable and others, like a meandering "guest" presentation on meso-scale farming modelling in developing countries, are quite well beyond your grasp. por ejemplo: by tuesday evening, me and euge were lamenting that it felt like thursday night yet we hadn't even gotten halfway through the week. now technically, since i have no class on fridays, i was at the hump, as it were, but i digress. the point being: wednesday, thursday, and friday were an absolute blur! and now it's saturday and i'm sure that there's college football on and i'm equally sure that there's a pile of papers in my bag that need a'reading. are these two interests mutually exclusive, kind of like the role of farming cooperatives and "the state's" ability to provide infrastructure in economically marginal lands for the greater production and profitiability of soy bean farmers? we shall see!

the goose's great idea of the week: abiding by a calendar. i don't think it's going to last, but i've been punctual for a whole 5 days (well, actually 4. i did come into the office at 10am on friday... but as mentioned above, by then my week was over..) but having a calendar is fun. it provides you a multitude of opportunities to say things like, "well, i'll have to check my schedule." or "maybe. i think i'm free, but i might not be." or "there's no way i'm going to that meeting. my calendar says it starts at 9am on friday and i'm booked for 'stealing someone's wi-fi connection.'"

(ooh! i love the grammatical punctualness! apostraphied it's and double-quotation marks goodness!)

on to today's final thought: in undergraduate life, you spend most (read: "all") of your time in/around your dorm, hanging out with friends, killing time, doing a bit of work, reading, watching tv, and planning your weekend.

in ph.d.-graduate life, you spend all (read: "all") of your time in/around your office, hanging out with friends, killing time, doing a bit of work, reading, watching youtube.com, and planning your weekend. the difference in experience is enormous! to clarify, as several of my loyal readers can attest, graduate school can be a bear at times, and apart from the stories i've heard about the first year of law or med school, the stress and obligations of the ph.d. program are ratched up several notches over any other single experience you've had. my typical (read: "not friday") day begins around 7am, when i wake up, make some coffee and generally get myself out the door for work by 8am. i'm one of the last people to get there. when not in class or the library (a tuesday/thursday routine of mine where i go to the 3rd floor, find the dewey decimal section for SH 105 (wetlands) or SQ 244 (fisheries), and check out a couple of books. they allow us 99 books at a time and, by the time christmas rolls around, i expect to have a full academic library in my office...) anyhow: when not in class, i spend the majority of my time at my desk, in an office with no windows. it would be claustrophobic (at times, it still is), but with everyone else there, many of whom are in similar stages of academic development and profitability, there's a kind of comraderie that develops. it's no surprise to me or euge that we can spend an astonishing 15 hours side by side and 1) not realize it, or 2) think that it's going to get mean and nasty one day from being in such proximity. there's work and there's not-work. and beautifully, in graduate life, they are mutually exclusive. now if only we could figure out a way to get them more in balance...