Yarrr, Science Be a Fickle Mistress

The seas of chemistry be rolling and tumbling mightily these days...

No, really, it's one of those times when the unexplainable occurs and you have to spend a lot of time figuring out why the heck things aren't going as planned.  I've spent a good time of the past several months having thought I worked out the kinks and was getting everything to work great, and lately I'm not finding any success in anything.  I'm not sure what the cause is - the hot weather, the lack of an additional stress in the form of a class, the running streak I'm focusing on, etc. - but lately I'm not able to get into a good rhythm and get everything done. 

I'm actually quite surprised at a number of things not working well lately.  For all conceivable reasons there shouldn't be any of these shenanigans going on when it comes to the science - not a month ago all of the reactions seemed to be working fine and I could reliably make and attach molecules to my peptides and dendrons without much hassle.  Lately, though, it appears that whatever I've done to offend the gods has caused me nothing but trouble - I can't get reliable mass spec results, my molecules don't want to be synthesized, and I can't muster up the courage to run another splicing assay for fear of wasting materials.  I'm at a cross roads and all I can do is wander back and forth without making a decision. 

This is, of course, compacted by many additional factors, such as an increased travel frequency, an overwhelming number of distractions (this included), and an overall "summer apathy" that tends to overwhelm at this time of the year.  As I do see a separation between the academic year and the summer, I'm more inclined to "take the night off" because of the fact that I couldn't during the year.  Makes it a lot harder to make progress on many fronts, even the simplest area of reading papers and planning experiments. 

At this point, I'm not entirely sure what to do.  I'll be introducing some additional stresses into my life (specifically, we are taking care of my parents' dog for a while starting next week), which may have the intended effect of making me a little more efficient with time-management and sleep (we'll see) so we can take care of the guy.  I'm also hoping that I can make a better effort at not goofing around online, but I'm not sure if that will happen.

Especially because I need to figure out why those reactions are not showing up by mass spec, when there is clearly something there in a high mass. 

Sorry for complaining, but I need to vent somehow, and I'm thinking they'd frown upon me smashing glassware.  Maybe I'll go for a run for the 37th day in a row.  That should help.  :-)