Happiest Place on Earth

This last week we went out to Disney World with the wife's family, an annual trip that spearheaded by her father and funded by her grandmother.  This is the first time that we've attended, and I have to say that it was a lot of fun!  Also, a lot of work - we were up at 6 am each day of the trip, going non-stop for a majority of the day, covering a lot of distance and a lot of rides.  I hadn't been there in over 20 years, so it was nice to see that some things were added and a lot of stuff had remained the same.  In fact, there were a number of rides and attractions that were exactly the same as they were the last time I was there.  Kind of cool, in a way.

I was remarking to the wife as we came back from our trip (a full 10 hours of traveling) that I wouldn't be taking a day off until Thanksgiving, and her response was "shouldn't that always be how it is?".  It's a good point - at this point of my career I should be putting in the time 7 days a week, spending at least a few hours a day in the lab even on the weekends.  I've gotten into the routine of coming home in the evenings and trying to do things around the house, which is fine, but it doesn't help me make progress toward my research goals.  Better time management has always been a goal of mine, and I think I'm finally realizing (for the 10th or 11th time) that I need to hone in on what needs to be done rather than just floundering around.

It's interesting how much of my research experience has been like the Tower of Terror.  If you haven't been on the ride, it's sort of elevator that goes up and down and up and down and will suspend you in the air before dropping you without warning.  As with any job, you experience highs and lows associated with your performance - sometimes experiments work incredibly well, while other times you can't explain why a condensation reaction can produce so many side products.  It takes a great deal of effort to stabilize yourself and find the solutions to problems as they arise.  In fact, I would argue that the whole gamut of PhD training is an exercise in problem solving - developing methods, experiments, and ultimately solutions to problems that you choose to evaluate, as well as those that develop along the way.  In the end, you are hopefully left with a better understanding of science in general, if not your specific area of interest.

Anyway, back at it for the next month.