set 'em up and knock 'em down

an update:

-Thursday's talk went *fine.* sure, my data doesn't make sense and the stats may still be wrong. such is the way of science. for the talk, i presented the backround, the data, the bizarrely conflicting results and my limited conclusions. off the cuff, i quoted Wernher von Braun: 'Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.' (thanks ab for the that pearl.) no one asked any questions which means it was either well explained and there wasn't much i had left unexplored about the conflicting data OR the talk was so bewildering that people tuned out. one of my committee members gave me real props because, to paraphrase, having it be 'pretty' isn't important-it is about having command of your subject, knowing your data, and understanding when things don't add up. so hopefully the former explanation is correct.

i had added a couple sound files in a giddy moment. it is possible that that threw people off, but my impression from the laughter was that they enjoyed them...

-turned the exam in early (roughly eleven last night) so i would be certain they received it. the email server has been unbelievably unstable at school, down large periods of every day, and the combination of exam parts made for a large file transfer. no error messages yet but also no confirmation that they got it. woke up at 2 am wanting to redo one of the questions. talked myself down and went back to sleep. feel really good about 2 of the answers, fairly good about 1 and not great about the last. i wanted to keep working but was too fried to trust myself so hopefully it will be good enough.

-put together the Prelim introduction presentation last night- 15 minutes of what i have accomplished thus far. now have the main grant presentation to write. hope to work hard all day today (plus/minus a climbing break), take a breather tomorrow to get outside and normalize my stress/sanity levels, and finish up the presentation and studying Sunday. Monday morning i am on service so up and at the hospital by 7am. work all day then the prelim from 3-5pm.

stockpiling things to share about the world at large once i am out from this crush and better able to tap my creative side. one pearl to keep you going:

Undermining his credibility? What has he said that would give him credibility?

-Murtha on President Bush, 12/7/05, in response to Lieberman's claim that challenging Bush undermines his credibility and thus endangers the nation.