back to blogging

So, it has been a while hasn't it. My absence was much longer than planned but I think I am ready to get back.

When I left, I had just returned from a conference. There was a big focus on my new work there and I didn't feel like I kept up or fit in or was well received whenever I tried to get my foot in the door or talk to bigwigs about my project. On top of that, I was in this competition and my talk didn't go very well. It was important for me to talk to some of the judges about my new work and I couldn't shake the feeling that they were judging me about everything. Because they were! Personally, it was a wonderful time catching up with good friends but professionally, eh.

Upon returning, I went into the field. It was a productive trip with a lot of pressure. It was on a new system that Rt-H hadn't worked on before. New places to work, with a different combination of students. There was one major blowout, which was due to my own leadership failings. 10 hours in the field + 7 hours driving + no food = unhappy Albatross. I got pissed at the actions of one student and the other had a compete breakdown. We worked through things and moved on with the trip and the work once we returned, but one of the students is still harboring some resentment about it all which makes it hard to learn from our mistakes and move forward.

After that trip (in July), with the students working away in the lab on our side project, I was supposed to visit to a lab for training related to the next portion of my project. This fell through and after a bit of floundering, I finally visited a different lab this past week to do the training. Things are starting to get back on track, some unbloggable situations have resolved themselves and life is becoming a bit more manageable again.

While catching up on my 1000+ posts in my reader, please feel free to let me know major happenings that I've missed in the comments. If anyone is still here reading, that is!

Undercover Blogger

Things are going well with the new position. I am knee deep in unorganized data (OMG!! organize your files, people!) and fancy programs that I don't understand. Fun all around. 

My 'office' space is actually a corner in the lab. There are two grad students who sit right behind me*. Undergrads abound. I really hate sitting anywhere with my back exposed. At restaurants, Grackle is kind enough to always take the aisle seat. Nothing gives me comfort like a corner booth. Additionally, it is never good to have your computer facing the masses. There was a grad student at my last institution whose desk faced a wall near their office door. That student played a lot of online games and everyone that walked by saw it. People don't take them too seriously. So having a computer that faces your entire lab would make it difficult to check your facebook, or your twitter, or cuteoverload and especially your pseudonymous blog. This is my current situation. I'm calling about getting internet installed at home today.  

*They are both at class right now.