No big update on the situation with the last post. Civility and chit-chat continue. It's sort of hard to not continue that when you work around said friend/coworker everyday and she has, otherwise, been nice.

Well, whatever. Speaking of working everyday... today I'm at home. My back started spazzing out yesterday, for a reason unbeknownst to me, so I took a muscle relaxer (left over from the ski injury thang) and was out cold until recently. Now I'm just reading and working at home, with intermissions of laying down and stretching. It's hard though because there's only so much work you can do on your back.

I shouldn't have phrased that like that.

Anyway, it's evaluation time for me. Next Wednesday I have a thesis committee meeting coming up. Every six to nine months I schedule meetings with my advisor and four other PIs (primary investigators; professors who have their own labs) who I've selected to be on my thesis committee. You pick researchers who you can help you with your thesis work by making suggestions about what experiments to do next, troubleshooting your techniques, etc. You also hopefully choose people who aren't Evil Incarnate, because these are the same people who grant you permission to write (your thesis.) Simply stated, they decide when you're done and getting your degree.

I really like my committee, because they're very smart and very fair. I'd put two of them (one who is my committee Chair) in the Big Cheese category, so to speak. They've got high, but realistic, expectations, and are not critical for the sake of being so. However, they're not sugarcoating anything either, so it can be rough.

Personally, as the date approaches, my brain fills with thoughts of Committee Meeting, full-time, and I don't tend to want to do much.

So I'm getting my data together, making my powerpoint presentation, doing more lit. searches, and engaging in anti-social procrastinatory behavior.

On that note, now, a nap.