It feels almost like a marriage...

First you spend all this time trying to get to know this person (oh, I mean you read all his papers, or at least the short ones), you talk to them, get to know them more personally, go home and meet their family (yes, I know group meetings are nothing like home, but ... focus here ok?) and then you decide if you want to get hitched. Keeping in mind that you are going to be together for eternity (ok, so only five, six, seven years... but who is counting), for better or for worse, or for worse and worse...

It is important to know how well he is going to treat you. And of course how much money he has. Yes, his money is important. I mean how else you can buy all the big toys you need to play with and food (you know ingredients for reactions). Sure, you go telling me that love (the project, his reputation, etc) is all that counts. Wait till you have to go out and earn your keep two years down the line. The man I "married” made me go out into the wild two years in a row (note the connection between my students and the wild) Have I mentioned how much I love grants running out ?(Hey, Selly, don't be bitter. TAing is not so bad...)

But I deviate. Good luck choosing your advisor (for those who were too involved or confused in my convoluted analogy to realize).

On the issue of theories of mine...

I am told that chemical reactions are like having and raising a baby. First there is all the fun and activities to start out. Then there is this really loonnngggg wait till the baby gets here or the reaction goes to completion whichever you can relate better to here. In that time you pretty much do nothing but sit around and twiddle your thumbs. Of course I am sure my dear advisors would much rather prefer that I sit behind my desk and studiously catch up on my reading on my project and literature and such from scholarly journals (but what is the fun in that). Instead I am updating my blog. Naughty, naughty me.

All of today has been me sitting around waiting for my DSC to go. It is too bad I am about a 20minute walk from my own lab. It would have been great if I could go back and forth, that way I could also get something else done. But there is really no point since in the time it takes to get to my lab, I will have to put in a new sample or do something of the sort.

Ok, back to theories. So finally the baby arrives. Usually in the first few days (hours) they require a lot of work and attention (think working up reaction, purification, columns, crystallization). As they grow, you need to be careful with them. Too much attention and they get spoilt, too little and they go really bad (ask me about my little explosion, my hood is still greasy from the oil spill).

Ok, so my point is that I am bored to death in lab. My eyes are beginning to glaze over from reading these articles. HELP!!!