Yesterday was a very interesting day. I had grown some crystals on Tuesday, the first in 6 months. But my supervisor informed me on Wednesday morning that the quality was not sufficient to get good data. This put me on a downer until I found that more crystals had grown overnight, and my delight was magnified when they gave a strong signal. The data should be ready for crunching when I get into work this morning. Most of the afternoon was taken up with working up a large synthesis of starting material which had been going for 5 days and which was very messy. Then of course was the regular Wednesday afternoon meeting.
We ran through the chemistry I had done that week and he seemed fairly pleased with the crystals. Then he asked me "What are your plans for after 1st November?" (the last day of my contract). This caught me a little by surprise and so I said I hadn't given it much thought just yet. He explained that since his proposal had sadly been knocked back he wouldn't have the funds to keep me on. I was momentarily paranoid that this might simply be a ploy to get rid of me because he didn't like my work, but I felt I done a good job during my time there and that he was being honest. I said I would like to stay in the US at another postdoctoral position and we discussed that for a while until we wrapped up.
I'm very appreciative that he gave me sufficient warning about the end of my contract because good jobs only come up occasionally, plus this will give me time to finish up the chemistry I have been working on.
9:30 pm - What a day.
Well, I got an email from my boss when I got in this morning saying that he had been able to crack the crystal structure and that I should try again. I put on two experiments so that the day wouldn't be a complete write-off and struggled with the data for several hours. I had to race off to my "massage" appointment which ran a bit behind time and then spent 40 minutes standing under the midday Miami sun trying to catch a bus back. When I got back I continued in my frustrating attempt to solve this conundrum. I think my boss is annoyed at me for wanting to try and solve the structure myself, or very likely he misinterpreted my enthusiasm, the language gap is often bigger than I realize. About 4 pm he finally showed me how it was done, in a way I never would have conceived of in my wildest nightmares. This was supposed to be "obvious"? I worked until about 7:30 pm to finish the first stage and came home utterly exhausted. I spoke to Mum and Dad on the phone and then Ben rang after that, I accidentally set off the fire-alarm and had to do battle with a toilet that likes to back-up. Suffice to say I will be sleeping in tomorrow. At the moment I guess I'm looking at things in the sense of 103 days to go and 1 more paper to get out.
Regarding being told of the end of my position, I got somewhat paranoid again and wondered if it was because he knew anything about my past. He has never mentioned anything like that save for after when he talked to the HR guy who has copies of my passport. He said "C*** mentioned that he now knew how the Australian women's Olympic swimming team beat the US". Does this mean that C*** directly blabbed or was just hinting at it, or just unrelated joking around? Either way our personalities have clashed enough that I don't know he would have kept me on even if he didn't know.
Addendum - After a bit of time to think you can interpret the above bit as a good example of me getting paranoid. I mean my boss brought me a fruit basket after my "rollerblading accident", so I guess he doesn't think too badly of me.