9:20 pm – Monday 3rd October 2005

Time enough at last.

Ugh, exhaustion is a rather unpleasant thing. I miss having heaps of energy, that's one of the downsides to being post-op. The days are short, but my work these days is longer than ever. I don't necessarily get a lot of chemistry done these days, but I'm really busy nevertheless.

It's been a very busy semester for me. I've been flat out ever since the conference in mid-July. I was working on a new research proposal while I was in Berkeley, and for much of the month of August. Bonnie came up to Montana for the last week in August, so it was very wonderful to have her here. September was busy as school started, I was going to take six credits but I dropped one class and picked up two others. So now I'm taking one three credit for a grade, and I'm sitting in on two other three-credit classes. It keeps me really busy, and I don't have as much time in the lab. I've therefore been working nights and weekends to make up for it.

Today for example I was in the lab by 8:30 am, checking my email and getting ready for the day. Then I was running around checking on a budgetary/accounting problem, then class for an hour, and then working in the lab until about 8 pm. I grabbed some milk and bread on the way home, and now I'm sitting in bed trying to recuperate. The days continue to get shorter and colder, so it's really hard to get up in the morning.

I'm over seven months post-op now, and I know it's been long enough because I've stopped counting. I need to get my new details corrected on a few bits of paper one of these days. I've put in for forty (yes, 40) faculty positions since the start of September, and I'm crossing my fingers that I get a nibble or two. I'll start finding out in a week or two, with any interviews scheduled for after Thanksgiving.

I'm not head of QSA anymore, which is a good thing. Happily another staff member from campus took over the position. I just didn't have the time for it, and I any starting to find it less relevant. Something akin to when I stopped going to therapy, having said I've said all I have to say.

I had a conference down in Big Sky about two weeks ago, and it was a lot of fun. The drive was rather brutal, coupled with being involved with a surgical scrub study, but I did what was required of me. I have to give a presentation on coal bed methane extraction this time next week, so I'll need to get my ass into gear for that.

I haven't really seen too many people because I've been so busy. This weekend I went over to the bar next to my house with Ryan, Brandon and John and hung out there watching a bit of the Homecoming football game on the television. I worked till 9 pm that night before hanging out first with Dan, and then Mike and Brandon. On Sunday I slept in and missed the Unitarian service, and in the evening I went with Luke, Mike and Brandon to the local hot springs, which was nice.

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