prayer for whateva

December 10, 2005

so i got my prayer for jugdment. this just means that i can’t get another ticket or else i will be thrown into jail for several months (although probably a martha stewart-like jail with daily massages and jam-making classes).

in other news, anyone remember grad-student-mentor-guy, or gsmg for short? he’s now doctor-gsmg to me — he graduated! luckily, he’ll still be around for a few more weeks so i can continue to harrass him with a question-a-minute. well, a question-an-hour is closer to the truth these days — i’m just so independent! i got gsmg a giant heineken as a graduation present: i think he liked it.

lessons learned from gsmg
(or, how to graduate within a reasonable amount of time, publish multiple papers, make your mentor LOVE you, and still lead a happy and balanced life):

1. do not confuse quantity of lab time for quality of lab time. if you’re focused while you’re there (and not writing blogs like i am now), you will be shocked at how much you can get done in a 40-50 hour week.

2. keep immaculate records and use technology to its advantage. EVERYTHING, from westerns to proliferationassay, can be made easier with an excel cheat sheet! and make one good one so that you never have to make one again (or, steal one from gsmg!)

3. help other people (they will be good to you in return and the world will be a better place)

4. never, ever hurry

5. be genuinely interested in what you’re doing. we don’t get paid well and we get no respect: if you hate it, there’s really no reason to be here.

6. drink A LOT (well, i’m personally not going to follow this tenet, but the gsmg n = 1 study does seem to suggest that getting wasted on a semi-regular basis can help one thrive through one’s phD.)

7. don’t stress. if this were easy, everyone would do it.

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