The Key of Destiny

I'm so cheesy, I don't know why anyone listens to me.

We moved offices today! It was NOT what I was expecting, good lord. In the other office, we had cubicles and such, and the office was sort of divided between me, Bill, Betsy, and the receptionist (with the research office just to the side, behind a door). Now it's a small room that looks like an office for one person. Bill has a large, chest-height desk and I have a nice wide table, but it's still about the size of a professor's office. It was a little strange. And I liked listening to Bill and Betsy's conversations, but now it's just me and him. Pretty silent.

A good motivation to work, though. I felt much more focused today. I've started on the EBICS article, I'm about two paragraphs into it. I hope to finish it tomorrow, which is my three-hour day.

There's also a new student worker coming in. She was recommended by the same professor who recommended me, but I'm not sure if she was in my class or not. I don't recognize her name, if she was. Apparently our schedules intersect on Thursdays.

BUT WAIT I almost forgot the most important part of the story: I get a key to the office! It's so exciting! I really missed having one when they took mine away last semester (apparently I wasn't supposed to have one because it was an office for more than just Bill).

Today I also got a key for the SWIP (Society for Women in Physics) office (because I'm the treasurer this year), so now my keys are much heavier. I've been trying to organize them a bit, but I think i need another key chain to organize them because they all look like exactly the same key. I think Illinois manufactures them all the exact same way.

So I need some way to identify them better. Another keychain would help. Maybe I'll find something cheap somewhere sometime. I'm not sure. I really like the wristlet thing, though. I really do. It's kind of awesome. And it makes it easy to find my keys, without getting in the way or being obnoxious. And I kinda like carrying them around on my wrist sometimes.

The keys were what I really wanted to talk about. But I feel like they were the most uninteresting part. I apologize. I was just excited.

The Wait

Sometimes I think the worst part about this job is the fact that I have to wait on other people for so much. 

I try to respond to emails in a very timely fashion. I basically have a time set aside every day to do "business work:" that is, respond to emails, send emails, look up dates and make sure my calendar is updated, plan when I'm going to do what homework and whether laundry needs to be done. So while I may not respond to things immediately, I do respond to them either that day or the next day. 

And it's frustrating when people don't do the same. 

Like, seriously? My entire project is basically waiting on YOU GUYS (yeah, you THREE professors who haven't responded in a week) since I've written articles for the rest, and you can't even respond to me in a week? Even if it's just to tell me no, sorry, you're busy? I would accept that as an answer! As long as it was an answer!

Sigh. 

But I suppose that's what happens when most of your subjects are professors. Busy people with their brains spread out in twenty different places all the time. What a life they must have. 

And I have completed two articles. So far I think I'm looking at about 7 total? I have a draft of a third and fourth, but those are the only ones I can write so far. I'm waiting on three more. I'm hoping to have them all done by the end of September, which means more writing for me! Yay! 

So basically my next week of work will be just writing and nothing else. (Unless one of these professors decides to actually respond.) Maybe I'll send a reminder email to the ones who have been non-responsive the longest. Because I have gleaned rewards for being persistent in the past. Maybe it's really the only way to reach people with spread-out-brains.