Stack of Work

Whew.

Today the work piled on!!

Papers to grade, thesis to revise, articles to write, stat to learn.... it's going to be a long week(end). Hopefully I can get some of this stuff printed off so I can work on it outside.

Our lab has been interesting this month. A few weeks ago we took the vans to get them fixed (the brakes were out) and today I took the "old" van to the field. It is a sucky van because there are no power brakes, and everyone in the van complains like little girls that the stops are too fast. Well... you try stopping a 15 passenger van without power brakes on the spot!! I know, I shouldn't wait so long to stop... but really, SC drivers are kind of ridiculous, and they'll slow down for all sorts of stuff (hooting at girls, for example), which means-- lots of fast stops. Of course, my van actually worked, which is more than I can say for T's van, which randomly started beeping and blinking and saying "service now!" The problem is, this van is going to conclave (in Monticello, AR) at 3 am tomorrow... or it should be. I just hope they don't break down in Mississippi or something!

I also had the fun of spending my afternoon checking the equipment into the equipment room. Somehow, we managed to manifest equipment during this semester. Our check out sheet indicated that we started with a certain amount of borers, and when I'd check the stuff in we'd have like 5 more. There were discrepancies across the board, all positive. It was strange and I wasn't sure what to do about it-- I mean, we weren't missing anything, but how did we come back with more equipment than we left with in January? The guy who runs the equipment is (rightfully) very anal about it, as the equipment is expensive, and he's got to keep it on a tight watch. I totally empathize with this, but I was terrified of the off results. Oh well. I turned them in and I guess we'll see what happens. At least I don't have to clean out the sap from the borers!!

Tick season started today. I found a little guy chilling on my thigh this evening, having a nice drink. I instantly crushed the fool. I hate ticks. I certainly won't miss them in Oregon. I have bad memories of sitting in R's car this summer half-naked assessing one another for ticks. I mean, it's about as not-fun as it can get-- you are terrified that your crew will find a tick on you, but more terrified that they WON'T find a tick on you! ... occupational hazard, I suppose. Dr. S says its already crawling with ticks... and chiggers... on the coast. Guess I won't be going THERE any time soon!