Time of the Month

No splendor in November

11.29.22

The fall of Fall has begun
Farther and farther from the sun
Winter displays it's temper
No splendor in November

Happy end of November, Happy Holidays, and congratulations to all the NaNo-ers out there!
Even if you didn't reach your goal, you have more written than you did at the beginning of November. All progress is good.

I'm back from the conference, and almost recovered after a nice relaxing holiday weekend. I presented some science, I got some good feedback, I learned even more science, I ate good food (mostly tacos), I went to a professional development workshop for Brain Data Science but missed the first half, I saw a great talk about sleep and a whole session about how the brain codes music, I caught up with an old friend from my alma mater (and ran into a former labmate in the airport), I went to socials and met people from around the world, I networked like I've never networked before, I figured some things out, I found an AI based image analysis program that might work well for my current project, I was actively recruited for the same position I'm in now (which I don't want, but still flattering I guess?), and I connected with a "talent acquisition partner" for a non-profit research institute that I've been interested in for a while.

Yep, that all happened in less than a week.

My poster went so well I didn't sit down for over 4 hours and nearly lost my voice (on day 1). It's been several years since my last big in person conference, and I completely forgot how demanding it is. Physically, as much, if not more than, mentally. I remember now. But I will say, that time change was a life-saver-- I felt like I had an extra 3 hours in the day.

Although the trip there was surprisingly enjoyable

"Note: Oh, hello there San Diego. We chased the sun w..."

, the way back was... less so. My first flight landed early, for the first time in the history of mankind. Which means, of course, that my second flight was delayed. And delayed. And delayed. Because they... (checks notes)... couldn't find the flight crew. I was stuck in the airport for 7 hours before they finally found another crew and we ended up landing around 1am. The flight after us, supposedly the last flight out for the night, left well before we did (to the same location).

My first mistake was trying to leave California.
Guess it's true what they say: "You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave."  

My second mistake was flying American.

At least I still had my bags.

Unlike last time: "Augusting" 

And, past me had the wisdom and foresight to take the next day off.
Great work, past me. Truly inspired.

What I didn't do, is work on this paper revision that's due in about a week.
So now it's crunch time. (When isn't it crunch time? Does such a time exist?)

That means I probably won't be around the rest of this week, or the next. Don't be alarmed if I disappear (again) for a bit. Hope everyone is staying warm and safe! I hear much of the Southern US is being hit with severe storms and devastating tornadoes as we speak. If you're in the path of one of these storms, please take it seriously and take shelter.

And now, how does a spot of positivitea sound?

”Don't count the days, make the days count.”
- Muhammad Ali