I'm not dead, just busy

Well, you probably think that I have dropped off the planet but I swear that I haven't. I have been working harder than almost any time in my life both at home and at work. The kicker is I think I am actually enjoying it, except that I am so tired. If you sort of followed my last posts, I was trying to get out a two proposals and teach a class by the end of Sept. All that happened and came off without a hitch.

Unfortunately, Oct is as crazy as Sept. My husband started graduate school (MBA) and is crazy busy. He is staying up until 2-3 in the morning most nights and is completely useless at helping with kids. I am shouldering virtually the entire load at home (meals, laundry, kids, bills, etc.). This is manageable, but takes up my entire evening, until I collapse in a heap on the bed. Work is not letting up either. I foolishly/intelligently wrote a preproposal for a grant that I would really like to write and wouldn't you know it I got selected for a full proposal, which is awesome...except that now I have to write that proposal. In addition, I have an invited paper due Nov 1, a proceedings due Nov 15, and two conferences to attend (talks already written thank G-d). I did have the foresight to recruit one of my students to help with data analysis for the paper, which is on my postdoc research, and this helps enormously.

Speaking of students and the lab we are doing really, really well. I will try to get pictures up, but it will probably be another week as I will be traveling Wed-Mon. I have recruited one undergraduate who is a non-traditional student (ex-military, experience in industry), and he is fantastic. I also managed to get to visiting scholars, which at my university means people with a BS or higher who work for no pay. Both of the visiting scholars are women whose husbands are postdocing here, but don't have the appropriate visa to work for money. One has an MS and one a PhD, and both want to keep doing research even if they can't be paid. They are fantastic. They come in almost every day, work way more than a 1-2 year grad student would, and have virtually set-up the entire lab. The first lab should be semi-functional next week and fully functional by the end of October. The other lab should be ready by the end of November. All my large equipment except one piece is here, and the furniture debacle (see previous posts) is almost resolved. In fact, there are people running plumbing and electrical as we speak. If I didn't have these students managing things I would definitely have problems, and the lab would be nowhere near as ready as it is now. Hopefully, I can recruit some graduate students in the next few weeks and we can get going. Also, hope my postdoc's visa comes through (fingers crossed any day now).

I realize now how much of a team effort a lab is. I simply cannot do everything myself. Which is completely obvious to most graduate students, I mean when was the last time you saw a PI in the lab plugging away. But I now realize that I will depend on my students for much more.

I am still having a great time, and I still LOVE this job, but I am getting a little tired and could use a breath of air every now and then. So, tomorrow, to "prepare" for my conferences I am getting my hair cut and getting a pedicure. I mean a girl has to look good, right?