Not Very Much about PhD Applications

I keep wanting to post about something other than my PhD applications, but things really heated up this week.  I had two phone interviews and then right before bed, I had an email from a tip-top marketing program (like, #2) wanting to do a phone interview on Monday (which I have scheduled).  I lay in bed last night for a while feeling just flat stunned before I fell asleep - I hadn't had any expectation of hearing anything from them except for a rejection letter.  I'm also juggling visitor weekend invites from a couple of psychology programs.

The conference I attended last weekend was good.  I had a fun time with my poster presentation - it's kind of like a science fair in that you stand there and wait for people to come by and take an interest in your research.  (I even felt like I sort of had a "fan" based on this one guy's reaction, although maybe he just wanted to have an excuse to talk to me for a while.)  I enjoyed many of the sessions where people talked about their research and was super impressed by the hour-long talk on the purpose of consciousness.  I was also pleased to discover that Ringo Starr is alive, well, and doing psychological research at the University of Texas.  I learned that you should really find out how much things cost before ordering in an expensive hotel - I enjoyed the breakfast buffet the morning I left town, but not $23 worth.  (I had peanut butter on a slice of bread, ingredients I packed from home, the other mornings consistent with Operation Cheap Ass.)

This week, I spent most of my work time in the lab, collecting data for my thesis.  If all goes well, I should be done with data collection next Wed. and can start getting down and dirty with my analysis.  I can hardly wait to see if what I attempted to do worked at all.  

Tomorrow morning, Robert and I are watching the very last episode of Lost.  It'll be strange to be through with this show.  I wonder whether I will have the same kind of mild ennui that I suffered after watching the last episode of Buffy.  I hope the new Doctor Who is good so that we can use it as the Robert-compatible replacement for Lost in our Netflix TV line-up.

Meanwhile, my haircut continues to be a disaster.  I keep finding new places that need to be trimmed, straightened-up, etc., so it's a constantly evolving mess.  In a couple weeks, it should be long enough that I can get it re-cut.