Basketball and thesis writing

I had always planned to do a good bit of my thesis writing during Spring Break.  While others are off enjoying the sun on beaches or hitting the slopes, I have been at my apartment, pondering the chemical theories of Richard Kirwan.  While I’m obviously on the plus side of that fence, it hasn’t been as great as I expected.  I started off the week in a cold streak, constantly tired or suffering from allergies or both.  And then on Thursday the NCAA challenge started.

By this point in the week, I was so tired of not being productive, that I have developed a strong urge to get things done.  I avoided a good bit of the basketball yesterday by going to Cafe Plaid.  Today, I went to Winan’s for several hours and got a good bit of work done.  Still, anytime I sit down, the lure of basketball calls.  It’s omnipresent.  Earlier, I saw the minutes and overtime between Western Kentucky and Drake.  Just now, I watched the last minutes and overtime of Connecticut v. San Diego (in both games, the underdog won).  The basketball is great, but will my thesis ever be completed.

As long as I can get something like a rough draft of the 2nd chapter I’ll be happy.  This will be the primary chapter of the thesis, looking at the multiple facets of 18th century chemistry.  This morning I finished a section (about 5 pages) on affinity chemistry.  Throughout the 18th century, those interested in chemistry looked at the formation of salts and why elements were more attracted to some elements more than others.  Kirwan had developed a gravimetric, algebraic system for measuring attractions and understanding compound formations.

I’m going to work on understandings of heat, from Joseph Black through Irvine to Kirwan and Adair Crawford, for the rest of the day. English chemists had a different understanding of heat and fire than many of their continental counterparts.  Understanding these difference gives a more nuanced understanding of the chemical revolution than the narrow studies of phlogiston offer.

Right now I’ve got about 7 pages of my chapter done, and if I can have 12 or 13 by the end of the night, I’ll be very happy.  Still, when the week started I was hoping to do 4 pages a day, so even if I get to my 12-13 page goal, I’ll be 8 pages behind my initial goal.  Oh well.  If I weren’t behind on my work, things would be easy and boring.

So tired

We’ve had pretty good weather for Spring Break, but I haven’t been able to get much done.  For one reason or another, Lisa and I have had to get up early every morning so far and are getting worn down by the early afternoon.  Today we met up with Lisa’s step-mother to work on wedding stuff.  We got a lot done, but I quickly developed a head ache and am working hard to avoid light right now.  I just want to be able to sit down at a table and type for the rest of the week.  I don’t know if that will happen though.

Productivity

Today, I woke up early, wrote a class paper, mailed off my tax return, did several hours of internship work, and completed and submitted a grant application.  And it’s just now 5.  This is easily one of the most productive days I’ve had in a long time.  I think I might go write some more for my internship now, or finish my thesis, or cure world hunger.  Or I might go have a beer and play video games.  We’ll see.

Bright and sunny day

As per the norm in Norman, today’s weather in no way resembles what had been going on for the last week or two.  We have had generally cold, rainy conditions up till now, and today is a beautiful, sunny day in the upper sixties.  I’m sitting outside at the Campus Corner Starbucks (Cafe Plaid was closed) and people watching while reading.  There are a ton of people out enjoying the weather, and there must have been some sort of Sunday matinée at the theater, because it was pretty crowded.

My reading reminds me though of a conversation I had with my sister yesterday.  She called sometime in the afternoon to see what I was up to, and, as always, I responded reading.  She then asked what time I was going to put down the books and start partying to which I laughed.  Her theory is that people agree to stay in academics and go to grad school because it’s fun.  Why else would anyone sign up for their 17th-20somethingth year of education unless it was really fun.

I had suspected for a while now that she had no idea what I actually do, but this confirmed it.  When I got done laughing with Lisa about the concept of grad school being fun, I picked the phone back up and tried to explain the situation to my sister.  We don’t go to grad school because it’s fun.  We go because if we stay in school until we’re roughly 30, we might then be able to get a very demanding 60 hour a week job that pays less than what a lot of people could get coming out of high school.  If we succeed at that for 6 years (putting us into our mid-30’s), we might then get tenure and be assured of a decent paying job for forever.

Tracy was still confused and assumed I was just messing with her, that I do in fact party non-stop and that somehow grad school is the greatest thing in the history of the world.  I was also confused.  Why am I in fact doing these things.  The best answer I can come up with is that I hate cubicles and being at work at 8 so much that I’m willing to work more hours for less pay in strange places.  The travel is also nice (when funded), and you get summers to at least dictate your own schedule.  Still, grad school is tough, no one does it for the money, and it’s a long tunnel before you get to any kind of light (which may in fact be an oncoming train).

At least I have this bright sunny day in which to read John Ray.

Books

I will admit that I’m a young bibliophile. I think owning and collecting books is about the coolest thing there is next to strudel pastries (anyone remember those; they were delicious if you did them right). Anyway, I bought some books over the past couple weeks for my thesis research and they both came in today.

I got a copy of Mi Gyung Kim’s work on Affinity; this is an overlooked, very important book for understanding chemistry in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. All the chemical historians and historians of science teaching chemical history should check it out.

What was more interesting to me, because I’ve already read Kim, is a copy of Jan Golinski’s Science as Public Culture. This is a sweet freaking book. It fills in my historiographical gaps on the sociology of Britain at the time and should prove interesting to anyone studying late 18th century science. Golinski is somewhat prolific, but despite the high quantity, I generally feel like he produces good quality as well. This book is going to be extremely useful for my thesis, and I strongly recommend it. Check out my reading list for more information.

Anyway, the incoming books along with a productive day in classes has made this a quality day. I wish the Mavs would have won, but I guess we can’t have everything (how this would make things boring is beyond me. If I had everything, I’d constantly have stuff to do / play with. Anyone who says otherwise is a skeptic and a pessimist).

Date Night

Lisa and I have moved date night to Wednesday’s and agreed to make sure that it has at least two parts.  We had gotten in the routine of going to dinner, then coming home and working.  That’s not a great date, basically just the same as most days.  Last night though, we had a really good time.  Instead of coming home after dinner, we went to Cafe Plaid and played cards while drinking a couple beers.  Lisa beat me in a game of rummy and we had a good time people watching and mocking the sorority girls at the table behind us.

It’s been really nice having a lighter workload this week.  In addition to getting more time for date night, we’ve been able to sleep in a few mornings, go to bed before 1 several nights,  and generally just stay relaxed.  However, there is an end to this happy state ahead.  We both have term papers for a class, a conference presentation, and a thesis all due in April.  I also have to finish my internship by the end of school and Lisa always has CB work to do for Isis.  Hopefully we can stay on top of the ball, but I imagine there are at least a few more late nights in our future.

Monday

It’s Monday and I’m already tired.  Luckily this will be a relatively light week as far as work goes.  My major projects for the week include a meeting on Wednesday with my boss for the Graduate College internship, a German test and my John Ray class on Thursday, and a thesis meeting with my adviser on Friday.  While this is pretty much the same every week, the workload for each is slightly lighter than normal, and I got some work done over the weekend.

For my internship, I’m supposed to compare the lists compiled by the college of former graduates with the commencement programs from 2 different years.  There are somewhere around 500 names, and I need to see if they match up.

German tests are relatively easy.  I just need to reread the last couple chapters of the book.

Rienk Vermij’s HSCI 5523 class on John Ray normally requires a ton of reading and synthesis, but I’ve already read the two key articles for the week and I just need to find a couple more.  I’m hoping to be done with both this and the internship work by the end of the day.

My thesis work for this week is just to get a good start on my main chapter.  As long as I get a good outline and some preliminary writing done, I’ll be happy.

With the light school workload, I’m hoping to work more on outside projects and personal life this week.  I’m going to try to blog daily and do some work on the scholarly journal our graduate students are trying to start up.  I also need to get insurance – as a young, independent person I’m supposed to get my own insurance rather than continuing to rely on my parents.  At least that’s what people tell me.   I also need to do some Spring cleaning, help people book hotels for the wedding, and it would be nice if I can get a few other things done on the wedding.

There are several new video games out that I’d like to play, but I think those are going to have to wait until at least May, maybe June.

Mavs Game

Zach and I went to a Mavs game with Caro, Jeremy, Stef, and Fiona on Friday night. The mavs didn’t play so well, with Beno Udrih looking like a cross between Tony Parker and Baron Davis. Still, the offense was good enough to make up for the horrible D, and they ended up winning comfortably. Kidd came up 1 assist short of his 100th career triple double. I had bought Lisa a Kidd t-shirt (see image) before the game, so I was really hoping Kidd would get the milestone in the same game. Everyone had a good time, and I’m now back up in Norman, getting ready to do my work for the weekend (and watch Mavs-Lakers at 2:30).