Noise

As it happens, I have always lived on the top floor of whatever mulit-unit building I have lived in.  Dorms, apartments, whatever.  I never demanded the top floor, it just always worked out that way. 

Having never had anyone living above me, I'm not really sure how much noise transfers to the people below.  I think we're pretty quiet - no shoes indoors, no loud music, mostly just sit with our laptops in the evenings - but I just have no sense of what they can hear.  It makes me nervous to have parties.  I really really want to have lots of parties but I'm too worried about my neighbors.

Now we're on a middle floor, but in a building that is much better noise-insulated than our last.  We haven't heard a single noise from any of our neighbors.  Until today.  Today I can hear all manner of noises from above.  I wish I knew what they were doing!  Are they just moving around (so that means the people below can hear us moving around)? Or are they, like, moving out or something that requires moving all the furniture (so a party wouldn't be so bad)? I can hear a mechanical sound - is that the vacuum or a floor sander?  I wish I knew!

Packing sucks

I think EGM packed the coffee filters last night.  He's still asleep, although I don't know how since we packed the curtains yesterday and it's super-bright in our bedroom.


P.S.: we're not packing up the tv until after Lost.

Moving

We're moving on Monday!

A list of things I will miss about our current place, in no particular order:

• Lots of space, including plenty of closet space and beds to accommodate a visiting family of 5
• Beautiful original woodwork
• Tree-lined streets, including big trees right outside the window that make it feel like we live in a treehouse
• Relatively inexpensive rent
• Wonderful neighborhood -- very safe and quiet-ish yet very interesting with lots to do
• Excellent natural light

A list of things I'm super excited about in our new place:

• Shorter commute!!!!!
• Dishwasher!
• Laundry in unit!
• Elevator
• Pool and sundeck
• Pool table room in the building
• Gym, with a view, in the building
• Party room, with a view, in the building
• Garage parking space
• Lots of kitchen counter space
• Decent water pressure
• A toilet that flushes properly
• Bathroom door that latches and locks
• Busy, super-hot neighborhood
• Incredibly convenient access to public transit
• Closer proximity to many of our friends
• Shorter commute!!!

Life has been really out-of-whack for us lately.  I really thrive on a solid daily routine.  I'm hoping that the move, with its resultant shorter commute, will offer a clean slate for getting myself back into a comfortable schedule.  I'm surprisingly stressed about the move itself, but so excited to do it.

The pace of things

My new subfield moves really fast.  New technology is continually rolling out, such that you might start a project with one technology and finish it with another.  That goes for the literature too.  Other Postdoc said that the oldest paper she's ever cited is from 1990.  PI told me his thesis is totally out-of-date, maybe even obsolete.  Year-old data starts to smell stale.

In contrast, the oldest paper I cited in my thesis is from the 1930s.  In fact, one of the larger criticisms of my big paper was that I didn't cite enough of the pioneer literature; the reviewer suggested some papers from the 1970s.  Research Advisor's thesis papers are still frequency cited.  We have data that is several years old that would still get in very decent journals.

Just another example of how a shift in fields can have a major impact on how you do, and think about, science.

Science chat

I had a great conversation about Science with my boss today.  The best part was that I could tell he specifically made time to have the chat, in part because he knows that I need to get shit sorted soon if I want to do any significant field work this summer.  Still, it would have been easy enough for him to forget the urgency of the upcoming field season, as he is not a field scientist.

Our lab's work divides out into two vastly unrelated subject areas that are bound together by one broad theme.  The other postdoc's specialty is Area 1 and mine is Area 2.  The technician is also interested in Area 2, but he'll be leaving in a few months.  PI is a specialist in Area 1 but has dabbled heavily in Area 2.  I'm not sure which one he prefers; I think 1 but the other postdoc guesses 2 and PI himself says his passion is the broad theme that ties them together.  Recently, I was chatting with the other postdoc about how I would be sad when the technician leaves because I will be losing my scientific buddy.  I wouldn't be surprised if she conveyed this to our PI and that precipitated our conversation today.

Anyway, I'm encouraged because PI and I are on the same page about the kind of projects I should do.  Moreover, he seems very willing to give me the time I need to figure out experimental designs, gather preliminary data before we commit to a bigger project, and just learn some of this new stuff.  I'm really glad I took this job.

I must have pissed off the traffic gods

Life has been sucking a little bit lately, mainly due to traffic.  Long-time readers may recall that I have a nontrivial commute and that traffic in my city frequently blows.  However, if I leave early enough, I can beat the worst of it and stay relatively sane.

Or at least I could.

They started major construction on one of the other highways in my city, which has had a serious impact on many of the other main arteries.  Everything has been all jacked up such that I have to leave well before 7 am to beat the morning jam and if I don't leave work by 2:30 (unreasonably early), I'm stuck there until at least 6:30. 

I don't mind working long days when I've got something going on or it's on my terms -- a deadline, fieldwork, a really compelling project -- but I don't like feeling like I'm trapped at the lab.  This situation has increased my overall anxiety in part because it gives me less time at home for things I enjoy like blogging.

The good news is that we're going to move soon.  It won't solve my commute problem but it should shorten my drive time significantly.  And if it doesn't, I'm going to talk to my supervisor about some sort of flexible schedule, like four long days (thereby driving before the morning rush and after the evening rush and getting three-day weekends) or super early hours, or something.  I brought it up today and he very generously offered to personally facilitate a commute by public transit, but unfortunately that's not a viable option and there's no way I would impact his schedule with my shitty commute.

I really need to figure out what sort of offering will please the traffic gods.

Worn out

The past couple of weeks have been what my BFF's mom would call "fast".  When we were teenagers, she would say things like, "you've been pretty fast lately Young Lady, I think you better stay home tonight".  Being a not-quite-extrovert, this always comes back to me when I get too busy.

Work has been busy, but I think it was too many social obligations that wore me out.  I've had some lunches, a high school career fair, a few work dinners, normal social time with friends, and my sister visited last weekend with her husband and three kids.  Too much!  I really enjoyed most of these things but I was happy when more involved plans fell through last night so that Ecogeoman and I could go for a walk, order in Indian food, and watch a dvd.  Today we slept in, had dim sum, went clothes shopping for him, and ate our leftover Indian food while watching another video.

Now I think I'm refreshed enough to plow through the week.