Saturday, March 1, 2008

Working in bed

I really like working in bed with my laptop. I discovered this while I was applying to grad school while we were traveling in RFC last year. I like spending a few (or several, as today) hours after I wake up in the morning working in bed. I woke up around 9 am this morning and finished my grant around 2 pm, then I made pancakes and got back in bed to eat them while posting to my blog. This grant took longer than I thought it would to finish today (my goal was noon), partly because I had to scramble to find a few more sources that I thought I had already nailed down. I think I found a better way to remotely access UBC's electronic library, which reminds me of something I've wanted to mention for a while.

It can be really difficult to apply to graduate school without remote access to a university's electronic library. If you are taking time off before undgrad and grad school (which I highly recommend), don't be afraid to use your friends in academia to get you articles that you would otherwise not have access to. Also, figure out how to remotely access your school's electronic database because you might have access for a while after you graduate. I just discovered in 2007 that I still have access via Small Friendly College. In fact, SFC has access to a journal I regularly use that UBC does not (why not? I have no idea) so I frequently take advantage of that connection.

In other news, I have so much work to do this weekend :-( I have 60 lab reports and problem sets to grade (I haven't started tackling them like I did last time), an essay to write for Herb, articles to read, and I should start on my comprehensive research plan for my Ph.D. (yeah, right). Jon has been at work all day today so I had lots of quiet time to finish that grant, but I don't think I'll do much more school work today. When I'm finished with this post I'm going to get up, get dressed, do a load of laundry, clean the kitchen, start the bread machine, and get ready for our friends to come over for dinner tonight. Ready, set, get out of bed!

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