I made it

It is Thursday evening, and I have survived this horrible evil week. My papers were turned in and my tests passed. I was up until 2 this morning and got up at 6, so I'm pretty sure I could fall asleep right now. Wonder how drool resistant my keyboard is?

I found out late last night that we are running more people through that Mindfulness study I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. ( at least I think I did... can't really remember right now. oh well). It is going to be rough sending out 33 personalized emails on a day when I am away from my computer from 7am to 6pm when the emails should be sent out before 1pm. I'm sure I'll figure it out though.

I am now going to celebrate the end of this week with a nice nap and some good food. My mom's birthday is tomorrow, and we have family coming in from Chicago, so I need my rest :)

By the way... what do you think of the changes I've made to the blog? I'm just playing around with some things and wanted to know what you all thought. Be honest... I can take it :D

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Take me to Dr. McSparkly

I have been sick ALL DAY LONG. It totally sucks. There is a stomach bug going around campus. I should have known I would end up with it when the ladies at work told me they had all been through it the week before. UGGGHH I hate being sick. I didn't go to class today because I don't want to spread it around. I'm pretty sure that my car won't make it up the mountain of ice that the snow plow kindly left behind my tires anyway. So here is my dilemna. I have to run participants tomorrow in the lab. As long as no one signs up for my times, no big deal. No... such.... luck. My time tomorrow if completely full. What am I suppose to do with that? No one will respond to my emails requesting they take my times. I'm scared to death I'm going to puke on the participants (and I'm pretty sure that will mess with the data... just a hunch). I'm so aggravated/sick/upset/tired.

So take me to Dr. McSparkly. I'm sure he would make me feel better :) or at least answer my emails...

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Who is the bigger lab rat now?

*Just a heads up, I have a couple of things I wanted to talk about today, so I apologize in advance if this post is kind of random. *

I think I want to start with the story about money. Just keep reading, it won't be as boring as it sounds (I hope). Amanda and I were on our way to get lunch after class today, and she saw a dollar laying on the ground. After a couple of rounds of "pick it up" "no you pick it up" I picked up the money. It was actually $2 folded together. I was nervous about grabbing it, for a couple of reasons. First off, I'm pretty self-conscious anyway, so I didn't know who all was watching... which brings me to my next point. It could have been a psych experiment going on. You know, leave something like money laying out and watch to see if anyone takes it. Or maybe I'm just paranoid... whatev. Anywho, to make ourselves feel better, we first split it so we each got $1. Then, when we got to the student center, we saw an easy, guilt-free, way out of the money. There was a bake sale going on for Dance Blue. Dance Blue is an event that UK puts on every year to collect money for the children's hospital. I think it goes mainly towards pediatric cancer. So, we spent the money on chocolate chip cookies. We may have taken the money, but it went to charity, and we got cookies in return. Talk about your positive reinforcement :D So now we feel better. You don't have to tell me... I know we are dorks haha

So now for the story that led to the title of this post. As you may know (or not), I'm in a research lab for one of the psychologists at UK. He is said to be one of the top 10 psychologists right now in the nation, so it's pretty cool working with him. I have been in his lab since he came to UK fall of '07. This semester, there are only two of us in the lab that have been with him from the start. Everyone else came in at a later date. The other person, JimmyG, will do whatever Dr. D wants, even if that includes working weekends and nights. I use to pick on him for it because he just didn't know how to say no. I won't laugh anymore, because I'm the new JimmyG. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be acknowledged for my work, but I don't want to be taken advantage of. I will be working on a pretty cool project that is first of its kind. The bad part is that we are only running this study on Mondays, and Mondays were suppose to be my days off with Matthew. He asked me if I was available on Mondays, and I told him I didn't have anything all day. He said, "Great, so you can work for an hour... or more." CRAP! What have I gotten myself into? He also told the other people working on the project that I have a lot of experience running participants, and that I will be good for the study. At least I got a compliment out of the deal. I guess we will see how this goes. I'll keep you updated.

On a lighter note, I have managed to not fall today... but it's only 10:30, still have another hour and a half to go.... Now I think I'll go find JimmyG and we'll try and take over the world :D

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Sneaky... very sneaky

So it's the first full week of 2009, and my last full week of winter break. It really snuck up one me... and it sucks. Classes start on the 14th, but luckily I don't have classes on mondays, wednesdays, or fridays so my semester officially starts on the 15th. It will begin with a 9am class, and end around 3pm until a lab meeting that will most likely occur at 5pm.

Have we received an email about said lab meeting? no.

Will we receive one before the end of the week? not likely.

Will we receive it around 11pm on wednesday night? probably.

Good 'ol lab. Anyway, I have sooo much to do now! I have to buy my books ($261 for three classes!) to start. I also have to write my personal statement for grad school, write my essays for my application to EKU, and fill out the applications to the universities as well as to the individual programs! Deadlines are quickly approaching and will be here before I know it! I'm so lucky to have Amanda to do all of this with. I'm not sure I could do it without her.

Instead of focusing on all of the things I need to get done, I'd rather focus on the things to look forward to. For one, I'm going to a baby shower this weekend. I have already got my gift, and although I don't know the mom, I know the dad and grandma (although it is REALLY weird thinking of her as a grandma!). Also, HOUSE returns monday night at 8pm! I am so excited for it and have totally been going through withdrawal. But now I am off to do some more onling-window-shopping. I'm trying desperately to find a Twilight calendar that won't cost me $50-$100...

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A Not-Twilight-Related Post

Alright... so back to reality. So where do I begin?

School officially sucks right now. There are roughly 5 weeks left of this semester, and I'm feeling the burn. I have papers and tests all creeping up on me. I got up at 5am today to finish a paper! The only reason I didn't finish it last night was because my laptop overheated and shut off. Oh well. At least that is one paper done... only two more left (too bad those two are monster 10-15 page papers....).

Lab is ok. We are starting a new study, which is frustrating because things aren't getting done like they should, but whatev. Good new, though, is that the amazing grad student Ryan is letting me tag onto one of his projects. I have spent most of the evening making a survey online for the project. It is just a rough draft and is no where near close to being able to be sent out to people, but it's my little survey that I made all by myself you know? I'm very excited about this project because I get to go deeper into the world of research than just running participants. I think it is an excellent opportunity, and I am very grateful to gs Ryan :)

I spent this past weekend in Indiana. I got to spend time with my Dad, and meet the newest member of the family, Oscar. He is so freakin ugly that he is cute! He has got to be the greatest puppy in Indiana for sure lol He looks like a little Ewok off of Star Wars. I'm having problems getting pictures up, but I promise they will be up soon :)

On an end note, here is my current favorite, song-wise. Everytime I hear this song I turn the radio up and jam along (when no one is around to hear me of course.... wouldn't want to ruin anyone's hearing....)

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Thirsty Thursday

OK, so my Thursday isn't exactly what most (or maybe all...) would consider "Thirsty Thursday." I have, however, been quite thirsty all day, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with the day of the week. Anyway, My day was pretty calm. I came on campus this morning early to study with Amanda. I got coffee (yeah, I know...) and actually drank most of it. It was the pumpkin spice latte, and it was actually pretty decent. I don't really like coffee, but the flavors were nice together. I bought a studyguide for my developmental class. At first I thought I was going to have to wait a week for it because they didn't have any left, but they split a package (the book and the study guide together) for me so I wouldn't have to wait. Also, Amanda let me borrow "Nim's Island" so Matthew and I are getting ready to watch it since we haven't seen it yet. Other than all of that, I found out that I am going to have to shock people in the lab, and also that I may have been responsible for a HUGE mistake in the lab. After thinking about it, I have come to the conclusion that it was not my fault, so that makes me feel a little better.

I realize this message is completely random. I have been busy lately, and am trying to get back into blogging because it makes me feel better. So sorry again lol

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