Fortune Faded

I will update more...promise.

I actually need to update more because I find that writing more allows to write more freely. As someone eyeballs deep in a science journalism class with assignments ticking by, I can use all the writing exercise I can get.

This morning it was miserably rainy. Blustery, rainy and just overall icky. I made it into school around my usual 8:15 morning just as the rain ceased. It abated until my class at 9:30, and I managed to get hit with what I imagine could only be Madison's version of a tropical monsoon with cold on my bike back. The sun finally managed to peak through the clouds about 10 minutes ago, making this one heck of a weather day. I teach spin at 5:15, so I'll be holding up in my office until 4:30 to venture on over to the NAT. I have a pretty good workout today, many new drills, not quite so many hills.

On the lab front, I'm giving a presentation about my research for the large Astrobiology group on Thursday. I have officially up to two hours, although most presentations are running about an hour, and I have all of 20 slides. Its not that I haven't done a ton of diverse research, I have. Its that I want to keep it focused and on topic with the research specific to my Masters. Research that really feels like two steps forward 1.750 steps back. I'm throwing a demonstration in there to mix things up, and I know I'll get slaughtered with amazing questions that I wish I had thought of in order to know answers.

I suppose the longer that I've been immersed in my program, the more I don't mind looking dumb or not having the perfect answer to all of the little questions that crop up. I could say that I really don't care at all about how dumb I look, but that would be very incorrect. I do very much care about having a smart-appearance, and that motivates me to do more reading and more background work than I sometimes have to. That being said, I'm finally getting over my fear of asking dumb-ish questions in presentations. And trust me, they say that there is no such thing as s dumb question, but there is, and I have asked one or two in my day.