Waiting for students makes up more of my time than I would like. While interacting with them I feel as though I'm accomplishing something, but when I'm holding office hours and no one shows up, it's a wasted hour.
I know that I could do something, focus on other work, study for classes that I'm falling behind in, but honestly that feels like I'm not really doing what I get paid for. So instead I surf the web, play freecell or minesweeper and generally doink around.
Today's websearch: corrosion in artwork. So okay, this really is for a class, but its not obvious for most people. I've found a few sites that may be helpful, but honestly I think the automotive industry has this area covered. I really wish that I had a question that I could poise in the area of materials science and engineering, but since coming into the area almost a year ago I have yet to find a really great question that I can write a thesis on. I'm supposed to be going through "the process" of solving problems. Problem is "how does one solve a problem without aforementioned problem?" (Maybe I'll talk about synonym usage in the next post.)
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-In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite. Paul Dirac
You know, when I worked at the English Department copy center, they always encouraged me to do my homework if there wasn't work waiting. I would think that in grad school that would apply even more so. You shouldn't feel guilty for working on classwork during your office hours if no one shows up asking for help from you. I think that coming up with a thesis topic is what scares me most about going back to grad school. What if I get in and I take classes and then I can't think of anything new to contribute? What if nobody likes my ideas? I think everybody probably feels like that at some point. And you're my resident genius friend, so I know you'll come up with a kick-ass thesis eventually. Just give yourself time.
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