First Week of Classes (Year 2)

1.  Thanks to the wonderful new MA program both my classes are well over the cap.  As fun as it is to see how many grad students can fit into a room, people probably should not have to sit on window sills.

2.  TAing has inexplicably become TAing + some lecturing.  This will fulfill some requirements so I'm not too upset.

3.  Despite my complaining, I'm actually kind of excited about classes this semester.  Social psych seems like it's generally outside my scientific worldview so I'll probably end up either learning a lot of new things that'll inform my research or arguing constantly about experimental method and scientific philosophy.  Either way, I'll keep myself entertained.

4.  I have Friday off (for labor day?).  With that said, I'll probably pull another 12 hour day because grad school is so much fun.

5.  Apparently I'm still on track to graduate on time.  Also, it's slightly worrying that the department chair has no idea who the head of my area is.

6.  Due to the addition of a recliner and some cleaning, my office now looks like a real office.  I expect I'll stop using it in about a week in favor of the lab.

7.  You know you spend too much time studying psychology when you spend significant amounts of time thinking about why people park where they do in the parking lot.  I'm serious, it makes absolutely no sense to me why people always park on the ends of the lot and never in the middle.

8.  I forgot that so many undergrads went to Stony Brook.  The campus is suddenly full of them.  I'd like them to take less time while printing at the library.  Other than that, it's just strange to see so many people around after no one being on campus for months.

9.  Turns out I'm completely dependant on Google products like GMail and Google Scholar... I might have to diversify a bit.  When Google went down I actually had do some real literature searching.

10.  Discovery of the day: listening to movie soundtracks while reading articles makes whatever your reading seem suddenly more dramatic and important.  The consensus so far is that Ennio Morricone works best.