Back to the grindstone.

Well, back from Vegas. Vegas was fun, did some gambling, did some shopping, relaxed, and had a lot of fun.

Inevitably, its back to the grind that is my life. The next two weeks will be fairly high paced, with a lot going on, and a lot of long hours in front of my old friend, Mr. Work Laptop. I have a supervisory committee meeting in about two weeks, and of course have to produce a bit of a yearly report. I'm planning to produce a draft candidacy report instead, and using the meeting to prepare from the candidacy exam I'll be undergoing in February. I'm not terribly concerned about the meeting. I'm more concerned about the seemingly impossible attitude that I'm encountering with my supervisor and publishing.

One of my strengths as a researcher is experimental work, being able to work in the lab, perform experiments, and in this case, microfabrication, and produce devices and results. One of my weaknesses is the documentation behind the experimental work. Not so much the writing, moreso the proper way to disseminate that documentation. This problem usually rears its ugly head when I talk to my supervisor and attempt to discuss my project with him. I usually make the error of assuming that he understands the background of my project beyond the simple physics behind it. I'm not saying he's stupid - he just doesn't have the experience with the project that I do. So, any time that I attempt to talk to him about it, from his point of view, it will look like I'm either out to lunch, or haven't done my background research, because I'm expecting him to know the background.

Imagine talking to someone about driving a car, with the person never having the experience of driving. Its that kind of discussion, except that he's assuming that I have the same background experience that he does. Many arguments have spawned from this misunderstanding, largely on my part. The phrase "are you doing anything?" usually pops up, to which I do my best to turn the question on him in terms of trying to publish under him. (but that's a rant, for another day.. lol).

But yeah, Nov 27th is the first meeting. The first hurdle. After that it will be a mad dash to February, and the candidacy exam. Its going to be long days of work, experiments, simulations, and studying. Unfortunately, it just means I need to streamline my life a little bit. WoW's out. Probably extended vacation time @ Christmas is out too. Well, if those sacrifices allow me to get out of this university with my PhD before 30, I'll be happy.

Anywho. Back to talking about non-linearities in the frequency response of my device.