“He’s fond of you.”

That’s just the coolest of quaint sayings, particularly when it’s said to me.

This has been a fairly up and down (but mostly up) week. I’m tired and decently sleep-deprived, but some of that comes from inefficiency in working earlier this week. Took me a minute to bite the bullet and accept that vacation was over.

The newspaper this week was very mediocre, and borderline bad; I mean that in terms of the entire experience, not only the end product. And it was pretty much all my fault. I fucked up in so many ways because I let fatigue and impatience and the thought of a couple hours of homework rush me once it got late in the evening. I double-printed an ad, willfully left mistakes and goofiness on a couple of pages, forgot to attach one of the pages to the e-mails to the printers (and so received a call around 06:30 this morning, after I slept through two e-mails). I need to find some way to get things rolling in the office a hell of a lot sooner, but I have no content from my writers.

This is going to sound incredibly odd, but I think it all rides on the pizza. I noticed months ago that no one really works until we have pizza in the office and we’ve satiated our appetites. Then we start working, but currently that isn’t until 19:30 or so, and it’s slowly getting later and later. So next week, I’m getting pizzas much earlier, so the pizzas will be in the office around 18:00 and people will start working by 18:30. Hopefully, it’ll help a little, along with nagging a couple folks about arriving earlier.

I didn’t work out this morning, but I got in a nice full-body workout on Thursday morning when I walked for a couple of miles and then rowed for about three kilometers. Now I just need to stop doing homework earlier so I can get to the SRC by 07:00, right when they open.

The quarter is starting off fairly well, academically. My classes are interesting and I think I’m going to learn a hell of a lot this term, particularly in Computer Architecture II and Analytical Chemistry. I’ve got damn good profs for both (or so it seems so far) and even computer architecture is holding my interest enough to have me reading ahead in the textbook and enjoying the articles the prof gives us. Oh, and my chemistry prof makes incredibly awesome chemistry jokes in his laid-back drawl. I love it. Just like in high school chemistry, I’m probably the one laughing hardest.

I received three awesome packages this week. The first was the belated Christmas gift from Michael, the second was my Scheme textbook/reference guide, and the third was my “I survived Winter Quarter!” gift to myself. I like getting packages, even though I have to be late to class, lab, or work to get them.

The long day hours are hurting me, though. It’s making it very difficult for me to get things done with my lab partner and for the paper and to attend the meetings I need to attend in order to keep myself in certain camps and groups. So I’m annoyed at myself and I know the people trying to schedule meetings with me are annoyed.

But I did get an offer for a summer research position up at Notre Dame for more environmental chemistry + computer science fun. I only have six days to decide, though, which means I will have to do some heavy thinking this weekend since I have about four other potential summer gigs that haven’t gotten back to me yet. Dr. M is focused on the money (which is a good amount), but I’m at that point in my curriculum where I’m thinking about stress levels… Like, how high do I want them to be during the summer? (I kid, slightly; I know I should be thinking more about how much it’ll help me in the future and all that good stuff…)

However, it looks like Dr. M’s research team (the one that includes me) has been scooped. We’re hunting down the article so we can see more than the abstract, but holy hell if it doesn’t sound like they are covering the things we’ve been busting our asses to do. Grr. We’ll see.

But I did have a good conversation with a member of my first-term computer architecture team yesterday. He’s a funny guy, and I wish he were in CompArch again with me this term, because we worked well together.

Tonight, after a brief hour of recuperation and breathing space after nine hours of class/lab/work (oy-vey, I’m so spacey right now), I’m off to see what craziness Javid has written for our entertainment this evening. I should acquire food during this time…