Off to a good start.

Between one load last night, and the delivery of another this morning, I've now moved 28 boxes worth of books (mostly) and media from my place at Spruce Knob into the new house. I'm thinking of calling it Pearwood, for somewhat obvious reasons. Oh, and our landlord rocks.

However, an approximation suggests that between Claudia (my car) and I, 1200-1400 pounds have been relocated in the past 18 hours. My back is a *wee* bit sore, and it's interesting to note how differently one's car handles when you've loaded it with 700-800 lbs. (I'm proud of my hatchback, why do you ask?)

Alright, time to work on next Wednesday's lecture, next Thursday's review session, and next Friday's annual departmental talk.

Sometimes... sometimes they make it so easy.

I blew someone's mind today. Flat-out speechless for minutes. I didn't even have to try, though.

Our new lab-tech, actually (blue_lucy, you are so missed, some days), who's a fierce interrogator, if irksome with the vein of her questions. All of yesterday, and part of today, she's been asking me, another post-industry grad student, our vet tech, and a few other techs, how she can make the most money possible, as quickly as possible, within science.

Summation is that you don't do it by getting the PhD. The investment of time is not rewarded quickly. You get the PhD for love of the work you do, or you have some other career goal in mind. Not for making a quick profit and retiring young. Well, unless you're a Type A' personality with curiosity burning like a brand in your soul and the competitive ego to match (and then you never retire). Basically, if she wants the moolah, get an MS and an MBA and go into management consulting and/or venture capitalism.

New Lab Tech: "So, why are you a grad student then? You aren't going to make enough money to make up for the time, is what you've told me."

Your Humble Narrator: "I don't care about the money. I want to teach. It's something I enjoy."

NLT: "You don't care about the money? What do you mean? How can that be?"

YHN: "I enjoy teaching. I enjoy sharing my knowledge with others. To do that at a college level, I need the three little letters."

NLT: "So? You'll only be making $50K a year when you start. How can you live off of that?"

YHN: "I'd rather be happy than rich."

NLT: "..." followed by several minutes of mouth-agape head-shaking consternation, full of "..."

Yeah. I sat back, worked on my experimental inventory, and kept looking at her now and again.

Blew.
Her.
Mind.

*puffs on knuckles, buffs them on chest, sits back*