Laelaps is the blog of 
I apologize, dear readers, that today I probably won't be able to keep up with my more usual prolific rate of posting. The reasons for this today are as follows;
- I have two major exams today, one in my
"Soils & Water""Soils and Society" class and my Computers midterm (which for some reason was scheduled to start at 10 PM).
- I occasionally experience dizzy spells/lightheadedness during this time of the year, today being one of those days.
- I have a weekly presentation to give tomorrow about meat-eating in early hominids that I haven't started yet. I have no doubt that I'll be able to quickly get it done, but it's just one more thing on the list.
- I have to work in addition to my courseload to make sure rent gets paid every month, so I can't afford to take a day off and still have to work today despite my other obligations.
- It's class registration time again, and I still haven't heard back as to whether I may be allowed to switch over to Evolutionary Anthropology (and therefore make my life a lot more pleasant and easier). On top of the frustrations inherent to using the webreg system at Rutgers, I am very upset over my inability to register for a particular course that is the required course in my current major (Ecology & Evolution) and is only offered in the spring. The Rutgers website listing information about my present major says that I only need biology 101 to take this course, but the webreg site says I need biology 101 AND 102 (which I would be taking at the same time), and so I'm barred from registering for it. I can obtain a special permission number (I hope), but this is a little difficult as the professor who teaches the course does not like e-mail and so I have to catch him in his office when I actually have time to get over there (which I don't due to work and class schedules). It's times like these that make me want to just give up so I can remove my self from the academic morass I've found myself in.
Hence, I'm having a little bit of a meltdown today, but if you want to read up on something neat, check out the latest issue of Current Biology. There's a neat new study by Glen and Bennett about the cursorial habits of early birds (although this still doesn't rule out the "trees down" hypothesis for the origins of flight). I'll write more about the study when I am close to a functioning state of mind again.
Education & Careers
Comments
Are we supposed to choose one of them, or do you really have that much to do in a single day? Gawrsh!!!
Posted by: luca | November 6, 2007 11:44 AM
Best of luck to you, Brian!
Posted by: Dave Carlson | November 6, 2007 3:20 PM
I know exactly how you feel. I worked a lot of hours at my part-time job throughout my B. Sc. and the day pretty much started at 8 am, and didn't end before 9 or 10 pm, five or six days out of any week. I did my best to recover in an interval of a few hours on Saturday mornings where I would sleep in, then laze about home for a bit before starting work at perhaps one in the afternoon.
No days off, of course. Just one morning a week. One thing I'm not clear about, are you an undergrad or already doing a masters program?
Posted by: Waterdog | November 6, 2007 7:53 PM
Thanks, everyone. I survived yesterday, although I need to go fight the proverbial "City Hall" in one way or another this afternoon. A post will soon be up fully disclosing why I'm so exasperated with Rutgers and my rather tortured academic history.
Waterdog; I'm an undergraduate student. I wish I was in grad school (or even just working in a job related to my interests), but my university has made things increasingly difficult for me and so I still have to round out my B.S. even though I have about 121 credits at the moment.
Posted by: Laelaps | November 7, 2007 11:11 AM