I made it through the day; Now my brain is fried

This has been one whirlwind day. I drove in early to meet with a new research assistant (shall I call her Research Assistant #3?) to show her how to test participants. But, she called me half an hour before to say that she was going to be late because she had an asthma attack. So I told her that would be fine. When it was time to test the participant at 9am, she wasn't there, but her participant was. Unfortunately, I was scheduled to test a different participant at that time, who had not shown up yet. Luckily, Research Associate #1 saved the day and offered to test my participant so that I could start testing this participant, who had a class in 45 minutes and couldn't afford to wait for Research Assistant #3. So I tested the participant, but Research Assistant #3 never showed up. I just managed to get the participant through the whole testing session with two minutes to spare. Then I checked my email and voicemail and discovered that Research Assistant #3 was at the doctor's office because her asthma attack had gotten serious. So I got Research Associate #1 to test the next participant and I waited for the next participant that Research Assistant #3 was supposed to test. Urgh! He never showed up, though. So then I looked up articles for the next hour before I had a large group testing session at 11am.

Amazingly, a large group of people were waiting to sign up for a study just 10 minutes before my large group testing session. So I recruited the people for my study and many of them actually headed up to the room where I was to hold the study. I was grateful for the extra people, except that when I handed out the packets, I was just short of the number of packets I needed. So I raced back downstairs and grabbed a bunch of questionnaires, but the office was out of scantrons!! I asked the administrative assistant for more scantrons and she joked about charging me because technically, scantrons are not supposed to be used for research purposes. Then I tried printing off the consent form over the wireless connection to the printer in the lab, but it wouldn't work, even though it worked fine yesterday!!! So I left my laptop with the consultants and ran back upstairs to give the questionnaire to the participants, so they would have something to do while I tried to get the rest of the packets printed. By the time I made it back up to the room, some people were ready to leave and they needed my signature on a participation slip. So I spent the next half hour frantically signing participant slips and organizing turned-in packets. Argh! In the midst of all this, my work replacement called me and I found out he hadn't clocked in for me because he thought I had already clocked in. I had asked him to fill in for me in the computer lab because I needed to schedule the large group testing session during my work hours. Urgh!!

So I raced back downstairs and left all the materials in my second office (I like to take over offices and make them mine, hehehe). Then I ran back up to the lab and left my other stuff in order to run to the library and grab some coffee and a muffin because I was starving. When I got there, a huge line had formed, but I only had 10 minutes before class started. So I got out of line and asked for change from the librarian. Then I ran back to my building and bought a Snickers, my lunch for the day. I wolfed down the Snickers and headed upstairs for my class. Phew!! I was shaking from exhaustion and sucrose depletion. But, class was awesome. I was thoroughly entertained and found many opportunities to tease Fav Prof and Research Associate #1. Research Associate #1 got a few good teases back at me, too Ahhh! Every class should be this laid back.

After class, I asked Fav Prof if I could speak to him. But, he had a faculty meeting to attend, so I walked with him there and talked with him about my project. He was surprised that my project was going to utilize structural equation modeling. I just saw this brief look of surprise flicker over his face when I told him. From then on he referred to the project as a pilot project. He, he, he, but in my mind this is going to be much more than a pilot project. Watch out!! I'm here to accomplish the unthinkable!!! So the main point is that he was favorable towards the project, was willing to be an advisor on the comps project, and was going to read my proposal and get back to me. I still need to talk with him about the number of participants that I need before I can make the budget for New Prof.

Okay, so then I tested one more participant and called it a day at 5pm. Sigh! Now all I can do is sit here and stare into space, collecting myself from the insanity that was my day.