With a little help from friends

I've decided to dedicate the next 9 months of this blog to the exciting life and adventures of a grad student. Pretty ingenious, right? :)

Call me geeky, but today was an awesome day. And all I did was sit at a computer for 8 hours (lunch break in the middle) and stare at Excel and Minitab. But something strange happened. After months of piddling around with Minitab and reading through books on statistics and wishing and hoping (and esperando e esperando) it suddenly all clicked. Minitab wasn't formidable, I understood what tests I needed to run, and I was able to get a massive spreadsheet put together to track the statistics on one of my two PhD projects. I should be able to power through the rest of those metrics within two days, and then I'll have to figure out what to do with the non-normal metrics and the metrics I have to adjust for inflation and building size. Oh yeah, then interpret everything. But this is one huge step which I would be thrilled to have finished before the school year starts. The smell of progress!

Turns out the smell of progress can also be pretty sweaty and odoriferous. My friend and colleague Mike, like so many of my friends and colleagues, is switching apartments this week. He and his 2 or 3 other roommates (I'm still unsure who actually lived in the apartment) are switching apartments... they're breaking up the family and moving to 2 new apartments... in the same complex.

So they threw a party and plenty of people helped move boxes and furniture and random things across the courtyard and up some stairs. And these people didn't know everyone they were helping to move. And they certainly didn't come just for the promise of woodchuck and pizza (though, it was pretty good incentive). It made for a hot, sweaty evening, but a good workout and an appreciation for good people. The life of a grad student!