GAH!

My current joke: Guess which part of Spring Break the University of Chicago doesn't understand.  Hint: It's not the "spring" part.

That alone should give you a bit of an idea as to why the post below this one is from the middle of February.  I promise you I didn't plan it that way, but this has been the most exhausting March I think I've ever experienced.  Which, considering some of my Marches back at undergrad, is saying something.

I do have posts I intend to write to fill in the gap between this one and February 18th, and I had intended to write them over break.  However, yesterday we were informed via e-mail from our preceptor that fifteen pages of our theses are due at the beginning of next week.  No earlier warning - just yesterday.  Needless to say, neither I nor anyone else has fifteen pages written.  As of this posting, I've got two (which, let's be honest, is probably more than my friends vacationing in Mexico have got).  So although I had intended to spend part of spring break posting here, I don't think that's going to be possible.

Lest you think I am simply whining excessively over a single paper (even if it is a master's thesis), I will throw another important factor into the mix.  Around the beginning of March I was notified that I have been awarded a finalist spot in the federal government's Presidential Management Fellowship program, a prestigious and highly competitive placement program for people with newly-awarded graduate degrees (read more here).  Why am I telling you this?  Because the invitation-only career fair is next week.  Fortunately, I have all my travel arrangements and hotel safely booked away, but there is that small matter of sending out resumes, cover letters, and various queries before the fair begins, because you can't do it all in two and a half days.  So competing with my thesis - 15 pages by the 29th, you'll remember - is something arguably even more important: my future.

Am I over-dramatizing?  Probably.  There's a good possibility I could get out of bed tomorrow, grab breakfast, pack up my things and beat it to the university where I'll hammer out ten or more thesis pages, then come home and send out half a dozen resumes after dinner.  Likely?  No.  My goal?  Absolutely.

(Look for more material between now and February 18th - I will do my best to fill in that gap, I promise!  I've got all sorts of neat stuff to talk about, like the Museum of Science and Industry, my favorite bookstore that I introduced you all to in the fall, spring fever, artwork, cooking...)