7:01pm: Still using Microsoft Office 2003, even though it is now 2009. Tried updating to Microsoft Office 2007, and it started saving my files in some weird format nobody else’s computer could read. Even after I tried to save in .doc instead of .docx format, on multiple occasions. I get annoyed just thinking about it.

7:03pm: Double click on Microsoft PowerPoint. Go to format —> slide design —> color schemes, select black background, white type, “Arial” font. Lookin’ good. I go back and forth between having the color of the text be white or yellow, and decide, after 5 minutes of toggling the color back and forth, that the yellow text on black background makes it look too much like one of the Pittsburgh Steelers is giving a talk on innate olfactory behaviors in the mouse.

7:13pm: Go get some coffee from the french press I always put in the fridge if I have any left over from breakfast; a little 1% milk, 2 ice cubes, 2 Splendas. I see what appears to be lipstick on the rim of the mug I just made my coffee in. My roommate is a man, so I have to assume it’s mine, and that it’s therefore fine to use a mug that was probably still dirty and somehow made it back into my cupboard. Mmmmmm.

7:16pm: I open the powerpoint presentation from my qualifying exam, so I can steal the title I came up with last year for this year’s talk. It took me several hours over multiple days to come up with that thing, and I’m intensely proud that I was able to avoid using a colon in it.

7:19pm: I steal the first two slides from the old presentation as well. We’re really flying now.

7:23pm: Check e-mail.

7:28pm: I should probably give a brief review of my goals for my thesis project in the intro. I steal slides 3-5 from my qualifying exam presentation.

7:34pm: I remember trying to explain to my friend, who is a grad student in theoretical neuroscience, that I start the outline for my committee meeting presentation a month early, because for an experimentalist, it’s less about trying to describe the results you currently have, and more about trying to figure out what experiments you need to perform over the next few weeks in order to be able to make the points you want to make. I realize that, actually, I’m probably the only person who does this. I think I should take back my statement. I’m sure I won’t.

7:43pm: Check to see who’s on facebook.

7:49pm: Is it too late for more coffee? Did I just ask myself that? Jesus, I really am getting old.

8:01pm: Remember how, back when I was in college, I used to be able to smoke half a pack of cigarettes, have a cup of coffee, and fall dead asleep five minutes later? I do.

8:04pm: Facebook.

8:15pm: Okay, what data do I have to talk about? I mean, what data do I need to collect to talk about? Wait, is that what I mean? Now I’m confusing myself.

8:29pm: Acknowledgement slide: done. Nice.

8:31pm: Check e-mail…