When Two Becomes One

There was free food at work yesterday, and it was the rare kind of free food that didn't come with a lecture. We actually got a chance to sit around and shoot the breeze. Somehow, we got to the topic of people being mistaken for one another, and everyone commented on how much Sean looked like summer intern Austin. Everyone at the table, it seemed, had a story of doing a double take or thinking one of them was the other and other hilarity. Everyone, that is, except for me.

It wasn't until that conversation that I realized that Austin and Sean were two separate people.

Sometimes, one can be so face blind not as even to realize when people look like other people. Sometimes, one can block out an entire person's existence due to a lack of awareness. It wasn't until Rachel mentioned where Austin's desk was that I realized that that person wasn't Sean (I guess I assumed he moved his desk after the summer ended). 

Vignettes of the Day

I know, I know. It's been forever. Listen, Pretzels, the world is changing and nowadays, Facebook and the Twitter get most of my dumb thoughts.

At church today:

Moi: I like your shoes. Where'd you get them?

Anna: DSW.

Sam: You never know what you'll find in the sales section!

Anna: These were not on sale...

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At "journal club":

Jennifer: I try to use humor to relate to my staff and seem approachable. But I don't know if it works.

Nicole: It works for me. I use gifs or emojis when I text my staff.

Noll: Maybe [instead of working on staff managing, Jennifer] should work on your humor. Maybe you're just not funny.

Maybe it's because professional developments are dull, or it was 8:30am and so unexpected, but Noll's pronouncement of someone else not being funny was the funniest thing I heard that week.

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It should be noted that the more things change (I finish school, grow up, get a real job), the more things stay the same (I have a smart-mouthed mentor). On Friday, I went back to my office (nearly two years in and the novelty still hasn't worn off) to find this posted at my door:

Getting gently trolled by a mentor. Why yes, I've been here before. 

How to Win Friends

Sixteen months into this job, I am still marveling at times when people listen to my ideas as if they are worthwhile and dance an internal jig when something I say is put into action.  It feels so marvelous to be validated, Dear Pretzels, and not just that, but for things I thought of to come into fruition, and it's so fun to collaborate and work together to make research.  I hope you all get to feel that.  We share so many losses and disappointments in research, I hope you also get to revel in victory. 

This morning, I met with Dr. Dave's survey team and colleagues.  About six months ago, we came together to design a survey.  Dr. Dave and his team have done the heavy lifting but were generous enough to allow me to contribute to some questions.  Today, we met to discuss an analytic plan now that we have preliminary survey results.  The team met for most of the day, but I came in just for an hour.  They were on time and ready to listen to me talk about what I was interested in seeing out of my section (and also gave me free lunch).  The thing I enjoy most about working with Dr. Dave is that he is very good at seeing the big picture and helping me articulate ideas that I have in my head but cannot get out.  Sometimes, when I am challenged on an idea, I give in easily because I lose my convictions and forget why I had the idea in the first place.  But Dr. Dave follows up and always ties us back to the big picture and why the work matters.  (The other collaborators are also pretty fantastic, too)  Together, we deciphered and talked through my page of half sentences and shorthand that made up the analytic plan, and they not only understood it, they welcomed it.  They gave me ownership of my section and looked to me for how to interpret it.  It felt like a minor miracle that someone would plow through my plan with me and do it so graciously.  

It was only an hour, and this might read like just a meeting, like how things are supposed to happen.  In many ways, it was.  People have meetings at work all the time.  I have meetings all the time.  I talk to people about my research all the time.  But today, it felt fantastic.  And while I am lucky and young enough in my career to have mostly only worked with good and kind people, I know enough to know that this isn't something to take for granted.  So I treasure this moment here, for the winter to come.  

A Chasing After the Wind

Mentor Boss has a Very Important Grant due in two weeks.  The grant affects the funding for our center.  He's not the only person working on it, but as the boss in "Mentor Boss," he takes certain responsibility for it.  As the deadline approaches, he still has a lot of writing left to do.  So much so that we've all been tacitly warned not to slow him down with frivolous emails (he loves a frivolous email).  Perhaps that's why I found him in his office late this afternoon, popping popcorn at his desk.  With his very own desktop popcorn maker.

Mentor Boss: It's a great snack, very healthy.

Moi: Isn't that because it's just air?  It never satisfies my hunger.

Mentor Boss: That's true.  It tastes like nothing.  But it's better than nothing.

Moi: This sounds bleak.

Mentor Boss: It is a bleak time.  It might be bright again in two weeks.  We'll see.