Day in the Life

Lab Lemming and Highly Allochthonous decided to answer the question: "What do scientists actually do?".

See what they do on a typical day here and here.

For me, not sure this is a typical day...it's Friday and I just finished a draft of a long paper 2 days ago and gave to advisor. But here goes anyway...

8:15-8:50: train ride into office
8:50-9:25: check email and make blog post about French turbidites
9:25-10:00: chat with colleague on phone who just started a tenure-track position this month, discuss possible future collaborations
10:00-11:15: update spreadsheet database and associated plots with new radiocarbon ages for Holocene sediments offshore southern CA; get excited about how well-constrained this basin is temporally
11:15-11:45: chat with colleague on phone about the above; directions to go for writing it up
11:45-12:20: lunch
12:20-2:00: research possible job opening; start application process
2:00-2:15: get information together for rock samples I need to start processing next week
2:15-2:45: look for said rock samples in inefficient and messy storage area in the attic of building i'm in
2:45-2:50: have a little freak out moment when can't find rock samples (they are all the way from South America!)
2:50: remember I already put them aside right under my desk...phew
2:50-3:40: search for paper online that i've been meaning to look at; found it and read abstract, intro, and looked at figures
3:40-now: write this blog post
after now-later: go home and go out to dinner with girlfriend and another friend in San Francisco

Pretty easy-going day all in all