So I shot myself in the foot

Ever say something dumb and immediately regret it? Yeah I made a huge mistake and ended up giving myself a ton of work for no reason. Well there was a reason, it just wasn’t needed. I don’t know why I do this to myself, but the good news is I got the work done. Okay, fine I’ll explain, it’s not a long story, but it is a funny one (at least now that the work is finished). It’s also a good reminder to never do that one again.

So awhile back I said yes to the data! I found myself with a boat load of work and no time to do it in and my Co-PI had offered me the chance to work with a dataset I collected from an experiment that I think is just super cool (more here). Intellectually I know I should’ve just say, “hey yea, sorry busy!” instead I said, “of course I would love to do more work!” When I finally came to terms with the fact that I couldn’t do the analysis as quickly as I had hoped, I told my Co-PI that I would get it to him Monday, as in two days ago. Oops.

Yesterday I reached out to let him know that I had been working with the data (here) and was close to finishing. I suggested we meet Friday to discuss the data and go over what we found. Well he said that Friday wasn’t going to work, so he suggested today. Of course I said, “sure that works!” I’m an idiot.

I originally wanted to meet Friday because that would have given me plenty of time to finish with the dataset and I could do the work in a nice relaxed pace. This is, of course, my own damn fault and I probably should’ve said no, or at least said that it today wouldn’t work for the meeting maybe Thursday or sometime next week. But no, didn’t happen.

Which means that I spent yesterday frantically getting things together for the meeting that we arranged for today. Yes, I got it done, but I’m not happy about it. I mean, I’m glad the work is done and temporarily off my plate (that will probably change after the meeting), but it would’ve been nice to not be rushed after the past week. Frankly I still feel like I’m recovering from last week, so it would be nice to not need to rush so much for a bit.

Like I said, short story, but I’m sure it’s going to lead into tomorrows topic when I discuss the nice long list of things I have to do next from this meeting. Or maybe not, I don’t know for sure. It was a complex dataset so I’m sure there will be things my Co-PI will want that I haven’t done yet. In any case, I should probably get ready for that. Expect an update tomorrow on this unless something more interesting comes along the way between now and then!