The ups and downs of research, or just the downs

The semester started last week and even though I'm not taking classes, my schedule became a bit more hectic. First, I don't have enough infected snails to start my experiment...that means another trip to central otago for more snails. But before that, since Devon (one of the post-docs) clearly stated he thinks I might be working with 2 species instead of one, I spent most of my week and evenings not only going through snails but also getting some DNA ready to be sent off for sequencing so that we can hopefully figure out what it is I'm working with - one or two and do they both have 2 life cycle strategies or does one do one and the other do the second stragtey - depending on what comes back my project might stay the same, might change a little or the whole thing may be shot to hell and I'll have to figure out what else I want to do. So waiting on those results now...in the meantime I'll hopefully be getting more snails tuesday (was supposed to go today but the weather is crappy) and waiting to find out the sequencing results. And now that the semester started, there's speakers and meetings and training for this and that so it was one hell of a week. Ooo, me and couple other Americans in my department went for KFC and then doughnuts this week. I have to say that KFC was quite disappointing as there was no extra crispy recipe, everything came with fries (chips here) and if you asked for potatoes and gravy they came in these tiny serving. The doughnuts were good...not Krispy Kreme good, but good. I've let my research go for the weekend since it's pouring outside and my field day was cancelled today. Friday night Shannon and I hung out and played poker late into the night. Most of Saturday I was a bum - lounging and napping. And then went to a party Sat. night with Rebecca. Today, Dee and her weekend company fixed an American pancake breakfast (yeah, that's right, even the pancakes are different here). Breakfast was great and we sat around all morning drinking coffee and chatting. I doubt I'll work today...it is Sunday...