Quikies

Knee-deep in thesis, so I'll keep this short. Writing a thesis tends to put one in a bit of a wierd mood. It's a strange state of mind, with sort of a manic, organized chaos of thoughts. Almost like juggling. I don't know if I'll agree with anything I write here later, but hey, writing it down's the best way to find out. (Besides, maybe if I expunge the wierdness here I can focus more rationally on the thesis.)

In addition to the data in my woefully disorganized lab notes, there are a good number of doodles, stray thoughts, and profane expressions (a lot of experiments just don't work). One of these was clearly meant to be optimimistic and get me through a bad time.

Yea though I walk through the valley of science, I shall fear no data.

I still like that one. It has long been my mantra that the role of a scientist is to worship science and the role of an engineer is to make science your bitch. For those not biblically inclined, the original quote goes something like "Yea though I walk through the valley of Death, I shall fear no Evil." Now don't get me wrong, I like science, and 5 years of research has given me a very healthy respect for scientists. So I don't equate science with death, or bad data with evil. The quote was more meant to boost faith in my abilities as a scientist, because the truth is: some days I'm a scientist, and some days I'm an engineer.

But for the record: when an engineer has business in the valley of science, he really ought to drive a car instead of walking.