Ask me about PTK

This week has been insanely momentous. There was a position open in PTK for regional officer for development and recruitment, so I ran for it. I don’t think that I really had an appreciation for what I was doing. I decided to run for it a couple of days before the convention. I was woefully underprepared especially in the context of how hard the people running for the other positions appeared to have worked on their campaigns. Really, I just thought, “This is a good thing. I’m going to do it.” At this point, I’m pretty sure that’s how I’m am approaching life anymore. Anyway, I ran unopposed, so I did win. Everyone was super nice about the lack of my campaign materials. My head is still spinning from figuring out the potential importance of winning the position, but I really want to do a good job. I’m not even sure what a good job is. What do I consider a good job of my position? I’m going to start by completing Competive Edge because it sounds like an amazing program, and I want to encourage all our members to do that. Then, I’m going to Catalyst because I should be able to talk about some of the opportunities to our members better after that. I feel like this should be bulleted. Maybe I’ll make this list somewhere that I can mark it up and adjust it as necessary, but you get the idea. It’s important. I’ve got work to do. I’m also freaking out about going to conferences and presenting our stuff. I’m so discouraged at how little time my research team is spending together. Our schedules are crazy, but because each of us is doing some part of the experiment very nearly completely by themselves, it’s really problematic. There’s got to be a way to divide the experiment better so that each of us has an idea of what’s going on with every part of the experiment. Instead none of us really knows what to do with each others’ stuff. There’s a lot of “I don’t know. So-and-so is doing that.” I hate it. On top of that, I do not know how to interpret IR spectra. I’m not getting any more comfortable with it, and I most definitely do not feel comfortable presenting it at conference. I’m committed to the project, so I’m going to just have to work around this stuff. I’ve just got to figure it out. Also, I’ve got two new papers to write. Yay me!
Oh man, I didn’t even say anything about the regional conference other than about me! It was good. I learned a ton about PTK! Really, I had no idea. The break out sessions were really helpful, and there are so many amazing and different kinds people in PTK. This is getting lengthy though, so ask me in person!