73.8 miles: "I Have Not Failed. I Have Just Found 10,000 Things That Do Not Work."

...it's a brilliant quote from Thomas Edison via Lifehacker.com today (or yesterday?).

...it's something I forget quite often. And as an engineer, I should know that success derives directly from failure.  You make a successful component by improving on one that failed. And then improving again. Etc.

...but usually when I find I did something that doesn't work the way I wish it did, my response is more like 'Well, shit. That was stupid.'

Maybe someday I'll make enough stupid mistakes to be brilliant?

Note: Thanks, M, for the correction. :-/

71.8 miles: Win!

Dear boringestpartofresearchproject,

I have pretty damn much completed you. And made you work. Today, I am full of win. :D

71.8 miles: Good week

Today, I am probably running my experiment for the first time, and...

IT  IS  TERRIFYING!

On another note, I feel like I worked really hard this week...on school, on research, on going for a jog yesterday and making it to Yoga on Tuesday.  My body feels totally beat...almost like my muscles don't even have the energy to complain anymore...however, today started on a kind of sucky note.  Left the house half an hour later than I wanted, and with no breakfast, meaning I'm now chilling at Panera when I should be headed to my lab to prep for the experiment...and I left my phone at home, which means I have to leave school EVEN EARLIER than I expected to get it for my trip.

However, really looking forward to a weekend in Chicago and probably lots of backrubs :) And I feel like I've earned it.

69.8 miles: Good Pumpkin.

I was a good pumpkin today.
-ate breakfast.
-fought off the hazy napping feeling in class. It's doable? It's that easy? Somehow, I gained an awareness of how it felt when it was just starting, not "OMG can't keep my eyes open" and was able to push that feeling away and concentrate on the lecture :)
-ate soup
-turned in paperwork to buy things/get moneys back for buying things. Finally.
-made the circuit components work. Boo-yah!
-ate yogurt.
-went to Panera for (whole grain) bagel and coffee and a read instead of getting chips from the vending machine and staring at the screen.
-came back and did paperwork and cleaned up.
-yoga!
-ate tomatoes and mozzarella.
-haven't popped a single Midol (this is an accomplishment).

Lessons learned today: Motivation is a choice. I can grow a steely backbone and not give in to the hazy/lazy feeling. I can keep up an internal mantra of "Really? You're better than that."  I can have the kind of day I'm proud to end!

69.8 Miles: I'm done.

I'm done. It's over. I can't do this anymore.  I can't keep questioning myself as a human being, as a scholar, as a student, as a worker.

I have time. Plenty of it. And I don't use it as I should, and that's awful.  Right now, I have enough time for everything I need to do; I'm not letting it get to the point where I don't.

Starting today, things are changing. Being tired is not an excuse for not doing things that need doing. It never was before.  Getting distracted is not a reason to not go to bed on time. The internet is not a good reason to avoid studying, working, or keeping up on housework.

I. Am. Better. Than. What. I'm. Doing. Now.