Ups & Downs of the "Real" World

Thursday was a total pain in my ass.  Why you may ask?  I had a few glitches which created quite a dilemma...

Grad School World

My third of the three lab rotations first year genetics students are required to do, canceled on me leaving me to scramble to find a replacement.  During these rotations we are supposed to be finding the lab we will be working in.  So, not only do these labs have to have room to bring on a student but they also have to have the funds to pay that student while they are acting as a research and/or teaching assistant at A&M.  So, being canceled on wouldn't be such a big deal if it were my first or second rotation as I would still have time and rotations left to find a lab.  With this being the third (and my other two rotations didn't turn out to be labs I could join) I either have to find THE lab right now or be forced to do a fourth or fifth rotation, which bring in the timing issue of not finding a lab before my payroll for being a TA this year expires.  However, while all that is inconvenient and a bit stressful, it’s manageable.  The most devastating aspect of this whole predicament is the lab that canceled on me was the lab I could see myself being in the most.

Home Owner World

All I wanted to do was take a hot shower to recharge before smoothing out my graduate school bump in the road but when I turned the knob which usually spews out scolding hot water, all I got was luke warm which soon turned to ice.  Turns out, sometime during the storm the day before, the pilot light in my hot water heater went out.  I attempted to relight the pilot about every 10-30 minutes from 11am-3pm hoping and praying that it would stay light when I let go of the button.  No go.   I put in a call to my home warranty provider and got an appointment for a technician to come out to fix my issue 4 days later!!!!  Turns out that not having hot water in winter is not considered an emergency in the state of Texas, so, they have 48 hours to provide service and, since it was Thursday afternoon, not getting someone out until Monday was totally acceptable. (maybe to them.  “I’m sorry for the inconvenience ma’am.”  No you're not.  If you were, you’d figure out how to get me some fricken’ hot water!)  I am hoping that there is enough wrong with my 14 year old water heater, they will just replace the damn thing.  

All is not lost and shit could definitely be worse.
Now it's time to pound the pavement and get 2013 off to a better start.