As I am sitting in my office, wondering how in the Heck am I going to finish this pile of work before Holiday break, I struck upon two thoughts:

  1. I have accomplished a ton of things this year
    a. maybe a self-affirming thing to do would be to recount those accomplishments
    b. go through my notebooks from Jan 1, 2013 and start writing those things down

  2. I wonder how many folks who have terminal degrees in their discipline actually become successful mentors for other students pursuing completion of their own terminal degree
    a. is there a family tree for this?
    b. How “far away” am I from any given other terminal-degree-possessing academic, once a family tree is established?

How much of a nerd am I? Probably a LOT of a nerd.