Last week, I had a day started out not so great. I got in to the lab very early, ready to start the day. Within 30 minutes I was already overwhelmed by a number of things that I had to finish and accomplish. Coupled with the feeling that I am not ready to be a new father in 5-7 weeks, little things that I can usually handle quite well were easily blown out of proportion in my head. That morning I was also made aware that two big projects that I had worked on in the past few months were having ginormous problems. At that point I was ready to throw a chair out the 2nd story window.

But two things later that day brought encouragement in unexpected ways. First, I recieved word that I was the recipient of the UT Continuing Fellowship Award which will basically pay all of my research stipend next year. There are only 80-90 awards annually, and each department at UT is only awarded one. So that was a nice surprise. Secondly, Carolyn's co-workers had a party that evening which was a nice break from the craziness of the week. And though I don't really know her co-workers that well, it was a fun time being around people who care very much about Carolyn. It had been a long time since I had played "Taboo" and an even LOOONGER time since I had played "Pin the tail on the donkey". Yes, "Pin the tail on the donkey". Then later that evening we went out and hit a pinata. Normal, right?

I have a feeling that more of these ups and downs will come around pretty soon. That's a little scary.