it feels great

today may have been the best day of my young phd career. if not the best, it is a close second. the last few days have been awesome matter of fact. although there are a lot of things going on for me at the moment, today, i was able to sit down and put everything together and prioritize my next steps. i have been trying to come up with a way to tie all these different but related topics/ideas together for my phd for a while now, and in an impromptu conversation today, i listened as one of the ra's described to me how my advisor suggested that i bring everything together. it was like a breath of fresh air and a surge of excitement as i really felt confident and good about (1) my phd topic AND (2) myself as coming into my place as a phd student and researcher.

i came up with some awesome ideas and this sparked a couple conversations that added even more good ideas. i found out that a colleague down the hall has some tools he is no longer using that could not be any more perfect for me to begin to use in a few weeks. these tools will be my first chance at getting at some multicore architecture practice and understanding how to structure my thoughts and algorithms. this comes all as i prepare for my internship this summer. to top things all off, i successfully tested the circuit boards that some colleagues and i prototyped. so, now, i can begin the tests that i really have wanted to start.

i am really motivated right now and glad that i have some since of meaningful direction and work. i hope things stay this way for productivity's sake and encouragement to continue on and work harder.