A graduate career is bookended by the Graduate Record Examination and the dissertation, and to me, neither seems all that useful. Allow me a moment to rant on about why scientists should not have to write dissertations. Am I the only one who thinks this is an antiquated system?

Sure, the history and literature students write a big book to form the bulk of their PhDs, but do any potential labs or colleges ever ask to see a scientist's dissertation upon application? They open up the manila envelope (or e-mail these days) and take a quick glance at the CV with their eyes shooting straight to the publication list. Our graduate careers are defined by what we learn and what articles we get into which journals.

So, here I sit, bitter and with dissertation.doc as a constant open window on my laptop. I peck away at it and thank my lucky stars that I will never have to do this again. I have jumped through so many hoops during the graduate-school circus and this one just seems so silly. Will anybody ever read this book I'm writing? Unlikely. But, for now, I'm back to working on it.

It's going to be a crazy two weeks ahead. Send pizza, coffee and beer...