my thesis (to be finished this spring) should look like this:

Chapter 1. General Introduction to Cartilage biomechanics, problems of tissue engineering
Chapter 2. Analysis of Neocartilage Constructs (intro, methods, results, discussion)
Chapter 3. Analysis of Neocartilage Constructs after Implantation into Sheep (intro, methods, results, discussion)
Chapter 4. General Discussion, Conclusions

Right now, I'm working on Chapter 2. Wow, a thesis is shaping up!

Even more exciting is that my advisor thinks that I will probably publish at least 2 or 3 papers derived from this thesis. Me, publishing! For a Masters degree too!

Today I am heading home to NJ for the first time since Christmas. Going "home" used to be a big deal when I was flying in from California. It felt much more dramatic, coming from dry desert-ish LA to the lush NJ suburbs where I grew up. But now I live in Cambridge, which is also pretty green (I have huge gorgeous trees outside my window!), so the change will not be nearly as drastic. And of course, I'm only hopping on a bus instead of flying for 6 hours.

Today, I will be attending a Biotech Celebration being given by MIT Sloan (the business school here). Time to put on my grown-up hat, my saleswoman hat, my "I'm a wonderful smart MIT grad student whom you want to give a neato job" hat! Too bad I don't actually have business cards.

my to do list for tomorrow:

get up at a reasonable hour
look up the Caltech loan numbers that got deferred and call the credit agency to fix up my credit report
go to lab and look up numbers for methods section of thesis
save and send my methods section to my advisor

Writing up my thesis is not much fun. I'm supposed to be working on the Methods section, but how many ways can I spice up a description of me slicing up material and putting it in a machine???