Okay, so much for my plans for today

[rivka]

Lydia just called to complain about the physicians putting together the DOT study. Again, they're nice guys and they have good clinical ideas and they mean well, but I'm not sure that research design gets covered very closely in medical school. I have a feeling that we might not be remaining on this project very long - not unless they give us more control and more money.

She also tells me that, because the schools are closed today for Yom Kippur, she'll be bringing her 8-year-old son in to work with her. She'll be buying some sort of construction toy on the way, to keep him busy. Okay. "He'll probably have to hang out in your office."

Full stop.

"Um, what?"

"Well, there isn't much room in my office."

(This is admittedly true. I have a very large office, larger than Lydia's, able to hold three but a good size for two. Lauren's only sharing it two half-days per week. This afternoon will be one of those half-days.)

"Lydia, I'm not sure how much work Lauren and I are going to be able to get done with..."

"Oh, he's very quiet. He's very quiet."

Uh huh. He's a very quiet 8-year-old boy who won't get bored or loud when asked to spend the entire afternoon in an office.

And one more thing: Lydia's decided that it would be good for us (by which she actually means me) to submit a couple of papers to the Society of Behavioral Medicine's annual meeting in April. I agree - it's one of my favorite conferences. But the submission deadline is tomorrow. "That won't be any trouble, will it?"

Nah, how could it be? Maybe her son can help me write the abstracts.

Comments

[ororo.livejournal.com]

Yipe. You were more calm than I would have been in that situation. My response would have been more like, "and he'll have enough to occupy his time, so I can work, right?"

Hope it worked out.

Re:

[rivka.livejournal.com]

She seems to have picked up a little something in my tone, because she didn't bring him in after all. Honestly, he's a nice kid, but really.