In a cruel twist of fate, it looks like my brand new laptop screen has developed another dead pixel in the centre of the screen, which is all the more annoying due to the lengthy process and the effort the local salespeople made to replace my old one. Sometimes it seems the pixel gods have some grudge against me. No use crying over burnt pixels in any case, particularly if it’s just the one.

Filing under other minor annoyances, my research group is moving to a new building. I seem to be off the email list so the move snuck up on me - I knew it was coming up but I didn’t know it was this week until admin staff were asking why I hadn’t started packing. This means I’m going to get little done in the office today, and I’m forced not to come in tomorrow. Forced days away don’t seem like a holiday to a PhD student; I’m going to be working anyway, just away from my fast internet. Considering the flexibility of a PhD schedule is that I can take weekdays off at will and come in to work on Christmas Day if I wished, it’s a bit of a downer to have a mandatory day off.

I also doubt I’ll get much done next week while everyone is settling in, although it’ll be nice to check out a brand new office building. Thankfully I’ve moved all my core stuff to my laptop, so I’m ready to go whereever and whenever I wish.