In an effort to fill my remaining days here in the lab, I've taken to participating in studies for money.

I honestly don't see it as any less ethical than writing in my diary while on the clock, especially since my old boss encouraged me to falsify my time card, and I get a little cash and a half-hour of distraction out of it.

Last week, I participated in an economics experiment. I unscrambled three sentences, did a small word search puzzle, answered an economics problem, took two general-knowledge quizzes and a locus of control inventory, and filled out a questionaire about my opinions of Rockefeller's business practices. For this I received $15 cash.

Today's venture will be significantly more interesting - I'm participating in a usability test (think-aloud, I'm guessing) at the Language Technologies Institute. Now, to you, the reader, this may not sound that much more interesting. That's because, unlike me, you are not preparing for a career in usability, nor do you also have a passing interest in language technology. (If you do, sign my guestbook and let me know, because that's some crazy coincidence.)

Other than that, what I'm doing for the rest of the summer (save next week's family vacation) is putting the finishing touches on a paper (currently in the hands of a coworker who is MIA) and putting together a slideshow for a presentation. This is boring as all hell. Essentially, it's a smaller version of writing the paper, only less interesting, and with a lot more stealing my coworker's computer to use Photoshop.

I could be working on adding features to the simulation, but with the imminent demise of the entire project, I simply can't find the motivation to do so. So I sit here, typically alone for the entire day, in a small room with four computers and a window into the adjoining robot warehouse, where this big freaking blimp has been floating for three weeks.

Thank God for the Internet.