Things here have, let's just say, gotten a bit out of hand. 'Tis not helping that I've lately been either traveling or having deep troubles with the lifelong bane of my existence, sleep.
It's my advisor's birthday today. I would refer to him by some past-implicative term like "dissertation advisor" if I didn't still regularly call him for advice. A phrase that I picked up from him and have since plagiaristically repeated when talking to graduate students is that "all advisors have their strengths and their weaknesses." My advisor's main weakness from my standpoint is that our sociology interests really don't overlap that much, which is not exactly something I can blame him for. Meanwhile, one of my advisor's great strengths is a great strength to have in an advisor: he's as good as anyone I have ever known at giving advice. The main parts of this skill are having a good strategic mind and being able to articulate that reasoning well, but another part is being able to do so with conviction. Me, even when I feel like I have useful advice to give, I often provide it very tentatively, like I'm afraid the person will actually take it because then I'll feel responsible and guilty if things don't work out.
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