Grad student research paper woes

So - what do you do when you review a paper written by a grad student that looks like it was thrown together just to get something together? The throwing together part should have been done by the end of the summer. And the student complains about the project and to me seems like he's doing this just to jump through the hoops. It's a non-thesis project. And my boss is the advisor and is the one who tried (I think) to spur the student on to get stuff done. But now I'm editing the paper which is work to fulfill a grant that was over in Sept., so we have to get the paper together by the end of Dec. The paper is more like an outline of what to write. And I kept telling the student to keep track of all the data manipulations b/c they'll have to be documented - I doubt he has - it's not in the 'paper.' For every part I'm saying expand on this, and on the front wrote 'great start, I had to rewrite my 1st thesis draft too.' Criminy. If he at least didn't complain about everything it would be an easier pill to swallow that he struggles with writing. So I guess I can't do anything but say expand on this. How do you profs deal with students???

My perhaps not-so-irrational fear is that I will NEVER be done with the manuscript of my dissertation. That, and that I will spend the rest of my life feeling guilty that I haven't yet returned my specimen loans. And that everytime I move to a new place I will be forced to carry thousands of bees that belong to someone else with me. That, and that I will NEVER have another publication again because I will be stuck making minute word changes that the editor wants on my manuscript, each of which seems to be taking an hour to change throughout the entire ms.

Ok, I'm done whining. (For today)

What did I ever do to deserve having ANYTHING to do with R?

Bob Hagen seemed to take affront when I suggested that R is actually a graduate student torturing device. Hard to tell if someone's affronted on email, but I got a long explanation of how such a thing could exist without the scheming of even a single sadistic evil genius... I'm still waiting to be convinced that I'm wrong, though!

Tired but not sleepy . . .

cold but sweating, long list of things to accomplish and no desire or clear head to do them, but too bored and well not to think about them. I hate being suddenly sick. And it's snowing (which isn't all bad) and I have a day off tomorrow but I can't work on my garden because of the cold. And now I have just made myself whiner-of-the-year for following up Irene's super-cool good news with a foggy-minded-whiner-post.

Ah the mild breezes of spring

Well, it's 85 degrees here in Tucson, headed for 88 as today's high and 90 tomorrow. I'm a COOL weather gal. What I wouldn't give for the 60 degrees I see in Lawrence! I'm going to melt and April's hardly begun! Will I survive June and July?!?

(Random picture of someone who is too hot!)