A bit more detail

So in case any of my non-Grad school friends are reading at this, the whole basis of my dissertation is to look at how resource toughness impacts feeding behavior of primates during different stages of development (ie, infancy, juvenility, adulthood). I could go on for hours about why this is theoretically important, but I’m guessing no one really wants to hear about that in the context of the blog. At any rate, actually measuring the toughness of monkey foods requires an extremely specialized, complicated and exorbitantly expensive piece of equipment. Getting ahold of one of these machines was a long and rather nightmarish experience. I finally got it all worked out and supposedly had a machine lined up, to be shipped to me this summer. Well, a few weeks ago I found out that this particular machine is broken. Its going to be shipped to me alright, but I was told that I’d have to send it back to its manufacturer in Hong Kong and pay to fix whatever is broken.

Receiving such news has definitely put a damper on things. But as more details of the problem have emerged, it seems like any number of my local, engineer friends might be able to fix it. Am trying to remain optimistic about that. Otherwise, this whole shipping back to Hong Kong thing will definitely delay the project. Either I wait around here indefinitely until the machine is fixed and returned to me, or I go on to Nicaragua without it. I’ve looked into having it shipped directly to Nicaragua, but have been advised against doing that—what with the bribes I would need to pay and the length of time it would get held up in customs. A better option would be to have Rob bring the machine back with him in October, after he returns to the US for a work thing.

This morning I received word from my friend and “colleague” that he has shipped the tester to me. Hooray. Maybe this vomitous feeling in the pit of my stomach will subside a tiny bit when the machine actually arrives. Am so hoping that the problem is minor and we can fix it and get on our merry way. I also received permission from the grad college to make a minor change to my budget (I am paranoid about this after the ordeal Bugaboo went through), so now I have confirmation that I can use their money to buy a ticket for August-December. It makes me feel a lot better knowing that I’ll be able to briefly see my friends and family again after 4 months!

In other news, I had a lovely lunch with Frida today... after she had a not-so-lovely 1.2 mile walk in the swelteringly oppressive heat. Oops. Lo siento. Next time I will ask if you are in a car or on foot before I tell you something is "cerca de..." (ie, nearby). Afterwards, I went to the department and saw Greg and Martin moving large carts full of Christmas decorations down the hallway. I'm still not sure what they were doing or why, but it was good to see them and chat for a while!