Sometimes the thrill of uncovering the true nature of the Universe doesn’t quite last all day. Today… well it’s really boring and slow. I tried to work - I really did. I stared at a paper I am writing for at least an hour but nothing came out of my head and into the document. Wait, I lied; there was a spelling correction I think.

So why am I telling you this? You came here for astronomy news, right? Well sometimes my PhD is really very slow and for some reason, I need you to know that. Currently my university projects are:

• Editing conference proceedings for .Astronomy
• Pestering speakers to hand in conference proceedings for .Astronomy
• Writing a paper dealing with emission from infalling protostars
• Organising the Star Formation Christmas Dinner (a Mexican for some reason)
• Waiting for the response from a telescope proposal (I’ve managed to do this one all day!)
• Creating the new Observatory website
• Writing a cool web app that simulates an aspect of star formation

As you can see, there is plenty to do. I just can’t do it today. I can’t focus, I can’t think and nor can I write a decent blog post either.

Is anyone else out there having a witless day? If you are - may I suggest going home? It’ll be more productive. I have a meeting at 4 so am obliged to sit and wait. Maybe I’ll get so bored, I’ll actually do some work.

Update: Maybe not.