Strained Analogies

My research students back home have stopped sending reports about their progress.  While I appreciate that the cat is away if the mice are having a party and I find beer cans in the shrubs and panties behind the rotovap when I get home their hangovers will be the least of their problems.

I suspect that the problem is one of time budgeting.  Both faculty and students fall into the trap.  You don't have a do or die deadline so other things take priority.  So, I admonish my students to think of their relationship to their research the way they think of their relationship to a significant other.  If you ignore your significant other for days on end, providing only an occasional "how you doing", you will ultimately find yourself alone.  Putting the quality time into your relationship reaps great rewards on a daily basis.  Doing otherwise, you might one day find yourself alone in a intellectual house full of Schrodinger's cats.

Your research mentor is your relationship therapist.  Worldly wise, they will help you  develop the endless love your are seeking.  Of course some students were just looking for a one night stand.