Successes and Failures of Monday.

1) I sent out my article to a different journal (this one in Belgium).

2) I ran into this slightly pompous grad student I know, and, like I have been, I talked to him about a union. I sounded him out on whether students should have a negotiated contract, and he said they should, but a union wasn't the right way, so I filled him in on the failure of the committees etc., and then he said people sign up and know what they're getting into, so I nicely explained about how the committee I was on said there was a lack of transparency and recommended that every dept. put up official "time-to-degree" and drop-out rate statistics, but the provost eviscerated that rec and made it optional and to my knowledge no dept. had done it, and then when he said unions still weren't a good way, I asked him what the other options were, then.

"Don't go to grad school," he was like.

What a cock. People like that are so small inside and condescending, and even though I tried my best, somehow the conversation turned into a pissing match that impeded on his cynicism, which seems to be an important part of his personality.