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This last weekend camping with my family was fun, though I did pay for it in healthmoleans. I came away damaged in two fun-filled ways:

1. a vicious sunburn which is still midway through peeling (eww), a result of spending too much time on the surface of the water, and
2. a nasty hole smack-dab in the middle of my left eardrum, a result of spending just enough time under the surface of the water.

Yup, I got a hole in my left eardrum. I had it confirmed by a doctor on Monday afternoon, though I was already fairly certain… when I plugged my nose and blew, air came out of my ear. I’m pretty sure that’s only normal under the rules of cartoon physics.

The good news about my blown eardrum? The doctor said they usually spontaneously heal in six to eight weeks or so. The bad news? That ‘usually’ part. And also, it means I get to start grad school even more deaf than usual. Not an exciting prospect, considering my hearing has always been shiatty and my left ear was my ‘good’ one.

My boss (Dwight) and coworker (Lorenzo) have, of course, been nothing but supportive of me throughout this little ordeal. As an example of the exemplary care I’ve received at the hands of my peers and superiors, here’s what happened yesterday:

We just got in this new 22″ monitor from Dell. A 22″ monitor is huge. The box it comes in is even bigger. Chuck, the IT guy from the Psych department, was hanging out with Lorenzo and I when he mentioned something about that box being ‘big enough to ship a person in’. Me, being the sort of guy I am, ran over to the box, sat down in it, and crouched to see if a person would really fit. Lorenzo, being the sort of person ~he~ is, ran over, slammed the top of the box shut, and secured it with half a dozen strips packing tape. Then, after kicking the box a few times for good measure, he got out my racquetball balls and bounced them off the side of the box for a good ten minutes until Dwight came back. Chuck and Lorenzo told Dwight that there was ’something’ in the box for him. Dwight started to open the box, until he realized that the something was me. Then, he and Chuck had a little fun picking up the box and moving it around, telling me we were heading to the dumpster, before they let me out.

Somehow, I don’t think this is the sort of workplace experience you find outside Academia.