I'm worn out. Work has kinda settled into the normal flow of things, and the normal flow of things is a bit like a burst pipe. Every day is filled with tasks that are of the better get this done today or this whole project gets bumped back a week sort. I get all these professors and students that bring me big projects to do and are like "yeah, we're hoping to submit that data on a grant this month". Things would be a lot better if I had some help, but as it is I am running a core facility solo, which is basically unheard of for my area. I'm spending like 70% of my time on benchwork, 25% on instrument maintenance, troubleshooting and runs, and the last 5% is divided between whatever else I'm supposed to be doing. Ideally, 30% of my time should be consultation and data analysis.

For now, I'm gonna have to plan a way to get a volunteer in here. That's how I got started on this field myself, but I'll need to invest all of that remaining 5% time into finding and training someone. I seem to remember outlasting a dozen or so peers when I was a volunteer, so that will be a thing.