More learning than doing..

About 10 years from when I started studying physics, I still feel like I am learning more than I am doing. Even when I was involved in the most tangible project (building a Time Projection Chamber), most days were spent in learning extensively how to do something like, how to use Auto CAD, how to bend and cut pipes, how to route signals in a circuit card, how to setup flow measurements etc than the time spent in actually doing those things. And each skill is so specialised that I get to use it just for a little time before moving on to another aspect of project.

Today. I am relearning some key concepts in Quantum Chromodynamics. One of those rare periods where I have the time to go back to the basics. In a few months of this new job, I will be neck deep in debugging code, editing text, presenting at conferences etc that this will once again take a back seat. For now, I will take this week to spend time being a grad student again.