I got a serious brain short-circuit today. I went to NW14 in search of Prof. Griffin, with whom I had an appointment. I went to the office listed on the website, but he was not there. I waited around, trying to read the scientific posters and ignore the incredibly loud construction noise, for about twenty minutes. Eventually I gave up, decided he wasn’t coming, and went down. I recalled a sign indicating that the main offices were on the third floor, so I thought I’d drop in there to see if they had any advice.
The floor plan for the third floor, displayed in the stairwell, showed another office for Prof. Griffin, so I went there. This appeared to be his real office, where his assistant works… but still no Prof. Griffin. I waited around for another twenty minutes or so, making small talk with the assistant, before eventually giving up and going home. On my way out I saw a sign for Prof. Cory’s office and thought “oh… crap”.
I hadn’t scheduled an appointment with Prof. Griffin. I had scheduled an appointment with Prof. Cory. They both work in the same field, in the same group, in the same building, and I had been making appointments with both of them subject to the same scheduling restriction, because they were (I presume) going to the same NIH-NSF study section, leaving on the same flight this afternoon. I had gotten an e-mail from Prof. Cory but misread the From line. Ugh.
I sent out some apologies; hopefully I’ll be able to reschedule. What a mess.