I’m feeling better than I have in almost a week, but the first five people I saw at work all mentioned that I look awful. Should take that as a blow to my ego or a sign that I should still be in bed?

I’ve managed to persuade all of my study sites that we really don’t have to give out Wal-Mart gift cards as participant incentives. We’re instead going to distribute cards from stores headquartered in New York. Two of the sites were really receptive to the idea, one was less-than-enthused but willing to give it a try, and two didn’t seem to care much either way. My boss is going to roll her eyes when she finds out, but I’m hoping that now that I’ve managed to navigate the headaches of ordering cards from multiple stores that I’ll be able to convince my coworkers of the merits of the idea so they’ll do the same for future studies. Wal-Mart is a convenient choice because it’s accessible from most locations; I need to purchase and track cards from four different companies, two of which are not local to me. But at least some of my coworkers are thoughtful enough to go to the trouble, and the others may be convinced if I make it easy for them and play up the benefits of fostering a sense of local connection among participants.