The qualifying exam was finally scheduled after it was first mentioned more than three months ago. My thesis experiements have entered the final stage.

My advisor to me: "You are one of the most hardworking people I've ever seen, you are smart, and you are nice, but your output doesn't quite match up with your input. You should back off from tackling difficult problems."

In other words, "You don't work just for the sake of it, you are not stupid, and you work well with your colleagues, so you deserve much more than what you have now. Try working on something different."

I take it as a compliment...

Good luck swimming