I signed me and Lil' Dude up as subjects for a study about behaviour, emotion and aggression in young children. After a two-hour interview today, I got to take home $40, and Lil' Dude got some apple juice and a handful of toy cars. I'm not doing this for the money, of course, but it is nice to be compensated, and it does seem a better use of my cash-earning time than, say, completing online market research surveys for Ipsos, where, after over a year, all I managed to earn was a $20 Amazon.ca voucher.

Anyway, after I'd volunteered for the study, I decided to look on Craigslist for other similar research that I could serve as a human subject for. After spending a summer doing MRI research on human subjects, I know how hard it can be to recruit eligible Guinea pigs. Since I now have way more flexible work hours, I can finally participate in these kinds of studies, which I always find interesting. They make me feel as though I'm making some minimal contribution to progress.