Reviewing Papers

I feel important, though perhaps undeservedly so. Recently I got an email beginning,
"Dear Dr. Young..." from the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics Part B asking me to review a paper!
I declined, telling the fellow that I was still undertaking my PhD. I told Russel about it and he said to write back and say that we would do it - which I felt better about because I'd be interested in doing it, just so long as it's under Russel's name and supervision :D

I've just given my feedback to Russel on two of the many papers he's currently reviewing. The first one came to me in an email out of the blue, just stating "Note the method to find the membership functions. What is missing. Regards Russel.". I dutifully read the paper and picked it apart (it was pretty shocking) and when I ran into Russel next I asked him what the deal was. He said it was a test of sorts to see how I would go at reviewing a paper. The sneaky devil!
So I've just commented on a second paper he sent me as well, as a second opinion for Russel. It's nothing that Russel couldn't (and didn't) do in a fraction of the time it took me, but all the same I feel important :)

Picking apart some bad research is a nice break from struggling with my own ;)