Suppose you are a life/earth scientist on some kind of field expedition. Some calamity occurs that leaves you stranded without food. You are forced to gather and hunt for resources. Let's say that the ecosystem where you are stranded is not very productive, so there are few wild food options in low abundances. You have no indication of when help will come -- you could be rescued tomorrow or maybe not at all. I won't define your group size, i.e. if you are alone or with colleagues.
Would you eat an endangered species to stay alive?
What if it were your study organism?
What if you knew no one would ever find out?
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
NYR review
I bet you thought I forgot about my New Year's Resolutions. I did not. I just thought reviewing them made for boring blog posts. But it's been a while since I did an update, so here we go.
Project Efficiency
Recap: I was going to stop procrastinating by 1. not fake working 2. setting goals for each next day 3. not blogging at work at all.
Progress: Not bad, but certainly not perfect.
1. I really do try to ask myself if what I'm doing is actually getting me closer to a PhD, or if I'm doing it to avoid what really needs to get done. Keeping this in mind has been remarkably effective at curbing the fake work habit but I could do better.
2. The days when I arrive a work with a to-do list on my desk that I wrote the previous day are definitely the most productive. Unfortunately, I don't make a list for every day. Need to be more consistent.
3. Okay, I confess that I read blogs a little. My rule is to only read blogs in bloglines which means that I can't read or write comments, the big time suck of reading blogs. It also means that while at work, I don't read blogs that don't syndicate the entire post, nor do I move laterally among blogs. So it's restricted to a break time activity rather than a vortex that sucks me in for hours (like it does at home). In addition, I've cut way back at looking at other websites, like MSN and such.
Money
Recap: I was going to save three months' expenses and pay for two overseas trips as well as open an IRA.
Progress: The IRA is humming along, losing money but for the automatic transfers from my savings account each month. The savings was doing great but has been depleted. I only ended up making one big trip, but I had to help EGM with some expenses. So the total is down, but EGM will eventually pay me back. And I still have time, so I might be able to get to the 3 month mark by January.
Health
Recap: I vowed to cook decent meals at least three nights each week and start eating chicken again.
Progress: We eat chicken about 4-6 times per month, which is about what I wanted. I eat some other meat as well, but not too often. We have been cooking pretty regularly but fell off the wagon during busy times this summer. I have clearly gained weight, so I'd like to get a handle on our eating and exercise to reverse that trend.
Work
Recap: 1. submit two papers 2. finish lab work for chapter 2 3. finish lab work for chapter 3 4. get started on or eliminate chapter 4
Progress: 1. Chapter 1 is getting closer to submission form. Research Advisor still hasn't read it, but I did get some good feedback from another colleague. She pointed out some flaws that had me uncomfortable, so I feel like after I deal with them the paper will be really close to ready. It's unlikely that I will get another paper out before the end of the year.
2. done, with the exception of a handful of analyses that will take a few hours.
3. See counter at side bar. After the samples are processed, I'll be delightfully over the hump but I'll still have a bunch more work to do before I have all the data.
4. I dramatically reduced the lab work required for this chapter at my committee meeting, which is a start. I might get started on the lab work before the end of the year, but it will mean trade-offs with other work, like writing chapter 2. Since I think I work best when I divide my time between the office and lab, I'm thinking I might put this lab work off so I don't spend the spring in writing jail. On the other hand, it would feel really good to see this project get rolling.
So that's that. I think I'm still on track to defend in late spring/early summer with some money in the bank and reasonable cholesterol levels. How are your NYRs faring?
Project Efficiency
Recap: I was going to stop procrastinating by 1. not fake working 2. setting goals for each next day 3. not blogging at work at all.
Progress: Not bad, but certainly not perfect.
1. I really do try to ask myself if what I'm doing is actually getting me closer to a PhD, or if I'm doing it to avoid what really needs to get done. Keeping this in mind has been remarkably effective at curbing the fake work habit but I could do better.
2. The days when I arrive a work with a to-do list on my desk that I wrote the previous day are definitely the most productive. Unfortunately, I don't make a list for every day. Need to be more consistent.
3. Okay, I confess that I read blogs a little. My rule is to only read blogs in bloglines which means that I can't read or write comments, the big time suck of reading blogs. It also means that while at work, I don't read blogs that don't syndicate the entire post, nor do I move laterally among blogs. So it's restricted to a break time activity rather than a vortex that sucks me in for hours (like it does at home). In addition, I've cut way back at looking at other websites, like MSN and such.
Money
Recap: I was going to save three months' expenses and pay for two overseas trips as well as open an IRA.
Progress: The IRA is humming along, losing money but for the automatic transfers from my savings account each month. The savings was doing great but has been depleted. I only ended up making one big trip, but I had to help EGM with some expenses. So the total is down, but EGM will eventually pay me back. And I still have time, so I might be able to get to the 3 month mark by January.
Health
Recap: I vowed to cook decent meals at least three nights each week and start eating chicken again.
Progress: We eat chicken about 4-6 times per month, which is about what I wanted. I eat some other meat as well, but not too often. We have been cooking pretty regularly but fell off the wagon during busy times this summer. I have clearly gained weight, so I'd like to get a handle on our eating and exercise to reverse that trend.
Work
Recap: 1. submit two papers 2. finish lab work for chapter 2 3. finish lab work for chapter 3 4. get started on or eliminate chapter 4
Progress: 1. Chapter 1 is getting closer to submission form. Research Advisor still hasn't read it, but I did get some good feedback from another colleague. She pointed out some flaws that had me uncomfortable, so I feel like after I deal with them the paper will be really close to ready. It's unlikely that I will get another paper out before the end of the year.
2. done, with the exception of a handful of analyses that will take a few hours.
3. See counter at side bar. After the samples are processed, I'll be delightfully over the hump but I'll still have a bunch more work to do before I have all the data.
4. I dramatically reduced the lab work required for this chapter at my committee meeting, which is a start. I might get started on the lab work before the end of the year, but it will mean trade-offs with other work, like writing chapter 2. Since I think I work best when I divide my time between the office and lab, I'm thinking I might put this lab work off so I don't spend the spring in writing jail. On the other hand, it would feel really good to see this project get rolling.
So that's that. I think I'm still on track to defend in late spring/early summer with some money in the bank and reasonable cholesterol levels. How are your NYRs faring?
Friday, September 26, 2008
Don't steal my food!
My sister (S3) posted the following anecdote on our family blog. She doesn't know I have this blog so I didn't ask her if I could repost the story here; I'm pretty sure she'd say yes. Her son is 2.5 years old.
[Son] had a small, dry booger on his nose. I flicked it away. [Son] asked me, "Was that a booger, Mama?" I said, "yes". He replied in a very disappointed voice, "I wanted to eat that booger."
I guess I'm not feeding him enough!
Too funny!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Submitted!
I submitted the symposium proposal today. I feel like we did our honest best, so I'm happy with the product. It was a little nerve wracking to press send, especially after a gaff wherein I emailed the section chair a word document with the track changes still on (they hadn't been showing on my screen). A breathed a sigh of relief later in the day, though, when Cauliflower sent me a very nice and reassuring email saying everything looked great.
We still have two outstanding speaker invitations but if they both say yes, the final gender tally will be 7 women and 2 men. For the most part, we simply looked for the best person to represent certain topics and it just happened to be mostly women. Towards the end, I started to feel a little bad that we had so many women and tried to think of more men, but 7 to 2 is how it worked out. That might change if we get refusals, of course. A common complaint for women in science is that they don't get invited to give high profile talks because they just don't occur to the old boys. I didn't want to be a hypocrite. Given that it even crossed my mind, I think we were as fair as possible.
If the proposal is accepted, it will be awesome to know our work was fruitful and to have the exposure of producing the session. Fortunately, the negative consequences of a proposal like this are pretty limited -- it's not like our salaries are riding on it or anything. Even if it's not accepted, this has been a great learning experience. I have been amazed at how positive and supportive everyone has been and it was cool to interact with a few new people.
We still have two outstanding speaker invitations but if they both say yes, the final gender tally will be 7 women and 2 men. For the most part, we simply looked for the best person to represent certain topics and it just happened to be mostly women. Towards the end, I started to feel a little bad that we had so many women and tried to think of more men, but 7 to 2 is how it worked out. That might change if we get refusals, of course. A common complaint for women in science is that they don't get invited to give high profile talks because they just don't occur to the old boys. I didn't want to be a hypocrite. Given that it even crossed my mind, I think we were as fair as possible.
If the proposal is accepted, it will be awesome to know our work was fruitful and to have the exposure of producing the session. Fortunately, the negative consequences of a proposal like this are pretty limited -- it's not like our salaries are riding on it or anything. Even if it's not accepted, this has been a great learning experience. I have been amazed at how positive and supportive everyone has been and it was cool to interact with a few new people.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Consistency is my saving grace
At least, that's my perception. I don't like binge working followed by periods of slacking off. A major theme of this blog is that I believe working at a consistent, sustainable pace is best.
Today reinforced this ethic. I worked a whole bunch of hours last week and I had a great, work-free weekend as a reward. Today I had a doctor's appointment (no big deal, just my annual Lady Inspection which they didn't end up doing because it hasn't been quite a year since my last one) so I stayed home. It was impractical for me to drive to my normal workplace, but I could have gone to campus, since my appointment was at the university health center. I rationalized that I never get anything done there ; I'm there so infrequently that I spend the whole time catching up with people and running errands. But I know that the real reason was lurking in the back of my mind: I worked extra hard last week, so I deserve a day to loaf around. To clarify, I would not have just taken a spontaneous day off for this reason, but since half the day was going to be at the doctor anyway...you know the rest.
This is the trouble when I put in extra time. There's a backlash. Like the writing book says, only a fool rewards writing with a break from writing and I think it's the same with all the rest of our work. I'm a tortoise, not a hare.
Today reinforced this ethic. I worked a whole bunch of hours last week and I had a great, work-free weekend as a reward. Today I had a doctor's appointment (no big deal, just my annual Lady Inspection which they didn't end up doing because it hasn't been quite a year since my last one) so I stayed home. It was impractical for me to drive to my normal workplace, but I could have gone to campus, since my appointment was at the university health center. I rationalized that I never get anything done there ; I'm there so infrequently that I spend the whole time catching up with people and running errands. But I know that the real reason was lurking in the back of my mind: I worked extra hard last week, so I deserve a day to loaf around. To clarify, I would not have just taken a spontaneous day off for this reason, but since half the day was going to be at the doctor anyway...you know the rest.
This is the trouble when I put in extra time. There's a backlash. Like the writing book says, only a fool rewards writing with a break from writing and I think it's the same with all the rest of our work. I'm a tortoise, not a hare.
Communicating to the masses
Alice recently had some press for her impressive NSF Advance grant. She described how awkward she felt being interviewed for a radio story of he achievement. I left a comment on her post describing a much lower profile experience I had with a reporter, but I thought I'd tell more about it here because it opened my eyes to how difficult it is to bridge the gap to lay people (i.e. non-scientists).
I received an award earlier this year and the awarding agency wanted to include a profile of me on their website, as they do for all recipients. Someone from their PR department called me, scheduled an in-person interview, and asked me to respond to a relatively involved questionnaire before the interview to make it more efficient. I spent at least an hour answering the written questions. The next week, we met for the interview. He was a little late and seemed kind of distracted, but very nice. He didn't really ask me too many questions, saying that I had been so thorough on the questionnaire that he didn't need much else. He took a photo of me sitting in a chair, basically a head shot.
The following week, he calledme to say that he needed to follow up on some information, then sent an email with more questions. It was as though he hadn't read my first responses or even looked at the website for the program that had given me the award, a program that is part of his agency! So I spent another hour or so answering more questions and getting him on track. Another week went by, and then I got another request for clarification, this time with really strange stuff in the questions -- he really hadn't understood what I had told him up to that point. So I responded to the latest email, then called him to further explain my answers. More time passed and then I got more requests, this time for an action photo of me in the field or the lab or something. That triggered a whole 'nother mess with a different set of PR people, but in the end one of the technicians took a picture of me at the bench and it was good enough.
About a week later, the reporter sent a draft of the profile asking me to fact-check it. By this point, I decided I would only object to things that were patently incorrect rather than harping on about small misrepresentations of my work. Lo and behold, the piece was pretty good. A final version eventually got posted on the website*.
The point of this post was not to complain about getting press -- I'm very flattered and grateful for both the award and the coverage -- but rather to demonstrate how difficult it can be to express yourself to lay people. The specifics of what I do aren't well known to most people, but I think the main idea and big picture goals certainly are. I had no idea this guy didn't get it after the first conversation, which makes me think that most lay people who I tell about my work don't get it. The most interesting thing was how my family reacted. I shared the profile with them and they all said that the finally understood what I do. I sincerely thought that they already did understand! I had no idea how poorly I had relayed my research, or even the motivation for my research, to my family. It was really a lesson in how differently you have to talk to non-scientists.
I guess this communication is my theme lately. Sorry to harp on this topic.
* Apparently, this was enough to kick up my Google ranking. I have a common name, so it used to take my name plus a keyword to get results for me on the first page. Now you can do it without any keywords and I'm there. neat!
I received an award earlier this year and the awarding agency wanted to include a profile of me on their website, as they do for all recipients. Someone from their PR department called me, scheduled an in-person interview, and asked me to respond to a relatively involved questionnaire before the interview to make it more efficient. I spent at least an hour answering the written questions. The next week, we met for the interview. He was a little late and seemed kind of distracted, but very nice. He didn't really ask me too many questions, saying that I had been so thorough on the questionnaire that he didn't need much else. He took a photo of me sitting in a chair, basically a head shot.
The following week, he calledme to say that he needed to follow up on some information, then sent an email with more questions. It was as though he hadn't read my first responses or even looked at the website for the program that had given me the award, a program that is part of his agency! So I spent another hour or so answering more questions and getting him on track. Another week went by, and then I got another request for clarification, this time with really strange stuff in the questions -- he really hadn't understood what I had told him up to that point. So I responded to the latest email, then called him to further explain my answers. More time passed and then I got more requests, this time for an action photo of me in the field or the lab or something. That triggered a whole 'nother mess with a different set of PR people, but in the end one of the technicians took a picture of me at the bench and it was good enough.
About a week later, the reporter sent a draft of the profile asking me to fact-check it. By this point, I decided I would only object to things that were patently incorrect rather than harping on about small misrepresentations of my work. Lo and behold, the piece was pretty good. A final version eventually got posted on the website*.
The point of this post was not to complain about getting press -- I'm very flattered and grateful for both the award and the coverage -- but rather to demonstrate how difficult it can be to express yourself to lay people. The specifics of what I do aren't well known to most people, but I think the main idea and big picture goals certainly are. I had no idea this guy didn't get it after the first conversation, which makes me think that most lay people who I tell about my work don't get it. The most interesting thing was how my family reacted. I shared the profile with them and they all said that the finally understood what I do. I sincerely thought that they already did understand! I had no idea how poorly I had relayed my research, or even the motivation for my research, to my family. It was really a lesson in how differently you have to talk to non-scientists.
I guess this communication is my theme lately. Sorry to harp on this topic.
* Apparently, this was enough to kick up my Google ranking. I have a common name, so it used to take my name plus a keyword to get results for me on the first page. Now you can do it without any keywords and I'm there. neat!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Work hard, play hard
Blogging has been light because I've been working my butt off and then I had a hangover. A recap of last week:
My carpool buddy was at a conference so I was driving myself all week. Since he is the one who has to leave by 4pm to let the nanny go home, I took the opportunity tobust ass work long hours. Between Monday morning and Friday night, I worked about 60 hours, which is a whole lot for me in five days. I set a goal of 30 Crummy Tedious samples and decided that if I met that goal by Friday, I didn't have to go in on Saturday. What a carrot! I was in the lab until 12:15 Saturday morning, but I didn't go back until Monday. All 30 samples were completed and my counter ticked up to 88% done!
Saturday morning I slept in a little, then ran errands: I got a bang trim and dropped off sweaters at the dry cleaners. I never have my act together for these little jobs, so I was feeling very smug. So smug that I had momentum to clean the apartment, including a bathroom that I swear hadn't been scrubbed in about a million years. Later, we met some friends at one of this town's best beer gardens (walking distance from our home) where they have giant $9 pitchers of sangria. We got toasted, then went to one of this town's best venues for live jazz. The next day, I had one of this town's biggest hangovers. That didn't stop us from going to breakfast where they have some of this town's best cinnamon rolls and later to this town's best botanical garden.
In all it was a worthy week. Though I hope this next one is a little more relaxed.
My carpool buddy was at a conference so I was driving myself all week. Since he is the one who has to leave by 4pm to let the nanny go home, I took the opportunity to
Saturday morning I slept in a little, then ran errands: I got a bang trim and dropped off sweaters at the dry cleaners. I never have my act together for these little jobs, so I was feeling very smug. So smug that I had momentum to clean the apartment, including a bathroom that I swear hadn't been scrubbed in about a million years. Later, we met some friends at one of this town's best beer gardens (walking distance from our home) where they have giant $9 pitchers of sangria. We got toasted, then went to one of this town's best venues for live jazz. The next day, I had one of this town's biggest hangovers. That didn't stop us from going to breakfast where they have some of this town's best cinnamon rolls and later to this town's best botanical garden.
In all it was a worthy week. Though I hope this next one is a little more relaxed.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wait... what?
I've been working in the lab a lot lately, which means I've been listening to the radio for hours on end. With all the financial craziness happening, NPR has been pretty enthralling. One of my favorite NPR reporters*, Adam Davidson, the global business guy, has had quite a lot of air time. Yesterday he was on Talk of the Nation, a show that takes listener call-in questions after the initial discussion of an issue. I could totally understand what it was like to be Adam Davidson for part of that hour.
Listeners called in with all manner of slightly strange questions -- nothing dramatically off topic, but stuff that Davidson really wasn't expecting and didn't quite relate to what he had been explaining. He handled it all pretty gracefully, but clearly didn't know what to say to a few people. I have often felt this way when explaining my research to lay people who ask bizarre questions. They obviously have heard of what I do, but don't really understand it and reach back into some bygone science class or they throw out a keyword they read in the newspaper that's not really related. These questions can be difficult to answer because they're just so different from how I think about things but I want to formulate an informative and respective answer because I'm so happy that the person is interested. I have one committee member whose interests are pretty far from mine and he always throws me for a loop with some question that doesn't quite make sense to me. Of course he's the one who doesn't let up, either. It always takes effort to maintain composure at committee meetings with this person.
*I think have a crush on this guy. His reporting is awesome!
Listeners called in with all manner of slightly strange questions -- nothing dramatically off topic, but stuff that Davidson really wasn't expecting and didn't quite relate to what he had been explaining. He handled it all pretty gracefully, but clearly didn't know what to say to a few people. I have often felt this way when explaining my research to lay people who ask bizarre questions. They obviously have heard of what I do, but don't really understand it and reach back into some bygone science class or they throw out a keyword they read in the newspaper that's not really related. These questions can be difficult to answer because they're just so different from how I think about things but I want to formulate an informative and respective answer because I'm so happy that the person is interested. I have one committee member whose interests are pretty far from mine and he always throws me for a loop with some question that doesn't quite make sense to me. Of course he's the one who doesn't let up, either. It always takes effort to maintain composure at committee meetings with this person.
*I think have a crush on this guy. His reporting is awesome!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
On the much brighter side...
With all that whining yesterday, I almost forgot something much more important: as of yesterday EGM and I have been together for four years. Still quite happy. :)
Monday, September 15, 2008
RBOC
Sigh...we're in a funk in the ecogeo household. Not really for any good reason.
- I went to the lab on Saturday to get some samples done. I slept too late, the ceiling leaked*, there was awful traffic, and several other little crappy things made it so I didn't get to work until 2pm. Then there were ants in my office. EGM said, "you should just work really hard and get all of today's samples finished to redeem the crappy day". So I did.
- But I didn't leave work until 11pm. Then we needed to eat and relax. I went to bed late.
- Then I slept really late on Sunday, which was nice but made it so I didn't want to go to bed on time last night. However, my carpool buddy has a conference this week so I could sleep in a little.
- But I was still so tired this morning I could barely function, and I was late to work. Still, I got to meet a very cool potential collaborator who is visiting the lab for a couple of days.
- But that meant I didn't get through many samples today.
- Good news: I found out that our proposal will be endorsed by the subject section. Less-good news: I found out through a third party. The chair of the subject section hasn't responded to any emails. Maybe tomorrow.
- Good news: one of my colleagues made comments on my paper draft. Less-good news: many of them contradict Academic Advisor's earlier suggestions. Even-less-good news: Research Advisor has still not read any iteration of the paper.
- But I made a super cheap, super easy, tasty dinner.
- EGM had a bit of a panic attack today because he feels overwhelmed by the work that he still has to do for his PhD. Yuck.
- This post has me a little bummed too. But then I remember all the great women science bloggers who inspire me in addition to my own fantastic female mentors and I feel a little better.
- Now I'm going to go to bed early so I can reset my brain for a better day tomorrow.
*Our area had record rainfall -- over 10 inches in some places over the duration of the storm. Even though our roof leaked, I'm thankful that our apartment didn't flood like so many others(well, it would have been unlikely since we're on an upper floor but I'm still grateful) and that my route to work is not blocked by standing water. I'm also thankful that the roof is the landlord's problem. There are some benefits to renting.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Vampire tasks
Sometimes the smallest things can hold you up. A task that seems straightforward turns into a huge deal. It can be so aggravating!
EGM and I are both dealing with simple things that are turning out to be huge assholes, but for different reasons. I’m working on the Crummy Tedious samples (have you noticed the counter moving?) and although I’ve got some momentum right now, when I take a step back I get so disheartened that I’m still working on these samples that should have taken only a summer to finish. They are just a lot more difficult than they should be. EGM has reached a step in his work where the technology available isn’t performing as well as he needs it to. Now he’s struggling to find something better. With his obsessive personality type, solving this problem is a big time suck.
The insidious part of these small jobs that take more time than you plan for them – vampire tasks – is not the time you actually spend working on them, but the time you spend fretting and procrastinating. It’s the procrastination that turns them into big scary beasts that block the path to project completion.
EGM and I are both dealing with simple things that are turning out to be huge assholes, but for different reasons. I’m working on the Crummy Tedious samples (have you noticed the counter moving?) and although I’ve got some momentum right now, when I take a step back I get so disheartened that I’m still working on these samples that should have taken only a summer to finish. They are just a lot more difficult than they should be. EGM has reached a step in his work where the technology available isn’t performing as well as he needs it to. Now he’s struggling to find something better. With his obsessive personality type, solving this problem is a big time suck.
The insidious part of these small jobs that take more time than you plan for them – vampire tasks – is not the time you actually spend working on them, but the time you spend fretting and procrastinating. It’s the procrastination that turns them into big scary beasts that block the path to project completion.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Ultimate Twix Challenge
I've probably mentioned before that Awesome Technician and I frequently issue Twix Challenges for each other. If one of us is having a blah day and needs some motivation, the other will define some milestone that needs to be reached by a certain time (e.g. finish half of your samples by 2 pm) and if the goal is achieved, the person gets a Twix from the vending machine. Sometimes the challenges are small, like something that can be accomplished in a few hours, while other times they are big, like a data analysis project that might take days or weeks. The trick is that the challenges are difficult but attainable and we follow through. If you don't meet the goal, you don't get the Twix.
Recently Awesome Technician said that when I graduate, she will try to get me a Twix cake. We're not sure what that might be like, exactly, but the idea of it certainly has motivated me to work!
Recently Awesome Technician said that when I graduate, she will try to get me a Twix cake. We're not sure what that might be like, exactly, but the idea of it certainly has motivated me to work!
Midwest ScienceBlogs Event
For their millionth comment shindig, ScienceBlogs is expanding the party to the Midwest with an event hosted by Alice Pawley and Steve Higgins, probably in Champaign, IL, probably on September 27. I'm interested, but on the fence. Is anybody else going? Do any of you who know where I live want to carpool? Email me if you want to talk about it, especially if you think we live in the same place.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Reflections on kittehs
Since tonight we finally got around to properly cleaning our place after the cats' departure, I thought this would be a good time to share what I thought about them.
Recall that we kept our friend's two cats while he was away for three weeks. EGM had cats growing up but I did not. We had been toying with the idea of getting one, so we reasoned that this extended cat sitting experience would give me a chance to see if I really want one.
I do not want one anymore.
The cats were nice, but they weren't really fun enough to make up for all the yuckiness. They would sometimes sit nearby, but they never wanted to cuddle very much. Instead, they liked to sit on the mantle, or between the window and it's screen, or some other equally inappropriate place. They did, however, always want to get into our bedroom which I had deemed off limits. They would scratch and meow at the door when we went to bed, even jumping up to try to turn the doorknob. From the inside of the room it felt like a movie where monsters were trying to get in.
Then there was the mess. Thankfully, EGM had the foresight to roll up most of the rugs and cover the couches with sheets before the cats arrived in order to limit the hair. Even still, there was cat hair everywhere. And litter tracked throughout the apartment. And they knocked stuff over. And clawed up the toilet paper and paper towels. I think the real problem for me was that they used the whole volume of a room -- no surface was off limits for them. So after they used the litter box, they'd jump up on the kitchen counter or something. Eww.
We were out of town a bunch after the cats left and then we were lazy and then we realized that our crappy ass vacuum with just a plain tube attachment was no match for the lingering cat hair. We borrowed our friends' Dyson last week and finally got around to using it tonight. I feel much better about my world now that the place is all clean. I'd hate to mess it up again with another cat.
Can you tell I'm not a pet person?
Recall that we kept our friend's two cats while he was away for three weeks. EGM had cats growing up but I did not. We had been toying with the idea of getting one, so we reasoned that this extended cat sitting experience would give me a chance to see if I really want one.
I do not want one anymore.
The cats were nice, but they weren't really fun enough to make up for all the yuckiness. They would sometimes sit nearby, but they never wanted to cuddle very much. Instead, they liked to sit on the mantle, or between the window and it's screen, or some other equally inappropriate place. They did, however, always want to get into our bedroom which I had deemed off limits. They would scratch and meow at the door when we went to bed, even jumping up to try to turn the doorknob. From the inside of the room it felt like a movie where monsters were trying to get in.
Then there was the mess. Thankfully, EGM had the foresight to roll up most of the rugs and cover the couches with sheets before the cats arrived in order to limit the hair. Even still, there was cat hair everywhere. And litter tracked throughout the apartment. And they knocked stuff over. And clawed up the toilet paper and paper towels. I think the real problem for me was that they used the whole volume of a room -- no surface was off limits for them. So after they used the litter box, they'd jump up on the kitchen counter or something. Eww.
We were out of town a bunch after the cats left and then we were lazy and then we realized that our crappy ass vacuum with just a plain tube attachment was no match for the lingering cat hair. We borrowed our friends' Dyson last week and finally got around to using it tonight. I feel much better about my world now that the place is all clean. I'd hate to mess it up again with another cat.
Can you tell I'm not a pet person?
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
It's never too early for an opus
Today Ecogeoman learned that his very first paper has been accepted! There are revisions, of course, but the reviews border on glowing.
The manuscript was 120 pages (1.5 spaced) including figures and references.
In other news, our symposium proposal is nearly finished. All we have to do is hash out the speaker list, which has become quite a task. We're happy with the proposal text, having recieved positive feedback from colleagues. However, we're struggling to ensure that each talk addresses the questions/problems we raised in the text. This is easier said than done.
The manuscript was 120 pages (1.5 spaced) including figures and references.
In other news, our symposium proposal is nearly finished. All we have to do is hash out the speaker list, which has become quite a task. We're happy with the proposal text, having recieved positive feedback from colleagues. However, we're struggling to ensure that each talk addresses the questions/problems we raised in the text. This is easier said than done.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Blogging for writing's sake
I started blogging for a variety of reasons. One of my hopes was that regular blog writing would improve the quality of my professional writing. When I started this blog, I was mostly working at the bench. I knew, though, that I would soon be focusing some of my efforts on manuscripts so I wanted to get some writing practice.
It’s difficult to measure improvement in writing, especially one’s own. Unfortunately, I don’t think blogging has helped me that much. I write my posts somewhat quickly and while I read over them before I publish, I don’t spend any time really editing (that’s probably obvious from my frequent spelling errors and run on sentences).
However, I do think blogging has removed some of the mystique surrounding writing. Each time I post, I’m submitting a piece of writing to whoever wants to read it. That has made me a little less nervous about presenting my work for review by advisors and colleagues. In addition, I think I feel less block overall. Blogging is something I choose to do because I like it, not because I feel like I have to for any reason. Sometimes when I decide to write about something, it’s a little hard to start. I have to get over it though because I really want to write my little bloggy essay. I’ve learned that I just have to get a sentence down and it will usually flow from there. More importantly, I’ve learned that any sentence can be changed. Even if everything sucks at first, I can improve it (althoughusually sometimes it continues to suck). I’ve tried really hard to apply that same approach to my science writing to get me over the inertia of starting.
Someone else recently posted something on this topic and got me thinking about it. I would like to link to that blog, but for the life of me I can’t remember where the post was. I guess that’s the problem with reading two weeks’ worth of posts in a few days.
It’s difficult to measure improvement in writing, especially one’s own. Unfortunately, I don’t think blogging has helped me that much. I write my posts somewhat quickly and while I read over them before I publish, I don’t spend any time really editing (that’s probably obvious from my frequent spelling errors and run on sentences).
However, I do think blogging has removed some of the mystique surrounding writing. Each time I post, I’m submitting a piece of writing to whoever wants to read it. That has made me a little less nervous about presenting my work for review by advisors and colleagues. In addition, I think I feel less block overall. Blogging is something I choose to do because I like it, not because I feel like I have to for any reason. Sometimes when I decide to write about something, it’s a little hard to start. I have to get over it though because I really want to write my little bloggy essay. I’ve learned that I just have to get a sentence down and it will usually flow from there. More importantly, I’ve learned that any sentence can be changed. Even if everything sucks at first, I can improve it (although
Someone else recently posted something on this topic and got me thinking about it. I would like to link to that blog, but for the life of me I can’t remember where the post was. I guess that’s the problem with reading two weeks’ worth of posts in a few days.
Alerts
The new Scientiae is up at Lab Cat!
And have you seen the highly entertaining recipe battle between Physioprof and Isis? The first round is an amuse bouche (which Isis kindly defined for the ignorant masses who don't typically enjoy 9 course meals). I voted for Isis this time because her fruity shrimpy recipe sounded much more appealing than Physioprof's chawanmushi with borderline exotic ingredients. Also, although Psysioprof's had fewer steps, Isis's seemed easier, which is also a bonus for me. And I don't have any little ceramic cups with fucking lids or tiny little spoons, so I couldn't make the custard thing if I wanted to.
They really ought to put up a post for each round at the voting blog so we can write commentary in the comments field there rather than on our own damn blogs.
And have you seen the highly entertaining recipe battle between Physioprof and Isis? The first round is an amuse bouche (which Isis kindly defined for the ignorant masses who don't typically enjoy 9 course meals). I voted for Isis this time because her fruity shrimpy recipe sounded much more appealing than Physioprof's chawanmushi with borderline exotic ingredients. Also, although Psysioprof's had fewer steps, Isis's seemed easier, which is also a bonus for me. And I don't have any little ceramic cups with fucking lids or tiny little spoons, so I couldn't make the custard thing if I wanted to.
They really ought to put up a post for each round at the voting blog so we can write commentary in the comments field there rather than on our own damn blogs.
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