Bad boys

Ecogeoman and I have been watching The X-Files from the beginning on Netflix. Tonight we got to the episode in season 7 where it's like an episode of the show Cops. I asked EGM if they had Cops in Far Off Land, wondering if he would get the comedy of the X-Files episode. To my mild surprise, he said yes. I asked if they had a Far Off Land version or if they just got the regular American version. "Ha!" he said. "There isn't enough crime in Far Off Land to have a whole show about it!"

Why do we live here again?  Oh yeah, 'cause there's no jobs in Far Off Land either.

Where'd I put that?

The bathroom at my work is at the intersection of two long hallways, near the copy room, the mail room, and the stairs that lead to the autoclaves, ice machine, vending machines, outdoors, and other labs.  I tend to stop in the bathroom on my way to do something else, and I've noticed that other people do too.  Lately, I've noticed a lot of stuff left behind in the bathroom, like printouts and safety glasses.  People who stop in the john on their way from doing something else need to set down the things they were carrying while they visit the bog, and then forget the items on the bathroom counter.  Last week there was an ice bucket in there for two days.   I'm sure these people are all, "where the hell did I leave that thing?"  and then are totally all "duh" when they finally find their missing ice bucket or whatever in the ladies'.

fuck time

Ecogeoman recently got a new laptop.  Remember how our apartment flooded due to a burst hot water pipe?  Well, his laptop was in his backpack on the floor and was ruined.  Fortunately, our renters' insurance covered a new one (plus a few small items that were also damaged).  It came with Windows 7, which EGM is not quite used to yet.  He was bitching about it tonight and I said, "time marches on.  you'll get used to it."  To which he replied, "fuck time".

Today I tried to set up a new instrument that is best operated remotely using a Palm Pilot thing.  It is the least intuitive POS I've encountered in about 5 years.  I messed around with it and the instrument for a couple of hours this evening but got almost nowhere.  I wanted to have the thing ready to use tomorrow morning, but I ran out of time.  Fuck time.

Currently watching

Stomp the Yard.  This movie totally satisfies my desire to watch people doing things in unison. I love having cable. 

Stomp the Yard is right up there on my guilty pleasures list with Mean Girls and Stick It (although there isn't much moving in unison in those movies). 

Did I mention I'm super excited for the new cheer leading show on the WB this fall?

Live blogging Lost

8:10:  WTF??????!!!!?!?!?!?!

8:23:  WTF?!?!?!

8:30:  Dude!

8:39:  WTF?!

8:51:  HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!  YAHOO!!

9:02:  Huh?

9:15:  Whoa! The Temple!

9:27: WTF?

9:41:  Oh Noes!

9:52:  Where?!?!

10:00:  ZOMG!  I CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK!!!!!!

Sympathy FAIL

I've been complaining to EGM that I haven't felt like myself the past couple of days. Maybe I'm getting sick or something.

It was raining today and I knew the traffic would suck, so I left work a little early to try to beat the worst of it. Rather than having me pick him up on my way, EGM decided to work later and take public home.

My leaving-work-early plan was not effective. EGM called me while I was sitting in a horrible traffic jam. An excerpt:

Him: how are you feeling now?
Me: meh. Not sick, but I'm just so irritable. I'm even grouchy with myself! And I can't figure out why. I mean, I started my period today, but that doesn't usually affect my mood. [actually, my mood is disrupted about 5 days in advance]
Him: oh, well that's probably the reason.
Me: I don't think so. I never have problems the day I start.
Him: well, you are getting older...
Me: What?
Him: well, maybe things are changing as you age...you are getting older.
Me: that's fucking not the fucking reason.

Honestly, he usually knows better!

Random bullets of barbecue beef steak stew

• Apparently Ecogeoman has the series of words, "barbecue beef steak stew" stuck in his head, along with "love fish", which we often call each other. I hate getting words stuck in my head. It's worse than having a song on repeat up there.
• Do you think that if I become a famous scientist, they will cast me in Dancing with the Stars?
• I taught myself a new statistical technique last week, but I was using some non-standard software, and I wasn't totally sure I was doing it right/meeting all the assumptions. Today someone who is expert at this technique generously spent a couple of hours teaching me the appropriate program and how to manipulate the data. It confirmed that I pretty much understood what I had learned on my own, and enhanced my understanding dramatically.
• There are two jobs advertised at a university in Far Off Land: one in my field and one in EGM's area. It is stunning that there is a job available for each of us at the same time at the same place, especially in FOL. They are at a level somewhat above our experience, so I think it's a long shot, but we have to apply. I wish applying for my first real job didn't coincide with the hot-and-heavy writing of my diss.
  

How convenient

Why is it that there used to be sick mother/baby combos on Grey's Anatomy pretty regularly before Addison left, and then suddenly there were none after she moved to California? So now she's visiting Seattle and there just happens to be a rare, complicated sick mother/baby case? This shows really waxes and wanes for me. It goes through phases of being compelling in a sloppy soap opera way and then it irritates the crap out of me by being just sloppy.

I should just stick to Lost, which was AWESOME. Seriously. Who are we supposed to trust? Did Locke fix it? Is Faraday like Richard? Is Eloise going to tell us everything we want to know next week? I can't wait! And yet, I don't want to rush time. Such is life.

Touche

Ecogeoman and I are, like everyone else, trying to save money. I think it's fair to say that I'm a Saver and he's a Spender. Tonight was his night to think of what to have for dinner and then make it.

So he ordered take out.

While we were waiting for it to arrive, I said, "I can't believe you ordered Thai." To which he replied, "I can't believe how pretty you are."

Butt head. I just don't think he gets it.

Bowie's in space

I watched the movie Labyrinth for the first time tonight. I just about peed my pants at the start of the movie I was laughing so hard. Why? Because Flight of the Conchords did such a spot on parody last year that I couldn't think of anything else. Compare:



A clip from Flight of the Conchords, including the very funny "Bowie in Space".



A series of clips from the movie. It was the only think I could find with a clip from the scene where Bowie visits Sarah in the house.

I have some posts with real content coming, I promise. But since we got the new t.v., we've been getting the most out of our Netflix subscription...

Happy Solstice!

There's still a lot of winter left, but at least we're on the upswing now!

Unless you're in the southern hemisphere, in which case: mwah-ha-ha-ha!

Is this how it is with women in charge?

First of all, I am very pleased to announce that S4 had a baby boy today. He is her third child and the 14th grandchild in my family. Everyone is happy and healthy. Yay!

Now I'd like to share two observations about life in a female-dominated lab. I've said before that the lab I'm in is something like 70% women. Since I've always been part of very woman heavy labs, I don't have personal experience with which to compare them to male dominated labs. Lately I've been trying to imagine what the little differences might be.

Our lab has several rather sensitive personalities. They aren't cry babies or difficult people, they are people who are always concerned with how their words and behaviors might be perceived by others and who carefully interpret the words and actions of others so as to fully understand their complete meaning and intent. I recently had a chance to work with a wider group of scientists from my institution as part of a new collaborative effort. We were literally working all together at a table for a whole day. As we worked, one of the technicians in my lab asked, "what is this thing?" I answered, "it's an X and it does function Y." She said, "I know it does Y but I didn't know Xs looked like this." I said, "oh, okay." No big deal. The entire exchange took less than a minute. Then the tech added, "Sorry to be short with you" and I replied, "You weren't and I hope I didn't sound condescending". The men at the table were mildly aghast. I think they thought we were walking on eggshells with each other but really it was just a normal interaction, at least among people who are used to sensitive types.

Is this representative of how women interact professionally as a result of socialization or is it because of the particular personalities that have shaped our lab culture?

Next observation. I have said before that I hate pooping (although I think butts are hilarious). It is the worst part of my day. If I have to Go while at work, I try to be as discreet as possible, even timing my bathroom visit when there are no other women in there. There is a man who works in my vicinity who goes to the bathroom every day with reading material tucked under his arm, clearly headed off to take a shit. Ewww. There have been other men at my work who regularly announce their #2 events. I have never heard a woman in our lab group do that.

Again, is this an example of how gender socialization drives lab culture or is it just individual quirks (i.e. that I am grossed out by the idea of anyone at all making #2 and it just happens that none of the women ever announce it in my presence)?

Would you eat a ...?

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?

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!

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!

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.

This will rock you in the head

Watch this for funnies.

Office Space, here?

One of the many things I like about my job is that it rarely feels like I'm in the movie Office Space. However, things have been changing lately at the institution where I do my research. Sometimes it's hard not to confuse my lab notebook with a TPS Report.

Yesterday we had a staff meeting where they gave people awards for doing their regular jobs. Well, that's not really true. They did an extra good job at their jobs during a crisis, and while that is commendable, it still seemed a little over the top that we had an all hands meeting about it. There was a cake, which I swear looked exactly like the cake in Office Space, so we were all making jokes, saying things like "just pass" and stuff.

Lately several signs have appeared on things like electrical panels with warnings about working in confined spaces. ? And one warning you not to get your hand caught between the banister and the wall. And since we're all worried about piles of reprints attacking us in our offices, a senior scientist in my group kept getting reprimanded for his messy office. So, he just piled the stacks of papers that had been on his floor onto a cart that has now been sitting in the hallway outside his office for like, 6 months. Apparently, that is an acceptable solution. What gives?

Am I too old for Cosmo?

I almost never buy women’s magazines because they usually leave me feeling ugly and poor. However, I like to read them when I’m traveling, particularly when I'm going by plane. It’s so distracting in airports that the short, easy to comprehend articles are nice. But the last time I flew, I had a little realization.

The airport bookshop had a paltry selection of magazines. I wanted a Marie Claire, but they didn’t have that. I could have picked Cosmo or Glamour, but those are mostly about clothes I can’t afford (and wouldn’t wear anyway) and how to bag a man and then sneak out of his apartment in the morning. Just not me. I thought about People, but I dislike the culture of celebrity worship and I don’t want to endorse tabloids paying paparazzi to chase down celebrities even when they’re dressed up sorta classy like People. So what did I end up with? Redbook. What am I, 45? At least it wasn’t Ladies Home Journal. Or worse, Reader’s Digest.

Women’s magazines seem to be marketed to an older audience than they are actually written for. Like, 17-year-old girls don’t read Seventeen, 13-year-olds do. It’s the 17-year-olds who are reading Cosmo (let’s not even think about the twisted impression of adult life they get from that). Those in their mid-twenties are passing Cosmo for Marie Claire or Jane. Apparently by the time you’re 29, you’ve graduated to Redbook.

Redbook still has some articles about sex, but the descriptions are vague (touch him someplace unexpected to spice things up). In contrast, Comso and Glamour are all about sex and it’s explicit (wow him in bed! Stick a carrot in his butt!). I guess Ladies Home Journal probably alludes to the fact that married people are intimate, but doesn’t provide tips.

I apologize to any readers I might have who love Redbook and Ladies Home Journal and don’t think you have to be 45 to enjoy them. It was just a shock that I’d rather read magazines marketed to my mom than to me. I’m getting more like her every day.

Where do I look?

There is this really long hallway where I work, ~175 ft long. The offices are along one side and the labs are on the other. There are 15-20 people who work in this area and frequently walk the length of the hallway throughout the day, going between labs and offices, etc. It can be sort of awkward though: after you've passed the same person 6 times in an afternoon, do you still say hi? smile? nod? look away? I find it difficult to ignore someone I know who is passing within 3 feet of me. However, I do sometimes concentrate on the floor in an OCD kind of way as I walk; I like to step on the floor tiles where the pattern is parallel to my feet.


Perhaps I should suggest that we give each other high fives every time we pass. That would liven up the day.