Baby shower reminder

Thanks to everyone who has already written a post for ScienceGirl's virtual baby shower and emailed me the link.  If you intend to contribute to the baby fun, please send me a link to your post in the next 20 hours or so.   I think this "shower" is going to be really neat!

Thanks!



Here is the Wikipedia entry for baby shower if you don't know what one is.  Apologies for my Ameri-centrism.

Buzz totally sucks

I know I'm not the first person to post about the new Buzz app in gmail, but I'm annoyed enough to add to the dialog.  If you have ever emailed me from your gmail account, I can see your name and possibly your photo.  If you have ever emailed me from your pseudonymous bloggy gmail account but had your real name attached to the account, I can see your name and possibly your photo.

I will of course keep this info to myself, but it sucks, huh?  If you have your real name associated with your bloggy gmail account, I recommend changing it to your pseud.

Lame.

Thought of the day

If you have to say, "isn't that funny?!" after you tell a story, your story probably wasn't very funny.

Quiet time

I have taken a few casual personality tests over the years, and every time I come out right on the line between introvert and extrovert.  I think this is very accurate, as I enjoy the company of others but being around too many people or meeting lots of new people really wears me out.

I've met about a dozen new people since I started my new job.  I had actually been introduced to most of these people before, but even still it felt like a lot of effort to interact with them last week.  I had to give a presentation yesterday that I enjoyed, but performing for two hours--even to a friendly audience--wore me out.  To top it off, I'm not settled into my new office yet (necessary furniture isn't all there), so I have been feeling happy but at loose ends.

I had to take care of a critical errand this morning which was going to make me significantly late.  Between that and a major snowstorm, I decided to stay home.  I had a haircut appointment tomorrow evening for which I was going to have to leave a little early, but I was able to reschedule it for this afternoon instead, so now I'll be able to stay late tomorrow to make up some of the lost time today.  I haven't gotten much done today, but I think it will ultimately be a good thing.  I needed a day away from people and my chaotic office so I could recharge a little bit.  I think I'll be in good shape tomorrow to focus on some real work.

Postdoc pros (and cons)

 Here's what I have to say about my postdoc after one week on the job, presented as pros and cons:

• Pro: I have the most glorious office evah.
Con: But that is just one of three offices I'm expected to occupy on a regular basis.

• Pro: I have four bosses.  That presents an opportunity for major mentorship and collaboration.
Con: It runs a major risk of turning into a serious clusterfuck, or alternatively, letting me fall through the cracks.

• Pro: I'm working with people far outside of my field.  So far, everyone has been super nice and accommodating.  In addition, because I am the only expert in my area in our group, there is no one to second guess me.  Thus, at least I feel confident about the things I do know.
Con: It's a bit intimidating, and I'm worried about making sure I can pull my weight with these high-tech heavy hitters.

• Pro: They got me a fancy new laptop!
Con: It's a mac.  So far it's great (so fast! so quiet!) but I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about some of the software I rely upon.  That's a real problem.

• Pro: My abs were sore by the end of the week from laughing so much with my new colleagues.  Not only are they funny, but they think I'm funny too.  Imagine that! 
Con: These people work crazy, crazy hours and I think they expect that I will too.

• Pro: I get to expand my PhD work into a new area that is right on the bleeding edge of what's being done in the field.
Con: I have SO MUCH to learn!  Eek!

So far I'm super happy with my job, and really excited to get the science ball rolling. Stay tuned.

It's a virtual baby shower!

Everybody needs a little help when she has her first baby (or second, third, and fourth babies, for that matter!).  Our lovely blogger friend ScienceGirl at Curiosity Killed the Cat is anticipating the arrival of her first little one, but unfortunately there is no baby shower in the works.  ScienceGirl recently described one of the pitfalls of the nomadic acdemic lifestyle--it's hard to establish a village to help you raise your child when you move all the damn time, your extended family lives in another state or continent, and your colleages are mostly men:

The problem is that I am new in this area. I only know a handful of people closely enough to possibly even ask for such things [baby supplies], and most (um, all?) of them are male and/or non-parents. So although my coworkers are all nice people, there won't be a baby shower, nor will I be able to ask someone to bring over dinner once the little one gets here.

Several of us responded to that wishing we could give her a shower.  After years of reading ScienceGirl's blog and her comments on other blogs, I think of her as a friend.  I'd just hate to see her have her baby without any fanfair first, and without the support of a network of friends.  So, we're going to have a virtual baby shower for her here!

Following the Scientiae model, I'm hosting a baby shower-blog carnival.  Please write a post on your own blog about something you might share at a baby shower: a funny story, your best advice, reassurance for ScienceGirl, etc.  It doesn't matter if you're not a parent yourself -- you'd go to a real life baby shower for a friend, right? and you've got nieces and nephews or godchildren or friends' kids or memories of your own childhood, right?  So you have content for a post!  Some of you are parents who have a lots of exellent parenting posts in your archives, so another great option would be to collect those links into one post.  I'll round up all the links for these entries in a summary post here, and ScienceGirl will be able to save them to read again and again in the future.  We also have a mechanism for sending gifts, so send me an email for more information if you'd like to hook ScienceGirl up with some baby goodies (no pressure).

ScienceGirl is due on March 1, so we need to hurry!  Please email me a link to your post by midnight on Saturday, February 20, and we'll "have the shower" on Monday, February 22.  The only thing we'll be missing is one of those creepy baby-shaped cakes, so everybody plan to eat a (non-baby-shaped) cupcake in ScienceGirl's honor on Feb 22! 

Email or leave a comment if you have any questions. I think we're going to have a great time showering ScienceGirl with support from her bloggy village!

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!!!!!!