Underwater Knitting

Hope to see you again soon!

2008-08-05T10:58:00.007-04:00

Just under three years ago, I started this blog in order to keep in touch with family and friends, share my crafty endeavors (and get some feedback on them), and vent about grad school. Since then I have gotten engaged, gotten married, got a cat, spent 8 months away from my husband, learned to love the desert, done a lot of science and hopefully have grown as an academic. I've also found a wonderful community of like-minded folks to share achievements and frustrations with (and to get fashion advice from)!
Lately, the direction of the blog has changed to be more about school but I felt it didn't completely fit given what I originally started this blog for. Plus, there have been things I want to write, but don't feel comfortable doing so knowing that I am pretty easily identifiable.

As I am nearing graduation and looking for a fresh start in my next research project and position, I feel like a new start in blogging is in order as well.
So, I'm moving.

There is a lot of fun stuff coming up this year (and beyond!) and I hope you will join me.
If you would like the address of the new blog, please email me at Dancingfish1@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading!!

Before I go...

2008-08-03T20:26:00.007-04:00

Seeking Solace over at Thoughts from the Waiting Room was kind enough to pass along a bloggy honor.

Thank you! So nice to think of me! I had seen this going around but didn't expect to be so honored =)

A lot of folks already have been tagged so I will try to nominate some that are not...

First the usual rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

And now the nominees:
Unbalanced Reaction
Karina at Ruminations of Aspiring Ecologist
LuckyBuzz
EcoGeoFemme
ScienceGirl
Hypoglycemiagirl
Wayfarer Scientista

Enjoy!!

Quiet

2008-07-29T22:40:00.003-04:00

Part of my reasoning for being pretty quiet lately has to do with my own transition. I am going to move the ol' blog. Not really a move but a new blog. More on this when it happens....soon.
But first- Blogger or Wordpress? Thoughts advice? I already know Blogger but can be easily swayed. Anybody used both? Really love or hate one or the other? Please let me know in the comments!!

Thank you!!

really?

2008-07-27T23:26:00.002-04:00

I let our dog out in the backyard this evening and went about my kitchen business. Dog started barking, as he does when he sees a bike/wants to come in/randomly. Sometimes, I just let him bark it up* to advertise our mean**, giant dog.
Tonight, he barked and as I walked to let him in, I heard someone walking by say to the 90 ls German Shepard "Who do you think you're barkin' at?" And it wasn't in a nice awwww-cute-barking-doggie-way either. It was in an oh-yeah? you-want-to-fight? you-dog-you? sort of way.

You know, because it makes perfect sense to talk trash to a fenced in dog that is 2 yards away. Was he going to threaten to kick his ass next? Seriously.

* but never early/late/more than 5 minutes.
** not really, but I like that people might think that he's mean when protecting all of our really expensive grad student belongings...

Lazy blogger post

2008-07-25T22:49:00.002-04:00

Holy Catfish! I just got slapped with a wet salmon - really - I have not updated this since you last visited... You would not believe how heavy that rock really is.
Stupid Global Warming!
I am absorbed with learning to play lawn bowls**, waiting for the onshore winds, just generally being the life of the party to anyone unfortunate to cross my path. My day drifts aimlessly from the first cockadoodledoo from the rooster till I run out of alcohol. I am looking at rectifying this but this damned rock is heavy. I totally promise that when the weather turns bad, I will blog more often. Well, I'll try. Unless, of course, the pool with the cocktail bar is heated!

Courtesy of the Lazy Bloggers Post Generator, as seen at MonkeyGirl.

**But to tell the truth, I have played a lot of Bocce Ball lately and I think it is like lawn bowls.

Things I've done this month that are stupid

2008-07-22T11:02:00.003-04:00

Tried to take a 90 pound dog to the fireworks. He did ok with the fireworks themselves but the crowds had him trying to jump over a 3 ft high concrete wall.

Fell off my bike....but really, I didn't fall OFF of it so much. My new clipless pedals kept me securely attached to the bike as I rolled to a stop and promptly fell over. The bike landing on me was worse than me hitting the ground. Luckily, I was stopped. Had this happened when I was going downhill (at a reckless speed, according to V), I would be in bad shape.

Baked cupcakes when our kitchen was 97 degrees.

Tried to make chocolate milk with only cocoa powder and milk. I swear I saw Alton Brown do it once, but there must've been more steps involved. I keep reading that milk/chocolate milk is the best post-workout recovery drink. Must buy some chocolate sauce though...

Hmmmm, I wonder what I am forgetting. It seemed like there were a lot more of these...

On rejections

2008-07-18T12:54:00.004-04:00

Sure enough, just days after I publicly declared the Summer of Submission, I got my first rejection of the summer as well. ScienceGirl had asked how I dealt with rejections in the comments and I wonder how this post would be different if I were still 'awaiting final decision'...

Anyway, this first rejection is a reject with an invitation to resubmit. So it could be worse. My advisor and others faculty are really excited about this response. They are treating it more like a provisional acceptance, despite the fact that the editor specifically wrote 'this is not a provisional acceptance.' I don't have much experience with publishing and the finer nuances and implications of 'reject and resubmit' vs 'revise and resubmit' are lost on me. Basically, we will be re-reviewed after resubmission whereas a 'revise and resubmit' would just be looked over by the editor and not the reviewers. Please feel free to clarify or elaborate in the comments!

My handling of the paper at this stage all depends on the reviews themselves. In this case, they are helpful, positive and easily addressed. The most difficult aspect will be responding to all within the word limit of the paper. With reviews like these, I am eager to fix the paper and get it back out asap. With bad reviews- those that are nonconstructive and, unfortunately, mean- I have a tendency to sit on them and put off dealing with them as long as possible. My worst review was capped with 'the authors should think deeply about what they might be able to salvage from this work.' That one hurt. It took me a year to return to the paper, but eventually I did and it is in review at a different journal right now.

My rosy outlook on reviews stems from learning more about the process and others' experiences. First, I have now been a reviewer myself. From the other side of the review, you can appreciate the time and effort that (hopefully) goes into the reviews and respect that effort more in your revisions. Second, as it turns out- (almost) everyone gets rejected! My advisor gets rejected. The famous scientist that I idolize and get nervous just thinking about talking to? Yeah- gets rejected! The amazing writer who my lab relies on for a lot of editing? Gets rejected! Knowing this makes it much easier to avoid falling into the anxiety ridden hole where poor reviews are judgements of your ability as a scientist or worth as a person. Finally, I am slowly learning that reviews really do make a paper better and that if you stick to it, you will improve the paper and it will get published. It might have taken 18 months to resubmit that paper after the horrible review but the important part is that it got done. If it gets rejected again, well, I will resubmit again. I recently congratulated a fantastic, well respected young faculty member on her most recent paper. It was an interesting, well written and novel piece of science. She told me she had submitted it 5 times before it got accepted. Persistence will pay off eventually.

whoops...

2008-07-16T20:25:00.005-04:00

I planned to post something interesting about rejections at the request of commenters and since I got one on Monday morning (boo).

Then V wanted margaritas and you know, I just hate to see limes go to waste! So instead, here are some more field work related critter pictures. As is often the case, rejections will be dealt with tomorrow...

The falls

2008-07-13T17:27:00.004-04:00

In finishing V's recent field work, we got to explore some amazing natural areas in and around parks in the area. Every summer since I moved here has been spent in the field for extended periods of time (if not the whole time). V has helped me in the field multiple times so it is nice to finally be able to give him a hand. Plus, getting to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors and still sleep in my own bed is seriously the best!

Summer of Submission

2008-07-11T11:00:00.003-04:00

This summer is all about publications. I have a backlog of data that is collected but not published. My advisor has lectured me about it so now is the time to get rid of it. Need to clear the desk and my mind before I power away on dissertation data and papers that are actually about what I really, really do.
Sneks and I collaborate on many of these smaller projects and she also has a bunch of preliminary data and other projects to get out as well, thus we have dubbed this the Summer of Submission. Things got rolling for me at the end of April with the first paper. It was rejected but will be resubmitted elsewhere by Tuesday (just got the last authors comments on the revision today).
Paper #2 is a long overdue thing from my time at my MS institution. It had also been rejected over a year ago but was resubmitted in June. My coauthor has been a source of frustration with this paper. They are doing fieldwork so drop out of touch for a month at a time with no notice. This data is 5 years old and really, it is just time to be able to move on with our lives.
Paper #3 is the one we sent to Schmiance and now sent to somewhere more appropriate*. We should hear very soon. According to the official website we are "Awaiting final decision." This paper is really neat. It is simple but novel. The most exciting thing about it is that we have figures that we submitted for the cover of the journal. If we got the cover, I might faint. That would be the coolest.....
With these 3 out in submission-land, I am starting work on the second round.
Paper #4 is very, very, very small due to horrible field conditions that season that resulted in a super small sample size. It has been a struggle for me to write so my advisor agreed to take it over. For some reason, every time I go to send it on though, I just write more of it. I swear I am sending it today....after I finish the results and make all the graphs.
Paper #5 is a many author, multi-year study. We interpreted the data this week and agreed upon a small journal. It should be fun to write as it relates to my dissertation research.
Paper #6 is a big chapter of dissertation fieldwork and will be what I present at the Big International Conference in August. It will be submitted soon after that talk to include any good feedback I get from it. Once it is out, there is the bonus that a chapter of the diss is also done!

For now, we are waiting and are really hoping to be enjoying an Autumn of Acceptance**.

*If you are noticing a trend that everything I submit is rejected, you are right. All but 1 paper I've ever worked on has been rejected first before being accepted. It has happened enough that I am actually ok with this (not that I have a choice)...
**Thankfully there are two words for this season because the Fall of Failure doesn't sound so good.

Resolution of the postdoc application

2008-07-10T20:46:00.003-04:00

Well, I heard back from Postdoc Guy. He said all my stuff looks good but the timing as he is hiring immediately. He also told me that the position may open again next year since it is rushed this year and to get back in touch when I am defending.

Stuff looked good! He was interested! Yay*!

I knew it was a long shot but sounds good to have gotten my name out there (at least to one person). Who knows, maybe it will still work out later on. I'm not really bummed because I want to finish the school year here at my university and it is quite a motivating experience. Nothing like thinking about a next step to get your butt in gear to finish what you are currently doing!

*Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!

Ok

2008-07-01T16:23:00.002-04:00

I just sent a postdoc application.

Going for beer.

more later....

A different kind of balance

2008-06-26T23:19:00.006-04:00

V had a good time at his first ever conference. He met awesome scientists and on one particular night had far too good a time. He was hurting the next day and honestly, I can't even remember the last time he was this hungover! Luckily, he didn't embarrass himself like the unfortunate girl who was hitting on everyone (including V!).

After I was done laughing (and laughing.....and laughing some more) at him in his sorry state, I started thinking about the balance involved in conference drinking behavior. Obviously, this balance is different for everyone. Not everyone drinks or hangs out socially at conferences, and that is fine. It just happens that a lot of folks in our fields do both and so do we. So the balance for us is in finding how to go out and have fun while networking, without feeling the need to 'keep up' (V's downfall) and be hungover for the next mornings activities.

My first conference was much like V's, I tried to keep up and was intellectually non-existent for the morning sessions. Not so smart on my part. At my second conference (where I was giving first talk) one host-friend was determined to get me drunk. I was a good grad student and went back to the hotel early to get a good nights sleep. The problem was that I missed all the late night fun. This was a very, very small conference so anyone who did go out (including big wigs) all went out together. With more experience and having covered both extremes, I'm starting to understand my balance. That is, how hard it is to be awake, aware and involved with early morning (and long days of) talks, and what my body and mind need to be able to do it. Personally, I can handle little sleep by mainlining coffee and feel fine. But I can't function hungover so can't drink too much. Closing down the bar has served me well in terms of networking but I just have to remember to opt for water instead of another beer.

We will have to see if I remember this in August at the Major International Conference....

To apply now or later

2008-06-26T22:57:00.004-04:00

Some really awesome people in my field are taking applications for postdocs right now. There are about 5 that I would be ok doing and 3 that I would looooovvveeeee to do. The problem is that they are all hiring rightnow and I don't actually have the 'doc' required for the postdoc. Much advice I have been given is to just apply anyway, explain my time frame and hope for the best. Get the name out there.
But do I really want to rush my dissertation to go off and start something- even if it is awesome?
Won't there be awesome people advertising in Dec/Jan or even next year at this time? Why rush it when I could have time to write my diss and get everything submitted and all my other papers out as well. And also enjoy my house/husband/life before moving away again.

I think the very best advice I have gotten is to stop worrying. Anxiety about taking positions I haven't been offered is rather unnecessary. The back and forth, apply or wait argument has kept me up the past few nights and it isn't worth the worry. I am going to try my best to take this advice, but we'll have to see how that goes...

OMG!

2008-06-24T12:13:00.002-04:00

This might be the cutest thing i've seen (outside of my own pets) in a while.

This shit is bananas

2008-06-21T19:27:00.002-04:00

V is in research mode so in a work related request, he asked me to get a bunch of bananas today. While he meant 1 extra bunch of bananas, I interpreted this as a whole lot of bananas. I needed some for eating and making smoothies, thus, I bought 4 big bunches of bananas. This was weird to everyone else in line and the check out kid.
Not thinking it was so much I checked the receipts. Turns out- I bought 11 pounds of bananas.

Never thought that would happen. Bananas are heavy, eh?

Welcome back!

2008-06-10T23:19:00.004-04:00

I'm back home after a week of camping in the desert and a week of failures at the Desert Outpost. It was interesting....here are some high and low lights....

Most of what I planned and tried in the field didn't work. In the end, some data turned out ok. It isn't too exciting, but solid enough for dissertation/publication and that was all I needed.
The weather was more extreme than expected. 115+ on multiple days. The physically taxing work combined with the heat was rough.
I hardly slept at all. Lots of wind to blow the tents around and 100 degree heat at sunset.
Camping alone is not something I had done before or will ever do again. I had a major anxiety attack the first night and went back to Desert Outpost 2 nights early to avoid doing it again.
People are awesome. The staff at the site were super helpful. Another guy I have seen every summer for the past 3 years remembers me, asks great questions about my work and shared a mango with me. A local business also was very supportive and gave me great deals on supplies. Seriously. Awesome.
More awesome people: you might remember the worst conference ever from March. Luckily, some networking I did there payed off. Two profs, 5 students and a kid came out to help me and rocked out some data collecting.
I found a western diamondback rattlesnake while herping.
Some javelinas were all up in the neighboring campsite. Like 10 of them and they were fighting and eating up all their food. Some old dude with a thick Texas accent yelled "Git! You git outta herr!" at 2am. Hilarious.
Doing labwork was a comedy of errors. Running out of reagents, power outages, people I was working with getting sent home early for ridiculous reasons. In the end, none of my stuff worked but the ball is rolling and hopefully the lab will turn out my samples quickly.
Less than a week after I got back, V is off to his first conference! We spent the week hanging out and enjoying each others company so I am just now getting back to the blog and catching up on any blog reading!
I haven't been alone (well, it is just me and the pets) in my house in over 2 years! It is weird but the quiet is strangely nice. Plus, with nothing else to do, I can get some old projects done. While there is still one coat to go, our living room is almost all painted!

I can't wait to catch up on all the blogs and am very happy to be back! Exciting times- it is open season on postdoc positions....

Last one...

2008-06-01T23:48:00.003-04:00

Forecast for my field site...
Mon: 105
Tues: 106
Wed: 106
Thurs: 104
Fri: 95
Sat: 99
Sun: 102
Mon: 101
Tues: 100

From the severe weather warnings: This hot spell has the potential to rank in the top ten occurrences of consecutive 100 degree days and to rank in the top three occurrences of consectutive 105 degree days since records began being kept in 1930.

Good thing I packed extra sunscreen (and liquids, and bought an extra hat, and extra long sleeve shirt!)

Bye!

2008-05-30T23:37:00.003-04:00

I'm 6 hours and 15 minutes till my flight. I need to finish packing still! I'm in a better mood about it all so that is good. No turning back now!

I think I will have some Internet access (it is remote, but even remote has to keep up with the times!). If I don't, I will be back and commenting very late on all your posts in about two weeks.

Oh- I have to say that I have the best husband ever! He took me to the 10:50 am showing of Sex and the City. I would see it some point in time anyway but wanted to see it opening weekend to avoid spoilers and also to support a woman driven film in the summer blockbuster season. If Sex and the City could have a bigger opening than Indiana Jones- I think that would be huge. As a plus- it was WAY better than Indiana Jones.

Ok, bye for now!

Lonely lab

2008-05-29T14:43:00.004-04:00

My advisor and lab mates are all gone for 3 weeks of field work. This would be awesome for labwork, if I had any to do. Instead, I am enjoying computer analyses, writing and reading. I thought this time would be super productive with all the peace and quiet, however, it really has been about the same but with different, nice weather related distractions. The Chronicle recently had an article about what it looks like to work. If you were to watch me work this week, it would be pretty pathetic. My computer and I are morphing into one and when not staring at the screen, I find myself staring out the window. Despite this unmoving display, I have re-analysed data, found about 100 relevant papers and most importantly-- done a lot of thinking.
Luckily, I am not too bothered by my lack of outward progress because....
I get to go into the field this weekend!!!!!!

Are you convinced that I am excited about that? Ugh. The main reasons I am soooo not excited about this trip: 1) Don't know if my methods will work. 2) Have to try to do experiments with no assistance which is going to be hard. 3) Camping alone for 2 weeks in temps that range from 98-102. 4) I really wish that I wasn't doing this replacement chapter in the first place.

I know it is time to suck it up and get down to work, I'm just having a hard time doing it. Usually I love field work, but this trip feels like a chore. Luckily, V is being very good about reiterating that being upset about it will do no good and it is getting close enough that I am past being too whiny about it*.

So far, reading other, similar studies has been helpful in getting in the right mindset and focusing on organizing the details has kept me moving forward. How do you get yourself psyched to do things you have to (but don't want to) do?

*My friends and family are awesome. I whine a lot. They listen AND even still like me despite it. Love them!

RBOC

2008-05-25T21:37:00.002-04:00

As of Saturday morning, I can't move my head to the right. I hope the health center is open tomorrow but I doubt it with the holiday.
Our paper got rejected. Boo. The reviews were not that bad. They wanted some different analyses and more justification. Alright. That is cool and fixable. There are two parts that suck. First, I may have misinterpreted a paper. This was pointed out by (most likely based on the review) the author of that paper whom I admire and would like it impress. Instead, I look like a stupid ass. Second, I was docked for not knowing some current literature. Like a paper that came out AFTER we submitted. Geez! Given that the reviews weren't that bad, I will stop taking it personally and get down to reworking it soon. Just an unpleasant Saturday night email.
In anticipation of the impending anniversary, we went to play outside today! Part scouting field sites for V and part hiking in state parks made for a lovely day.
Our lives have been forever changed. We bought..................a vacuum. My small one was not doing its job with the pet hair problems around this place. Our new one even has special pet-hair attachments! The house has never been cleaner and I have never found cleaning more exciting!

Fit

2008-05-24T12:45:00.004-04:00

With graduation fading in our memories, my lab is undergoing a change. One of our own is leaving. They are off to an assistant professor job. It is a position they seem happy with and we are all happy to see them off to succeed in the world. The Advisor, other faculty, other labmates, other students and myself have all had difficulties with this person* and I wish them the best in their new life.

Mad Hatter talked about the 'airport test' and how fit is much more than just personality. She actually says most of what I have been thinking about, and in a far more linear way so check it out if you haven't already.

So how does fit relate to a graduating student? Well, our lab has never run more smoothly**. Lab meetings are fun. It is a more supportive environment now. The person who left was never unsupportive or anything...but the entire atmosphere has changed and we are all a little more relaxed.
In addition to the huge influence of one single person, I find it interesting that as labs evolve what constitutes fit will change dramatically. Given that the rest of us get along well, what we look for in our incoming student is very different than when I started. A big part of my litmus test on my interview was how I would fare with someone difficult. I was put one on one with lab members and advisor was up front about potential personality conflicts. Our incoming student was thrown in with all of us to see how they would handle the possibly-overwhelming group of us.

Finally, this fit talk is everywhere. Between starting this post and publishing this post I heard from a postdoc acquaintance who just accepted a job. With three (3!!!!!!!!!, 2 at R1s) offers, the reason for their choice: 'it feels like a really good fit.' In all my postdoc hunting, I have kept my own feelings about where I fit in the back of my mind. The prestige or fame of PI or money issues have taken center stage but they really probably shouldn't.

* Which remain unbloggable.
**In my time there. Also, I am the only lab member on campus. I run smoothly all by myself but that is fodder for a different post. Possibly not with the usual 1o day interlude.

crunch

2008-05-22T23:37:00.002-04:00

A new BMW gets up close and personal with a old Buick. Guess which one was carrying the two grad students and which one was carrying the lawyer on the Blackberry.

There was surprisingly little damage- if it had been my car (instead of V's) things would have been much worse. The impact even knocked the inside cover to the sunroof back about 8 inches! We are both sore and I have a headache still (even thought this happened yesterday) but will be fine.

I'm working on actual content but will wait to post tomorrow for fear that well, it might not make any darn sense right now.

Hooding done right

2008-05-20T21:51:00.003-04:00

My first time being in the state for graduation festivities, for I found the hooding ceremony to be quite enjoyable.

Recovery

2008-05-20T20:29:00.006-04:00

Thanks for all the good wishes for V! He aced the part that he was fearing and despite being a bit uncomfortable with the format (is being drilled questions in front of an audience ever comfortable??) did great. In the aftermath, we had much beer (anyone else familiar with Anderson Valley?)

We had a very relaxing weekend working on the yard. Last week, our courtyard was all gloom and doom and pink (ugh) flowers everywhere.

This weekend, we have cleaned up the beds and planted flowers*!

I am just happy to have my husband back!

*I *might* have overdone it with the marigolds...but so colorful!

Yay!

2008-05-16T21:19:00.002-04:00

V passed his quals!

Yippee!

Details later...

Wait a second

2008-05-14T14:45:00.002-04:00

Patience is not my strong point and I am not a fan of waiting. Today, however, all I am doing is waiting. My paper has gone from "Under review" to "Awaiting decision." AND my summer conference is supposed to email with talk vs. poster decisions tomorrow. I am anxious and just trying to not constantly check email/paper submission site. V has been good about waiting decisions with exams. He just keeps studying. I am keeping that in mind and plugging away on work stuff. As long as the weather holds, a run is in the works as well.
How do you deal with awaiting decisions?

Quals update

2008-05-13T21:42:00.003-04:00

After a long week, we got unofficial work on Friday that V passed the written part of his exams. Official word came yesterday. The time in limbo was mostly spent studying, relaxing and drinking. One of my labmates also took writtens with V. So on Friday, we joined the rest of the lab at Labmate's apartment to play Guitar Hero. That lasted 15 minutes and we moved on to Beer Pong. Neither V nor I had ever played before so Labmate was particularly excited to corrupt us older folks. We played males vs. females and my lack of distance perception did me no favors. Beer Pong = Ouch*!

The oral part of the exam will be this week. Everything is very rushed due to professors' field schedules. Labmate takes orals tomorrow evening and V is on deck for Friday morning. Can't wait for it to be over!

*Good fun though.

splurge

2008-05-13T21:33:00.002-04:00

I am completely in love with this. I might have to go to the mall tomorrow....to try it on and be reminded why I don't wear bikinis.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T19:53:00.004-04:00

My mom is pretty fantastic. She does whatever she can to help me, and has taught me more than I can fathom. Given my field, she is pretty amazing in that she always tries to understand my work and learn from me too. All in all, I'm pretty lucky.

Love ya, Mom!

Linky linky

2008-05-10T20:29:00.002-04:00

This evening I finally updated my blogroll. Been meaning to do it for months. It seems like a long list but I got bored about halfway through my bloglines so I might have missed some...so if I missed anyone who would like to be included, please leave me a comment!

color figures

2008-05-08T10:21:00.003-04:00

The research in my lab is not very costly in general. The money that we do get is from strange sources but it gets the job done. That is until we are getting ready to submit a paper and we realize that color figures cost money. Money that we don't have. Our options are pretty fantastic though:

Get it from a different grant
Beg the department
Ask for it for Xmas from our parents (although I have already asked my mom for a plane ticket to a conference for my graduation)
Tax returns
Bake sale
Car wash
Win a kareoke or other type of talent contest like in a movie or sitcom

Any other suggestions?

cut and run

2008-05-07T21:17:00.003-04:00

I have been waiting (since Feb.) for comments on a paper from a very important non-author. Those comments came through last night and the biggest one suggests we submit to a bigger journal which is more likely to result in a(nother) rejection. Plus, it will require cutting almost half the word count. Ack.

I don't think I want to do it. Despite loving the chance for a bigger journal, it could be submitted as is on Friday to the smaller but solid journal I had in mind. It just needs to be over. There is a backlog of other projects, trying to figure out (and write?) a postdoc and the ol' diss. My advisor agrees with me. My labmate agrees with me. My coauthor? Wants to cut it down.

Why, oh why won't this project end?

ummmm, right.

2008-05-05T11:10:00.003-04:00

Alright, I know I was all ready to goof off on Friday but seriously. The faculty are worse than the students around here. If it isn't playing the bongo drums in your office, it is playing basketball. In the hallway. On a Monday morning. During finals.

Good thoughts please!

2008-05-05T09:21:00.003-04:00

Please send your best thoughts our way as V, one of my labmates and two other friends embark on their qualifying exams today! There are written exams then an oral. The way the exam is set up, it is not your typical comprehensive exam (that comes later). For most, it has very little to do with your research or area of study at all. The exam is based upon a number of pre-approved courses that you take. We are a diverse department so those courses are quite diverse as well. While all the courses are interesting, there is a big leap between interesting and qualifying exam intense studying. V has done a much better job of it that I did. He seems to have far more persistence for sticking with those 'interesting' courses. About 1/3 of my studying time was devoted to looking for industry jobs that I got apply for after I failed the exams. Not allowing for any lulls in excitement, I also had the closing on my house the day before my orals. Luckily I passed and my claim-to-fame story (my advisor makes sure we each have one) is that as soon as the committee came out of the room to congratulate me, I collapsed to the floor. The relief of seeing smiling faces and release of stress culminated in having to sit down in the hallway.
Any other good exam passing stories out there?

I have no doubt V will pass with ease but please wish him (and all the others) luck anyway!

Derby day!

2008-05-03T17:06:00.003-04:00

The Derby starts in an hour and I am still undecided about my choice of horse! At least I have narrowed it down...
Eight Belles: The first filly since 1999 and only 3 fillies have ever won. It would be nice to have a lady horse win. Plus, she is beauuuutiful...
Cowboy Cal: Shares a nickname with a certain pooch I know.
Z Humor: Good pedigree, good lookin'.
Big brown: Good name but I can't go with the favorite!

I also usually like the biggest horse but I can't seem to figure out the sizes of any of this years contenders....

Final call: Eight Belles it is! Off to watch!

UPDATE: She got second, broke both ankles and was immediately euthenized on the track. I don't think I like the Derby anymore...

Fish pics

2008-04-30T22:53:00.005-04:00

I finally figured out how to take some decent pictures of our African cichlids*.

This guy is my absolute favorite. Look at the blue on his face!

*Not all pictures are from AFTER I figured it out. My favorite male has since stopped breeding though.

When the cat's away

2008-04-30T22:13:00.006-04:00

The mice will....uhhhh...work? Right now would be the perfect time to goof off. My advisor is out of town and the semester is basically over! However, a lot of folks are out of town (or going out of town) and V is still studying for quals (next week!). So instead, I will just try to take advantage of the quiet and get some work done. Hopefully 2 more papers will get submitted in May! And that ticker will move it along!

The lower stress work-time will be nice. After I got word that I might not be able to finish one of my dissertation chapters, it was a mad whirlwind to figure out what to do. I threw together a replacement experiment and proposal. My first field experiment went so well that I am going to try to do another complementary field study. Field work is high risk but typically you always end up with something. I sent my proposal to my committee yesterday and none of them seem to really care. It is a good thing that they have faith in my abilities to do something else- I just hope they feel the same way after it is done!

A quick break

2008-04-23T22:43:00.005-04:00

I'm off to IL for the weekend for my grandfathers' memorial service. V will be staying home to study for quals. It will be difficult without him but he is less than 2 weeks from the exams so he needs to be here. My bff and I are going to take advantage of the rare husbandlessness (her significant other is also busy) to enjoy a stop to my favorite little restaurant for steak and lobster. Really, all you can get is steak and lobster*. Comes with a giant potato and a pound of butter. And salad with amazing homemade dressings. And real old-school cocktails...yum!
Evan with the short work week, I managed to get a paper submitted today (woo!) and hopefully will get some other small tasks completed despite travelling. You know, tasks other than watching LOST and eating a ton.

I still have to pack but just got a wicked case of hiccups.
How do you get rid of hiccups?

*Just don't question the lobster in a land locked state...

Music meme

2008-04-22T23:10:00.007-04:00

I got tagged for this now! Thanks to ScienceGirl!

Seen so far at Luckybuzz and Addy N......
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through (or italicize) when someone gets them right
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is cheating.

I skipped songs without words or not in English and it turned out a pretty good mix of my music...
Good luck!

1. I don't wanna waste your time
2. I know a girl who thinks of ghosts -Flaming Lips
3. I'm in love with the world/ through the eyes of a girl /who's still around the morning after
4. This is a calling card
5. Ooohh baby, I'm not a mindreader
6. No matter how hard I try/ you kept pushing me aside - Orginially Cher, but my version is by Bedhead Loves Macha
7. There's a destination a little up the road
8. All the modern things like cars and such -Bjork
9. Someone elses' day someones elses' door
10. I want/to be a good woman
11. When I call you up, your line's engaged -The Beatles
12. Here I dreamt I was a soldier/ and I marched the streets of Birkenau
13. I could be sleeping I could be dreaming
14. Words and guitar/ I got em
15. I was born a unicorn
16. I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll this time
17. As I walked out on the streets of Laredo -Johnny Cash or Willie Nelson in my library
18. Traffic in my city turns my head around
19. Crab if you want her/ she won't be coming down - Weezer
20. He was just a working man
21. Evening star struck one
22. It's all a waste of time again
23. It's the perfect time of year/ somewhere far away from here - Barenaked Ladies
24. Left uninspired by the crust of railroad earth
25. Early one morning while making the rounds

writing in public

2008-04-22T09:34:00.003-04:00

My labmate and I are at writing date. Working on our laptops. There are 2 other young women also working on laptops. There is also a group behind us ranting on and on and on about people using computers all the time. Forget computer viruses- "Computers ARE the virus."
Sometimes, working in public is not so good because you have to deal with the public and the public is pretty annoying as a whole.

In better news, I voted! Yay me!

Back to writing date....

German Shepard turned messenger pigeon

2008-04-19T12:01:00.005-04:00

V is holed up in our office, surrounded by quals studying materials. I needed some files from his computer but was in no hurry to get them. Instead of waiting or just bringing them to me, he puts the animals to good use. It was risky, considering that the dog recently ate the tv remote, but V just put the flash drive around his neck* and told me to call him. It worked! The super amazing Data Transfer Dog!

*He is very used to collars and leashes of all sorts and has never tripped over them. Also, he only had to go about 20 ft., no stairs and was in sight of both of us the whole time. It was a low risk procedure.

Weekend To-Do

2008-04-19T11:52:00.004-04:00

Oh, such a beautiful weekend! I've got lots of plans to:
Finish grading (I'm lazy. I know.)
Finish a skirt
Start a dress
~~Finish knitting some armwarmers~~
Go for a run ~~lift some weights~~
Mop the floor
~~Clean up the yard (in hopes of BBQs before my friends scatter for the summer)~~
Do laundry ~~dishes~~
~~Go to a knitting meet-up~~
~~Go to a party~~
~~Avoid cake at said party~~
~~Read articles for possible new experiment~~
Take some data
Do some writing

I bet a bunch of this will spill over into next week but I better get started on my non-lazy weekend!

Too many PhDs

2008-04-16T22:40:00.002-04:00

I mentioned that there were 6+ dissertation defences this month in my department. Today it dawned on me that have so many PhDs in the world may not be the best thing. Why? The competitive job market? The excess of adjuncts? The funding crunch?
No.
The cake. We freaking have cake twice a week. Today there was no defense and still, there were 3 brand new cakes to eat for something else! While V has given up sugar, I have no control over cake. Turning down cake just seems wrong. It would be nice to just avoid it but that is difficult when you have to congratulate the newly minted PhDs. Lately, I have been better about avoiding the sweets people bring in to share but oooooooooo the cake....

Payback

2008-04-15T20:51:00.002-04:00

Things were sailing a bit too smoothly there. I had 6 weeks of 1 experiment left to run and was going to be home for the majority of the summer (a first for me). Met and got the a-ok from most of my committee members (I only met with 4 of 5). That unfinished experiment already has some exciting data that is the first of its kind. And now, completely due to crap beyond my, or anyones', control- I might not be able to finish the experiment. There is a chance it could be completed, but it is going to be pushed back later in the summer and if it doesn't happen I am screwed. Now I have to come up with something else.
The loss of cool data sucks. The fact that I have to come up with a replacement chapter sucks even more. It isn't going to gel very well with the rest of what I have done and won't be nearly as cool. Uhhhh, yeah, then there is the whole issue of coming up with an idea, experimental design and getting it executed.
I had gotten to the point where I was done and convinced that I would not start anything else. Of course, I start talking about postdocs, started to answer the 'when will you finish' questions with a little bit of confidence.

Damn.

Not a good day. At least Deadliest Catch is on...

Parades Go By

2008-04-13T21:46:00.003-04:00

April is a-flutter with dissertation defenses in my department. This is cool as it is a lot of data supporting the hypothesis that yes, people actually graduate. Despite any and all challenges, it happens. Tomorrow, one of my labmates will defend her dissertation. It will be the first defense from my lab that I will be in the state to see. For a while I was worried that the flight cancellations last week would keep me from getting back in time. Luckily, I'm home and now very excited for tomorrow! I hope it goes well and am looking forward to the celebration.

Of course, she is the last remaining student in the lab that is senior to me. Expect a rumination on the realities of Being Next later in the week....

Oops

2008-04-11T18:26:00.002-04:00

I gave my special talk this morning. It went well. There were some technical difficulties but 3 computers and 2 Windows updates later, they were sorted out just in time to start the session. Mine was the second talk so I launched into it and was feeling good. It was early but early enough that people were still awake. I was finding friends in the audience of 200+ and my nerves quickly went away. My video was awesome. I turned back to the audience to describe my field site, which is big. I absentmindedly gestured to emphasize its size. My arm knocked over my water glass and it went FLYING. It seemed like it was in slow motion but it tumbled, water was everywhere and then the glass smashed all over the floor.
I didn't curse or laugh but then was all over the place with my methods. Forgot my stats details (but went back to them after graphs were up...ugh). Finished the talk in good time while somebody cleaned up the glass at my feet.

At least people remember me....even if it is for all the wrong reasons.

Busy enough for bullets

2008-04-08T20:40:00.004-04:00

My trip went fantastic! My committee member was totally on board with my preliminary data and summer research plan. She even thinks that some chapters could be split into multiple papers.
The postdoc conversation was a difficult one to have and I waited as long as possible to have it. It also went well. She would 'love to have' me as a postdoc and would happily write something with me. In addition to possible funding from her next grant proposal. In addition to other possible funding for a year if first round of grants don't get funded. Plus, there is a lot of potential in her system and it could be really great research. Yay!
I made it through another committee member today. 3 out of 5 committee members agree that Dancingfish is A-ok.
Things have been busy. With V studying so much, I have tried to pick up household tasks despite the fact that I am not so good at housework. So far, laundry is going ok as long as I remember to get it out when the washer is done. Dishes must be motivated by a reward but I am getting good at all aspects of mammalian pet care. The pooch even gets brushed regularly!
Not too much else going on. Spending time with V means working or doing things around the house. Lots of projects but nothing completed.
Thursday brings another trip. I need one of these to be a vacation. With V. And no work involved.

More meetings

2008-03-30T22:05:00.004-04:00

Now that I am pretty much done teaching (only 9 reports to grade next weekend), April will be a flurry of meetings. I am attending another conference in 2 weeks. This one should be fun- it is usually a very boozey affair and it is a fun group of folks including a colleague from Desert Outpost, non-profit collaborator and the outside committee member for my dissertation. My abstract was also selected to be a highlighted student talk in a plenary session. Very good for the committee member to see, methinks! Of course, I have to figure out what to wear again too. The red dress worked well last time. Despite some overlap in the crowd, it will most likely be making another appearance.
The most important aspect of this meeting will be meeting with my committee member to update him on my progress and make sure that what I have planned for my final field season will suffice for the PhD requirements. You know, assuming I get interesting results.
Due to a bit of weirdness at the time, I have 2 outside committee members and this week I am driving down to mid-Atlantic city to meet with the other member. She is a person of special interest to me, as I would love to do a post-doc with her. During my visit, we will tour the lab, participate in a journal club, update her on my progress and hopefully talk projects and funding. ACK!
I spent today analyzing data, making graphs and putting a presentation together with all my projects and preliminary results (and baking blueberry muffins). The data part will come together but the biggest worry is the journal club. We don't really do those and I don't have the paper yet!
Luckily, we have one less distraction at home. The dog ate the tv remote this afternoon.

bloggy blogging

2008-03-26T22:34:00.003-04:00

When I started blogging, I had been a knitting PhD student for a year. I purchased my house in June, went off to field work for 6 weeks and started knit blogging at the urging of Amandamonkey and Hamster_grrl in August. This was an outlet for my creative and house-related projects. It was a place to post pictures for my family and friends.

This week I had my 10,000th visitor to my little blog. Now, I know about half of those are my mom and at least another fourth are me trying to see if my template formatting really worked. Still, I never imagined I would have many visits!

Posts these days are much more focused on grad life, research and academia (and kitties!) than they are knitting, but it reflects changes in life (and available time) over the past few years.
One thing that hasn't changed is that I am grateful to you for reading! The support and advice I have gotten from readers has been amazing. The communities of women in science/women in grad school/knitters are strong and I am proud to be a part of them. Even more than numbers, I never imagined blogging could lead me to feeling such a part of a community. Thank you! Here's to 20,000!

Woo hoo!

2008-03-25T22:52:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was my last day teaching for the YEAR! I still have a number of students meetings and 12 reports to grade but formal meetings for my course are complete for the semester. Plus, I got a fellowship for the fall semester so it is over for 2008! Yay!

Off to celebrate (aka sleep) and get down to the business of that progress bar in the morn'...

Starting something new

2008-03-23T20:38:00.003-04:00

Today found me starting a task that is vital to my dissertation, huge, and tedious. I have put off this data collection for a while but it is now time to buckle down. I had a lot of excuses for putting it off and they were all pretty much crap: organizing, teaching, other projects, trying to finish writing things up first. As I finished a couple samples, I mentioned to V that I should have done this a long time ago. Even as I was totally prepared this afternoon, it was hard to just start. I was so worried about messing it up or not doing it just right. Of course, it turns out that it is easy. And if I mess something up, I can redo it or fix it. All the procrastination and fear was just so worthless...

Well, V is also buckling down because he takes quals/comps whatever you call them the BIG exams starting the first week of May. I was not yet a blogger at the time of my exams so will have to re-cap my experiences with them sometime in the next month or so.
My own data related task at hand is looming as committee meetings are scheduled and my return to my research site is imminent. I am staying here through V's exams so that he has more support and less house/pet stress. Then it is out West for one final season in which I will finish my dissertation research in a blaze of glory.
Or, more realistically, I will finish with a whimper and a sigh followed by an evening of drinking good tequila.

But we aren't there yet- all the candy around here has been eaten so I must get back to it...

Ugly Dress

2008-03-20T22:41:00.005-04:00

I referenced my last sewing project, but though that the hideousness should be shared with the world. First, I want to make clear that despite this totally, utter failure, I learned a lot from the project. Such as...

How to make gathers.
And thus, ruffles.
That if the directions call for a step, you shouldn't skip it even if you don't understand it and don't want to drive to the fabric store again to get the right kind of interfacing. If you think something isn't going to fit. Fix it as soon as possible. You won't want to take the whole dress apart to fix it later.
I like purple.
Sizing is different if you use stretchy fabric.

Well, the thing is far, far too big on me. To make matters worse, I'm not convinced the style would be flattering if it were even the right size. Perhaps if I were trying to hide a pregnancy, which I am not (either pregnant or hiding it).

I plan on making a tank top out of the material from the skirt. Currently, I have 2 skirts started and fabric for another dress. The skirts are fabulous and the dress will make me SO ready for spring weather!

Oh yes, and I had help with the dress. Perhaps he was trying to warn me. Or at least stop me...

The joys of marriage

2008-03-20T22:12:00.004-04:00

I thought getting married was supposed to help me get a higher tax refund. It didn't. We actually increase our refund (by a lot) by filing separately. Weird right?
The biggest tax break couldn't replace this anyway...

Presentation date

2008-03-18T22:53:00.006-04:00

Writing date is still going strong- we even recruited a new writer! Sneks takes the prize with a big 900 (!!!) words in just over 3 hours! It was discussion too- not just methods or something easy!
I cheated on the writing portion today and mostly worked on a presentation. I then gave said presentation at my departments informal student seminar series this afternoon. The talk was on a side project that was started 2+ years ago. We are trying to write it up but the results aren't great. It could have about 30 more experiments and still seem incomplete. The topic is relatively new and what work has been done produces complex (sometimes conflicting) results. The audience had a lot of questions and I had very few answers. Most of the questions were of the 'Why don't you do X?' or Y? or J? variety. Well. To tell the truth, I had to stop doing experiments on this project because I didn't want it to be my dissertation. But between the cold I'm still fighting, my recent decision to minimize side projects from here on out and the ambiguity of the results I am just happy it is over! The paper will be to coauthors by the weeks end I can move on with my life! Moving things along feels so nice...

Better late than never

2008-03-16T20:52:00.004-04:00

I missed allll the fun posts about how many hours people work in a week vs how many hours academics should work in a week.

It is late, but here are my 2 cents. First off, I am tired of the stories of how all professors that have ever gotten jobs anywhere spend from 7 am till 7 pm in the lab and took only 5 days off throughout their entire graduate school experiance. Alright, and you had to walk uphill both ways to your lab and back too right? Barefoot and in the snow, I bet!

Compared to other students in my department, I work a lot. Not the most, and definitly not the least. Lately, 6-8 hour days are normal, followed by 1-2 hours at home after dinner, possibly in front of the tv. I do some work every weekend day. Not always a lot but at least an hour or 2 of grading. The schedule fluctuates with seasons, deadlines and experiments. When it is nice out, we will leave early to go running. When I am running experiments in the field, they are 13 hour days every third day with 10 hour days in between. That schedule repeats as long as I can stand it. Or until I run out of food and have to take a day off to grocery shop.

It seems like as long as you get your work done, it shouldn't matter how many hours you work. The kicker, of course, is that there is always more work to be done. More data, grants, papers to write. So, when does it stop? When you get so burnt out that you never want to see a journal article again? The link above has a lot of good suggestions for how to balance work with a non-work life. I think (as pointed out by many others) being efficiant helps. The days that are really focused on work, I feel less guilty for not working at home. Overall, I just try to take breaks when I need them and do enjoyable non-work things every day. Which reminds me- I have the ugliest purple dress to show you!

Honestly, I don't mind working so much. It is an investment in getting a job I will love someday (hopefully). My husband is still in classes so is doing schoolwork most of the time. We hang out together in our office, surrounded with pets, books, papers and computers. Since we are homebodies, it isn't too bad. As poor grad students, we can't afford to do much else and at least in the winter, can't spend time doing fun stuff outside anyway. I am sure my attitudes about time spent working will change with the stages of my career and as our home life changes. However, I doubt that the number of hours I work will ever decrease...

Back

2008-03-11T00:17:00.002-04:00

I am back from my trip and, ugh, it was the worst conference experience ever. Travelling was bad both there and back. Some registration problems, only about 7 people from my subfield, bad weather, no sleep and I've been sick since I got back.
Not all bad though. I had 2 undergrad women track me down after my talk to ask me about my field and how I got involved in it. I got to judge some talks. Touched base with some funding folks and had quite a bit of fun with some conference friends.

Tomorrow it is back to our regular writing date and hopefully business (and blogging) as usual.

I'm an idiot

2008-03-05T22:47:00.002-05:00

I have been trying to fit my talk in 12 minutes. Cutting here, revising there. The quickest I have done it is 12:54. Then, I thought it was weird for my talk to start at 7:40* when it was a 15 minute talk. Turns out, it is 20. I can say everything I want, slow down a bit and even add a slide if I am still too short after a few more practices.
Ugh. Such an idiot!

*Not actual time.

Another reason to work from home

2008-03-04T15:11:00.002-05:00

I lost my watch. Technically, I did not lose it though. Actually, I put it somewhere and the cat knocked it around and now I can't find it. Luckily, it beeps on the hour so once and hour I have a chance at locating it. I go to a different room and just sit quietly for 5 minutes in hopes of hearing that little 'beep, beep.' So far- no luck. The fear of its batteries going out or of the tiny speaker being muffled against something is starting to set in. Seriously, I need my watch. Practicing a 12 minutes talk is difficult with no timer. Luckily, I have about 36 more 'beep,beeps' to find it before I head south.

RBO Good

2008-03-03T22:30:00.003-05:00

Thanks for the comments on the dress. I love it and am wearing it for my presentation. I have worn a lot of red for presentations and interviews and this came up a number of times in the comments. Being a power color, it commands attention and is memorable- both good things (particularly because I am competing for best student talk).
Last year when I was out West, a big portion of the project was something that was risky. We didn't know if it would work, but if it did- it would be the first test of a specific idea AND totally good for the Earth. My advisor went to the site yesterday and it seems to have worked! Yay Earth!
We had another writing date today. I wasn't feeling like writing at all but still managed a few hundred words and some good revisions. I hope to make up for it tomorrow with renewed excitement due to the above bullet!
Sunny, 60 degrees, a good run outside, I wish spring would stick around!!

Red dress

2008-03-02T18:23:00.005-05:00

I went shopping yesterday. The goal was to buy a pair of black, everyday shoes, that can easily be worn with jeans or a skirt. These elusive shoes would replace the $4 clearance, Target loafers I bought 3 years ago. Armed with a credit-gift-card from house sitting and a department store credit from a returned Xmas present, I was determined. I bought no such shoes. I almost bought some black, 2 inch heeled, peep-toe, T-straps. Naturalizer is a good brand* and they were 75% off. In the end, I passed then up for being too narrow.
I am giving talks at two conferences in the next two months. With no new shoes, I went along my way looking for a new top for these conferences. I didn't find any. Everything was too summery already.

Which brings us to the red dress.
I found a knee-length, faux-wrap dress with a collar and a tie at the waist. It is a heavier cotton that reminds me of stain-resistant khakis. Bright red.

So, the question is this- Is it too much to wear a bright red dress for a conference presentation? The conference is small and runs the gamut from jeans to suits. I plan on toning it down with a black cardigan. I would have no problem wearing this dress to teach in, but still....red dress? Appropriate?

*Right?

Spring Break Woo!

2008-03-01T10:50:00.002-05:00

Woo hoo! The advisors are out of town (both V's and mine)! The undergrads are gone! Time to break out the good booze and swing naked from the chandeliers of our hallowed halls.
Or, you know- work just like normal.

Actually, the only out of the ordinary aspect of the week is that I am going to steal a decent chair from V's lab for the week. Proper posture- now that IS something to get excited about!

Writing date review

2008-02-29T10:21:00.003-05:00

The writing date only lasted 3 hours, but it took me 3 days to get around to blogging the update about it. Typical.

The best news? It was successful! We met, got caffeinated and started writing. Each of us wrote around 400 words on our projects. I think the key was the environment combined with the goal. That makes sense, it was there in the Chronicle article laid out for us. It is comfortable to write in your office or at home surrounded by books, papers, and other resources. Without those things, there is nothing left to do but write. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really enjoy the writing without all of those things. I like getting sidetracked and following a thought through a trail of 5 pdfs. But it worked and the old Scmiance paper grew and grew. I also got distracted by email for a few minutes but the furious typing by my friends quickly got me back on track. Strength in numbers!
We are going to do this regularly so it will be interesting to see if it becomes more comfortable and/or stays as productive. The only difference will be where we sit. The back corner, near the window seemed great but it was frickin freezing, Mr. Biglesworth.

The Morning Paper

2008-02-25T23:10:00.003-05:00

I read an article in The Chronicle recently about setting writing dates. It really reminds me of all those suggestions trashy magazines have about how to ensure that you work out for your Best Beach Bod Ever! You know... you will feel guilty if you back out on a friend that you arranged to go to the gym with, but you will happily hit snooze and back out on yourself.
Well, I am tired of backing out on myself, not feeling productive when I write and want to be more supportive of my friends so we are trying it. Tomorrow morning at 8:30-ish, Sneks, Hamster_grrl and I are meeting at chain-cafe-with-excellent-orange-scones. We will have 3 hours of writing. No gossip, no email, no problems with calling each other out for sneaking into email or staring off into space. I sent off revised-manuscript-version-4 to my coauthor today so am free and clear for the next project, although there are still two in the running for my attention. Check back tomorrow to see how it went!

He's baaaa-aaaack

2008-02-25T22:57:00.002-05:00

The cat came home from the vet hospital today*. First order of business was a bath. The Elizabethan collar has been on since Thursday. I swear he groomed for 3 hours! Then, there was a lot of sniffing and exploring of places he peed last week before curling up on his favorite perch (the back bedroom overlooking our little courtyard).
Surprisingly, the smaller cat didn't seem phased by his going away and if anything, is perturbed by his return. She enjoyed getting all of the attention. The dog (who the sickly cat smacks whenever he gets the chance) is the MOST excited about his return. Wagging the tail, bouncing around, he is happy to have the whole pack back together!

I am just relieved that this adventure in pet health emergencies is over. Also, that they didn't shave his butt. They do for the surgery we avoided so I wasn't sure if they would for his procedures. They shaved his arms and neck, for IVs and blood drawing, but no rear end. As funny as it would have been, it would have been too sad and pathetic to even be cute.

* No pics, camera battery failed.

East Coast Women in Science

2008-02-23T19:00:00.003-05:00

There will be a Women in Science and Engineering Conference on March 14th at Princeton. There are skill building sessions and panel discussions. Plus, it is free!

From the website:
The purpose of WISE is to create a forum where women in science and engineering can come together to discuss issues that they face in their respective fields, both as an underrepresented minority and as individuals.
We hope to provide information about the pros and cons of working in industry vs. academia as well as the pros and cons of choosing to go to graduate school or directly into industry. We will also discuss about how to manage the work-life balance, both in industry and academia as well as how one goes about making her career choices.

Cat hospitalization

2008-02-22T14:25:00.006-05:00

This end of the cat causes problems.

Thursday night we had an emergency trip to the vet hospital and our cat will be there through the weekend. During the third round of antibiotics for some sort of urinary problem, he got much worse. He was blocked and unable to pass urine. This leads to a back up in the bladder the kidneys will basically stop functioning because they have nowhere to send all the toxins from the blood. All the toxins will add up in the blood and kill the cat.

Treatment includes sedation (risky in cats that are already having issues with blood concentrations), catheters* and possible surgery to widen the urethra. The worst part of all of this is that it is an emergency! They need a decision RIGHTNOW! Sign this paper and they whisk the poor cat away.

So far, they say he is doing well. He pulled the catheter out yesterday despite the lampshade collar he was wearing. The vet had to re-sedate him to put it back in. He was blocked for a while so his original unblocking was difficult but he is expected to fully recover and come home from the hospital early next week. A closely controlled diet should help manage the problem in the future. Hopefully we won't have to think about surgery (or think about the alternatives to the cat having surgery) until at least one of us makes more than our measly grad student salaries.

"Having a urinary catheter is even worse than having to wear a sweater."

* If I spell 'catheter' wrong, the first suggested spelling is 'cat hater.' Have cats taken over Blogger spellcheck??

I've been waiting

2008-02-19T22:20:00.002-05:00

One of the most frustrating aspects of my research life lately has been waiting for data. When I left the desert, I left a lot of samples for the lab tech there to run (the process of leaving the samples could be a post of its own!). These samples make up the most exciting, sexy parts of my dissertation. I was very confident that my work would get done quickly, with few problems. We agreed on a deadline of Jan 2008.
Hehe.
Right.
Well, equipment broke and then other equipment broke and then this and that and the other. Now, 6 months later, I am still waiting for data*. There seems to be an 'out of sight, out of mind' mentality about my samples despite my persistant calls, setting of deadlines and general bitchiness towards folks I like and don't enjoy being bitchy to. One one hand, I will end up doing it all myself when I return to the desert, which will decrease my guilt about having a tech do a portion of my dissertation benchwork. On the other hand, the analyses might not work. Which will leave me with very little time to change direction let alone come up with new experiments or, you know- do them.
So, how do I get my samples? My new strategy is to ask for only small number of the samples completed. I can figure out my analyses on a small scale before finishing the bulk of them myself. But I have to get the small number of samples still**. I will see the tech at a conference in April. The head of the desert lab is aware of the issue although has not resulted in much progress. My advisor has no relationship with the lab so can't help me. Besides calling frequently and emails I am not sure what else to do. Any suggestions?

*Not just waiting, of course. There was the teaching and I am getting data on other experiments and even other aspects of that experiment.
**I with they could just send them to me but it is impossible to get them at my home university.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2008-02-17T17:21:00.003-05:00

Last year's realization of light at the end of the tunnel is nothing compared to this year's realization that by this time next year, I should be turning in chapters and thinking about defense dates. Last year there was elation and excitment, this year all we've got is paralyzing fear.

Faced with this knowledge of what is right around the corner, I started doing some prepping over the holiday break. Organizing files, trying to clear my life of old (but nice) data and clear my desk of side projects. This is going well. I sent revised-version-2 of my oldest not-yet-published paper to my advisor on Friday. He called me at 10am on Saturday morning with excitment about how it has progressed but also 1 more (difficult) change to the introduction. I wanted to submit this by the end of the month. It should get submitted on time, providing my quals-taking co-author gives it her stamp of approval...

There is soooo much more to be done to deal with the major, fear inducing year ahead of me though. I need to start making small changes now. To begin with, I need to re-prioritize what is on my to do list and re-evaluate how I spend my days. Last month, New Years didn't really inspire much resolute change for me. Perhaps I was just waiting for it to be the Last Year in order to get myself on the right track...

The Journal of Research

2008-02-16T23:01:00.002-05:00

We are watching tv while putting together what might be the world's largest wedding album. EVER. There is a commercial on for 'Random Workout Thing.' RNT claims to work all the core muscles as new research shows that normal crunches only work 2 of these muscles.*
They cut to a picture** of this new reseach. If you look closely while they zoom in on "2 muscles" circled in red ink, the top of the page says "Journal of Research."

Maybe if it were Journal of Research in Sports Science or Physiological Muscle Groups or the Institute of Ab Work it would be better....but JUST Journal of Research? It all just seems very made up. I'm just sayin...

*I don't know if that is true. Don't really care- I have one of those excercise balls.
**Not an actual picture, a computer generated page.

Number 1 Mistake

2008-02-13T14:30:00.006-05:00

We have been having a little search here for a new faculty member. There seems to be one major mistake that some candidates have made. It happened when talking about future directions for research. They got stumped...and it was their own fault. They had something included in slides that they did not understand and could not explain. We saw this problem as part of a result and part of a technique but every time it was a major red flag for those, otherwise excellent, candidates.

In my own subfield, collaberation is very common. Not everyone is an expert in everything despite our best efforts to produce integrative results. While I would always assume that you don't put something up on a slide without understanding it, I know see that it can easily be done (looking back I am sure I have done it with my statistics here or there. I'm still too scientfically young to have collaberated on anything neat enough that I didn't do it myself). Also, it is a big deal.

So. Note to self someday: Only include things in your job talk that you FULLY understand and can discuss in detail. Even if it isn't your specialty or is just a tiny detail on a figure.

*Sorry for any spelling mistakes, spell check in Blogger is being all sorts of funny...

A letter to my cat vet

2008-01-29T21:52:00.000-05:00

Dear Dr. Cat Vet,

I know that my little guy is a handful. I don't complain when you get out the big gloves and call the assistant to hold him down. He has given me a few scars, one time he gave me a black eye even so I totally get that. Plus, cat scratch fever is real. No need to take a risk.
However, next time you feel like you have to put the little full face kitty muzzle on him, perhaps you could clean it first. Because now, after seeing you for the bladder infection, he has kitty pink eye. So, not only did we* have a week of stuffing giant pills down his throat (with NO big gloves, mind you), now we* get to rub gunk on his eyes for a week (again, with no big gloves). Can't wait.

Kittens and rainbows,
DancingFish

*by 'we' I mean V. I'm no good a pilling.

Projects

2008-01-27T00:06:00.001-05:00

This years scarf is a cozy, stripey one. It is made of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakhan. The random stripes are keeping me interested because it is just garter stitch. Can't wait to wear it! The Fairly Easy Fair Isle from SnB Nation. All that is left is the yoke. I haven't touched it in 3 weeks and am having trouble getting motivated to do any rows- they are way too long (130+ stitches!)!
And finally, THE DRESS! It still needs a clasp at the top of the zipper but other than that, it is completely done! Yay! I'm wearing it Monday (with a new white cardigan- how cute!). It is linen so it is pretty comfortable as well. I am sort of amazed that it fits so well and I had so few problems. It is very encouraging, although all the other patterns I have are more difficult. Now that the dress is done, I guess I have to work on those manuscripts tomorrow... Please excuse the mess. The dog collected all 4 of his toys right there before taking a snooze and we are currently giving away/selling on eBay a ton of stuff to make room for the piles of clothes that we actually wear.

RBOC: Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you...

2008-01-25T21:15:00.000-05:00

So, I haven't been very blog-y, or work-y, or awake-y. There were 2 solid days of lab report grading, a few more crappy personal things, student evaluations from last semester, and I'm broke. I just want to stay home. Drink coffee, hang out with cats, watch tennis. That is about it. But there are a few things that have been going on....

Drug bust: We were on our way home from work and were being followed by a cop. Before an intersection, they throw the lights on, passed us abruptly and pulled over the car in front of us. I had pulled over when the lights went on and pulled back out but then the person behind me was flashing their lights and tailgating me. I don't know to pull over again or what so I drive confused for a block or two. They swerve around me and stop facing the oncoming traffic in the left lane. We are stopped in the middle of the road when I see a guy approach the car that was pulled over, guns-a-drawn. Drag the guy out, cars stopped behind us, weird car stopped in the oncoming traffic is an undercover unit. Drug busts are confusing for those not involved.
Over Xmas, V and I were driving (again) and a power line fell on the car. Like, ON THE WINDSHIELD. It was still attached to a house and a power line but a truck had hit it and it came loose on our car. I called 911 and tried to direct traffic for a few minutes till the fear of getting run over or V's car being rear ended at this busy intersection won me over. It was weird.
No pics yet but I'm knitting a cozy new scarf.
And a sweater. It is almost done.
I am sewing a dress. It needs a zipper and a hem. I want to make it is 10 different colors and wear it every day. Would that be weird?
Yet another reason we can't have nice things: We bought new kitchen rugs. Two of the three mammalian pets have thrown up on them already.
I think this might be the year I run a marathon. Get some time off in October, Mom.
Tennis has been ruining my life. The Australian Open is just on WAY too late. I haven't been to sleep before 1:30 all week and actually set my alarm at 4am to watch a match. Why does Ivanovic wear a dress with a bubble skirt?
This weekend I will finish: A dress, 2 manuscripts, my blog hiatus.

Congrats to a new Dr.

2008-01-17T23:31:00.000-05:00

One of our departments favorites is leaving us. Today was his last day actually. Monday, grad student (and Sneks boyfriend), Ry, defended his thesis. He had very few revisions, turned bound copies in today and leaves for his postdoc this weekend. He is a great model for success in our department and it was very inspiring to see him fly through the defense with ease. I want to extend my biggest congrats to him!

It is very sad for our department though. I swear, as he finished his acknowledgements slide, there were people tearing up. He is one of those students that everyone loves. Softball team captain, president of the grad student organization, wins university-wide awards for his research- he'd be prom king if that grad student organization listened to my suggestion to have a formal. All this and a totally down to earth guy who genuinely cares and will do whatever he can to help you out. I have no doubts he will continue to do great research and be a great professor and advisor to some lucky students someday. Congrats again Dr. Ry! Here is the new Dr. and V after a particularly taxing round of 'RockBand.'

The Album Cover Meme

2008-01-13T20:23:00.000-05:00

(seen at Monkeygirl and ScienceGirl)

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result in your own journal.

Thank you

2008-01-12T18:08:00.000-05:00

Thank you so much for all your kind comments and thoughts these past few days. I was hesitant to post anything about it but there are a number of old friends IRL who follow me here and so I did. There won't be any services or anything for a few months so I didn't travel back to the midwest this week but I didn't really do much of anything else either. That free, alone time in the lab was all but wasted! Luckily, I had started doing some paper organization* so I could continue that sort of busywork and also do just enough** to put together what I hope will be an acceptable grant application to send out next week.
V and I took advantage of the last forecasted nice day to do some field work today and now are watching football. Go Pack!***

* this is the best project ever. I love it. More on how, why and its awesome-ness later.
**really, just cutting 2 paragraphs and changing 2 paragraphs got it under the word limit and tweaked for this organization.
***yeah, yeah, Bears fans NEVER cheer for the Packers. I know, but my grandpa lived in Wisconsin and we actually got to watch the last Bears-Packers game together. That was funny- he threatened to have me removed from the Applebee's if my team continued to whoop his.

My Grandfather's Clock

2008-01-10T20:53:00.000-05:00

Grandpa Fish

1919-2008

No one's home

2008-01-08T13:05:00.000-05:00

It is a rare week in my lab. There is no one else around except me and my advisor (who is too busy writing a proposal to want to chat right now. This is rare- he likes lengthy chats). The undergrads are still gone and all the other graduate students went into the field. While field work is always fun, particularly in sun-drenched tropical countries, it hasn't been too bad around here either. There are no other schedules to compete with for lab time so I can power through as much of my current experiments as my little heart desires. So far, I am on track to complete the final treatment for one project and have been working out the details of the experimental design for another small project I want to try to do this semester. Being able to pop down to the lab throughout the day (and actually have things to do in there rather than just visit for no reason) has also helped keep me away from bloglines, gossip sites, email and...wow- I haven't looked at Cute Overload in 3 weeks!
If only it were this easy to stay productive when writing!

In the sea there is a fish, a fish that has a secret wish

2008-01-05T18:10:00.000-05:00

We drove about 3 hours (each way) to pick up V's Xmas gift today. His love of fish is not restricted to those that are Dancingfish, so I got him actual fish as his gift. He bought this BEAUTIFUL 125 gallon, hand-cut, bamboo tank on eBay over a year ago and it has sat. Empty.

No longer!

Here is a sampling of some of our new friends...This guy is my favorite. The gorgeous, Enantiopus melanogeny

Junior Kickstart

2008-01-02T21:23:00.000-05:00

There were some major happenings in my department last month. All pre-proposal grad students have to meet with a committee to make sure they are moving forward at a timely pace. Usually, one half of the committee doesn't show up. Of those that do, half aren't even paying attention to you, so they give you a lecture to get your proposal done and 5 minutes later you are back to work. Except, this year they are making good on some promises they made recently. Important promises such as how long they will continue providing funding for grad students. So, after these meetings it turns out that one of my office mates is on the chopping block. They are not kicked out, per say, they are welcome to continue working on research but will no longer be funded by the department.

In talking about this, no one is surprised at the lack of progress of this student. People see them at the bar but not in the halls and surely not in our office. When the news passed through labmates and grad students, I did not have much sympathy for the student. Yes, sometimes people take a long time in grad school. Experiments don't work. Techniques are hard to master or difficult in your system. Advisors are crazy. Personal tragedies occur. Anything can happen and it happens to some of the best. The students that continue on through these trials in addition to all the other crap that grad school piles on deserve a lot of respect.
However, those students that don't try, care, or do anything at all for years on end? Including show up? I have no problems with them being called out, losing their funding or even being asked to leave. If someone has no interest in research and does the bare minimum for teaching, and this goes on for years, why support them? It can negatively affect the advisor, lab, other grad students and undergraduates as well (particularly the ones they were supposed to teach!).

Saying out loud (or on the blog) that some grad students shouldn't be funded seems wrong. I feel like a traitor going against the whole supportive spirit of being in the student trenches. On the other hand, I'm sick of people taking advantage of this system that I hold in high esteem due to its importance in the development of my career. So, I sat on this post for a while trying to be a bit clearer in my feelings about it all. In this time, it turns out that the actions of the department may have turned this student around. I saw them everyday for a whole week before Xmas. In the office, computer lab and actual lab and in the halls on the 31st. I assume they are working and hope they can turn it around, get things done and be present in our department. If not, I hope they don't sit, unhappily stagnant in our department for another few years.

Do other departments run a tighter ship or do these types of students lurk in labs (or actually NOT in the labs!) across academia?

Gee, another meme

2007-12-30T19:55:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling very meme-y these days. Frog-o-phobic tagged for this one and I had never seen it before! Digging into the archives for this one...

Link 1 is a little bit of FAMILY: My big brother just got a new job as a co-pilot for a commuter/feeder airline connected to one of the major airlines. He should be flying his first flights within the next week. With people on the planes and everything! Quite a big change from the last time he came to visit me.

Link 2 is a little bit of FRIEND: I don't usually blog friend related events because, well, I usually can not be bothered to find my camera cord to upload the pics in a timely fashion. Pictures from "RockBand Night" aren't as exciting a month late. Instead, my super awesome best friend/college roommate/maid of honor came to visit last fall!

Link 3 is a little bit of YOURSELF: This post covers a number of my grad-student neuroses.

Link 4 should be YOUR LOVE: The ol' wedding from May.

Link 5 can be ANYTHING YOU LIKE: This blog started as a knitting blog although knitting gets very little blog-space anymore. I am still purling away and am actually working on my first sweater.

Since I didn't really tag anyone specific yesterday (although am happy you are going to do it Field Notes!) tag LuckyBuzz, Geeka and Field Notes (again)!

Welcome Back Meme

2007-12-29T22:01:00.000-05:00

1. Will you be looking for a new job?
I pretty much always look for new jobs. Postdocs, tenure track positions, non-academic jobs, heck, I even know that the new Mexican place in town is hiring servers. In actuality, yes. I will be searching for a postdoc. Or at least funding for a postdoc.
2. Will you be looking for a new relationship?
Nope. We are full of marital bliss here at chez fish.
3. New house?
No. V seems to have succeeded in fixing the roof so our current house may even continue standing all the way through 2008.
4. What will you do differently in 08?
A lot of things.
5. New Years resolutions?
Eat better. Stop reading celebrity gossip.
6. What will you not be doing in 08?
Spending more than 3 months of the year away from my home/husband.
7. Any trips planned?
Two conferences this spring, going to NM for research this summer, another conference, possibly going to hometown for my 10 year reunion, to hometown for a wedding.
8. Wedding plans?
None of my own.
9. Major thing on your calendar?
V's qualifying exams and finishing research in NM.
10. What can’t you wait for?
Having all of my side/old projects submitted for publication.
11. What would you like to see happen differently?
It would be nice to see more acceptance emails rather than rejections on submitted papers and grants.
12. What about yourself will you be changing?
I want to
13. What happened in 07 that you didn’t think would ever happen?
I submitted a paper to (a journal that rhymes with) Schmiance.
14. Will you be nicer to the people you care about?
I will certainly try.
15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 07?
I started dressing nicer for teaching. I hope to keep it up despite not lecturing.
16. Will you start or quit drinking?
No.
17. Will you better your relationship with your family?
Sure. My brother and I don't really talk very often.
18. Will you do charity work?
Probably not. Except maybe knitting for charity or raising money for a run for a cause sort of thing.
19. Will you go to bars?
I drink more at home but I have been known to frequent a happy hour here or there.
20. Will you be nice to people you don’t know?
I usually am.
21. Do you expect 08 to be a good year for you?
There is no reason not to.
22. How much did you change from this time last year till now?
I got married, lost some weight, and due to my time away from my lab/advisor/university, became more independent and confidant in my abilities as a researcher .
23. Do you plan on having a child?
Nope.
24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?
I hope so. Some are moving so I hope the distance does not alter our friendships too much.
25. Major lifestyle changes?
None that I can foresee.
26. Will you be moving?
Back to NM for a few months.
27. What will you make sure doesn’t happen in 08 that happened in 07?
Let the useless parts of the Internet suck up so much of my time.
28. What are your New Years Eve plans?
A party at my office mates house.
29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight?
V!
30. One wish for 08?
Health and happiness for family and friends.

I tag anyone who hasn't done this one yet!

It is OVER!!!!

2007-12-20T13:59:00.000-05:00

All of my students passed!! One of them that was failing going into the final did so well to earn a C! I am pleased with their performance and my advisor is pleased with my performance so all is well. It doesn't really seem like it is over though, so I am going to wait till I get a bit of distance (in both time and space) before writing more about it.

So, the semester is officially over. My grades are entered and I am off to pack, clean house and leave early in the morning for the long drive to the midwest!

Nobody puts DancingFish in Grading Jail...

2007-12-18T22:26:00.000-05:00

The concept of grading jail is pretty much lost on me. Since my final on Thursday I have...

Cleaned the house so we could have people over
Hosted a lazy persons' holiday party (pizza, beer and Cranium around the Xmas Hibiscus)
Drank too much at said soiree
Went to a movie (Lars and the Real Girl is fantastic. Go see it if you can!)
Sunday.....something happened here, but I don't really remember what....not grading, though...
Oh yes, made gingerbread pancakes
Tried to make bread for Xmas gifts, but had no eggs due to pancakes
Went to the department holiday party
Watched the Bears game
Got a haircut
Got a manicure
Not finished grading my exams yet.

Monday Night

2007-12-17T22:47:00.001-05:00

Anybody else watch Monday Night Football? Tony Kornheiser is pretty much a giant idiot. I don't like him on PTI (Love Wilbon though!) and he just says random shit. He just said something about Cleveland...but it is Chicago playing. He then was exasperated at Minnesota's 2 interceptions...but there were 3.

His hair is stupid too.

Bah. Humbug.

Goodness all around!

2007-12-13T16:42:00.000-05:00

Congrats to Sneks who successfully defended her dissertation proposal this afternoon! Weather be damned! She was so ready, I am sure the hardest part was getting all the committee members to campus in the crappy weather!

Also, Yay! for Final Day! I am a little in love with my final. I think it was challenging but fair and everyone asked said there were no surprises but it made them think. Now comes grading jail! I am over 25% done already but those were the easy questions, of course.

Finally, Yay! again! I got another grant! It is small but will pay for travel to my the field this summer and some supplies! Yippee!
What a great day!

Final of Doom

2007-12-10T23:09:00.000-05:00

One of my students told me they'd see me at the Final of Doom. Is a cumulative final in an upper level course really that bad?
One of my other students got into all their special professional schools they applied to. They now just have to choose which state to move to. Oh yeah, and get a B+ on my final in order to pass the course and graduate.
Hmmmm, I thought I had more bullets than that...

Christmas is coming!

2007-12-09T22:46:00.000-05:00

Actually, it is already here in our house! V gave me my present early this year as he thought I might be able to use it in the next few weeks. We are going to the Midwest for the holiday and with all the people and pets in 1 car, we won't take large gifts with us anyway.

While he is impossible to shop for, he always gets me great gifts. This year, it is a new sewing machine! It is electronic, has 40+ stitches, is not a fire hazard and is really easy to use!

My mom acquired one for me when I moved into my house here in PhDtown and it didn't get much use, as I couldn't figure out how to thread the darn thing. With guidance, she got me on my way this fall. I made a skirt, but couldn't use the zipper or hem attachments so it sort of sucked. The old machine is very cool and retro but also requires shoes as the pedal will burn your foot (it smells a little like smoke sometimes too).

The directions are even more of a trip...

Well, the new machine is far easier to use and I've already started a new apron- I wouldn't want to give up that homemaker title now would I? There is a lot of baking in the works for the next few weeks and I always end up throwing about 2 tablespoons of flour on myself. It is a dark madras material, lined in the blue and I am going to add a red top portion with blue ties at the neck as well. Maybe pockets too, but I haven't decided yet...

Woo Hoo!

2007-12-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

It is over! No more lectures! I am going to go to sleep. And my lab. And write some manuscripts or something.

Well, I'll do that tomorrow. Tonight was knitting, watching Pushing Daisies (which is really, really great) and half of the NOVA special on the Dover trial. Ahhhhh, having a life again without the weight of the semester is so enjoyable...

Shameless

2007-12-05T09:34:00.000-05:00

There is this student across the hall who has been arguing his grade on a final that has not happened yet for 25 minutes. The prof has stated 3 times that he cannot give anyone special consideration in this class of over 100 and that it is morally reprehensible to give some students special considerations and not others (outside of situations with extenuating circumstances). Student replies "I know what you are saying but..." The main issue seems to be that he has had other profs look at 'the progression' of grades on exams so there is no reason Dr. Across-the-Hall shouldn't do the same. Student doesn't understand that if you need 385 points for an A and you have 383, that you do not get an A. "But it is close and I have improved all semester!" retorts the student.
Of course, in this case, he really is talking about a A to B difference and the final hasn't happened yet. Why not just STUDY MORE for the unweighted final to make up those 2 damn points???? Maybe you could've learned something in 30 minutes rather than bug Dr. Across-the-Hall about bending the rules just for you. I know that there are stories like this at every university in every subject matter but it still bugs the heck out of me. While it would not make a difference in my grading, at this point, I just wish my students that really NEED those 2 extra point for their grade (it might mean they get to graduate on time) were as impassioned about it as this clueless sophomore pre-med.

Antibacterial spray is my bff

2007-12-04T21:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first day all semester I cancelled class. I'm still sick too. I hate being sick. Well, there was no way I was going to make it through more than 15 minutes of lecturing and figured it wasn't worth it for them or me. Today, I got to my office for my 8:30 meeting, although the student never showed up (she cancelled last Thursday too....giving me 20 minutes notice. Unfortunately, I have a 30 minute drive from home). After trying to work and spending about half the time just staring at my desk feeling like crap, I came home and slept for 2 hours. I did finish writing half my lecture at least. Now to finish so I can sleep more.

In the spirit of the season, here are some of our decorations around the house! Our 'Christmas Hibiscus' is still flowering this week!and the rest of the living room...

InaDWriMo..OVER

2007-12-02T14:21:00.000-05:00

Well, InaDWriMo was an interesting exercise. A small amount of writing was completed that wouldn't have been done otherwise. Even better, I think I made better use of my time this month than I have in a while. Due to InaDWriMo (and the deadlines associated with my projects), I was forced to write in addition to teaching while research got underway as well. Actually being somewhat effective with time management is a swell feeling and hopefully it will continue into break. There will be fewer tasks to manage with more time available. The opportunity for procrastination seems like it will also be increased though with this increased time and decrease in pressure as well....

In order to get anything done I have to feel better though. Today, I am just wrecked. V has been feeling a bit under the weather but we still went out Friday night and did the 5k yesterday (4 minutes faster than last year! Go us!) . It is all just too much so now I have a fever and haven't really gotten out of bed today. Must do a lecture, grading at some point but sleeping some more might take priority.

Great night planned

2007-11-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

We've been drinking spirits lately. After this years month full of Pumpkin Ale(s), it is no-beer land in our house.

Specifically, this drink has been my favorite. Even in a fish glass!

Pomegranate Martini (ok, not a real martini but pomegranate flavored vodka cocktail is a little wordy)

Equal parts vodka and pomegranate liqueur. Splash of orange liqueur.

One of these and Project Runway tonight. Ah, end of semester, how I love you.

At their mercy

2007-11-27T23:04:00.000-05:00

I really hope my students aren't too upset about that 'no curve' thing. Tomorrow I have to administer my student evaluations. My feeling from conversations with others and, of course, the internets is that these are very important to department heads and administration for tenure decisions, but how important are they now? They don't mean anything in terms of TA assignments or funding in my department so I didn't bother much with my bad reviews last year (I agreed that I didn't seem 'knowledgeable about the subject'- the prof I was assisting routinely gave the TAs homework keys with wrong answers. There was no way ANYONE could have properly explained them!). But this year is different. I know that just having taught my own lecture course is supposed to look super fantastic on my CV but what if the ol' students skewer me on evaluations? Will they ever be asked about? Will it seem weird if reference letter writers don't reference my evaluations? Can you tell I watched too many Sex and the City reruns over the weekend by my string of questions? (For the record it was only like, 4 reruns) As far as I remember, I haven't seen evaluation statistics on any CVs of candidates or faculty members. Anybody else?

Note: Every word meter I use crashes. Bah! I am up to 1305 words on ZF Manuscript. 37% baby!

Bullet style!

2007-11-26T18:51:00.000-05:00

My students got their 3rd exam back today. They had looks of panic in their eyes when asked if I was going to be curving the course I replied a simple "No." I really see no reason to. My exam averages have been between 78 and 89. There are anywhere from 4-9 As on each exam and less than a handful of Ds and Fs. They still have the final to pull those Bs up to med-school-approved As anyway!
V and I are running a 5k on Saturday. Today I did 3.25 miles on the treadmill in about 29 minutes. The cold should slow me down quite a bit but I think I will be able to finish with little trouble.
Lookey! 21% completed on my second InaDWriMo project. After the Big Deal paper (which I haven't gone back to) and the Big Grant, this interesting little paper is a piece of cake to write. No word limits! No page limits! Methods! Results! There will be some tricky theoretical stuff to write in the intro but it is stuff I get excited about so even that should be...fun?!?
As of today, I am back in the lab! Between teaching and needing a specific set-up that was being used by a more senior student, I have been doing next to nothing in the lab. Experiments will be run on Wednesday! Data will be collected! This is very good as it is going to be added to that ZF Manuscript that is currently being written....
We have been married for 6 months as of today! Pizza to celebrate!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T21:05:00.001-05:00

Despite being very far from our families, we spent the day celebrating with the little family we have built for ourselves. Of course, this included fulfilling a long standing dream (re-inspired by Crazy Aunt Purl's recent contest) of knitting a sweater for the cats. The little one just tries to get out of it and our eldest seems to have lost all all control of his back half when it is on. He rolls around and army crawls instead of walking. Hi-larious!

I hope you all had a great holiday!

Are you serious?

2007-11-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

I love the undergrads here. They wear the stupidest things.

Seen today during my exam on a female student...

Absolutely hideous and rather unnecessary.

5 better ways to spend that $130:

1) Dinner for 2 somewhere swanky

2) Booze

3) Merrells (if you are buying boots, buy BOOTS)

4) 2 pairs of jeans to wear instead of those leggings you've got on

5) Donate it to an animal charity to make up for the fur trimmed coat you've got on

One project complete

2007-11-19T10:58:00.000-05:00

My Big Grant was submitted on Friday (My Nov 15th date was an optimistic- done early- deadline. Ha!). After much stress, strife and problems with it (no, I never saw the "font advisory." thank you submission lady for emailing it to me with 4 hours till the deadline). I am not pleased. It sort if sucks. Not that I can really judge, but it was too rushed at the end to ever really feel good about it. It is unlikely that it would be in 4% that gets funded even if I did feel good about it though, right?

But, since I am a good, serious, adult-like person, I am trying to focus on what I've learned from the experience. This was difficult for me to write and there were major setbacks in my ability to communicate the broad theoretical framework of this research. I was paralyzed by the Bigness of the grant, the Bigness of the organization and Bigness of my own ideas. This took time to work though and resolve, which ended up leaving me with very little time for outside reviewers to give me comments. They did as much as they could and I appreciate all of them for looking it over. Associated with the time crunch is teaching. Whole days that were meant to be spent writing were spent with students prepping for their exam (a whole different story of course). In the end, I will know next time to plan a bit better, say no to other commitments, put limits on student meetings and double the time I think it will take to write it.
The second biggest setback I felt was the lack of guidance. It seems to be that no other students in my department have applied for this before. Like, ever. This left me with very few resources to rely on so it was like reinventing the wheel. My advisor (who I tried to bother as little as possible due to my being one of 4 students all doing Very Important Things right now) really had no advice for me. At all. He wouldn't even format his CV properly. Well, la-te-da. I mean, the granting agency specifically asked for certain information but thanks for lessening my chances because you don't feel it is important. Arrggggghhhh! We have a professional skills class here that all students are required to take. In that class, I learned none of the skills needed in order to write this grant. That would have been helpful. Again, I appreciate those folks who did try to help me out but next time, I don't know. I made it clear to my advisor that I felt like I needed more help and got none. Perhaps looking for more outside help would be better.

Overall, I learned a lot about what is really involved in major grant writing and think I will feel more comfortable with it next time. Until then, though, I've got assignments and exams to grade, and 7,000 more words to write for InaDWriMo!! Woo!