tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11495749054852879142011-11-30T16:52:16.639-08:00It's a fool who plays it cool by making his world a little colder.<br> <i>mostly silly, with a 20% chance of science</i>Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.comBlogger6931100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-81265623973196480602010-12-09T14:23:00.000-08:002010-12-09T14:23:33.738-08:00

Or rather: HOUSTON, WE ARE GO FOR LAUNCH!!! (I've always wanted to say that). --------------------------------- Dear friends, This will be my last post on this blog. BUT! DON'T PANIC! I'm not quitting, I'm just relocating! My new blog is here (RSS feed here), and it's part of a brand spanking new blog network called Occam's Typewriter. The network has been set up (with much blood,

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-50571471733155830542010-12-08T06:27:00.000-08:002010-12-08T07:35:07.570-08:00

As seen everywhere, here are the first sentences of my first post of each month in 2010. Bragging Rights Central, hockey pools, grants, visitors, quizzes, and bears - sounds about right! (But no Winter Olympics posts? That's hardly representative of the year as a whole!) January Congratulations to Massimo for winning the First Annual VWXYNot? Readers' Choice Comment of the Year Award!

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-14938167603997277712010-12-07T08:03:00.000-08:002010-12-07T11:15:19.406-08:00

Me: "Ooh! There are two fortunes in this fortune cookie!" Mr E Man: "Mine too!" (Munch munch, rustle rustle) Me: "OH! I don't think mine are very compatible with each other!" Mr E Man: "Heh - same here!" Me: "Why, what did you get?" Mr E Man: Me: "NO FUCKING WAY!" Mr E Man: "Why, what did you get?" Me: Spooky, eh?! ------ ETA: I just remembered another fortune cookie story! I was

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-54053793650799890772010-12-04T13:27:00.000-08:002010-12-04T13:27:11.883-08:00

It's that time of year again! The shortlist of my favourite blog comments for the year is down to 33 entries, and as soon as I've managed to whittle it down to 12, we will be ready for a vote! I had a blast reading through all the archives. I really do have amazing commenters, and I'm very proud of this community of clever, insightful, and very very funny people. Many, many thanks to everyone

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-87089311185393275662010-12-03T06:41:00.000-08:002010-12-03T06:41:00.139-08:00

Do you ever open up new browser tabs to read later? I do. It's a very bad habit - I sometimes end up with as many as ten blogs and news articles open at once, and it can take me days to get through all of them. It's the internet version of my eyes being bigger than my stomach. It's also very confusing, as I sometimes forget exactly which articles are currently waiting for me. So I'll be

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-1526458315594765342010-12-02T06:53:00.000-08:002010-12-02T06:53:00.198-08:00

"BRCA status" is not so long and clunky that you should feel the need to say "BRCA-ness", as in "property X is probably related to the BRCA-ness of the cell line". If you absolutely must say "BRCA-ness", pronounce it "bracka-ness", not "bee are see eh-ness" Please.

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-36237917511566932812010-12-01T11:02:00.000-08:002010-12-01T11:02:21.536-08:00

Spotted on a whiteboard in a PI's office, written in massive letters (colours as in original): Book chapters and reviews are for people with no data - NEVER SAY YES

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-82257407884831203612010-11-29T17:57:00.000-08:002010-11-29T17:57:24.854-08:00

One of the Research Ethics Board applications I submitted last week bounced back today, with a request to attach the original patient consent form used for sample acquisition. I searched all my computer files (I use extremely logical folder and file names, and rename every file that people send me to fit my structure) and found... nothing, nada, zip. Not a sausage. My boss took over this

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-21141991250551536132010-11-27T08:53:00.000-08:002010-11-27T08:53:00.390-08:00

Spotted on the top floor of my building yesterday: In other, no doubt completely unrelated news, we have a new PI in the building! Dr... Wonka, I think it was. Model organisms guy, working on a species closely related to C. elegans - V. kniddus.

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-16412924550705622042010-11-26T13:25:00.000-08:002010-11-26T14:53:36.398-08:00

Weird that they didn't give the photographer's name, eh? (Awesome photo, though, that is in danger of making this Yorkshire lass feel homesick. Check out the series - there are some stunning shots included in the slide show).

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-22767329128430693112010-11-25T07:57:00.000-08:002010-11-25T07:57:53.593-08:00

Wednesday The heavy rain that greeted me first thing in the morning made me exceedingly glad that I'd braved the windstorm to visit Stanley Park while the sun was still out the day before. However, an hour or two later the bus driver greeted me with a cheery "did you bring the sunshine with you?", and by the time we reached my stop (in the scary heart of the Downtown Eastside) the glare of

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-84750099490217832762010-11-24T14:52:00.000-08:002010-11-24T16:36:35.553-08:00

(This got way too long for one post. Also, the return to work has been a wee bit stressful, and our internet connection at home is all messed up,so it's taken me ages to write it. Boooooo. I'll try to get Part II written soon! It'll even have photos!) Monday First of all, I slept in - bliss! I had a leisurely breakfast, then took the bus and SkyTrain down to the Vancouver Art Gallery. This is

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-34558116598480816852010-11-17T15:16:00.000-08:002010-11-17T15:18:16.827-08:00

First of all, my sincerest apologies if I inadvertently wrote something offensive. If so, it was a result of incompetence, not malice.This was at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen classical Chinese garden, which was lovely (full post on my staycation adventures is to come). You sip on your free tea and use water and a brush on a reusable slate thingy, which explains a) why the top part had already dried and

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-65415329651347734652010-11-15T15:22:00.000-08:002010-11-15T16:59:50.903-08:00

This is Day One of my staycation! I've been to the art gallery and am now poncing about in a cafe with my MacBook, pretending to be a writer. Too bad I forgot to clean the laptop screen and outer casing before I came out, but hey, maybe the smudges add to the bohemian look. I originally declared the weekend that's just finished to be the beginning of my staycation, but then Nina pointed out on

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-36116836185138416012010-11-12T06:35:00.000-08:002010-11-12T16:58:09.503-08:00

Conversation last night: Mr E Man: "I was really enjoying that show I was watching before we went out" Me: "Oh, it was a show? I thought it was a movie" Mr E Man: "Yeah, it was a movie" Me: "Oh right, I keep forgetting that you guys [movie industry people] call movies shows. It's very confusing sometimes" Mr E Man (in his best fake-patronising voice): "Well, you've only known me eight years.

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-48302762652831909532010-11-11T11:00:00.000-08:002010-11-11T11:00:02.338-08:00

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-19314416736812332902010-11-08T09:37:00.000-08:002010-11-08T09:37:59.656-08:00

I forgot to check who was going to post the update this week, so I guess that means it's me! It was Chall's week all the way: just look at the slope on her line as she took first place! Lavaland and I also had good weeks, climbing from 8th to 6th and from 7th to 4th, respectively. It's still pretty tight at this early stage of the season though, and it's definitely still anyone's game! Here's

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-79090791242193885892010-11-05T20:42:00.000-07:002010-11-05T20:43:43.475-07:00

I've never before had a drink that came with meat in it.Mmmmmmmm. Meat.

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-22538648168406884662010-11-05T07:00:00.000-07:002010-11-05T07:00:08.042-07:00

Ooh, this is gonna be a good one! Remember that this time I've activated comment moderation (for the first time EVAH), and you have 24(ish) hours to submit as many answers as you can before I open up the comments (as soon as I get up tomorrow). Put them all in one comment, or keep coming back and leaving multiple comments - either way is fine! Once the comments are open, you can keep submitting

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-36631039346110815872010-11-03T21:10:00.000-07:002010-11-04T07:15:27.507-07:00

  (posted from my iPhone) ETA: Wow, what a show! The best I've seen in years! More photos: I danced my ass off and sang and yelled until I was hoarse. Awesome stuff.

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-58857246925932435262010-11-03T06:27:00.000-07:002010-11-03T06:27:00.291-07:00

Yesterday, while composing an email to our IT department trying to persuade them to let me install Firefox on my new computer*, I decided to quickly check that the new version of Internet Explorer doesn't have any of the necessary features** I was claiming were unique to Firefox. I guess it doesn't: Yay, Microsoft! ---------------- *it's not so slow that I want to throw it out the window!

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-54918699666375410082010-11-02T06:44:00.000-07:002010-11-02T06:44:00.128-07:00

Poll results The next quiz will be posted at 7am PST on Friday, November 5th. Comments will be closed for the first 24 hours (well, probably more like 26 or 27, because I'm not getting up early on a Saturday just for this!) You will be able to submit answers for as many questions as you wish during that time, in either one comment or multiple comments. After the 26(ish) hours are up I'll open

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-17608533337090566372010-11-01T10:15:00.000-07:002010-11-01T10:26:10.129-07:00

First of all, many thanks to Chall and ScientistMother for hosting the last two updates! Here are this week's results: Congratulations to Thomas, who reclaimed top spot from Bob this week! You two must be getting lonely at the top there, but luckily ScientistMother is making a bid to join you. I think it's obvious that we need to have a Canadian in the top spot, so yay Scientist Mother!

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-64655584437810330222010-10-31T15:53:00.000-07:002010-10-31T15:59:52.047-07:00

Here's some classic X-Files dialogue from an episode called "How the ghosts stole Christmas": Mulder: [alarmed at a noise] Shhh! What was that? Scully: [irritably rational] These are tricks that the mind plays. They are ingrained clichés from a thousand different horror films. When we hear a sound, we get a chill, we, we- we see a shadow and we allow ourselves to imagine something that an

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-30353873435143087182010-10-28T13:31:00.000-07:002010-10-28T14:18:00.405-07:00

Gotta love the intersection between science / clinical trial acronyms and automated word choice suggestions: Yes, lots of people eat rye bread in the former colonies, but that's not quite what I was going for. In other news, I started quite the debate on Twitter today when I asked whether it should be wildtype, wild-type, or wild type. According to a Nature subeditor who replied, wild type is

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-81843056386160443852010-10-26T18:36:00.000-07:002010-10-26T18:36:00.164-07:00

I'm still too embroiled in deadline stresses to come up with anything original myself, so here are some little tricks and loopholes devised by two of my more ingenious friends. Use at your own peril, especially the first one... The first friend used to work in retail sales, and had a fairly standard complaint for someone in that industry, namely having to deal with eejits on a regular basis. He

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-90213438303270190162010-10-25T14:40:00.000-07:002010-10-25T15:22:30.785-07:00

My biweekly, half-hour progress update meetings have been running for about a year now, and are proving their usefulness yet again as I work towards Friday's progress report deadline.The cast is never the same for two performances in a row; some people attend every time, others show their face every six months, and the rest of the team fill the entire spectrum in between. This has allowed me to

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-33607444124298937732010-10-21T17:25:00.000-07:002010-10-21T17:25:00.300-07:00

I've looked through the remaining pages of my now-famous desk calendar, and there is one more sciency quiz left! In the quizzes I've done so far, I've kept the comments completely open but asked that people submit only one answer per commenter per hour. There's always lots of very entertaining banter and trash-talk when we do it that way, BUT: 1) someone always fails to read the rules and posts

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-57156872871388131212010-10-19T06:22:00.000-07:002010-10-19T06:22:00.537-07:00

I went ice skating on Saturday! With people I barely know, for added adventurousness! Well, it was more of a shuffle than a skate, but not bad, considering I've only skated three times before: The first time was at primary school, when a company came in one weekend and laid down big slabs of weird Teflon-type stuff that fitted together like a jigsaw, and that you could skate on. Kinda. It was a

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-57698187223344894602010-10-18T10:45:00.000-07:002010-10-18T13:05:57.796-07:00

I've discovered another reason to keep cycling on rainy days: That's the second one this month! The first was a scruffy little fella who suddenly appeared from a patch of mist in the cemetery when I was out for a run; he looked terrified, and ran away immediately. Today's sighting was a magnificent specimen: fully grown, with a gorgeous coat and big bushy tail, a brave and handsome boy who stood

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-79555964556263772482010-10-14T17:49:00.000-07:002010-10-14T18:53:57.848-07:00

I've commuted by bicycle almost every day since I started my PhD in 1998. That's a lot of kilometres, a lot of near accidents, a lot of hills, and a LOT of rain (we're talking Glasgow and Vancouver here, two cities notorious for their wet weather). And yes, I've always ridden year-round, rain or shine, although I do take the bus on icy or snowy days. Really, if you have the right gear and your

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-29697873253957651802010-10-12T18:35:00.000-07:002010-10-12T18:37:09.309-07:00

A blog buddy (who may or may not wish to identify themselves in the comments) posted a wee ditty on their Facebook page recently that rang very true indeed: just received something from a fellow sufferer that will only be funny to Secretaries (with a capital 'S'): "And so while the great ones depart to their dinner, The Secretary stays, growing thinner and thinner. Racking his brain to record

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-13539951879442280002010-10-11T14:41:00.000-07:002010-10-11T15:16:26.863-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! I'm thankful for hockey, hockey pools, and awesome blog buddies, among other things. Congratulations Thomas Joseph on winning the first week of the pool! Just remember that it's a marathon, not a sprint... Who wants to do the update next week? I'll send you the spreadsheet...

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-23435895131459843792010-10-04T07:15:00.000-07:002010-10-04T07:15:01.086-07:00

WHEREAS Cath@VWXYNot?, author of an independent weblog at http://vwxynot.blogspot.com ("The Blogger"), has somehow managed to use less 2010 vacation time than she thought, and has more unused days remaining than she is allowed to roll over into 2011; and WHEREAS The Blogger has only ever had three (3) weekdays off work (not including sick days) that were spent at home, rather than on either

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-64469467220176225422010-10-01T10:45:00.000-07:002010-12-03T10:11:29.867-08:00

New archive post! Remember that there's an annual vote and prize for the best comment of the year - coming in mid-December to a very silly blog near you! Dates represent date of archiving - it's just easier that way. VWXYNot? Comment(s) of the week:    Oct 1 2010: Ricardipus for "What I like best about the pelicans I've seen (Brown Pelicans, in Florida) is how they wheel and glide overhead,

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-82854973410778432312010-10-01T06:30:00.000-07:002010-10-01T11:10:52.597-07:00

It's time for another quiz taken from my puzzle of the day desk calendar! I think I'm going to have to buy myself another calendar next year if Santa doesn't bring me one; it's provided some really fun blogging experiences. (Either that or I'm going to have  to make up my own quizzes, which sounds too much like hard work). This time the aim is to fill in the missing middle word on each line, so

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-61455655710716171952010-09-30T07:04:00.000-07:002010-09-30T07:04:00.352-07:00

Back for the 2010-2011 season by popular demand*! The pool works in the same way as last year's: you pick two centres, four wingers, three defensemen and one goalie from the lists on the website. (The lists highlight injured and suspended players to help you avoid players who aren't playing that week!) Each player on the list has a value of 1 - 10 based on past and predicted performance. The

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-79332147963449524122010-09-29T08:19:00.000-07:002010-10-06T15:01:40.441-07:00

It's been about 18 months since I made my first forays into the world of podcasts, and I am officially hooked! Thanks to some excellent suggestions in the comments of my last podcast post, some recommendations from my hilarious new sister-in-law, and some finds I've made on my own, I have more podcasts than I have time to listen to, and I love it! I listen to music podcasts all day at work, and

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-65972468224716514852010-09-27T18:02:00.000-07:002010-09-27T18:23:16.157-07:00

"What's wrong with your whiteboard?", asked a colleague this morning. I didn't know anything was wrong with my whiteboard, which I use to keep track of grant deadlines, grants and manuscripts currently under review, and PI travel dates. But sure enough, on closer inspection it became clear that while the bottom left corner is flush to the wall, as it should be, straight flush the bottom right

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-90978180119335893032010-09-24T07:06:00.000-07:002010-09-24T11:48:40.359-07:00

My former student was on TV yesterday! Well, not the real TV. Just the fancy flat screen monitor mounted high on a wall by the elevators in my building. The TV appeared a few months ago and originally featured reminders of upcoming talks, bake sales and other fundraisers, and the occasional social event. However, The Powers That Be recently decided to add announcements of published papers and

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-89939120088025839602010-09-21T18:22:00.000-07:002010-09-22T13:31:20.287-07:00

I found an absolute gem in my automated search results this morning: a bio of a man I know fairly well, having worked for two of the organisations named in the piece. However, it turns out that I didn't know him anywhere near as well as I thought I did. I never knew, for example, that this man "as good as graduated with a BSc in Biology"1, or that he has an "MSc in dungeon physiology"2. And

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-59750135732483183222010-09-16T10:56:00.000-07:002010-09-16T12:46:17.689-07:00

A wonderful bird is the pelican, His mouth can hold more than his belly can, He can hold in his beak, Enough food for a week. I'm damned if I know how the hell he can! (by Dixon Lanier Merritt, apparently. Not Ogden Nash. You learn something new every day!) And I'm damned if I know how the hell I can have made the same ridiculous mistake twice. It's all because of my habit of paying only

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-51927325214761525662010-09-15T07:53:00.000-07:002010-09-15T19:19:30.799-07:00

My sister is one of my favourite people in the whole world. She's the person I miss the most from the UK, and although I love my three Canadian sisters-in-law dearly*, it's just not quite the same. There was only ever going to be one answer to the "so who's gonna be your bridesmaid?!" question Sis is two years younger than me, and always managed to be better than me at everything. I got

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-38002567609153960112010-09-10T09:36:00.000-07:002010-09-10T09:36:15.766-07:00

Hey, remember my colleague* who did the fundraising bike ride to Seattle with me and was the star of my video? (Here's the video again) Well, he's all over the news this week thanks to his two very, very interesting new papers on ovarian cancer! The first identifies Arid1a as a novel tumour suppressor gene that's mutated in clear cell and endometrioid cancers of the ovary, and the second

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-59802426968639364562010-09-09T15:21:00.000-07:002010-09-09T15:21:31.525-07:00

I recently came across an environmental campaign that is so unique, so creative, and so effective, that it blew me away. This is a Canadian one dollar coin, aka loonie*, featuring an image of a common loon, and also Gavia immer on the other side (sorry, Your Majesty! Couldn't resist that one). (image source) This is the loonie I got in my change last week: (it's a sticker, in case that's not

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-82446819290414330792010-09-07T17:52:00.000-07:002010-09-08T07:12:44.926-07:00

A certain phrase has been on my mental pet peeves list for a while. Every time I hear someone say it, it jars - it's not one of those UK*/North America differences where both ways are equally valid and I just have to get used to it, because the North American version is clearly just plain WRONG! However, for some reason I've never felt quite strongly enough about this issue to blog about it (not

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-1789931588359699262010-09-06T16:53:00.000-07:002010-09-07T07:17:33.541-07:00

Biology is messy; grant applications even more so. There are so many intangibles: is the scope too big, too small, or just the right mix of feasible and ambitious? How's the balance between hot topic sexy science and safe reliable techniques? Have we adequately addressed the specific aims of this RFA? How much preliminary data do we need? Should we include two fall-back alternatives to the shiny

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-17645789226268440482010-09-01T09:27:00.000-07:002010-09-03T06:51:17.482-07:00

Yes folks, it's time for another fun quiz from my puzzle-a-day desk calendar!   I was going to save this for Friday, but I just submitted a grant after much stress and panic and lost sleep,* so I could do with a little light relief, even as I get stuck in to the next big project. This time the actual puzzle on the calendar was to match the -ology to the subject under study. I got all 21 right

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com92tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-69503437088235803172010-08-31T11:29:00.000-07:002010-08-31T11:31:45.652-07:00

You must be very bendy. Perhaps you could go fuck yourself? Yup, grant crankiness time. As part of the current grant application, I need to assemble details of every grant currently held and applied for by all eight of the PIs - title, dates, source, amount, PI and co-applicants, % effort for all investigators, goals, and % overlap with the current proposal. There are a grand total of 53 grants

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-10753163134470003512010-08-30T12:17:00.000-07:002010-08-30T12:21:29.057-07:00

...working on an extremely cool grant, due Wednesday. I want this one to get funded soooo badly - the science is so cool and the potential impact so great. I wish I could blog about it! Anyway, until I'm free again, here's an interesting link from Genome Biology. As a twist on the annual Beloit College Mindset List1, the author pondered: what would the scientific worldview be like for someone,

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-4439770788946179622010-08-26T13:39:00.000-07:002010-08-26T14:28:32.856-07:00

Oops: A subsequent email read "Apologies for the previous message which was sent out due to a technical error". I love this kind of thing!

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-10583930632191704672010-08-25T07:23:00.001-07:002010-08-25T17:54:22.394-07:00

It always seems to take me a while to write blog posts about my favourite trips, probably because I'm in denial about them being over. So the fact that it's taken me almost a month to start writing this post is a good indication that it was an amazing adventure in my new favourite kayaking destination! The start of the trip was an almost exact replica of our last one - drive, ferry, drive, stay

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-23410228343424041342010-08-20T17:47:00.000-07:002010-08-20T17:47:01.223-07:00

Like celebrate their British roots: and, um, be intimate with fence posts: Both photos taken by me within the last week. Evolution in action, or just an overactive imagination (and a dirty mind?) (I did try to write a proper post, by the way, but I'm too tired. I'll try again tomorrow).

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-78842912611205327502010-08-17T07:34:00.000-07:002010-08-17T09:25:05.649-07:00

Which path would you choose? Would the adjacent sign affect your decision?  (Shmeegs?) Would you consider the relative scariness and likelihood of this... ...compared to this? (Photo source). Would the sight of vultures circling overhead affect your decision making?  (is there a fresh bear kill in the woods, or are they waiting for the siren dinner bell?) This was our final choice. It

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-28432818047448591732010-08-13T06:16:00.000-07:002010-08-13T06:18:53.393-07:00

FOR I AM ALL-POWERFUL Until this week, I would have said that my super-powers are limited to the following: Locating any spider's web within a 5 metre radius, using only my face Locating submerged rocks in the ocean, using only my bare feet Turning wine into water However, over the last few days I have not only caused a peer-reviewed paper to be retracted, but also influenced the outcome of the

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-80528995410969236262010-08-12T06:19:00.000-07:002010-09-07T11:23:34.059-07:00

My Computer files and email inbox are awash, overflowing, drowning in the acronyms used by various funding agencies, academic institutes, media outlets, and assorted other organisations. I'm sure many of my readers have the same issue. However, my problem is Compounded by working on (mainly) Breast Cancer in British Columbia, Canada - with American, British, and Canadian Collaborators. So the

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-89005456252263205612010-08-11T11:01:00.000-07:002010-08-11T11:01:18.883-07:00

Alyssa tagged me for a meme! This is the first one I've seen for a while; I thought they were an endangered species! The aim of this one is: 1. Sum up your blogging motivation, philosophy and experience in exactly 10 words. 2. Tag 10 other blogs to perpetuate the meme. I'll do the first part - as you may remember, I prefer not to tag individuals. "Share the smiles: mostly silly, with a

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-64587688704616454122010-08-08T15:14:00.000-07:002010-08-08T15:14:11.792-07:00

Is this supposed to cheer you up while you chop onions with your eyes streaming? It certainly cheered me up no end while grocery shopping! Thank you, Nesters Market on Main Street, for making my day today!

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-63182893698987110712010-08-07T09:04:00.000-07:002010-08-07T09:04:00.842-07:00

My friends crack me up. (Each person has their own colour). Exhibit A: Exhibit B: (background: these are comments on my status update about not being able to get my hands on an iPhone 4 yet. Between my original update and these comments, I'd posted a second update about how I was at the dentist watching the news on the ceiling TV and my dentist suddenly stopped to ask if I was OK because I'd

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-90453827612598739952010-08-06T06:40:00.000-07:002010-08-06T10:46:13.099-07:00

My sister-in-law got me a "puzzle of the day" desk calendar for Christmas. She apologised profusely for not getting me anything "better" (by which she meant "more expensive"), but honestly it's one of the best presents I got! Some of the puzzles are dumb, but lots of them are really fun, and just occasionally there's a science or maths themed entry that provides me with excellent blog fodder.

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-53424477555333789492010-08-05T16:56:00.000-07:002010-08-05T18:03:02.302-07:00

I'm back from my trip with more photos than I can reasonably fit into a blog post, so please bear with me while I attempt to cull the collection! Until then, it's enough to say that it was an amazing experience that proved once again that there is simply nowhere else I'd rather be than the BC coast in summer. Luckily, I have plenty of post ideas that don't require any agonising decisions over

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-4957579930533968242010-07-29T10:42:00.000-07:002010-07-29T10:43:15.276-07:00

Right, we've got charts, a compass, tide tables, two Swiss Army knives, bear spray, and an air horn*, and we're off on an adventure! (Well, we're actually off to my mother-in-law's today, which isn't all that adventurous, even when our nephews are there, which they are. The adventure starts tomorrow morning). If anyone needs me I'll be on a horse in a kayak, somewhere in Desolation Sound (so

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-61748379681078666992010-07-27T07:28:00.000-07:002010-07-27T07:28:16.455-07:00

That is all. (See last post if confused!)

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-15713687633807994112010-07-26T08:11:00.000-07:002010-07-26T08:11:11.920-07:00

In So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish, the fourth of five books in the Hitchhiker trilogy by Douglas Adams, our hero Arthur Dent travels to California to meet a man called Wonko the Sane. Wonko's house is inside-out, with brickwork and a nice garden inside (or "outside the Asylum", as he calls it), and nice wallpaper, carpeting, and outward-facing furniture against all the outside walls. Wonko

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-6646623544318369802010-07-22T11:22:00.000-07:002010-07-22T11:24:18.057-07:00

The movie industry is a harsh mistress, all boom and bust. When a big production comes to town, there's plenty of work (and overtime) to go around - but the lean times can be very lean indeed for Mr E Man and his fellow spaceship builders, and there's always the fear that shiny new tax breaks in Toronto or Australia or elsewhere will lure the big money away. This uncertain environment is a

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-49631189655835424092010-07-21T13:43:00.000-07:002010-07-21T13:43:51.421-07:00

Would it be wrong to interpret the first two words of this list as a direct order?

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-85623204865085274172010-07-15T14:24:00.000-07:002010-07-15T14:29:26.069-07:00

I'm in a real exercise slump at the moment. After the exertion of the ride down to Seattle, and all the training I was doing before that, I thought "I've worked hard for a long time and I deserve a rest as a reward. I won't do any exercise for a few days". Suddenly weeks have passed, I'm stuck in a pattern, and I feel like a slob*. Unfortunately, this is a recurring pattern for me - and not just

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-91027993567676634982010-07-12T18:02:00.000-07:002010-07-12T18:02:51.335-07:00

Or should that be g-RANT? Today, at 4:15, I finally submitted the Grant With No Deadline. Or, more accurately, the grant that had no deadline... no deadline... no deadline... no deadline... for months, and then suddenly HAD to be submitted WITHIN A WEEK or else the world would END!!! Regular readers will know that I go a little... eccentric when grant time comes around, and this time was

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-8921522291361689122010-07-08T06:55:00.000-07:002010-07-08T07:10:31.181-07:00

I have a talent for making born-and-bred Canadians laugh at me, especially when it comes to my accent and pronunciation. I mean, it's obviously just ridiculous to assume that French-looking names would be pronounced according to French pronunciation norms in a country where French is an official language! This all started on my first visit to Vancouver Island, when I pronounced Esquimault, home

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-26499114057261525242010-07-07T08:02:00.000-07:002010-07-07T17:23:48.767-07:00

The sun is finally shining in Vancouver! I'm not a sun worshipper by any stretch of the imagination; I burn really quickly, and find temperatures over 30C quite unpleasant (in the city, at least). But June-uary was too much even for me - I think we got more sunshine during the Olympics - and really, I shouldn't have to wear jeans, boots, and a sweater on Canada Day. But this week has been all

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-77337056405879685812010-07-05T06:32:00.000-07:002010-07-06T11:34:43.587-07:00

WOO HOO!!! Yay, Europe! It's time to make the final three picks! We have to submit our choices for the semi-finals AND the final by the time the first of those games kicks off tomorrow (Tuesday). Semi-final picks are worth 7 points each, and the final is worth 10. I think we'll still see some variety in the final picks... maybe... ------ Tuesday July 6th, 11:32 pm PST: Here are everyone's

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-78517490543418970532010-07-04T07:43:00.000-07:002010-07-04T07:43:00.080-07:00

I hope you have a good one! I'll be at Morgan's first birthday party. I can't believe it's been a year already! Morgan and Lilah on their first ever Canada Day!

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-32813902331902797372010-07-03T06:31:00.000-07:002010-07-03T07:01:00.719-07:00

I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow! Really exciting news, eh? Well, it is to me! I haven't had a hair cut for months, because I just haven't had the time. Literally every weekend since the beginning of the Olympics has been jammed; I've been double or even triple booked almost every day of every weekend, and plenty of weekday evenings too. It sounds incredibly whiny to complain (and I do

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-85101551931648204932010-07-02T15:53:00.000-07:002010-07-02T15:53:46.980-07:00

My boss is a very busy man whose trainees sometimes have a hard time getting his attention. I'm constantly having to explain that I don't know where he is, when he'll be back, or if he's read their draft yet. One of them just came up with a novel solution: print out your latest, hottest results and pin them to the PI's door with a note saying "come and find me if you think this is interesting".

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-80196794154853229872010-06-30T17:56:00.000-07:002010-06-30T17:59:04.230-07:00

(It's actually tomorrow, but I'm posting now because I'm declaring a blog-free day tomorrow. I want to catch up with some of the real-life friends I neglected throughout the Ride training etc!).

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-73277647619977055832010-06-29T17:12:00.000-07:002010-07-02T09:12:46.478-07:00

After the round of 16:   3 points were awarded for each correct pick in this round. Chall rocked in this round, getting 7 out of 8 picks correct! However, Thomas is still top, after calling 6 games correctly, as did Bob, Ricardipus and I. MadHatter didn't make any picks. Perhaps despondent at still being behind her after the first four games, Massimo didn't make any picks for the second set

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-4955534784427264502010-06-28T07:58:00.000-07:002010-06-28T07:58:41.653-07:00

So, apparently Harper thought that it would be a good idea to hold the G20 meeting in the middle of downtown Toronto. The inevitable happened. Now, let's get one thing clear. I do not condone violence - in fact, I hate it. I don't see how smashing things advances any cause, and in fact it detracts attention from the peaceful protesters who have valid points about wealthy nations' treatment of

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-66329232981053487392010-06-28T06:31:00.000-07:002010-06-28T06:31:02.985-07:00

"now leave me alone" Football sucks. When does the hockey season start? (I joke, I joke. I'm still watching. I'm supporting Ghana, Holland, and Germany, in that order).

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-2742999118126528162010-06-26T10:12:00.000-07:002010-06-26T10:15:26.989-07:00

Let's see if you can guess why I decided to re-do the beginning of the "thank you" video... the video that I sent to my parents, in-laws, aunties and uncles... (Hint: don't watch it at work). Yeah.

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-50198810065614008262010-06-25T16:59:00.000-07:002010-06-26T10:35:13.290-07:00

The group games are over and we move on to the exciting knockout stages tomorrow! Here are the results for the first round: Hey, MadHatter, do you spot any familiar patterns? HAHAHAHA! Here's how the scoring worked for this round: you get 3 points for correctly guessing the winner of each group, and 2 points for correctly guessing the runner up. You only get a friendly green tick next to your

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-80931985761355232472010-06-24T23:34:00.000-07:002010-06-24T23:46:12.162-07:00

Treebeard was wrong: going South does NOT feel like going downhill. (Well, except for the bits that actually were downhill. But some of those bits were really hard, too). But let's start at the beginning... (BTW this is a really long post. And those of you who donated will have already received an abbreviated version by email, edited and sanitised for the sake of my parents and assorted other

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-48878231380307998172010-06-22T06:50:00.000-07:002010-06-22T06:50:20.979-07:00

I got sunburned, soaked to the skin, and (probably) shot at, but I did it! And I wasn't last to finish! Not even close to last! I have early meetings and late work dinners this week, but I'll try to get a full post (with photos and videos) up by the weekend. I just wanted to check in and say THANK YOU to everyone who supported me! And now I think I will take the bus to work...

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-80688171855876166372010-06-15T15:34:00.000-07:002010-06-15T17:51:46.824-07:00

The Ride to Conquer Cancer is now just a few days away! At some ungodly time on Saturday morning I will be off and pedalling on the first of two consecutive 130 km days! Erm, yay? The last few weeks have felt much like the run-up to exams at high school and in university. But instead of comparing how much revision everyone's done, we're all discussing how many kilometres we've done on our

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-25004117116374978802010-06-12T06:33:00.000-07:002010-06-12T06:33:00.442-07:00

From my bank's website: Well, straight men and lesbians. This is Canada - same-sex marriage is legal - but apparently straight women and gay men don't get to take part in this survey. Equality FAIL!

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-68639091949125038262010-06-11T12:51:00.000-07:002010-06-11T12:51:52.655-07:00

Now that the tournament is underway, the pool is locked in and we can see each other's picks! Here's a screenshot, because I'm lazy very busy and important. This is also the official trash talk thread for the first round.Have at it!

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-6070428014867246172010-06-09T17:41:00.000-07:002010-06-09T17:53:41.134-07:00

I like food. And drinks. I like to try lots of different stuff. I'm reasonably adventurous. But I also like to make sure that when I order a meal in a restaurant, I'm going to enjoy it*. The obvious solution is to order something "safe", but also try a little taste of whatever Mr E Man orders. Just a leeettle sip of his drink; just a leeettle bite of his food. He calls this "tithing", or more

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-64834045739464481192010-06-08T13:13:00.000-07:002010-06-08T13:13:56.843-07:00

Oh dear, BBC. Oh dear. (Thought I'd better get this up before someone notices and corrects the images!)

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-82598324980970992452010-06-07T12:31:00.000-07:002010-06-07T13:15:33.614-07:00

The world cup has really crept up on me this year - I can't believe that it starts on Friday, with England's first game on Saturday! With some prompting by Massimo* (is he a glutton for punishment or what?!), I have set up a bloggers' pool. In case anyone needs reminding, the last one was more fun than a barrel of monkeys, and prior knowledge of the game was not predictive of success or

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-24350609424179832542010-06-03T13:48:00.000-07:002010-06-03T14:28:52.453-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: Our Glorious Leader On The World Stage. AKA LOLHarper. In order of increasing LOLs: see more Political Pictures  (Source, and why it's funny, in case you're not familiar with the British meanings of certain gestures) I love this one. I may never get tired of laughing at it.

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-89811170064207275322010-06-03T06:31:00.000-07:002010-06-03T06:31:34.068-07:00

My Dad turns 64 today! Instead of "Happy Birthday To You", we're going to sing this in the restaurant tonight: My Dad said last night that 64 seemed impossibly old when he first heard this song! Happy Birthday, Dad!

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-78923770358989658142010-06-01T15:23:00.000-07:002010-06-01T15:34:16.500-07:00

As you may remember from an old post, since I moved to Canada in 2002 I've spent much, much more time worrying about bears than actually encountering them. In fact, I'd only ever seen one bear in the wild... ...until Wednesday. My Mum spotted the first bear. It was ambling through a field, on the edge of the forest and parallel to the highway, just North of Pemberton. Mr E Man thought it was a

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-37233998450475641582010-05-31T17:49:00.000-07:002010-05-31T17:49:00.802-07:00

When we bought our house (four years ago today!), one of the best things that Mr E Man and I did was to invest in a really good bed. We'd been sleeping on a queen-size futon, and although it was a good fit for our small rented apartment, we decided that our larger space and newly-acquired grown-up status were worthy of a better place to lay our heads. So we found a beautiful cherry-wood bedroom

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-91045486235492861652010-05-22T18:14:00.000-07:002010-05-23T09:10:16.623-07:00

Nothing says "generation gap" to me quite like ironing. I haven't ironed anything for years - not since I worked in industry and had to dress like a grownup, and even then it was only occasionally. My philosophy is that if you pull things out of the dryer quickly enough, or hang them correctly during air drying, they don't need to be ironed. My Mum, on the other hand, irons pretty much everything

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-21876150998903226482010-05-21T10:03:00.000-07:002010-05-21T10:04:32.168-07:00

In searching for a better version of the London 2012 logo to use in my last post, I came across some real gems in Google Images. I think we all looked at the original logo and thought "hell, I could do better than that". These people set out to prove it: Very, very nice - I like the top one best, but the bottom one is also excellent. The middle one's a bit meh, but it's still better than the

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-71897170242164516862010-05-19T14:40:00.000-07:002010-05-21T09:56:14.947-07:00

I have had an incredibly hard time not laughing out loud at my desk today. If you thought the London 2010 Olympic logo was bad (and it really, really is), you should see the mascots! ROFLMFAO!!!!!!! What the fuck were they smoking thinking??!! As if the actual design isn't bad enough, the execution is awful too - the one on the left is all lumpy, FFS! More hilarious photos here I know a

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-14142680585573360552010-05-17T06:35:00.000-07:002010-05-17T06:35:35.575-07:00

Our various sets of friends who had babies last year have done very well for themselves - all babies are healthy and cute, and thanks to gifts from friends and family with older kids, they've barely had to buy anything themselves. Case in point: Morgan's parents have been given several car seats for kids of various sizes. So when my friends brought their 18 month old to visit earlier this year,

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-2101261442312886912010-05-14T11:05:00.000-07:002010-05-14T13:36:41.645-07:00

The BBC's "Science and Environment" RSS feed included a real gem today*: news of a competition in which members of the public were asked to submit ideas for research projects. The four winners will be mentored by experts in their chosen field as they design and conduct the appropriate experiments, and then (hopefully) write them up for publication. This is an absolutely brilliant idea, and I

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-18058033118806211902010-05-13T13:29:00.000-07:002010-05-13T13:30:05.203-07:00

More fun with Word: Amused I am, yes.

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-21641246717950066052010-05-10T10:41:00.000-07:002010-05-10T10:44:11.057-07:00

In chronological order: Your parents will finally announce the start and end dates of their much-discussed five week trip to Vancouver You will dutifully add the dates to your calendar A few weeks later, you will find out that Delhi 2 Dublin are playing the Commodore on May 7th, and you finally have a chance to see them after missing out twice in the last couple of years You will check your

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1149574905485287914.post-17389979391205131372010-05-06T10:16:00.000-07:002010-05-06T10:31:38.683-07:00

Me: "So what are you going to do today?" Dad: "Stay here and watch the election coverage on the internet" Yup, it's election time in the UK! I'm not voting, because I don't think it's fair for people to influence the results if they don't have to live with the consequences1. For the record, if I had decided to vote, I would have picked the Liberal Democrats - their coalition with Labour did

Cath@VWXYNot?noreply@blogger.com9