Fancy a cuppa?

Here's a little something that a grad student in my post-doc lab made for me back in 2003. I had a kidney infection and was banned from drinking tea for two whole weeks.

I don't know if you can read it, but the label below the tea bag says

"in case of emergency, break glass".

(The thing next to it is the plush lymphocyte that Mr E Man got me at Christmas. It's wearing a Nature Network button. Did I mention that I'm a geek?)

I love tea. Mostly what I would call "proper tea", which goes by the strange name of orange pekoe in North America. This caused me no end of confusion on my first day in Vancouver. Jetlagged beyond all belief, I stopped at a Blenz outlet on my way to my new lab for the first time, and asked for "a large tea please".

Barrista: "What kind of tea?"

CAE: "Just tea."

Barrista: ...?

CAE: "Normal tea. Tea tea."

Barrista: "You mean orange pekoe?"

CAE: "No, normal tea. Black tea. Not orange flavour."

Barrista: "That's orange pekoe."

CAE: "No it isn't."

Barrista: "Yes it is."

CAE: "No it isn't."

Barrista: "I'll just make some orange pekoe and you can tell me if that's what you wanted."

...

CAE: "Oh, this is normal tea. Erm, thanks. And sorry."

I did wonder what the hell I'd got myself into. The Bryan Adams CD I'd been subjected to over breakfast at my hotel didn't help either.

But worse was to come.

Did you know that some Canadians don't have kettles?!! Yes, it's true. I had to buy one in my first week. Apparently some of them make tea using a microwave, FFS. (Yes Dr G, I'm talking about YOU). There's no death penalty in Canada, but if there was... they'd be next in line after the folks who serve tea by giving you a cup of warm water and a tea bag. People! You make tea by pouring boiling (not boiled) water onto the tea. Any other way is unacceptable. You'll only get repeat tea-drinking business from me if you do it properly.

Thankfully, Canadian supermarkets sell Tetley tea (and Branston Pickle, no less) so I can make my own.

I also like all kinds of herbal tea. My usual weekday regime is a big mug of proper tea in the morning before work (with a little bit of milk and no sugar),

Home tea stash. The silver caddy is stuffed with proper (Tetley) tea bags.

a cup of fruity tea, a cup of minty tea, and another cup of proper tea throughout the day at work,

Work tea stash. I have my own kettle on my desk and keep my milk in the nearby fridge. The mug is a gift from Mermaid and the text inside says: "n. having more creative ability while drinking tea". This sums up my performance in my last job, where I had all my best ideas while either drinking tea or riding my bike.

and sometimes another fruity or minty cup in the evening. I'm drinking the last of the black cherry tea right now. I do drink green tea, but only very occasionally. I'm not quite sure why I have so much of it.

Most Saturday mornings involve sharing a big pot of tea with Mr E Man while we tackle the New York Times crossword in the local paper. This is the best part of the week.

What we're really missing over here is a tea blend that's optimised for the local water, a la Yorkshire Tea, Scottish Blend etc. Maybe this is an opportunity for me to develop my own blend and become the Tea Queen of Canada. Kneel before me, ye Colonials...

Bragging Rights Archive II

Dates represent date of archiving - it's just easier that way.

VWXYNot? Comment(s) of the week:

Apr 03 2009: Mrs CH for "Ah yes, I've heard of this thing they call "running""

and Silver Fox for "I think the inclusion of cheese definitely qualifies the entire package for breakfast status. Possibly the Fail people didn't have a sense of imagination, or maybe they simply prefer cereal with their beer in the morning!"

Apr 10th 2009: I wanted to include every comment on this thread, but Ruchi, erm, disagreed. (I believe her exact words were "The WHOLE THREAD?! F**king bulls**t. What is this, comment of the week grade inflation?"). So I'll just do a selection. If your comment didn't make the cut, please take it up with Ruchi!

Ruchi for "Tea!!!! I had five cups today. I am also wide awake at 3:30 am commenting on blog posts. But I can't prove causality, so I don't have to stop drinking so much tea. Right?!! Right?!!!"
MadHatter for "No, no, no, no, no! No milk in tea! No sugar in tea! And no fucking condensed milk in tea! Thou shalt not sully thy pristine cup of tea with base and impure substances! (Unless it's bubble tea, in which case the more boba the better.) [end hysterics]"

Cromercrox for "I know someone who was killed by too much tea without milk or sugar - very suddenly. He was minding his own business on the sidewalk when a full tea urn fell on him from a great height."

and SilverFox for "If concerned about excessive heat, move to a higher elevation where water boils at a significantly lower temperature. That's what I did, long before this study came out. Prescient of me, eh?"

Meanwhile, on other threads: Chall for "A very tidy and quiet child scares me since they most likely will plot something very bad inside their little head."

and Lisbeth for "are you saying that I don't need to find an actual baby but can just go and smell the baby powder in the supermarket?"

Apr 17 2009: Hermitage for "C'mon, you KNOW some halfwits are still going to wander over and ask you to preform secretarial duties under the pretense that PhD stands for Professional Help Desk."

and Mad Hatter for "This is why you need a second sign that says "Cath [redacted] PhD, Not The Fucking Secretary" that you can pull out when the first one fails to deter the halfwits".

Apr 24 2009: Massimo for "My heartfelt congratulations for making it to the playoffs. The concurrent demise of my beloved Oilers, and the ensuing firing of their coach (which incidentally takes care of the embarrassing situation with your Macbook) has made me decide that the Canucks are now the team which I hope to see win the Stanley Cup"

and Amanda for "to alleviate your wondering a 9 year old boy will climb onto the roof of a house-- without a ladder-- to get at chocolate (as my brother has proven). So, I think a little swamp wouldn't stand in their way!"

May 1 2009: Dr J for "non-alcoholic beer, there is nothing about those words together that looks right. like de-caff coffee, I just don't see the point."

and Ricardipus for "You know, if homeopathy worked, you wouldn't have to even open the bottle. Just drink a glass of lake/ocean/river/tap water - it should contain the memory of molecules of every medication ever used.There, cold sorted. ;)"

May 8 2009: Kyrsten for "I called someone a "Customer Wrangler" the other day when they had a particularly distressing set of emails where no one was listening to what each other were saying, and now they want it on their business card."

and Hermitage for "Haha, now I'm going to imagine you herding grants on the long trail from PI's office to the NIH, eating slop beans at night and wearing a bandana around your mouth during the day to keep the bullshit out."

May 15 2009: Eva for "I do find it stressful that every time I go to Holland I spend all my time visiting people. I never have a proper vacation. There are always appointments to be made. Fun appointments, but still, there's a whole *schedule*. I just want to sit around and do nothing."

and Chall for "I do miss the whole "vacation and not running around meeting people" but I guess that is part of my punishment for moving away?!!?"

May 22 2009: Mermaid for "Well, the best part of being an Auntie is the supply of 'unnecessary' fun substances (to a point, of course). I may have to come over with some organic catnip soon :)."

Bob O'Hara for "Oh, congratulations! Does this mean you have less than a month to find a doomed hockey team to follow?"

and Ambivalent Academic for "Holy crap! Glad you got it sorted. I would have subsequently punished whoever sent that email and kicked off you panic death spiral though."

May 29 2009: Microbiologist XX for "Ahhhh the life of a cat. I won't know that kind of joy until I'm in a nursing home. ;)"

and Hermitage for "This is why I stick with dogs. Cats are so condescending ! I want unending, slavish, devotion, not judginess!"

June 5 2009: Silver Fox for "It seems like most jobs will have something to miss, although one may not know what that is until moving on to the next job."

Barn Owl for "I usually swim laps without wearing my contact lenses (though I can manage lenses + goggles for outdoor distance swims), and under those circumstances I don't see well enough to determine whether there are creepy underwater guys in nearby lanes. When I was in grad school, a few friends warned me that there was a creepy exhibitionist dude who frequented the university pool, and who would pull down his Speedo to expose himself when women swam by. I can't say whether I would have noticed this, being so nearsighted while swimming laps. My friends thought this was rather funny ... the guy would have been wasting his genitalia display energies on me."

and Mermaid for "I went to swim training last night and our group was delayed by 15 minutes. Normally I would be annoyed, but the group that was still training was the men's national swim team. Not only were they amazing swimmers (they had wakes coming off of them...like on a speedboat!), but there was an entire pool full of men that looked like this:

Imagine, if you will, a triathlon club left speechless - both male and female. We tried not to creepy about it, but we couldn't help staring at them. Wow."

June 12 2009: Lisbeth for "That defense for the right to drink tea at your desk at any given time clearly shows why you are allowed to hold two citizenships :)"

Prof-Like Substance for "Congrats, but I hope they told you ahead of time that all new citizens have to wear a mullet for 6 months. It's all aboot hazing the new folks."

and Microbiologist XX for "Lancelot and I would not have gotten on well in HS at all. I would have thought he was an immature jerk whose grades were not good enough and he would have thought I was a dork. Thank goodness we met after undergrad. ;)"

June 19 2009: Professor in Training for "As to Tom Jones - I loved the original Prince version and don't mind TJ's version but watching him run his hands down his body makes my skin crawl ... it's probably got something to do with the fact that my mother told my sister and I several years ago that she "would be happy for Tom Jones to park his slippers under her bed anytime." Eeeeeewwww. We never told our dad about that conversation :)"

Bob O'Hara for "Um. In Glasgow the "skirts" weren't for cross-dressers."

Chall for "It's ok that you win against Norway since you will lose against Sweden ;)"

and ScientistMother for "I would congratulate you but I'm too jealous. I will most likely be studying for comps and unable to enjoy the moment. SCREW YOU ALL!"

June 26 2009: (everyone mentioned below gets to call me Cathy once, and then we'll put the whole thing to rest for good!)

Ruchie for "I don't really understand why this is so difficult for people. The most annoying is email. Like, when I sign an email Ruchi, I really hate it when I get an email response back that says, "Hi Ruchie."

It's like ... my name is spelled RIGHT THERE in the BLOODY email you are responding to. How do you not SEE that?!"

Moose for "At least you have never been told "What? Mah-see-moh? Oh, no, that's too difficult for me, I'll call you Moose, how's that..."... "Yes, and I'll call you Dick, how's that ?" (Savannah, GA, circa 1988)".

Diana for "I can't figure out the whole extra syllable thing not being obvious either. Just call me Diana and see the response you get. It is a whole different name! My best response from one man who insisted that the name was the same was for me to call Robert "Roberta". See, it IS different!"

Eve for "I often get e-mail and regular mail addressed to "Eve". I don't know who that is, but the bank even let me cash her cheque once so it's fine by me.

People also always pronounce my name wrong. You probably do, too. It's okay - there are 3 ways to pronounce it and mine is the least common in English. It sounds like the English name Ava, or, as someone once pointed out "Oh, like 'Eva Braun'!" Lovely".

and Sci Bear for "My first name is very common but people automatically assume I WANT a shortened version. This is completely incorrect. Every person I've met who goes by the shortened version of my super common name has been a ditz."

July 03 2009: Thomas Joseph for "She looks bored. Sort of how I looked when I was dragged to see Moulin Rouge by my wife."

and Mermaid for "Unfortunately MJ made a mockery of himself over the last few years. The person we all danced to has been gone a long, long time."

July 10 2009: Unbalanced Reaction for "With just one passport and no iPhone, I suddenly feel very tech-deficient!"

and Lisbeth for "Since we're also the ones 'on the move', I'm not bothered by friends moving around - only if they move to very-cool-place-I-would-like-to-visit and then manage to move away from it again before I have the time/money to visit!!"

July 17 2009: Bob for "Ah, I see. You get to play mum, and some sleep at night.

Well done!"

and Massimo for "You are aware of the type of comments from friends and relatives to which you are exposing yourself by publishing these pictures, aren't you ?"

July 24 2009: Massimo for "So, here is my question: do you mention the iPhone to me "regularly", "often", or both ?"

and Chall for "I'm so going soon. I mean, not only too meet up and see you and see Vancouver again but seriously; I need a trip to MEC."

July 31 2009: DuWayne Brayton for "Oh shit!!!! Ya'll think you're clear because you didn't fall out of a sailboat????"

Hermitage for "Boo, falling out of a sailboat is ELISTIST! I demand a good, common, hard-working AMERICAN metric be used...such as anyone who's had a Big Mac."

and Microbiologist XX for "I got so distracted by the fact that I had fallen out of a sailboat that I forgot to leave my comment."

(This exchange looked so funny out of context that I just had to include it!)

August 7 2009: EcoGeoFemme for "The problem with miracles is that it makes you question all the times when there isn't a miracle."

and Nina for "I wear pretty normal clothes actually (at least in my opinion), but among my colleagues red shoes are regarded very exotic ..."

August 14 2009: Hermitage for "I will not be conned by your Vancouver trickery! I know the minute I got there it would start raining immediately and constantly for days. Kind of like how it snowed when I went to visit Seattle in late spring/early summer. It's all a scam!"

and Mermaid for "Is it sad that I love Pet Peeve Tuesday? I look forward to it every week. [...] It is NOT COOL to stand outside with your wailing child at 3am so you don't wake your husband up. We have our windows open and our master bedroom is right above where you are standing. Why should the father be able to sleep when we can't? (You know you have a lousy strata when your neighbours admit this)."

August 21 2009: Amanda for "I most certainly agree about baseball being something you do once every 2-3 years. I've also found that, since I turned 21, that the game has drastically improved :-)"

Microbiologist XX for "Watch baseball on TV...you might as well watch someone mow a lawn on TV. (I feel the same way about golf) For me to enjoy baseball, I must attending the game, get a little drunk, eat a hot dog and/or pretzel and heckle the apposing team or my Dad's favorite player. Come to think of it, that's how I enjoy hockey...just add in a few more drinks."

and Thomas Joseph for "Baseball is America's sport, and when I say America, I mean that in the most elitist way possible ... The UNITED STATES of America. It's our sport! We don't expect you non-Americans to understand it, care about it, pay attention to it, play it'

Aug 28 2009: Bob O'H for "What are you trying to say about what Mr. E Man gets up to in his spare time?"

and EcoGeoFemme for "ooh, ooh, tell us which national stereotypes you think have the most factual basis!!"

Sep 4 2009: Viv (Knutty Knitter) for "Mammograms aren't that bad - it was better than the pap thing anyhow :) Of course hanging by one breast off a large immovable object isn't exactly comfortable! Ok so I'm vertically challenged and so was the machine. It couldn't get down any further and the stool wouldn't go up any higher. I swear I'm taking my own stool next time in about a month....."

Professor in Training for "And for the record, my male GP is "boringly normal" and married which was perfect for pap and breast exams. Musculoskeletal exams on the other hand are infinitely better if performed by a Hot Doc who's not at all creepy and very, very easy on the eyes."

Nina for "I never understood why men would want to become a doctor for "women things" other than some weird and sick interest ... Perhaps if he would look less like a retired playboy it wouldn't be so bad, but he has this perpetual artificial suntan and perfectly styled white hairs ... yuck."

and Mad Hatter for "Oh, and my doctor is very good-looking. Married with children, but definitely hot. I agree hot is better than creepy or gross, but it is a little weird."

Sep 11 2009: Nina for "I think it is not fair of them to ask for French, when Quebecois is a whole different language... I took Science-French with 3 Canadian girls and they spoke something more similar to arabic"

and Prof-like Substance for "I'm pretty sure Dunkin Donuts is moving in the bucket direction. They have an extra large coffee that comes with a Sherpa to carry it. And I love the fact that the British invented Canada. Don't you mean "asked Canada to grow up, get a job and stop living off its parents" in 1931?"

Sep 18 2009: Professor In Training for "While we all professed to hate the uniforms, they made life easier for those of us that were significantly less affluent than our peers and who couldn't afford to buy the latest fashions (in retrospect, probably a good thing given that I was at school in the 70's and 80's)."

and Bob O'H for "one of the previous heads went on a campaign against (IIRC) ties. Of course, that meant that the students rebelled and put their effort into stranger tie styles. But that was what he wanted: they didn't notice that the rest of their uniform was boringly standard. And no doubt everyone got some enjoyment from the little contest."

Sep 25 2009: Infinite Science for "I saw this and thought WEREWOLF! with a non-symmetrical face! and Chipmunk cheeks!!"

and Chall for "sports bar showing hockey here? haha, there was one - after I did some oogling and pulling the top a bit lower and biting my lip (almost serious here)."


Post(s) of the Week:

Apr 03 2009: Steffi Suhr for "No Sir, she is not a bullshit artist"

and ScientistMother for "Running is like science OR why I need an iPhone"

Apr 10 2009: Prof-like Substance for Ecological Succession of PANs

and Noah Gray for "Research highlights from Dr. Obvious: Depressed kids have experienced more depressing events"

Apr 17 2009: Ian Brooks for "The challenge... as I see it"

and Peter Mc (from the Beagle Project) for "What is the difference between HMS Beagle and RMS Titanic?"

Apr 24 2009: Toaster Sunshine for "Cost of Science"

and Viktor Poór for "Localization Patterns"

May 1 2009: Eric Michael Johnson for "And now for something completely different"

and Heather Etchevers for "Offensive in thought and deed"

May 8 2009: Arlenna for "The Fate Game II"

and Beth Snow for "You can do *anything* you want?"

May 15 2009: Massimo for "Search committee double speak"

and Wayfarer Scientista for "One dead bear & a blueberry pie"

May 22 2009: Silver Fox for "Hummingbird moth"

and ScienceGirl for "Monday Anecdote: Mr. Officer"

May 29 2009: Professor in Training for "Go read this"

and Ruchi for "Living car-free should not be challenging"

June 5 2009: Uphilldowndale for "The things we do for love"

and Caryn Shechtman for "A discussion of the placebo-nocebo effect"

June 12 2009: Bob O'Hara for "Publicity and outreach done wrong"

and The Digital Cuttlefish for "Of penguins, and people, and the end of the world as we know it"

June 19 2009: Jeanne Sather for "What to say when a friend has cancer"

and Nina for "An eye-opener"

June 26 2009: Toaster Sunshine for "On male emotions"

and Comrade PhysioProf for "Basic fucking research"

July 03 2009: Trisha Saha for "They're just made of a different DNA"

and Vanessa Woods for "Bonobo release - Lomela"

July 10 2009: Stephen Curry for "Picture perfect?"

Prof-Like Substance for "Actual conversation: real estate"

and GrrlScientist for "In memory of Michael Jackson: a moonwalking bird"

July 17 2009: Toaster Sunshine for "A proposal"

and PZ Myers for "Stephen Harper, call me!"

July 24 2009: Henry Gee for "Rocks, Crocs and the missing link"

Ambivalent Academic for "Lying motherfucker"

and DuWayne Brayton for "Ooh!!! Those Damned Canucks are Getting Rather Uppity!!!!"

July 31 2009: The Digital Cuttlefish for "Church vs virus: who will blink?"

Brian Clegg for "A website name to wind up the French"

and Massimo for "iPhone and me" (He caved!!!!!).

August 7 2009: White Coat (@Emails From Crazy People) for "Damn Dams"

and Hypoglycemiagirl for "Rowr!"

August 14 2009: Steffi Suhr for "Look closer"

and Makita for "Permission to make a mess"

August 21 2009: Dr. J for "Republican right - get your filthy toxin spewing tanks off the NHS's lawn"

and Vanessa Woods for "Hard at work in the jungle"

August 28 2009: David Basanta for "Evolutionary constraints and hindering tumour progression"

Heather Etchevers for "Your body, my self"

and Ruchi for "Clearing up some confusion"

September 4th 2009: Ambivalent Academic for "Raise the drawbridge!"

Chall for "Not today"

and (I couldn't resist!), Mad Hatter for "First meeting with an old friend"

September 11th 2009: Eva Amsen for "Distant friends"

and Chall (2nd week in a row!) for "Broken angry record"

September 18th 2009: Anna Kushnir for "You can take the dork out of the lab, but you can't take the lab out of the dork"

and Alyssa Gilbert for "That's cool - but who cares?"

September 25th 2009: Stephen Curry for "Flags of our daughters"

and Microbiologist XX for "Things that sound better than Nickelback"

Supersize me!

It's that time of year again.

Mid-August to mid-October is Big Canadian Grants time and, as usual, I'm feeling the pressure of deadlines and red tape.

I usually respond by increasing the number of cups of tea I drink each day.

But not this year!

I just bought a new cup.

We must, we must, we must increase our cup size!

Denial WIN! And, say what you want about Starbucks, but they sell the biggest mugs in town.

Sorry, Mermaid - I still love the Creativi-tea cup that you got me! I'm just using it for juice instead.

--------------
p.s. my colleague said that my new mug was inappropriate for tea and should only be used for coffee.

"Because it says Starbucks Coffee on it?"

"No, because it's brown. And coffee is brown."

"So is tea!"

"No it isn't!"

"It is in Britain!"

"It isn't in China! And we invented it!"

"Well, we're in Canada. Which the British invented."

p.p.s. my other (British) colleague asked if I'll be drinking from a bucket next year.

Fear the Tea Cops!

Anyone who dared to question the One True Way of making tea, read this and repent:

"Tea drinking habits and oesophageal cancer in a high risk area in northern Iran: population based case-control study" by Farhad Islami et al., BMJ 2009;338:b929.

Alternative title: "Adding milk to your tea like a normal person prevents cancer". You heard it here first eventually.

(H/T Mermaid)

All weekends should be long weekends

Seriously, I think I need three days EVERY weekend. Here's what we did this BC Day long weekend:


Saturday: lazy day.

Got up late after being out for dinner and drinks on Friday. Lounged on sofa. Drank tea, made simple breakfast. Read papers. Played with cats. Read book. Played a lot of Risk. Read blogs. Drank more tea. Watched TV. Sent Mr E Man out to forage for food (Thai) and DVDs. Watched Juno (I loved it. Great dialogue and soundtrack, although Jason Bateman and Michael Cera are in danger of overexposure. At least they didn't have any scenes together - given their roles as father and son in Arrested Development, it would have been quite weird. Mr E Man was more ambivalent about this movie). Watched In Bruges (we both really liked it. More great dialogue, and the city looked amazing. I've been to Bruges three times, but am happy to visit for a fourth time to show Mr E Man around and have encore des moules et frites, avec beaucoup des bieres). Snoozed on the sofa. Early night.

After dealing with work crap last week and being out of town for the last few weekends, I really, really needed a day like Saturday.

Sunday: party day (with occasional chores).

Got up late. Lounged on sofa. Drank tea, made simple breakfast. Did weekly grocery run and called my parents. Played with the cats. Headed to Spanish Banks beach for friends' annual BC Day Weekend BBQ. Drank beer, ate hot dogs and cake and fruit. Drank more beer. Realised I was hammered (this happened in a very precariously placed and wobbly port-a-potty) and switched to juice. Adjourned to friends' house for poker (I won some money, Mr E Man broke even). Played with friends' pets, fell asleep on friends' couch. Late night.

Monday: chores day (with occasional movies).

Got up slightly earlier. Drank tea, Mr E Man made super fabulous cooked breakfast. Cleaned and tidied house. Tried to fix crashed computer - it's back up now, but I haven't checked that all my files are still where they should be. Weeded and watered garden (I have one red tomato! And a bunch of green ones that don't seem to want to ripen). Picked peas, eating most of them before they made it into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Mr E Man helped with the cleaning and tidying, washed all the dishes, sorted out our camping gear, and cut the grass. Or rather, the weeds. Played with cats (outside this time).

Got stood up by my scheduled geek date, because he got himself a real date instead. Somehow managed to persuade Mr E Man to take geek date's place and take me to see the new X-Files movie (Good, but not great. If you're a fan then I'd recommend it, but only if you're a fan. The snowy BC mountain scenery did look amazing, but why was this a summer release? I have two regrets related to this movie, the first being much more serious than the second: I realised that the mystery location shoot I'd cycled past every day for a couple of weeks last winter was the set for Billy Connolly's (the preacher's) lodgings. This is just a few blocks South of the Olympic curling venue by the way - is my route to work the most happening part of the city or what?! I can't believe I never stopped to check out the shoot; as big of an X-Files fan as I was/am, I'm a MUCH bigger Billy Connolly fan and would have loved to see him in action. I must be getting complacent about film sets, like native Vancouverites. Also it was dark and bloody freezing at the time, the artificial snow being joined by the real thing on a few occasions. Secondly, according to IMDB the film has an extra scene during the credits that I missed because Mr E Man was desperate to leave by that time. Although he did think the movie was OK, and he was happy to support the local film industry that helps to pay our mortgage).

Drove home, passing the aforementioned movie location on the way. Ordered sushi, ate it while watching The Spiderwick Chronicles (pretty good, for a kids' movie. Quite scary for younger kids though I'd imagine). Early night.

So, overall, the weekend was a perfect blend of rebooting my energy levels, getting all the essential stuff done, seeing friends (and movies!) and generally relaxing.

Why can't every weekend be like this?!

Join my campaign for a four day work week!

Friday Quiz: Missing Links

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 that the first two words AND the last two words of each set form a scientific(ish) term. As a non-sciency example, fill in the gap below

GREEN ________ BAG

with the word TEA, to form the terms GREEN TEA and TEA BAG.

As before, answer in the comments in any order you like - but please submit only one answer per person per hour, to give as many people as possible a chance to play!  

1. DRY __ICE__ AGE (Lisbeth)
2. STROBE _LIGHT_ WAVE (Pika)
3. BINARY __STAR__ FISH (Alyssa)
4. FOOD _CHAIN_ REACTION (Bob)
5. HEAVY _WATER_ TABLE (Anonymous)
6. PERPETUAL _MOTION_ SICKNESS (Mermaid)
7. CLEAN __ROOM__ TEMPERATURE (Chall)
8. FUEL __CELL__ DIVISION (Schlupp)
9. COMMON __COLD__ FUSION (Pika)
10. LAND __MASS__ SPECTROMETER (Alyssa)

I got all but one of the answers. Let's just say that I came up with some fairly ridiculous guesses (binary cat? Code fish?) out of desperation, and felt rather silly when I saw the answer!

I'll update the post with the answers and bragging rights as and when I get time, and I'll add clues if there are any unanswered questions after a day or two.

Have fun!

Am I a walking stereotype?

I came across an interesting site recently. It's called "Stuff White People Like" and, well, it's a list of things that white people are supposed to all be into.

There are several different ways to approach such a list, many of them resulting in indignant offense. I think, though, that the blog is meant to be approached as observational comedy, and with that in mind it's very entertaining (and sometimes cringeworthy) reading.

One thing I noticed is that the site is written from a very specific angle - that of a white North American male. The list is therefore an interesting mix of racial, cultural and gender-based stereotypes. But is it accurate? I am the daughter of the Whitest Man in England^TM, so let's give it a shot and see how many of the items on the list I can relate to.

I've colour coded the list - green for yes, red for no, blue for partial credit, and black when I got confused.

Coffee

Coffee makes me way too jittery. I drink the occasional decaf, but I'm really more of a tea drinker.

Religions their parents don't belong to

Atheism is not a religion, so I'm claiming a no.

Film Festivals

I've been to the occasional festival screening, but not for years and I'm much more likely to watch a DVD than go to the cinema anyway.

Assists

Alien concept in European sports, in which assists are not tracked unless you play in some kind of fantasy league. Which I don't. I do like hockey, but don't care about stats. Just results. (Not too many of those in Vancouver at the moment).

Farmers' Markets

Love the idea, don't go as often as I would like, which is something I plan to change this summer.

Organic Food

Ditto.

Diversity

Yes. Homogeneity is boring, and I should know! I went to a school of about 1500 students, of whom around 1496 were white.

Barack Obama

Yes we can.

Making you feel bad about not going outside

Lots of Vancouverites are very outdoorsy and will make you feel like shite if you didn't spend the weekend fending off bears and cougars. I am outdoorsy-lite. I do like skiing, kayaking and camping, but I enjoy lots of other things too and besides, I'm too lazy to get out there very often. So I will never ever rip on someone who'd rather stay in the city at the weekend.

Wes Anderson movies

Yup. Just watched the Darjeeling Limited. Not as good as the others, but I still enjoyed it!

Asian girls
I think this might be one for the boys.

Non-profit organisations

Work for one, volunteer for a couple more!

Tea

Ooh yes please. Don't forget to warm the pot and put the milk in the cup before the tea. My home and office tea stashes are the stuff of legend and I have my own kettle on my desk at work. I am English after all.

Having black friends

I love having friends, period. I've never had the opportunity to have black friends (in real life anyway, I have no idea about the ethnicity of most of my blog buddies), having lived in predominantly white and / or Asian areas my whole life. But my friends do reflect the ethnic make-ups of the places I've lived in. I guess this is a partial...?!

Yoga

Loved it when I did it, haven't done it for years. Planning to start again.

Gifted children

Don't know really, I don't have kids and don't plan to have any, so I don't really have an opinion on gifted children programmes, having never encountered one in the UK.

Hating their parents

I have some issues with my parents (doesn't everyone?), but nothing major and I certainly don't hate them.

Awareness

I'm more into direct fundraising and research than awareness.

Travelling

I like going abroad, but I'm not a hard-core traveller. I've done my fair share of backpacking around Europe and North America, and I have a long list of wish-list destinations, but you're more likely to find me hanging out in Prague or Madrid than seeking enlightenment in Tibet.

Being an expert in YOUR culture

Not unless YOU are British or Canadian, which doesn't seem to be the point of this entry!

Writers' workshops

I've never done one, but it does actually sound like something I'd enjoy.

Having two last names

Nope. I changed my name when I got married and never even considered hyphenating. (Dunn is a very difficult name to hyphenate anyway - it sounds dodgy whether you put it first or last).

Microbreweries

Yesh, what'sh yer point? *hic*

Wine

Ditto, but I'm not too snobby about it. I'm still a student at heart, I'll drink anything if it's free...

David Sedaris

Yep, he's represented in my book case.

Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)

Fun for a few days, but NYC scares the bejebus out of me and I always come back completely exhausted.

Marathons

Dear god no. Running was considered a punishment for misbehaviour at my school, and I've never seen a reason to change that mindset. I only run if chasing (e.g. a football) or being chased (e.g. someone who wants to tickle my feet).

Not having a TV

Yeah right. I LOVE my TV. I would never have made it through my PhD without Friends and the Simpsons.

80s night

I went to many an 80s night in University. Hopefully the photos have been destroyed.

Wrigley Field
Huh? (Another one for the white American male).

Snowboarding

Skis all the way, baby. I tried snowboarding once and couldn't even stand up. It's not natural to not be able to move your feet independently of each other.

Vegan/vegetarianism

I like it in principle, just not enough to, y'know, actually do it or anything. I have cut down on my red meat intake and started to cook more meat-free meals though.

Marijuana
Um, no officer, never ever ever. (OK, maybe once or twice a year. Fun while kayaking).

Architecture

I know what I like, but I don't really know the first thing about it.

The Daily Show / Colbert Report

I wasn't too keen on the Colbert Report when it first started, but now it's actually my favourite of the two. There's hope for America yet ;)

Breakfast Places

Ooh yeah. My favourites being the Cuban place near our old apartment and the Caribbean place near our house. A regular feature of our weekends.

Renovations

It's coming... at the moment we're just constantly patching up the raccoon-inflicted damage to our roof.

Arrested Development

...was indeed awesome. Sadly missed.

Netflix

Who what? This is something to do with movie downloads, right?

Apple Products

I don't own a single one. I went for a Sony MP3 player just to be different (it's crap, but Mr E Man likes his higher-end Sony), and I almost, but not quite, went for the Mac instead of the PC last year. So this No is really a Not Yet, Maybe When This One Dies.

Indie Music
Of the British variety, yes. I'm a wee bit out of date these days though.

Sushi

It's a Sunday night fixture at our place! Japanese tourists apparently rave about the quality and price of Vancouver's sushi. Yum.

Plays

Meh, I can take them or leave them. I usually go if invited, but I never instigate a trip to the theatre (the one exception was when I won some tickets to the Reduced Shakespeare Company, which was fun). I prefer opera actually, if I can say that without sounding too, well, white or anything!

Public Radio

No, unless you count BBC radio when I'm in the UK, but the context is very different to that of public radio in the US.

Asian Fusion Food

Probably. I'm not sure if I've ever had it, but I do like most Asian food.

The Sunday New York Times

Our local paper runs the Sunday New York Times crossword on Saturdays, which we do religiously, but that's the only part of it I've ever read.

Arts Degrees

BSc Genetics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1998.
The site says, "But what about the white people who study Science, Engineering or Business? Unless they become doctors, they essentially lose white person status (and can only be regained by working at a non-profit)".
So that's OK then.

Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops

Only when I'm not being lazy and going to Safeway, or virtuous and going to farmers' markets.

Vintage

Not so much any more, although there is a genuine 1960s top lurking at the back of my closet. I bought it for a themed band concert in high school and couldn't bear to throw it away.

Irony

Yup.
Best definition ever: Mr E Man was hanging out with some drunk British girls in Mexico (before he met me I hasten to add) and they accused all North Americans of not understanding irony.
Mr E Man: "Gee, you're right, I've never really understood the concept. Please could you explain it to me?"
Drunk Brit: "Well, it's sarcasm"
MEM: "No, it's not the same thing"
DB: "Yes it is"
MEM: "No, they're different"
DB: "Well what's the difference?"
MEM: "Sarcasm was me pretending not to know what irony is. Irony is you actually not knowing what irony is".

Living by the water

Sounds great, doesn't it? Why is this A White Thing?

Sarah Silverman

She's pretty damn funny all right.

Dogs

Who's a good boy? I will have a dog one day. When I'm working from home or something. In the mean time, the adoption of a cat has been successfully negotiated and the search will begin after Easter. Photos will be posted when available.

Kitchen gadgets

Come to momma. Populating the registry was my favourite part of the whole wedding planning thing (I didn't get to sample caterers' goods, Mr E Man did that part).

Apologies

I'm English. And I live in Canada. Apologising is a way of life.

Lawyers

WTF? No. Unless they happen to be my brother-in-law and work for the UN.

Juno

Haven't seen it yet.

Japan

Erm, I like sushi... Actually I would quite like to visit rural Japan, but it's not all that high on my list. Maybe I can get sent to a conference or something.

Natural Medicine

No, I'm a scientist. Besides, whoever developed Ibuprofen made those days bearable. Before that I was incapacitated, curled up on the sofa with a hot water bottle and moaning softly, for at least 2 days each month. Big Pharma is OK by me.

Toyota Prius

They are soooo cool. A lot of Vancouver taxis are switching to hybrids, and all the drivers I've talked to just love them. Mr E Man's car is only 6 years old and still running well, but when it's been run into the ground we're definitely going to get a hybrid, or whatever greener technology is best at that time.

Bicycles

Extensively documented on this blog!

Knowing what's best for poor people
Erm, a social welfare system? Is this another one with an American bias?

Expensive sandwiches

Yes, that would be my first choice on the days when I don't bring my own lunch.

Recycling

And composting too, for extra points no doubt.

Co-ed sports

I really, really suck at team sports. Drunken football or cricket on the beach is the only post-school exception to my self-imposed ban.

Divorce

Yikes, let's hope not!

Standing still at concerts

Not totally still. I sway a bit. But only if the band's good.

Michel Gondry
Who? (Seriously. No idea).

Mos Def
The only people to emerge from the Hitchhiker movie with any credit were Douglas Adams and Stephen Fry.

Difficult breakups

Oh yeah, I just loved those months of crying in the toilets at work and feeling like my personality had been removed and replaced with that of a complete stranger. Awesome.

Being the only white person around

It's certainly a rare and interesting experience for a girl from York!

Study abroad

I actually made a conscious decision not to move away from the UK, where an undergraduate degree takes 3 years and a PhD no more than 4. There's a whole other post in there somewhere.

Gentrification
It would be really really nice if this happened in our neighbourhood!

Oscar parties
I don't even watch the ceremony.

Threatening to move to Canada
I have no idea what colour this one should be - I mean, I did move to Canada, but not for the reasons implied by this entry. I just really really liked Vancouver.

Bottles of water
I do indeed have two Sigg metal bottles - one for work and one for the gym.

Musical comedy
When it's good, it's very very good!

Multilingual children
Again, no plans to have kids. But if I did they would definitely be bilingual. You can't get above a certain level in some careers here if you don't speak both official languages - e.g. the civil service, the military etc. Plus it opens up careers with the European Union, which requires at least 2 different languages in all employees. I'd be daft not to teach my kids French. Besides, both my parents are French teachers and they'd kill me if their grandchildren turned out unilingual.

Modern furniture
I'm a fan, Mr E Man is not. He's a carpenter and has very high standards - it took us forever to find an acceptable dining table. Other rooms are full of donated Ikea furniture. The house will probably be a mish-mash for many years to come.

The idea of soccer
I don't like the idea of soccer, I just love football (as I will always insist on calling it). I grew up watching it and will always be a fan. I think this is another North American idiosyncrasy.

Graduate school
Been there, done that, got the thesis. Not an arts degree though.

Hating corporations
Nope. Most of my wardrobe comes from the Gap, and I don't even have any serious beefs with Microsoft or Starbucks.

Bad memories of high school
I've got 'em. Do I like them? I guess it is a bonding opportunity when conversing with other geeks!

T-shirts
There's nothing I like more than freshly laundered dark denim jeans and a nice well-fitted long sleeved t-shirt.

The Wire
Not my cup of tea.

Shorts
Only for cycling in in summer.

Outdoor performance clothes
C'mon, this is Vancouver. It's practically compulsory to wear fleece and Gore-tex in the pub.

So how did I do?

43 Yes, 24 No, 13 Partial and 7 Don't Know / Not Applicable.

I would say that my nationality, education, gender and class influenced my answers more than my race. I really don't see why t-shirts and sushi are supposed to be "White Things". Maybe even the definition of a racial stereotype is different in different cultures? Would a white North American female see this list differently? How about a straight black male Canadian? Or a gay Asian-American man?

Anyway, the list makes me laugh and I'll continue to read it. Wearing a t-shirt. With a cup of tea in hand, Gomez playing in the background, and maybe even some sushi.

Sorry.

What I Did On My Staycation - Part II

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 bright winter sun off the wet streets was almost blinding.

My destination was the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden,  a delightful oasis in the middle of downtown, which I'd never visited before.

East meets West

I took KJHaxton's advice and arrived just in time for the guided tour. There were only four of us there - me, a woman from New Zealand, and a couple from Italy. The Italians seemed to have difficulty understanding our guide's accent, and soon started talking quietly to each other in Italian, which was a bit annoying, even though the first part of the tour wasn't exactly stellar. Our guide carried a folder containing various printouts (some from Wikipedia) in plastic protector pockets, and rifled through it at an alarming rate, showing us each picture as he got to the corresponding part of the talk. He spent more time telling us about the high speed train network in China, and how we should visit China just to take the train, than about the garden itself - and I started to wonder if he was on commission.

However, things quickly improved as we finally moved out of the entrance hallway and into the garden itself. It really is lovely, and it was great to hear about the reasons for each design feature (it's all about contrasts).

Contrast between square and circle

 

 The pool was made deliberately cloudy, to create better reflections

After the official tour we warmed up with tea and dodgy calligraphy, and then I (and the Kiwi and one of the Italian guys) continued to wander around the garden, chatting quietly (I provided them with several suggestions for their remaining days in Vancouver!) It was so peaceful, a great change of pace from city life. Definitely recommended!

I wandered into the main downtown core, had a late lunch at Trees cafe (site of one of my worst first (or indeed any) dates of all time, but I hold no grudges), tried on (but didn't buy) a couple of pairs of shoes, then SkyTrained out to Burnaby to meet Mr E Man at our friends' house for the 4pm Canucks game.

Thursday

Another day, another attraction I'd never visited before - hell, let's make it two attractions I'd never visited before!

This time, cycling was the wrong decision - the heavens opened about five minutes after I left home, and I was drenched and freezing before I'd even made it onto the sea wall. I turned left this time, rather than right, and pedalled as fast as my frozen, wet legs would take me along the southern edge of False Creek. The foul weather was mitigated somewhat by the opportunity to be the only person on the stretch of path that goes through the shiny new Olympic village development (it was too cold to stop and take photos, sorry), but only a little bit.

I paused to cast a lingering, longing look at the lovely warm Granville Island public market, but kept going, and was soon locking up my bike outside the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

This wasn't part of my original staycation plan, but I'd spotted a Groupon a couple of weeks earlier, and thought why not? I love boats, having been brought up watching old naval battle movies with my Mum, and the museum has a great one as its centrepiece. The St. Roch was an RCMP supply ship that was the first to sail the Northwest Passage from west to east (second overall), and the first to completely circumnavigate North America (see, I was paying attention!) I love stories of polar exploration just as much as I love boats, so I greatly enjoyed the video about the boat's voyages and especially the chance to get on board, poking around the crew quarters and climbing ladders all over the place.

 

View from the bridge of the St. Roch. Note mangy stuffed walrus on the starboard deck. The stuffed huskies  (out of shot) were also rather tatty.

The boat exhibit was very well done, but I have to admit that the other display cases didn't do much for me at all - lots of models of old steam ships, that kind of thing. The museum was definitely worth visiting at the reduced Groupon rate, but I'm not sure I'd have felt the same way if I'd paid full price!

I thought again about heading straight for the cozy warmth of Granville Island, but decided to persevere with my cultural education and head to the adjacent Museum of Vancouver instead. Mr E Man and at least one other long-time Vancouver resident claimed to have never heard of the place, but I can confirm that it does indeed exist (tucked away in Vanier Park, in the same building as the Space Centre / Planetarium), and has a rather fetching crab sculpture outside:

 

That's a fountain, not the prevailing weather conditions, although admittedly it was hard to tell the difference

I was really, really cold at this point, and didn't want to stay too long, but I really liked the museum. The rotating exhibit was on local food production (backyard veggie gardens, beehives and chicken coops), which was quite interesting, but I liked the permanent exhibits much better. They had photos from when the site of the Marine Building downtown was literally an old growth forest, and then more photos, videos, and artifacts from that period right up to the 1970s, which was exceedingly cool (there aren't many cities with a full photographic record of their development from trees to skyscrapers!) I particularly enjoyed the wobbly film taken from the back of one of the old street cars - oh how I wish we still had them!

The exhibits were pretty comprehensive, and didn't gloss over the terrible treatment of the city's First Nations, Chinese, and Japanese inhabitants over the years (there's more comprehensive coverage of the city's original First Nations inhabitants at the excellent Museum of Anthropology, which I'd been to several times before and so didn't visit on my staycation). Overall I thought it was very well done, and good value for money. I'll be back, some day when I'm not quite so cold and wet!

 Britain AND Scotland???!!! I don't see that working...

Onwards (in the still-pouring rain) to Granville Island, where I treated myself to fish and chips and a hot cup of tea and felt sooooo much better. I picked up more dinner ingredients before hauling my poor self through the pelting rain and up the steep hills to home, which is where the heart bathtub is.

For dinner, I roasted a Cornish game hen with fingerling potatoes, some adorable mini squash, and the rest of the asparagus and red pepper. We had some lovely olive bread with it, and some yumtastic chocolate brownies afterwards, as we watched the snow start to fall.

If I could shop at Granville Island every day, I'd cook more often, eat more healthily, and be completely broke.

Friday

I decided I'd had enough culture for one week, and went shopping instead. I trawled all my favourite vintage stores on Main Street, and although I didn't find the perfect burgundy leather jacket that I've had in my mind's eye for a couple of years now, I did manage to find a funky sweater and two very nice, very gently used winter coats (one grey, one tweedy one that I can actually wear with brown pants without looking like an eejit) for a combined total of $82. I suspect the grey one might actually be a guy's jacket, despite being bought from a women's clothing store (the shoulders are ever so slightly boxier, and the arms are ever so slightly longer, than usual, and the buttons are on the wrong side), but hey, it looks good on me IMNSHO and it cost $35, so who cares.

I met up with Mr E Man halfway through the day for a tasty lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, The Reef, and then again in the late afternoon for tea and cake at The Grind. I love this place - the front part is just your average coffee shop, but the back room is a cozy haven full of mismatched schoolroom-type furniture and is a great place to hang out and read or write. Before Mr E Man arrived I wrote a proper letter to my sister (who STILL doesn't have internet at her apartment in London, where she's been for over a year now. I am Not Impressed), but didn't manage any other writing.

In fact, not doing much writing was an ongoing theme of my staycation, and the only disappointment (I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of it and have considered starting to play the lottery so I can bum around parks and museums and coffee shops and watch early east coast hockey games all the time). This was mostly because of Mr E Man unexpectedly being off work - I left home later each day, and came home earlier, than I would have if he was working his usual 11-12 hour days, leaving less time for writing between my visits to all the galleries, parks, and museums. I really enjoyed what little writing I did do, and I'd like to build more writing time into my regular schedule. If I'm home with Mr E Man I tend to get distracted by conversations, TV, the internet, and our traditional long Scrabble and card games, so I think I need to set aside some designated time each weekend (or maybe on the occasional work day lunchtime) to leave the house and go and write somewhere else. I think I made enough of a start on a couple of projects to get me over that initial hump and keep me working on them... time will tell!

Overall, I highly recommend a staycation. Especially if it's in Vancouver, which (as I said in my last post) I have fallen in love with all over again. It was so relaxing, and so much cheaper (and more eco-friendly - I went everywhere by bike or public transit) than any other vacation I've ever taken! I wanted a second week, to do more writing and exercise than I managed to fit into my busy sight-seeing schedule, but it was not to be, and it's back to waking up in the dark and braving the snow and ice on my way in to work.

I do enjoy my job (mostly), but, well, it aint no staycation.

Bad week

I have the swine flu.

Well, some kind of flu, anyway. I woke up at about 5am on Saturday with a cough, sore throat, aching joints, and low-grade fever. I seem to already be past the worst of the fever and aches, but that cough is just nasty, and while I'm not actually short of breath, my breathing doesn't feel as free and easy as usual. So I stayed home on the sofa all weekend while Mr E Man went to an awesome Hallowe'en party/sleepover on the Sunshine Coast.

I'm still too sick to do any useful work - I had to lie down for an hour after doing one load of laundry yesterday. My colleague has just emailed to confirm that our flu guidelines mean I'm not allowed into work all this week, even if I feel better. (I'm based in the research building, but the clinical building is just over the road, and there's a lot of traffic (patients and staff) between the two). As soon as my 7 day isolation period is up, I'll be getting on a plane... so I'm going to be horribly, horribly behind when we get back from vacation! Oh well, if I feel better later in the week I'll get one of my colleagues to send me some of the documents I was working on last week. And I can call into my various meetings, if my colleagues don't mind listening to me cough.

I'm thankful for two things though: the timing (the WHO's 7 day isolation recommendation means I'll be OK by the time our flight takes off at 10pm on Saturday), and the fact that (so far!) I haven't had the gastric symptoms that some people have been getting. I hate throwing up, almost to the point of phobia.

So, it could be worse. I have movies, internet, podcasts, books, and kitties to keep me entertained, and Mr E Man has stocked the cupboards and fridge with soup, fruit, juice, and lots of different kinds of tea. I forgot to ask him to pick up some honey, though, and as it turns out, lemon tea with maple syrup is NOT going to be the Next Big Thing. Worth trying though!

I might even get caught up on my blog reading!

Trage-tea

No Kitty That's a Bad Kitty!

We woke up on Saturday morning to find the following scene of destruction in our kitchen (slightly reorganised for photographic purposes).


We had to make our morning (mourning?) tea in a cracked, leaky pot with no lid.

It's a good job those kitties are cute.

It's also a good job we don't know which one was responsible...

Meetings, Earthlings

Meetings.

Either an exhilarating exchange of ideas that will revolutionise science as we know it, or a bunch of bored people sitting in a room, listening to droning bigwigs.

I don't have half as many meetings as I did in my last job, and a much higher percentage of the ones I do have are of the useful variety. For this I am incredibly grateful.

On an ordinary meeting day I will gather my paper and pencils, put the kettle on, pop to the loo, make a cup of tea, and travel no more than 4 floors from my desk to join my colleagues.

Yesterday's meeting was on Granville Island, not an actual island but a small piece of reclaimed industrial land that is now a landscaped tourist attraction, complete with public market, nice stores, kayak rentals, etc. My office is only about 3 km away, so as I was only going to the afternoon session of an all-day meeting, I decided to walk down there on my lunch break.

During my postdoc years, a group of us would sometimes escape the lab early and bike or walk down to Granville Island for a beer, occasionally stopping to play a game of football. This experience has left me with some insider knowledge about the very cool shortcut I took yesterday, camera phone in hand.

This pleasant, leafy walkway is actually suspended over a main road.



You can hear the traffic, but can't see it, unless you climb up a small embankment towards a gap in the vegetation.



Once over the road, I continued through a park, complete with ponds and ducks, towards False Creek ("False" because it's actually an inlet of the ocean).



Yup, I had a nice sea-side stroll on the way to my meeting!



I was tempted to keep going - the path continues through more parks and several beaches - but dutifully turned right and went to my meeting.

I turned up happy and relaxed, and grabbed a left-over sandwich and cookie from the morning session. The meeting was small, and focused more on the politics of science than the actual science, but it was interesting.

I never got a cup of tea though.

Post-grant wind-down

Aaaaahhhhh.

That was me relaxing. I'm drinking a nice cuppa tea and everything.

Due to technical problems with the funding body's website, last week's grant deadline got pushed back to today. This was a good thing, because it allowed us to spend much more time tweaking and revising the application, but it was also a bad thing, because it allowed us to spend much more time tweaking and revising the application. It's funny how these things expand to fill the time allotted to them. I sent the grant to our institute's coordinator for his sign-off last night, and the damn thing is officially submitted and off my desk as of this morning.

Believe it or not, I actually quite enjoy the rush - as long as I'm confident that we'll actually get things done in time - and at least the work is interesting and useful. My last job managed to be both stressful and boring (lots of repetitive work with very tight deadlines), and when I took this job I made a mental note to remember how horrid that combination was during the inevitable stressful times ahead.

This job being a constant cycle between super-busy and more laid-back, today is wind-down time. In my usual tradition, I have spent the day:

• Attending a very interesting seminar (I tend to skip them when deadlines strike, and missed some good ones this month)
• Tidying my desk, although Mermaid will still be able to recognise it as mine without checking the photos and tea mugs
• Printing hard copies of all final grant sections, and filing them away
• Printing and archiving all of my early drafts / edits of each section (I like to give it a week or two and then compare my versions to the final ones approved by the grant's authors - it's a good learning experience to see what they decided to keep / edit / rewrite / scrap entirely. This time around there's a pretty good mix of the four options, with one section completely unchanged from my first draft!)
• Organising and archiving my email inbox
• Having lunch with the whole lab for the first time (fun! And yummy! So full!)

Things still to do:

• Meet a friend from my old job for a quick beer after work
• Go home and play with the kitties
• Get through the night without thinking or dreaming about the bloody grant

The whole cycle starts again next week with a meeting involving the two PIs of a potential new grant submission. And my boss wants to see all the information I have on a huge project that isn't coming along as well as we'd both like, due to the big grant time-suck. But it's nice to have just one day to organise my desk, my files, and my thoughts.