VWXYNot? Comment(s) of the week:
Nina and Grant for the following exchange: Nina: "Life should be a conference, everyone wearing nametags all the time, with their first name, last name, nickname, country of origin and country of residence. Birthdate optional."
Grant: Nina, I’m sure tech types will suggest we’ll all be bumping cell phones to exchange names in a few years. (Eurgh.)
One more: you know that thing where the person can’t quite read your name tag and leans in close over your chest to read it…
Nina: "ok, how about tattooing your name onto your forehead?"
Grant: "How about a sub-dermal name implant invisible when not active that glows when triggered by trained neural signals beaming your name to the people opposite you?
Failing that we could all wear electrode scalp caps that carry a flip up sign… (Taking as my cue the brain-computer interfaces emotiv and others are marketing.)"
[NB as a chronic tartler, I approve of all the above methods]
Alyssa for "It’s cloudy again
We see it’s cold and dreary
But – we have windows!!!"
Ricardipus for "Bugger me, the grant’s
Finally done. Thank goodness.
Now back to fun stuff."
Bean-mom for "I just clicked on the article on circular RNAs–I’d seen the headline earlier but hadn’t yet read it–and just as I expected, I’m all WTF?! MicroRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, now we’ve got circular RNAs. . . I feel like someone should just write a review titled, “RNA: WTF?”"
Nina again for "edit: my advisor has improved his standing desk further by standing on a wooden board that balances on a small (but sturdy) plastic tube, to make him wobble while standing, so to keep working those balancing muscles, or something like that. The tube comes from one of my experiments. I will miss that “wtf I’ll create my own standing desk – pilates work-out” attitude, I must admit."
Bob O'H for "Reminds me of my youth playing boardgames. There was one called Civilisation, which a friend described as “almost as long as the real thing”."
Chall "it surely looks like the Leafs MIGHT go to play offs for the first time in 7 years…. if I didn’t jinx it by saying it here of course. That said, I find myself wondering how bad it will be to end 5th place if Boston stays 4th. It sort of feels better to play the 3rd (Capitals right now) than Bruins but right now I’ll settle for PLAYOFFS and miracle :)"
[the Leafs making the playoffs is a miracle indeed]
KJHaxton for "Good question! I’d put:
– occasional baker of cakes for meetings
– fair to moderate tolerance for bullshit
– low tolerance for unfairness and willing to get very cross about it (folds arms and glowers at the screen)
– best selection of tea bags in desk drawer (8 kinds at last count)
– prone to wearing scarves and shirts that don’t match
Ah well, I’m not sure I’d find a new job on the basis of those :)"
Ricardipus again for "Pros:
- rarely swears in public
- has few friends, so unlikely to have loud, belly-laughing conversations on phone or in person
- capable of speaking at length about (a) race cars, (b) cameras, or (c) bad science
Cons:
- occasionally swears in public
- has few friends, so likely to have poor social interactions with co-workers
- capable of speaking at length about (a) race cars, (b) cameras, or (c) bad science
I’d also probably include “easily suckered into serving on irrelevant committees” into each category, too."
Bean-mom again for "–Friendly.
–Doesn’t bake, but if you have a potluck I’ll bring killer spring rolls (both crispy fried pork ones, and the vegetarian fresh rice-paper ones).
–Doesn’t bake, but husband bakes. Occasionally, you may be a recipient of his talent.
–Will cheerfully listen to other people’s dramas, but won’t cause any of my own. Not at work, anyway."
and Nina yet again for "As I may have mentioned before, I’m pretty sure my cv point “Love baking (chocolate) cakes” earned me my PhD position, and it definitely often raised questions in interviews (“so, how often do you bake cake? What kind of chocolate do you use?”)"
Post(s) of the Week: Beth Snow for "Modern conveniences" (how on earth did we survive, let alone study and write theses, before Skype and cloud computing?!)
Steve Caplan for "Science education: the generalist vs the specialist" (are 3 year or 4 year degrees better for students?)
Bean-mom for "Leaving scientific research... again" (science SUCKS sometimes)
Eva Amsen, writing at the Occam's Typewriter Irregulars for "The two ideas to fix the gender balance that do not make me cringe" (the panel pledge and the Finkbeiner test)
Bob O'Hara for "Making reviewing boring stuff less boring" (would a stripped-down manuscript format work better for the, um, less exciting papers out there?)
Alyssa for "Just the pants, thanks" (absolutely hilarious take on the modern clothes shopping experience)
Eva Amsen again for "My self-updating address book" (how LinkedIn can be useful)
CromerCrox for "Plagues" (how's God been cursing you lately?)
Prof-like Substance for "If you don't talk to your kids about it someone else will" (anticipating school-yard talk about religion and other big issues)
and CromerCrox again for "Conferences" (the problem of sexism at conferences)
Archives:
October 2008 - March 2009; April 2009 - September 2009; October 2009 - March 2010; April 2010 - September 2010; October 2010 - February 2011; March 2011 - September 2011; October 2011 - March 2012; April 2012 - September 2012; October 2012 - March 2013; April 2013 - September 2013
reading this, I realize perhaps it is a good thing that my parents think NZ is too far away for a visit. Just imagining getting the right cereal and yoghurt and having prying eyes through all the cupboards makes me shiver. At least I am the deep-cleaner of the family so that wouldn’t be a problem. (although my brother is worse (better?) at deep-cleaning – perhaps obsessive)
Enjoy the G&T though!
ah… the special food
I remember that from my arents’ last visit. However, 6 weeks?!?! Well, don’t get me wrong I love my parentals but I would hpe for all ours’ sake that those weeks would be broken up with some travels or hotels or something…. then again, I’m currently remembering 3 adults (ok, them and I – their child) together in a one-bed-room for more than a week… we all came out alive 
Enjoy the G&T!!! And the visit. I’m sure it will be great. Oh, and good luck with the cleaning
Nina,
Where in NZ are you? (I’m in Dunedin.) As for to-do lists… arrrrrrrgggghhh. I wish I hadn’t come here. I was happily procrastinating from tackling the next few on the list. Sigh
I’m in Chch. Seems like a lot of us in NZ read Cath’s blog
Come down for a visit Cath!
(waves at all the Kiwis \o )
Deep cleaning….aaaaargh. Does not compute! My mother lives next door but I visit her mostly because she finds the 35 steps between her and me to be a little much (heart condition). But I admit to missing the unspoken look when the floor was less than perfect or the house looked more like a hurricane had visited.
viv in nz
I also buy ‘special’ cereal, milk, juice, peanut butter, etc when my parents visit. I would have assumed that most of us would continue to use the same basics we were raised with, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. My parents often stay for a couple nights on their way to or from someplace else, so I stock up the fridge and then they leave without eating it all and I throw it out. Then they come back a month later and I do it all over again. I once tried to just feed them what I eat, but there were so many pointed comments and heavy sighs during breakfast that I never tried it again. As for cleaning, I usually try to have my ‘cleaning fairies’ visit the day before they arrive, as it takes the stress out. My Dad hates animals, and my black cat seems to shed excessively just before a visit, so in my opinion it is a worthwhile expense. Yes, I am spoiled enough to admit to having help cleaning my house.
How unlike the home life of our own dear Queen.
Update: we got almost everything done before they arrived. Everyone is well and happy despite some jet-lag and some initial disagreement about the need for endless questions about how to use the TV and computer while people are frantically trying to get ready for work.
Nina, the first time they came to our current house, my Mum said “isn’t it always so interesting to look around someone else’s kitchen? You can see where they’ve put everything and think how you might have done it differently”. I did not ask her to elaborate on what she might have done differently, and it hasn’t been directly mentioned again… but various comments have been made by both parents over the years since that day…
Chall, yes, it’s great having the guest bedroom at the very back of the house! I just wish we had more than one bathroom – I’m not very good at sharing, especially when I’m trying to get ready for work.
Grant, you should have put “read Cath’s blog” on your list, then you would have felt better about it.
Knutty, it’s all about the unspokens, isn’t it?!
Mermaid, not all the brands I grew up with are available here, so they understand some of the differences in food – but less so the differences in methods / systems / routines, food-related and otherwise!
We used to have a cleaning fairy, but she went on vacation telling us that she’d be back in two weeks, and was never seen again (although she did stop by one day to put the key back through the door). We’ve had a hard time finding someone new – a few of our friends know people, but none of them are looking for new clients. Does your cleaning fairy need any additional work?!
CromerCrox, you’re assuming that our own dear Queen never stocked up on gin when her mother came over… I assume otherwise
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