Author Archives: Austin

About Austin

Middle-aged grouchy white male. Hair greying but hasn't all fallen out yet. Spreading waistline ill-concealed by baggy jumper.Semi-extinguished physiology researcher turned teacher. Known for never shutting up. Father of two children (aged 6 and 2) who try to out-talk him. Some would call that Karmic Revenge.

Guilty laughter. But still laughter.

As I sat here today, wrestling with an intransigent Master’s thesis (the thesis is NOT mine, though the intransigence is), as well as the sheer existential gloom of being back at The Bunker (aka the Medical School Building) after the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

No passion please, we’re scientists

In which I put a damper on all this over-invoked passion. Regular readers of this blog (you know who you are, you two – stop giggling at the back), or of others in the OT stable where I can be … Continue reading

Posted in Annoyances, Grumbling, The Interwebz, The Life Scientific, Uncategorized | 28 Comments

Twenty five years without parole

In which I look back in… stunned disbelief? It has been a rather strange week here. The main reason, I think, is that last Wednesday, on Feb 1st, I passed a rather unnerving landmark – twenty-five years working for the … Continue reading

Posted in Getting old, Grumbling, Physiology, Procrastination, The Life Scientific, Uncategorized, Universities | 27 Comments

Making the grade?

Note:  Now with added game: scroll down As the three chess-playing readers of this blog will know, club chess players who play regularly in club leagues end up with what in English chess is commonly called a ‘grade’ or ‘grading’, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Times past, and celebrity guests

Though perhaps I should have called this “The Old Neighbourhood” Many years ago – in the early 90s, to be precise –  I went back as an adult, after more than two decades, to the Cape Cod village of Woods … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments