Author Archives: Cath@VWXYNot?

About Cath@VWXYNot?

"one of the sillier science bloggers [...] I thought I should give a warning to the more staid members of the community." - Bob O'Hara, December 2010

2011-2012 Hockey Pool!

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Back by popular demand! (Lavaland asked in person at Saturday night’s Canucks-Ducks pre-season game, and ScientistMother asked on Twitter this morning. They’re both popular, right?!) I’m going to use the CBC pool this year, because the Sportsnet one doesn’t seem … Continue reading →

Posted in hockey pool | 44 Comments

SOP: Sadly Opaque Protocol

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Heard in a recent(ish) meeting to define a tumour xenografting SOP to be used by three different labs: PI 1 (Xenografting Expert): “The first thing you need to do when you get a new tumour is to determine if it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, science, silliness | 12 Comments

Demons

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

It has come to my attention that many people are not aware of this simply spectacular song by Fatboy Slim, featuring the substantial vocal talents of Marge Simpson Macy Gray*. This situation is, of course, unacceptable, so please watch this video … Continue reading →

Posted in music, videos | 10 Comments

I’m not insane. My mother had me tested.

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

The recent conversation at DrugMonkey’s place about responding to previous grant reviews has proved very timely; I’m currently working on the first grant resubmission for which I’ve been chief wrangler. There have been some unbloggably hilarious emails pinging around between … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, silliness, television | 14 Comments

Feeding the Science Tamagotchi

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

It started during my undergrad research project. “I have to go into the lab tomorrow morning to feed all my cells, so I can’t stay out too late tonight or have a hangover tomorrow”, I’d say. After comments along the … Continue reading →

Posted in career, drunkenness, education, grant wrangling, personal, rants, science, travel, whining | 31 Comments

Remember remember…

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

July through November, Abstracts and budgets and pain. I see no reason Why grant deadline season Should ever leave you sane. So, I’ve managed to extend the usual season (which started August 15th, when I submitted one full grant as … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, science, silliness, sport | 3 Comments

What happens in Vegas…

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

…gets blogged within a week. I’d been to Vegas once before but I was 17 and with my parents, so it doesn’t count. We were only there as a base for the Canyons (Grand, Bryce and Zion), and didn’t know … Continue reading →

Posted in drunkenness, embarrassing fan girl, family, first world problems, food glorious food, furry friends, games, personal, photos, silliness, travel | 7 Comments

Portable document FAIL

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Provisional PDF of a paper in press from my postdoc lab: Are they editing papers with marker pens now?! Pretty damn foolish…

Posted in original research, publishing, science, technology | 7 Comments

A week in grant wrangling

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Following Frank’s excellent example, it seemed like a good week to present a week’s worth of daily bulletins about what I actually do for a living. As I alluded to in my last post it’s the busiest time of year … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, career, current affairs, English language, furry friends, grant wrangling, personal, photos, politics, science, silliness, travel, Uncategorized, whining | 15 Comments

Dyed-in-the-wool cheapskate

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Being genetically half Irish and an eighth Scottish, I have green eyes and curly brown hair that used to have a fair bit of red in it. The first white hair showed up when I was 19, much to my … Continue reading →

Posted in English language, family, first world problems, personal, silliness | 24 Comments