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

A tale of two sisters

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in career, education, family, personal, photos, publishing, science | 23 Comments

Making a difference

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in fund raising, medicine, original research, science | 4 Comments

Environmentalist loonies

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in activism, Canada, current affairs, environment, nature, photos, politics | 13 Comments

Tuesday Pet Peeve: Careless North Americans

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in English language, plagues, videos | 24 Comments

Budget oasis

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in career, education, grant wrangling | 2 Comments

Friday Wednesday Quiz-ology

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in career, competition, English language, grant wrangling, nature, science, silliness, technology | 91 Comments

Adobe: Acrobat, eh?

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in grant wrangling, rants, technology | 15 Comments

Busy busy busy…

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

…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 … Continue reading →

Posted in grant wrangling, science | 5 Comments

RFA ROFL

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

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!

Posted in grant wrangling, silliness, technology | 7 Comments

Destination: Sound!

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in camping, Canada, drunkenness, food glorious food, kayaking, nature, photos, travel, videos | 16 Comments