Category Archives: career

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

Nota bene

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

“It is disrespectful to the speaker to show up to a lab meeting – especially one at which a student is giving a practice presentation for an upcoming comprehensive exam and has specifically asked for feedback – without a pen, … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, rants, science | 26 Comments

The EndNote is nigh

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

First of all, many thanks to all of you who commented on my last post. My mother-in-law isn’t out of the woods yet, but is taking baby steps in the right direction. We’re all gradually exhaling and trying to adjust … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, personal, rants, technology | 18 Comments

In limbo

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Well, the post I’d planned to write next was going to be about how much I’ve learned from blogs written by cancer patients, and how that knowledge has impacted my work in a basic and translational cancer research department. But … Continue reading →

Posted in career, education, family, medicine, personal | 43 Comments

Update on two previous posts…

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

…because I know you’ve all been on the edge of your seats. 1) We had the “good riddance, pink form!” party that my colleague suggested when our internal grant review form was retired. Someone made pink cupcakes, I brought pink … Continue reading →

Posted in career, communication, food glorious food, grant wrangling, meta, personal, photos, silliness | 7 Comments

Lab-fab abs and post-lab flab

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

And bend and stretch and rack those tips and run to the water bath to rescue your samples and walk to the fridge to put them away and lift that big heavy bottle of isopropanol onto your bench and run … Continue reading →

Posted in career, exercise, food glorious food, personal, science, silliness | 18 Comments

Tuesday Pet Peeve: shoulder check

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’m a reasonably competent computer user. I can’t do anything fancy, but I’ve got the basics down pat. And I’ve built up my folder (and sub-folder and sub-sub-folder and sub-sub-sub-folder) structure in a very logical manner that allows me to … Continue reading →

Posted in career, communication, personal, plagues, rants, technology | 19 Comments

Geeky Grossness Gauntlet

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Long-time readers may remember my friend Kyrsten’s famous guest post about Bob the bot fly. Commenters’ reactions on the original post ranged from mild (“kinda icky”) to ambivalent (“horrible. but very cool” / “utterly revolting, but sort of fascinating” / … Continue reading →

Posted in blog wars, career, freakishness, medicine, meta, monkeys, nature, personal, photos, science, silliness, TMI | 17 Comments

Seeking reader input on internal pre-submission grant review practices

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I received the following email last week: “Hello All: As  you are aware there has been some discussion about the relevance of the form 100 as part of the grant application package. At the Department Head meeting yesterday it was … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling | 13 Comments

Waiting for my congratulatory telegram from the Queen

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I realised recently that I’ve: lived in our current house for five years, which is longer than I’ve lived anywhere since I left my parents’ house (previous record: two years and two months in a shared flat in Glasgow during … Continue reading →

Posted in career, personal, silliness | 28 Comments