Category Archives: Uncategorized

A few weeks ago I heard a student wish my boss a “happy vacation!”. In reply, he used almost the exact same words as the out-of-frame PI in the final panel of this cartoon: (Linky) The state of my email … Continue reading →

I can never remember what the initials of one of Canada’s major funding bodies stand for. Today’s first attempt was the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. Nope. Canadian Fund for Innovation? Wrong again. Oh, I remember, it’s the Canada Fund for … Continue reading →

My first ever student successfully defended his PhD yesterday. When I say “my” student I mean that he was officially my PI’s student, but I supervised him in the lab for his first year or two and helped him with … Continue reading →

Disclosing my profession to health care professionals can be both a blessing and a curse. Some doctors assume that I know more than I really do. Others get defensive when I know more than they do about one teeny tiny … Continue reading →

I missed the 6:40 ferry by 5 minutes… but bumped into a friend on a patio, had a beer, and am on the 8:40 ferry right now with 2 other friends. The sunset view was worth the wait!

It’s 1995 in North Yorkshire, and an 18 year-old mega-geek is applying to university. Her parents – languages teachers both – are supplying a steady stream of advice, food, and general support. Oh, and lots of their teacher friends to … Continue reading →

Did anyone else browse the current issue of Nature, spot this article’s title, and think it was going to be a self-help piece for addicts? Just me? Carry on.

During the last few months of my postdoc, I found myself writing three papers simultaneously. One of the papers contained results contributed by two students I’d supervised, so I decided that this would be the perfect time to let the … Continue reading →

My husband and I bought our first house just over three years ago. We were complete newbies at this “proper grown-up” thing, and set up the mortgage in a way that makes our biweekly payments 100% predictable. We knew at … Continue reading →

This amused me: see more Engrish The puzzle of the lost translation was solved by the first commenter on the original post, who explained that “inconvenience = gêne in French, not gène.” As in “Your knowledge of English is just … Continue reading →