VWXYNot?

While the cat’s away…

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Mr E Man is working in Whistler at the moment, building wheelchair access ramps for some of the Olympic venues. The entire crew are movie set carpenters. I’ve reminded him that the ramps are not supposed to collapse, explode, or otherwise provide any spectacular and/or hilarious visual effects. I’ve at least established that they’re using real wood, rather than plywood, or Styrofoam painted to look like wood.

Anyway. He’s only been gone for two days of a probable seven to ten day stretch, but it’s been interesting to see how some of my pre-cohabitation habits have already returned…

I’m going to bed at my night-owl body’s natural midnight or thereabouts, rather than Mr E Man’s usual 10:30 pm.
I’m reading in bed before going to sleep
I’m sleeping diagonally across the whole bed
(One thing I haven’t done is change the alarm from our usual 6:00 am. Blegh. Sleep deprived. Which leads me to:)
I will probably sleep until 11:00 am on Saturday and Sunday mornings
I’m eating omelettes for dinner (Mr E Man still refuses to believe that Brits think this is perfectly normal)
I’m eating the same thing two nights in a row (on Wednesday night I grilled some lovely Portabello mushrooms and steamed some asparagus, and had this mix plus mature cheddar in an omelette with a side of baked potato on the last two nights. The asparagus-mushroom mix has also been mixed with wholewheat pasta and some balsamic dressing for yesterday’s and today’s lunches. I did this kind of thing as a student all the time).
I’m watching re-runs of Friends, even when I’ve already seen the episode a few times

It’s quite nice for a change, but I’ll be glad when Mr E Man’s back. The cats aren’t such a good source of conversation.

Posted in food glorious food, personal, silliness, television | 18 Comments

Here be dragons

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I first came across the BBC’s Dragons’ Den on a work trip home a few years ago. I instantly loved it; I was working in marketing at the time, and I genuinely did learn a lot from the successful pitches. But, of course, the real fun comes from those awful, doomed pitches, and the complete lack of self awareness of some participants.

I was really happy when the CBC came up with its own version of Dragons’ Den the next year, and I watch or tape it every Wednesday night. I no longer pretend to gain any career-related benefits from the show, and treat it as pure entertainment.
But this week’s episode was a little more serious. See how the Dragons deal with a snake-oil salesmen claiming to have a miracle cure for cancer, arthritis, heartburn, and pretty much everything else under the sun:

http://youtu.be/B8Ig4Yj1Fqs

I have to say I was impressed. If only all sources of product development funding were so hostile to the woo-meisters and people sucking money from desperate patients. It helps that Jim Treliving, the Dragon who kicked the guy out, is a former cop who presumably has little patience for fools and knaves.

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Look at me, I’m Sarah Palin!

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

(Pose just for photo, Mr E Man did all the driving)

I am a very clumsy person, as you will see in the video below. I’m also a terrible coward.

Well, physically, anyway.

Move thousands of miles away from home to a city where you don’t know a single person? No problem! Change career twice in as many years? Bring it on!

But subject me to any combination of downhill slope, speed, and slipperiness, and I’m a mess. I somehow manage to ski (really quite badly, as you’ll see in a future post), but I don’t know how, because I don’t even like walking downhill when it’s a bit frosty.

So, when I decided to buy Mr E Man a snowmobile tour at Sun Peaks for Christmas, I booked it for just him. I told him that I could add a passenger of his choice to the trip at any time up to 2 hours before the tour started, but he should be warned that if he took me, there was a good chance he’d get seriously frustrated by me shouting “slow down!” the whole time.

He wanted me to go anyway. “It’s my Christmas present, and I want you to come”, he said. It won’t be as much fun without you. They probably won’t let us go all that fast anyway”. All that. So I abandoned any thoughts of spending the afternoon trying out the snowshoes that he bought me for Christmas, and decided to try this snowmobiling lark instead.

I quickly found that snowmobiling and me are not a good mix. Too fast, too bumpy; I had a nice comfy seat with a back rest and everything, but I didn’t spend much time on it as I got bounced up and down and struggled with all my strength to keep hold of the handles down by my hips. And the engine was far too loud and our helmets were too well padded for Mr E Man to hear my shouts of “aarrgghh!”, “noooooo”, “I don’t like it”, “ow, my arms really really hurt” and “slow the fuck down, you fucking maniac!”

Things did get better when we got off the main bumpy track and into some fresher, deeper snow. It really was beautiful as we proceeded more slowly on winding tracks through the snow-covered trees. But oy, the noise! I kept thinking how much nicer it would be to see this same view silently, while on snowshoes, or cross country skis.

But of course, the main advantage of snowmobiling is that you can get much further and higher than when self-propelled. After another too-fast-too-bumpy spell on a logging road, we ended up at a viewpoint looking down on a cloudy Shuswap lake at sunset. The snow was so deep I couldn’t even walk in it;

and we did indeed have to dig the sled out when we restarted.

The beautiful view started to win me over, and I pondered that snowmobiling might not be so evil after all.

Not evil

Fucking maniac speed demon, but not evil

By the time we started the downhill section of our loop, I was getting a bit more used to the bouncing and the speed, and it really was pretty cool to see the convoy of headlights snaking in and out of the trees as the light began to fade. We stopped at a warming hut as the stars started to come out, and being pretty toasty already I walked alone through the trees and onto a frozen lake. The photos didn’t come out, but take my word for it that it was stunningly beautiful.

And, of course, the silence was golden.

I did end up enjoying myself. And we only fell off twice, both times at low speed (once on a turn in deep snow, and the other while stopping at the viewpoint). But I don’t think I’d go snowmobiling again. Mr E Man had tons of fun though, and didn’t stop grinning for at least an hour afterwards.

Me? Well, I recovered tolerably after a little help.

My biceps, shoulders and wrists hurt for days, though.

Posted in photos, snow, videos | 14 Comments

2010: new sources of bloggy inspiration, new SI units, same old rogues

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted for a while. I have a backlog of ideas for posts that are suitable for my other blog, but nothing that fits this one.
Following the example set by our esteemed leader, I mused on Twitter the other day, “I have no ideas for proper science blog posts on Nature Network right now. Shall I just say I’ve prorogued my blog?”
A friend put an end to that with his reply: “I think you can only do that if you’re avoiding specific science and are pretty sure it’ll go away by the time you resume.”
I was hoping to use last night’s Vancouver vs. Edmonton “Skeptics in the Pub” pub quiz for inspiration, but I am sad to report that Kyrsten and I were not exactly assets to our team. In fact, we came joint second-last in Vancouver, and (we think) behind everyone in Edmonton.
But! The Official Spectator Guide that arrived with my Olympic tickets on Monday came to my rescue!
Flicking through its pages, I read with approval that every event ticket includes free access to all public transport on the day of, and up to 4 am on the day after, the event. We were already planning to take the bus and SkyTrain to all our events (except the one that’s within walking distance), so that was a bonus.
But then it all started to get a bit odd.
First of all, speed skating spectators heading to the Richmond Oval are advised to “Dress appropriately. As you’ll be walking along the Fraser River on your way to the venue, waterproof clothing and comfortable footwear are recommended”. I don’t know what this says about the quality of riverside path and railing construction, but it’s worth noting that my husband left at 6 o’clock this morning to spend a week building wheelchair access ramps for some of the Whistler venues. The entire crew are movie set carpenters. I’ve reminded him that the ramps are not supposed to collapse, explode, or otherwise provide any spectacular and/or hilarious visual effects. I’ve at least established that they’re using real wood, rather than plywood, or Styrofoam painted to look like wood.
I then decided to see where all our seats are going to be. Snowboard cross: general admission (standing), right at the base of the run. Men’s hockey (Canada vs. Norway): lower bowl, 21 rows back, in a corner. Women’s hockey (Canada vs. Sweden): upper bowl, behind a goal, but in a smaller stadium. Curling: nice and central.
Curling?
Yes, curling.
I know next to nothing about curling, but a) it’s pretty damn cool to walk to the Olympic Games from your house, and b) it’s one of Great Britain’s only real chances at a medal. We’ll see both Canada and GB play in a preliminary round, but not against each other, so I can cheer for both teams!
But at least now I know more about curling than I did before. The Spectator Guide says: “Did you know curling stones weigh 19.1 kilograms? That’s almost the same weight as four Vancouver Island marmots”.
Fascinating.
So, I hereby propose two new SI units.
One curling stone (1 CST) = Four Vancouver Island Marmots (4 VIM)
or
1 Vancouver Island Marmot = 250 mCST
The great thing is that the curling stone is also a unit of time and volume. Apparently, there are ten ends per curling match. Each end comprises 16 stones. A game can take a total of three hours. Therefore one stone (1 CST: do keep up) = 1.125 minutes. Your average Canadian curling spectator (and many a participant, too, although probably not in the Olympics) gets through one pint every eighteen minutes. Therefore there are 16 CST per pint.
It follows that there are 64 Vancouver Island Marmots per pint of beer.
That doesn’t seem like much beer each, even for a marmot.

“I can haz more beer, please? Surely u don’t expect me 2 watch curling while sober?”

Posted in Uncategorized | 35 Comments

Response from Don Davies

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

(Original email here)

Dear Cath,

Thank you for taking the time to write me regarding the prorogation of Parliament by the Conservative government. I share your outrage at what is essentially a suspension of Canadian democracy for two months: the people’s elected representatives have been barred from meeting and holding the government to account. I, too, intend to attend the rally in Vancouver on the January 23rd, and I appreciate your action and participation.

This episode is the latest display by this prime minister and government of utter disrespect for the democratic system. Over the past four years I have watched the Conservatives disregard majority votes in the House of Commons, ignore legislation (including their own law on election dates), and forcibly shut down committees and the whole of Parliament to avoid defeat or embarrassment. This is their second prorogation in a year, and combined with their dissolution in September, 2008 to hold an election, the third time they have intentionally dissolved Parliament’s legislative agenda.

They are betting that Canadians don’t notice or care, and they win when Canadians become cynical and disengage from the political process.

Many Canadians have been calling for the parliamentarians to return on January 25th in defiance of Harper’s prorogation, citing England’s 1640 Long Parliament as precedent. I have also heard from constituents who propose passing legislation that would limit a prime minister to one prorogation per Parliament. I appreciate these creative suggestions. I will be consulting with my caucus colleagues and other MPs to find a solution that is appropriate to the Canadian context in the 21st century. Rest assured, I will be joining my New Democrat colleagues in working hard to speak for my constituents and all Canadians whether in Parliament or elsewhere.

The government’s rationale for prorogation is insulting: if they want to “consult Canadians” about the next phase of their economic action plan, they should consider consulting the MPs who are elected and paid to represent Canadians to the government. Regardless, Parliament was already on a six week break (Dec. 11-Jan. 25). Were they not already in their in their ridings, talking to their constituents? I was.

Meanwhile, their true motivations are clear: avoid accountability over the Afghan detainee issue, stack the undemocratic Senate in their favour, and try to convince Canadians that Parliament is unworkable and irrelevant. They argue that only 22 sitting days are lost; however, much work can be done in 22 days in the House of Commons if the government were to take a cooperative approach. Committees that could have met outside official sitting days have been dissolved, preventing all oversight of the government’s work over the next two months. This underhanded tactic begs the questions: What is the prime minister afraid of? What is he hiding on the issue of Afghan detainees? What does he know that he doesn’t want the world to know before the Olympics?

In addition, prorogation eliminates all government legislation and committee work from the Order Paper. This means that all government legislation, studies and work must be completely re-introduced – and months of parliamentary work have been rendered meaningless.

This prorogation may be technically legal under our system, but it is morally an affront to our democracy and unacceptable, I believe, to most Canadians.

Thank you for showing Stephen Harper that Canadians do care about their democracy. I will make sure your views are expressed clearly and forcefully.

Sincerely,

Don

Don Davies, M.P.
Vancouver Kingsway
New Democrat critic for Public Safety
ph: (613) 943-0267
fax: (613) 943-0219

Excellent answer! I think I’ll be voting for this guy if he stands again! (yeah, Massimo, I know, tactical voting. But this is a pretty safe NDP seat. ABC!). I didn’t expect to be given more reasons to be angry…

Posted in Canada, current affairs, politics | 7 Comments

No, nay, never, no more

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

No responses to my letters yet, but my MP, Don Davies, did have an article criticising prorogation in the Georgia Straight (our weekly free paper), and I gather from Facebook that he’ll be attending the rally (now set for 1pm on Saturday January 23rd at the Vancouver art gallery).

Posted in activism, Canada, current affairs, music, politics, video | 2 Comments

Hockey pool, week 15

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Look, Mr. Harper! I’m being a good Canadian and am using hockey to distract myself and others from the suspension of our democracy!

I can not believe I dropped the lovely Alex Burrows from my team for the first time this season, only to see him score seven points this week, including back-to-back hat-tricks. (One of my other consistently performing stars, Patrice Bergeron, injured himself about eight minutes into the week).

Alex, you rule, and I will never, ever doubt you again. You’re back in my team, as is Luongo. Nabokov did well for me for a few weeks, but with only one win to his name this week, it’s back to Bobby Lu.

The hottest Canuck, in both senses of the word

Right, now where was I? Oh, right, PRO-DEMOCRACY, NOT PROROGUE! HARPER OUT!

Posted in hockey pool 2009-2010, photos, politics | 10 Comments

Pro-democracy, anti-rogue.

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Imagine a leader with George W Bush’s politics, and Tony Blair’s tactical brain.

Scary, right?

Meet Stephen Harper.

Quite possibly the most right-wing Western leader still standing, after the US and Australia saw sense

Responsible for Canada being awarded several Fossil of the Day awards at the Copenhagen talks, and walking away with the Colossal Fossil grand prize.

You may remember that I wrote about Harper’s anti-democratic tendencies back in December 2008. Facing almost certain defeat in a no-confidence vote tabled by a (sadly short-lived) coalition of opposition parties, he asked the Governor General to suspend (“prorogue”) parliament. He gambled on the self-interest of the individual party leaders overriding their enthusiasm for the coalition – and he won.

And now, he’s done it again.

“We’re in ur parliament, suspending ur democracy”

This article in The Economist provides a nice summary, especially for non-Canadians. Briefly, facing very difficult questions about the government’s knowledge of the abuse of Afghan detainees captured by Canadian troops, our esteemed Prime Minister has used the Olympics (~4,600km from Ottawa) as an excuse to prorogue parliament until March. Every bill before parliament, no matter what stage it had reached, now goes back to square one, and oh look, Harper gets to appoint senators to the upper house without going through the usual vetting processes.

He’s gambling again.

He’s gambling that the shamefully low voter turnout in the last couple of elections means that Canadians can be distracted from the suspension of their democracy by Olympic hockey.

This time, though, there’s a backlash.

I am angry. Seriously pissed off. So is Mr E Man, and so are many of our friends, who between us vote NDP, Liberal, Green, and the Work Less Party. (I’ve read online that even some Conservative Party supporters are angry and joining the protests; this is bigger than party politics). We’ve been talking about it a lot (yes, in between hockey talk), and it looks like we’ll be taking a decent sized group of people to the rally planned for January 23rd. This will be the first political rally that most us has ever attended. I’ve also signed a petition, joined the Facebook group (>150,000 members and climbing), and (again for the first time in my life), written to my MP and the Governor General.

Astroturfers, this is what a real grassroots movement looks like!

———————————–

Letter to my MP

Don Davies is from the NDP, the third party, and therefore a) will most likely reply to say “I agree” and b) can’t really do much about it. But if I can add my name to the list of “X people in my constituency have written to me”, and perhaps even help persuade him to attend the rally, then hey, can’t hurt.

Subject: prorogation of parliament

Dear Mr. Davies,

Like many Canadians, I am extremely upset and angry about the Prime Minister’s decision to prorogue parliament for the second time in as many years. I am writing to you to ask that you ignore Stephen Harper’s request to prorogue parliament, and join Liberal party MPs in attending anyway. I think that this would make a very powerful statement to Mr. Harper that the Canadian people and their elected representatives will not tolerate his attempts to derail democracy in our country.

My husband and I, and many of our friends, are planning to attend the anti-prorogue rally that is being planned for January 23rd. For many of us, this will be our first ever political rally – a measure of the strength of our feelings about this issue (this is also the first time I have ever been moved to write to my MP). Do you, and other local NDP MPs, plan to attend this event? Again, I think that your attendance would make a very strong statement to Mr. Harper. The details are still being arranged and will be posted at http://citizensfordemocracy.ca/rallies/.

I look forward to your reply

Sincerely,

Find your MP’s contact info here.

———————————–

Letter to the Governor General

Michaëlle Jean is the current representative of the Queen, our nominal head of state. She seems like a very nice, thoughtful lady who took a largely ceremonial role that has not historically held any real power. However, by allowing Harper to prorogue parliament the first time, she set a very dangerous precedent. There’s no doubt that he’s put her in a very difficult position, but she has to take a large share of the blame for our current situation. Long-term, the biggest impact of Harper’s decision may well be the end of the monarchy in Canada. As a Brit, I’m ambivalent to weakly pro-monarchy (for Britain). As a Canadian, I’m quite strongly anti-monarchy (for Canada). Let’s have a Canadian head of state, eh? This is the 21st Century… (join us, Aussie and Kiwi brothers and sisters!)

Anyway, I digress. Here’s what I wrote (following the guidelines of “styles of address for federal dignitaries“, of course. This is a Canadian revolution, there’s no need to be rude):

Excellency,

I am writing to you to express my disappointment and anger that you have agreed to the Prime Minister’s request to prorogue parliament for the second time in as many years. Mr. Harper is placing party politics above his responsibility to democracy and to the people he is supposed to represent. As Governor General, I would wish for you to be a voice of the Canadian people and a defender of our constitution, not simply a stamp of approval on all of the Prime Minister’s requests.

I understand that you did not take this decision without a great deal of thought, but I hope that the growing public reaction to this second prorogation has convinced you that you acted counter to the wishes of millions of Canadians. A lot of us are very upset and angry; this is the first time I have ever been moved to write to my MP, to you, and to attend a political rally. And I know that I am not alone.

As a proud dual citizen of Canada and the United Kingdom, I expect more from the representatives of my monarchy.

Yours truly,

I told her, eh? You can write to her yourself at [email protected]

I’ll keep you posted with any replies, and with photos of the rally.

Let’s keep our land glorious and free!

Posted in activism, bad people, Canada, current affairs, environment, politics, rants | 8 Comments

Fishbowl Fridays!

Posted on January 9, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

At the Fogg ‘N’ Suds in Richmond.

It’s almost sacrilegious for a beer drinker such as myself to ignore the extensive international beer menu at such an establishment, but when I saw the giant Caesar on our friends’ table as we walked through the door, I knew I had to have one.

Also in this photo: Long Island iced tea, raspberry margarita, lime margarita.

Mr E Man let me try the latter, and it was also excellent.

Mmmmm, sacrilicious. I don’t know why anyone would use the straw when the salt is so yummy.

Posted in drunkenness, photos | 8 Comments

My definition of a bombastic project management style, Part III: Metrics

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

In the first post of this series, I explained how my funding source (and therefore my job description) has changed in the last couple of months, specifically to include more project management. Still undecided about pursuing formal PM training and qualifications, I’m currently trying to adopt the optimal combination of best practices from my prior experiences to apply to each of several projects.

AKA, winging it.

My adaption of the stand-up meetings we used in my industry position seems to be working pretty well for my biggest, broadest, overarching project that encompasses several distinct yet interconnected sub-projects. However, I’m going to be trying a different approach to managing some of my other, smaller, stand-alone projects.

As I mentioned last time, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences (more best practices to adopt!)

“Wake up, n00b. The metrics have you”: the industry experience

Ah, metrics.

My former company was all about the metrics.

The big pushes that required stand-up meetings also required metrics. We all had quantitative targets to hit, and reported back on them at regular intervals. My own metrics included completing a certain number of product inserts, labels, internal documents etc. My progress was tracked and graphed and disseminated and analysed. R&D, QC, QA, Sales, and Tech Support all had their own progress similarly tracked.

I fit into this system rather well. I like numbers. I love graphs. And the system really did make it easier to spot bottlenecks and other problems, and keep people on track; if QC’s “signed off on product” metrics are lagging three weeks behind R&D’s “released to QC” metrics, there’s a problem. If Marketing get so sick of making labels that they decide to shirk their duties and spend three days doodling ideas for the next ad campaign and/or staring out the window instead, their “signed off on label” graph line will plateau well short of its target value and people will comment (this never actually happened, although I was sorely tempted at times).

We used metrics outside of big product launch pushes, too. Everyone was assigned their own metrics for the next year at their annual review; complete five email ad campaigns, publish twelve print ads, launch 20 new products, grow sales of product X by 5%, etc. Our metrics were reviewed quarterly with our immediate supervisor, and were used to assess performance in the next annual report. Meeting or exceeding your assigned metrics was a good way to get the maximum performance-related pay increase (or bonus, some years; I myself managed to work at that company during the only two years in its history in which no bonuses were paid).

I did not like this use of metrics, and will definitely not be proposing to introduce it system in my new job! Job performance is about quality as well as quantity, and in my opinion we relied far too much on measuring the latter. For specific projects, though, and if done right, the type of metrics I described first can be a very useful tool.

“What is the metrics?”: persuading academics to take the red pill

I’m managing a new translational research project that will start recruiting patients in February. The team includes a nurse, radiologists, a medical oncologist, a statistician, pathologists, molecular biologists, and bioinformaticians. Everyone’s role is very clearly laid out in the protocol, and we have a clear target number of patients to recruit. On a day-to-day basis, the nurse and radiologists don’t need to know about the DNA sequencing steps. The statistician doesn’t need to know about patient recruitment. The bioinformatics team don’t need to know about the pathological assessment of the samples.

For these reason, and because organising meetings with clinicians is a bitch, I’m going to manage this project by getting everyone to report on specific metrics by email on a monthly basis. I’ll compile the numbers, and no doubt spend a happy few hours fiddling about with graphs to figure out the best way of visualising our progress.

Here’s a blog-safe version of the spreadsheet I’m going to ask people to fill in each month:

(Page numbers refer to the grant proposal, which lays out all the steps and which I’ve asked everyone to re-read to understand how they fit into the big picture).

The whole team will meet after each of the first five patients has cleared the first three phases, to make sure everything is working as it should and that no steps are being missed. After we’re up and running, I’ll set up a monthly alert in Outlook as if this was a meeting, reminding everyone to fill in the numbers for the tasks assigned to them in the spreadsheet, and email their version to me. I’ll obviously also make sure that all problems are reported to me. This is a good team and I have no worries about compliance – I won’t even need to bribe them with brownies!

This will be the first time I’ve used a metrics reporting system to help me manage a research project. I’m sure there will be wrinkles to iron out, but overall I’m reasonably confident that it’ll work. After assessing how it’s going in this new project that I can set up as I like, I’ll also impose the system onto some of our department’s existing stand-alone projects. I already have the metrics listed for one of these projects – an easy task if the grant proposal is well organised and progress is readily quantifiable. A couple of people (i.e. the statistician and lead bioinformatician) will end up with multiple sets of metrics to complete, but most other lab members are only involved in one or maybe two of these projects and won’t have to spend much time on it at all. As with the meetings it may take time for people to adapt and form the appropriate habits, but hopefully everyone will be reasonably happy with the system.

Especially me. Remember, I get to play with graphs!

Posted in career, science | 9 Comments