evolgen

I hate vanity posts — who the fuck outside my mom cares how I’m doing, and she don’t read this — but I feel somewhat obliged to explain the lack of activity on this unread blog. This is especially important in case my Seed overlords stop by and notice a stark absence of any recent posts and a deficiency in posting regularity over the past couple of weeks. Aside from the few regular visitors, I doubt anyone has noticed the near death of evolgen.

That said, here’s what I’ve been up to instead of blogging. I’m in the middle of that clusterfuck known as the last year of grad school. Those of you who have been through it know it’s a painful combination of trying to complete your research, trying to write your dissertation, trying to publish the unpublished parts, trying to find a post-doc, and trying to find a granting agency willing to give you a fellowship to fund that illusive post-doc. I have my priorities in order, and blogging isn’t anywhere near the top of the list. Maybe if Seed were to offer me a cool $1k per unique visit, evolgen would become obligation number one. Scratch that — I’ll take 1.000 euro (note the decimal rather than a comma), or even $1k Canadian. Considering the high pay-out is unlikely, this blog will remain in a persistent vegetative state for the near future.

Hey! You looked below the fold. This may or may not be a scam. Do you know jack-shit about evolutionary genetics? Want to write my blog for me? Send me an email or drop a note in the comments.

Comments

#1 Mike
November 21, 2007

I can sympathize. The last few months of grad school sucked for me – and my wife gave birth to twins one month to the day after my defense. Then we moved from NY to St. Louis 2.5 weeks later.

Have you checked out Wash. U’s Center for Genome Sciences to study evolutionary genomics? We have a great group of postdocs here. Granting agencies have been kind to us here with fellowships.
#2 origins g
November 21, 2007

Yo bro, hang in there. This is the rockiest transition in academia. I was similarly frazzled as I entered my post-doc – and that was before I was fired ! Your blog is the shizzit !
#3 Mr. Gunn
November 21, 2007

I’m close to finishing as well, and I find I’m blogging more and more. It’s all that dead time waiting for experiments or people to get back to me. Then again, maybe my priorities just aren’t in order…
#4 rjb
November 21, 2007

Ah, I remember my last year of grad school. Or, I should say, I don’t really remember much about it. I just remember that I was stressed out, that the thesis somehow got done (I think I wrote it, but I have little recollection of anything except the stress). But seriously, I remember very little about that last year. I do remember driving out of town the day after my thesis defense, heading from New York to California for my next position, and just breaking down in tears as I drove out of town. A combination of relief, dread of the unknown ahead, pride and satisfaction at being done, sadness for leaving friends and colleagues, and a recognition that I had just completed the most challenging, frightening, and rewarding event of my life. I don’t think anything will ever top that (and I even just got tenure). Take home message: There’s an everlasting reward when you’re done. To use a cliche, “No one can ever take it away from you.”

Good luck!!
#5 W. Kevin Vicklund
November 22, 2007

My wife is working on her dissertation right now (Anthropology). When she was doing her comps and grants (she got a Fulbright!), I essentially turned into her butler. Hang in there, and hopefully you’ve got someone to make sure you take proper care of yourself/keep you from going insane.
#6 Alan Kellogg
November 23, 2007

Even 1,000 Canadian dollars? You have been out of touch lately. Last I heard American and Canadian dollars had achieved parity, and Canadian may even be worth a bit more.

I watched as my mom worked on her masters (biology), I can only imagine what working on her doctorate while dealing with an adolescent son with with clinical depression and anxiety disorder would be like. You have my sympathies, my best wishes, and a request to post about what you’ve been working on when you have a bit of free time.
#7 Hsien Lei
November 26, 2007

Hang in there, man. One year from now you’ll look back and wonder what all the stress was about because damn, you don’t know what stress is yet!

/me ducks for cover