Image: Orphaned. Contact me so I can provide proper attribution.
Despite the fact that I am experiencing my typical "post-conference blues", I have managed to remain productive, although this is a minute-by-minute battle. (Hanging out with all my cool and fun peeps reminds me of how lonely and socially isolated I truly am). For example, do you remember the big pile o' tasks that I told you I was working on? Well, it appears I am making progress!
-
putting the finishing touches on my OpenLab2008 essay and emailing that to the editor. Yes, I am terribly late!Done! - writing six book reviews. Yes, I am terribly behind on this too, unfortunately!
-
writing three guest blog essays, also late.One is finished and delivered, and the second is underway. The finished essay will be published here after it appears on the original site, and I guarantee it will tell you something that you never knew about me! The second essay is another "guest blog" that I will publish here and will also rewrite to appear in my print column in a popular magazine. This second essay discusses the good things that come from keeping birds in captivity and it will also be published here, after it appears on the original site that requested this "guest blog." -
downloading images and writing up all my NC photoessays, seminar data and an essay regarding my thoughts about the conference in general.This is in progress, and already, you've seen some of this work here. - finishing three essays about scientific papers that have been languishing behind the scenes on my blog.
-
other blog business, such as catching up with the mystery birds, the NYC subway art series, and other things that I've been distracted from recently.I have accomplished this, too. Whew. I didn't want my devoted bird pals to think I'd forgotten them! -
catching up on all my unanswered email -- I have too many email accounts: How about you?This is progressing slowly -- I hate writing a two word response to a thoughtful, eight paragraph email! - transferring the last of my files from my unhappy laptop onto my new laptop.
- following up with several networking connections that I am trying to further develop after the NC conference.
-
working at scraping the fund$ together to keep my landlord from acting (even more) like a capitalist pig.This is in progress and I think I am going to squeek by this month! Wow, amazing! - write another installment of my monthly column about birds and science that appears in a real, print magazine.
So how are you doing?
Barn Owl -- how did your neuroscience students do on the exam? And the horse show stuff sounds fascinating to me (but I am a horse lover, as you know).
DeafScientist -- how is your grant proposal going? Have you sent it in yet? And if you do write a book, what would it be about?
Bob O'Hara -- how is moving into your new flat going? (Gawd, I hate moving! I'm not sure what's worse: moving or visiting the dentist).
Evil Bob -- how's Operation Valkyrie II progressing?
JanieBelle -- good luck with the monogamy thing, let me know how it goes!
Arvind -- enthusiamsodynamics, eh? It's amazing what a grrlscientist can accomplish with a few swishes and flicks of her magic wand! I'll bet you'd like to know what else I can accomplish .. oh, ahem. Nevermind.
- Log in to post comments
Please consider yourself nagged again about that arm...
Well, my update:
The search for work continues. I just applied at a large post production company with facilities all over the world as an After Effects visual effects artist. The job seemes perfect for me - "...must have the ability to work alone, taking a vfx shot from beginning to end as well as be able to collaborate with others..." I loved the "be able to work alone" part the most.
Made real progress in getting my dad to understand high-functioning autism and to offer me some help with his connections at UCLA. Maybe I will finally find a good autism specialist who understands and treats adults who are mildly autistic.
Got my new computer graphics workstation. Eight processor cores, oodles of RAM and hard drive space, and a kick-ass graphics card with two high-def monitors attached.
Paid off my car loan, paid off the credit card. My wife and I are now completely dept-dept free. Never again am I playing the credit card game as it is run in this country. The cards are stacked way to much against the consumer. The rules are designed to make you fail. This is one of the many lasting legacies of that disaster we once called the Bush Administration. All I can say is finally, that eight-year nightmare is over - and so is my nightmare with dept!
Grrl, I really do know what it is like to go somewhere and be among colleagues with all of that intellectual stimulation and comradery with like-minded and similarly capable people. Only to have to come home again to loneliness and drudgery. I have been there many times myself. It's sort of like having a wonderful, rich, vivid dream where you feel completely engaged only to wake up suddenly and realize it was only a dream. Very depressing. For you, that is your scientific and blogging meetings, for me it is things like the NAB show or SIGGraph.
Take care.
--JK--
I'm still packing....
And I made the mistake of packing the coffee too early. :-(
An update: Cano comes in 20 minutes to drive me to my new place, and I'm packed. Except for the computer and the cat.
A word of advice to anyone else moving - don't pack the toilet paper until last...
Good progress, Grrl!
My impression from yesterday is that most students did very well on the neuroscience exam; the actual results will have to wait until next week, as there are just shy of 100 students in the class, and the exams will be computer-graded. But many students finished the exam early, and didn't look too traumatized. My goal for next year is to administer the exam on the computer, so as to save paper.
You would enjoy the horse show activities ... I volunteer for the Horse Arrivals Station, where all horses, ponies, donkeys, mules, and llamas coming in for the shows (and for the rodeo-yuk!) must be inspected. With hundreds of animals on site, a sick and contagious one would be a disaster (like the continued spread of resistant strangles variants among young racehorses ... but I digress). Each equid must have an up-to-date Coggins and health certificate. I check the Coggins against the horse, for each horse in the trailer (sometimes there are 8-10), and of course not every horse has distinctive markings. Whorls, scars, and brands have to be checked. The new photo Coggins papers are nice, and becoming more prevalent. It's fun to meet all sorts of horsey people from the southwestern and western US (and sometimes from Canada), and to see all their beautiful animals.
Our arrivals station is next to the tent set up for the Percherons, and so when we're not busy, we can watch all the fascinating activities for preparing and hitching the team.
Another update - I move, and didn't forget to pack too many things. And I have a (weak) wireless connection in my new place.
And I made the mistake of packing the coffee too early. :-(
A word of advice to anyone else moving - don't pack the toilet paper until last...
I had to laugh at these and immediately thought that you obviously don't shift house very often! The latter in particular is a real standard "rule". Mind you, the rental situation here has me moving every few years so I get more practice than you might...
While we're on that line of conversation, a hint to those letting or selling a house: have some (nice!) new toilet paper in the holder for the incoming person and ideally some instant tea & coffee, motel style. It may sound silly but to me it's one of the little things that separates the better landlords/agents from "the others".
I'm still slaving away. (Well actually I'm "wasting" time on this blog!) I'll get back about the book thing later, as I really ought to focus and all that...
Well, it seems that I am an utter failure at monogamy.
oh well. :)