30 March 2012
27 March 2012
Catch up time
Ok, catch up time. I've done lots of cool stuff lately! Travels, parties, teaching, science! Adventures abound and sleep is on the minimal side of adequate!
Most of what keeps me busy is working. I will say this: Being a postdoc is definitely better than being a grad student. But it is not easier. Don't get me wrong-I'm much happier than I was for most of grad school, and a big part of that is that I now work for a reasonable person and have time to do things like exercise and socialize and visit my family and take daytrips to wineries with my friends on weekends. But day-to-day, the responsibilities are greater and more complex. Administrative tasks grow, there's more supervising and training others, there is more writing and thinking things up on your own, and when opportunities come along to teach a course, or guest lecture or give a talk, of course you take them because it's a competitive business and early on you need all the opportunities and goodwill you can get. All of this while still producing data! Good data and lots of it! It can be exhilarating, but also completely overwhelming.
Science chugs along-a paper I'm second author on goes out whenever our collaborators get back to us with final changes. I'm getting some solid data for my own paper. This one isn't terrible exciting-nuts and bolts and mechanisms of things. Once it is done, I will be starting some flashy new things-a little riskier, but I am super excited about it! I'm finishing up my first of three (3) (!!!!!) grants this year-this one is for little internal pilot funds, the second is for a somewhat bigger one or two year project, the third is a huge career-defining make-or-break NIH grant that looms like a monster in my mind. I love thinking it through-I'm starting to see a niche for me, where I might fit with a lab of my own, what direction those first few years of independence will take It's scary though, to put so much effort into planning for a career that is such a long shot-I'm happy to call myself above average as a scientist, but "above average" is nowhere close to a guarantee in the current climate.
I'm teaching this semester in the continuing ed program. I proposed a class on stress and the brain, it was accepted into the catalog, and the minimum number of students signed up, so the class went forward. I'm having a blast with it-my students are very diverse in their background, but without an exception they are incredibly bright and engaged. I think this is a great way to get teaching experience, and I am (hopefully!) improving a lot as a teacher over the semester. Plus I think running my own course from the ground up-designing the syllabus and picking out the materials myself-has been much more valuable to me that TAing someone else's course would be. I have a pre-college course on schedule this summer. We'll see how that goes-I can see myself having much more trouble with 25 teenagers than with 8 adults.
Of course, I am also keeping very busy outside of work and teaching and science. I've got great friends here. I think I spend more time at the bar in any given week here than I did in all of grad school. That's a good thing :) I'll (maybe?) have some updates with pictures in the next few days on my recent adventures and travels with my sister.
I hope to update the blog more-to keep in touch, keep record of what I do, and to practice writing in a non-sciency form. I'm always promising that, though...
Most of what keeps me busy is working. I will say this: Being a postdoc is definitely better than being a grad student. But it is not easier. Don't get me wrong-I'm much happier than I was for most of grad school, and a big part of that is that I now work for a reasonable person and have time to do things like exercise and socialize and visit my family and take daytrips to wineries with my friends on weekends. But day-to-day, the responsibilities are greater and more complex. Administrative tasks grow, there's more supervising and training others, there is more writing and thinking things up on your own, and when opportunities come along to teach a course, or guest lecture or give a talk, of course you take them because it's a competitive business and early on you need all the opportunities and goodwill you can get. All of this while still producing data! Good data and lots of it! It can be exhilarating, but also completely overwhelming.
Science chugs along-a paper I'm second author on goes out whenever our collaborators get back to us with final changes. I'm getting some solid data for my own paper. This one isn't terrible exciting-nuts and bolts and mechanisms of things. Once it is done, I will be starting some flashy new things-a little riskier, but I am super excited about it! I'm finishing up my first of three (3) (!!!!!) grants this year-this one is for little internal pilot funds, the second is for a somewhat bigger one or two year project, the third is a huge career-defining make-or-break NIH grant that looms like a monster in my mind. I love thinking it through-I'm starting to see a niche for me, where I might fit with a lab of my own, what direction those first few years of independence will take It's scary though, to put so much effort into planning for a career that is such a long shot-I'm happy to call myself above average as a scientist, but "above average" is nowhere close to a guarantee in the current climate.
I'm teaching this semester in the continuing ed program. I proposed a class on stress and the brain, it was accepted into the catalog, and the minimum number of students signed up, so the class went forward. I'm having a blast with it-my students are very diverse in their background, but without an exception they are incredibly bright and engaged. I think this is a great way to get teaching experience, and I am (hopefully!) improving a lot as a teacher over the semester. Plus I think running my own course from the ground up-designing the syllabus and picking out the materials myself-has been much more valuable to me that TAing someone else's course would be. I have a pre-college course on schedule this summer. We'll see how that goes-I can see myself having much more trouble with 25 teenagers than with 8 adults.
Of course, I am also keeping very busy outside of work and teaching and science. I've got great friends here. I think I spend more time at the bar in any given week here than I did in all of grad school. That's a good thing :) I'll (maybe?) have some updates with pictures in the next few days on my recent adventures and travels with my sister.
I hope to update the blog more-to keep in touch, keep record of what I do, and to practice writing in a non-sciency form. I'm always promising that, though...
10 March 2012
In which my sister and I discuss casseroles
12:29 PM
12:29 PM
12:29 PM
12:30 PM
12:30 PM
12:30 PM
12:30 PM
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