Category Archives: Work

Please Allow Me to Re-Introduce Myself

Today (January 28, 2013) is the Re-Introduce Myself Blogfest. The concept is to introduce yourself (or re-introduce yourself, if you’ve been around for a while) to the rest of the blogging community.

So here’s me:

  • Vertebrate Paleontologist (I study mostly fossil mammals)
  • Isotope geochemist (looking at climate change in the rock record)
  • Laboratory manager (and student wrangler)
  • Mother (to boy on the autism spectrum)
  • Wife (to a mechanical engineer)
  • Writer (fiction and non-fiction, nothing published yet, but getting there)
  • Swordsman-in-training (am captivated by the longsword and am studying the historical European martial arts)
  • Seamstress (making medieval and renaissance period clothes, plus costumes at Halloween)
  • Gardener (when time permits)
  • Chicken wrangler (because our flock comes up a lot)

If you look at my blog or follow me on Twitter, you’ll see posts about all of these things. It keeps me busy and sometimes frantic. But I like it. I like to think that my life is interesting. I like that I have stories to tell, some fiction, some real-life adventures. Hang out for a while. You’ll see.

 

For 01-28-13

Overly Honest Methods

If you’re familiar with Twitter, you’re familiar with the concept of the ‘hashtag.’ A hashtag is used to mark a tweet so that it can be collected with tweets on a similar topic. For example, there’s a new television show coming out called “The Following.” If I want to see what other people are tweeting about The Following, I just look for the hashtag #thefollowing. The pound symbol at the front of the tag is what distinguishes it as a hashtag.

When I teach, I devise a hashtag for my class: #UREES101 for the introductory geology class and #UREES207 or #UREES270 for my upper-division paleontology courses. Students can use the hashtags to tweet questions and answers (or whatever they want) that’s related to the course and anyone who searchs for the hashtag can find their tweets.

The other day a hashtag was started that’s been a delight to follow: #overlyhonestmethods. People using this hashtag post about the scientific methods and techniques used in their research, as if they were writing them up for a professional paper, but being totally honest about why they did what they did. You can look at the posts here, through tweetchat. You don’t need to have a Twitter account to enjoy them.

There are a couple of good blog posts already out there too:

POPSCI

io9

Here are my own contributions:

 

 

 

The main reason why these are so funny is that there is truth in all of them. Yes, there was a globetrotting postdoc in our lab for a while, and washing shave cream from beard hairs is no fun.  That data was never published, but if it were published, we’d find a better way to describe why we selected our sample subject.

It’s also true that we use 14 injections because it worked, and I didn’t want to keep fiddling with the method. I would probably leave out the last bit about being tired of messing with the water analyzer.

So many things that go on in labs are done for convenience. But, that does not make the science wrong. We always outline what exact our methods were. If the eyeballs sat in the drawer for 18 months, we report that. We just leave out the bit about how we forgot about them.

We lay out what we did, not necessarily the ‘why,’ unless it would have a profound effect on our results. It doesn’t matter that we had a convenient traveling postdoc. All we do is report that there was a human subject who had to shave anyway. Who cares if it’s 14 or 5 injections? When we run our analyses, we get the same results as other labs. We’re good.

What #overlyhonestmethods provides is a tongue-in-cheek behind-the-scenes look at what life as a scientist is really like. Some of the posts are clearly jokes, others are absolute truth. But all reflect the reality, and fun, of being a scientist!

Rockin’ to the Oldies!

National Blog Posting Month – January 2013 – Energy

Prompt – What is your favourite song that gives you energy?

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A song that gives me energy… Wow. That’s a toughie.

There’s no one song that gives me an energy boost. At least not one that I can think of. I do have a playlist on my iPod called ‘SOS’ that I put on when I need some energy. I like to listen to it when I workout (if I’m not using a workout video). It’s full of songs that have a solid beat that I can sing along to. I like to listen to it when I’m driving.

In fact, last time I drove out to Wyoming (three days of driving) I had two students in the car with me and we listened to the SOS playlist the whole way. One of my students called it ‘epic playlist.’ She loved it. I took that as a compliment, given that I’m old enough to be her mother, yet am somehow hip enough to have music that a student of mine might like.

When I reflect back, there was a time in my student career when I relied entirely upon music for energy. Somewhere during the writing process of my dissertation, I developed severe acid reflux. I had heartburn for five weeks straight. It was horrible! I had to abandon caffeine completely, but I still needed to maintain some energy to get my work done. That year I listened to the same Blink 182 album (Enema of the State) on repeat hundreds if not thousands of times. It was perfect: completely raucous and energizing, but so simple as to not be distracting. It got to a point that the music would get stuck in my head and I couldn’t sleep. It was equally as effective as any amount of caffeine consumption I’ve done in the past. To this day, I’ll pop it in if I need some energy. (Strangely, though, none of those songs are in my SOS playlist! Go figure.)

For 1-7-13

Welcome to 2013

It’s a new year. 2013 is all of five days old. And I’m exhausted already. But it’s a new year. A completely arbitrary starting point, of course, but an opportunity to ‘start afresh.’ What do I want to do with this year?

Frankly, I haven’t had any chance to think about what I want to do with this new year because the old year just won’t let go! The end of the fall semester always means playing catch-up with all the things that I put off doing because I was busy teaching. I look at my to-do list and it makes me want to cry. But what can I do?

Well, it’s time to put up or shut up. There are things I want to accomplish this year and there are things I have to accomplish this year. Right now, the have-to-dos out-weigh the want-to-dos, but I’m making a point of continuing to slog forward on the want-to-do list. Luckily, with want-to-dos, I’m willing to work on them at funny hours, because I want to do them.

Have-to-dos get done at work. I have to get the elemental analyzer running properly (that’ll be Monday’s task). I have to catalog some fossils (to do on Wednesday). I need to grind up some teeth and fish scales (not sure when I’ll do that, but I will). Oh, there’s data to normalize. I can do that remotely from home. That might wait until someone prompts me. Class preparation: Sadly, that will likely wait until classes start. I just don’t have time to think about it right now. And there’s a couple of papers to review here. That won’t be too bad. Oh, and those every-Tuesday for the next nine weeks talks. Yeah, I need to get on that! I have five of them mostly ready now. I’m in good shape.

Now for the want-to-dos: Finish the rewrite on my novel “Prince of Herongarde.” I can do that, if I can just shake this migraine. Blog every day. Yeah. That’s what you’re reading. Progress as a swordsman (or should it be swordswoman?). Getting there. I’ve had health problems of late, but I’m not going backwards. That’s good. Do some more sewing. I have been offered a couple of challenges. I like challenges. I’ll get ‘er done, but maybe not this month.

Naw, I’ll get to it. I’ll get to it all. I just have to accept that January will be the month of the have-to-dos and postpone many of the want-to-dos for later in the year. I have to remind myself not to get frustrated and surround myself with people who will encourage me when I get down on myself. I think I’m ready. Are you?

Siesta

National Blog Posting Month – January 2013 – Energy

Prompt – At what time of day do you feel the most energetic and productive?

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At different times of day I’m productive in different ways. It’s hard to pinpoint any single time of day when I’m most energetic and productive. I do, however, know when I am least productive.

The doldrums hit me around 2pm every day and I’m a slug until around 5 or 6. I know myself well enough to know that unless there is a seriously urgent deadline, there is little point in fighting the afternoon drags. Instead, I strap on my exercise shoes and mindlessly workout for thirty minutes to an hour. And once I’m done and showered, I start on the evening chores. By the time everything’s done and all members of the household are fed, I’m back to being constructive and energized and I get on with whatever brain-intensive tasks need doing.

It makes for me keeping strange work hours, but everyone seems to be OK with it. I come into the office in the morning and do whatever lab things need to be done until my energy starts to wane, then I leave, usually around 2. I make up the lost hours in the evening at home when my brain returns to normal function.

I get away with this because I’m on salary and I need only present results to justify my employment. I feel fortunate because of this. I only have to work during my optimal times. I’ve had jobs where I had to grunt my way through the less-optimum hours of the day. I know what it’s like and I can do it. I’m glad I don’t have to.

For 1-4-13