Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Potpourri and other smelly stuff

I'm back. Did you even know I was gone?

I've just got back from a two week vacation. A week of it was at the beach, with the other week being taken up by a few days at the in-laws and traveling. I now feel more relaxed than I have done in a very long time. I guess I needed the break. Not doing any email during that time probably helped too.

Work was just a little tumultuous right before leaving for our vacation. I very nearly kicked one of the summer undergraduates out of the program. She had a family reunion to attend in California. When she was accepted into the program she asked if she could take a week off to go to that, plus see some friends. I told her a whole week out of a ten week program was too much. We compromised and agreed on four days. Well, she took a whole week anyway. I booted her, but after much begging on her part I relented and let her back in (I'm just a big old softy - but I did make her sweat). Around the same time I realized that my current research wasn't going anywhere and had no real future. A good friend, RP (Doc, you know who that is), had tried to gently tell me that at a conference earlier this year, but it took a few months for me to catch on. Perhaps he shouldn't have tried to sugarcoat it...

Anyway, you'd think realizing that my research program was reaching a dead end would be devastating. Perhaps it should be, but oddly enough I've found it energizing. There is a related area of research I've been looking to move into (intrinsically disordered proteins if you must know), and here's my big chance. I have a good hypothesis to work on, and I know how to test it. I have one model system that will be good for this. I just need to find another one, preferably two, so I can test the generality of the hypothesis. So over the next few months I'll be writing up the last two or three papers from my current research program while switching to the new one. That should keep me out of trouble for a while...

On an unrelated note, DocStymie put me on to an English band called The Maccabees. Check them out. They have the one album and it's called "Colour It In". If you have an English sense of humour you'll probably really enjoy "Latchmere". It's got a wave machine.


Okay, the sibs have each posted quiz questions. I guess it's my turn.

What's the difference between a duck?






Alright, alright, so it's an oldy... How about this one?


Who said "Never confuse efficiency with a liver complaint"? And in what movie?

10 comments:

Goose said...

Good luck with the new research path! I'm sure you'll have fun with it!

No idea with the quiz question...

JollyRgr said...

That's a tough one....I have no idea

Odyssey said...

Here's a clue or two. You almost certainly saw the movie when you were a kid. My kids have seen it too. The main character has an umbrella.

mouthfulofpancake said...

Mary Poppins

Odyssey said...

Ding! DIng! DIng! We have a (partial) winner! 'Cakes has the movie. Now, who said it?

JollyRgr said...

I can't answer as I had to google it......and I have never actually seen it

Odyssey said...

JollyRgr, you should see it sometime. It's remarkably good even all these years after it was made.

Goose said...

I'll go with the father.

Odyssey said...

Ding! Ding! Ding! And Goose is our other partial winner. It was the father, George Banks, commenting on their nanny quitting. It's perhaps my favorite nonsensical line from a movie.

Goose said...

I'd like to thanks 'cakes, and the Academy...