Some stupid with a flare gun
What a week. Monday had the kids all day because of half-term. Took them to macdonalds and Toys r us. Didn't hear any complaints. Started work on business development grant (grant#2) . It's like learning a new language. Milestones? Deliverables? Quarters? It's the complete opposite for research grants. In today's competitive environment, you submit the grants knowing that most of the milestones have already been reached. Then you can do something interesting instead. That's if you are smart. Naive people like me write grants to do work they want to do. They then find it takes longer than they thought, so they have to write a new grant to finish it off and get further behind. Did someone mention the misery of credit card debt?
Tuesday AM, made 27 copies of grant#1 and then played "hunt the envelope". Helped to move two large liquid nitrogen tanks from one building to another. This heralds the start of the migration lead by MC (see previous posts). PM, lots of meetings with my lab. Including a depressed PhD student, a research assistant with time on her hands, and a research assistant actually producing good results. Well, 1 out of 3 ain't bad.
Also had a meeting where MC outlined his takeover bid for our floor. He told us the rennovation of his current labs would be a complete disaster, and there was the possibility of money running out before completion. Then it dawned on us that the move was not going to be temporary. He told me that my lab which has been out of action for 4 months, could be easily fixed for a cost of £300 and within 2 weeks. If true this is depressing and makes me wonder if the HOD is ineffectual or whether MC is a fibber. I suspect the latter and have already made a bet for £10 that it won't happen. Evening spent on grant #2. Resolved to get a more comfortable chair for my home office and to book an eyetest.
Wednesday, building wide power cut. Sat in the dark in my office until the laptop battery ran down. Had a good whinge with my colleague about the MC and his plans for global domination. Basically did bugger all and suffered for it.
Thursday (today). Had to work until 1.30AM on grant#2 (missus not pleased), then woke up at 6.30 AM to deliver first draft to technology transfer office. Worked on it during the day with frequent interruptions. Finally sent another version at 5pm! This weekend I have to read a PhD thesis. Arghhh!
Tuesday AM, made 27 copies of grant#1 and then played "hunt the envelope". Helped to move two large liquid nitrogen tanks from one building to another. This heralds the start of the migration lead by MC (see previous posts). PM, lots of meetings with my lab. Including a depressed PhD student, a research assistant with time on her hands, and a research assistant actually producing good results. Well, 1 out of 3 ain't bad.
Also had a meeting where MC outlined his takeover bid for our floor. He told us the rennovation of his current labs would be a complete disaster, and there was the possibility of money running out before completion. Then it dawned on us that the move was not going to be temporary. He told me that my lab which has been out of action for 4 months, could be easily fixed for a cost of £300 and within 2 weeks. If true this is depressing and makes me wonder if the HOD is ineffectual or whether MC is a fibber. I suspect the latter and have already made a bet for £10 that it won't happen. Evening spent on grant #2. Resolved to get a more comfortable chair for my home office and to book an eyetest.
Wednesday, building wide power cut. Sat in the dark in my office until the laptop battery ran down. Had a good whinge with my colleague about the MC and his plans for global domination. Basically did bugger all and suffered for it.
Thursday (today). Had to work until 1.30AM on grant#2 (missus not pleased), then woke up at 6.30 AM to deliver first draft to technology transfer office. Worked on it during the day with frequent interruptions. Finally sent another version at 5pm! This weekend I have to read a PhD thesis. Arghhh!
posted by Professor Xavier at 4:52 pm
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