No sign of nookie

As a pale imitation of that character in the "Fast show", this week I have mostly been writing grants. Actually getting one finished off, and trying to start the new one. I have been told by an American friend that all this grant writing is rather boring, and there is not enough nookie on my blog. That's my life my friend!

I also helped a colleague interview new post-docs for his lab. A good one is hard to find these days. Round here, we get a lot of time-wasters and shirkers turning up for interviews. And we usually end up employing them. This time he had two good candidates, one from within the department. A bit difficult because we gave the job to the other guy on the basis of a fantastic interview performance.

As I suspected, the recent arrival of my chatterbox colleague in the office has made it difficult to work. He is a big fan of the "unload everything on my mind" style of conversation. This is OK until you realise that he does this to everyone who comes into the office, so I end up hearing the story 4-5 times.

My old friend the Technology transfer officer came back. We now have to present my grand idea to some "suits". As she talked, it seemed that the odds had lengthened and her pessimism was infectious. Still its worth a try, even if I do have to face a gruesome "pop idol" type interview afterwards.

Another weekend of writing then next week I will be free like a bird (relatively).