End of the tunnel

Blinking I emerge into the light. The 4th and final grant of this year was submitted last week, after a torturous week of inspiration, perspiration, self-doubt and sleep deprivation. The fun continued this week, when I realised that I had to present my big moneyspinning idea to a panel of suits. This involved more work over the weekend learning the lingua franca of business; spin-outs, licensing, up-front payments,dolby B, 5:1 surround sound etc. Fortunately I had a lot of help on the presentation from a friend in the business, and gave a reasonable performance as an entrepreneurial scientist. Afterwards I realised that the last time I worked this hard for such a sustained period was during my PhD. I felt a quiet sense of achievement but this soon disappeared after I rejoined the human race by queuing in Argos.

Spent this morning reading and correcting printers proofs for a manuscript. This is one of the nice parts of the job, there is a certain satisfaction about seeing a project that has taken 3 years to finish, finally translated into a crisp black and white document. "Sad loser" I hear you say but other scientists will understand.

Hostilities within the department have been put on hold on the run-up to Christmas, as has everything else including work. Woe betide anyone who has a deadline in the last week before Christmas, when most of the staff are either hungover and/or missing. Tis the season to be jolly!