One of the reasons why I like my job so much is the "Any 80" policy. In short, "Any 80" means that I am allowed to work any 80 hours I choose in a two week pay period. If I work over that 80 in any pay period, I can bank the extra hours (up to 24) to use in another pay period should I need to make up time. It also means that I tend to hoard my vacation and sick days. I staunchly refuse to use them. Why? Because sick leave can be carried over ad infinitum. I can carryover up to 240 hours of vacation every year (I'm no where near that yet). Sounds sweet? Well, more like necessary, since there is no such thing as "maternity leave" where I work. So, whenever I choose to have a child, it's my own time that I have saved up that I have to use. It's the whole equity thing (there's no such thing as paternity leave, either). No bonuses for those who want to have kids over those who choose not to.
Anyway, why am I talking about this? Oh, yeah. I'm coming to NYC next week. For the whole week. And I'm trying really hard to do it without using any of my vacation days. Don't think it will work. But I'm working super-overtime this week to try. It's not really a stretch to work the long hours this week, either, since any work that's due next week or early the week after needs to be done before I leave. And I'm probably going to bring some work to NY with me too (what a loser am I?).
Well, back to work. Have to get this crap done.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Okay, I'm going to hell
But I think this shit's hilarious. I've been following along with this little article stream on Slate.com. A guy is reading the bible - every word - and summarizing what he reads and comments, and writes these entries on Slate. He's still in Genesis, talked about Sodom and Gomorrah, and is up to the sacrifice of Abraham. Some of his observations are pretty funny, some inciteful. And what's really funny is that I'm sure he'll get to plenty of stuff that they never talked about in the 13 years I was in Catholic School.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Hour 3 - I am so on Team Addison
I felt like I just took a ride on the craziest emotional rollercoaster. Meredith and Derek deserve each other. Derek certainly does not deserve Addison, because he's too wrapped up in doing what he thinks is the right thing. Problem is, in trying to do the "right thing," he ends up doing it all wrong. Same with Meredith. Meredith sees in Derek what she figured out about the Chief. And she so desperately does not want to become her mother. I thought she had let go when she let Doc go. I was wrong. Meredith doesn't deserve Finn. Derek doesn't deserve Addison. And Derek is to chicken-shit to tell Addison the truth.
Christina Yang has lost her edge, she says. "I will not be responsible for making you less human," the Chief tells her. And we've seen it. She got scared. She ran. She didn't have the answers. And in the end, it was okay. Because she took Burke's hand. And that's the only answer she needed.
Karev put his issues aside to care for Izzy. And it's more obvious to me than ever that he actually cares for Izzy. He didn't say what he said for his own benefit. It wasn't selfish. He said it because it was the truth. And he tells the truth. But this time, it was a real truth. Something more true about Denny than I thought possible to come out of his mouth. And he said it, not for himself, but for Izzy.
George has gotten stronger and stronger. And he tells Callie the truth. She's in love. He's not there yet. And he was man enough to tell her the truth. To not run.
I will continue to say over and over just how awesome Bailey is. She rocks. Because she doesn't take crap. But she cares for her interns. Truly cares. She's a softy behind it all. She is more human and more real. And she, in times most insane, keeps it together.
I have to watch it again. Have to.
Addendum:
1) I love the look Callie gives to Derek when she finds them.
2) Burke went to Hopkins!! YAY!!!
Christina Yang has lost her edge, she says. "I will not be responsible for making you less human," the Chief tells her. And we've seen it. She got scared. She ran. She didn't have the answers. And in the end, it was okay. Because she took Burke's hand. And that's the only answer she needed.
Karev put his issues aside to care for Izzy. And it's more obvious to me than ever that he actually cares for Izzy. He didn't say what he said for his own benefit. It wasn't selfish. He said it because it was the truth. And he tells the truth. But this time, it was a real truth. Something more true about Denny than I thought possible to come out of his mouth. And he said it, not for himself, but for Izzy.
George has gotten stronger and stronger. And he tells Callie the truth. She's in love. He's not there yet. And he was man enough to tell her the truth. To not run.
I will continue to say over and over just how awesome Bailey is. She rocks. Because she doesn't take crap. But she cares for her interns. Truly cares. She's a softy behind it all. She is more human and more real. And she, in times most insane, keeps it together.
I have to watch it again. Have to.
Addendum:
1) I love the look Callie gives to Derek when she finds them.
2) Burke went to Hopkins!! YAY!!!
Hour 1.5
So I'm watching the Grey's Anatomy 3 hour season finale. I'm at hour 1.5 and I'm freaking out. My heart nearly dropped out of my chest at the end of hour 1. I started crying at about 15 minutes into hour 2. Breaking for dinner because I'm freaking out.
A week behind
Okay, so I'm a week behind on Grey's Anatomy. This will be remedied. But it took me until last night to see the episode about being "Scary and Damaged." And there are a lot of things that could be said, but I'll refain until I see the two parter from this week. SA, I took a peek at your "summary." Oh-my-God - I thought I was on a freakin' rollercoaster. I can't wait.
More to come soon...
More to come soon...
Muscle soreness
Okay, I'm on a science kick these days... but there are a lot of interesting things coming up recently, so please bear with me.
I read this interesting article about lactic acid. We all learned over the years that lactic acid buildup in the muscle was bad - caused cramping, soreness, etc. Turns out, that theory was completely wrong. Lactic acid is, in fact, fuel for the muscle. And that endurance trained athletes are more efficient in the use of lactic acid during exercise and competition. It all has to do with the mitochondria in the muscle cells. The more endurance trained you are, the more transport molecules are produced to transport the lactic acid into the muscle for fuel.
Well, there goes another thing that we can blame for crappy workouts.
I read this interesting article about lactic acid. We all learned over the years that lactic acid buildup in the muscle was bad - caused cramping, soreness, etc. Turns out, that theory was completely wrong. Lactic acid is, in fact, fuel for the muscle. And that endurance trained athletes are more efficient in the use of lactic acid during exercise and competition. It all has to do with the mitochondria in the muscle cells. The more endurance trained you are, the more transport molecules are produced to transport the lactic acid into the muscle for fuel.
Well, there goes another thing that we can blame for crappy workouts.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Scientific ethics
This morning, it was reported that the South Korean scientist, hailed for successfully cloning human stem cells only to be disgraced as a fraud, was indicted "on charges of fraud, embezzlement and bioethics violations in a scandal over faked stem cell research." Five members of his lab were indicted on lesser charges. This is very important. I don't know what the precedent is, but I don't recall a case where a scientist has been legally charged with fraud, at least not in the US - I'm not sure about other countries, as this case is (if someone can come up with one, please let me know). But this case was huge. The claims made in the article were huge, thus being proved fraudulent was enormous.
The thing that disturbed me initially when the fraud was exposed was how Dr. Hwang tried to blame his researchers. How he said that he did not realize they had made up the data. Which may be true. I have known many PI's who have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on in the lab - they are too busy grant writing, or on travel, etc. But the work that comes from a lab is the work of the PI. The PI, who generally does not touch an experiment, is the one who gets the acclaim, elevating the status of the lab in general. So the lack of responsibility taken really bothered me.
The other thing that bothered me was how this example called into question, once again, the peer review process in scientific publishing. Scientists are self-criticized, self-edited. But there in an inherent trust that the data being presented is truthful. The data is scrutinized, but rarely, if ever, are lab notebooks of the raw data requested and cracked open to check if what is reported was what was actually observed. When scrutiny is increased, the dissemination of scientific information is slowed. When it is lax, false information is published to the detriment of the rest of the scientific community. When seemingly large breakthroughs occur, however, it's easy to get overexcited and miss what can sometimes be obvious.
Scientists reputations are based on their integrety. When something is proven fraudulent, careers can be ruined, not only for the PI but also for the people in the lab, past and present. Having been a lab for the majority of the last decade, reports like this are still very close to my heart.
The thing that disturbed me initially when the fraud was exposed was how Dr. Hwang tried to blame his researchers. How he said that he did not realize they had made up the data. Which may be true. I have known many PI's who have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on in the lab - they are too busy grant writing, or on travel, etc. But the work that comes from a lab is the work of the PI. The PI, who generally does not touch an experiment, is the one who gets the acclaim, elevating the status of the lab in general. So the lack of responsibility taken really bothered me.
The other thing that bothered me was how this example called into question, once again, the peer review process in scientific publishing. Scientists are self-criticized, self-edited. But there in an inherent trust that the data being presented is truthful. The data is scrutinized, but rarely, if ever, are lab notebooks of the raw data requested and cracked open to check if what is reported was what was actually observed. When scrutiny is increased, the dissemination of scientific information is slowed. When it is lax, false information is published to the detriment of the rest of the scientific community. When seemingly large breakthroughs occur, however, it's easy to get overexcited and miss what can sometimes be obvious.
Scientists reputations are based on their integrety. When something is proven fraudulent, careers can be ruined, not only for the PI but also for the people in the lab, past and present. Having been a lab for the majority of the last decade, reports like this are still very close to my heart.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Time crunch
My job is one primarily based on deadlines. We get documents in, they are date stamped, and depending on the kind of document, they will fall into a specific timeline for completion. For the past couple of months, I have been loaded. Everyone here has. And my timelines have all seemed to converge on these past 2 weeks, many on May 1. And it hasn't ended yet.
Meeting deadlines is of utmost importance around here. We miss one, and it automatically means a company can start working on something by default. It's written into the rules. The onus is on us to get shit done.
What gets me is when we don't have cooperation from the companies. It's Corporate America. It's all about the bottom line for them. Get it, get it fast, get it cheap, cut as many corners as you can. But I need to be the skeptic. I was hired to be the skeptic. And I don't give a shit about the bottom line. It's not my job to pander to the companies. It's not my job to make it easy on them.
But it is part of my job to not be "burdensome." That's the buzzword. And that's what gets thrown back at us all the time. What we're asking for is "overly burdensome," or some shit like that. It means that the information I am asking for is not pertinent to whether we should say yes or no; that it's not necessary to give for some reason. Most of the time the reason is the bottom line. And, to me, that's not a good reason. Why should we not spend the money necessary to prove that things are safe for the public? Answer: Because it cuts into the profits.
My job is to keep people safe. I have to keep reminding myself of that when Corporate America tries to tell me that I'm just being picky. I have to remind myself of that as I'm trying my damndest to finish things on time, so I don't miss anything that could cause problems later.
Meeting deadlines is of utmost importance around here. We miss one, and it automatically means a company can start working on something by default. It's written into the rules. The onus is on us to get shit done.
What gets me is when we don't have cooperation from the companies. It's Corporate America. It's all about the bottom line for them. Get it, get it fast, get it cheap, cut as many corners as you can. But I need to be the skeptic. I was hired to be the skeptic. And I don't give a shit about the bottom line. It's not my job to pander to the companies. It's not my job to make it easy on them.
But it is part of my job to not be "burdensome." That's the buzzword. And that's what gets thrown back at us all the time. What we're asking for is "overly burdensome," or some shit like that. It means that the information I am asking for is not pertinent to whether we should say yes or no; that it's not necessary to give for some reason. Most of the time the reason is the bottom line. And, to me, that's not a good reason. Why should we not spend the money necessary to prove that things are safe for the public? Answer: Because it cuts into the profits.
My job is to keep people safe. I have to keep reminding myself of that when Corporate America tries to tell me that I'm just being picky. I have to remind myself of that as I'm trying my damndest to finish things on time, so I don't miss anything that could cause problems later.
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