Monday, December 15, 2008

More Grad School Demotivators

Apparently I was the only one to submit demotivators to the contest. ha. Well, at least appropriate ones, as two submitted were apparently NSFW in one manner or another. No big deal, except the three previously noted were displayed during a grad student meeting. Thankfully, they didn't say who submitted each. The graduation one got a few chuckles, there was silence during the collaboration one (expected, though someone commented that people were busy reading it...doubtful) and there were plenty of laughs during the accuracy one, which was agreed to be "good."

In the week following that meeting, a few others have been thought up, in collaboration with others. First, several of us were discussing the collaboration one. I noted that I wanted to point to competing with the guy in the back of the image. We came up with this improved tagline:


While looking at pictures I had selected as potential demotivators, another student came up with the tagline for this one. I can only claim taking the picture, which we liked as it can be suggested that grad students are like rats, trapped with ideas (lit bulb) being sucked out of our brains by the administration (connections to head). Kinda funny:


Recently there was a hiliarious SNL music video. Using our juvenile humor, another student and I batted around potential demotivator taglines after he did a screen grab from the video. This demotivator is funny only if you've seen the clip....which made it too-NSFW for the competition. Oh well...we had fun making it.


Finally, when noting someone using wordle on their thesis (can't recall location), I got the idea that it would be appropriate for something like a qualifier exam. With all kinds of things flying through your head during a test, the different sizes and angles of a wordle creation were appealing. So, I grabbed text from my department's website about the qualifying exam and popped it into wordle.net. The first output is a simple one with just the text. I like the second one better, adding in the equations and drawings in the background with a little photoshopping. In the lower right hand corner is an image I found of a spanish inquisition torture...appropriate in a tongue-in-cheek way.



So, now I've got a bunch of submissions. ha...made for an interesting side thing to try and work on creativity with words.

Continuing the busy times

The past few weeks have continued the busy streak. Due to the timing, remaining work needed on my end, and higher priorities of my advisor (a major factor, from my point of view), we decided to not submit a F32 at the start of December. That lifted a huge load off my shoulders, after the writing I had planned to complete in November. Since then, I've been busy analyzing recent experiments and working on paper #3.

Paper 3 is progressing well. My advisor has pushed me to focus on the logics of the study, to make sure that it is solidly supported prior to an upcoming committee meeting. I put solid work into it, anticipating a review meeting before I (possibly) spend too much time going down the wrong path. My advisor says he'll review it...then spends the rest of the week locked away working on a grant of his own. ha. At least with the paper "off my desk" I was able to get a lot of data analysis work done. One thing that bugs me is that I've got a small number of successful trials in 2 experiments and a bunch in a 3rd experiment (which we may omit from the paper as it was in a slightly different model - save for next phase). I guess if my next two experiments go well, then there should be sufficient data for the paper/dissertation. It just doesn't feel like a lot. But, the results are MUCH BETTER than previously published results. And, there are two papers from a competitive lab for experiments in a different model which had a similarly "low" number of trials and experiments....though they always tack on the author list a long, long established researcher which seems to allow their papers to get published easier. Here's where a meeting with the advisor would settle any concerns I have...

Now it is on to working on my dissertation introduction. My (suggested) goal is to have it in good shape by the end of December. That's pretty do-able, considering it just needs to be a couple of pages and I have the Intro for a previous student's dissertation that has overlap with mine. I just wish there was more time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I'm only going home for little over a week, but already that time is coming soon. And, when going home, my productivity falls off. I got work done over Thanksgiving...given more days at home during this upcoming break when I'm not traveling/doing something, I plan to be more productive.

After turning my wonderfully reviewed paper #2 back around quickly, it is back in the "in review" status with the journal. That's odd...I thought it was accepted pending minor revision. Perhaps they didn't like the fact that we didn't revise the manuscript for the single comment, but rather we provided a detailed answer and noted that in-progress research would address the question. It was a good point, but there wasn't really a good place in the paper to directly address the comment (without making part of the discussion disjointed), and my paper #3 does address the comment. It'd be nice to have it truly "in press" soon.

At the same time, I've got to keep part of my mind thinking about post-graduation plans. We're still planning to submit a K-award in February for me to stay here. And, even if I don't have a fellowship, I have been told that I'd be supported to stay here for a year or two. The alternate opportunity that I've got also sounds good. When the time comes to really approach the job market, this is an excellent post. Something to come back to in the future...

Monday, November 24, 2008

Busy Times

The last couple of weeks have been like a whirlwind. Sure I've had short breaks from time to time, but for the most part I've been swamped with work or attending commitments. My writing progress has taken a big hit, which I expected. The main cause of this business has been several experiments of mine, which really eat up time. The last two weeks, plus a third today, I've had experiments - each of which chews up a day-plus not counting time to prepare then one to two days afterwards to summarize, analyze and do "post-op" work. The positive note is that the experiments have been very successful so far! If today's experiment follows the same pattern, my advisor hinted yesterday (yes, we were both in on a Sunday) that I may have enough data to start writing up for paper #3! And, paper #3 is the last leg of my PhD dissertation, which has to be finished by the start of March for me to graduate in May. So, no pressure on today, of course. ha.


Another highlight is that the submission of my 2nd paper/manuscript to a new journal, after our first choice made a bad decision, was ACCEPTED with minor revisions. The reviews were VERY brief and positive. There was a single minor comment/question from the two reviewers and editor, which were outnumbered by comments like "well designed study," "Congrats, nice work," and "very novel work." Wow! That made my Monday last week. Unfortunately it took until Sunday to get to the paper, to make a few minor changes. It is funny how the reviewer process can be so different from journal to journal. Granted, this manuscript did get reviewed at another journal but we only addressed a couple of their comments and the new journal didn't know about the previous submission (no need). My first paper had somewhat similar issues as noted elsewhere, where in the second round of comments, the harshest reviewer asked for extra work that should have been raised in the first round. Sometimes it seems like such a crapshoot - get good reviewers (and/or brief ones) and the world is a happy place...get random comments from left field and the stress levels get ratcheted up a notch. Life in academia...

Also, something I'd like to keep in mind if/when I have my own lab to direct: making sure to integrate discussions about proper research conduct into regular meetings. We've talked about topics like this occasionally, but usually they get pushed aside by the daily/weekly items of note and the fact that most in our lab aren't planning to stay in academia and "don't care" as much - their loss. We aren't a poor-conduct lab by any means, but I like the method discussed in the link.

Time to finish preparations for today's experiment. Hopefully things go smoothly and I don't finish too long after midnight...I've got plenty to do tomorrow before leaving for Thanksgiving on Wednesday.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

College Hoops have finally returned


Although I haven't been able to watch any yet (mainly because I'm not blessed with ESPNU but also because I haven't had the time), it is great to finally be back in the college basketball season.

This will be a frustrating year for my primary alma mater (Illinois) who are still lacking talent and lost several key players from last year's "most losses ever" squad. After barely slipping by a DivIII school in the last exhibition game, warm fuzzies are not being felt by the fan base. Still, like for every program, there's a sense of hope like at the start of a baseball season. Anything can happen in a given season, if players come together and injuries are minimized. (And, having a bunch of top recruits sign paper today is a mental bonus). Plus, the supposedly easy pre-season schedule of many teams lends itself to some victories and a chance to build confidence. I'm looking forward to watching as many games as possible.

I've read a lot about what players and teams are predicted by others to be the best. Not much to add there as people are pretty consistent. Here are some players and teams that I'm interested in watching this season:

Teams:
-Illinois (duh, although they will give me high blood pressure and cause more hair to fall out)
-UCONN - with Thabeet & Adrien inside and Price outside, they should be fun to watch on both ends of the court...especiall with the smack talk Thabeet is doing.
-Oklahoma - Blake Griffin is a freak of nature - can't predict what he'll do, and the outside work of Willie Warren will make this team exciting.
-Michigan State - I always enjoy Tom Izzo teams. I expect this team to outlast Purdue in the Big10 and make some noise nationally.
-Indiana - every loss will bring me joy

Players:
-Demitri McCamey - Illinois PG. If he is consistent (rarely last year), he could put up big numbers. 30 points in a game last year...but less than 10 the following game
-Alex Legion - Illinois SG. He is eligible late December after transferring from Kentucky. If he plays up to the hype (top recruit out of HS), the Illini have a chance at the Big Dance. If not (limited PT at KU which led to departure), it will be a disappointment.

-Stephon Curry - Davidson PG/SG. Um, who doesn't want to watch this guy?
-Eric Maynor - VCU G. I went to the Bradley-VCU game last year and Maynor was clearly the best player on the floor. He's a fun floor general to watch, even more so after his game-winner a few years back against Duke.
-James Harden - ASU G/F. In ASU's first game last year against Illinois, his team was lost, but you could really see Harden's potential. He's getting a lot of ink, and should have a great season.

Unballsy predictions:
-Illinois will finish in the bottom half of the Big 10 (I really really really hope I am wrong)
-UNC will get to the final four, but won't win it all
-MSU will win the Big 10
-Blake Griffin won't win the national player of the year that some are predicting

BRING ON THE GAMES!!!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

A day of experimenting and interesting reads

Today and yesterday were crazy experiment days. In my lab, we tend to have experiments 3-4 times a month (when we're at speed) which each last from 20 to 50 hours. One student doesn't stay the entire time, for ones longer than a day, but the three main grad students in the lab trade off who is testing or monitoring. So, this week an experiment started yesterday in which another student was primary experimenter. I came in early to do some of the "prep work." Then he "tested" and "changed settings" from ~10 am yesterday until ~5 am today. I came back in at 4am and followed him with testing until we ended the experiment after 11 this morning. It is a fairly efficient model, which allows multiple students to get data - for me this was mainly a dry run for a specific future experiment. I learned a thing or two, which was sufficient. The problem is that the sleep schedule is really messed up. Getting up 3 hours early put me in a funk this afternoon, so I came home to nap...to recover a bit before an intramural volleyball game this evening. I hate napping as I always wake up groggy. It looks like it takes me 30-45 minutes to really wake up, as I feel fairly decent now. Putting in my contacts should seal the deal.

In the meantime, there were several very interesting blog posts today. A post on Poverty and the Brain at the Frontal Cortex was enlightening. The ties between mental stimulation of a child and their intellectual prowess aren't surprising, I guess. The need to constantly provide input to a kid is something I want to remember (and focus on) when I've got kids of my own.
I like watching TED videos when they are posted to the TEDBlog. A new one today talked about using "play" for creative thinking. As I think that I am personally not an innovative person (partially the grad-school self-doubt syndrome, I know), some of the things to keep in mind struck me. I know that I have a sense of self-editing when I think. Like Tim Brown suggests - I need to limit doing that and spend more time just writing down random ideas. A colleague in my lab (semi-"wise old man") talks about coming up with at least one idea a week, only a few of which pan out. I think he is a good innovator and probably follows this principle.
And, finally, Professor in Training talked about preliminary data requirements for new investigators. The points discussed struck home things my advisor has said about the need for preliminary data being CRITICAL. I also find it odd that filing for grant applications apparently wants you to have performed the studies you want money for, to show that they are feasible. Then, if/when you get funded you are expected to finish the study so that it is publishable. It is a strange vicious cycle where you have to have data before getting $$, but getting data requires $$...most likely from already obtained grants on previous or other research. I wonder what the expectations are for R21 grants, which are for exploratory studies that "may not" have preliminary data. While I'm finishing up my PhD studies, I'm going to try and take every opportunity to try a few things in other people's experiments, to add to my repertoire of "preliminary data" while keeping in mind the above points about innovation/critical thinking.
Interesting....and thought provoking...time for volleyball...

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Change?

And so, a new era begins. Can one man truly bring about CHANGE? I'm skeptical, especially with his history of staying on one side of the aisle and minimal experience. But, there certainly are legions of highly excited people (especially in academia - many of my colleagues). On the Republican side, there certainly wasn't the kind of excitement that Obama generated. Is it anything more than disillusionment with the current group? A little bit, I know. How much can one person really affect anyways? In the big picture, I don't think it is much, especially with congress also appearing to go democratic. I wonder, though, that with this CHANGE, will there be a greater confidence by many which will provide fuel to the economy? So, a collective pulling out of the recession by a increase in confidence rather than any policy changes? We'll see.....

Sunday, November 2, 2008

November Writing Goals

Well, to put it in writing, here are my research goals for the month:

-Finish writing a F32 post-doc grant and have it go through at least one pass with my advisor. If it gets done, it has to be submitted by December 8th (otherwise wait 4 months). I've already got a lot of writing done on this - all the relevant sections are at least started, and the Specific Aims are pretty solid. But, this is a lower priority than dissertation research, and getting feedback from my advisor (still waiting on Aims and training portion for weeks) isn't easy.

-Bulk out the outline of two dissertation appendix items. These were small studies that weren't investigated enough for a paper, but I'll have to stick in the appendix so they can be referenced in the future.

-Start outline for dissertation 3rd aim work. After spending 2007 getting together the hardware and preparing for the studies, then having an experiment in early 2008, it is pretty certain that my original plans for Aim 3 aren't going to happen. 10+ months of waiting on others to have more experiments. What a joke. Granted, there have been several staffing changes and clinical work always has challenges, but the inefficiency of team members and the lack of updates from the advisor on this has been maddening. So, I can't wait any longer if I can still hope to finish by May so I'm looking into a replacement aim. I'm not overly confident of being able to finish it in time, though. We'll see...plenty of experiments to come yet this year...

-(low priority) Write outline and first draft of paper for professional society magazine. This magazine is for BS grads of the last 10 years, and it had an open call for articles on career development and other categories. I figure it'd be semi-easy to write about my BS-MS-industry-academia path - with thoughts and things to consider. It is low priority, but would be a good way to bulk my CV without having to wait for advisor feedback, and to get my name out there a little more. I'm hoping I can get motivated on this...we'll see. It has to be submitted by 12/1. I've gotta get feedback from someone on a draft by Thanksgiving if I'm going to make it.

Will the Bulls be good?


Well, after 3 games, it looks like my prediction of a 0.500 season may be pretty accurate. They beat two mediocre teams (Memphis and Milwaukee) and were blown out by an excellent team (Boston). It feels like a season of winning most games they should but not many against playoff teams...

Granted, the Boston loss was on the road against one of the top teams in the league. But, for the parts that I watched, the Bulls clearly looked outclassed. Tyrus Thomas is on a horrible shooting spree. Against the Celtics he kept forcing shot after shot, ending up 2 for 17 from the field. Wow. For a forward with many of those coming around the basket, that is one frustrating night. It was pretty obvious from watching, too, as he was really forcing things. But, he kept hustling, which I liked. He's young and will have nights like those (which semi-continued yesterday against the Grizzlies with an 0-5 shooting night offset by 5 blocked shots).

The stud so far has been Derrick Rose. Wow. He looked quick and in control when I watched against the Celtics. Yesterday's 26 point, 6 rebound dismantling of the Grizzlies was fantastic. Yeah, he's young and will have plenty of off-games this season. But, I like what the future holds. It is interesting to see Hinrich and Gordon continuing to come off the bench, with Sefalosa starting. I wonder how the rotation will shift when Larry Hughes starts playing again. I sure wouldn't mind if he were left off the rotation.

At least the Bulls haven't started off the year terribly. We'll see if they can avoid the November swoon that often hits.....

Holy Cow....


I got gas yesterday.....and paid ONLY $1.99(9) a gallon! Prices have been falling lately, but I was shocked to see a leading "1" for a gas price. Especially in the middle of a big city - though this station is my go-to place for the best price when I'm getting on the interstate(s) to get out of town.

Not terribly long ago, prices at this place and around the area were upwards of $3.80. I've heard that the lower prices now are because of reduced demand. Seriously? Perhaps there are less cars on the road because of the "recession"...and prices may be lower as we're out of the summer driving months. But...50% lower? This just shows, IMO, what a crock those high prices were and how the oil companies had to be making a ton of dough. I've heard (but never really seen numbers to back it up) that gas station store owners don't make much money on gas - it is more on the food and other crap that people buy when they come in to pay for the gas. If that is the case, how can stations afford to have $0.25 swings in gas prices over the course of a week? I can't imagine that they are getting new gas deliveries at a higher frequency with such variances in prices.

I guess I need to bone up more on economics. I understand supply/demand. But, if gas is such a low margin thing for the stations, but large decrease in price is hard to understand (not that I don't like it). I wonder if there have been changes in oil production. I wonder how things will change come January with the new presidency. I wonder if gas will drop to $1.50. And....I wish I had sold my "oil" mutual fund back when prices were high. doh!

Friday, October 31, 2008

JibJab vid

I love those JibJab original videos. Now, they're letting people put faces into them, which can make it a little more funnier. In the spirit of the coming election day, I stuck a head-shot of my Dad (taken while working outside) into a Obama-McCain one...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

This sounds too good to be true...

And the sound of angels singing is heard...


(and, congrats to the Phillies for winning the World Series, bringing the title back to the National League)

Basketball is back!


It was great to see basketball starting up again last night (with real games that count). I'm more of a college hoops fan than NBA, but I'll watch NBA if it is on and I like reading the box scores to see how former college stars did.

Too bad for the Trailblazers...one thing to get pasted by the conference champs. Another to have the franchise center go down (again) with injury. It looks like Oden is out 2 weeks...I'm sure they're taking it easy with him to try and prevent him from turning into another Sam Bowie. They're still looking like a fun team to watch, as Rudy Fernandez was strong off the bench in his NBA debut.

The fighting LeBrons leading the champs in the first half before faltering down the stretch wasn't a big surprise.


It was nice to see the Bulls win their first game, even if it was against the lowly Bucks. Although I'm not a huge NBA fan, the Bulls are the NBA team I root for, as I grew up in Illinois and watched His Airness. I was shocked to see Sefolosa (sp?) started next to Rose instead of Hinrich. Maybe there was a reason I didn't catch, but their backcourt off the bench of Hinrich/Gordon is an excellent one. I'm looking forward to watching Rose mature this year - he was a stud in leading his Chicago high school team to back-to-back state titles. He would have been my pick for the top draft choice over Beasley.

Here's a few season predictions, to "put to paper"....
-The Bulls will be over 0.500 and be one of the last Eastern Conference teams to make the playoffs.
-The Rookies will beat the Sophmores in the All-Star challenge (going way out on a limb there).
-Rudy Fernandez will have a better year than Jarryd Bayless, coming off the bench for Portland.
umm....I'm not so good at making risky statements. ha.
-Philly won't have the resurgence as predicted. They are playoff material, but won't get out of the first round.
-Deron Williams will finally make the All Star game, thanks in part to reduced effectiveness of Steve Nash.
-The Utah Jazz will finish 2nd to the Lakers in the Western Conference.

We'll see how many of those are worse than my prediction that Okafor would be better than Howard. haha.

Here's looking forward to the start of college hoops.....

Information management - for future reference

For my own well-being, I wanted to bookmark a posting at Pondering Blather on information management tools. There are some great tips in here that I want to come back to at some point in the future.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Giving Back

I've always had the thought that once I'm making a good salary that I would give some serious change (> $10k) to my grade and high schools. The focus, of course, would be on enhancing their science and/or technology offerings. Especially at the high school, I'd want to help more kids see the fun aspects of science and engineering and to consider it for college. That time (of having excess $$) is still a ways off, but I think about it occasionally.

Yesterday, I came across a great way to help out teachers, a little bit at a time. I think I've heard of the DonorsChoose website in the past but hadn't done more than maybe look at the site. Looking at it further today, I like how you can find small programs from teachers that target a specific course type and age group. With that in mind, I looked at engineering-type programs in high schools and found to to help out. A project to use engineering design that was suggested elsewhere caught my eye, as did a local project teaching kids about electricity which hits home close to my electrical engineering undergrad degree. I hope that the projects are successful! I'll have to keep an eye on those programs and the website for future opportunities.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Shaq as GM?

I saw this morning that Shaq and Grant Hill are interested in buying the Orlando Magic if they are ever available for sale. That would be beyond awesome. Shaq as GM? The decisions may not be the best, but I'm sure we'd all know what he's thinking. I'm sure he'd work hard to keep Dwight Howard in town. And, Grant Hill as a CEO seems like a perfect fit for the Duke-educated player. I doubt it'd happen, but it is interesting to think about, and I'm sure they'd be more successful than His Airness has been in Washington and Carolina.

Grad School Demotivator #3



This is a better demotivator than the second demotivator. This one (slightly) over emphasizes the pressure put on students by themselves and their advisors - sometimes one screw-up can seemingly add years to a research project.

I think I can come up with a better title for this one also. We'll see...

Picture from the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Used without permission.

Demotivator #1
Demotivator #2

Grad School Demotivator #2



This isn't quite a "demotivator" with that sub-title, but I thought it came together well. Perhaps it is more of an indicator of the more prevalent collaboration that occurs in grad school. I'll have to see if I can think of a better title.

Picture from the Duke University Office of the Provost. Used without permission.

Demotivator #1

Blog commenting...

This is just a personal accounting of comments I've made on other blog posts. If I do more than the current occasional comment, I'll probably lose track of this.

11/6/08 - Review of College Basketball Prospectus (Big Ten Geeks) - left comment 11/25/08

10/29/08 - Five-year trends - Illinois (Big Ten Geeks)

10/15/08 - Let Us Now Praise Our Advisors (FemaleScienceProfessor)

10/10/08 - Bo Ryan and the Amazing No-Foul Defense (Big Ten Geeks)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Good hoops day

I finally got back on track, playing hoops yesterday. In recent weeks, my jumper hasn't been falling, which has a way of affecting the rest of my game as well as my interest in playing. Last night, though, I was on. In the first 3-4 games, I must have shot ~50%, taking a decent number of shots each game. In the last couple of games, I didn't hit much, but that was OK as we were all tired and dragging - and shots felt good when I released them.

Funny how sports are so mental. You get in a good rhythm and things seem easier. Just one hitch or pause in a motion, due to overthinking or not paying attention, and nothing may go right. And, it is a continuous cycle where performing well generates more playing well. For me, I seem to have extended runs of shooting the ball well followed by periods of hitting few shots. It is funny when I transition into not shooting well, as I usually still feel good from past days of making shots....when some don't fall as they usually do, I force things and it goes downhill. Finally, I get to a night, like last night, where I took pressure off myself and was playing with some good guys where we knew each other's games. They found me when I was open, and I did my part by knocking down shots. In one game, we knocked off a STACKED team that had us outsized and outmanned at each position - but we played smart, took the open jumpers...and hitting 2's really helped.

Hopefully (I'm planning on it), the next time I play, my confidence remains high and the shots keep falling...

Time to get back to working on this grant application...

Friday, October 17, 2008

Pick-up Elitist

I guess I'm a pick-up ball elitist. (my own words)

I'm a solid player, depending on the competition. I've certainly lost something over the years. But, as a guy who played organized ball, watched a ton of games and done some coaching, I have a decent idea of how to play the game. I know that I play best when I'm in a group of guys who know what they are doing - move and cut, set screens, play help defense, pass the ball around - as opposed to with players who are clueless, just running around disorganized, or streetball types who like one-on-one play with matador defense.

It is hard to get into a game and be fully competitive when you've got guys bumping into each other, hogging the ball, or not setting any screens AT ALL, etc. Plus, in the back of my mind, I don't want to get hurt in some meaningless pick-up game. After my second knee surgery, it is rare that I drive to the basket or do a lot of jumping for rebounds under the basket.

So, when I see that a game or upcoming games are going to have some crap players, I'm less interested in playing. I guess I still get a good workout. But, my effectiveness and enjoyment falls off, and that is frustrating. Yeah, there is some selfishness here. I'm always happier when I've played well...and if I don't get many shots or they're crap then that's less fun too. Suppose that's the same for anyone...it is just often frustrating being too aware of the players and how a game will go (my engineer mind showing itself)

I wish I had a regular group to play with, who "knew" what they were doing. No games where most players are 6"+ shorter or guys playing in pants or there need to be 3 balls for all the hogs. I guess beggars can't be choosers when I'm at the gym at the Division III school that I'm at. There are certainly stars, but also often too many undergrads (when we need players) who are better off in front of a computer. We've got regulars, but there's always the other types - sometimes too many like today.

Just another reason why I've gotten more attached to running - I can compete with myself without relying on anyone else.

/end of rant

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Grad School Demotivator #1


Grad School Demotivator #1
Originally uploaded by phdballer

My department grad student association (or at least the editors of the semi-regular student paper) are having a mini competition in which students are to submit demotivational posters related to grad school. Figured I'd see if I can think of any good ones. I'll stick them here if/when I do. This is the first one, which has got to hit home for some of the longer-tenured grad students.



Picture from Juneau Bloggers article about Alaska Fairbanks graduation. Used without permission. The 'happy' student happens to be a neuroscience visualization masters recipient - not too far from my area of study (apparently), so this is appropriate.

Rejection


Not too long ago I wrote about resubmitting a manuscript. That was the second submission of that document, after a different journal had rejected it.

It took the initial journal 8 weeks to find two reviewers and get back to me with the letter above. Problem is, none of the reviewer comments are the type that scream out "poor science" or not-worthy-of-publication. It was fairly clear, though, that the clinician reviewers didn't have a full understanding of the material. So, apparently, the manuscript was rejected due to lack of fit and/or space, as the specifics aren't spelled out. Similar material has appeared in this clinical-focused journal - they must have been unable to use our recommended reviewers who would have understood the relevance. For my first publication, I received plenty of reviewer comments that were far more critical than what this journal gave me...and there was no doubt they were going to use my paper.

That's life. I don't regret submitting to this journal - it has the best citation record in the field. It just sucks that 8 weeks of the paper's life were wasted. I've no doubt that the second choice journal will publish the paper - as it is a regular for similar material from our lab and our peers. Well, at least I've been able to give talks at two conferences on this material.

Guess I've been inducted into the world of academic rejection.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Semi-work

Is it a bad thing when I spend as much time surfing the web and looking at background templates for this site as I do doing productive work? Ahh...such is grad school. I'm in one of those semi-lulls, with cycles of motivation. If only I had experiments to do (and results to analyze), but it is out of my hands. Slowly working on a micro-managed grant application (not due till 2/09) is hard to constantly stay on top of.

At least I got to hit the gym for an hour. Spent part of the time playing fight/21 with some first-year law students. As they said, they weren't very good. I got a good workout, but did just enough to let one of them win - putting up the most total points, but getting tipped several times. Always funny when someone asks if I play on the school team (Div III) and I laugh and say no, not close. How they look compared to me is about how I look compared to the team players. Perhaps if I was 10 years younger and hadn't had knee surgery twice over...and then I'd still need work. Good workout, though, along with that morale booster.

Looking forward to having more pressing work...

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Kicked to the curb...


da boot
Originally uploaded by phdballer

Yet another Cubs season has come to an end....and all I feel like I've gotten out of it is a worthless, discarded boot....and maybe a kick in the butt.

I have been a Cubs fan since 1984 - at least that is the earliest that I can remember. This year was among the most painful of all the early finishes. Such an apparently talented team. It sure seemed like they could go far. The regular season ended up just being one big tease. Not only did they not get out of the first round, they were swept and played extremely poorly in doing so. They played like an 80-win team that squeaked in as the wild card, instead of a 97-win team with the league's best record and offense. What a joke. It is hard to want to watch any of the remaining playoffs. It'll be a long winter, Cubs-wise. And, it'll be hard to put as much faith in this team come next summer.

Good thing there is a ton of exciting basketball (hopefully) to come this winter....
(the Trailblazers sure looked fun last night, in pre-season NBA)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Hooping with Dad

On the way back to campus-town I spent Sunday night with the parents. A highlight was playing basketball with my Dad. He 'runs' an open gym that has been going on since the 80s. I've played in it off and on since junior high in 1991. It is in the small gym that I played grade school ball in. Over the years, the talent has really fallen off, from a mixed group of 20-40 somethings to a few decent players and a bunch of young 20-somethings who aren't all that they think they are. The court size is good for any older guys...less room to run. And, two standards of play there have been using zone defense in all games and 'call it if you do it'.

The zone is a good idea, to limit younger players from running older guys like crazy. But, of course, most players these days don't know how to play zone. 2-3 is the standard and is simple enough. But, when the middle player wants to roam up to a 1-2-2 and back...it creates chaos. Funny how some players don't realize how their actions can have an effect on other parts of the game....roving out top kills the rebounding underneath if a guard gets in the middle - also leads to an easy 3 on 2. It seems like playing a zone in pick-up is the best way to tell which players played organized ball at all. Most who didn't play organized ball don't get the concept of staying in a region, providing help side in the right way, and talking. Rebounding is always a joke...in zone players just think to turn around instead of boxing out the nearest opponent. Oh well...just pick up.

And the 'call it if you do it' is a funny code of honor. Sure, it prevents people complaining that they didn't commit a foul. The problem is that people have different ideas of whether their contact is a foul or not. And, then you get people complaining sometimes that they feel they were fouled. Can't really win either way. My problem is that everywhere else I play is call it if it happens to you. So, it is also hard to remember to call it if I commit it.....and these guys seem to have a lower threshold for fouls. Makes for an interesting time. Certainly much different pace than the quick run-n-gun and man-to-man I'm used to when playing on campus with the undergrads, law and med school students and several DII/DIII ballers.

The highlight though...playing with my Dad, even if we were on different teams. Impressive that a 60 year old can get up and down the court with players half his age. He isn't that quick, of course, and never could jump. But he can shoot 10-17 foot "jumpers" with the best of them. Being a crafty lefty helps also. I sure hope I can get up and down the court like him when I'm his age. Who knows how long he'll be playing, so I always try to join him on the court.

Not playing in 1.5 weeks played its toll....as did eating out several days in a row at the conference. Gaining several pounds sucks. Looking forward to getting back on the court, and doing some running again, now that I'm back in the regular rotation.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Conference Day 2

Day 2 of the conference was a long one. Even though I was giving my second conference talk, I still spent most of the time thinking over my slides. The talk went well, though 2 slides in, my right leg started to shake. It wasn't noticable, but was in the back of my mind as I spent most of the remainder of the talk standing on one leg so that I wouldn't feel like I was shaking. ha. It is always amazing how it is a 'relief' after the talk is over. Certainly a build up of adrenaline.

After my talk I spoke with a prof at another institution. My advisor sure must have sold me well, as the conversation was pretty much him selling his work and institution. It seemed like he did everything but flat out offer me a post-doc job. How sweet was that. I've got a standing offer to come visit some time in the next 6 months, to give a talk and look around. As that institution is just a several hour drive from mine, he even mentioned the possibility of me being shared between the two, half the week in each...My advisor must have indicated fairly strongly that he'd like to keep me around for a bit also. I need to have a real conversation with him on that...there are the occasional hints, but I'd like to hear specifics!

My session had several of those presentation gaffs. One person must have saved his talk with built-in timings. Shortly into the talk, it started moving forward when he didn't want it to. After several minutes of messing around, he finally just ran the presentation from the editing window. Another person arrived later into the session, so it took a bit to load his talk. Adding to his initial lateness, he wasn't timely and had to get the near-hook from the moderator. Why can't people plan better??? I guess it shouldn't be too unexpected, being around a bunch of engineers, that some have a lack of awareness/planning.

Today will be more touristy stuff, with brief times spent at the conference at the start and end. After the talk/"networking" yesterday, I feel that I've done my part here and don't feel bad about not being involved as much.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Live from the conference - day 1

Conferences are mentally draining, and I've only been here a few hours. Why is it that people dive right into their talks w/ minimal introduction? Sure, the audience may be generally aware of your field, but most don't know the exact basis for your work.....stuff like that tends to lose me quick if I can't place the relevance of what someone is talking about. Makes me feel better about my talk tomorrow, as I think I give a reasonable intro.

I talked briefly to researchers at another institution that are our competitors. Their PI trained mine before going there. Now, we are basically doing the same work but not collaborating while leap-frogging each other. Doesn't really make sense why it is like this...in our lab we reman secretive on some things so that we don't get scooped. Politics of academia are annoying, at times. Oh well. There's definitely more on that topic.

Time to roam posters....

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Off to another conference; Ball with Dad

I'm heading off to my 3rd conference of the calendar year. Like at an August conference in Vancouver (loved the city), I'm giving a talk.....pretty much doing the same one since the audience will be completely the same. But, a research "competitor" will be giving a similar talk, probably giving the same conclusions (based on his paper) in a talk the previous day.....hope I don't get questions asking about differences between our studies (story there). Thoughts on the conference as it goes on...

First, though, is a drive through the BS alma mater and a night staying at my parents place. Leaving the conference, I'll stay at home again. And, play basketball with my Dad. How many 60 year old guys play ball once a week? With people 40 years their junior?? That is amazing....I sure hope I am able to do that at his age. It is an interesting group, that has changed over the years. It is affiliated with their church. Used to have a lot of good 20-30 somethings, but talent has left area and been replaced by mainly 20somethings that aren't as good. It is probably the only "open gym" that you'll find in which people play zone on both ends (allows the few older ones to keep up). Also, it is a "call your own fouls - if you commit it, not if others fouled you/violations" place. Even though I've played in it intermittently since '91 (early 8th grade), I have problems with the calling as I've been wired to do it differently. Either way, I'm looking forward to hooping with my Dad, who shoots (seriously) about 80% from 10-15 feet. Should be fun.....

Monday, September 29, 2008

Successful manuscript submission!

Sweet....looks like I had to have all files together under 40MB instead of each individually. Ha - guess that was too good to believe. Nice to have that paper back off my desk.

And with this post I found out how easy it is to post, by sending an email from my smartphone.

crash time....

Entering the blogosphere...

Well, I figured I'd create one of these. I don't anticipate promoting this to anyone....just plan it as a place to put random thoughts, interesting finds, and general complaints. This will be for all the times I'd like to do a brain dump and there isn't someone that I care to talk to.

Briefly, about me:
I'm currently working on getting my PhD in an engineering field, having quit a decent job a few years back to go to school. I'm planning on staying in academia after finishing up next May (BETTER, DAMMIT!) then following the usual process of post-doc(s) before trying to get a tenure-track faculty position. So, I've got plenty of comments and complaints as I go through this process.

Outside of "work" (ha...so often it isn't that), I enjoy sports, movies, and the outdoors. I love (though sometimes dislike) playing basketball. I'll go through cycles of playing a lot interspersed with infrequent hooping due to being tired of regulars I play with or achy joints or other things going on (usually a combination of all 3). I'm a big college basketball fan and also pay attention to the NBA. Aside from basketball, I am a baseball fan (fanhood eclipsed by hoops in '94, most likely, due to MLB strike and me taking a year off from baseball during high school), and follow it fairly closely. Sports are a good outlet for exercise and to escape. I've gotten more into running this summer, mainly thanks to my girlfriend. In the last few weeks, as I've run 3 miles several times a week, I seem to have crossed the "this is nearly painful" threshold into "gosh, I kinda enjoy this". Now, I look forward to running, especially when I'm annoyed with playing basketball. Strange, in retrospect. I've even run 2 5k's this summer! (first distance runs/races in 10+ years, since early high school).

Looking at this entry window, that reminds me of a problem...or just another 'quality' of mine: I tend to be thorough when describing something. It tends to pay off on the 'job' but can lend to being wordy on things like this. So, I'll stop with this initial post now and maybe return to this later.

Tonight: (re)Submitting my 2nd journal submission.....I thought it was all set on the journal's website, but I got a warning message saying my file size(s) were too big. Hope the unclear instructions don't mean that all files summed have to be less than 40 MB....I kept individual files < 40 MB, but the total has to be well over 100 MB.......
gah!