Catching up

I've been terrible at putting thoughts on here (obviously). It has been several weeks now since I completed all requirements for my PhD, and it still feels good. The graduation ceremony next month will be enjoyable. But, now I'm in a crunch time working on a post-doc grant. It isn't due until 6/15 but local approval is needed prior to submission. One of the two local deadlines is on Monday. The grant is in decent shape, without any review from my advisor...which could go down a long path if he micromanages. And, setting up mentors is only piecemeal at this point due to the early review. But, getting this in now will provide enough time to make any changes prior to the real deadline later.

Meanwhile, I want to archive a few interesting posts that I've come across recently:

-I gave another talk yesterday, which went well. I'm getting a lot more comfortable speaking. Of course, it helps that I was 95% repeating my defense which I know like the back of my hand. In the Q&A two senior profs asked questions and provided critical feedback on the future work I proposed - in retrospect I may have talked in circles a little while defending my plans. Not terribly, but thinking about pausing a little longer before answering would be a good thing. Either way, their feedback was good. Here's more good thoughts on preparing for a talk. I'll have to keep them in mind when I give an invited talk next week at a potential future post-doc location.

-This is just a funny vid on efficiently folding a shirt. Maybe I'll take the idea sometime to make my drawers more efficient.

I got through several parts within this series on ethical discussions of animal use in research. It looked to be very thorough and well-worth the time. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. It looks like there may be more parts posted...

This article has some good thoughts on giving lectures.