Wake me up when September ends....shoot.

I could have been productive this weekend, and yet, I wasn't. Procrastination may be the death of me if it continues at this level for much longer.

Today is the last day of September. Thinking back to my MSc which started in September of 2010, the first month was also kind of a write-off. And it seems like that for a lot of people. It takes a long time to get into the swing of things, for everything to start up and run smoothly. So I figured, I would take today to make some goals for October. Maybe if I set goals and make them public... at least to my two main readers (grandparents and Colleen, haha) I will remain accountable. We'll see.

Goals for October:

1) Choose an examination committee. Any graduate student in the department has a team of professors who help them throughout their degree and are ultimately their examiners in the end. I have some ideas floating around in my head but need to make a concrete decision, and soon! My first committee meeting is probably going to be early December and my comprehensive exam in February...cue panic.

2) Finish my field work. I am hoping, before the end of the month to be done with it! Especially since it may actually snow this winter. I will miss going out there, but by the end of the month the leaves will be off of the trees and the fall beauty lost. November is never a nice month to be out in the field.

3) Get to KHS once a week. I went through about a ten day period without going to the Humane Society, and I felt really bad about it. I LOVE going there. I went yesterday with my friend Kari and had a great time. We walked a cute hound dog named Karla and played ball with her in the play pen. Then cuddled some very cute cats in the cat rooms. It was so much fun, I need to make sure I get out there at least once a week.  It will be tough with my schedule but I will do my best! What goes along with this is spending more time with my little sister! Like I said in previous posts, we have both been super busy but I hope a movie or something is in the future soon :)

4) Get one of my papers I am writing ready to go. I want to say the competitive ability one, but that is a stretch for sure. Just any one of them...needs to be done.

I am sure there are many other goals that I could and should make, but I think what I have is over-ambitious as it is.

Happy October!

Some photos from this weekend:

Karla

Jazzy

Mostly Meanie.

I was borrrrrred my nearly 3 recovery days in bed, so I took many pictures of Meanie, who spent most of the 3 days in bed with me...or causing trouble somewhere within ear shot.

Before I got my wisdom teeth out, trying to organize my room. You can see the cat made himself cozy amongst the mess. This was the first time I tried the panorama feature after upgrading my IPhone to iOS 6.0. It is pretty cool. Some of the things (the radiator and the side table are a little warped), I need more practice using the app. 

Probably getting yelled at for doing something wrong. 

He put his mouse in his water bowl. That always startles me when I first see it. 

Attacking my hands under the covers

I leave the bed for 2 minutes, and he takes over. 

Cute little guy, 

You don't own me

I can also remember ever since my second year of my BScH, Professors have warned us to not let science take over our lives. I always thought, what nerd would let that happen--its a lot easier than you think it is. I let science, and work in general, take over my life for years and years. For 2.5/4 years of my Undergrad I worked almost EVERY single Saturday, Sunday and holiday. That was brutal. I think in those 2.5 years I had maybe 2 weekend days off, and that was it. It really sucked. It really is important to have interests outside of work. Things that you like to do that have NOTHING to do with your work/research. For the first time in a long time, I have those things.

I LOVE spending time at the Kingston Humane Society, and volunteering at their events. I definitely feel bad, as I haven't been there in over 10 days and will for sure make it there sometime this weekend. I also LOVE spending time with my little sister, through Big Brother's Big Sisters. I start back to my normal shifts with CAP next week so I am excited for that. Due to extenuating circumstances, I haven't seen her in a month, and that is super disappointing as well. I also like going to little festivals in the area, going fishing, and going for walks at the local conservation areas. Even just devoting time to the gym, tv shows, crossword puzzles, reading novels, etc. all helps take your mind off your work.

Everyone also always stresses the importance of having a good group of friends outside of your lab/department when you are a grad student. It decreases the chances of having "lab drama" and you don't end up in this miserable sap-fest about your projects all of the time. This couldn't be more true. I was guilty of this at the beginning on my MSc for sure. Especially because I really had no good friends in the Department outside of my lab, which was just one other person (one more than now!). When I think of it now though, I have a small number of close friends outside of the Department, who I love and are all doing very different things from me. In fact, ask any one of them what I study...they won't know really.. and that's the way I LIKE it. I have friend's in other MSc programs including Pharmacology and OT, I have a friend teaching math in China, I have a friend in HR at SLC, I have a friend working at a coffeehouse in Niagara Falls, and one who is a graphic designer at the school of Business. I think it's a pretty good mix and I am happy with it, especially now that I have more friends from all over the department...the sad, dwindling department.

I guess the point I am making is, I know see the importance of being involved outside of your department, having a good mix of friends, and not letting your project own you.

That's all I got for now.

Can you get a job?

So, in my boring, post-wisdom teeth extraction recovery life, I came across this article a friend posted on facebook, entitled: "In Canada, you can get a PhD but maybe not a job". I have more than a few bones to pick with the author of this article... more like a skeleton full of bones to pick.

The author starts by talking about how increasingly knowledge-driven our world is becoming. And without a doubt, he is right. With so many complex economic, environmental and social problems affecting first and third world countries a like, it's no surprise we are pushing young people to get educated. Go get a higher education, not only to help the world's current population...but to ensure there is a world to live in in the future.

He then mentions that the employment rate and pay rate of people with higher education in the US is a lot better than that in Canada. He cites a CDHowe report (based on 2001 census data) which states that a PhD in Canada makes 8% for than an MSc, and in the US they earn 43% more. In Canada the PhD unemployment rate is also 50% higher than that for people with an MSc. Maybe I am guilty of not fully understanding these studies, one of which is a government labour report for graduates from over 7 years ago (with looootssss of fine print)... but is this unemployment rate based on actual unemployment.. like doing nothing at all... or unemployment at a University. If the latter is the case I find this surprising given that you for the most part, at least in Canada, need a PhD, and a post-doc to get a full time teaching position. If they are referring to actual unemployment, then again, I find it surprising, as a PhD would be just as qualified for a position as a person holding an MSc was.

One of my FAVOURITE lines from this article: "Also, a government report shows that a good number of PhDs are driving taxies in Canada". So are these people with PhD's in Science.. or social sciences/the arts...are these people educated IN Canada? Well, click on the source for this statement and it's a globe and mail article about foreign PhD's unable to find employment in Canada. I do think it's upsetting to think of how many immigrants have doctorates in other countries, and come here, and can't find employment. But at the same time, teaching and research standards are different everywhere, and in order to keep research in Canada at it's highest quality, you need to make sure everyone has the training necessary, which based on the statistics, most immigrants don't. That doesn't mean our old pal Stephen Harper couldn't step in to make it easier... but that's a whole different rant. 




From my perspective there are a several reasons why I know my post-doctoral job hunt (in Canada) will be hard. 
The reasons the author gave were pretty similar:


1) Cut-backs at Universities everywhere
2) Fewer Universities in this country, when compared to the number of successful PhD's a year
3) My field of study isn't cutting edge, and not funded externally by industry

1) Cut backs Agreed
2) The Canadian private sector's focus on natural resources He didn't expand much on this. 
3) Politics Agreed

Now, I don't think the article's topic is NUTS per say, I have seen a million articles about how there is an "over abundance" of PhD's in Western countries.... the facts and stats in the article just don't add up, and are not up to date. I feel like he was stretching to make a point sometimes, and not always up front about the information i.e the taxi example. The article was focused on PhD's from Canada intending on working IN Canada. I think in many cases most doctoral candidates, like myself, are not dead set on staying here to work. That's not to say the job market is superb elsewhere. Competition in the US is greater, but there are way more positions to choose from. The same with many other countries, The author, has also written a book called "No PhD's please: this is Canada". I can't decide whether or not to read it. My hunch is no!

It all started with the Big Bang

I had all four of my wisdom teeth extracted first thing this morning. It wasn't a good experience, but it was a lot less stressful than I had anticipated. Thus, I have spent most of my day in bed, watching old episodes of TV shows, updating my website and blog design, looking for Christmas gifts online, etc. Apparently I will be doing that all day tomorrow as well...I hope I don't die of boredom!

I have been watching a lot of old episodes of The Big Bang Theory today. For the first three seasons of this show I refused to watch it. I thought the promos were ridiculous and that I would hate it. Clearly, that changed. I love the show! One thing I have noticed about the show is that it glamorizes being a nerd. Suddenly, being smart is cool. Likely because the main female character, Penny, played by Kaley Cuoco falls in love with Leonard, a raging nerd.

Being a TA for a course in Human Ecology and Evolution, it really got me thinking...how have biological and cultural evolution interacted to result in this behaviour? Why do people behave, or act like geeks, when often they aren't? You see it all the time, especially at a school like Queen's. You get the girls wearing the glasses that Screech of Saved by the Bell used to wear, guys wearing t-shirts with super heroes, or science-themed sayings and logos. I would bet money that most of these people don't even know what science is.

Biologically-speaking, what would signal success or fitness to a potential mate? The geek (shorter, less muscle, intelligent, passive) or the 'big strong man (for lack of a better term)' (tall, muscular, athletic, aggressive, not-so-smart)? I can't decide. What do they each have to offer potential mates?

The Geek:
1) Intelligence: high likelihood to get a good, high-paying job securing financial stability for the family
2) A family-man: this may be a bit of a stereotypical comment on my part, but probably would be interested in the needs of others, less-selfish (or so this is how a geek is portrayed in the media)

The Big Strong Man:
1) He can protect his mate and his family
2) Success in athletics is often a good fitness signal


It's such a hard call. Ever since I started watching this show I have always wondered how in the recent years geek-chic if you will became SO FREAKING POPULAR?? Even in my years in High School...which was not that long ago, it wasn't cool to be smart. It was unheard of. All of us smart kids hung out together, and were never looked-up to or admired. Now, I see the facebook pages and twitter pages of young, gifted, super-intelligent kids in my family who are the Leonard and Penny of their schools....simultaneously.

Anyways, if you have an opinion on this, I'd love to hear it! I haven't done any research of my own on this. I am hoping some student will choose this as a poster topic for their assignment, as I would love to see some cultural evolution research on the topic. Here's a funny infographic about the evolution of the geek http://www.flowtown.com/blog/the-evolution-of-the-geek.

Routines, Reality and Research Integrity

Slowly but surely...as the days go by...I seem to be getting more done. Starting to focus again and come the end of the work day, I, for the most part, have accomplished something. Tomorrow, I start back with CAP, and am certainly excited to do that! In the afternoon, depending on how productive I can be, I will try to get some work done. I realllllllly wish I didn't have to get my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday. Just as I get into a routine it will be thrown out of whack by having to take at least 2 full days off. So is life, I suppose.

Every once in awhile, someone says something that really strikes a chord with you. It may be something they say you find offensive, maybe funny, possibly intriguing. This anecdote falls into the latter category. When I was in the field on Saturday, we were talking about the candidate who had just given a talk at Queen's as part of her job interview with the Biology Department. Paul, one of the faculty in the field with me, was talking about his feelings about the candidate's talk, CV, etc. And ultimately his feelings about her as a potential faculty member. He said "The reality of it is, Amanda, that it's not the reality at all... it's all about the perception of reality". For some reason, I can't get that out of my head. And I think it's because it's so true. Reality doesn't matter. Reality really doesn't matter because people will always perceive it differently. You can try to portray an idea, and it is completely dependent on the interpretation of the audience. Even with personal matters, it's the same thing. You may KNOW something is not true, but you can so easily perceive it as true. This really has turned into a rant... and I am struggling to explain myself. Maybe I'll just stop, and hope you understand.

I sat through a VERY boring seminar this evening on Research Integrity. I attend these seminars as part of my Certification in Professional Development. This was my third seminar of twelve...still a long way to go. The first seminar I attended a few months back was "working in a diverse workforce" which was a huge waste of time. Essentially the message was "be nice to everyone even if they are different"..wait... how old are we again? The second seminar I attended was on  "Bridging the generation gap" and this one was soooo good, albeit I did have very low expectations going into it. Maybe if I am bored post-wisdom teeth I will write a blog about bridging the generation gap, because it was super interesting! Today's seminar, like I said, was boring. The first half wasn't bad. It was all about learning what research integrity was and common examples of wrong-doings in science and how to prevent making the wrong choices. I will admit, some of the so-called "wrong-doings" I never even considered. For example: submitting a manuscript with one or more authors who haven't seen a draft. I never even questioned this before as I have many friends who have publications in review right now who couldn't tell you a thing about them. I had a headache to begin with and the whole second half was about ethics and using humans and animals in research...two things I will NEVER be doing.. so that was a little annoying to sleep...errr...sit through. The seminar was given by the AVP (Research) and she was a decent speaker with a great history in the field and a few neat stories from past experiences.

Two blustery days in the field

I spent yesterday afternoon/evening and 4 or 5 hours today working out in the field. Yesterday I was doing some data collection out in Wire Fence for my recruitment project. Things went pretty well. It did rain the entire time pretty much, and was hot at the same time, so that was annoying. We sampled 4 or 5 plots before the thunder started rolling in and a full blown thunderstorm began. We had parked at the road (about a 15 min walk through the woods) because it was too wet to drive in. The storm cleared up completely about 20 minutes later, and then began again.

Stormy sky

5 deer in this field

Today we were up at Bracken (myself and 6 others) taking the plastic off of the rainout shelters for the winter. It went pretty fast. The weather was pretty awful. I woke up at 5AM to hurricane like winds and pouring rain and it was like that until we got to the site. It rained on and off while we worked but got sunny at one point, and then rained the whole way home...seems like the theme of field days lately. We had three work crews, and naturally, I get put with the two professors. It ended up being a good time. We talked a lot about the hiring process in Academia and stuff like that. All in all it wasn't bad!

The leaves are just starting to change up there. I am hoping that by the next time I head out (probably not within the next week) the leaves will still be in the transition stage. I saw soo many trees that were bright green with some orange and some red leaves. It is by far the most beautiful time of the year. I kinda don't want the field season to end now!

About to head out in the field

It's late in the day. It's raining. It's cold. Probably the last place I want to be is sitting in an uncovered field counting plants. Alas, that is where I am headed. When I have someone that is willing to accompany me, I just have to suck it up and head out there.

The good news for today is I think the volunteer will work out great, and I expect that she will be starting sometime next week.

I will probably have some photos when I return!

Letting go

It's 9:30 PM which for me lately means it's about 30 minutes passed my bedtime. I think I came to a realization today. I have A LOT to do, and I can't wait any longer. Nor, can I do it all by myself. I have always been anti-volunteer. I just have a hard time letting other people near my data. But today I realized I just can't get it all done myself. I have decided to get a volunteer to help me. A keen, eagar, wants-to-help little undergrad who can do all the things I don't want to do. Someone who I can give all those tedious tasks to. There are two main things I am worried about getting done which the volunteer could help me with. I currently have a paid field assistant to help with the completion of my field work. That being said, Saturday marks the first day of fall, and I NEED to be done. I just don't have the time or patience to put up with field work anymore. That being said, I may need to spend a few hours out there cleaning up the cages and flags that lie everywhere around there. Also, my data entry and sample weighing. They can do that. Two excruciatingly TEDIOUS tasks that I just can't bother to do myself. I am meeting with a potential volunteer tomorrow, that a friend recommended to me, and I hope it goes well.

So much chili

So much ground beef... almost five pots full

The second biograds event of the year was a success...a much bigger one than we had anticipated! We had 5 crock pots of chili and we sold it ALL. Every last bit of salad, chili, garlic bread and watermelon was gone! That means we have NO food left from the Welcome back BBQ. We also brought in over 100$ from the sales of chili, so that gets us out of debt..with some extra profit to spare! I watched the start of my friend Sarah's EEB, but quickly realized we left the entire chili mess on our lab table, where our lab meeting was taking place at 2:30. I lost track of time and tried to make it to the "job talk"  by Allyson Hindle but was too late and it was packed. So instead, I figured I would try to get some work done.

My office became a restaurant kitchen today.

So many slow cookers

The finished product

I have been super tired lately. I made it to the gym this morning, but forgot my towels.. AGAIN. I swear if my head wasn't attached it wouldn't make a difference. So I splurged and spent 2.26 to rent one for the morning.


Now I am just waiting for the 'lab white board session' at 2:30 this afternoon. Should be interesting, and may pose some inspiration for a potential project for myself. The main point of the meeting is to introduce the undergrad thesis student to her project, which is very related to my MSc. She'll be looking at how community biomass is related to MPBS (maximum potential body size) and MRTS (minimum reproductive threshold size). She collected some plot data for that this past summer and will be using the MIN and MAX data that I spent the last few summers collecting. I am definitely excited to see how that turns out!


Just for fun.. a few cute pics.

Loving Iphone.. and instagram

Fighting the paper towels

With greater degrees comes greater responsibility

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be in a big lab. One that had a lot of grad students and lots of undergrads running around all the time. Lots of action...very social. I have wondered that a lot lately, as I sit day after day by myself in the lab, I wonder even more what it would be like.

And then I remember that maybe being the only grad student in the lab, with only one undergrad isn't that bad after all. The bigger a lab gets, the more that Supervisors start to push off the undergrads onto the graduate students (especially the PhD students), and it becomes their responsibility to help them. In the past, during my MSc, I did help some of the Honours thesis students when they needed it, by editing things, showing them stats programs, explaining concepts. But I have never had to actually supervise one, and although I bet the experience is valuable, I doubt that I'd want to. That being said, I am meeting with my Supervisor and the thesis student on Thursday to go over some stuff. I am actually SO excited to see how her project turns out, because it uses the data from my MSc and will be super-interesting.

As a PhD student now I notice some differences from my MSc:

1) There is a lot of talk of publications. And I mean a lot. Everything I do is done with the intent of being published. Even the preliminary reading I am doing about competitive abilities (simply for project ideas and inspiration) is done with the aim of getting published. And I do understand why. It's because when it comes to getting hired, post-doc, it really matters how much you have published. They want productive, successful researchers that have published in journals with a high impact factor. I guess I have some work to do...

2) It's even more independence then before. My supervisor has ALWAYS had a "you do what you need to do, I don't care when, how" attitude. And that hasn't changed at all.

I am however finding it very difficult to balance things. I did MORE stuff (I think), at least school-related stuff, in my MSc, but it was a lot more structured. I had actual classes to attend, concrete due date, and overall I was just more of an anxious wreck back then, simply because I wanted to be done, and be done in time. Now that I know what completely a post-grad degree is like, I think I am less nervous. This isn't working in my favour however.

3) I am A LOT more involved in the biograds community now than I was before. I think in the first week of my PhD I was already more involved then ever before and this is a great thing. Even though I am the only student in my lab, it doesn't feel like that a lot of the time, because I often have someone coming in to talk about something related to the Biograds committee, and I like that. I really regret not getting involved in the committee in the previous years.

Anyways, back to work for me. That's my rant for the day.

All the leftovers

I have no theme to my post today which in the blogosphere, may be a big NONO, but, I like to break the rules, and thus, I will. First, I think I have decided on my official wake me up drink - the Earl grey tazzo tea latte -from Starbucks, pretty much a London Fog. SO delicious!

I have done WORK today. Albeit, I have spent some time doodling pictures of leaves...I have really dove into my review paper on competitive ability! SO yay!

I am realllllly into CBC Radio 1 right now. I love the different talk shows and it keeps me up to date throughout the day on the news, which is pretty alright I think. I listened to a great episode of White Coat, Black Art today. It was part two of a two part series called Nagui's choice. I never caught the first part but the second part was a powerful, amazing story about Nagui, a man with Huntington's Disease and his choice to end his life. I really recommend listening to it, it was great.

Yesterday was the adoption event at Petsmart. I was there from about 10 to 5 with KHS. I have some photos below. Only 2 kittens went to their forever homes yesterday, but two is better than none!

Getting our area all set up

Funny litter of 3

The two kittens (1m 25d old) playing in their pen. They escaped MANY times. 

Little guy that two great girls adopted!

Fizz, a very quirky boy

Pong, a giant, furry, purring ball of fluff

Ginny! Beautiful girl

Rockey. He looks tough with his shaved tail and side, but what a sweetie

My girl lady. Hoping she gets adopted soon!

And given the theme of events, I figured I would add more of my Big Paws at the Point photos from last weekend. Check them out below!

Getting set up

Lots of vendors

Cute rescued dalmatian

OSPCA rescue and relief trailer

Great dane!

Ted Hsu and family registering

Starting to get busy

Checking out the vendors

Getting ready for the walk

Stretching before the walk

Beautiful rescued puppy

A bunch of great danes out for a swim

Amazing weather at Lemoine Pt

Live auction 

Beautiful, hungry boy

K9 unit arrives

Knox, the apprehension dog

Knox taking down the other officer

And given the theme of events, I figured I would add more of my Big Paws at the Point photos from last weekend. Check them out below!