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Every year on my birthday, I get a card from our mortgage lender. And every year, this makes me angry. This year’s card was cute and the woman who underwrote our mortgage jotted down a couple of sentences. I bet she has a daily slot on her calendar along the lines “9:07 — 9:12 Sign…
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Today, a dear friend from my childhood congratulated me on turning 22, twice over! In that honor, I will blog every day for 22 days; if I hit my stride and am in the mood, maybe I will do that twice over, as well! *** How did I spend my birthday? I got up at…
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This is a personal post; if you decide to comment, don’t be a douche. I’m in my early 40s. I have a lovely family and professional “success.” I admit I constantly worry that I will run out of funding and that everyone else is somehow better at grant writing than me, and this is the…
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I’ve been traveling. I had a great time at a conference in the UK. This was a meeting of my core research community and it’s always great to get together with old friends and colleagues. I hadn’t been in the UK before and I was overall very positively impressed. The people are friendly and easy…
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Some days, the world is an ill-fitting shoe. It’s annoys me, it hurts me, and I just want to take it off, throw it out, and get a new one that fits. I am a good immigrant. I speak the language; I am a highly educated asset to this society; I am a law-abiding, tax-paying…
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Who has your cell phone number? And whose number do you have? My family hasn’t had a land line for years. DH, Eldest offspring, and I have cell phones; Middle Boy will get one once he starts middle school and starts walking home alone. My cell phone serves as de facto home phone on all…
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Reader Burnt-out Postdoc (BoP) has a question for the blogosphere. Please help BoP by sharing your thoughts in the comments! I’m now in my third year of postdoc. After moving to my current position I started working on a new, challenging and very interesting project, for which I had to develop many new skills. It was a…
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Here’s some enjoyable and quirky or otherwise unusual cinematic fare that packs more of an emotional punch than you might expect: Equals — I saw this one on Amazon Prime and it was much better than I’d hoped. Beautifully shot and beautifully paced, with great casting. Don’t get turned off by Kristen Stewart starring, she’s excellent in this movie.…
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… by car? I am contemplating driving 10 hrs each way to attend one day of a conference, where I am supposed to give a talk. That would be a 10-hr drive, 1 day there, and a 10-hr drive back. I am very, very tempted to do it, because: a) I love driving b) I dislike flying (specifically,…
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I am apparently a very low-class person, and I think I am okay with that. I am more comfortable in a sports bar, having a beer and eating burgers, than I am at a fancy restaurant. If I am with friends and there’s a choice as to where to go, I would almost always pick a brewery,…
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