Just a heads-up -- we're almost done with all our paperwork to become permanent residents in Canada! For our application, I mean. It's been a little hairy, but luckily Q's job pays for it. We had to get police clearance certificates from India (and Spain for me), and do blood tests and chest x-rays and extensive background checks. Here's hoping it all works out!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Post-doc land with kids
It's been MONTHS since I posted. Yeesh. Lazy slob. No, actually, I've been busy!
I got lucky, and one of my PhD advisor's friends had a little funding for a half-time postdoc! And the project is awesome. Did I already talk about this? Oh well, I'll say it again. I might get to work on breeding pawpaws, which are native to North America! That would be too fun, breeding a native edible plant! But the funding hasn't come through yet -- maybe next year.
Meanwhile, to keep me busy, they've had me become a pseudo-expert on potato genomics. I say pseudo-expert because it's somewhat ludicrous to think that one can become an expert in potato genomics in 4-6 months. But hey! I'm giving it a shot, and I've been working with a couple other people at UBC to come up with a decent review of marker-assisted selection in potatoes. It's been lots of fun!
AND yes, there's more! My current experimental project is designed to give me 200 F2 progeny of monkeyflowers. Then we're going extract RNA and sequence the entire transcriptome of the progeny! Can you imagine the astounding amounts of data that's going to be???????? (?!?!?!?). I'm really excited, though it sounds like quite a feat to get it all analyzed...
All this on part-time. "And what in the world do you do with the rest of the time?" you ask? Oh my, I don't have an acronym for my 2nd daughter! What to do. Did I already make one up, and I've forgotten? Ah, yes, it's CH. Anyway, I stopped breastfeeding around 3mo. Obviously I didn't manage to correct any "nipple confusion" that resulted from having to supplement in the hospital. Or something. But anyway, it's better than I did with TM! CH is now crawling around like mad. She's adorable. We're sleeping on the floor, so when she wakes up from her nap, she just crawls out the door looking for me. It's absolutely adorable. She's quite the grinning froggy, very happy and adorable.
TM is enjoying kindergarten, as we knew she would. She's making lots of friends, and mentions about once a week how she doesn't want to move from here. I agree -- anyway, we won't be moving 'till the housing market dies down a bit, or we get desperate and have to move south. TM is also doing well in Aikido, and will start up with swimming and ice skating in January. And she has an art class on Saturdays. Overscheduling? Perhaps. But she's SO social and active that she loves it.
Q and I are enjoying our expanded family, and Christmas is almost here!
That's all for now...
I got lucky, and one of my PhD advisor's friends had a little funding for a half-time postdoc! And the project is awesome. Did I already talk about this? Oh well, I'll say it again. I might get to work on breeding pawpaws, which are native to North America! That would be too fun, breeding a native edible plant! But the funding hasn't come through yet -- maybe next year.
Meanwhile, to keep me busy, they've had me become a pseudo-expert on potato genomics. I say pseudo-expert because it's somewhat ludicrous to think that one can become an expert in potato genomics in 4-6 months. But hey! I'm giving it a shot, and I've been working with a couple other people at UBC to come up with a decent review of marker-assisted selection in potatoes. It's been lots of fun!
AND yes, there's more! My current experimental project is designed to give me 200 F2 progeny of monkeyflowers. Then we're going extract RNA and sequence the entire transcriptome of the progeny! Can you imagine the astounding amounts of data that's going to be???????? (?!?!?!?). I'm really excited, though it sounds like quite a feat to get it all analyzed...
All this on part-time. "And what in the world do you do with the rest of the time?" you ask? Oh my, I don't have an acronym for my 2nd daughter! What to do. Did I already make one up, and I've forgotten? Ah, yes, it's CH. Anyway, I stopped breastfeeding around 3mo. Obviously I didn't manage to correct any "nipple confusion" that resulted from having to supplement in the hospital. Or something. But anyway, it's better than I did with TM! CH is now crawling around like mad. She's adorable. We're sleeping on the floor, so when she wakes up from her nap, she just crawls out the door looking for me. It's absolutely adorable. She's quite the grinning froggy, very happy and adorable.
TM is enjoying kindergarten, as we knew she would. She's making lots of friends, and mentions about once a week how she doesn't want to move from here. I agree -- anyway, we won't be moving 'till the housing market dies down a bit, or we get desperate and have to move south. TM is also doing well in Aikido, and will start up with swimming and ice skating in January. And she has an art class on Saturdays. Overscheduling? Perhaps. But she's SO social and active that she loves it.
Q and I are enjoying our expanded family, and Christmas is almost here!
That's all for now...
Friday, July 8, 2011
Evolution vs. Critical Thinking
Update 2016: This month, this post edged out my previously most popular post, "Do you ever use your education," to be the most popular. Mind you, it's pretty much nothing so far as internet traffic is concerned -- 77 all-time pageviews! LOL. But I stand by it, pretty much, I don't think I need to change it.
Original post - 2011: For a decade or more, I’ve had a quiet passion about teaching evolution. I’ve tried to explain why I still believe in a loving, intervening God who created the universe while I also accept the theory of evolution. But perhaps I’ve been a bit meiopic in my quiet passion, a bit too confined. All my arguments about God coexisting with evolution don’t seem to change anyone’s mind if they really think Evolution is Evil. And that’s been confusing to me. But is it really important? It’s hard to say it out loud to myself, but maybe it’s not really important. I’m typing this while sitting next to my 3-month old baby, to whom I am passionately attached, so the following reasons are strongly skewed towards child health.
Original post - 2011: For a decade or more, I’ve had a quiet passion about teaching evolution. I’ve tried to explain why I still believe in a loving, intervening God who created the universe while I also accept the theory of evolution. But perhaps I’ve been a bit meiopic in my quiet passion, a bit too confined. All my arguments about God coexisting with evolution don’t seem to change anyone’s mind if they really think Evolution is Evil. And that’s been confusing to me. But is it really important? It’s hard to say it out loud to myself, but maybe it’s not really important. I’m typing this while sitting next to my 3-month old baby, to whom I am passionately attached, so the following reasons are strongly skewed towards child health.
Why teaching evolution is not the most important educational focus:
First reason: Infant mortality rates are (probably) not related to people’s understanding of evolution
Second reason: Education of women is closely related to infant survival, and therefore more important
Third reason: Teaching critical thinking, or the ability to ask questions and evaluate potential answers, would help a lot more things than infant mortality. And why focus only on women? Maybe if the whole society thinks more critically, women's education would rise too. Though maybe if you focus on women, the whole society would naturally think more critically...OK, now I'm going in circles...
Helping people learn to ask questions, and to ask questions about the answers, and to evaluate answers more objectively, and to appreciate ambiguity in those answers, would help SO many problems! If we support a Culture of Curiosity rather than a Culture of Instant Reaction, a lot of things would be better. Objective critical thinking could actually make a democracy work well. It could help build better infrastructure, equalize access to health care and higher educational facilities, and lower the political effects of flaming rhetoric. It helps, of course, when we have access to the internet and can evaluate whether a website is authentic or not. And if we can recognize the biases supported by various websites/newspapers etc.
And...critical thinking is crucial in science. So teaching people that figuring things out is fun, and that objective thinking can lead to greater insight, would help people understand science better, and feel less threatened by it. Happily, it might also potentially decrease the gut-wrenching disgust some people feel when they hear the word "evolution."
So next time someone says something about how evolution is of Satan, instead of focusing on the logical inconsistencies of such a statement, I'll focus on how critical thinking would clarify whatever real issue is at hand.
The End.
PS I wrote this rather quickly in the heat of the Ah-Ha!, so it's not written very well. But I'm posting it anyway.
And...critical thinking is crucial in science. So teaching people that figuring things out is fun, and that objective thinking can lead to greater insight, would help people understand science better, and feel less threatened by it. Happily, it might also potentially decrease the gut-wrenching disgust some people feel when they hear the word "evolution."
So next time someone says something about how evolution is of Satan, instead of focusing on the logical inconsistencies of such a statement, I'll focus on how critical thinking would clarify whatever real issue is at hand.
The End.
PS I wrote this rather quickly in the heat of the Ah-Ha!, so it's not written very well. But I'm posting it anyway.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Whoa, I'm behind! Here's the whirlwind update
I'm not even going to use a text editor.
I got more and more pregnant from Jan-April. My PhD advisor finally OK-ed the final version of a manuscript I was working on, and we submitted it. I tried to submit it, but was having trouble with vmware on my mac, so my advisor submitted it. Wonderful thing for him to do. It was the last chapter of my dissertation, by the way, so I've almost fulfilled my obligation to publish all my research! I still want to help write up some interesting greenhouse work done by our postdoc, but I don't know when that's gonna happen. Sigh.
Our baby girl was born April 11, scheduled c-section. We couldn't think of a name for her! We were thinking Anika, but we didn't quite feel right about it. We wanted a musical name. Q's mom came to visit the first week of April, and suggested the name of Q's dad's favorite raag/raga http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms3wV8bhZ6M. Awesome! Thanks, Q's mom :). From now on her blog nickname is CH, for various obscure reasons.
She was born a healthy happy adorable baby. She's almost 2mo old now, and is doing well. Breastfeeding is hard at times, but I figure I only have to make it to 4mo. If I make it further than that, yay me!
Meanwhile, I have to finish revising an encyclopedia chapter on gametic disequilibrium for an encyclopedia. Yikes. And I've been trying to be touristy for Q's mom. We've done the aquarium, a Hindu temple (it was closed...), various dollar stores, beaches (brr), a BigBus tour of Vancouver courtesy of some friends (thanks!), the planetarium, an aboriginal village in Stanley Park, Q took her to Walmart in Burnaby, and up to Mount Seymour to see the snow. I want to take a ferry across the bay, but that depends on weather and on my visiting teaching and on Q's work schedule. Ack.
Luckily, CH is a sweet baby. She gives me a couple 3-hour stretches every night, and sometimes a 4-hr stretch! Amazing. She hardly complains, and adores her older sister TM. TM loves her back. We do have some trouble with bedtimes, and I'm not sure how we'll handle it once Q's mom goes back to India next week, but.
The crib is in the garage somewhere.
The cat is NOT to be trusted around the baby, especially when it's rainy and the cat's antsy.
The baby rocker is also in the garage somewhere.
My bike seat is also in the garage somewhere. I have the rest...
I'll probably give Q the car for work, and I'll just walk TM to preschool (30min) with the stroller instead of getting a bike trailer. I think CH is still a little too young for the trailer. So walking is the goal.
Everyone's complaining about the rainy rainy rainy spring. I'm sorry everyone else has to suffer, but I really appreciate the weather. It's rather heavenly for me. I consider it a personal blessing :). My British Isles ancestry must be coming on strong lately.
We had friends over last night and all were up too late. CH is sleeping right now, and so should I be. I hope I don't pay too much for updating my blog! But come on, four months hiatus is almost unforgivable.
I got more and more pregnant from Jan-April. My PhD advisor finally OK-ed the final version of a manuscript I was working on, and we submitted it. I tried to submit it, but was having trouble with vmware on my mac, so my advisor submitted it. Wonderful thing for him to do. It was the last chapter of my dissertation, by the way, so I've almost fulfilled my obligation to publish all my research! I still want to help write up some interesting greenhouse work done by our postdoc, but I don't know when that's gonna happen. Sigh.
Our baby girl was born April 11, scheduled c-section. We couldn't think of a name for her! We were thinking Anika, but we didn't quite feel right about it. We wanted a musical name. Q's mom came to visit the first week of April, and suggested the name of Q's dad's favorite raag/raga http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms3wV8bhZ6M. Awesome! Thanks, Q's mom :). From now on her blog nickname is CH, for various obscure reasons.
She was born a healthy happy adorable baby. She's almost 2mo old now, and is doing well. Breastfeeding is hard at times, but I figure I only have to make it to 4mo. If I make it further than that, yay me!
Meanwhile, I have to finish revising an encyclopedia chapter on gametic disequilibrium for an encyclopedia. Yikes. And I've been trying to be touristy for Q's mom. We've done the aquarium, a Hindu temple (it was closed...), various dollar stores, beaches (brr), a BigBus tour of Vancouver courtesy of some friends (thanks!), the planetarium, an aboriginal village in Stanley Park, Q took her to Walmart in Burnaby, and up to Mount Seymour to see the snow. I want to take a ferry across the bay, but that depends on weather and on my visiting teaching and on Q's work schedule. Ack.
Luckily, CH is a sweet baby. She gives me a couple 3-hour stretches every night, and sometimes a 4-hr stretch! Amazing. She hardly complains, and adores her older sister TM. TM loves her back. We do have some trouble with bedtimes, and I'm not sure how we'll handle it once Q's mom goes back to India next week, but.
The crib is in the garage somewhere.
The cat is NOT to be trusted around the baby, especially when it's rainy and the cat's antsy.
The baby rocker is also in the garage somewhere.
My bike seat is also in the garage somewhere. I have the rest...
I'll probably give Q the car for work, and I'll just walk TM to preschool (30min) with the stroller instead of getting a bike trailer. I think CH is still a little too young for the trailer. So walking is the goal.
Everyone's complaining about the rainy rainy rainy spring. I'm sorry everyone else has to suffer, but I really appreciate the weather. It's rather heavenly for me. I consider it a personal blessing :). My British Isles ancestry must be coming on strong lately.
We had friends over last night and all were up too late. CH is sleeping right now, and so should I be. I hope I don't pay too much for updating my blog! But come on, four months hiatus is almost unforgivable.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Winter, Christmas, and the to-do list
Winter has set in, and we're even getting some snow. All the leaves are gone from the trees, so my plant/animal ID hobby is going to wait until spring comes back. Maybe next year I'll work on winter twig ID, but for now I'm giving the whole thing a bit of a rest. My blood seems to be quite thin! It hardly gets below freezing here, but I get awfully cold. I remember walking to school in 7th grade in snow up to my knees, and running hither and yon with just a jacket, scarf and mittens. My time in India must have thinned my blood, because it's coooold. No dashing outside to make snowmen with just a simple jacket for me, no way. Brrrr.
The December holidays were lots of fun. We did absolutely nothing. TM got sick and we stayed home. It was great. She loved decorating (and re-decorating) the Christmas tree. We were so backwards this Christmas that I even had to get her to help me wrap presents, including her own. She enjoyed the whole thing, though, so I don't feel too bad. Just don't tell my little sister, whose worst Christmas was when Mom and I decided against a Christmas tree in favor of the dead elm that had just fallen on our property… I have the feeling she'd feel similarly horrified at the idea of a 4-yr old wrapping her own presents… Oh yeah, I forgot -- we also ran out of wrapping paper, and lazy me, we used scraps of fabric to wrap the rest of the presents. Hee hee hee. It worked out well, though -- they looked fine! And we had a lot of fun opening everything on Christmas morning.
TM is turning out to be quite the nurse. The other day, I scraped my leg (there wasn't any blood or anything) and TM came over with a damp washcloth and dabbed at it for me. What a sweety-pie! I feel guilty that I'm not more attentive to her many, many bumps and scrapes. Maybe she'll be a nurse… at least she'd probably always have a job, if the job market continues the way it is now. How silly of me to be thinking about future jobs for her when she's not even in kindergarten yet! One of the perils of having an only child.
Q actually took a vacation during Christmas and New Years, which was a pleasant surprise. We got to hang out with him at home. Usually he gets dragged into work unless we escape somewhere far from work, but this year worked out well. Hooray! But now the new year has started, and my to-do list is growing.
I absolutely have to finish editing the last chapter of my dissertation for submission to a journal before the new baby comes in April. I also have to get a couple more interviews with people for the newspaper article I want to write about green roofs. I've never written a newspaper article before, but it's something I've always wanted to do, so hey! Why not give it a shot? I also have to get TM caught up on her immunizations, and registered for kindergarten. I think that's about it for now. Eventually I'll have to dive into the boxes stacked in the garage to find our crib, and get on craigslist again to buy some newborn clothes, but I'm leaving that 'till later.
The December holidays were lots of fun. We did absolutely nothing. TM got sick and we stayed home. It was great. She loved decorating (and re-decorating) the Christmas tree. We were so backwards this Christmas that I even had to get her to help me wrap presents, including her own. She enjoyed the whole thing, though, so I don't feel too bad. Just don't tell my little sister, whose worst Christmas was when Mom and I decided against a Christmas tree in favor of the dead elm that had just fallen on our property… I have the feeling she'd feel similarly horrified at the idea of a 4-yr old wrapping her own presents… Oh yeah, I forgot -- we also ran out of wrapping paper, and lazy me, we used scraps of fabric to wrap the rest of the presents. Hee hee hee. It worked out well, though -- they looked fine! And we had a lot of fun opening everything on Christmas morning.
TM is turning out to be quite the nurse. The other day, I scraped my leg (there wasn't any blood or anything) and TM came over with a damp washcloth and dabbed at it for me. What a sweety-pie! I feel guilty that I'm not more attentive to her many, many bumps and scrapes. Maybe she'll be a nurse… at least she'd probably always have a job, if the job market continues the way it is now. How silly of me to be thinking about future jobs for her when she's not even in kindergarten yet! One of the perils of having an only child.
Q actually took a vacation during Christmas and New Years, which was a pleasant surprise. We got to hang out with him at home. Usually he gets dragged into work unless we escape somewhere far from work, but this year worked out well. Hooray! But now the new year has started, and my to-do list is growing.
I absolutely have to finish editing the last chapter of my dissertation for submission to a journal before the new baby comes in April. I also have to get a couple more interviews with people for the newspaper article I want to write about green roofs. I've never written a newspaper article before, but it's something I've always wanted to do, so hey! Why not give it a shot? I also have to get TM caught up on her immunizations, and registered for kindergarten. I think that's about it for now. Eventually I'll have to dive into the boxes stacked in the garage to find our crib, and get on craigslist again to buy some newborn clothes, but I'm leaving that 'till later.
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