The second half of my two-academic-career family (the half that’s better at this) just finished a couple of months of teaching, grants due, papers submitted etc. I was picking up all of the slack at home during that time- and I don’t mind. We have had overlapping grant deadlines before, and our kids forget our names when this happens, it’s just NOT a good thing. … Now he is done, and its my turn. I’ll have June 1 and July 1 deadlines for NIH… and I’m ready for it.
On Monday I submitted my first truly independent paper. Online submission is at once a wonderful and horrible invention. If you have tried this, then what I say needs no explanation. Anyway- I held onto that manuscript longer than I probably should have, but getting that last Western to be perfect (or at least good enough) really took longer than I thought it would (3 weeks), and the efforts of a postdoc AND a graduate student. I have watched my also-an-academic-scientist-husband wait and wait for that last figure so many times in the last 6 years- and be agitated about not having it done… I can totally sympathize. I am irrationally proud of this paper, its just gratifying to take a gene of unknown function, discover that it is important, and figure out what it does… and actually be lucky enough to show it. Now that I said that, I’m sure the paper will come right back. I don’t know what’s going on with it now- I was on vacation with my kids for a few days, and free from all electronics…- so I’ll probably cry on your shoulder about a rejection shortly.
Hopefully I haven’t lost too many readers during my short hiatus…
Blue Lab Coats 