Well the TV interview is on line now, at
http://start.shaw.ca/Start/enCA/Local+Content/Alberta/Edmonton/
Not bad overall. My voice always goes up in pitch when I do these things… Maybe I use my hands too much? Ah well, at least I managed to articulate reasonably well despite the braces.
What else is new? I’m sending away for business cards (does this font make me look smart?). Oh, and Courtney actually got her desk this week! Amazing! I managed to stay on schedule for my neurology clinic. I am almost through these last resumes and then I get to enter into another round of interviewing for my lab tech. I also have my talk close to ready for next week. Yesterday I analyzed a bunch of data from RML and it looks like my data may be consistent enough to actually write it up. I also organized my office / desk yesterday. A productive week!
You know what this means of course… I am procrastinating doing what I really need to do – write my Alberta Heritage Grant. It is somewhat disheartening to realize how many people submit applications for AHFMR and how few are actually successful. I have spoken to those who simply go through the application because they feel they have to, but they also know they have no hope of success. How depressing. Last year there were close to 80 new applicants and fewer than 20 were successful. And with AHFMR being “restructured”, many people are applying this September because none of us is really sure what the future of funding holds. There seems to be a general trend towards supporting later stage research which has demonstrable direct economic impacts. Does no one value knowledge for knowledge’s sake anymore? Is everything really about translation into dollars? I fear for basic science research, which often lays the foundations for future applications and discovery, and yet which cannot always be predicted to have economic impact at the time. Therein lies the art of grant writing I suppose. I bet Galileo didn’t have to deal with these issues. Mind you, he did have that whole Catholic Inquisition problem. I guess things could be worse…
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