jane
Posts by this author
July 3, 2008
Rather than responding to all of the comments on my last post (and thanks once again---really, you all have done so much to help put me in a better mental state than I've been in in a while!), I thought I would do a brief update in a post.
First and most importantly, I'm doing better. Not great…
June 27, 2008
You may have noticed that there's been some "radio silence" around here, as they say, lately. Never fear, I'm still here, and I'm....coping. Sort of.
Executive summary: I haven't been myself lately, and it's really, really starting to take a toll. (Warning: extreme frankness ahead!)
I am not…
June 17, 2008
I have a few undergraduate students working in my lab for part of the summer. They started this week. Working with undergrads is something I do every summer---well, except for last summer, when I was on maternity leave. So you'd think I'd remember, at this point, how the drill goes: how to get…
June 15, 2008
In the spirit of this year's theme, "Fearless", I have signed up to run a race that's a bit longer distance than I'm normally comfortable running. Not significantly longer, but longer.
At the time I signed up for it, it seemed like a good idea---I would have plenty of time to train. But then…
June 12, 2008
I have been waiting for my summer to begin. May was a nightmarish whirlwind of deadlines and heavy amounts of work and way too many obligations, that spilled over into June. (But on the bright side, I did get another article out, so yay me!) Things, I think, are finally calming down, and indeed…
June 2, 2008
The theme of this month's Scientiae carnival is "Added Weight: Taking up Space." This theme is very timely for me, since I've been thinking about this topic lately---a lot. And, readers of the old blog may remember that my "theme" for the year is FEARLESS. Well, you can't really be fearless if…
May 27, 2008
If you could sit down for lunch, or coffee, one-on-one, with a Very Very Big Name in your field (think Nobel Laureate or, for the CS crowd, Turing Award winner, or similar), what questions would you ask her/him? (Beyond specific questions about his/her work, that is, and the usual small talk.)
The…
May 26, 2008
I just saw this meme at ScienceMama's, which I believe originated at Sciencewomen. Yeah, so I'm late to the party on this one, but what the hell, it's late and I'm too wired to sleep, so here goes:
In 10 minutes .... I'll hopefully be in bed, trying desperately to get some sleep before tomorrow's…
May 22, 2008
Things I should be working on vs. things I've actually been working on this morning:
Should be working on:
1. Finishing accepted journal article with looming deadline (eek!).
2. Finding a new home for the unreviewed journal article.
3. Tracking down weird bug in my research software that my…
May 17, 2008
My research straddles several subfields---let's call them X, Y, Q, and Z (because I'm not in the mood to come up with more descriptive terms). Z is really a minor related area, and Q is a peripherally related area, so my research basically falls into camps X and Y. Because of my particular…
May 11, 2008
In honor of Mother's Day, and in honor of the one-year anniversary of Baby Jane's appearance on Planet Earth, here, in no particular order, are the top five things I've learned from being a mom this past year. And, as a bonus, how each of these lessons can be applied to my career.
5. All plans are…
May 7, 2008
* Baby Jane is walking. I'm thrilled. And panicking. Luckily, she's still slow, but given how fast she can crawl....well, let's just say I fear for my future.
* I'm working on Part 3 in the series Is Computer Science a Science? (parts 1, 1a, and 2 here). Part 3 will cover computer science's…
May 4, 2008
Dear Extended Jane Family,
We here at Jane Family headquarters are so appreciative of the love and affection you have for and share with Baby Jane. You are all so thoughtful, and generous, and loving, that it really overwhelms us sometimes.
But... (hey, you knew there had to be a but, right?)
I…
April 30, 2008
Do you ever play the game in which you fantasize about what you would do, career-wise, if you couldn't do what you're currently doing?
I do, particularly when I'm having an especially bad week or when someone is droning on AGAIN about stupid inconsequential stuff during a meeting or when I'm buried…
April 28, 2008
If you read almost any academic blog, or Rate Your Students, or really any site that academics frequent, you'll encounter discussion, debate, and general bitching about students' lack of ability to (a) properly cite sources and (b) avoid plagiarism. Discussions with my academic friends in more…
April 27, 2008
A numerical synopsis of my weekend:
Number of sick babies in household: 1
Doses of Tylenol administered: 6
Amount of vomit cleaned up: 1 metric ton
Amount of baby snot/drool/various secretions on clothing: 3 pounds
Number of outings canceled: 3
Loads of laundry done: 1
Loads of laundry…
April 22, 2008
It's been quiet around here lately, I realize. As you can tell from the last few posts, life has been busy and angsty and not a lot of fun lately. But a very large burden has been lifted (which I may blog about at some point, once I figure out how to do so without compromising my pseudonymity),…
April 16, 2008
Not too long ago, I had lunch with one of my mentors, a senior woman in a different department who has been just an incredible resource and sounding board for me over the years. Meeting with this woman always makes me feel better: she boosts my confidence when it needs boosting, and is really…
April 13, 2008
Last night I had a bunch of dreams (or mini-dreams?) in quick succession, all with the same themes. Come to think of it, they all had pretty much the same plot, too, just different settings, situations, and characters. The dreams are pretty reflective of how I feel my life is going right now, so…
April 8, 2008
I've found myself repeating an unhealthy pattern lately.
I have what feels like an overwhelming amount of work to do. So I stay up (way too) late to make progress on some of it. I repeat this for a few days, until I either (a) get sick or (b) become so exhausted that I'm barely functional. At…
April 3, 2008
...since it does relate to my posts!
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April 3, 2008
In this next part of the strangely popular series "Is Computer Science a Science?", I'll look at whether Computer Science fits the definition of "science". (see parts 1 and 1a for the inaugural posts in the series)
Most people seem to apply a certain litmus test of sorts to determine if something…
March 30, 2008
This weekend, I went to 2 different retailers to return a couple of items. (Grandma Jane bought Baby Jane an Easter outfit that consisted of a frilly frilly dress and a delicate WHITE sweater. Now, Easter is not exactly a dress-wearing holiday in our household, and if Baby Jane wore either item…
March 27, 2008
Before I get too deeply into the Is computer science a science? series, ScienceMama suggested that I give my non-computer scientist readers an idea of what computer scientists actually do on a daily basis.
I'm going to focus on what I do as a research scientist. Hopefully some of my readers who…
March 25, 2008
You could have stayed in bed all day and gotten more accomplished than you actually did.
You are a computer scientist---someone who works with computers for a living---and can't figure out how to program a seemingly simple thing on your computer.
You have an encounter that makes you (a) seriously…
March 24, 2008
There's an old saying that my friends in other fields love to bring up from time to time: any discipline that has science in its name, probably isn't a science.
Are they right? Is there some truth in that statement?
When I started to think about this question, I thought I could get it all into…
March 19, 2008
Longtime readers of this blog are familiar with the struggles I've had to finish and submit journal articles. In particular, there are two such articles that I've been working on forever that I just couldn't seem to wrap up, for one reason or another.
Well, ahem...check out the "Stuff I should…
March 17, 2008
Dear faithful blog readers,
Please excuse Jane from regular posting for a few days. She has hit the perfect storm of multiple deadlines combined with a hell week for Mr. Jane and very poorly timed day care closures. Once she figures out which deadline can be dumped or postponed with the least…
March 13, 2008
It happens like clockwork: as spring approaches, I get hit with the uncontrollable urge to rearrange my office.
Maybe this is my really bizarre method of "spring cleaning". All I know is that once spring hits, I decide that I simply! can't! work! in my office as it's currently set up, and that it…
March 10, 2008
On an intellectual level (and a good friend reminded me of this a few days ago), I realize that when students plagiarize or otherwise cheat in a course, it has nothing to do with me.
On an emotional level, it still stings. It's hard to dissociate the action/intent from the personal.
I'm currently…