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Contains the usual round of cats, kids, a little bit more work than usual because I spent a lot of time in the lab, and a quick trip to Cornwall.
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Contains the usual round of cats, kids, a little bit more work than usual because I spent a lot of time in the lab, and a quick trip to Cornwall.
Somehow I have failed to post since 10th June, despite having posts written after the last weekly roundup. Life has been a bit stressful lately for a number of reasons but it is getting a little better now. The summer holidays are less than a month away, for both the children and for us.
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1. Are you happy with your current line of work? What do you like/don't like about it?
Ha. Hahaha. I mean, that is a hell of a question. My line of work is the main subject of my locked entries, which are basically a long paean of the many and varied feelings I have about it. The architecture of academia is hugely problematic. I have never been so taxed, drained, and overwhelmed by any other job. At the same time, I have never been so utterly absorbed and satisfied by my work in my life.
2. Do you see yourself doing the same type of work in 5 years? What about 10?
I’m going to be infuriatingly non-committal here and say that only time will tell.
3. Did you see yourself doing this type of work 5 years ago? What about 10?
Absolutely and unequivocally not. I had no intention of becoming an academic, nor any sense that this was a realistic prospect.
4. Did you have a dream job as a child? What was it?
I can remember wanting to be a lot of things. A veterinarian. A medical doctor. (Both of these ended abruptly when I eventually worked out how squidgy medicine is.) An Olympic dressage competitor. (Our neighbours had horses. I have only ever ridden a horse a handful of times. But I liked the dream.) A writer. A Nobel-prize-winning chemist. An inventor. An astronaut. I’m not sure how pleased six-year-old me would be if they could see me now.
5. If you had to pick a radically different job from what you have now, regardless of whether you'd realistically be able to do it given your skillset, what would you pick and why?
Wealthy philanthropist, photographer, and dilettante artist living in an airy flat with my family and cats in a vibrant city. That would be quite nice.
Ha. Hahaha. I mean, that is a hell of a question. My line of work is the main subject of my locked entries, which are basically a long paean of the many and varied feelings I have about it. The architecture of academia is hugely problematic. I have never been so taxed, drained, and overwhelmed by any other job. At the same time, I have never been so utterly absorbed and satisfied by my work in my life.
2. Do you see yourself doing the same type of work in 5 years? What about 10?
I’m going to be infuriatingly non-committal here and say that only time will tell.
3. Did you see yourself doing this type of work 5 years ago? What about 10?
Absolutely and unequivocally not. I had no intention of becoming an academic, nor any sense that this was a realistic prospect.
4. Did you have a dream job as a child? What was it?
I can remember wanting to be a lot of things. A veterinarian. A medical doctor. (Both of these ended abruptly when I eventually worked out how squidgy medicine is.) An Olympic dressage competitor. (Our neighbours had horses. I have only ever ridden a horse a handful of times. But I liked the dream.) A writer. A Nobel-prize-winning chemist. An inventor. An astronaut. I’m not sure how pleased six-year-old me would be if they could see me now.
5. If you had to pick a radically different job from what you have now, regardless of whether you'd realistically be able to do it given your skillset, what would you pick and why?
Wealthy philanthropist, photographer, and dilettante artist living in an airy flat with my family and cats in a vibrant city. That would be quite nice.
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As usual, the cats feature heavily. Not much travel in this one except at the very end. One big highlight for me is my masters students disassembling and re-assembling a sounding rocket experiment in the CubeSat facility.
I went to Kenya!
My first (and only) trip to Kenya was in 2010, so I was glued to the window of the taxi for the entire journey from the airport to Kenyatta University campus. The amount of development that's taken place in those 13 years is astonishing. A forest of tall modern buildings sprouted downtown. The roads (thank goodness) now have central reservations, pavements, and pedestrian bridges so there were no repeats of the tragic accidents we witnessed on the roads during the previous trip. I was dreading those in the days preceding the trip, as I had lingering nightmares about them after returning home in 2010. There are safe, wide-laned elevated highways (toll roads) crossing the city, which afford fast passage through congested areas and excellent views of said development.
[Leaving Dubai]
[First glimpses of downtown Nairobi]
The campus was new to both the bloke and me. He has been to Nairobi on numerous occasions for his work on East African air quality, but usually goes to Nairobi University. The conference centre, which included our accommodation block, was located at the edge of the campus' vast acreage. Other than the distant roar of traffic, it didn't feel as if it were in the city. Around 70,000 students attend each year. Most live on campus. Since it was still the summer break and the students weren't there, it felt even more remote. We could see the marabou storks roosting atop the acacia trees outside our windows, and were awakened by the dawn chorus of weaverbirds and flycatchers.
[Marabou storks roosting]
[Yellow flycatchers and their nests]
We arrived in time to catch the last session of the first day of the training workshop we were there to help deliver. Afterwards we went to dinner with the organisers. The dining area was all of about 20 metres from the conference hall. We noshed on tasty Kenyan fare (for me, ugali, lentils and spinach), washed down with, successively, sugary tea, Tusker (Kenyan lager) and Jack Daniels gold label whisky that the main American organiser had procured from duty free (whattaguy).
I was a little stressed about delivering my session on space-based datasets since it was at 8 AM the next morning so partook only lightly of the booze. Thankfully I needn't have worried too much as it went well and I got good engagement in the room and online. It segued nicely into the bloke's and Robin's sessions. They brought things back to the ground (fnarr) and into the room, as Robin did a demo of his awesome light painting technique, which visualises the particulate matter in the room (PM2.5). I later got to help him make some paintings at dusk, with the storks in the background.
[Light painting prep]
[Livestream of light painting from the conference room]
[Light painting at dusk]
Demob happy, we enjoyed the afternoon session and a rerun of the Kenyan food, Tusker and whisky. Having sleep very little the previous two nights due to flying and then anxiety, I turned in hours before the lads did. Unfortunately, most of them were struck down by food poisoning the next day. I congratulated myself on avoiding it, having eschewed all meat and dairy since arriving. This would later turn out to be hubristic.
After Wednesday morning's sessions, those of us from US and UK universities were swept onto a bus and carted to the Administration Complex to have a formal meeting, and tea, with members of the University executive board. We caught the tail end of the afternoon sessions, and turned in early after a quiet meal.
Thursday was our final day. Unfortunately for me, it was also A-level results day, and as I am still nominally the admissions tutor for my department, my attention was divided between C&C activities and the workshop. Nevertheless I enjoyed the pre-lunch sessions, which were to be our last at the workshop.
Word had got round that we were leaving that evening, so the bloke and I had a very busy networking lunch while everyone got a last word in with us. Once that was finished, we hopped in a Uber with Robin to visit the giraffe sanctuary. Unfortunately we managed to get the slowest driver in the world. He was in a battered Nissan leaf and clearly trying to eke the last bit of life out of the thing. A journey that should have been a little over an hour was dragged out into almost two, not least because he got lost. That left us about 40 minutes to feed the giraffes. We opted to skip all the informative plaques and videos and go straight to them. It was worth it.
[Beware giraffe headbutts]
[Giraffes loitering]
[Snooty giraffe was my favourite]
The bloke and I hopped into what turned out to be a much newer Uber piloted by a satisfyingly kamikaze driver who got us back to campus far more efficiently, despite the traffic and missing the exit first time round.
We showered, packed, and checked out. Our third Uber driver arrived to cart us to the airport, which happily transpired without incident or deviation. At the airport, I made my fatal mistake and ate a non vegetarian samosa, thus ensuring a very uncomfortable journey home, from which I have now recovered. Huzzah. Also, the end.
[I’m standing at a lectern, woo]
My first (and only) trip to Kenya was in 2010, so I was glued to the window of the taxi for the entire journey from the airport to Kenyatta University campus. The amount of development that's taken place in those 13 years is astonishing. A forest of tall modern buildings sprouted downtown. The roads (thank goodness) now have central reservations, pavements, and pedestrian bridges so there were no repeats of the tragic accidents we witnessed on the roads during the previous trip. I was dreading those in the days preceding the trip, as I had lingering nightmares about them after returning home in 2010. There are safe, wide-laned elevated highways (toll roads) crossing the city, which afford fast passage through congested areas and excellent views of said development.
[Leaving Dubai]
[First glimpses of downtown Nairobi]
The campus was new to both the bloke and me. He has been to Nairobi on numerous occasions for his work on East African air quality, but usually goes to Nairobi University. The conference centre, which included our accommodation block, was located at the edge of the campus' vast acreage. Other than the distant roar of traffic, it didn't feel as if it were in the city. Around 70,000 students attend each year. Most live on campus. Since it was still the summer break and the students weren't there, it felt even more remote. We could see the marabou storks roosting atop the acacia trees outside our windows, and were awakened by the dawn chorus of weaverbirds and flycatchers.
[Marabou storks roosting]
[Yellow flycatchers and their nests]
We arrived in time to catch the last session of the first day of the training workshop we were there to help deliver. Afterwards we went to dinner with the organisers. The dining area was all of about 20 metres from the conference hall. We noshed on tasty Kenyan fare (for me, ugali, lentils and spinach), washed down with, successively, sugary tea, Tusker (Kenyan lager) and Jack Daniels gold label whisky that the main American organiser had procured from duty free (whattaguy).
I was a little stressed about delivering my session on space-based datasets since it was at 8 AM the next morning so partook only lightly of the booze. Thankfully I needn't have worried too much as it went well and I got good engagement in the room and online. It segued nicely into the bloke's and Robin's sessions. They brought things back to the ground (fnarr) and into the room, as Robin did a demo of his awesome light painting technique, which visualises the particulate matter in the room (PM2.5). I later got to help him make some paintings at dusk, with the storks in the background.
[Light painting prep]
[Livestream of light painting from the conference room]
[Light painting at dusk]
Demob happy, we enjoyed the afternoon session and a rerun of the Kenyan food, Tusker and whisky. Having sleep very little the previous two nights due to flying and then anxiety, I turned in hours before the lads did. Unfortunately, most of them were struck down by food poisoning the next day. I congratulated myself on avoiding it, having eschewed all meat and dairy since arriving. This would later turn out to be hubristic.
After Wednesday morning's sessions, those of us from US and UK universities were swept onto a bus and carted to the Administration Complex to have a formal meeting, and tea, with members of the University executive board. We caught the tail end of the afternoon sessions, and turned in early after a quiet meal.
Thursday was our final day. Unfortunately for me, it was also A-level results day, and as I am still nominally the admissions tutor for my department, my attention was divided between C&C activities and the workshop. Nevertheless I enjoyed the pre-lunch sessions, which were to be our last at the workshop.
Word had got round that we were leaving that evening, so the bloke and I had a very busy networking lunch while everyone got a last word in with us. Once that was finished, we hopped in a Uber with Robin to visit the giraffe sanctuary. Unfortunately we managed to get the slowest driver in the world. He was in a battered Nissan leaf and clearly trying to eke the last bit of life out of the thing. A journey that should have been a little over an hour was dragged out into almost two, not least because he got lost. That left us about 40 minutes to feed the giraffes. We opted to skip all the informative plaques and videos and go straight to them. It was worth it.
[Beware giraffe headbutts]
[Giraffes loitering]
[Snooty giraffe was my favourite]
The bloke and I hopped into what turned out to be a much newer Uber piloted by a satisfyingly kamikaze driver who got us back to campus far more efficiently, despite the traffic and missing the exit first time round.
We showered, packed, and checked out. Our third Uber driver arrived to cart us to the airport, which happily transpired without incident or deviation. At the airport, I made my fatal mistake and ate a non vegetarian samosa, thus ensuring a very uncomfortable journey home, from which I have now recovered. Huzzah. Also, the end.
[I’m standing at a lectern, woo]
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It’s such a pleasure* to have regular reminders that when you become a lecturer, people don’t automatically stop being horribly sexist at you.
Yesterday, I was in my department’s Education Support Office [ESO], chatting to one of the ESO officers while he located the exam paperwork I needed so I could go off and spend the morning marking them.
As we chatted, someone walked in. I didn’t notice them and I don’t think the ESO officer did either. We were at the back of the office, well behind the reception desk.
We noticed them when this person started shouting at us in the middle of our conversation, as I was signing out the exam scripts. Well, they shouted at me. “Excuse me, Miss, can you come over here,” they snapped. I turned and stared at them, appalled, and didn’t say anything. The ESO officer put on his most professional poker face and said firmly, “I’ll be with you in a moment.”
Was this person put off by that? Spoiler alert: They were not. “I am a new research associate in [professor’s name]’s group. I am looking for [professional services person]. I need to meet them now.” They stared at me. I still didn’t say anything.
The ESO officer replied, “Just wait there. I’ll be with you when we’re finished.”
We turned our backs on the person, who turned very reluctantly away and went out of the office to wait outside. When I left, I sailed past them with my arms full of exam scripts and did not look at them as I went downstairs to my office.
To the person: Do not assume that everyone standing in a professional services office is there to serve you on command. Especially not the women.
To colleagues who do not check whether the people they are hiring are sexist pricks: I don’t care how great they may be as researchers. Please stop hiring sexist pricks.
To the ESO officer: You are a gem. Thank you for your support.
* please note heavy sarcasm
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I had my Year 1 tutees make cyanotypes in their most recent group tutorial. I asked them to make images of their favourite things they'd learned about in the first year so far. They took the prints home with them, but I kept the transparencies so I can make copies.
I have had the most fantastic day in London at the Royal Academy of Engineering but I'm also exhausted after a full day of interacting with quite a large number of people. Please have a photo of a small and well positioned sculpture in the building.
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