“Leisure time is too precious to be totally leisurely about leisure.” - Laura Vanderkam in "Tranquility by Tuesday" The other day, my 7 year old daughter was talking to our babysitter about the books she is currently reading in school. I was deeply engrossed in my computer work on the couch nearby, when she suddenly... Continue Reading →
Illusion of control Today I want to talk about control. You might find it laughable after the last 2+ years we have been through, but all of us seek it nevertheless. While I am not the most organized person, I have always been big on scheduling. When it comes to my own schedule, I plan... Continue Reading →
Science is hard. 98.5% of the time it doesn't cooperate. And that can really hurt your ego. Even knowing that it's normal to expect only a tiny percentage of your experiments to work often doesn't help. And while years of experience can help slightly stack the odds in your favor, science always catches you off... Continue Reading →
In February, we went on a ski trip to Canada where we also celebrated our older daughter's 12th birthday. Her birthday always falls on the school winter break and virtually every year our family goes skiing during that time, which means that we tend to celebrate it for a whole week. This year, the kids... Continue Reading →
A few years ago, I got myself into a bit of a pickle at work. I am a secret self-improvement book/webinar/lecture junkie. I live by books like "Getting Things Done" by David Allen, "168 Hours: You have more time than you think" by Laura Vanderkam, and Austin Kleon's series of books for artists. It is... Continue Reading →
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”-William Arthur Ward This quote was put up on a screen at our Chief Scientific Officer's retirement party back in 2017. While the party was very nice and well-intentioned on the surface, in reality it was a forced retirement.... Continue Reading →
“Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.”- Leonardo da Vinci I haven't heard this quote before. By some strange coincidence I accidentally came across it only a few weeks ago, as I was thinking of writing a... Continue Reading →
Over the last couple of months, I have fallen off the face of the earth. Again. At least off of the blogosphere anyway. It has been a crazy couple of months for me, to say the least. Work has been stressful and I was in the process of being interviewed for a new job. Not... Continue Reading →
Juggling work, kids and NeuroBead, I often sit down to write a blog post in unusual places. This week for example, I am writing from my daughter’s gymnastics studio, where I get an hour of peace and quiet while she is in class. Just as I sat down and started looking through my notes about... Continue Reading →
"Thinking outside the box" has become a bit of a cliché. But in science it is more important than ever. As the base of human knowledge propels ahead with lightning speed, it takes a special set of skills and knowledge to be on the cutting edge of innovation. When I was in graduate school, there... Continue Reading →
SciArt that’ll make you feel Smart 