October 2021 – Page 2

Write, rest, edit, rest, edit, (…), submit!

I ended this rather productive day today with a supervision meeting. In this case, it concerned a PhD candidate I co-supervise, together with a colleague in the UK. This particular project is almost coming to an end. Around the new year, the three-year contract will run out. Having said that, the candidate is in aContinue reading “Write, rest, edit, rest, edit, (…), submit!”

I’m almost back to normal

I swear this afternoon I had a great idea for a blog post for today. I realize now that I really should’ve written it down. I promise that one day, when it comes back to me, I’ll write it up. It’s gonna be great. So what can I say? I got nothing! My head isContinue reading “I’m almost back to normal”

My entomologist’s office

My office got a bit of a makeover. It was born out of necessity, but I may actually like it better this way. As I wrote a few days back, one of my team members has been working really hard over the past few weeks to establish a healthy culture of two aphid species. TheyContinue reading “My entomologist’s office”

Bye bye old friend

Today was just a fucking shit day. I have no better words for it. Today, I brought my cat to the vet, and I asked them to end her life. It’s not easy taking the life or death decision for an animal that has been your loyal companion for 15 years. When I was 20,Continue reading “Bye bye old friend”

The horror of ecological experiments

Lately, me and a PhD researcher in our team were having some struggles in our project. As is often the case when you’re working with live organisms (Ecology, Yay!), things can go wrong, due unexpected organismal misbehavior. And if things CAN go wrong, they DO go wrong. Murphy’s law is the only universal truth inContinue reading “The horror of ecological experiments”

Autumn, sycamores, and mountains

Last year around this time we agreed with friends from Freising that we should go to the mountains in autumn. In particular, we wanted to see the wonderful coloration of the sycamore trees that are about to drop their leaves in preparation for winter. Then the covid situation took a turn for the worse, andContinue reading “Autumn, sycamores, and mountains”

Disrupted schedules – the new norm?

Finally, it’s Friday – and even better, it’s over. I needed this weekend so bad! I thought I had seen the worst of the ‘after parental-leave storm’ last week. Specifically, a minor revision had to be dealt with and resubmitted (still stuck in ‘submitted to journal’ stage), as well as the usual parade of emailsContinue reading “Disrupted schedules – the new norm?”

The all-white situation…

I am a big fan of diversity in all forms. Maybe that’s also why I like variegated plants so much. What better than a little deviation from the monotonous green? (To be fair, green is one of the better colours in monotony, but even green works better if the tones are diverse.) A little whileContinue reading “The all-white situation…”

Cornsnake Update (pt. 1)

I wrote some time ago about a couple of new additions to the household. I have kept snakes for the majority of the past 25 years, although over the past three years or so, I have owned none. My PhD kept me busy enough, and I could not really divide my attention enough to careContinue reading “Cornsnake Update (pt. 1)”

At least give me a garden, please

A buddy of mine talked to me recently about the crazy housing prices in the Netherlands. They’re in the process of buying, and well, on the one hand they benefit from a steep profit on the sale of their current home, but on the other they also suffer from having to spend probably twice theirContinue reading “At least give me a garden, please”