December 2021 – Page 2

Gratitude

Since 2021, ‘my’ team has taken a bit more shape. Last year around this time, the team consisted of one PhD and one technician, and a part-time student helper. I was pretty happy with it, obviously, but as there was only one PhD researcher, there was little room for fostering collaborations, and side projects. However,Continue reading “Gratitude”

Only six months in, and already messing up

I found out today that I’ve been assigned a couple of manuscripts as an editor, and I have not received any notification about them at all. These manuscript central systems (and equivalents) suck so badly. Whenever I am asked to review something in these systems, I get a hundred reminders, but when I’m assigned toContinue reading “Only six months in, and already messing up”

Frozen to death

Minus six was not enough to turn us into popsicles. Instead, we woke up quite well-rested and fit, ate breakfast and spent the day out in the cold. I managed to take a couple of snaps before my phone froze to a coma. I managed to revive it with warmth, and saved the memories ofContinue reading “Frozen to death”

Minus six

I’m a little bit nervous. As I write this, I’m parked on a snow-covered camper lot on the shores of the Sylvenstein reservoir. I’m putting my son Rafa to bed in the high roof bed. Heike and Lara are below me on the ground floor bed. It’s been awhile since we camped out, so RafaContinue reading “Minus six”

Surprising end of the day…

This day I literally spent on Zoom from 8.30am to about 7.30pm. My God. That was long. We started with the heavy part, 2.5 hours of discussion of a preliminary grant proposal that’s supposed to be submitted somewhere next year. Interesting ideas, with a lot of potential, and also potential for improvement, and I’m curiousContinue reading “Surprising end of the day…”

Little chairs and unrestricted thinking

I was lazy and tired today, and I didn’t feel like cooking, so we ordered pizza for dinner. Yeah, I know. Nobody cares what I had for dinner, but I’m gonna tell it anyway. (It was pretty good pizza though.) This particular place – Helmut Pizza in Freising – delivers pretty decent and huge pizzas.Continue reading “Little chairs and unrestricted thinking”

Appreciated

Today was probably the most rewarding day I’ve had in my entire time in academia. Okay, perhaps minus the day I defended my PhD. That was pretty rewarding and memorable too. But certainly this was a close second. As I wrote before, my office space is slowly turning into a entomology lab. It is homeContinue reading “Appreciated”

Impossible to miss it

There has been no escaping it over the past couple of days. Twitter was full of it. I so much wanted to be there. Yet, writing this safely from home, I’m so glad that I’m not there now. This year’s annual British Ecological Society meeting. I love them. Don’t get me wrong. I just don’tContinue reading “Impossible to miss it”

How to fix a broken system?

Today, I received the message that a dear colleague collaborator would be leaving science, as a career opportunity in another sector managed to win them over. With this, academia – again – will lose a very talented, smart and kind woman in science. I say again, because it is not the first time I haveContinue reading “How to fix a broken system?”

I forgot it was Sunday…

Today we wanted to enjoy the snow once more, after getting a little teaser yesterday. We decided we would go to one of our favorite reachable spots to hike – snow or no snow; the Spitsingsee lake. Yesterday, we encountered only a few people. Yesterday was dull and grey. Yesterday was also Saturday, shopping dayContinue reading “I forgot it was Sunday…”