Submitting applications for grants/fellowships/etc may possibly be the most insane process I have ever gone through. I submitted 2 in 2 days. I do not recommend this.
Most have switched to an online submission and this odd pdf form. The instructions for one of these grants is 166 pages long, of which 75 explain how to fill out the form. My application was a total of about 30 pages with everything included. Its not surprising that the instructions were longer than the application but twice the length? Come on people! Something is wrong with this. Also it took me an entire evening to figure out how to use the form. You have to fill in a box with your application number. Then the pdf gives you names of forms on one side of the form (the form selection side). You then have to click on each one of the forms and individually move them to the other side of the form (the side to fill out the forms). At this point the forms load at the end of the original form and you can fill them out. The form is then quite neat and makes sense. You can then upload files onto the form for other people to read and is straight forward.
Getting to that part wasted about 6 hours of my life. Perhaps this makes me dumb but I am pretty sure that the form is not easy to figure out.
Also, grants.gov is possibly the worst website I have encountered in a long time.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
many grumps
1) I decide to go get some data off of the comp of the scope I used yesterday. I got off the scope on time yesterday so the woman that was after me could get on at the time she signed up for. She was also signed up to image this afternoon. At 1pm. At 9am I sign up for an hour to get my data off the comp. I show up at 9:30 and she is there getting ready to image "I was going to get started a little early". A little early is an hour before your allotted time. Not 4. After her coming and going 3-4 times I just pulled my jump drive, left and signed up for an hour tomorrow. Scope etiquette... learn it.
2) The strap on my incredibly expensive work shoe broke at about 4:30 today. Which of course means I fell on my ass on the way home. I'm a klutz in general so this compounded with my mary-janes being turned into flip flops pretty much guaranteed I was going to fall. Fuckers. Luckily there is a good cobbler near work so I have to take them in tomorrow, since I had no spare shoes at work.
3) Again with the no parking spots at home. This time I just parked in the driveway. I may be nice and move my car in the morning.
2) The strap on my incredibly expensive work shoe broke at about 4:30 today. Which of course means I fell on my ass on the way home. I'm a klutz in general so this compounded with my mary-janes being turned into flip flops pretty much guaranteed I was going to fall. Fuckers. Luckily there is a good cobbler near work so I have to take them in tomorrow, since I had no spare shoes at work.
3) Again with the no parking spots at home. This time I just parked in the driveway. I may be nice and move my car in the morning.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Rotons
Its that time in the semester when new young people come into the lab to learn about what we do and see if they would like to be our slaves for 5-7 years.
Issues with roton 1:
In the lab we have formed a tradition of playing practical jokes on one another. Me and my grumpier-than-me labmate worked out a pretty good one on this one girl. The target of our joke then introduced herself to roton 1. Roton one then says "oh yeah. I know. They messed with your blah blah" thus foiling our awesome plan. If she does it again I'm kicking her out of the fucking window.
Issues with roton 2:
She talks/gossips/chatters ALL THE TIME!!!! On the phone, with 14 of her other roton friends, to us... the list goes on. Sometimes its completely adorable since she's gushing about science, but most of the time its about how drunk she got at her recruitment weekend and how she almost missed her interviews. I'm currently trying very hard not to rip the phone out of her hand and fling it in to a wall.
Perhaps they will grow on me. But most likely not.
Issues with roton 1:
In the lab we have formed a tradition of playing practical jokes on one another. Me and my grumpier-than-me labmate worked out a pretty good one on this one girl. The target of our joke then introduced herself to roton 1. Roton one then says "oh yeah. I know. They messed with your blah blah" thus foiling our awesome plan. If she does it again I'm kicking her out of the fucking window.
Issues with roton 2:
She talks/gossips/chatters ALL THE TIME!!!! On the phone, with 14 of her other roton friends, to us... the list goes on. Sometimes its completely adorable since she's gushing about science, but most of the time its about how drunk she got at her recruitment weekend and how she almost missed her interviews. I'm currently trying very hard not to rip the phone out of her hand and fling it in to a wall.
Perhaps they will grow on me. But most likely not.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Phones
At the university where I am currently working you cannot dial any number off campus without our 7 digit code. Even toll free numbers.
This wouldn't be horrible if this number worked most of the time. It does not. I think I have successfully dialed out 2 or 3 times. I now just use my cell phone, but only after i pick up the lab phone, remember it sucks and put it back in the holder cursing. This number also doesn't work for faxes. I have to try a number of different variations of waiting between entering the 3 different sets of numbers I need to enter and how fast I type these numbers in until it goes. Then of course I don't trust this machine since it takes me 14 tries to get the fax to "send" I need to do this whole dance twice separated by at least 2 minutes. If I try to send the fax immediately after the phone will go to the nice recorded lady that tells me that I dialed incorrectly.
I just need to make my cell phone send faxes. Then I won't ever have to deal with entering the code over and over and over again.
This wouldn't be horrible if this number worked most of the time. It does not. I think I have successfully dialed out 2 or 3 times. I now just use my cell phone, but only after i pick up the lab phone, remember it sucks and put it back in the holder cursing. This number also doesn't work for faxes. I have to try a number of different variations of waiting between entering the 3 different sets of numbers I need to enter and how fast I type these numbers in until it goes. Then of course I don't trust this machine since it takes me 14 tries to get the fax to "send" I need to do this whole dance twice separated by at least 2 minutes. If I try to send the fax immediately after the phone will go to the nice recorded lady that tells me that I dialed incorrectly.
I just need to make my cell phone send faxes. Then I won't ever have to deal with entering the code over and over and over again.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
parking spots
I have a busy block. Lots of people live on it and every house has on average 3 cars. That with the drug dealers a few houses down sometimes its hard to find a spot, especially on the weekends, but there is usually at least one on the block somewhere close-ish to my house.
Last night there were NO spots on my block or the cross streets. I had to park 2 blocks away. This wouldn't be horrible normally. But having my laundry to carry and idiots to deal with while they smoke weed in the middle of the street made it aggravating. At least they stopped their thumping music out of their cars early.
Last night there were NO spots on my block or the cross streets. I had to park 2 blocks away. This wouldn't be horrible normally. But having my laundry to carry and idiots to deal with while they smoke weed in the middle of the street made it aggravating. At least they stopped their thumping music out of their cars early.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Utilities
Allstate - Stop charging me so damn much for crappy car insurance. I can get crappy car insurance for 1/2 the price from Geico. Also take the money I owe you out of my bank account. I keep getting excited for having so much money then remember I haven't paid you yet. Also let me into my account online. Its been almost a month since I switched states for insurance. I should be able to look at my account online.
Comcast - Just let me into my account with out me having to enter the same set of user name/password combos 4 times before realizing that the first one I entered was in fact correct. Also why do my bills go up by a few cents each month?
Gas/electricity - Stop costing so much.
California - Stop taking more money each month. I got a tiny raise and you are eating away at it an extra 3 bucks every month. That's coffee bitches!
Credit cards - I hate you less than the others this month so you get off... for now.
Phone - I love you. You can do me no wrong. *hugs new iphone*
Comcast - Just let me into my account with out me having to enter the same set of user name/password combos 4 times before realizing that the first one I entered was in fact correct. Also why do my bills go up by a few cents each month?
Gas/electricity - Stop costing so much.
California - Stop taking more money each month. I got a tiny raise and you are eating away at it an extra 3 bucks every month. That's coffee bitches!
Credit cards - I hate you less than the others this month so you get off... for now.
Phone - I love you. You can do me no wrong. *hugs new iphone*
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