What?? Is it really May already??

To get back in the swing of things*- bullets!

• I finished all my data collection on time. It is so good to be done with that portion of the project. Up next, my deadline to analyze all that data is the end of May.
• I had to give a journal club presentation about a topic that I really don't like. I was volunteered for it against my will. It went alright, I think. This journal club is so weird. There is never any discussion. It is really just a space for students to practice presenting by presenting other people's papers. My topic required discussion and was far removed from the theme of the journal club. I think this made it more enjoyable for the students but it all made me very unsure of myself. I didn't know if the profs would dislike the sudden change in format. It was the last meeting of the semester so at least we ended with some fun discussion.
• There is another presentation coming up this week. My big, 5 months late introduction to the department by way of research seminar! I am really, really excited to share what I did for my diss with this department. It is very different from what I do here and no one really does anything similar. Hopefully that will make it a fun talk. I am planning on giving my dissertation defense talk with a few slides added to tie in how I got to the lab I am currently in. Can't wait for Wednesday! Oh, and my PI is coming in for the first time since she had her baby! 
• The Grackle is currently in the deep south doing work. A 100 lbs dog, two cats and I are all smooshed into my tiny apartment for the week. My downstairs neighbor doesn't hate me yet, but let's see how she feels by Friday!
• The circle of friends from work that I have fallen into continue to amaze me. They all do so much more stuff than I ever did as a student. Pretty much every day that I am in town, someone is doing something. Be it potluck dinner parties (once a week), rock climbing (once or twice a week), crafting (usually weekends), meeting up for certain TV shows or this mornings' farmers market there is always something to do. I am enjoying the company and doing new, fun things but I have no idea when these people get work done! 
• So many postdoc-ing things going on in my head. Please, stay tuned!

* I really need to figure out how to blog regularly or give this up. I hate the cycle of not posting, then feeling guilty for not posting then postponing posting even more. Ugh. It sucks. I'm going to try to post everyday this week. Hopefully that will snap me back into things here.

InaDWriMo and Presentation

For all practical purposes, I've reached my goals and am done with InaWriMo for this year. My gratitude to Dr. Brazen Hussy for organizing again this year! The friendly competition added just a little extra to my deadline driven motivations to write. Plus, I wouldn't have counted words without it and seeing my progress also provided a little boost of much needed confidence each day. 

Since sending the document to my committee, I have been putting together my talk. In my department, there is a public lecture followed by a private defense with the committee. I really enjoy giving talks, but this one is particularly challenging because it requires a lot of balance. 

The department is very broad so I need to make sure everyone understands it without compromising the complex theoretical underpinnings of the research. Also, I need to balance the details with the big picture. My number one complaint about defenses I've seen is that they do not effectively convey why I should care about their research or where it fits in the greater scheme of our field. Now I am seeing how difficult it can be to compromise another slide of data for this larger background. 

Then there is the PPT issue. I'm very picky about the aesthetics of presentations and am not 100% happy with any color scheme I've tried thus far. I really like the dark grey background with green and blue text and highlights that I've been using for about a year now....but it isn't new and fresh since I've used it for the past year. I even tried to make a color scheme that resembles to blog here! Unfortunately, it makes my figures look bland. 

So, great interwebs...I ask your advice. What is the number one recommendation for the content of a dissertation lecture and what is the best PPT color scheme you've ever used?

Conference recovery weekend

We (as a lab) made it back from our conference in one piece, although some of us-not me, of course ;) more hungover than others. It was just the second conference for my labmate, Short-toed Eagle. Last year he was very ill throughout our trip so didn't have much fun but made up for it this year! My other labmate, Red Phalarope, and I have both been there ourselves in our younger years but were happy to avoid the drinking-too-much this time around.

I had a great time socially and professionally. Most importantly was my talk. It ended up being in the worst room and my session was at the same time as a session filled with famous people on a related topic. I was still happy with the turnout and seeing a few key people who made sure to be there. The talk itself has gone smoother (I've presented it twice before and was a little nervous this time around) but overall, very pleased with it. Even more pleased that it was over early in the conference so I could relax, enjoy the science and focus on networking.

More on that later, I need to enjoy being home and watch the Olympics right now!