crazietalk.net

We definitely looked lackluster. It capped an okay day. My club's car show went on as planned, however it rained for 4 hours straight. As we finished cleaning up the venue, the sun came out.

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:That was ugly. Next play.

It was nasty ugly! It was almost unbearable to watch the 2nd half.

Bye Week!

Then NEXT Play with road trip to Atlanta.

Puppy is happy to be home. Lab is happy to have his puppy home again

Nice to sleep in own bed, make pot of Costa Rican freshly ground coffee this morning.

Home has its advantages.

Home is where my pets are.

YmoBeThere wrote:Home is where my pets are.

QFE.

lawgrad91 wrote:

YmoBeThere wrote:Home is where my pets are.

QFE.

I had one pet, so I was always halfway home. Traveling with a dog as big as Jester is a ... challenge.

Lee Melchioni liked my "Happy Birthday" post on his FB wall today.

YmoBeThere wrote:Home is where my pets are.

Amen, brother!

Its October 1st ! Hard to believe! Time flies by!!!!
Have a good day!!!

Hello from Kenansville. I'm rescuing LTE.

Very Duke Blue wrote:Hello from Kenansville. I'm rescuing LTE.

Go Mom! Go JK Tigers!!!

random post of no redeeming value

Has anyone seen this? I thought it was hysterical.

http://funnypicturesplus.com/fart-in-a-smart-car.html

windsor wrote:random post of no redeeming value

My middle name .

the "Karma is a Bitch, and so is RR" edition

It's been a while since I've updated my workplace saga/soap opera. To recap: over a year ago, MacGyver dumped Road Runner for a much younger woman. RR has been on a tear ever since and is basically bat crazy. She has cut MacG out of a research project that he established, with collaborators that he introduced her to. The thermostat that controls both of their offices is in her office, so she turns it up to the point where it is over 80 degrees in MacG's offfice. She has bad-mouthed him far and wide and has cut off anyone who dares to be civil with MacG. She has effectively alienated her entire research group. At this point, she has cut me entirely out of her group (which is cool with me), doing a complete 180 on publishing roughly 1000 hours worth of work and also backing off on agreeing to let me write a grant on some of the findings from my work. (The email stated that all work from the project would remain her property.)

Yesterday was a banner day. First off, I had a meeting with my new collaborator, who I need to come up with a name for, to discuss the NIH grant I'm going to be writing with him. It was a great meeting; we discussed plans for my first grant and for at least one other upcoming grant. It's a very exciting project and, I think, eminently fundable. The first grant will give lots of fodder for future studies. The methodology that I want to use is one that is commonly done in my former lab; I have an email out to my former boss to ask about paying them to generate preliminary data for me and also allowing me to hang out for a few days in order to learn the ins and outs of the work. Very exciting times, as I have a clear and solid exit strategy mapped out. It's going to happen.

The second, and even more exciting, bit of news: MacGyver found out yesterday that his H-U-G-E research grant (just over a million total, spread out over 4 years) was funded. This is a game-changer for him; it basically saves his job. Covers 50% of his salary and also gives $$ for him to hire someone to work with him. He's also covering 10% of my salary in years 3 and 4. It allows him to take on grad students. There are two that want to work for him, and RR has been trying to claim them for her lab. She's also been trying to take over MacGyver's lab space. That ain't going to happen now - if anything, she is now in far more danger of losing her space than he is. Now, here's what's funny: RR's also on the grant, to the tune of 10% salary support. RR provided some preliminary data for the grant, and she has been receiving $$ from the institution ($$ for the service contract on one of her instrument plus 40-50% salary support for Boris). For the past year, she has refused to allow Boris to finish the work - basically because he's gotten stuck doing all the work that her little pet Bar Minion refuses to do. As a result, MacGyver came up with a Plan B for the project, and RR is going to be cut from his grant. The powers-that-be who have provided funding to RR are less than happy about her actions, so that $$ will be going away.

So, here's where we are now: MacGyver has a research grant that basically solidifies his status at the institution. Road Runner runs out of money at the end of the current fiscal year (ends next August). According to my friend, who works in the grants office and has reviewed RR's grants, she will never get funding on her current trajectory. This means that she will not have $$ to pay her people, buy supplies, anything. The great irony here is that, over the past year, RR has spent a lot of energy badmouthing MacG in order to ensure that he loses his job, and she may ultimately be the one who's out the door. People are starting to realize that the situation is not entirely as she has been presenting it, and the tide is starting to turn against her.

Of course, MacG is not completely immune from karma himself. His young girlfriend has (in my opinion) been stringing him along for a long time. Personally, I suspect she's a gold digger, but I could be wrong. They haven't seen each other since early this year, I think. There was a long stretch of time where he complained that she was refusing to answer his texts/phone calls. Just as he decided to cut her loose, she called him out of the blue. He bought her a plane ticket to come visit over Labor Day weekend, and she came up with a convenient excuse to not come. He is still obsessed with her, although he says she is crazy. Weirdest relationship ever. Although I do not condone RR's response to their breakup, I personally believe MacG handled things very badly. I like to think that the current state of his relationship is a bit of karmic justice for that. As windsor is fond of saying, karma may not be swift, but her aim is true.

the "Karma is a Bitch, and so is RR" edition

It's been a while since I've updated my workplace saga/soap opera. To recap: over a year ago, MacGyver dumped Road Runner for a much younger woman. RR has been on a tear ever since and is basically bat crazy. She has cut MacG out of a research project that he established, with collaborators that he introduced her to. The thermostat that controls both of their offices is in her office, so she turns it up to the point where it is over 80 degrees in MacG's offfice. She has bad-mouthed him far and wide and has cut off anyone who dares to be civil with MacG. She has effectively alienated her entire research group. At this point, she has cut me entirely out of her group (which is cool with me), doing a complete 180 on publishing roughly 1000 hours worth of work and also backing off on agreeing to let me write a grant on some of the findings from my work. (The email stated that all work from the project would remain her property.)

Yesterday was a banner day. First off, I had a meeting with my new collaborator, who I need to come up with a name for, to discuss the NIH grant I'm going to be writing with him. It was a great meeting; we discussed plans for my first grant and for at least one other upcoming grant. It's a very exciting project and, I think, eminently fundable. The first grant will give lots of fodder for future studies. The methodology that I want to use is one that is commonly done in my former lab; I have an email out to my former boss to ask about paying them to generate preliminary data for me and also allowing me to hang out for a few days in order to learn the ins and outs of the work. Very exciting times, as I have a clear and solid exit strategy mapped out. It's going to happen.

The second, and even more exciting, bit of news: MacGyver found out yesterday that his H-U-G-E research grant (just over a million total, spread out over 4 years) was funded. This is a game-changer for him; it basically saves his job. Covers 50% of his salary and also gives $$ for him to hire someone to work with him. He's also covering 10% of my salary in years 3 and 4. It allows him to take on grad students. There are two that want to work for him, and RR has been trying to claim them for her lab. She's also been trying to take over MacGyver's lab space. That ain't going to happen now - if anything, she is now in far more danger of losing her space than he is. Now, here's what's funny: RR's also on the grant, to the tune of 10% salary support. RR provided some preliminary data for the grant, and she has been receiving $$ from the institution ($$ for the service contract on one of her instrument plus 40-50% salary support for Boris). For the past year, she has refused to allow Boris to finish the work - basically because he's gotten stuck doing all the work that her little pet Bar Minion refuses to do. As a result, MacGyver came up with a Plan B for the project, and RR is going to be cut from his grant. The powers-that-be who have provided funding to RR are less than happy about her actions, so that $$ will be going away.

So, here's where we are now: MacGyver has a research grant that basically solidifies his status at the institution. Road Runner runs out of money at the end of the current fiscal year (ends next August). According to my friend, who works in the grants office and has reviewed RR's grants, she will never get funding on her current trajectory. This means that she will not have $$ to pay her people, buy supplies, anything. The great irony here is that, over the past year, RR has spent a lot of energy badmouthing MacG in order to ensure that he loses his job, and she may ultimately be the one who's out the door. People are starting to realize that the situation is not entirely as she has been presenting it, and the tide is starting to turn against her.

Of course, MacG is not completely immune from karma himself. His young girlfriend has (in my opinion) been stringing him along for a long time. Personally, I suspect she's a gold digger, but I could be wrong. They haven't seen each other since early this year, I think. There was a long stretch of time where he complained that she was refusing to answer his texts/phone calls. Just as he decided to cut her loose, she called him out of the blue. He bought her a plane ticket to come visit over Labor Day weekend, and she came up with a convenient excuse to not come. He is still obsessed with her, although he says she is crazy. Weirdest relationship ever. Although I do not condone RR's response to their breakup, I personally believe MacG handled things very badly. I like to think that the current state of his relationship is a bit of karmic justice for that. As windsor is fond of saying, karma may not be swift, but her aim is true.

I do love me some karma.

Very very happy for you to have found work you want to do with people who do appear to bat shit crazy. Perhaps we should call the new collaborator 'LifeBoat'. lol.
RR will become much more dangerous, as desperate people do desperate things. If she sees the no funding handwriting on the wall she could get really ugly (or if she has a functioning brain cell left, map her own face saving exit strategy)

The MacG/RR thing is an exercise in why you do NOT date people you work with.

So where will this leave BarMinion? Is she tied to the deck of RR's sinking ship?

windsor wrote:I do love me some karma.

Very very happy for you to have found work you want to do with people who do appear to bat shit crazy. Perhaps we should call the new collaborator 'LifeBoat'. lol.
RR will become much more dangerous, as desperate people do desperate things. If she sees the no funding handwriting on the wall she could get really ugly (or if she has a functioning brain cell left, map her own face saving exit strategy)

The MacG/RR thing is an exercise in why you do NOT date people you work with.

So where will this leave BarMinion? Is she tied to the deck of RR's sinking ship?

Hmm. LifeBoat. I like it! LifeBoat is the former director of BGS' graduate program and is a member of her dissertation committee. As it turns out, BGS had been talking to him about the problems she's had with RR. LB knows BGS well enough to perform a mathematical operation to correct for the drama factor. Even after that, he figured out that there was something very wrong in RR's lab. I filled him in on the reasons that I am transitioning away from RR, basically providing corroboration for BGS. RR has been trying to get LB on her side in terms of BGS, so my efforts have (hopefully) circumvented that. I do fear that she will get especially nasty once RR finds out that I'm planning to work with LB - in fact, I bet she goes straight to LB and tries to bad-mouth me. I suspect it will not work.

Bar Minion is still chained to RR's sinking ship, more so than anyone else. BGS, as a grad student, will make her escape in roughly a year. Natasha's stint ends next year as well, so she's mapping an exit strategy. Boris will not have a problem finding something new. In fact, MacG wants to hire him away from RR (and Boris would like that as well), but I fear he will not be able to do so. One string with MacG's new grant is that he cannot hire non-citizens, and Boris does not have a green card. MacG fears that Boris' application will be denied and he'll be sent back to Russia. If that does not happen and my money comes through, I'd hire Boris in a heartbeat. Dude is a hard worker, and he knows his neuroscience. He'd be a natural for an Alzheimer's research project. Boris and LifeBoat get along very well, so I think both parties would be happy with that arrangement.

Edited to add: Road Runner is not going to be getting new grad students into her lab anytime soon. Grad students talk amongst themselves, and all of them have heard the stories of her treatment of BGS and the former student that she kicked out of the group (you may recall that Bar Minion sabotaged her work in order to steal her project). RR thinks she's going to get the student who did a rotation in her lab last summer. He realized that she's bat crazy, though; the phrase that he has used with regard to joining RR's lab is, "Not just no, HELL NO!" RR is still delusional enough to think that he'll be joining her lab; she's still including him in group meeting invitations. So, with regard to lab personnel, Road Runner's situation is not looking so great, and it's her own fault.

Love me some karma in the morning.

Isn't it fun to live with integrity? Well done, AD Sis!!!