Time of the Month

Beautiful Day

Hello 2023!

Welcome to a new year and a new era of the blog. Considering that all 3 people who apparently read this voted that they want more of the same, I’ve decided to completely change things up for the new year. Because I do what I want.

I think I'll still be updating monthly since that seems to be working out well. I welcome any feedback on the changes I’ve made, positive or negative, including anything I’ve taken out that you would like me to bring back.

Well, this year started off strong already.

Highlights:

The manuscript I submitted was accepted! With no changes needed.
After more than a year, two major revisions and two outright rejections. About damn time.

I've decided to take a promotion starting next month, instead of extending my current position for another year. Not just a promotion... this new position is a shift in my career trajectory, moving off of the traditional academic path to tenured professor. I already know that’s not what I want. Having been in academia since I was 4 years old, with no breaks, I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this move. But I'm pretty sure it's the right one.

Lowlights:

My PI was back for less than a week, and already tested positive for COVID. She met individually with every person in the lab during that time. Fortunately, with masks. No one else has tested positive yet, but her four-month-old now has congestion and a fever.

Looks like I’m substitute PI again for another week or two. Unless I get sick. Who’s going to be substitute to the substitute PI?

And now for a new section of the blog I like to call “Myth of the Month”, or M.O.M., in which I clear up a common misconception, and you get to learn something new or feel smart for already knowing it. A win-win situation!

This month’s misconception is in honor of dry January.

 

“Alcohol makes you warmer, so drink if you’re cold.”

Alcohol only makes you feel warmer, due to dilation of the blood vessels bringing blood to the skin. This causes the sensation of being warm, while actually lowering your core body temperature. You've probably noticed that alcohol also feels warm going down. The "burn" you feel after a shot of tequila is because alcohol triggers the nerve receptors that normally detect heat. This tricks you into thinking the liquid is hot even at room temperature. (Mint has a similar effect on cold receptors.)

Alcohol also reduces your ability to shiver and regain lost body heat, making it even more dangerous to drink in very cold weather. Another common misconception is that knowing this will stop anyone from drinking in the cold. Cheers to that!

Read more here  .

 

Did anyone out there do dry January? I can’t say I meant to, but now that I look back… I don’t think I've had a drink at all this month. I suppose there’s still time. I might be the only one who’s been drinking less since the pandemic began. I understand if the last three years have made you want to drink yourself into oblivion, believe me. I guess I just don’t enjoy drinking alone. And I don’t think I’ve ever been more alone, in the literal sense, than these last few years.

The irony is, I'm probably not alone in that statement. We are in the midst of a pandemic of loneliness, on top of an actual pandemic, and we've been isolated to the point it seems people are forgetting how to socialize and how to behave properly in public.

But that may be a topic for another blog.

Now I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions because I don’t normally keep New Year’s resolutions, but I have been making some changes that I think will make my daily life a little better. My focus for this year is to take better care of myself, including doing things that are unpleasant, hard, or even scary if I know it will be good for my current or future self.

So far, so good. 2023 has really been my year. I'm afraid I may have peaked already, and it's only January.
What’s left for the next 11 months?

I hope everyone else has had a good start to 2023!

Instead of some Positivitea™, here's what I've been listening to this month:

"Beautiful Day" by U2



What you don't have, you don't need it now.