Except for the tree killers.....

This damn progress report is......

DONE!

Now I have to wait until 5 to see if I can get it into the FedEx today or not. After that it's serious drinking time.

Suppose I should go and get something to eat first since my lunch consisted of a diet coke (with lime).

Next time, RTFM!!!

Generally I despise reading instructions for something as simple as a progress report (especially when it's a 28 page instruction book). However, in trying to finish the progress report, some issues came up:

How long does it have to be? Uhh, my first answer is if the report two years ago was 4 pages, and last years was 4 pages, 4 pages would be a safe bet.

Do we need to make copies? My first answer is always to not waste a tree.

Unfortunately, I learned today that I should have read the damn book first. First of all, the text should be no longer than 2 pages using Arial 11 point font (piece of cake). Then, I found that I do need to include two copies. Finally, as I'm stressing over out dated biosketches, I find the line "include biosketch only if adding new personnell".

Damn.

So why can't I get the report in FedEx today? Because the University needs to sign off on the report, and they won't sign it unless next years buget looks okay.

Bastards. The budget is going to change anyway because most likely they'll give us a 3-5% increase. So you want to go through the routing process. Then redo it all over again in January when we have a new budget.

Tree killers. If I had known they were this anal, I would have sent them the budget last week when I finished it.

ethics in stem cells

I'm surprised that I am just reading about this now. For all the publicity this researcher got in the summer with his success in cloning, I thought the MSM was more interested in a fall from grace.

The irony is that when I first heard of the cloning success, my first question was "wow, how do they get that many women to donate eggs?"

I don't see a problem with this specific situtation. People contribute things for their work environment all the time. Sure this isn't a coffee cup, or decorations. But I understand the spirit in which their donation was given. Heck, I might have done the same if I was working in that lab.

For example, we are conducting a study on the effect of genetics in "training" immune cells to develop into Type 1 diabetes. We use blood from people that have Type 1 diabetes, family members that don't have diabetes, and regular people. There was never any pressure from any of us to contribute blood, though almost all have. I was exempt because of my crappy veins from all my years of IV's and blood draws. Still even though they are now interested in me because my DQ8 is screwed up due to my celiac I still have not been pressured to donate blood for research.