Friday, May 10, 2013

In Which I Wonder

I occasionally glance at my blog stats.  Some of the people who come back and read everything, I know in real life, or I've been reading their blogs for years.  (Hello, Anchorage!  And Squamish!  And lots of other places!)  Some of them are clearly googlers (Islamabad, Tokyo, Finland, Indonesia).

And some are a great mystery to me: people who apparently read frequently, but I have not the faintest idea who they could be.
Where's Waldo?

There's a couple people at Snooty U (you just got a new president who used to be the provost, if that gives you a hint who you are); I wonder who.  There's someone in Boston, someone in Worchestershire, and someone apparently at ExxonMobil.  There's someone at a Wetlands Research Center, and someone in Belgium.  Someone in Florida, and someone in LA.

You all pique my curiosity, you do.

42 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:55 AM

    tenured bio faculty member with 2 little kids. i enjoy what you write!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:14 PM

    We met a while ago, back when I was a 1st or 2nd year at SnootyU. Finally graduating in 10 days! And have regularly kept up with your blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mazal tov! That was a long bloody time ago. Your stupid department and their stupid 2-paper rule... remember the time Jackass Chair suggested they should all be C/N/S papers? Yeah. Anyhow! Hurrah for you!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous1:43 PM

    I have an unusually large readership in Indonesia. Go figure!

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  4. Anonymous3:37 PM

    phd in molecular and cell biology, married, 2 kids, was a stay at home mom for 9 years after finishing degree, now a 6th grade teacher. boston area. Love your blog and can relate to lots of what you write about!

    :) Neighbor Lady

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  5. Anonymous5:08 PM

    Phd in biochemistry, now a lab tech and mom of two boys ages 4 and almost 1. Been reading since my last year of grad school.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5:52 PM

    I cant remember how I got here, but stay-at-home mum of 2 (aged 2 and 3). Microbiology Phd completed 2012 on my sons 1st birthday! At home covered in PlayDough since. Love your writing, so much of it resonates with me.

    Suzanne
    Northern Ireland!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am the one in the bottom right corner! PhD in Chemistry, now doing my Bachelor of Nursing (as a result of the realisation I need to work with People). I honestly can't remember how I got here!

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  8. Anonymous7:49 AM

    I'm no googler, but I visit seldom on the site because I mainly read via a reader. I'm a molecular biologist mum with two kids, finishing my PhD this year.
    - the Finn

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous9:28 AM

    Connecticut, math postdoc. I started reading when we were both in grad school and never stopped because I like your style.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, there's the second one in CT. Now I know! Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:17 PM

      Glad to help!

      ~The Second One In CT
      (which sounds rather mysterious! I like it!)

      Delete
  10. Anonymous4:23 PM

    recently tenured natural sciences faculty member with 2 small kids. been reading for years :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous4:43 PM

    I've been reading you for ages. Formerly Not So Little Sister...we even used to email! My girls are 5 and 2 now...love reading your blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! I remember when the big one was born! I miss your blog... but life gets in the way.

      Delete
  12. Been reading for years from various locations :) Can't remember how I found you, love your style, and I learned a lot from your grad school musings. Now I'm new tt faculty in small Canadian town, physical science. Just defended PhD, sitting up doing revisions right now... Considering never writing another paper ever again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Waiiiiit... is this somewhere starting with a Q? Because my pal Belle also teaches there. (Her name is not Belle.)

      Happy revising! (Mine were done while nursing, and dictating to the spouse. SHUDDER.)

      Delete
    2. Daisy6:51 PM

      Sadly not with a Q, would have liked to meet her :)
      Oh man, nursing and dictating... good for spouse taking dictation. Mine will be doing table formatting tomorrow, he doesn't know yet!

      Delete
  13. Anonymous1:12 AM

    PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology, currently clinging to academia in Boston. I found your blog while I was bored during a talk at a meeting and have been coming back ever since.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Courtney in Amsterdam3:08 PM

    Former architectural historian turned SAHM to 2 kids (5 and 2). I think I started reading you in when I lived in Crete, but I lived in Israel for three years before that, and now I'm in Amsterdam. I think I found your blog from a comment on Julia/Hippogriffs a few years ago when I decided I needed to find more blogs to read, as all my regulars were shutting down. Thanks for still posting!

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  15. Anonymous7:51 AM

    I'm the one from Africa. Equivalent of tenured bio member with one little kid. I enjoy your quirky sense of humour!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous3:43 PM

    The one from Belgium, that would be me...
    Originally from Germany, I started reading a couple of "women in science" blogs for, hm, feeling less lonely with how I felt about certain things, seeing different view points and being simply entertained, when moving for a postdoc to the U.S. (actually, if I am not mistaken to your current city). I don't know, it helped me cope, though not really lonely in real life (having my husband at the same place, making friends and all that)
    Some of those blogs I stopped reading, others were discontinued, but some I do enjoy still, yours amongst them. I don't know, I guess it can be creepy if complete strangers follow bits of your life, but hey, you've put it there for the world to read... So, I check quite regularly, a bit of an automatism, when I have a couple of minutes to spare and enjoy, whenever you've written something...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not creepy at all, I just wonder! There are plenty of complete strangers whose blogs I read every day. :)

      (Lake city lake?)

      Delete
  17. Yes, the lakes... Still miss those sometimes. Even miss snow and ice, esp. when here we seem too have rain and 50F all year round (that is of course exaggerated, but I could do with some sunshine now)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous7:53 PM

    Don't ever reveal that I work for NASA ...OOOPS. I wish the internet were more anonymous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We all secretly suspected you of being a rocket scientist.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:47 AM

    What a cool post with great responses.

    Given your hint, I think I went to Snooty U for undergrad.... hmm.

    I'm pretty sure that I originally found your blog through a list of #scimom blogers when I first started blogging. Your comments on my posts were (and still are) encouraging.

    Come to think of it, you need to get in on the Evidence Based Parenting blog carnival:
    http://www.schoolofsmock.com/2013/05/14/evidencebasedparenting/
    https://www.facebook.com/CarnivalofEvidenceBasedParenting

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You DID go to Snooty U, yes! I am fully aware that it was much more fun/wonderful for the undergrads and I think most places the grad students are, as a friend put it, bitter, sour, and tart.

      Evidence Based Parenting! Maybe after I move. My brains are falling out my ears right now.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:19 PM

      I seriously considered going there for grad school. My undergrad PI wanted me to stay, but I felt like I had to leave the nest. Didn't want to be like the PI across the hall who did undergrad, grad school, post-doc all at Snooty U before becoming faculty there as well.

      When you're settled, let me know about the Evidence-Based Parenting!

      Delete
  20. I'm the one in LA. (Really, there's only one of us here in LA?) 34 year old SAHM to a 6 month old now, previously a TV editor and web developer.

    I found you while Googling for "listeria and pregnancy" and have been reading ever since. I seem to be the only woman I know who ate lunch meat and soft cheeses while pregnant, and I have you to thank for that. It saved my sanity! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lots of people in LA but only one who reads every day. :)

      That listeria post, by the way, is the all-time-most viewed post. Apparently people are worried. I ate some soft cheeses too, and I definitely ate some sushi, because... well, because of data. :)

      Delete
    2. The only sushi I didn't eat was the gas station / convenience store kind!

      Delete
  21. I was reading from St. Louis, now from sunny California. Currently dropping out of a biomedical phd program to do things that take less time and pay more. I have very much appreciated your perspective on grad school and academia in general. Gave me hope and self righteousness when I was feeling overwhelmed!

    Also re: straight people not getting married until gay people can. Yes, exactly.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous9:14 AM

    Also in Boston. PhD in Cell Biology. Associate Professor at Snootier U struggling to get grants and keep a lab going with Zero Hard Money. Have 2 kids. Used to love my job, and did very well (study sections!, big awards!, multiple long running RO1s!, Program Project Grants!, Committees!, Editorial Boards!) , but then came the broad NIH-based decisions that small labs don't matter and that the big guys should get all the money. Also the big guys have hypotheses that they have actually disproven, but won't give up on!). Hard to survive when you have to pay your own salary (and live in Boston) as well as the salary of those in your lab and also pay almost 40% of salaries to Snootier U for benefits. Not sure I care enough anymore and looking into other ways to earn a living and enjoy what I do. I found you blog a few years back, have no idea how, but must have liked it enough to add it to my bookmarks where is has been ever since.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Snootier U: I love it. Also re: the NIH, yes, indeed. They keep SAYING they're into funding 'smaller/newer' labs and yet. Look at the funding rates and weep, right?

      Delete
  23. NYKaren6:32 PM

    I'm reading now from Northern California, but found your blog while doing postdoc in ecology and evolutionary biology at an Ivy League a couple of years ago. Since then, my husband got permanent (non-academic) job, I quit my post doc, had a baby and took some time 'off' (if finishing manuscripts and doing the mentoring for undergrads that my post doc advisor seems not to have time for is considered 'off'). I feel like we have experienced a LOT of similar feelings related to parenting as a scientist, grad school, etc, which is why I keep coming back. I have a blog, but it's mostly to share pictures of my kid; reading your blog is like having someone express the feelings I would write anonymously if I had the time!

    ReplyDelete
  24. That is me up north, eh?
    (Though it seems kind of Far East, but I guess. My geography is rusty)
    Phd in physics, 2 little twin munchkins, and you "know" me on other Internet sites.
    Though I can't remember how we met? Must have been via one of our blogs way back when. (I miss mine sometimes)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed I did read your blog! And I love all the pictures of the munchkins.

      You do show up in Correct Northern City, never fear. Or there's someone else there too, hmmm.....

      Delete
  25. Anonymous1:15 PM

    Here from visiting funny lady at http://relentlesslaundry.blogspot.co.uk/

    And am a country housewife living in Oxfordshire, England. Hi.

    Pleased to meet you. I like dog walking, minutely examining interesting flora, and parties. Love a party.

    This is my first visit, and I hope to be back, you've made me laugh.

    Also curious, actually. What's the crack with the ham dinners?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahoy! I am also very fond of flora. Especially peculiar mushrooms! I have a whole book. I saw a jelly baby out hiking once; a red-letter day.

      As for ham: I am a religious Jew and I do NOT FUCKING EAT PIGS. Nothing against ham in and of itself, it's just that my mother-in-law keeps serving me dinners made of ham, mashed potatoes with milk (violently, go-to-ER allergic to milk!), and boiled peas. Yeah.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous11:03 AM

    I'm the Swede on the map. Don’t remember how I found the blog. PhD in microbiology, three kids under 10, I work in the pharmaceutical business. Your blog is sadly enough blocked at work (all blogspot.com sites are) so now reading from my cell phone during work hours instead :) Love your writing.

    ReplyDelete

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