End of first competition

Taking a few minutes to reflect on the past week of competition at work.

I'm tired - not from the competition, but from late nights trying to make ends meet for the family. I just seem to spend so much time COOKING - that and working out. That, and maybe an hour of gaming or chatting with da rabid hedgehog is enough to call it a night. I hope that when Cheryl's conference is out of the way we can get down to more balance, but the next week it'll be hunker down and get the job done.

This past week, I got an appreciation for the work put in by program officers. Lotsa dedication there, as well as the committe members who put in a massive amount of work for no pay. I feel honored to work with such a community of people.

It's amaaaazing what our young Canadian scientists are up to. Some of the research is really cutting-edge, I just wish that it were better known. Too bad I can't talk about it.

Having seen the talent that exists in our universities, it's easy to see the continuum of science education from high-school, to undergraduate, to graduate and beyond. I know this is not a profound conclusion and I'm not the first to make it. It just suprises me how little attention is paid to science/math at the HS level considering that the next generation of scientists and engineers (and innovators) can be grown locally.

All this has motivated me to take Monday off, and make it an ORSF day where I'll try to do some fundraising and some writing. And cooking, of course...