It must be that the fifth day of hell that is every Friday is just
one day too many for my fragile, elderly, worn out brain. By 8:30 AM, I start getting a wild-eyed stare.
By 10 AM, grumbling sets in; everything and everyone annoys me. By 11 AM, I’m
pacing and climbing walls. This past Friday afternoon (i.e. yesterday), I got some bad news in an email.
Basically, my cat-herding project has failed. Why? One of the cats said “I’m
not going to do this and nobody can make me.” Management’s response was, “OK,
you don’t have to. Our standardization initiative was only a fantastical whim
and not intended to be a strategic direction."
So, rather than scream curse words at my computer, gouge out
my eye with a highlighter, or pick up my cubicle wall and throw it through the
window, I went for a walk. It was a beautiful day outside yesterday. Squirrels and ground squirrels were hippity
hopping everywhere. Red headed woodpeckers were up in the trees making their
exotic jungle noises. The locust trees are blooming, replacing the dogwoods
that are all leafed out now and dropping their blooms. The locusts are lovely when they bloom.
 |
| Black locusts make great fence posts. |
Did I mention the IRB rejected my proposal
application? I knew they would find something wrong; it’s OK. Primarily, they have a different definition
for “briefly describe” than I do. When
they asked me to briefly describe A, B, and C, they really meant “Describe in
great detail A through H”. Also, they pointed out that a nondisclosure
agreement is needed between me and one of the researchers who stated he wants a
copy of my data in exchange for letting me use his scale. Fair enough. I’m still waiting for my chairman to make the
IRB clarify one of their more cryptic comments that neither of us understands.
I’m not permitted to interact with the all-powerful IRB myself. I must have a
middle-man (my chairman).
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