Weekly Random Ten (28 October 2005)

Back on Friday Edition

Yes, the random ten is back for a special Friday edition. Of course, next week it may be on Tuesday or Thursday, so stay tuned.

Right now I'm in the middle of writing about some experiments I've done and some that I plan to do. Yes, it's (grant) proposal writing time! I've got a proposal for my thesis committee due on Monday for a meeting the following week. I don't have a problem writing the background and motivations, and the preliminary results and analysis aren't too bad either. Some of my results are in preparation for publication, and other results are getting there; I just need to write a brief summary and include a couple of figures and tables.

It's the data analysis for data I don't even have that really gets to me. I fell like its just a string of conditional statements -- if my data looks like this, it would mean this, and then I would do this. Otherwise, I would do this, and it would mean this. If it looks like this, I'll scratch my head and ask my advisor what I should do next. I didn't actually write that last part . . . the idea did go through my, though. Figuring out how to write about data analyses that I've never done leaves me unsure if any of the proposed data analysis makes sense. Luckily, I can co-opt some of the stuff from this proposal for my real grant proposal that's due in a couple of weeks. Plus, I'm hoping to get some good comments from my committee that may lead to a stronger grant proposal.

The bitching is done for now, so on to the evolgen Weekly Random Ten. Let's see if these tunes can help me get through the proposal writing process (this week, with comments).

1. Less Than Lake - Showbiz? Science? Who Cares? [Sounds like the Kansas Kangaroo Kourt.]
2. 311 - Amber [Like that stuff they found with the dinosaur DNA in Jurassic Park.]
3. Bombshell Rocks - Microphone [Sounds like . . . a Rancid knock off.]
4. Bouncing Souls - The Ballad of Johnny X [Hey, it's my favorite band that can't play their instruments.]
5. Sugar Ray - RPM [That nice Mark McGrath named a song after me.]
6. Tilt - Clothes Horse [It seems likes there's a Tilt song on each random ten.]
7. NOFX - Drugs are Good [Hard to disagree with that.]
8. The Used - Lunacy Fringe [Is that the new name for the religious right?]
9. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Country Roads [Greatest. Cover band. Ever.]
10. The Distillers - Idoless [An Aussie band for John Wilkins.]