I did manage to get my life a bit more on track this week. Yay. Also, the research reviewer job for the government ramped up. Eek.
I don't think I mentioned the latter thing in this blog yet, so for background, in January this year I participated in a government grant application review panel focused on autism research. Basically, the Army gets lots of government money, and when the US isn't at war, they spend some of it doing research on various conditions and diseases in hopes of improving the lives of the soldiers. So, things like cancer and major skin burns, but also autism.
They recruit scientists to review the applications for that money, but in a remarkably forward-thinking twist, they also have people affected by the condition or disease weigh in on the applications. This is unprecedented elsewhere in the US, as far as I'm aware. Usually organizations simply ask other scientists what looks scientifically viable, and meh to what anyone else thinks. It's also somewhat unprecedented for autistic people to not only have our opinions sought and listened to, but also to be compensated for our time and travel.
This year, they're doing it again, and I've again been invited to participate. Basically, it's a really awesome opportunity, and one I can't reasonably pass up.
It does take a certain amount of prep work and paperwork to successfully complete the requirements for the program. For example, I needed to spend some time in the last couple days reading 11 scientific abstracts and deciding how competent I felt on the subject the proposed study was addressing. If I had been a scientist, I would also have needed to pay careful attention to the people and institutions named on each application, because you're not allowed to review an application whose people you're familiar with. Interferes with the impartiality of the system and all that. Fortunately, I'm mostly a nobody in academia, so although I read over the names, I recognized literally nobody and therefore can review anything they put in front of me.
Anyway, that's keeping me busy... so while I've slacked a bit on the blog, I still feel like I've been productive. And I do still have a buffer, almost up to my birthday. That allows me a certain amount of breathing room I wouldn't otherwise have. Which is very good for my mental health.
Speaking of the blog... hello to those of you reading from Europe and Asia. I have no idea how I acquired readers from Poland, Germany, Ireland, Ukraine, Spain, Russia, South Korea, and France, but I'm flattered to bits that you think my blog is worth your time. My blog comes with an activity tracker-type thing that tells me where people who visit the blog come from, and while I write to a mainly USian audience on autism and special-needs issues and research, I'd like to think I'm slightly less US-centric than most USians. Very slightly. Hopefully.
I usually ignore the statistics on how many visits my blog gets, because the low numbers depressed me when I was just starting out. I preferred to focus on putting out quality, useful, interesting content (hopefully). Looking at the numbers now, they've grown some, but I expect I should learn how to work SEO and various other self-promotion things at some point. I also expect that once I do so, I'm going to start kicking Past Me for putting it off that long... but my life has very much been a "slow and steady hopefully finishes the race" kind of deal, at least so far. The alternative is burning out before the finish line, like the impatient hare in the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. Hopefully Future Me will remember that and not hold too much ill-will about it.
Regardless, please know that any of my readers are welcome to contact me via Blogger or on Twitter with any questions, comments, suggestions, or recipes. I'm afraid I'm monolingual (to my shame), but I do like to hear from my readers and other interested parties.
I don't think I mentioned the latter thing in this blog yet, so for background, in January this year I participated in a government grant application review panel focused on autism research. Basically, the Army gets lots of government money, and when the US isn't at war, they spend some of it doing research on various conditions and diseases in hopes of improving the lives of the soldiers. So, things like cancer and major skin burns, but also autism.
They recruit scientists to review the applications for that money, but in a remarkably forward-thinking twist, they also have people affected by the condition or disease weigh in on the applications. This is unprecedented elsewhere in the US, as far as I'm aware. Usually organizations simply ask other scientists what looks scientifically viable, and meh to what anyone else thinks. It's also somewhat unprecedented for autistic people to not only have our opinions sought and listened to, but also to be compensated for our time and travel.
This year, they're doing it again, and I've again been invited to participate. Basically, it's a really awesome opportunity, and one I can't reasonably pass up.
It does take a certain amount of prep work and paperwork to successfully complete the requirements for the program. For example, I needed to spend some time in the last couple days reading 11 scientific abstracts and deciding how competent I felt on the subject the proposed study was addressing. If I had been a scientist, I would also have needed to pay careful attention to the people and institutions named on each application, because you're not allowed to review an application whose people you're familiar with. Interferes with the impartiality of the system and all that. Fortunately, I'm mostly a nobody in academia, so although I read over the names, I recognized literally nobody and therefore can review anything they put in front of me.
Anyway, that's keeping me busy... so while I've slacked a bit on the blog, I still feel like I've been productive. And I do still have a buffer, almost up to my birthday. That allows me a certain amount of breathing room I wouldn't otherwise have. Which is very good for my mental health.
Speaking of the blog... hello to those of you reading from Europe and Asia. I have no idea how I acquired readers from Poland, Germany, Ireland, Ukraine, Spain, Russia, South Korea, and France, but I'm flattered to bits that you think my blog is worth your time. My blog comes with an activity tracker-type thing that tells me where people who visit the blog come from, and while I write to a mainly USian audience on autism and special-needs issues and research, I'd like to think I'm slightly less US-centric than most USians. Very slightly. Hopefully.
I usually ignore the statistics on how many visits my blog gets, because the low numbers depressed me when I was just starting out. I preferred to focus on putting out quality, useful, interesting content (hopefully). Looking at the numbers now, they've grown some, but I expect I should learn how to work SEO and various other self-promotion things at some point. I also expect that once I do so, I'm going to start kicking Past Me for putting it off that long... but my life has very much been a "slow and steady hopefully finishes the race" kind of deal, at least so far. The alternative is burning out before the finish line, like the impatient hare in the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. Hopefully Future Me will remember that and not hold too much ill-will about it.
Regardless, please know that any of my readers are welcome to contact me via Blogger or on Twitter with any questions, comments, suggestions, or recipes. I'm afraid I'm monolingual (to my shame), but I do like to hear from my readers and other interested parties.
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