Life of a Lab Rat

Why cell cultures are like children

1. You get emotionally attached to them
   
2. When it's all going right, they are rewarding and fulfilling
   
3. When things go wrong it breaks your heart
   
4. Sometimes it's difficult to tell if the weird shit is normal
   
5. It helps to keep them clean
   
6. It's difficult to keep them clean
   
7. It's distressing when they're sick
   
8. You can't just throw them away when they're sick
   
9. It's difficult to trust anyone else to look after them
   
10. Looking after someone else's is more stressful than looking after your own
    
11. It's impossible to get them to clean their own room
    
12. You need to look after them at inconvenient times (weekends, holidays...)
    
13. They're devilishly expensive
    

On Sunday, the Younger Pawn said to me,

"Daddy, I like your tee-shirt!"

It was merely a freebie from some company or other, with pictures of protein structures on it.

At dinner in Black Castle[0] the other evening - digression: It's difficult for me to get home in time to eat with the Black Horde, but occasionally I'll nick off early so we can have dinner together. Youngsters get tired very quickly and if I don't watch it I can make it through the door only to find the Pawns (ages 9 and 6 and three quarters) in their pyjamas and a scowl on the face of the Queen. And it's a shame to do that to such a pretty face.

Where was I? Oh yes.

At dinner the other evening we got to talking about veins and arteries and what were the functional and structural differences. Look, just don't ask, right? Do not ask. So I pulled a basic anatomy & physiology text from the bookshelf and found the chapter on circulation and we had a really good discussion about blood vessels. I can not believe I just wrote that.

The younger pawn gets a rollicking because she has not got dressed yet; she's reading the dictionary. Up to 'K' so far.

The elder pawn turns to me, mouth full of foaming toothpaste.

"Dad! I've got rabies!"

I'm sure I'd recognize normality if ever I saw it.

This is a 'bookmark' post really. It's part of the reason I wanted to do this weblog, to discuss the serious issues facing scientists with family in the 21st Century. Gosh that sounds pompous, never mind. Point is that I want to flag this as an issue, but don't have time right now to go into it further.

I occasionally read the fora at the Science Advisory Board and these comments caught my eye:

I'm sorry, but if you're not enjoying your work you're in the wrong job.
And yes, I have a wife and two children.

agreed, same here got 2 children as well. The salary is crap so if one does not enjoy doing science I wonder what is the reason to put up with a crap salary and odd working hours.

So, why do we what we do so well?