Ahh, the joys of summer, and our first family vacation. Our first real vacation since our honeymoon, in fact, and that is just too long to go without one.
So on Monday I decide that I really don't need to do that much work this week, what with the holiday on Tuesday and then starting vacation on Friday. There is the small matter of the grant application that is due at the end of the month; the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program Era of Hope Breast Cancer Research Program Post-doctoral award. Say that 5 times fast. AKA the "Army Grant". As in "Oh, it's an army grant? Good luck!" See, now you know that the department of defense doesn't only fight terrorism. We have an ongoing War on Cancer, you know. Nixon started it. Progress is slow.
My research proposal was just about done so I sat down Tuesday morning to figure out what else I needed to gather, determined to request references and transcripts now, so that they'd arrive while I was on vacation, and then I could put everything together after I get back. The deadline is, after all, July 25th; I'm ahead of the game! Then I look at the check list. Aggghh. The amount of paperwork that is required, and the number of times you need to rewrite the same information in different formats, is staggering. Technical Abstracts. Public Abstracts. Statement of Work. Impact Statement. Proposal. Then there is the budget. The good news is that this grant is large enough to cover not only my salary, but a good percentage of the lab supplies and reagents I will need. The bad news is- you have to itemize everything, and justify it. I started to get really annoyed- at myself, for not knowing better. This is a government thing, I should have expected that.
So I arrange to meet with someone in the administrative office who can help me put together the budget. I'm sitting in her office Thursday afternoon when she announces that I have to submit everything to the University's Grants and Contracts office 10 days prior to the deadline otherwise I won't be able to submit the grant.
After I am resuscitated, I panic. 10 days prior to the deadline is smack dab in the middle of my Cape Cod vacation.
So now, I can't be mad at Greg for scheduling some conference calls for next week, because I too will be working. Nap times will be work times for me. Hooray.
You know what the real kicker is? I really really don't like the research project I am proposing in this grant. I used to, until I found something even better to do. Which means, just my luck, I will get funded. And then I'll have to actually do the work.
2 comments:
Don't you hate those internal grant deadlines? It makes no sense to me why they have to have it so early, especially because they are not reading the darn things and giving you feedback. They're just checking for all the signatures! And just because it gets funded doesn't mean you have to do the work. At least exclusively, right? Anyway, have a nice vacation and good luck with the grant!
Make sure you take some time to relax and enjoy the sun!!!! !!!!!!!!!
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