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I am a big fan of metrics, or the ability to measure a given activity. The program RescueTime measures how you spend your time while on the computer.

Once you have the ability to track how you spend your time, you can then focus on becoming more efficient. By increasing your efficiency you will have more time available to complete other important tasks, like writing a grant (if you weren’t already), taking your child to the park, going to a movie or, perhaps, traveling.

How is RescueTime helpful?

1) The initial version is FREE
- This version installs quickly and needs very little inputs (email/password) to begin functioning.


2) Ability to set goals
- Your goal, for example, is to spend 6 hours this week preparing for a presentation. You can easily view graphs in RescueTime that display how much time you have spent doing just that. You can also set negative goals like limiting yourself to 1 hour each day on emails. All you do is set up the program so you receive an email notification when you have used up your allotted time. This is especially helpful, atleast for myself, as I find it hard to judge how efficient I am without the ability measure it.


3) Fascinating results
-How efficient are you at the computer? How much time do you spend emailing as opposed to writing a grant or preparing a talk? Are there certain times during the day that you are more productive on the computer?
-The program can calculate efficiency and compare how much time you spend on various projects.

I have played around with this program for a week and am sure there are a number of metrics I have yet to familiarize myself with. The above screen shots are from the Rescuetime product tour.

Attaining a scientific job in this economy can be quite difficult. If you are searching through monster or careerbuilder then you are literally competing against thousands of other applicants.

A given in job hunting: It is not always about what you know, but who you know.

Fortunately, if you’re short on connections, there are other avenues you can explore. In this post, I would like to share a few strategies and websites you may want to consider as you search for a career.

1) Look at forums or bulletin boards
Example: if you are heavy into crystallography, check out CCP4BB. If you’re not interested in actually joining forums or bulletin boards, simply try searching with the forum or bulletin board name: CCP4BB 2009 jobs.

2) Narrow your search by specifying an area or state in which you would like a particular job
Example: ‘Washington State, USA biotechnology’. Searching in this fashion can uncover websites that list, for example, biotechnology jobs within that region.

3) Check out venture capital websites
They list the companies they are invested in and provide links to these company websites. Once at these websites, look for a ‘Careers’ or ‘Job Opportunities’ link/tab. More than likely, there will be fewer applicants since these companies are often new and not as well known.
Example: Polaris holds a number of companies related to biotechnology.

I was curious if anyone was still using SGI computers.

Sadly, SGI is no longer in business. A news article about the sale of SGI can be found here.

As of about 5-10 years ago, most visual work relating to structural modeling was done using SGI computers.

I would consider these the top websites that provide an introduction to crystallography. I am listing the sites in terms of content amount.

1) e-Crystallography course by Gervais Chapuis

2) Protein Crystallography Course by Randy Read and colleagues
– the above website has a number of links to websites relating to protein crystallization

3) X-ray diffraction data collection by Bart Hazes

4) CCP4 wiki supported by the CCP4 user community

5) CSIC department of crystallography

6) CRYSTALLOGRAPHY 101 by Bernhard Rupp

7) Teaching Pamphlets by the International Union of Crystallography

Are there any other websites that you have found helpful for the introduction of crystallography?