It's about that time

....people like me are scrambling to write up grant applications. The worst part by far is the budget process - at least that's what sucks the most according to me. Making the numbers compatible between the faculty and department spreadsheet templates and those of the research council, with every rounding discrepancy from origins unknown coming back to haunt you when you least expect it - that's what really irks me. Last Spring I had an meltdown unrequested fission surplus of rare proportions during the budget process. This year it's been much less turbulent, thanks in no small part to the department's support person, but still my blood pressure rises to uncomfortable levels when I'm doing the numberjuggling.

I don't know why, but I've got zero patience with budget work - which goes a long way towards explaining why I'm not an beancounter numbercruncher commaf*cker accountant. I've got plenty of patience in other areas - perhaps not that many, but still: I can play the same scale in different tempos and time signatures for hours on end without tiring. I can work on the same sentence in a paper until I've got it just right. I can spend countless hours analyzing data, and I've got no problem putting in long hours of data collection whenever I've got the time.

Making budgets however.....