The Space Between Earning a Living and Not Giving a Shit


Due to popular demand (two people) I will now describe in greater detail the finer points of my sotra-but-not-really-if-you-consider-the-cost-of-living-in-southern-california gainful employment. My official job title is “IRB Assistant, Committee C” (IRB stands for Institutional Review Board). My job is also classified under the broader term “Assistant Administrative Analyst.” The IRB at UC Irvine is charged with reviewing all research conducted by UCI staff, faculty, and students that use human subjects, animal subjects or DNA. I work for the Human Subjects part, called Human Research Protections. There are three committees that deal with human research at UCI: A, B, and C. Each committee is staffed by an Administrator, Coordinator and an Assistant. Committees A and B deal with biomedical studies, in other words, clinical trials of new drugs, experimental medical procedures, etc…anything having to do with medical procedures basically. Committee C, the one I work for, deals with all the social/behavioral studies at UCI, like psychology tests, ethnic studies and the like. In order for a person affiliated with UCI to conduct research involving human subjects they must first apply for IRB approval. I basically help process the applications and get them ready for Committee review. The committee reviews these applications to make sure the human subjects are not being exploited or put into any unnecessary risks. Then the committee will approve the study, and I process the approval. Then end. See, aren’t you sorry you made me do that? I bet you fell asleep while reading it, or didn’t even finish it. Which means you’re not reading this part, so I can say whatever I want. You’re all assholes! I hate you! Bah!

In any case, as long as I got you here, I may as well force my well documented extraordinary musical tastes on you.
Some good albums I recently bought:
“Illinois” by Sufjan Stevens
“Odditorium or Warlords of Mars” by The Dandy Warhols (yeah the title is stupid as all get out, and they think they’re cooler than they are, but some songs are really good.)
“All Maps Welcome” by Tom McRae (yes that tom McRae from the car commercial. Hurrumph.)
“Shout Me, Loud Runner” by Lefty Gainwaller



Happy Link Time!!!
My Office

In other news and let downs:
You may have noticed that right after I said that I changed my subtitle with every post, I stopped changing it. "I ain't hep to that step but I'll dig it" is the title of a song by Fred Astaire. I think it says a lot without saying a lot, you hep? So I think I'll keep it up for a while.