Still haven't heard back from the committee people yet, but somehow, in between all the crazy grant panel things, my PI found the time to read over my draft and sit down with me to talk it over (right before he had to run off to another meeting, as a matter of fact). It gives me the warm fuzzies. There's nothing quite like a PI who will make time for you. They're always supposed to, but very few will tell you "Okay, I'm kinda busy the next two weeks so you might have to wait until right after that" and then still somehow got it done for you within a week.
I think it made my week.
Lab next to ours is sonicating things this evening, causing me to flee lab early. The sound made me feel like my brain is being sonicated. Perhaps all my brain cells are disassociating. Wendy and I ended up putting on our ear phones, taking them off every once in a while, hoping that the others'd be done, but they never were. I ended up aliquoting over 100 tubes of antibody on dry ice while wearing my XKCD shirt. Clearly aliquoting antibodies is a dangerous sort of business and requires other people to stand back. Well, maybe the dry ice, because if you inhale too much of it it can burn your nasal epithelium, so don't snort the dry ice, folks. (Not that you should snort anything in the lab. Even if it's a bio lab.)
Forgot what else I was going to say. Oh well.
20090929
20090926
7 photos posted from the retreat. Very scenic they are.
Now: off to lab, and then groceries! Second years traditionally host a welcoming party for the first years, so I'm going to be making tons of different cookies for next Friday. (Only problem so far is how well I transport them on the bus?)
[edit 12:36]
Finally printed out a year's worth of photos! And officially ran out of album space! (There were 100 new photos.)
Now: off to lab, and then groceries! Second years traditionally host a welcoming party for the first years, so I'm going to be making tons of different cookies for next Friday. (Only problem so far is how well I transport them on the bus?)
[edit 12:36]
Finally printed out a year's worth of photos! And officially ran out of album space! (There were 100 new photos.)
20090925
Finally, an update
I was originally planning on sleeping. In fact, I had almost fallen asleep when an extremely loud car passed outside of the window. While half awake, I started thinking of the things I need to accomplish this weekend and so find myself now, at 11:19pm, blearily awake and with a tentative of list of 15 for tomorrow scribbled on the back of the page, pondering whether or not starting the list for things to do on Sunday would constitute a direct descend into madness. The alternative explanation is of course, that I'm already there and so should just give up and...twitch, or something.
Anyway, I'm updating this blog now, so that's one down from the list.
The department retreat was nice. We went to Warner Spring because moving our retreat to merge it with orientation meant that we can't go to Lake Arrowhead, since the biology department has theirs booked there in the fall. Warner Spring is a very (surprisingly) lush area in the middle of nowhere. By "nowhere" I mean surrounded by miles and miles of chaparral land, where the land isn't so much hilly as mildly ripply, aspiring to be hilly someday. September in Southern California is the wrong time to go hiking in the chaparral land, as everyone will see when I get around to uploading the photos (hopefully tomorrow...oops another thing to the list there). Our arrival coincided with the heatwave, which was much more unpleasant that far inland. However, being in the middle of nowhere had its advantages: the stars there were amazing. I saw the milky way in the first time in what felt like forever, and the nights there were dead quiet. I slept very well. My roommate (possibly due to the notable lack of a certain male classmate) was also quiet and most considerate.
Of the three branches of trails that I've explored, two converged & overlapped so I found myself standing back at where I've started, thinking "Huh." The third one deposited me, via a very squiggly detour, behind the horses. They were very nice. One came up to me and put its head on my shoulder, so I petted it. Then it tried to eat my shirt.
As for the retreat itself, there were a record number of faculty attending this time, possibly because it was coupled to the orientation and we had (or so I've been told by the chair of the department) something like 80 faculty who want grad students for their labs. (Good luck guys, we have less than 30 incoming students, so not all of you are gonna get one.) I was slightly disappointed in the awards event at the end though, since this retreat's award to the best student presenter did not, in fact give the best presentation. My classmates and I agree.
We had bonfire the first night there, pre-ZMGSTARS. The slightly less social ones of us sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows (with various hilarious attempts at backseat cooking and much ribbing) while the more social ones hung out around the tables in the back, where the food and alcohol were. I enjoyed myself very much and had the opportunity to meet a few of the new students during then (one of which went on to win one of the two awards for incoming students which were given out for best incoming grades and best CV--according to Genentech, anyway; but to us he will always be known as the Marshmallow Guy).
That took me until Wednesday, when I returned to SD and discovered that the heatwave was not so much an Inland Thing as a South Cal Thing, and spent first ten minutes of my trip to retrieve Zen considering the possibility of using steering wheels to cook things. They will have to be steering wheel-shaped things, of course. Or the cooked parts will be steering wheel shaped. Zen's return has already been mentioned. I've restored the old settings and files and will attempt, some time over the next few weekends, to see if the old sims data can be restored too or if I'll need to create new sims people. Zen's speed is still fairly snappy. At the current rate, it's the fastest laptop.
My PI is currently due for a grant review panel next week, which unfortunately, as I found out this morning, means that I will not get a review out of him for my qual until the second week of October. I still need to be appointed a committee member, whom I was supposed to have heard from 10 days ago but so it goes. Despite of his apparent flood of deadlines, however, PI did find the time to take the entire lab out for an end of the summer treat today. He took us all out for lunch. In downtown La Jolla. The apparent problem of lack of parking and spacing was taken care of with valet parking and reservations. I had no idea what half of the items on the menu were, but the place had a very pretty ocean view. Everyone in the lab, including the undergrads, save for the post-doc whose due date is in 3 days, made it. It was surprisingly fun.
The Walk-Out's effects on me was limited to the fact that the protesters were wandering on the street, which caused some delay which traffic, leading to a slightly later arrival to the lab for me.
Anyway, I'm updating this blog now, so that's one down from the list.
The department retreat was nice. We went to Warner Spring because moving our retreat to merge it with orientation meant that we can't go to Lake Arrowhead, since the biology department has theirs booked there in the fall. Warner Spring is a very (surprisingly) lush area in the middle of nowhere. By "nowhere" I mean surrounded by miles and miles of chaparral land, where the land isn't so much hilly as mildly ripply, aspiring to be hilly someday. September in Southern California is the wrong time to go hiking in the chaparral land, as everyone will see when I get around to uploading the photos (hopefully tomorrow...oops another thing to the list there). Our arrival coincided with the heatwave, which was much more unpleasant that far inland. However, being in the middle of nowhere had its advantages: the stars there were amazing. I saw the milky way in the first time in what felt like forever, and the nights there were dead quiet. I slept very well. My roommate (possibly due to the notable lack of a certain male classmate) was also quiet and most considerate.
Of the three branches of trails that I've explored, two converged & overlapped so I found myself standing back at where I've started, thinking "Huh." The third one deposited me, via a very squiggly detour, behind the horses. They were very nice. One came up to me and put its head on my shoulder, so I petted it. Then it tried to eat my shirt.
As for the retreat itself, there were a record number of faculty attending this time, possibly because it was coupled to the orientation and we had (or so I've been told by the chair of the department) something like 80 faculty who want grad students for their labs. (Good luck guys, we have less than 30 incoming students, so not all of you are gonna get one.) I was slightly disappointed in the awards event at the end though, since this retreat's award to the best student presenter did not, in fact give the best presentation. My classmates and I agree.
We had bonfire the first night there, pre-ZMGSTARS. The slightly less social ones of us sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows (with various hilarious attempts at backseat cooking and much ribbing) while the more social ones hung out around the tables in the back, where the food and alcohol were. I enjoyed myself very much and had the opportunity to meet a few of the new students during then (one of which went on to win one of the two awards for incoming students which were given out for best incoming grades and best CV--according to Genentech, anyway; but to us he will always be known as the Marshmallow Guy).
That took me until Wednesday, when I returned to SD and discovered that the heatwave was not so much an Inland Thing as a South Cal Thing, and spent first ten minutes of my trip to retrieve Zen considering the possibility of using steering wheels to cook things. They will have to be steering wheel-shaped things, of course. Or the cooked parts will be steering wheel shaped. Zen's return has already been mentioned. I've restored the old settings and files and will attempt, some time over the next few weekends, to see if the old sims data can be restored too or if I'll need to create new sims people. Zen's speed is still fairly snappy. At the current rate, it's the fastest laptop.
My PI is currently due for a grant review panel next week, which unfortunately, as I found out this morning, means that I will not get a review out of him for my qual until the second week of October. I still need to be appointed a committee member, whom I was supposed to have heard from 10 days ago but so it goes. Despite of his apparent flood of deadlines, however, PI did find the time to take the entire lab out for an end of the summer treat today. He took us all out for lunch. In downtown La Jolla. The apparent problem of lack of parking and spacing was taken care of with valet parking and reservations. I had no idea what half of the items on the menu were, but the place had a very pretty ocean view. Everyone in the lab, including the undergrads, save for the post-doc whose due date is in 3 days, made it. It was surprisingly fun.
The Walk-Out's effects on me was limited to the fact that the protesters were wandering on the street, which caused some delay which traffic, leading to a slightly later arrival to the lab for me.
20090924
20090923
Yay
Am home with Zen now. In fact, I am using Zen to update this blog right now. Zen's system board & thermopad (thermal pad?) got replaced (they included a nice list of what got replaced) and now everything seems to be running fine.
Will update more tomorrow. Am tired now, will unpack and collapse somewhere for a while first.
Will update more tomorrow. Am tired now, will unpack and collapse somewhere for a while first.
20090920
Say "more options" or press 3
I am currently plotting to get Zen back on Wednesday. Based on the schedule issued, we will not be back on campus until 2 to 3pm, which means I will have three-ish hours only to do experiments (let's face it, unless there's an overnight incubation, no one will start an experiment an hour before they usually leave). Since many people just go home for the rest of the day, anyway, I think I will take the initiative to go home and then drive over to the Fedex depot and pick up Zen, hopefully arriving back at home still in time to find some sort of parking spot.
Currently there is only one problem with that plan: I don't know where Zen is.
I know there is, in theory, a depot somewhere for Zen-type packages. I do not know where that depot is, just that it's in town (thank God, the employee originally thought it was at Oceanside). The Fedex tracking system is down and all the information that the website can helpfully provide me with is that Zen is in town, which is not at all helpful. This city is rather large. I'd prefer not to comb every depot in the city for my errant laptop.
This, of course, makes it a lot harder for me to debug and defragment Daemon, who had apparently caught something on Friday and is now sluggish and had given me the Blue Screen of Death last night. All in all, I'd rather not take apart the software components until I get a reliable backup computer back.
I love how my computers all chose to fizz out during Qual Season. Or perhaps that's why they fizz out. Perhaps there is something inherent about Qual (the Qual-ness that I referred to the other day, maybe) that causes things to fizz and go kaput. My brain can empathize. Unfortunately my sanity can't and my patient is suffering. In fact, if I still have not managed to retrieve Zen by next Wednesday, I think this case may be lethal.
In all likelihood I will not be updating from now to Wednesday on the account of retreat. The place boasts of Wi-Fi, but so did the last place and I utterly failed to connect to any sort of reliable network while I was there. Did finish a book the last time though, so maybe that's what I'll do. I've almost finished Imaginary Numbers from my Beijing trip (which reminds me to point towards the poem "Letter from Caroline Herschel", which I loved, and one of my favorite poet, Wislawa I-can't-spell-her-last-name's "A World on Statistics") so that will not last me through this trip. The local library happens to have a copy of Persuasion though, so maybe I'll read that instead. I think it is technically a romance novel, so it should be very non-qual related. (While I am still talking about stuff I've read: I've finally flipped through Write It Right! and I hated it. First of all, I have no trouble writing memos and business letters, so most of that part is useless. Second of all, I already know basic rules such as I vs. me. I even know what an active voice is vs. passive voice and how to change one to the other. It's the finer points that I'm sketchy on, not the basics, and certainly not how and when to use a period. Finally, the authors keep on emphasizing on writing based on speaking style, at the same time as the need to eliminate big words / cliche phrases and so forth. The problem with that is, in this blog, for instance, I already write how I speak (well, with somewhat better grammar because otherwise Kate's brain will hemorrhage). How I speak is, apparently, not considered acceptable. ...and that sums up all the main points of the book, which is, therefore, not of use to me. The style of the book is also dull and a little condescending, which is just...ugh.)(Why can't Gaiman write a book on writing? Or did he and I just missed it?)
I slept for 10 hours last night. Somehow I still want to sleep.
Currently there is only one problem with that plan: I don't know where Zen is.
I know there is, in theory, a depot somewhere for Zen-type packages. I do not know where that depot is, just that it's in town (thank God, the employee originally thought it was at Oceanside). The Fedex tracking system is down and all the information that the website can helpfully provide me with is that Zen is in town, which is not at all helpful. This city is rather large. I'd prefer not to comb every depot in the city for my errant laptop.
This, of course, makes it a lot harder for me to debug and defragment Daemon, who had apparently caught something on Friday and is now sluggish and had given me the Blue Screen of Death last night. All in all, I'd rather not take apart the software components until I get a reliable backup computer back.
I love how my computers all chose to fizz out during Qual Season. Or perhaps that's why they fizz out. Perhaps there is something inherent about Qual (the Qual-ness that I referred to the other day, maybe) that causes things to fizz and go kaput. My brain can empathize. Unfortunately my sanity can't and my patient is suffering. In fact, if I still have not managed to retrieve Zen by next Wednesday, I think this case may be lethal.
In all likelihood I will not be updating from now to Wednesday on the account of retreat. The place boasts of Wi-Fi, but so did the last place and I utterly failed to connect to any sort of reliable network while I was there. Did finish a book the last time though, so maybe that's what I'll do. I've almost finished Imaginary Numbers from my Beijing trip (which reminds me to point towards the poem "Letter from Caroline Herschel", which I loved, and one of my favorite poet, Wislawa I-can't-spell-her-last-name's "A World on Statistics") so that will not last me through this trip. The local library happens to have a copy of Persuasion though, so maybe I'll read that instead. I think it is technically a romance novel, so it should be very non-qual related. (While I am still talking about stuff I've read: I've finally flipped through Write It Right! and I hated it. First of all, I have no trouble writing memos and business letters, so most of that part is useless. Second of all, I already know basic rules such as I vs. me. I even know what an active voice is vs. passive voice and how to change one to the other. It's the finer points that I'm sketchy on, not the basics, and certainly not how and when to use a period. Finally, the authors keep on emphasizing on writing based on speaking style, at the same time as the need to eliminate big words / cliche phrases and so forth. The problem with that is, in this blog, for instance, I already write how I speak (well, with somewhat better grammar because otherwise Kate's brain will hemorrhage). How I speak is, apparently, not considered acceptable. ...and that sums up all the main points of the book, which is, therefore, not of use to me. The style of the book is also dull and a little condescending, which is just...ugh.)(Why can't Gaiman write a book on writing? Or did he and I just missed it?)
I slept for 10 hours last night. Somehow I still want to sleep.
20090919
I make lists in my sleep
A couple labmates and I went out for lunch yesterday. It was surprisingly fun and even funnier when I wonder what the PI must be thinking when the group of us went trooping by him without so much as a by-your-leave. In our defense, it was lunch time and we are allowed to take time for lunch.
The place at Price Center does a very good tikka masala chicken. Wendy thought the bright color of the sauce (it was...red orange) was frightening. I thought it was funny that she didn't like peas.
(They are peas. Don't most people get pickier with things such as broccoli or brussel sprouts that have a strong, distinct taste?)
Even the entire cup of pearl tea that I drank wasn't enough to keep me awake, however, when I was updating my lab notebook. There were a lot of gel images and protocols to put in. Kate got me one of those fountain pens that have single-use tubes of ink I can just stick in, so I won't have to wrestle with a ink bottle and possibly get ink everywhere. I've gone through two tubes of ink already since May. That is, no matter how you look at it, a lot of writing. I hope my in situs work at some point, so at least I'll have something to show for all that scribbling besides the scribbling. (Mmm fluorescent images.)
There was a bonfire-bonding event for international students yesterday, so that the bus I usually took was overfull and a third of the students, along with me, had to wait for the next bus. Naturally they only left one guide with the entire group, and naturally the third left was left without a guide. The poor kids were without a clue where La Jolla Shores beach was. I couldn't tell them either because the beach was an entire stretch, and I have no idea which part of it they were aiming for (also the guide was horrible at giving directions, so this entire thing was like witnessing a train wreck). Naturally the group ended up getting off at the wrong stop, thanks to a combination of the bad directions from the guide, bad directions from an over-enthusiastic, well-meaning man on the bus who was trying to help, and the general chaos created when a group of students who just arrived in SD who do not speak English very well needed to navigate the public transit. There was nothing I could do to help because for the same reasons mentioned above, I couldn't figure out where they were going, either. It was only three stops after all the students got off, when I saw the sign for the bonfire stuck to the bushes next to the bus stop, did I realize that oh, okay, here was where the bonfire was supposed to be.
At least a slightly smarter girl had recorded the phone number of their guide, and they were, technically, still on La Jolla Shores beach (somewhat further north than they'd want to be, but technically the same beach). I want to help them so much, but given the entire mess, there was no hope for it.
It's an orientation process of sorts, I suppose. Welcome to the US, guys.
...
I've already considered the neighbors option for Zen. Unfortunately, unless I want to ask Deborah, for downstairs, to sit in my apartment all day, from 7am to 8pm, waiting for the package, it'll just involve more paperwork trying to explain that yes, I know the nice lady is from apartment 3, not 5, and that the address on the box says 5, not 3, but I gave her permission so stop leaving nice but useless little notes on my door already.
All my other options at this point involve contacting HP again (because changing the receiving address apparently needs to go back HP, not Fedex) and more paperwork. Given my general experience with paperwork and bureaucracy in general...I'll just figure something out on my own. It seems less painful for everyone involved.
...
Qual: am trying to fit everything in 6 pages. Am failing. Will probably end up cutting out a bunch of stuff at some point so my total page count will fall under 15. (Who the heck counts work cited page toward total page count, anyway?)
...
I have chocolate. I am prepared.
The place at Price Center does a very good tikka masala chicken. Wendy thought the bright color of the sauce (it was...red orange) was frightening. I thought it was funny that she didn't like peas.
(They are peas. Don't most people get pickier with things such as broccoli or brussel sprouts that have a strong, distinct taste?)
Even the entire cup of pearl tea that I drank wasn't enough to keep me awake, however, when I was updating my lab notebook. There were a lot of gel images and protocols to put in. Kate got me one of those fountain pens that have single-use tubes of ink I can just stick in, so I won't have to wrestle with a ink bottle and possibly get ink everywhere. I've gone through two tubes of ink already since May. That is, no matter how you look at it, a lot of writing. I hope my in situs work at some point, so at least I'll have something to show for all that scribbling besides the scribbling. (Mmm fluorescent images.)
There was a bonfire-bonding event for international students yesterday, so that the bus I usually took was overfull and a third of the students, along with me, had to wait for the next bus. Naturally they only left one guide with the entire group, and naturally the third left was left without a guide. The poor kids were without a clue where La Jolla Shores beach was. I couldn't tell them either because the beach was an entire stretch, and I have no idea which part of it they were aiming for (also the guide was horrible at giving directions, so this entire thing was like witnessing a train wreck). Naturally the group ended up getting off at the wrong stop, thanks to a combination of the bad directions from the guide, bad directions from an over-enthusiastic, well-meaning man on the bus who was trying to help, and the general chaos created when a group of students who just arrived in SD who do not speak English very well needed to navigate the public transit. There was nothing I could do to help because for the same reasons mentioned above, I couldn't figure out where they were going, either. It was only three stops after all the students got off, when I saw the sign for the bonfire stuck to the bushes next to the bus stop, did I realize that oh, okay, here was where the bonfire was supposed to be.
At least a slightly smarter girl had recorded the phone number of their guide, and they were, technically, still on La Jolla Shores beach (somewhat further north than they'd want to be, but technically the same beach). I want to help them so much, but given the entire mess, there was no hope for it.
It's an orientation process of sorts, I suppose. Welcome to the US, guys.
...
I've already considered the neighbors option for Zen. Unfortunately, unless I want to ask Deborah, for downstairs, to sit in my apartment all day, from 7am to 8pm, waiting for the package, it'll just involve more paperwork trying to explain that yes, I know the nice lady is from apartment 3, not 5, and that the address on the box says 5, not 3, but I gave her permission so stop leaving nice but useless little notes on my door already.
All my other options at this point involve contacting HP again (because changing the receiving address apparently needs to go back HP, not Fedex) and more paperwork. Given my general experience with paperwork and bureaucracy in general...I'll just figure something out on my own. It seems less painful for everyone involved.
...
Qual: am trying to fit everything in 6 pages. Am failing. Will probably end up cutting out a bunch of stuff at some point so my total page count will fall under 15. (Who the heck counts work cited page toward total page count, anyway?)
...
I have chocolate. I am prepared.
20090918
Aaagh
Dear Diary,
Fedex hates me. I can't get Zen back because I'm not home during the day (and I can't do a time request, either), and the only place I can pick up Zen is this office very far from where I live, which only operates M-F. (Apparently the office three blocks north of me can send away Zen-type packages, but not receive them.) I can't even find the drop off site on their web page! Also, retreat M-W next week so there is NO TIME to be off looking for Zen.
Oh God. Why me?
-S
Fedex hates me. I can't get Zen back because I'm not home during the day (and I can't do a time request, either), and the only place I can pick up Zen is this office very far from where I live, which only operates M-F. (Apparently the office three blocks north of me can send away Zen-type packages, but not receive them.) I can't even find the drop off site on their web page! Also, retreat M-W next week so there is NO TIME to be off looking for Zen.
Oh God. Why me?
-S
20090917
In which I fail at blog-updating, but otherwise do well
A brief check on my blog (after an email from Anna inquiring whether or not my thesis ate me -- or something to that effect) revealed that I have, indeed, not updated this thing in a while. This is, as I've explained to Anna, mostly due to the fact that once I get home at whatever time it happened to be that night, I usually have no desire to turn on the computer again. Due to the fact that this is the Quarter of Qual, turning on the computer immediately triggers my sense of obligation to check on my school email, go over my notes, and work on my qual...and it's all downhill from there.
I'm updating my blog in lab instead today, in an act of open rebellion.
...or perhaps, just a direct result of the fact that a mini-prep is something I can do in my sleep at this point and it comes with many 15 and 10 minute incubation time, which isn't really enough time to get into anything else (it takes 10 minutes just to get into the groove of writing qual -- and before you laugh, yes there is such a thing -- it's like a state of Zen, except it's a state of Qual-ness) (more on that later).
Aside from that though, all things considered, I'm doing quite well.
Last week, after massive amounts of email and comments from the PI that I shouldn't panic, panic doesn't help, I did get part I of my qual in and approved. Right now I'm waiting for a committee chair to be assigned, who will be the last member to complete my qual committee. I've started contacting many other PIs for advise, reagents, and general offers of collaboration for what I'll be doing for my dissertation. Most of them have been very gracious so far. The ones who aren't just never reply to my emails so there are, in fact, no direct refusals. (I've learned also that PIs are masters at passive-aggressive behavior. But that's neither here nor there.)
To celebrate the ending of qual, part I, I drove up to LA on Saturday to see Lucy. We went to the Getty because there was a French-themed event that weekend. There were people wandering around in paper berets.There was French music. There may even have been people there who spoke French!
Oh wait.
We discovered a sketching gallery upstairs, which was awesome since it's a quiet little corner where they provide art supply for you to sketch sculptures and paintings displayed in that area. The upshot is now I have a very large sketch of a slightly angry-looking woman rolled up beside my nightstand. I'm not entirely sure what to do with it and am trying not to read too much into the fact that Lucy's version of the same woman looks much happier.
We also discovered Solanum pyracanthum and Lucy immediately dubbed it "the Mike plant" after I commented that it's softer than it looks but very prickly if you poke it the wrong way (because, ow). It had orange spikes. And purple flowers. Lucy claimed that the purple flowers are Nick's influence. I plead the fifth on the account of imaginary people currently residing in my head. A quick flip-through in the Getty-Garden book in the museum store revealed that everyone apparently likes this plant and comments on it a lot. I'm a little puzzled and a lot amused by that, since the plant itself isn't very large or very showy, compared to all the other things that are there (purple wings, for example, or angel's trumpets). It just...has blue-green leaves with orange spikes.
Lucy put it down to Mike's innate ability to capture people's attention. I was too busy laughing at the fact that the plant's common name is "porcupine tomato" because...well, porcupine tomato.
Lucy has already mentioned our spontaneous display of desire To Get A Night Life, also known as, "Susan dithers and Lucy finally decides" (yeah), in which we went out and caught a showing of Star Trek on IMAX at 10:15pm at night and it was totally worth it because, my God, the shininess. (Overall design of spaceship, based on my personal and lack-of-engineering-training, ranks below Fifth Elements and above Star Wars.)
(Also dragged Lucy makeup shopping with me, because am fed up with mother and the cosmetics section is too scary to consider venturing into alone.)
(Then the next day was the day when I probably should've updated the blog and instead I went and...let's just say grocery shopping takes a lot longer when there are more people, later in the day.)
I gave a lab presentation yesterday. It seemed to have gone fairly well, overall. Department retreat will be Monday through Wednesday next week (half day, full day, half day). It's been changed from being held in May every year to being held in September, so it can be coupled with the orientation week of the incoming freshmen. I'm somewhat dubious about the wisdom of this decision, because is it really a good idea to ship off students who are still disoriented from coming in from all over the place (a good portion will be from CA but we get a lot of people from all over the US and occasionally a few from outside of the US) in the middle of the orientation to somewhere else? I guess we'll see.
Am currently on part II, section 3 of qual, page 4 of 7. This is the last section unless you count the works cited page, which I don't. If I get it done this week the rounds of editing will start next week. Possibly.
Wow that is a long post. It took...about five incubations to type.
Zen tried to come home on Tuesday. Unfortunately I'm gone for most of the day so there's no way I can sign for Fedex'ed things. I've arranged for a pickup so hopefully I'll get Zen back tonight.
I'm updating my blog in lab instead today, in an act of open rebellion.
...or perhaps, just a direct result of the fact that a mini-prep is something I can do in my sleep at this point and it comes with many 15 and 10 minute incubation time, which isn't really enough time to get into anything else (it takes 10 minutes just to get into the groove of writing qual -- and before you laugh, yes there is such a thing -- it's like a state of Zen, except it's a state of Qual-ness) (more on that later).
Aside from that though, all things considered, I'm doing quite well.
Last week, after massive amounts of email and comments from the PI that I shouldn't panic, panic doesn't help, I did get part I of my qual in and approved. Right now I'm waiting for a committee chair to be assigned, who will be the last member to complete my qual committee. I've started contacting many other PIs for advise, reagents, and general offers of collaboration for what I'll be doing for my dissertation. Most of them have been very gracious so far. The ones who aren't just never reply to my emails so there are, in fact, no direct refusals. (I've learned also that PIs are masters at passive-aggressive behavior. But that's neither here nor there.)
To celebrate the ending of qual, part I, I drove up to LA on Saturday to see Lucy. We went to the Getty because there was a French-themed event that weekend. There were people wandering around in paper berets.There was French music. There may even have been people there who spoke French!
Oh wait.
We discovered a sketching gallery upstairs, which was awesome since it's a quiet little corner where they provide art supply for you to sketch sculptures and paintings displayed in that area. The upshot is now I have a very large sketch of a slightly angry-looking woman rolled up beside my nightstand. I'm not entirely sure what to do with it and am trying not to read too much into the fact that Lucy's version of the same woman looks much happier.
We also discovered Solanum pyracanthum and Lucy immediately dubbed it "the Mike plant" after I commented that it's softer than it looks but very prickly if you poke it the wrong way (because, ow). It had orange spikes. And purple flowers. Lucy claimed that the purple flowers are Nick's influence. I plead the fifth on the account of imaginary people currently residing in my head. A quick flip-through in the Getty-Garden book in the museum store revealed that everyone apparently likes this plant and comments on it a lot. I'm a little puzzled and a lot amused by that, since the plant itself isn't very large or very showy, compared to all the other things that are there (purple wings, for example, or angel's trumpets). It just...has blue-green leaves with orange spikes.
Lucy put it down to Mike's innate ability to capture people's attention. I was too busy laughing at the fact that the plant's common name is "porcupine tomato" because...well, porcupine tomato.
Lucy has already mentioned our spontaneous display of desire To Get A Night Life, also known as, "Susan dithers and Lucy finally decides" (yeah), in which we went out and caught a showing of Star Trek on IMAX at 10:15pm at night and it was totally worth it because, my God, the shininess. (Overall design of spaceship, based on my personal and lack-of-engineering-training, ranks below Fifth Elements and above Star Wars.)
(Also dragged Lucy makeup shopping with me, because am fed up with mother and the cosmetics section is too scary to consider venturing into alone.)
(Then the next day was the day when I probably should've updated the blog and instead I went and...let's just say grocery shopping takes a lot longer when there are more people, later in the day.)
I gave a lab presentation yesterday. It seemed to have gone fairly well, overall. Department retreat will be Monday through Wednesday next week (half day, full day, half day). It's been changed from being held in May every year to being held in September, so it can be coupled with the orientation week of the incoming freshmen. I'm somewhat dubious about the wisdom of this decision, because is it really a good idea to ship off students who are still disoriented from coming in from all over the place (a good portion will be from CA but we get a lot of people from all over the US and occasionally a few from outside of the US) in the middle of the orientation to somewhere else? I guess we'll see.
Am currently on part II, section 3 of qual, page 4 of 7. This is the last section unless you count the works cited page, which I don't. If I get it done this week the rounds of editing will start next week. Possibly.
Wow that is a long post. It took...about five incubations to type.
Zen tried to come home on Tuesday. Unfortunately I'm gone for most of the day so there's no way I can sign for Fedex'ed things. I've arranged for a pickup so hopefully I'll get Zen back tonight.
20090907
Panic rising
Okay, so drafts of the first three sections of my qual is due tomorrow and and I sent my stuff in last week and I STILL have not heard back from the PI yet (he needs to sign it before I can turn it in). I just sent him another email with the file attached. On one hand, I feel bad for bothering him on Labor Day. On the other hand, he is a known workaholic and I SENT IT TO HIM LAST WEEK, dammit.
TEA. This calls for tea.
[edit 13:58]
I GOT AN EMAIL BACK. (He's a workaholic. Yes.) THERE IS HOPE YET.
TEA. This calls for tea.
[edit 13:58]
I GOT AN EMAIL BACK. (He's a workaholic. Yes.) THERE IS HOPE YET.
Well, I have food now
Parents came. Dad decided that it's absolutely necessary to change the oil & oil filter on my car, so that's what ended up happening. They've also hauled back my Pile of Stuff (including the heater) that has been sitting in the middle of my studio for the past month, so now there is room.
I think I may need to re-vacuum. Though I did vacuum up this massive spider the other time....
I've also came across this:
From SEED (the science magazine). Poor Colbert. His name is apparently not cool enough for NASA.
Life. It goes on.
I think I may need to re-vacuum. Though I did vacuum up this massive spider the other time....
I've also came across this:
After another series of scrubs, the Space Shuttle Discovery is slated to launch the COLBERT treadmill (among other things), to the ISS tonight. The satirist Stephen Colbert crushed the competition when the name of the ISS’s new module was put up to a public vote, though NASA balked and went with “Tranquility” instead. The exercise equipment was named after him as a compromise.
From SEED (the science magazine). Poor Colbert. His name is apparently not cool enough for NASA.
Life. It goes on.
20090906
Dude
I think I just found a new incentive for why I'll want to aspire for a job that pays well. Besides the hope of affording a house with a backyard large enough for me to grow things in, I mean. (I suppose I could move to the middle of nowhere if that is my sole incentive, but it does seem to conflict, logistically speaking, with finding a job that pays well in my particular field of interest.)
Look at it. Gaiman's library. Although that is not the level that I'm aiming at (I am, after all, very pragmatic). I do want to be able to have at least one extra bedroom and install it with wall to wall and floor to ceiling bookshelves. It's getting a bit tragic how often I wander past bookstores now and force myself only to sigh and cast a longing glance before moving on. Quickly. (I'm convinced I'd be lured away by its siren calls if I pause in front of it for more than three seconds.) Perhaps this is what lovesick adolescent girls feel like. There is, however, considerably less stalking and crisis over self-image in my case, so I feel that I've got the better deal.
Dude. Books.
Look at it. Gaiman's library. Although that is not the level that I'm aiming at (I am, after all, very pragmatic). I do want to be able to have at least one extra bedroom and install it with wall to wall and floor to ceiling bookshelves. It's getting a bit tragic how often I wander past bookstores now and force myself only to sigh and cast a longing glance before moving on. Quickly. (I'm convinced I'd be lured away by its siren calls if I pause in front of it for more than three seconds.) Perhaps this is what lovesick adolescent girls feel like. There is, however, considerably less stalking and crisis over self-image in my case, so I feel that I've got the better deal.
Dude. Books.
20090905
Geek circuit fail
NY Times did a dedication article to the guy who invented D&D. It came with a cool circuit diagram that was posted on a PI's door that caught my eye the other day, and I vowed that I would hunt it down. And print it out. And trace the parts applicable to me with highlighter of an eye-blinding shade.
All these I have done and I am forced to conclude that the diagram seems to be targeted primarily for a male audience .5 to 1 generation before mine. (My God, just when was Atari?) In any case, what I ended up tracing were bits and pieces all over the place that formed no progression of whatsoever. No loops. Nothing. I am slightly sad. I am also somewhat doubtful of the accuracy of the diagram, which currently allows me to trace two more items on the diagram: "blogging about diagram" and "doubting accuracy of this diagram".
Well, cheers. I am all caught up on the web, finally. (As much as I ever was, anyhow.) My parents have called and told me not to buy food, because they will be bringing a lot, apparently, and I have just vacuumed my place again because they sound like they were serious about camping out on my floor.
All these I have done and I am forced to conclude that the diagram seems to be targeted primarily for a male audience .5 to 1 generation before mine. (My God, just when was Atari?) In any case, what I ended up tracing were bits and pieces all over the place that formed no progression of whatsoever. No loops. Nothing. I am slightly sad. I am also somewhat doubtful of the accuracy of the diagram, which currently allows me to trace two more items on the diagram: "blogging about diagram" and "doubting accuracy of this diagram".
Well, cheers. I am all caught up on the web, finally. (As much as I ever was, anyhow.) My parents have called and told me not to buy food, because they will be bringing a lot, apparently, and I have just vacuumed my place again because they sound like they were serious about camping out on my floor.
20090904
Will not be going into lab this weekend (well, except Monday, but that doesn't count). Experiment failed. Troubleshooting took me all the way to 3pm today without a break which made me cranky, because I was very hungry by then. For some reason I wanted a burger. I wonder if this means that I'm not getting enough protein in my diet.
Have signed up for classes. This year I get to search through course catalogues again. As usual, they make my eyes twitch.
(No it's not caffeine. I'm officially off caffeine and back on Pacific Time now, cheers.)
Those of you who are moving into new apartments for the upcoming school year -- I need your new addresses. Especially since I DO send things via snail mail.
I am planning to be back in the bay area for Thanksgiving, which means I need to order tickets within the next two weekends. Which reminds me that sometime near the end of September / beginning of October we should start Facebook messages again and try to figure out who'll be around at Thanksgiving. Also, are we still doing Secret Santa this year? Should I bring a hat?
Okay, dinner.
Have signed up for classes. This year I get to search through course catalogues again. As usual, they make my eyes twitch.
(No it's not caffeine. I'm officially off caffeine and back on Pacific Time now, cheers.)
Those of you who are moving into new apartments for the upcoming school year -- I need your new addresses. Especially since I DO send things via snail mail.
I am planning to be back in the bay area for Thanksgiving, which means I need to order tickets within the next two weekends. Which reminds me that sometime near the end of September / beginning of October we should start Facebook messages again and try to figure out who'll be around at Thanksgiving. Also, are we still doing Secret Santa this year? Should I bring a hat?
Okay, dinner.
20090902
At Jerusalem next year
I am on schedule (as in the official schedule provided in the grad student handbook) now. I am slightly behind schedule in terms of where I'd like to be in my experiments, but catch up is in progress and I'm hoping that one of my experiments will yield a positive result soon. Meanwhile, my parents will probably attempt to come down here this weekend (where the heck they're staying, I have no idea, and I did warn them) and I will have to go in for at least 15 min on both Saturday and Sunday and work at least half day on Monday.
Well, cheers.
Jet-lag continues to recede. I just realized that while converting from Beijing Time to California time I must be at least on time somewhere each day of this slightly hazy week. Today, after some estimation of how energetic I feel verses how energetic I usually feel at noon, I concluded that I am currently somewhere between Brazil time and US east coast time. My aim is to be by west coast on Friday. I have switched down to green tea now, so victory is in sight.
My right eye twitches when I'm tired. It's getting annoying.
The HP box has arrived today, complete with forms, shipping labels, and three strips of 12" tape to reseal the box (yep, the box came sealed with those things in side, and two styrofoam things). Everyone say "bye" to Zen!
When my PI is mad at someone, he apparently, unlike other PIs, does not swear. He calls them names. Such as "dumbbell". It's all very PG. I am amused. He also commented on a sheet of data today that only God knew what it meant, then added that God might know, but He didn't choose to share with him.
Well, cheers.
Jet-lag continues to recede. I just realized that while converting from Beijing Time to California time I must be at least on time somewhere each day of this slightly hazy week. Today, after some estimation of how energetic I feel verses how energetic I usually feel at noon, I concluded that I am currently somewhere between Brazil time and US east coast time. My aim is to be by west coast on Friday. I have switched down to green tea now, so victory is in sight.
My right eye twitches when I'm tired. It's getting annoying.
The HP box has arrived today, complete with forms, shipping labels, and three strips of 12" tape to reseal the box (yep, the box came sealed with those things in side, and two styrofoam things). Everyone say "bye" to Zen!
When my PI is mad at someone, he apparently, unlike other PIs, does not swear. He calls them names. Such as "dumbbell". It's all very PG. I am amused. He also commented on a sheet of data today that only God knew what it meant, then added that God might know, but He didn't choose to share with him.
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