Remember the issue with the parking permit I mentioned last time? A classmate of mine did start a petition. An online petition. That, seeded through our department's list serve, gathered over 200 votes within the first two hours and is now spreading throughout the campus. We are allowed to leave our personal comments and the departments that we represent when we sign electronically, so just by glancing at the petition (over 700 signatures the last time I checked, and this petition started at noon, today) we have people spanning all stages of academic career, from undergrad to techs to grad to staff and tenured professors. We have a lot of people from my program and biology, quite a few from chemistry, biochem, bioengineering, and a handful from physics, economy, engineering and political science. We have more lighthearted comments such as "Thanks for giving me the weekend off" and we have mini-essays. I got almost everyone in my lab to sign, including the PI (who gave me a brief lecture on the history of parking lot economy and how it apparently dated back to Reagan --yes this is what my PI tends to do) and have forwarded the link to a few others who have indicated interest, including the vivarium staff.
I'm quite excited about this now because a) we're sending this to the chancellor, and right now it looks like there are enough people who are upset about this that the administrators can't just ignore it and b) this is a good chance for me to see how much power the student/staff body really do have, when it comes to changing regulations and policies.
It's amazing though. Every time I click on the refresh button on the e-petition link, new signatures show up. Even if I click it every two seconds.
...
Unrelated: got my SfN session appointment! Anna's presenting on Monday morning in November, Lis (the other one presenting in my lab) is on Monday afternoon. I'm on Wednesday afternoon, and I forwarded my notification to the PI with a note about whether or not this meant I get to skip lab meeting that week (we have it on Wednesday afternoons). He "supposes" so. People have been giving me tips and advises and things to see about the conference so now I'm getting all hyped up about it too. Should be fun!
20100627
May the fun never end
Last I checked, of the teams that I drew the lots for, only Chile remains on the short list. There is now a bag of chocolate for second place as well as for first place in the shelves next to our lab tech's desk.
We got another undergrad in our lab recently and both Wendy and I, along with a post-doc, were asked if we'd have the time for an undergrad. The main issue Wendy and I had with this applicant was that he was planning to only work here for the summer, which wasn't enough time, in a biology lab and especially not for a genetics lab that works with mice, to both teach a student the techniques, have them master them, and get usable results. (A general rule of thumb from my undergrad days is, if you want to be more involved in a lab than just washing glassware, you need to pledge more than one quarter. That rule still seems to apply.) (If no one wants to take on an undergrad we just don't accept the applicant, since my PI's of the opinion that it's rude to accept an undergrad into the lab if there's no one who can make the time to deal with him / her.) As a result, the post-doc got the undergrad (who is thankfully more experienced than our current undergrad, in the sense that he knew how to make dilutions and buffers and basic safety rules). Unfortunately, this is the post-doc with the somewhat...unstable schedule, so within the past week there have been many times where no one can track down the post-doc for the poor undergrad and he ended up just kind of lingering around, waiting. And generally making me twitchy since I am in the midst of in situ hybridization, northern blot, and western blot as well as occasional mice, which apparently looks very impressive. Or something. I have no other explanation for why I'd return to find him lingering over my bench, staring at the mess of experiments there. Oh well, whenever there's someone new it's always a group effort, in my current lab, to help out anyway, since we've all got expertise in different areas...and keeps track of different stock reagents in lab.
Speaking of lab: there was one day last week when I looked up at an odd scraping sound and saw my PI pushing this large box toward the lobby (by large I mean he'd fit in it, easily, multiples of him, even). We caught each other's eye, and then he went back to box-pushing. (Yes Kate, this is one of my boring stories, where I ask no questions.) PIs are very strange. I have no idea where that box came from. We have no room in any part of our lab space or his office for something that size. Or what he was doing with it. It was like that time when Wendy spotted him cutting strips of carpet (which later turned out was because he was experimenting with...never mind). Tiffany, a former tech in our lab and now a grad student, had once wondered if the PIs knew that we observe them like they're animals in the zoo. I'm pretty sure mine does. He's self-aware to a degree that occasionally leaves my lab mates unsettled. (After that time where I heard someone from a neighboring lab describe him as "young and neurotic"...I mostly try not to remember that comment when I'm talking to him, especially not in conjunction with his somewhat self-deprecating sense of humor, so I can keep a straight face.)
There was one thing that I was a bit upset about last week, and that was finding out that our campus is getting rid of free parking on weekends and nights. Supposedly this is because of shortage of campus funds. What it means is that for all the grad students who have seven-day-long experiments or need to come in for a few hours on the weekends to get a result sooner, we'd have to pay fifty dollars for a permit. Now, since I tend to avoid going to lab on the weekends whenever possible, I don't go in enough times to make that fee worth my while. Nor am I inclined to go in on weekends anymore than I absolutely have to: there are plenty of burned out grad students, I do not intend to become one of them. All of this means that I either need to brave the two hours of public transit on the weekends, which is unacceptable, or that I'll take my car to the nearest mall shopping center and take the bus / walk to campus from there (so an hour round trip at the most instead of two, but at least if I walk I'll get some sun and exercise). Some of my classmates have time point experiments which means they have to come back to something every six hours or every twelve hours. Before, after dark, they'd just take their car to campus so they can still grab a few hours of sleep at home in between. Now I think there're plans of camping out in the student lounge and in the lobbies of the lab buildings, where the couches are. Thankfully the only time point I have to do right now is long enough that I can just stay later the night before and arrive earlier the next morning, and I'd be fine. The generally feeling, however, is that if there's a petition to repeal this, we'd sign it.
The new rules are effective as of July 1st, 2010. I think it's an absolutely dismal way to start July. I wonder what all the PIs will say when they realize this will decrease the data output in their labs because now, rather than starting something that'll require two hours on the weekend, but will allow the next step to be performed as early as the next Monday, we are more likely to not start the experiment and just wait until Monday, and damn the delay.
Have ordered plane tickets. Will be in bay area Jul. 29 afternoon and leaving Aug. 1st in the morning. My parents are still coming next week. I think.
We got another undergrad in our lab recently and both Wendy and I, along with a post-doc, were asked if we'd have the time for an undergrad. The main issue Wendy and I had with this applicant was that he was planning to only work here for the summer, which wasn't enough time, in a biology lab and especially not for a genetics lab that works with mice, to both teach a student the techniques, have them master them, and get usable results. (A general rule of thumb from my undergrad days is, if you want to be more involved in a lab than just washing glassware, you need to pledge more than one quarter. That rule still seems to apply.) (If no one wants to take on an undergrad we just don't accept the applicant, since my PI's of the opinion that it's rude to accept an undergrad into the lab if there's no one who can make the time to deal with him / her.) As a result, the post-doc got the undergrad (who is thankfully more experienced than our current undergrad, in the sense that he knew how to make dilutions and buffers and basic safety rules). Unfortunately, this is the post-doc with the somewhat...unstable schedule, so within the past week there have been many times where no one can track down the post-doc for the poor undergrad and he ended up just kind of lingering around, waiting. And generally making me twitchy since I am in the midst of in situ hybridization, northern blot, and western blot as well as occasional mice, which apparently looks very impressive. Or something. I have no other explanation for why I'd return to find him lingering over my bench, staring at the mess of experiments there. Oh well, whenever there's someone new it's always a group effort, in my current lab, to help out anyway, since we've all got expertise in different areas...and keeps track of different stock reagents in lab.
Speaking of lab: there was one day last week when I looked up at an odd scraping sound and saw my PI pushing this large box toward the lobby (by large I mean he'd fit in it, easily, multiples of him, even). We caught each other's eye, and then he went back to box-pushing. (Yes Kate, this is one of my boring stories, where I ask no questions.) PIs are very strange. I have no idea where that box came from. We have no room in any part of our lab space or his office for something that size. Or what he was doing with it. It was like that time when Wendy spotted him cutting strips of carpet (which later turned out was because he was experimenting with...never mind). Tiffany, a former tech in our lab and now a grad student, had once wondered if the PIs knew that we observe them like they're animals in the zoo. I'm pretty sure mine does. He's self-aware to a degree that occasionally leaves my lab mates unsettled. (After that time where I heard someone from a neighboring lab describe him as "young and neurotic"...I mostly try not to remember that comment when I'm talking to him, especially not in conjunction with his somewhat self-deprecating sense of humor, so I can keep a straight face.)
There was one thing that I was a bit upset about last week, and that was finding out that our campus is getting rid of free parking on weekends and nights. Supposedly this is because of shortage of campus funds. What it means is that for all the grad students who have seven-day-long experiments or need to come in for a few hours on the weekends to get a result sooner, we'd have to pay fifty dollars for a permit. Now, since I tend to avoid going to lab on the weekends whenever possible, I don't go in enough times to make that fee worth my while. Nor am I inclined to go in on weekends anymore than I absolutely have to: there are plenty of burned out grad students, I do not intend to become one of them. All of this means that I either need to brave the two hours of public transit on the weekends, which is unacceptable, or that I'll take my car to the nearest mall shopping center and take the bus / walk to campus from there (so an hour round trip at the most instead of two, but at least if I walk I'll get some sun and exercise). Some of my classmates have time point experiments which means they have to come back to something every six hours or every twelve hours. Before, after dark, they'd just take their car to campus so they can still grab a few hours of sleep at home in between. Now I think there're plans of camping out in the student lounge and in the lobbies of the lab buildings, where the couches are. Thankfully the only time point I have to do right now is long enough that I can just stay later the night before and arrive earlier the next morning, and I'd be fine. The generally feeling, however, is that if there's a petition to repeal this, we'd sign it.
The new rules are effective as of July 1st, 2010. I think it's an absolutely dismal way to start July. I wonder what all the PIs will say when they realize this will decrease the data output in their labs because now, rather than starting something that'll require two hours on the weekend, but will allow the next step to be performed as early as the next Monday, we are more likely to not start the experiment and just wait until Monday, and damn the delay.
Have ordered plane tickets. Will be in bay area Jul. 29 afternoon and leaving Aug. 1st in the morning. My parents are still coming next week. I think.
20100623
People vs life
Labs have to deal with sales reps. They come around with their flyers for lab supplies, for anything from pipette tips to mini-centrifuges. They often leave us with pieces of candy (or else advertise that there'll be a vendor show on campus with food, please come), or occasionally a pen or post-its (everyone likes post-its; if you work in a lab, post-its are you friends). Today, for some unknown reason, the rep, after talking to our lab tech, left us with a flyer and a packet of sunflower seeds. As in the type you find in a nursery, not the type you find in a grocery store. It is also of the mammoth variety, not dwarf.
My labmates and I are equal parts bemused and amused. What are we supposed to do with the seeds? Grow giant sunflowers in the middle of the lab, between the incubator and the spec? I mean in some lab some people can have a small potted plant at their desk (clean area, never on the bench with the chemicals). Very tasteful. Gives a nice ambiance. Mammoth sunflower does not equal small potted plant. Mammoth sunflowers, as the name implies, are huge. (Well, for something that's not a bush or tree.) Give them right amount of sunlight and water they average over seven feet tall. Why on earth were we given a packet of these seeds?
I continue to be confused by marketing people.
Dorothy's taking home the seeds to give to her son. Maybe he can do a science project out of it or something.
Something else strange happened today as well, with my bottle of water that I tried to autoclave. I needed to treat the water with DEPC (...uh diethylpyrocarbonate) to get rid of the RNase in it, since RNase chews up RNA and I need the RNA of my samples intact, not chewed up. Usually you put DEPC in the water (where it forms clear little beads that roll around in the bottom of the bottle -- pretty cool to look at) and let it sit overnight, and then the next morning the beads would have magically disappeared. Then you autoclave it to inactivate the DEPC so it doesn't interfere with the enzymes you might need to put in the water later. Since the DEPC beads are always gone by the morning, I usually don't check for the beads. Yet somehow, today after I took my two liter bottle of water out of the autoclave, I noticed that there's a small bead of DEPC rolling around on the bottom. I stared at it. Wendy stared at it. Eventually most of the lab (except for the PI) came to stare at it. We have no idea how this was possible, especially given the thing's been autoclaved and usually that much heat and pressure can be used to help things go into solution. I've left it to cool overnight and I'll try to autoclave it again but really, what? (I should mention I had three other bottles of DEPC-treated water and this did not happen with those bottles and so, before you ask, I used the same DEPC for all of them so it is neither the DEPC nor the autoclave.)
People confuse me. Life confuses me. It's been a confusing sort of day.
My labmates and I are equal parts bemused and amused. What are we supposed to do with the seeds? Grow giant sunflowers in the middle of the lab, between the incubator and the spec? I mean in some lab some people can have a small potted plant at their desk (clean area, never on the bench with the chemicals). Very tasteful. Gives a nice ambiance. Mammoth sunflower does not equal small potted plant. Mammoth sunflowers, as the name implies, are huge. (Well, for something that's not a bush or tree.) Give them right amount of sunlight and water they average over seven feet tall. Why on earth were we given a packet of these seeds?
I continue to be confused by marketing people.
Dorothy's taking home the seeds to give to her son. Maybe he can do a science project out of it or something.
Something else strange happened today as well, with my bottle of water that I tried to autoclave. I needed to treat the water with DEPC (...uh diethylpyrocarbonate) to get rid of the RNase in it, since RNase chews up RNA and I need the RNA of my samples intact, not chewed up. Usually you put DEPC in the water (where it forms clear little beads that roll around in the bottom of the bottle -- pretty cool to look at) and let it sit overnight, and then the next morning the beads would have magically disappeared. Then you autoclave it to inactivate the DEPC so it doesn't interfere with the enzymes you might need to put in the water later. Since the DEPC beads are always gone by the morning, I usually don't check for the beads. Yet somehow, today after I took my two liter bottle of water out of the autoclave, I noticed that there's a small bead of DEPC rolling around on the bottom. I stared at it. Wendy stared at it. Eventually most of the lab (except for the PI) came to stare at it. We have no idea how this was possible, especially given the thing's been autoclaved and usually that much heat and pressure can be used to help things go into solution. I've left it to cool overnight and I'll try to autoclave it again but really, what? (I should mention I had three other bottles of DEPC-treated water and this did not happen with those bottles and so, before you ask, I used the same DEPC for all of them so it is neither the DEPC nor the autoclave.)
People confuse me. Life confuses me. It's been a confusing sort of day.
20100622
Love will remain a mystery
Why do I want to date?
I've considered this question for a while now. When I first approached the issue of romantic relationships I considered treating it like an experiment. I'll do some background research and test out each of my hypothesis and see what works and what doesn't. However, between the contradicting advises from many so-called "professionals" and my understanding that these advises are meant to address your average single woman, which I am not, the experimental approach doesn't look like it will pan out. Relationships vary so much on a person to person basis that the only way for me to find out anything is, as far as I can tell, to step off of the cliff into free fall and brave the terra incognita of your local dating scene with neither a compass nor a map (much less a GPS).
I like maps. I like experiments. When I drew the above conclusion, I was not happy.
So this brings me back to the question of why do I want to bother? I don't particularly want to be married or have children (not to mention I'm not even sure, at this point, of whether or not I'll be capable of either). If workaholic has a genetics component, I would have inherited it from both sides of the family which is, frankly, terrible for trying to do things such as dating. In what time that's left to me I volunteer, wander the streets and the beaches, write, draw, read. My life can be pretty full as it is, and I love my independence. If I were Zach diagnosing myself this is the point where I'd be telling me that I clearly need to figure out what I want.
(That last sentence sounded confusing, but less schizophrenic than it did in my head.) (The pun is accidental.)
After some thoughts I've drawn up three main reasons, one of which is based a bit on my personal insecurity. My mom keep reminding me (when she is in that certain phase that all mothers go through, visions of grandchildren dancing in their heads) that she and dad won't be around forever, and I shouldn't be left alone. Understandable. I like being independent, but I don't want the "I am all alone in this big wide world poor me" scenario either. I have excellent friends, yes, but family is still (or should be) the top priority. It will no doubt be a bit lonely when everyone gets married and such.
The second reason is mostly because I am at a phase in my life where I believe I deserve to have some fun. I like going out. I don't know if I'll like going out. Long-term relationship not withstanding, people my age seem to like the latter, so I figured I should at least try it once. It's like Greek food except less likely to involve words that I cannot pronounce. Going out, from what I understand, doesn't require anyone to make a commitment after the first date, so it shouldn't be too bad.
The last and the most important reason (in terms of influencing my final decision to get up, put in some effort, and do something) is simply curiosity. It's a good trait to have as a scientist, I've been told, and as a personality trait I am aware that it can potentially get me into all kinds of problems. Nevertheless, I have considered myself and decided that, theoretically, I am no less capable of loving than anyone else, nor am I any less deserving of love than anyone else. Therefore, if I want to find out what this kind of love is, I should be able to blunder along like everyone else and find...something.
Because really, aren't we all curious? Love is such a simple word. In languages that conjugate and decline their words, it's one of the first words we learn. By the age of new comedy we can already get a glimpse of the themes in the works to come, where love plays many key roles. Poets have waxed lyrical over it, literally, and lyrics...well: considering the proportion of songs dedicated to the subject, saying that it's popular would be a gross understatement. It is such a powerful thing. People sing of it, cry over it, die for it. For love the hanging gardens of Babylon were built. For love Isis hunted for the fourteen pieces of Osiris and Orpheus walked into hell to bargain with his music. In short, love is life and therefore death, because neither would have meaning with out the other. Love is a person and his or her world, and how a person can be someone else's world but how a person's world can change, as well. The more we find out about love the more confusing it gets until, frustrated, we are forced to yell out, "It just is!"
...which may be the truest thing of all, considering.
With the nuance of English we can make the distinction between "love" and "in love with". Trace the literature world and we can find many ways to express either (though Mr. Darcy's "how ardently I admire you" always makes me want to laugh for some reason...I can try to blame the BBC mini-series' cast but I think it may be just me in this case). It is one of the oldest and most sacred human emotion we know, and therefore we are not lacking in either words or experience when it comes to the subject of love (as compared to many other subjects of similar nature that exists out there).
We can travel faster than sound, synthesize proteins from scratch, and predict the trajectory of the stars... so why is it, even now, that we are still singing of the riddle-in-a-mystery-in-a-enigma that is love? (Or Russia, if you ask Churchill. Apparently the two are similar in their ability to bewilder.)
I'm old enough to wonder. I'm old enough to care. I want to know.
Don't you?
(Forget Rubik's cube. This is like the ultimate puzzle.)
I've considered this question for a while now. When I first approached the issue of romantic relationships I considered treating it like an experiment. I'll do some background research and test out each of my hypothesis and see what works and what doesn't. However, between the contradicting advises from many so-called "professionals" and my understanding that these advises are meant to address your average single woman, which I am not, the experimental approach doesn't look like it will pan out. Relationships vary so much on a person to person basis that the only way for me to find out anything is, as far as I can tell, to step off of the cliff into free fall and brave the terra incognita of your local dating scene with neither a compass nor a map (much less a GPS).
I like maps. I like experiments. When I drew the above conclusion, I was not happy.
So this brings me back to the question of why do I want to bother? I don't particularly want to be married or have children (not to mention I'm not even sure, at this point, of whether or not I'll be capable of either). If workaholic has a genetics component, I would have inherited it from both sides of the family which is, frankly, terrible for trying to do things such as dating. In what time that's left to me I volunteer, wander the streets and the beaches, write, draw, read. My life can be pretty full as it is, and I love my independence. If I were Zach diagnosing myself this is the point where I'd be telling me that I clearly need to figure out what I want.
(That last sentence sounded confusing, but less schizophrenic than it did in my head.) (The pun is accidental.)
After some thoughts I've drawn up three main reasons, one of which is based a bit on my personal insecurity. My mom keep reminding me (when she is in that certain phase that all mothers go through, visions of grandchildren dancing in their heads) that she and dad won't be around forever, and I shouldn't be left alone. Understandable. I like being independent, but I don't want the "I am all alone in this big wide world poor me" scenario either. I have excellent friends, yes, but family is still (or should be) the top priority. It will no doubt be a bit lonely when everyone gets married and such.
The second reason is mostly because I am at a phase in my life where I believe I deserve to have some fun. I like going out. I don't know if I'll like going out. Long-term relationship not withstanding, people my age seem to like the latter, so I figured I should at least try it once. It's like Greek food except less likely to involve words that I cannot pronounce. Going out, from what I understand, doesn't require anyone to make a commitment after the first date, so it shouldn't be too bad.
The last and the most important reason (in terms of influencing my final decision to get up, put in some effort, and do something) is simply curiosity. It's a good trait to have as a scientist, I've been told, and as a personality trait I am aware that it can potentially get me into all kinds of problems. Nevertheless, I have considered myself and decided that, theoretically, I am no less capable of loving than anyone else, nor am I any less deserving of love than anyone else. Therefore, if I want to find out what this kind of love is, I should be able to blunder along like everyone else and find...something.
Because really, aren't we all curious? Love is such a simple word. In languages that conjugate and decline their words, it's one of the first words we learn. By the age of new comedy we can already get a glimpse of the themes in the works to come, where love plays many key roles. Poets have waxed lyrical over it, literally, and lyrics...well: considering the proportion of songs dedicated to the subject, saying that it's popular would be a gross understatement. It is such a powerful thing. People sing of it, cry over it, die for it. For love the hanging gardens of Babylon were built. For love Isis hunted for the fourteen pieces of Osiris and Orpheus walked into hell to bargain with his music. In short, love is life and therefore death, because neither would have meaning with out the other. Love is a person and his or her world, and how a person can be someone else's world but how a person's world can change, as well. The more we find out about love the more confusing it gets until, frustrated, we are forced to yell out, "It just is!"
...which may be the truest thing of all, considering.
With the nuance of English we can make the distinction between "love" and "in love with". Trace the literature world and we can find many ways to express either (though Mr. Darcy's "how ardently I admire you" always makes me want to laugh for some reason...I can try to blame the BBC mini-series' cast but I think it may be just me in this case). It is one of the oldest and most sacred human emotion we know, and therefore we are not lacking in either words or experience when it comes to the subject of love (as compared to many other subjects of similar nature that exists out there).
We can travel faster than sound, synthesize proteins from scratch, and predict the trajectory of the stars... so why is it, even now, that we are still singing of the riddle-in-a-mystery-in-a-enigma that is love? (Or Russia, if you ask Churchill. Apparently the two are similar in their ability to bewilder.)
I'm old enough to wonder. I'm old enough to care. I want to know.
Don't you?
(Forget Rubik's cube. This is like the ultimate puzzle.)
20100619
Time is...brain?
So continues my confusion with the advertisements. The above line is part of one of the slogans for the Scripps, "Time is brain, think FAST." I can see how the perception of time and the brain relate. What I still can't understand is how one equate the other.
People are strange.
Okay now for the long recap, I'll try to organize it by days and see how it goes.
Friday, last week: the undergrad assistants did not ditch us, and so I had relatively little to do in terms of grading. To celebrate, I ate a box of Pocky and taught myself how to do inner ear dissections. (And subsequently discovered a maddening tendency to type / write "innear" instead of "inner ear".) It was difficult. I messed up two out of eight samples but, in my defense, I was dissecting out membranous, cork-spring-ing tubes that are embedded in bone, where the largest part is about 2mm at its longest part. I actually felt rather pleased that I managed to get six out of eight and, when the PI passed by later to see what I was up to, showed him my results (which were floating in 4% paraformaldehyde). He had trouble spotting them in the paraformaldehyde solution and was confused / amazed that those things can be dissected out. I felt that I had fulfilled my job as a grad student.
Saturday: Lucy came, we went to get food (since I mostly depleted my fridge the past week) and I marveled at how nice it is to sit around not having to do/think anything. I like thinking. I like thinking about things. I think more people should think abut things. However, after my brain's been placed under stress / in overdrive like it had been that week, slouching against the wall listening to birds chirp was very nice. We got Greek food and discovered moussaka (it was delicious, by the way).Then Lucy introduced me to the wonder that is the 11th Doctor and Amy. I like the 11th better than the 9th, possibility because I can identify with the talking-self-through-thought-processes-very-fast trait very well. Too well. (My PI has told me that I talk too fast, and he talks fast himself.) There was the part where he muttered, "Com'on, brain, think!" which is pretty much what I tell myself often, so I can definitely relate. Amy has rapidly gained a place as one of my favorite female leads of all time (I also liked Alice from the recent Alice In Wonderland film, in case you're wondering), since she is a) courageous, if occasionally lacking in foresight b) smart, in the sense that although she might not have the breath of knowledge that the Doctor does, she's genuinely observant and clever, and c) has a sense of humor. (See: Peruvian folk band.) Also in the same day: played with Lucy's phone's dice widget, with the result that we craved eggs and had to look up the difference between "sunny side up" and "over easy" (and Anna, the next morning, proved herself to be even more helpful than the Internets). Lucy's also introduced me to the weird circular version of Bejeweled on her computer. It was very addictive.
Sunday: Went to see Prince of Persia with Lucy and was pleasantly surprised. Mostly from the trailer I was expecting an adventure / fantasy film that's fun to watch. I wasn't expecting the characters to be actually more than two-dimensional (see: Avatar), I wasn't expecting a truly interesting plot, and I certainly wasn't expecting themes. (They beat the "destiny" one to death, but given the plot and that the kind of movie that it is -- well, nothing's perfect and I'm more than willing to forgive.) Then I renewed my acquaintance with Greek food (gyros sandwich very good; also, I got to have fries), and watched more Doctor Who. I have now watched up to the Dream Lord episode and grins whenever I hear really loud bird chirping. (Seriously, I think Amy, Rory, and the Doctor should be conditioned -- yes in the Pavlovian sense -- to paranoia at that particular cue after that experience). I also got the "Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts" song from the HP musical stuck in my head, for which I blame Lucy entirely.
Monday, this week: start of my week of trying to get back in the rhythm of full length lab days and ended up playing a lot of games of "what did I forget?" as I tried to remember what I did and how for the experiments done during / before spring quarter. Discovered that the girl who was going to trade supply fund with me this year (resulting in my rather rushed foray into researching the pros and cons of different types of Vaio laptops) had decided that there were things she wanted to get after all, so we called off the laptop thing.
Tuesday: discovered Trillian Astra. Very shiny, very aesthetically pleasing, very confused about the invisibility status of the gchat plug-in (due to the nature of the original gchat interface, according to the wisdom of the Internets). However, it does allow connections to twitter, facebook, msn messenger, yahoo messenger, aim, and ICQ (and a unique Trillian chat program that I will probably never use), which is handy. I cleaned up my contact lists and generally annoyed everyone who was online at that time by signing on and off a lot as Lucy and I tried to figure out how the invisibility option is (or isn't) working.
Wednesday, Thursday: massive amount of cryostat time. I am nearly done with all of my sectioning, thank God. I pondered what to do with what's left of my supply fund (it has to be used before the end of June). I also pondered when to fly back to bay area, given the timing of the birth of my mice, that mom's flying out of the country in August, and that I have to present in lab meeting at the end of August.
Friday: went to the Japanese place that Wendy had introduced me to and had my end of the quarter udon (I like udon, I don't like ramen, and I am still mystified by the fish-flavored thing they put in the noodles). Our undergrad's doing an undergrad research poster presentation that afternoon, so our entire lab trooped over, field-trip style, to cheer her on and look around. (I noticed that something like 80% of the PIs listed in those posters came from the PIs in my program. I like to think it's because we have really nice PIs who do really cool stuff that even undergrads know they're cool and are interested in helping out -- and yes, that was sort of how I picked my senior thesis lab. It was gratifying.) One of my undergrads (from my discussion section) emailed me to complain about grades. I emailed back and then allowed myself about an hour of obligatory guilt (I can't help the initial response of feeling like that I'd failed them in some unknown but significant way), but if they scored that low on both of their exams, there really wasn't any way that they could've gotten anything but what they did get. At which point I decided to cut short my remorse: the quarter's over, the grades are posted, I did a lot of the scoring but didn't assign the grades and they are no longer my responsibility, anyway. Bitter recrimination is always doable but at this stage? Very unproductive. I decided to use what's left of my supply fund to buy some textbooks and managed to get a brand new neuroscience textbook that was very new and very shiny (sorry for the obsession, but those things usually cost over a hundred dollars so I'd never thought I'd be able to afford to get a brand new copy). It made my day better. Books improve my day. Then I received a letter from my mom, which is five pages (front and back) handwritten, and ended up crying for over an hour over it. But you know, that's parents for you -- they know how to push all your buttons because they're the ones who put the buttons there. We're mostly good now, though, so I'm glad.
Today: had a very good morning (with tea). Did the random items run that I do once every few months and probably puzzled the store clerks (by getting really strange assortments of things, from shampoo to cereal to gum to wire whisk -- and yes Lucy, I did finally get the whisk). Did laundry. Got hair cut by a new but very nice lady. Went present shopping, which is always fun, and my venture today proved to be fruitful, too. (The only kind of shopping I like better than present shopping is nursery/gardening supply shopping. Book shopping doesn't count. I usually know the exact book I want to buy, so I don't browse. I browse in libraries.) I also went and finally tried the No. 73 frappe from Chuao's. Remember? Last summer I tried the one that's around 50% cocoa and decided that it was too sweet. I can now say that, for me, the 73% is very good, as in a moment of bliss good. It's really too bad that there's so much methylxanthine in there (mostly theobromine, I think) that I dare not drink the entire thing, since I'd like to sleep on time tonight.
Planned for tomorrow: grocery run, smog check, and baking cookies!
People are strange.
Okay now for the long recap, I'll try to organize it by days and see how it goes.
Friday, last week: the undergrad assistants did not ditch us, and so I had relatively little to do in terms of grading. To celebrate, I ate a box of Pocky and taught myself how to do inner ear dissections. (And subsequently discovered a maddening tendency to type / write "innear" instead of "inner ear".) It was difficult. I messed up two out of eight samples but, in my defense, I was dissecting out membranous, cork-spring-ing tubes that are embedded in bone, where the largest part is about 2mm at its longest part. I actually felt rather pleased that I managed to get six out of eight and, when the PI passed by later to see what I was up to, showed him my results (which were floating in 4% paraformaldehyde). He had trouble spotting them in the paraformaldehyde solution and was confused / amazed that those things can be dissected out. I felt that I had fulfilled my job as a grad student.
Saturday: Lucy came, we went to get food (since I mostly depleted my fridge the past week) and I marveled at how nice it is to sit around not having to do/think anything. I like thinking. I like thinking about things. I think more people should think abut things. However, after my brain's been placed under stress / in overdrive like it had been that week, slouching against the wall listening to birds chirp was very nice. We got Greek food and discovered moussaka (it was delicious, by the way).Then Lucy introduced me to the wonder that is the 11th Doctor and Amy. I like the 11th better than the 9th, possibility because I can identify with the talking-self-through-thought-processes-very-fast trait very well. Too well. (My PI has told me that I talk too fast, and he talks fast himself.) There was the part where he muttered, "Com'on, brain, think!" which is pretty much what I tell myself often, so I can definitely relate. Amy has rapidly gained a place as one of my favorite female leads of all time (I also liked Alice from the recent Alice In Wonderland film, in case you're wondering), since she is a) courageous, if occasionally lacking in foresight b) smart, in the sense that although she might not have the breath of knowledge that the Doctor does, she's genuinely observant and clever, and c) has a sense of humor. (See: Peruvian folk band.) Also in the same day: played with Lucy's phone's dice widget, with the result that we craved eggs and had to look up the difference between "sunny side up" and "over easy" (and Anna, the next morning, proved herself to be even more helpful than the Internets). Lucy's also introduced me to the weird circular version of Bejeweled on her computer. It was very addictive.
Sunday: Went to see Prince of Persia with Lucy and was pleasantly surprised. Mostly from the trailer I was expecting an adventure / fantasy film that's fun to watch. I wasn't expecting the characters to be actually more than two-dimensional (see: Avatar), I wasn't expecting a truly interesting plot, and I certainly wasn't expecting themes. (They beat the "destiny" one to death, but given the plot and that the kind of movie that it is -- well, nothing's perfect and I'm more than willing to forgive.) Then I renewed my acquaintance with Greek food (gyros sandwich very good; also, I got to have fries), and watched more Doctor Who. I have now watched up to the Dream Lord episode and grins whenever I hear really loud bird chirping. (Seriously, I think Amy, Rory, and the Doctor should be conditioned -- yes in the Pavlovian sense -- to paranoia at that particular cue after that experience). I also got the "Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts" song from the HP musical stuck in my head, for which I blame Lucy entirely.
Monday, this week: start of my week of trying to get back in the rhythm of full length lab days and ended up playing a lot of games of "what did I forget?" as I tried to remember what I did and how for the experiments done during / before spring quarter. Discovered that the girl who was going to trade supply fund with me this year (resulting in my rather rushed foray into researching the pros and cons of different types of Vaio laptops) had decided that there were things she wanted to get after all, so we called off the laptop thing.
Tuesday: discovered Trillian Astra. Very shiny, very aesthetically pleasing, very confused about the invisibility status of the gchat plug-in (due to the nature of the original gchat interface, according to the wisdom of the Internets). However, it does allow connections to twitter, facebook, msn messenger, yahoo messenger, aim, and ICQ (and a unique Trillian chat program that I will probably never use), which is handy. I cleaned up my contact lists and generally annoyed everyone who was online at that time by signing on and off a lot as Lucy and I tried to figure out how the invisibility option is (or isn't) working.
Wednesday, Thursday: massive amount of cryostat time. I am nearly done with all of my sectioning, thank God. I pondered what to do with what's left of my supply fund (it has to be used before the end of June). I also pondered when to fly back to bay area, given the timing of the birth of my mice, that mom's flying out of the country in August, and that I have to present in lab meeting at the end of August.
Friday: went to the Japanese place that Wendy had introduced me to and had my end of the quarter udon (I like udon, I don't like ramen, and I am still mystified by the fish-flavored thing they put in the noodles). Our undergrad's doing an undergrad research poster presentation that afternoon, so our entire lab trooped over, field-trip style, to cheer her on and look around. (I noticed that something like 80% of the PIs listed in those posters came from the PIs in my program. I like to think it's because we have really nice PIs who do really cool stuff that even undergrads know they're cool and are interested in helping out -- and yes, that was sort of how I picked my senior thesis lab. It was gratifying.) One of my undergrads (from my discussion section) emailed me to complain about grades. I emailed back and then allowed myself about an hour of obligatory guilt (I can't help the initial response of feeling like that I'd failed them in some unknown but significant way), but if they scored that low on both of their exams, there really wasn't any way that they could've gotten anything but what they did get. At which point I decided to cut short my remorse: the quarter's over, the grades are posted, I did a lot of the scoring but didn't assign the grades and they are no longer my responsibility, anyway. Bitter recrimination is always doable but at this stage? Very unproductive. I decided to use what's left of my supply fund to buy some textbooks and managed to get a brand new neuroscience textbook that was very new and very shiny (sorry for the obsession, but those things usually cost over a hundred dollars so I'd never thought I'd be able to afford to get a brand new copy). It made my day better. Books improve my day. Then I received a letter from my mom, which is five pages (front and back) handwritten, and ended up crying for over an hour over it. But you know, that's parents for you -- they know how to push all your buttons because they're the ones who put the buttons there. We're mostly good now, though, so I'm glad.
Today: had a very good morning (with tea). Did the random items run that I do once every few months and probably puzzled the store clerks (by getting really strange assortments of things, from shampoo to cereal to gum to wire whisk -- and yes Lucy, I did finally get the whisk). Did laundry. Got hair cut by a new but very nice lady. Went present shopping, which is always fun, and my venture today proved to be fruitful, too. (The only kind of shopping I like better than present shopping is nursery/gardening supply shopping. Book shopping doesn't count. I usually know the exact book I want to buy, so I don't browse. I browse in libraries.) I also went and finally tried the No. 73 frappe from Chuao's. Remember? Last summer I tried the one that's around 50% cocoa and decided that it was too sweet. I can now say that, for me, the 73% is very good, as in a moment of bliss good. It's really too bad that there's so much methylxanthine in there (mostly theobromine, I think) that I dare not drink the entire thing, since I'd like to sleep on time tonight.
Planned for tomorrow: grocery run, smog check, and baking cookies!
20100617
More scary people on the bus
I was going to wait until the weekend and then write a long entry but I wanted to just share this now:
The girl who sat across from me on the bus got attacked (physical shoving) by one of the crazy people today, who was set off (like a bomb, she seemed to have exploded suddenly), apparently, because the girl started using her cell phone The crazy person really had something against that cellphone. She was screaming about how she ought to beat the girl blind and next time that's what she'll do as she was let off the bus. (The bus driver asked the girl if she wanted the police afterwards, she declined.)
Crazy or not, I've never before, in my life, heard someone scream at another person with that much hate. Movie actors/actresses have nothing on it. (Seriously, a cellphone. My mind does not compute.) I'm mostly sharing this since if I talk about something I'm less likely going to have nightmares about it.
My God.
The girl who sat across from me on the bus got attacked (physical shoving) by one of the crazy people today, who was set off (like a bomb, she seemed to have exploded suddenly), apparently, because the girl started using her cell phone The crazy person really had something against that cellphone. She was screaming about how she ought to beat the girl blind and next time that's what she'll do as she was let off the bus. (The bus driver asked the girl if she wanted the police afterwards, she declined.)
Crazy or not, I've never before, in my life, heard someone scream at another person with that much hate. Movie actors/actresses have nothing on it. (Seriously, a cellphone. My mind does not compute.) I'm mostly sharing this since if I talk about something I'm less likely going to have nightmares about it.
My God.
20100616
In lab
While I'm waiting for things to thaw. Here's a question for the masses: which holidays do you celebrate? This is for those who were born in the US as well as born elsewhere. Personally I've sort of picked out a few holidays from both cultures that I grew up in and follow. Except Christmas. I don't actually celebrate Christmas (we haven't done the tree thing or the decorating thing since...what? High school? Except I sort of did in Davis. But that was more in the spirit of thing. I didn't do anything on Christmas day that year except open a present, I think). Or Solstice, exactly (not in your traditional sense of "celebrate"). I just make sure there are two days in mid-to-late December that I can get together with friends and family and do the food & presents thing.
20100614
FYI
5.9 earth quake just now. Am fine. Nothing fell in my place (though from the sound of it, something did fall in my neighbor's place). Twitter's trending earthquake again (there was also a minor one over the weekend which didn't trend). I think I'll sleep now.
20100610
Any soccer fans out there?
A post-doc in my lab got a box of chocolate and now we're betting on World Cup. Winner gets chocolate. Any opinions out there before I jump in? (What? It sounds like fun.)
The server who sold me tea today turned out to be in the course I'm TAing. She's not in my section so I don't know her, but she recognized me from the lectures as "a genetics TA". I don't think I've ever achieved this level of infamy before. Also: some of the students are still having trouble with the concept of meiosis. Us TAs were very unhappy about this.
My parents are planning to come to SD (as in 90% certain) for 4th of July. Somehow, despite of the length of time I've spent living on my known they still feel the need to try to feed me. I'm still trying to work out when I can fly up to SJ in the summer. June's out because I have mice, and I need to plan any time off at least a month ahead of time for them. I was originally planning on August but mom's planning to go out of country some time that month. She's willing to push it later so I can, technically, utilize Labor Day to visit, but I don't know if any of the Lunatics (besides Kate, possibly) will still be around at that point. My parents would like me up there for my birthday, but there are no holidays around that time. At all. So if I actually want enough time off I'll have to add days to a weekend and...well, I'd rather not spend my birthday at the airport so I'm not sure how that goes. Sorry Victoria, I probably won't make it up there before you left. Does anyone else, besides Victoria and Lucy, know their plans this summer?
The server who sold me tea today turned out to be in the course I'm TAing. She's not in my section so I don't know her, but she recognized me from the lectures as "a genetics TA". I don't think I've ever achieved this level of infamy before. Also: some of the students are still having trouble with the concept of meiosis. Us TAs were very unhappy about this.
My parents are planning to come to SD (as in 90% certain) for 4th of July. Somehow, despite of the length of time I've spent living on my known they still feel the need to try to feed me. I'm still trying to work out when I can fly up to SJ in the summer. June's out because I have mice, and I need to plan any time off at least a month ahead of time for them. I was originally planning on August but mom's planning to go out of country some time that month. She's willing to push it later so I can, technically, utilize Labor Day to visit, but I don't know if any of the Lunatics (besides Kate, possibly) will still be around at that point. My parents would like me up there for my birthday, but there are no holidays around that time. At all. So if I actually want enough time off I'll have to add days to a weekend and...well, I'd rather not spend my birthday at the airport so I'm not sure how that goes. Sorry Victoria, I probably won't make it up there before you left. Does anyone else, besides Victoria and Lucy, know their plans this summer?
This may not make sense to most of you but
My parents know. My mom, at least is fine with it. She may not be very clear on what it means, exactly, but she's fine with it.
I have 15 minutes to be hysterical somewhere before I head off to grade undergrad exams.
[update]
Post phone call:
Mom's okay with it though she still kind of thinks of it as a phase. Nevertheless she holds to her opinion of health and happiness first and is very supportive of "experimenting". Dad's not okay and will most likely adapt a model of "never speak of it again". I've asked mom to play along since the last thing I need to give them another thing to fight over.
That went well, all things considered.
I have 15 minutes to be hysterical somewhere before I head off to grade undergrad exams.
[update]
Post phone call:
Mom's okay with it though she still kind of thinks of it as a phase. Nevertheless she holds to her opinion of health and happiness first and is very supportive of "experimenting". Dad's not okay and will most likely adapt a model of "never speak of it again". I've asked mom to play along since the last thing I need to give them another thing to fight over.
That went well, all things considered.
20100605
Less vegetabley?
I saw an advertisement from Albertson's yesterday on the side of a bus. I didn't read the find print, but their giant slogan was "MAKE VEGETABLES LESS VEGETABLEY".
Now, I may not have a degree in psychology, but something about this doesn't make sense. Either as a way to appeal to the masses or, you know, in terms of general logic. Isn't this similar to an appeal to make water less watery?
I don't understand marketing people. I never will.
To-do list for this weekend requires some effort into putting together notes for the two hours review session I'm co-running on Monday and working on my take home final (due Tuesday, at which point I get to turn it in during class and take my in-class final. For the same class). I have finished grading the problem set turned in to me on Thursday, and I have just finished taking the final designed for the undergraduates. (And as far as I'm aware, I was the only TA in the class who was asked to do this -- possibly because I'm pretty sure I'm the only graduate TA who manages to give prompt and detailed feedback--somebody better appreciate this.) (Yes it's genetics and I like genetics and the final isn't that bad, but I like weekends with time off even better, not to mention my own take home final is of the horrible, essay-writing type and dammit that's what I forgot -- I need to change the directory of Windows Office on Zen because it's been having trouble locating the executive files ever since the RAM got upgraded.) (Daemon and Ivy runs Open Office which has some formatting issues with MS Office.)
Gah. Time for tea, me thinks.
Now, I may not have a degree in psychology, but something about this doesn't make sense. Either as a way to appeal to the masses or, you know, in terms of general logic. Isn't this similar to an appeal to make water less watery?
I don't understand marketing people. I never will.
To-do list for this weekend requires some effort into putting together notes for the two hours review session I'm co-running on Monday and working on my take home final (due Tuesday, at which point I get to turn it in during class and take my in-class final. For the same class). I have finished grading the problem set turned in to me on Thursday, and I have just finished taking the final designed for the undergraduates. (And as far as I'm aware, I was the only TA in the class who was asked to do this -- possibly because I'm pretty sure I'm the only graduate TA who manages to give prompt and detailed feedback--somebody better appreciate this.) (Yes it's genetics and I like genetics and the final isn't that bad, but I like weekends with time off even better, not to mention my own take home final is of the horrible, essay-writing type and dammit that's what I forgot -- I need to change the directory of Windows Office on Zen because it's been having trouble locating the executive files ever since the RAM got upgraded.) (Daemon and Ivy runs Open Office which has some formatting issues with MS Office.)
Gah. Time for tea, me thinks.
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