20120925
20120924
This will degenerate into a rant about lab safety
So: I have a sprained toe (again) and a fairly recent dream where I had to get up at around 3am in the morning because a hurricane is blowing in and I had to save the flamingos by herding them into the shelter. I stayed (in the dream) until the (dream) morning and ended up having to drag a lot of giant tree bits out of the city hall / conference center place that the weather wrecked. On the plus side, this is far more interesting than dreaming about protein gels (which I did, before this). However, I haven't decided how I feel about the fact that flamingos have evidently infiltrated my subconscious.
And now we're going to move on to the lab safety portion, because as fascinating as my flamingo dream and oft-sprained toe are, they both kind of paled in comparison to real life, honest-to-goodness explosion.
And now we're going to move on to the lab safety portion, because as fascinating as my flamingo dream and oft-sprained toe are, they both kind of paled in comparison to real life, honest-to-goodness explosion.
20120918
My order of minicards from moo.com came in!
I ordered a set of half-cards for the career fair at the neurosci conference next month, along with a card holder, and right now I don't have a better way to describe them other than "helplessly adorable". Everything seems to be decent quality (though I'm having a bit of an issue putting the keyring on the card holder, on the plus side, that probably means it's not going to fall off by accident either), though I'll post back after the conference to let you guys know how well it traveled.
I also have 3 coupons that it came with for my friends. No really that's what the instructions say. moo.com to business cards, to me, is kind of like ThinkGeek for presents. It's just...shiny and cute. For my definition of cute. They're 15% off for the first order so if anyone's interested in them let me know -- they don't seem to come with expiration dates. (Also if you're a student with an .edu address there's an additional discount, which I duly took advantage of.) The print & delivery time is pretty quick too and they give you an exact date of arrival when you order ...and mine promptly came two days early.
The only downside is that for half cards the lowest number you can order is 100. It's pretty cheap, considering what I'm getting and the tons of options I got (I only have 2 designs for 100 but you can have 100 cards with...I forgot how many it is...10? Different designs printed on one side, in full color), but still, 100! What am I going to do with all of them?
Well we'll find out, I guess.
I ordered a set of half-cards for the career fair at the neurosci conference next month, along with a card holder, and right now I don't have a better way to describe them other than "helplessly adorable". Everything seems to be decent quality (though I'm having a bit of an issue putting the keyring on the card holder, on the plus side, that probably means it's not going to fall off by accident either), though I'll post back after the conference to let you guys know how well it traveled.
I also have 3 coupons that it came with for my friends. No really that's what the instructions say. moo.com to business cards, to me, is kind of like ThinkGeek for presents. It's just...shiny and cute. For my definition of cute. They're 15% off for the first order so if anyone's interested in them let me know -- they don't seem to come with expiration dates. (Also if you're a student with an .edu address there's an additional discount, which I duly took advantage of.) The print & delivery time is pretty quick too and they give you an exact date of arrival when you order ...and mine promptly came two days early.
The only downside is that for half cards the lowest number you can order is 100. It's pretty cheap, considering what I'm getting and the tons of options I got (I only have 2 designs for 100 but you can have 100 cards with...I forgot how many it is...10? Different designs printed on one side, in full color), but still, 100! What am I going to do with all of them?
Well we'll find out, I guess.
20120910
20120909
Why brain, why?
I just had a dream where a couple of friends and I were at the zoo and one of them collapsed and was not breathing and there was no heartbeat. I asked one of them to call 911 and he handed me his phone so I ended up dialing but it turns out he was here to visit (we forgot) and the phone put us through to HIS local dispatcher and I found out when I said zoo and he asked to confirm if it's the zoo in XX city and I realized "sh*t, not local" and had to explain where we are, blanking momentarily on our location because I was so terrified, and then he transferred us to the local dispatcher and my friend's crappy cell phone connection cut out --
(Note: I've never had personally called 911 before so I have no idea if they transfer people if you called the wrong dispatcher to get to where you are or what. I would prefer never have to call 911.)
--at which point I just gave up and asked my other friend to call 911 because the person who's collapsed is just lying there and no one's DOING anything and my brain keeps screaming "brain damage in two minutes at me" (not strictly accurate -- it depends on age and temperature but it's more like 5 minutes) so I had to roll him over and try to perform CPR and it was REALLY frustrating because I kept explaining to the two who are not on the phone that they have to watch because I'll need help in a few minutes (approximately 10-15min before I start to get dizzy because my lung capacity's improved a little but not THAT much) because it isn't easy and the dispatcher takes time (average time depends on location but it's around 15-20min here) and they keep interrupting with questions like how's he doing (how do you THINK? I have to breathe and pump his heart for him) and just, UGH.
It was a very real dream. There was patches of dying-from-summer-heat grasses in the area near the entrance, kneeling on the cement is uncomfortable, and my fingers were shaking so badly that it took me two tries to get 911 (dialed 6 by accident the first time).
On the plus side, I correctly remembered to curl my fingers correctly, the depth of compression, and the 2 breath per 30 compression rule. Congrats, Red Cross, you have managed to instill information all the way into my subconscious. Now we just have to wait for another nightmare to see if the first-aid part took.
Actually no, dear powers that be, if you are listening, I would like to petition to have Friday and Saturday nights be nightmare-free-zone. Because otherwise I end up awake at 7am on the weekend and unable to go to sleep because it's bright outside and I have too much adrenaline burning through me-- its half-life might be about 2-3 minutes but I think it takes up to 30min to clear my system and I'm jittery for about an hour afterwords. This is not conductive to my plans to sleep-in at least until 8am on the weekends.
(Note: I've never had personally called 911 before so I have no idea if they transfer people if you called the wrong dispatcher to get to where you are or what. I would prefer never have to call 911.)
--at which point I just gave up and asked my other friend to call 911 because the person who's collapsed is just lying there and no one's DOING anything and my brain keeps screaming "brain damage in two minutes at me" (not strictly accurate -- it depends on age and temperature but it's more like 5 minutes) so I had to roll him over and try to perform CPR and it was REALLY frustrating because I kept explaining to the two who are not on the phone that they have to watch because I'll need help in a few minutes (approximately 10-15min before I start to get dizzy because my lung capacity's improved a little but not THAT much) because it isn't easy and the dispatcher takes time (average time depends on location but it's around 15-20min here) and they keep interrupting with questions like how's he doing (how do you THINK? I have to breathe and pump his heart for him) and just, UGH.
It was a very real dream. There was patches of dying-from-summer-heat grasses in the area near the entrance, kneeling on the cement is uncomfortable, and my fingers were shaking so badly that it took me two tries to get 911 (dialed 6 by accident the first time).
On the plus side, I correctly remembered to curl my fingers correctly, the depth of compression, and the 2 breath per 30 compression rule. Congrats, Red Cross, you have managed to instill information all the way into my subconscious. Now we just have to wait for another nightmare to see if the first-aid part took.
Actually no, dear powers that be, if you are listening, I would like to petition to have Friday and Saturday nights be nightmare-free-zone. Because otherwise I end up awake at 7am on the weekend and unable to go to sleep because it's bright outside and I have too much adrenaline burning through me-- its half-life might be about 2-3 minutes but I think it takes up to 30min to clear my system and I'm jittery for about an hour afterwords. This is not conductive to my plans to sleep-in at least until 8am on the weekends.
20120906
He was honestly trying to be comforting
Thesis adviser: "You can't survive in science unless you have thick skin. It's actually worse than in politics, because in politics your friends will stick up for you, even if you are a jerk."
Followed by something along the lines of "in science your friends are supposed to be your harshest critics because they're supposed to help you succeed by giving you their honest opinion &c &c".
...is it so egregious to want friends whom I can depend on for both honesty and moral support? I did not ask this out loud, because it sounds like the sort of thing that will prompt an "if you are a REAL scientist" sort of rant.
And of course, if you're not REALLY serious about Science, that makes you a Bad Scientist.
I miss the days when being a bad scientist meant someone doing bad science (i.e. producing sloppy unreproducible results / running badly designed experiments / fail to ask the right scientific questions).
Followed by something along the lines of "in science your friends are supposed to be your harshest critics because they're supposed to help you succeed by giving you their honest opinion &c &c".
...is it so egregious to want friends whom I can depend on for both honesty and moral support? I did not ask this out loud, because it sounds like the sort of thing that will prompt an "if you are a REAL scientist" sort of rant.
And of course, if you're not REALLY serious about Science, that makes you a Bad Scientist.
I miss the days when being a bad scientist meant someone doing bad science (i.e. producing sloppy unreproducible results / running badly designed experiments / fail to ask the right scientific questions).
20120905
Well that was different
This morning on my way to the bus stop I was waylaid by an unknown young man who tried to offer me a ride in his truck to the beach.
1) It sounds like the start of a joke. It FELT like the start of a joke -- especially since I initially thought he was asking for directions.
2) This wouldn't have been too shocking, I suppose, if it was in the evening, but this happened around 7:30am. Mornings are quiet time. It (the context) was confusing.
3) It vaguely made me think of that scene from Disney's Aladdin. Except instead of Aladdin and a flying carpet I got a boy in tank top and a white pickup truck on a thankfully public street. (Oh geez a pickkup truck why.) (Huh, given the thing with strange man showing up on her bedroom balcony unannounced, at night, I suddenly understand why she keeps a tiger as a pet.) (Though for the parents out there: despite of what Disney says, tigers do not make appropriate pets for your daughters so, for the safety of you and yours, just get her a dog. Mutts tends to be less neurotic and hardier than purebreds.) I think there's some kind of connotation about guys offering girls rides. I'm still working on figuring out when people are talking with metaphors and when they're talking about this sort of things literally.
4) What is he even trying to accomplish??? As I've mentioned, it was around 7:30am in the morning. The only people I see around that time are shift-workers, students, and occasional senior citizens. Maybe he's well meaning and genuinely in the habit of offering random rides to strangers (that early in the morning?), but can you imaging him dropping off random shift-workers, students, and seniors at the beach? What.
Conclusion: it was strange and people are weird.
1) It sounds like the start of a joke. It FELT like the start of a joke -- especially since I initially thought he was asking for directions.
2) This wouldn't have been too shocking, I suppose, if it was in the evening, but this happened around 7:30am. Mornings are quiet time. It (the context) was confusing.
3) It vaguely made me think of that scene from Disney's Aladdin. Except instead of Aladdin and a flying carpet I got a boy in tank top and a white pickup truck on a thankfully public street. (Oh geez a pickkup truck why.) (Huh, given the thing with strange man showing up on her bedroom balcony unannounced, at night, I suddenly understand why she keeps a tiger as a pet.) (Though for the parents out there: despite of what Disney says, tigers do not make appropriate pets for your daughters so, for the safety of you and yours, just get her a dog. Mutts tends to be less neurotic and hardier than purebreds.) I think there's some kind of connotation about guys offering girls rides. I'm still working on figuring out when people are talking with metaphors and when they're talking about this sort of things literally.
4) What is he even trying to accomplish??? As I've mentioned, it was around 7:30am in the morning. The only people I see around that time are shift-workers, students, and occasional senior citizens. Maybe he's well meaning and genuinely in the habit of offering random rides to strangers (that early in the morning?), but can you imaging him dropping off random shift-workers, students, and seniors at the beach? What.
Conclusion: it was strange and people are weird.
20120902
In which I have sudden sympathy with John
Adventures with the self checkout machine:
Me: scanned an item and put it in bagging area.
Machine: "Unexpected item in the bagging area! Please remove item."
Me: removes item.
Machine: "Item has been removed from bagging area! Please return item."
Me: puts item back.
Machine: "Unexpected item in the bagging area! Please remove item."
Me: removes item.
Machine: "Item has been removed from bagging area! Please return item."
Repeat.
Out of order machines are SUCH fun when you're the one to discover that it's out of order.
Me: scanned an item and put it in bagging area.
Machine: "Unexpected item in the bagging area! Please remove item."
Me: removes item.
Machine: "Item has been removed from bagging area! Please return item."
Me: puts item back.
Machine: "Unexpected item in the bagging area! Please remove item."
Me: removes item.
Machine: "Item has been removed from bagging area! Please return item."
Repeat.
Out of order machines are SUCH fun when you're the one to discover that it's out of order.
20120831
Trying to buy a lighter weight gi but everything is unisex cut and I am, according to the height by weight chart, in between sizes. My female classmate says that it fits well if you're slender hipped...but what does that even mean? I'm trying to google what waist to hip ratio would qualify as slender hipped but I keep getting these things about healthy weight, the importance thereof, and how to flatter slender hips which is supremely unhelpful. I tend to get pants one size up from the tops in anything that comes as a set, but this is not an option here...so I guess I'll buy everything one size bigger and wash the top in really hot water or something, because that's the benefit of buying things that are 100% cotton.
Labcoats, gis, nerdy t-shirts...everything's unisex cut and I'm nearly always in between sizes. Why is this?
On the other hand I remembered to finally print out the forms to register to vote! (Yeeeeaaaaah democracy.)
Labcoats, gis, nerdy t-shirts...everything's unisex cut and I'm nearly always in between sizes. Why is this?
On the other hand I remembered to finally print out the forms to register to vote! (Yeeeeaaaaah democracy.)
20120826
20120812
I need to get that paper out stat
I woke up this morning and realized that 5 years will be the longest I've ever spent at one school, ever, and even at 4 years that's ties for being the longest at one school thus far, given that if I define the last day that I spent at the school as the Last Day the breakdown of my childhood is:
3-4
4-5
6-9*
9-10
10-10
11*
12-13*
14-17*
18-20*
21-now*
This is....strangely frightening.
---------------------
*Note: I'm counting my age as of the Last Day, and since my birthday's in the summer, the asteriks marks all the schools where I entered in the beginning of the school year, like everyone else, as opposed to being dropped in the middle. I guess what they say about people settling down / getting more stable as they get older is true. For some variation of it.
3-4
4-5
6-9*
9-10
10-10
11*
12-13*
14-17*
18-20*
21-now*
This is....strangely frightening.
---------------------
*Note: I'm counting my age as of the Last Day, and since my birthday's in the summer, the asteriks marks all the schools where I entered in the beginning of the school year, like everyone else, as opposed to being dropped in the middle. I guess what they say about people settling down / getting more stable as they get older is true. For some variation of it.
20120811
I can math, REALLY
Moment of Stupid today:
Classmate asked me how old I was and I literally could not remember -- tried to calculate it in my head (for some reason kept thinking I was older than I am), which unfortunately happened in the middle my attempt to do put his wrist in a lock-hold and thus the spectacular failure of both the math and the lock-hold. Apparently I can't access both the math portion and the muscle memory portion of my brain at the same time. Or maybe I can but I just need to wait for the other bit to become actual muscle memory (intrinsic instead of extrinsic knowledge). In either case there was a moment where there was someone else's hand right in my face and I literally stood there because I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do with it.
...and then we both burst out laughing because it was really ridiculous.
In other news there was a spontaneous lecture on the difference between research in neurdevelopment and neurodegeneration today, by yours truly, because a classmate showed interest, so score one for the fandot.
Classmate asked me how old I was and I literally could not remember -- tried to calculate it in my head (for some reason kept thinking I was older than I am), which unfortunately happened in the middle my attempt to do put his wrist in a lock-hold and thus the spectacular failure of both the math and the lock-hold. Apparently I can't access both the math portion and the muscle memory portion of my brain at the same time. Or maybe I can but I just need to wait for the other bit to become actual muscle memory (intrinsic instead of extrinsic knowledge). In either case there was a moment where there was someone else's hand right in my face and I literally stood there because I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do with it.
...and then we both burst out laughing because it was really ridiculous.
In other news there was a spontaneous lecture on the difference between research in neurdevelopment and neurodegeneration today, by yours truly, because a classmate showed interest, so score one for the fandot.
20120810
Sometimes there is no explanation
A while ago I mentioned that I was going to write a post about bullying and the time feels about right tonight.
Bullying is one of those things that is shared across cultures and according to news media people use to consider it to be a rite of passage of sorts until the more recent years, where the string of suicides had made people realize that maaaaaaybe we should find safer rites of passage.
For a while I was considering whether or not to write about it because, let's face it, most of the people I know who reads this share similar political and philosophical views with me, and anything I say will be preaching to the choir. Then I realized that maybe I should talk about it because my friends are at the stage where they are getting married and having children, the oldest child is around two, and the concept of bullying and discrimination is something that is taught, if not by parents, then by society and media, in which case a passing explanation that Bullying is Bad is not enough to combat it. People have noticed an active role in parental teachings, not just in what is right and wrong, but what are the correct actions, or what should be done, does make immense difference in how children treat others in school. That takes extra time. That takes extra effort. Both of which are hard to give for an abstract problem. By which I mean yes, there are starving children in the world, but it's abstract -- how many of us lose sleep over it. So I wanted to make it more personal, because it is personal for me, so I hope the people close to me, at least, could see why it's a big deal and can hopefully make the extra effort. And then I felt all my preaching is getting...not so much condescending as well...as someone who doesn't plan to procreate, how much right do I have to lecture others on how to deal with their toddlers? Which led to me second guessing how much of the delay (because this post has been years in coming but I just wasn't ready to talk about it until more recently) is just me being cowardly...which led to more second guessing...which led me to conclude that, okay, I'm just going to write this, and people can make of it what they will.
So let me use many many words to tell you why the phrase "bullying builds character" has always bothered me, since I learned enough English to understand it....
Bullying is one of those things that is shared across cultures and according to news media people use to consider it to be a rite of passage of sorts until the more recent years, where the string of suicides had made people realize that maaaaaaybe we should find safer rites of passage.
For a while I was considering whether or not to write about it because, let's face it, most of the people I know who reads this share similar political and philosophical views with me, and anything I say will be preaching to the choir. Then I realized that maybe I should talk about it because my friends are at the stage where they are getting married and having children, the oldest child is around two, and the concept of bullying and discrimination is something that is taught, if not by parents, then by society and media, in which case a passing explanation that Bullying is Bad is not enough to combat it. People have noticed an active role in parental teachings, not just in what is right and wrong, but what are the correct actions, or what should be done, does make immense difference in how children treat others in school. That takes extra time. That takes extra effort. Both of which are hard to give for an abstract problem. By which I mean yes, there are starving children in the world, but it's abstract -- how many of us lose sleep over it. So I wanted to make it more personal, because it is personal for me, so I hope the people close to me, at least, could see why it's a big deal and can hopefully make the extra effort. And then I felt all my preaching is getting...not so much condescending as well...as someone who doesn't plan to procreate, how much right do I have to lecture others on how to deal with their toddlers? Which led to me second guessing how much of the delay (because this post has been years in coming but I just wasn't ready to talk about it until more recently) is just me being cowardly...which led to more second guessing...which led me to conclude that, okay, I'm just going to write this, and people can make of it what they will.
So let me use many many words to tell you why the phrase "bullying builds character" has always bothered me, since I learned enough English to understand it....
20120806
20120805
I wonder if I can print this out as a flyer...
7 things extroverts should know about their introvert friends. Courtesy of tumblr.
I'm going to take a moment and be deeply, immensely grateful for the invention of emails, IM, and text messaging. And the internet in general. I mean I would be, incredible as it may seem, even more of a loner if it weren't for our technology since, unless I implied / promised that I would call someone, it takes nothing less than family emergency and me nearing a potential melt down for me to even call a close friend.
My thesis adviser doesn't get it. He's all "Oh you have trouble reaching so-and-so? Call them" while in my head my first reaction will always be "ASDF!@#% NNOOOOooooooooooooooo."
So: thank you, text-based information networks.
I'm going to take a moment and be deeply, immensely grateful for the invention of emails, IM, and text messaging. And the internet in general. I mean I would be, incredible as it may seem, even more of a loner if it weren't for our technology since, unless I implied / promised that I would call someone, it takes nothing less than family emergency and me nearing a potential melt down for me to even call a close friend.
My thesis adviser doesn't get it. He's all "Oh you have trouble reaching so-and-so? Call them" while in my head my first reaction will always be "ASDF!@#% NNOOOOooooooooooooooo."
So: thank you, text-based information networks.
My day began with tea, oreos, and blueberries.
I am baking a chocolate cake.
The lone professor has finally (!) signed the paperworks.
I don't even have to go to lab today.
I am going to sit around and doodle things in my sketchbook until the cake is done. And then I will have cake. And I will eat it too.
...can I declare this my birthday weekend instead?
I am baking a chocolate cake.
The lone professor has finally (!) signed the paperworks.
I don't even have to go to lab today.
I am going to sit around and doodle things in my sketchbook until the cake is done. And then I will have cake. And I will eat it too.
...can I declare this my birthday weekend instead?
20120802
20120730
Hey my powerpoint slides finally passed or maybe he just ran out of patience but most likely both as in it got closer to what he wanted and he doesn't want to deal with me anymore but either way he's going to sign the paperwork and then I won't have to deal with him for another year hallelujah I feel like I won.
20120727
20120726
You can actually put anything in it, it just may not taste right
Today a random man poked me on the bus and asked if I "cooked Japanese or Chinese food". Then he wanted to know if I cook it at home. Then he wanted to know the name of "you know, those roll...things...that you fry..." and then he wanted to know if you put vegetables in spring rolls.
The strangest part of this conversation was that usually when I don't feel like dealing with people I put on my earphones and people leave me alone, but somehow this gentleman decided to persist and initiate physical contact which was...okay, more than a little irritating.
Here's a hint: if someone is wearing earphones and giving you short, terse answers? She doesn't actually want to talk to you. Please respect her wishes. Thank you kindly.
(Thankfully he didn't initiate until just before my bus stop so I escaped via leaving bus and didn't have to deal with "Sorry, I'm not interested in talking to you nor do I find your attention flattering" ordeal.)
The strangest part of this conversation was that usually when I don't feel like dealing with people I put on my earphones and people leave me alone, but somehow this gentleman decided to persist and initiate physical contact which was...okay, more than a little irritating.
Here's a hint: if someone is wearing earphones and giving you short, terse answers? She doesn't actually want to talk to you. Please respect her wishes. Thank you kindly.
(Thankfully he didn't initiate until just before my bus stop so I escaped via leaving bus and didn't have to deal with "Sorry, I'm not interested in talking to you nor do I find your attention flattering" ordeal.)
20120725
Why's it always beetles
Kept meaning to update and even made notes to myself about what to write but these days experiments are going 7 days a week and things are kinda busy so when I do get a free moment I feel more like drawing to unwind than writing (which requires more brain cells, not to mention grammar). However, I'm currently logging back in to report that I've been hearing this weird noise tonight that, for the longest time, I thought were noises due to things being piled precariously, as they shifted weight. That sometimes happen. However they don't happen that frequently. As in once every five minutes. Turns out? The noise was weird because I've never hear the sound made by a really massive beetle bouncing off the ceiling (sometimes literally, it seems a bit directionally challenged).
After initial flailing (late night battles with beetles are one of those few moments in life where I remember fondly of living with my parents and am not happy to be an independent woman, because I can no longer make my dad go deal with it) I actually managed to successfully herd the massive beetle of massiveness back out the door, alive and no worse for the wear (meaning the beetle -- I was very cranky at this point).
Except then somehow, within the next fifteen minutes the beetle managed to find its way back in through a warp in the bottom of the door frame. (Was going to wait till winter again before getting landlady to fix it.) I was dozing off when I heard the distinctive clicking of its wings. So yeah: directionally challenged. At this point I'm exhausted and lost all patience with this particular arthropod -- if you can't be bothered to stay alive after I went out of my ways to help you then -- well---
--I smacked it with a rolled up magazine. Quite a few times, actually. It didn't do a darn thing. Have I mentioned it was massive? With massive hard shells covering its wings?
Herding wasn't working because of the directionally challenged thing, so eventually I gave up and hauled out the vaccum cleaner, sucked it up, and deposited it in the bathroom and closed the door because I just can't deal with it anymore. I wanted sleep.
Then I sat down on my bed and realized that all that flailing and vacuuming had made me quite wide awake so now I'm on my computer blogging about it.
I don't want to go out when it's chilly and kind of damp and walk to the unlit garbage area where there are even more insect to free a beetle that will probably find its way back somehow, anyway, because the thing is out of its little beetle mind.
I also don't exactly fancy the idea of a massive beetle incubating inside my vacuum cleaner either.
Perhaps if I need to use the bathroom later tonight I will be attacked by the ghost or not-so-ghostly beetle. It is possible. And if I were to perish mysteriously within the next ...oh eight hours or so, I want "death by beetle" in my eulogy somewhere, got it? Good.
After initial flailing (late night battles with beetles are one of those few moments in life where I remember fondly of living with my parents and am not happy to be an independent woman, because I can no longer make my dad go deal with it) I actually managed to successfully herd the massive beetle of massiveness back out the door, alive and no worse for the wear (meaning the beetle -- I was very cranky at this point).
Except then somehow, within the next fifteen minutes the beetle managed to find its way back in through a warp in the bottom of the door frame. (Was going to wait till winter again before getting landlady to fix it.) I was dozing off when I heard the distinctive clicking of its wings. So yeah: directionally challenged. At this point I'm exhausted and lost all patience with this particular arthropod -- if you can't be bothered to stay alive after I went out of my ways to help you then -- well---
--I smacked it with a rolled up magazine. Quite a few times, actually. It didn't do a darn thing. Have I mentioned it was massive? With massive hard shells covering its wings?
Herding wasn't working because of the directionally challenged thing, so eventually I gave up and hauled out the vaccum cleaner, sucked it up, and deposited it in the bathroom and closed the door because I just can't deal with it anymore. I wanted sleep.
Then I sat down on my bed and realized that all that flailing and vacuuming had made me quite wide awake so now I'm on my computer blogging about it.
I don't want to go out when it's chilly and kind of damp and walk to the unlit garbage area where there are even more insect to free a beetle that will probably find its way back somehow, anyway, because the thing is out of its little beetle mind.
I also don't exactly fancy the idea of a massive beetle incubating inside my vacuum cleaner either.
Perhaps if I need to use the bathroom later tonight I will be attacked by the ghost or not-so-ghostly beetle. It is possible. And if I were to perish mysteriously within the next ...oh eight hours or so, I want "death by beetle" in my eulogy somewhere, got it? Good.
20120721
Conformity approved
Remodeling of lab is done, except it isn't -- there are parts of our ventilation that are different from the blueprint the construction workers got (read: a result of the duct-tape and glue patch-ups that have happened over the past decade), which meant that the crew is still wandering around, causing massive panic when they get lost in our building and propose to seal off a lab when they, in fact, meant the lab one floor up.
20120715
Good things
I have returned from my vacation and my brain's sporadic interpretation of the ground swaying like the boat on the ocean to inform you, my dear readers, that I have discovered really good mint green tea today, totally by accident, when Lucy and I were recovering from Comic-Con by the way of lunch. It came from a plastic bottle. It shouldn't be this good. It was. It also read, on its packaging:
It's called "Sweet Leaf green tea", mint and honey flavor. If you like mint-flavored things or tea flavored things even remotely I'd highly recommend it!
So this topped off a day where I stopped by the Peanuts booth when they were doing signings and Vicki Scott drew Marcie for me. Which topped a weekend where Lucy came over. Which topped off a week of vacation.
...at which point I said, screw it, it's late on a Sunday and I'm not going into lab. One more day will not make that much of a difference to the overall progress of my work but it will make a lot of difference on my happiness this month, when I look back on it, years from now because, right now? I find myself almost bewilderingly happy with Life, the Universe and everything.
(My God, what is in that tea?)
We found this great flavor while traveling through Morocco on bicycles. Our folks weren't very excited about the semester of class we missed, but at least we came home with the most delicious tea recipe ever...and a couple of kilim rugs for our college apartment.
...we are still inspired by Clayton's granny, "Mimi," who taught us never to use ingredients we can't pronounce. We hope you have as much fun drinking our tea as we have making it.<3
It's called "Sweet Leaf green tea", mint and honey flavor. If you like mint-flavored things or tea flavored things even remotely I'd highly recommend it!
So this topped off a day where I stopped by the Peanuts booth when they were doing signings and Vicki Scott drew Marcie for me. Which topped a weekend where Lucy came over. Which topped off a week of vacation.
...at which point I said, screw it, it's late on a Sunday and I'm not going into lab. One more day will not make that much of a difference to the overall progress of my work but it will make a lot of difference on my happiness this month, when I look back on it, years from now because, right now? I find myself almost bewilderingly happy with Life, the Universe and everything.
(My God, what is in that tea?)
20120708
20120706
Writing: day 2
It's really hard to spell multiple sclerosis for some reason. Also, I've migrated by to being on the chair but the curtain needs to be closed because otherwise my screen is too shiny.
I am writing the discussion part (only bit left besides the methods section) right now, and I have a strong urge to discuss how manuscript writing is really educational for the grad student but really hard on the eyes. All that staring at the screen, you know?
I am writing the discussion part (only bit left besides the methods section) right now, and I have a strong urge to discuss how manuscript writing is really educational for the grad student but really hard on the eyes. All that staring at the screen, you know?
20120705
Manuscript writing, 8 hours in
I just compared Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) to tumbleweeds to my PI (it made sense in my head at the time). Also: I need more tea.
Manuscript writing, 4 hours in
Have migrated from chair to floor. Referenced only 2 papers so far and consumed only 1 cup of tea. Already feels jittery and have started googling terms because I am starting to forget what is a legitimate biological term and what is made-up. (The distinction is fuzzier than you'd think.) Lunch break, methinks.
...
Went in for a talk with one of my committee members about a part of my project as well as future career plans. During the talk she made a comment about how my logic is "different". It's not an insult or a compliment -- just a matter-of-fact observation. Yet, somehow, it made me feel inexplicably lonely -- more so than anything else anyone's said to me within the past year.
20120702
Asdf
Newly discovered item on the list of "Things You Never Want to Hear Your PI Say":
"I'm not sure if he (other senior professor) is doing this to you to make some sort of point to me...".
"I'm not sure if he (other senior professor) is doing this to you to make some sort of point to me...".
20120627
In which I find html codes of things
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide LindqvistMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Outside of Neil Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples", this is probably the best vampire story that I've ever read. It's genuinely creepy, and while the plot is well done and the story is well-written in a stark style that reminds me of GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, one of the things that stood out is how well the author set up the atmosphere of each scene. There was a fairly large cast of characters and, about half way through the book, all their lives suddenly click together, onto a collision-course track, things speed up, and the book becomes horrifying riveting. By which I mean that this story is much more gory than things I typically read (though less gory than some of the SANDMAN stuff or my brief encounter with Stephen King's tales) but I was so invested that I couldn't stop. That being said, this is as much as psychological horror story as macabre horror, if not more so, and the other thing that was REALLY WELL DONE was how REAL and 3-D each of the characters are, to the point that, near the last quarter of the book, the story had moved on from scary to wrenching. Not sure if this should be an addition to my bookshelves, but it's definitely one of those books that is worth reading from cover to cover at least once.
20120626
Well that was exciting. Not.
Adventures in remodeling: construction crew did something that took out the power for our entire floor for around 15 minutes. Unfortunately this was right in the middle of my series of three minute incubations.
...I wonder if this counts as a valid excuse for unreplicable data.
...I wonder if this counts as a valid excuse for unreplicable data.
20120623
Okay I lied
I didn't post the full quote / discussion that happened yesterday, or why it made me so upset. It's actually kind of ridiculous and in, one sense, I suppose I brought it on myself. On the other hand, I seriously was not expecting focusing on facts would be an issue, as a junior scientist.
Warning for long post and emotions all over the place.
Warning for long post and emotions all over the place.
20120622
...I give up
After my presentation the senior professor (also chair of our department) told me that I'm "too rational". He meant it as a criticism. So.
To everyone who's ever told me to "stop being so rational &c &c": at this point I think we can safely conclude that there's no hope for me.
To everyone who's ever told me to "stop being so rational &c &c": at this point I think we can safely conclude that there's no hope for me.
20120621
Tomorrow's Wendy's last day in lab. I've inherited a fraction of her reagents (since she's one of the few people whose reagents I trust) as well as the bottle of Blue Water. I have three different experiments to finish and we have to consolidate the mice in the vivarium after my one hour long presentation.
In conclusion, tomorrow will end with me both exhausted and depressed.
I am going to watch Legend of Korra and drown in tea.
In conclusion, tomorrow will end with me both exhausted and depressed.
I am going to watch Legend of Korra and drown in tea.
20120615
20120614
Dear Professor-Who-Shall-Remain-Anonymous,
A lab that has consistently only one female member over the years is not a lab that is "bucking the trend" (the trend that you have helpfully pointed out as having 60% of the incoming grad students be female), it's a lab that has failed to buck the convention, since the convention , anywhere from 20-50 years ago, is a ratio of something like one female per medium sized lab.
Sincerely,
Me.
A lab that has consistently only one female member over the years is not a lab that is "bucking the trend" (the trend that you have helpfully pointed out as having 60% of the incoming grad students be female), it's a lab that has failed to buck the convention, since the convention , anywhere from 20-50 years ago, is a ratio of something like one female per medium sized lab.
Sincerely,
Me.
20120611
20120608
Mini blow-torches
I often have many things going on at once, and this turned out to be one of those weeks where it felt like too much, with this kind of result. (I will, I fear, have to be lab both days this weekend, which feels like a minor tragedy at this point.) --it is a frustrating week too: I made two really really stupid mistakes, which caused two separate experiments to fail, and the thing that I was sort of painting on my off time as a way to distress just refused to out right (I mean that it's much much worse than the usual "it looks nothing like what it did in my mind") so I ended up starting over for the third time.
20120603
Darn
Okay I'm switching Ivy from Fedora to Ubuntu. The latest version update had an issue with SE Linux that just drove me crazy and made me realize that everyone I know who uses Fedora are comp sci people for a good reason -- I have neither the time nor the energy to learn Linux "properly" (as opposed to via google whenever I have more than 30 minutes free and feel like it). I'm not comfortable enough to operate a computer via command-line and basically eschew 90% of the GUI -- I mean, I haven't kept up with the coding side of things since when C was popular. (Oh dear God I'm so outdated -- who still uses C these days??) and all the mods that I want to do just isn't going to happen on my schedule.
So: Ubuntu it is. Still Linux, still good enough for small projects should I ever find the time, still open source, but a whole lot more user-friendly for none-code-savvy.
So: Ubuntu it is. Still Linux, still good enough for small projects should I ever find the time, still open source, but a whole lot more user-friendly for none-code-savvy.
20120601
Career choice should not be an exercise in Dadaism
I have traumatized yet another grad-student-to-be, methinks.
Couple of things
These things relate to each other only in the sense that they relate to me. Though there's a sort-of book review at the bottom.
20120529
20120528
One of those days, apparently
Today I got a ticket for a vehicle registration sticker that I carried in the gloves compartment but utterly failed to put on the license plate on time.
This is why I shouldn't be allowed to procrastinate -- I'll end up forgetting things and then get fined by the police.
Also, here's the exciting scoop from the campus!
This is why I shouldn't be allowed to procrastinate -- I'll end up forgetting things and then get fined by the police.
Also, here's the exciting scoop from the campus!
Power to the campus was disrupted ... The cause of the disruption was a transformer, which caught fire at the east campus power station. The switching equipment in the station was severely damaged.Another thing people don't really warn you about: halting all lab work because something suddenly caught on fire.
20120523
This is me, emoting
As someone whose research (and stipend) comes from NIH, I'm required to go through regular "ethics training" which, for someone at my stage of career, means discussion / seminars. This morning we had one on retractions and authorships and make no mistake, it was a good talk, but.
There was this one area of the discussion that bothered me. Enough to post about, even.
There was this one area of the discussion that bothered me. Enough to post about, even.
20120521
To be fair
First of all, I would like to link to this comic. (Thank you, Lucy, for linking me.)
The other week when I went in for my physical I saw the same person that I asked about whether or not there could be something physiologically wrong with me, to result in asexuality, and was told "no". (I will not lie: I was relieved. Terrified, but relieved.) She wanted to know how I was doing (well) and whether or not the LGBT center she recommended was helpful and I was trying to explain to her that the LBGT people are very nice but the focus is still on SEXUAL attraction that's outside the norm, rather than the lack thereof. (Though I think she did make a note when I told her that I found the online community for ace to be very supportive. I can only hope that if someone comes to her, in the future, with the same questions she'll now be able to provide an additional resource.)
The other week when I went in for my physical I saw the same person that I asked about whether or not there could be something physiologically wrong with me, to result in asexuality, and was told "no". (I will not lie: I was relieved. Terrified, but relieved.) She wanted to know how I was doing (well) and whether or not the LGBT center she recommended was helpful and I was trying to explain to her that the LBGT people are very nice but the focus is still on SEXUAL attraction that's outside the norm, rather than the lack thereof. (Though I think she did make a note when I told her that I found the online community for ace to be very supportive. I can only hope that if someone comes to her, in the future, with the same questions she'll now be able to provide an additional resource.)
20120519
People are confusing with their naming of peppers
Dear all,
Today I have discovered the recipe for vegetarian chili. I have no idea what it's actually supposed to taste like but I like my version, so I'm going to count it as a win.
I also watched The Illusionist (2010 one) and my God, it's depressing. Think Mary and Max, but without the death and the hopeful ending. (Yeah you'd think it'd be happier without people dying but there's no redemption...just the slow fall of the curtain. Geez I need to find a happy short story or something, now, to balance my psyche.) Really beautiful work though -- a style as unique as that of The Secret of Kells, and if it's a little slow paced -- well, it suits the mood. (Though it does make it feel even more like I'm steeped in melancholy.) (And now I'm going to imagine the rabbit went off on its own and learned magic tricks to perform for other rabbits and it was a success to make myself feel better.)
Today I have discovered the recipe for vegetarian chili. I have no idea what it's actually supposed to taste like but I like my version, so I'm going to count it as a win.
I also watched The Illusionist (2010 one) and my God, it's depressing. Think Mary and Max, but without the death and the hopeful ending. (Yeah you'd think it'd be happier without people dying but there's no redemption...just the slow fall of the curtain. Geez I need to find a happy short story or something, now, to balance my psyche.) Really beautiful work though -- a style as unique as that of The Secret of Kells, and if it's a little slow paced -- well, it suits the mood. (Though it does make it feel even more like I'm steeped in melancholy.) (And now I'm going to imagine the rabbit went off on its own and learned magic tricks to perform for other rabbits and it was a success to make myself feel better.)
20120517
Earlier this morning the air was strangely warm and saturated with droplets somewhere between a mist and a drizzle.
My mind supplied: "Today the weather is like the kraken!"
I laughed all the way to the bus stop.
My mind supplied: "Today the weather is like the kraken!"
I laughed all the way to the bus stop.
20120516
Would this be post-modern something or the other?
For those who are wondering, the vase contains green onion.
That's right. Green onion. Of the variety that people sell in supermarkets that is usually harvested well before they start flowering. Also? It's giant. I see a running theme here with my father and giant fruiting bodies of things that didn't get harvested on time. Like that giant turnip-seedpod-tree. Seriously, what is he doing that the flower stalks always ends up huge??
20120515
The construction crew (from the group that's remodeling our lab building's ventilation) came through today for a quick survey of the grounds. I promptly lost all will to regard the remodeling with anything other than a sense of impending doom.
I also think no one's ever explained "shared lab space" to the workers before.
I also think no one's ever explained "shared lab space" to the workers before.
20120513
Guilt plants and sudden genetic
For those of you who are familiar with the term "guilt plants", some of you may recall that my parents accidentally killed the lavender I had in the backyard and so were very eager to make amends. After asking me which type I preferred and I emailed them back the species & cultivar names (common names are kind of iffy for all plants because people tend to just call things whatever) they realized that they had trouble finding the type we had or the types I wanted and so I just told them to not worry about it. Except.
20120509
And how many grams of reagent is this worth, exactly?
Roughly two weeks ago my lab got a trial sample of a new formula for a common reagent from a vendor, which my labmate tried out and then recommended for me to try out.
I ran an experiment with it, it worked really well, and in a fit of data-induced ecstasy (or possibly I was just giddy from the beauty of those melt curves) I sent back a quip to the labmate via email -- something about magical properties, I believe.
Turns out? Labmate thought it was funny. In fact, labmate thought it was funny enough that she forwarded the email to the vendor sales rep. Who somehow decided that he should forward it to the marketing department.
So today, in a completely novel and unexpected turn of events, the sales rep turned up while I was mid-experiment, holding a sample in each hand, and wanted to know if the company can use my email for their product advertisement.
I blinked at him slowly over the tabletop centrifuge while my labmate made apologetic faces and other labmates looked on in confusion and decided that, "Wow, this is really awkward."
He was very smiley and left me his business card (which was was shiny as his teeth) and said I should get in touch should I decide that the answer is "yes." I'm left wondering what the hell just happened -- or at least until I remembered that oh right: two samples still need to be processed.
The lab's opinion so far seems to be that if I'm allowed to remain anonymous as the source, I should see if I can somehow leverage this to get more free or reduce-priced reagents for lab. I should mention that the professor is not aware of any of this. Yet.
On one hand: What.
On the other hand: this is really hilarious.
I ran an experiment with it, it worked really well, and in a fit of data-induced ecstasy (or possibly I was just giddy from the beauty of those melt curves) I sent back a quip to the labmate via email -- something about magical properties, I believe.
Turns out? Labmate thought it was funny. In fact, labmate thought it was funny enough that she forwarded the email to the vendor sales rep. Who somehow decided that he should forward it to the marketing department.
So today, in a completely novel and unexpected turn of events, the sales rep turned up while I was mid-experiment, holding a sample in each hand, and wanted to know if the company can use my email for their product advertisement.
I blinked at him slowly over the tabletop centrifuge while my labmate made apologetic faces and other labmates looked on in confusion and decided that, "Wow, this is really awkward."
He was very smiley and left me his business card (which was was shiny as his teeth) and said I should get in touch should I decide that the answer is "yes." I'm left wondering what the hell just happened -- or at least until I remembered that oh right: two samples still need to be processed.
The lab's opinion so far seems to be that if I'm allowed to remain anonymous as the source, I should see if I can somehow leverage this to get more free or reduce-priced reagents for lab. I should mention that the professor is not aware of any of this. Yet.
On one hand: What.
On the other hand: this is really hilarious.
20120506
20120502
Professorial duties and tests of limit
Quote from friend on why she's not planning to become a professor: "I don't want to my goal in life to be making other people feel stupid."
(...well, considering the job of a professor in training scientists is, in theory, to find where our limits are and to push us past them....) (In our program it seems to be, by consensus, a yearly pushing until we fall flat on our face and then wait, and then setting the point where we fail to get back up as the new limit.) (Have I mentioned that it's almost time for my yearly committee meeting? I'm told that I'm being pushed harder because I can "take it", which has yet ceased to be equally flattering and terrifying.)
It's a perfectly valid goal.
(...well, considering the job of a professor in training scientists is, in theory, to find where our limits are and to push us past them....) (In our program it seems to be, by consensus, a yearly pushing until we fall flat on our face and then wait, and then setting the point where we fail to get back up as the new limit.) (Have I mentioned that it's almost time for my yearly committee meeting? I'm told that I'm being pushed harder because I can "take it", which has yet ceased to be equally flattering and terrifying.)
It's a perfectly valid goal.
20120429
A strange form of feminism
I've had too much tea, am in a writing mood, and am sick of people saying that feminists are "just" women who are bitter because they don't have a (good) boyfriend, are not "real" women, etc. I realized that I've never talked about this explicitly before, but I'm going to attempt to explain what my definition of a "feminist" is, why I would refer to myself as one, and why I think it's necessary. And then I will ramble off target and be confused at what some people are saying because, what? People. Seriously. What.
Right, here we go.
Right, here we go.
Well that was...enlightening
Considering that half of the plasmids in lab contains the promoter of a member of herpes virus family (cytomegalovirus, in case anyone's wondering) and that all non-undergrad members have to do regular animal husbandry, breeding, and colony maintenance, it's a wonder that I haven't posted anything more risque up to this point.
Well, time to amend that, I suppose.
Well, time to amend that, I suppose.
20120422
20120421
Have gleefully discovered that shimejis are still visible on screen even when you put your powerpoint slides to presentation mode. Am currently entertaining visions of presenting my data with little Sherlock scaling up the side of the screen (though I don't think anyone in my lab would recognize the BBC reincarnation of Holmes & Watson) during the informal lab meetings.
20120420
20120419
Fandot
Gave a impromptu lecture to personal banker at the banking center on campus today, on the topic of genetic mutation. He displayed gratifying interest. Or at least he said that it was cool as opposed to giving me the glazed look that so many undergrads demonstrated when I tried to explain nearly the same thing to them a few years ago.
Sometimes I feel like being in biology is like being in an obscure fandom. There're a decent number of people who's heard it in passing but only a small number of dedicated fans and you know it'll never be "cool" enough or "mainstream" enough to catch on, even if you think it's the greatest thing in the world. And then in the rare occasions when you manage to share your love with someone without scaring them away in the process, and then that person shows interest (or fakes interest due to personal agenda), it makes your day.
Sometimes I feel like being in biology is like being in an obscure fandom. There're a decent number of people who's heard it in passing but only a small number of dedicated fans and you know it'll never be "cool" enough or "mainstream" enough to catch on, even if you think it's the greatest thing in the world. And then in the rare occasions when you manage to share your love with someone without scaring them away in the process, and then that person shows interest (or fakes interest due to personal agenda), it makes your day.
Careless handling is not a cause for rejection
Found ancient vial of dead pupa and two tennis balls behind desk. V. curious as no one before me in our lab and no lab who has occupied the same space prior to our lab has ever worked with flies.
The title of this post is taken from the wrapper of a part of an equipment. No one's quite sure of what it means.
This used to be a longer post started yesterday that I accidentally "deleted" (it's not actually deleting that I did) and now can't retrieve so I'll just summarize it this far and add that one of my classmate's graduating this June! Or at least he's defending. He's from a comp-bio lab so it's not that surprising that he's the first from my class to graduate (not having to wait four months for mice for each experiment will speed some things up). However what this means for the rest of us is this:
The countdown towards graduation for the entering class of 2008 has officially started.
The title of this post is taken from the wrapper of a part of an equipment. No one's quite sure of what it means.
This used to be a longer post started yesterday that I accidentally "deleted" (it's not actually deleting that I did) and now can't retrieve so I'll just summarize it this far and add that one of my classmate's graduating this June! Or at least he's defending. He's from a comp-bio lab so it's not that surprising that he's the first from my class to graduate (not having to wait four months for mice for each experiment will speed some things up). However what this means for the rest of us is this:
The countdown towards graduation for the entering class of 2008 has officially started.
20120417
Whiplash
Have started using this bar of fancy triple-milled soap this week and have just discovered that the soap has fused itself to my bathtub. Application of water has failed to dissolve bond. Current strategy: dry for a minimum of 12 hours before applying knife.
Sometimes, life is forcing bacteria to express a mouse gene and finding an isoform where no one in the world has found it before.
Other times, life is...soap fused to the bathtub.
(Or, in my friend's case: finding the causes of cerebellar hypoplasia and getting spaghetti sauce smeared all over you by your excitable but uncoordinated toddler.)
Sometimes, life is forcing bacteria to express a mouse gene and finding an isoform where no one in the world has found it before.
Other times, life is...soap fused to the bathtub.
(Or, in my friend's case: finding the causes of cerebellar hypoplasia and getting spaghetti sauce smeared all over you by your excitable but uncoordinated toddler.)
And here I thought we're past the age of George Eliot
I'm cross-posting this a bunch of places because feminism happens to be one of those things that I feel strongly about, and here's another reason why I think it's necessary:
One of my favourite children’s authors is J.K. Rowling. Her Harry Potter series are some of the most successful children’s books ever written, so much so that as many adults as children have read them. But, as a woman writer, Rowling struggled to get these books published. Initially, despite the fact that her main character is a boy, publishers rejected her manuscript because they were worried boys wouldn’t read a book written by a woman. This biased perception continued even once she secured a contract, and she was ultimately made to conceal her sex by use of the two initials J.K. -from Jump!Which brings me to the A Mighty Girl site. This is essentially their mission statement:
After years of seeking out empowering and inspirational books for our four young nieces, we decided to create A Mighty Girl as a resource site to help others equally interested in supporting and celebrating girls.
Girls do not have to be relegated to the role of sidekick or damsel in distress; they can be the leaders, the heroes, the champions that save the day, find the cure, and go on the adventure. It is our hope that these high-quality children’s products will help a new generation of girls to grow and pursue whatever dreams they choose -- to truly be Mighty Girls!Okay so "Mighty Girl" is kind of a tacky name, but I really like what they're doing and an easy way to show them support is just to mention them in your blog / twitter / tumblr /whatever or "Like" them on Facebook, so I'm doing that and hope that those of you who are still following this will take a moment to do so as well.
20120416
Ah the Monday morning Facebook check
Seriously, I think I spend 90% of my time waiting for things to reach the right temperature. But anyway, here are two quotes that I will share from my classmate:
20120415
New bottle of soy sauce has a pull-to-open seal with a ring attached for pulling. The ring detached when I pulled it.
Hypothesis 1): I am bad at pulling these sort of rings in the intended direction.
Hypothesis 2): These ring-things are flawed in design.
(Eventually the bottle was opened by abusing a small-medium-ish screw driver by inserting the flat tip against the raised area of the seal and exerting force down then up. Couldn't help but feel opening a bottle should require less effort than this.)
Hypothesis 1): I am bad at pulling these sort of rings in the intended direction.
Hypothesis 2): These ring-things are flawed in design.
(Eventually the bottle was opened by abusing a small-medium-ish screw driver by inserting the flat tip against the raised area of the seal and exerting force down then up. Couldn't help but feel opening a bottle should require less effort than this.)
Maybe I'll learn tailoring someday
My long sleeve tees are developing holes in them. Given that I've had some of them since high school, this is probably not surprising. I could just order more long-sleeve tees online, except I like nice dress shirts and would like to get more of them but that would mean the horrors of Physically Shopping.
20120414
Heaters are good for drying shoes
So many facets of my life seems to boil down to "don't know what I'm doing, but keep going anyway" and then somehow, things magically get better. (Well, to be fair, occasionally pivoting helps provided I don't accidentally elbow someone in the face.)
Tried to get rid of the last of the wine by making wine cake. Sadly the batter tastes much better than the actual cake. (Get rid of the leavening agents and use it as mix for gelato instead, y/y?)
Have discovered that when I turn on the heater (what's with the weather, by the way?) the carbon monoxide light will flash. Not red or green, but white. The alarm doesn't actually sound however. Hunted up the instruction manual left from that day and discovered that the only copy left for me was, incidentally and inexplicably, in Spanish. And contains no information on what does the light mean if it's not red or green though now I know the words for "digital display".
In the meantime, have a song about Nicola Tesla.
Tried to get rid of the last of the wine by making wine cake. Sadly the batter tastes much better than the actual cake. (Get rid of the leavening agents and use it as mix for gelato instead, y/y?)
Have discovered that when I turn on the heater (what's with the weather, by the way?) the carbon monoxide light will flash. Not red or green, but white. The alarm doesn't actually sound however. Hunted up the instruction manual left from that day and discovered that the only copy left for me was, incidentally and inexplicably, in Spanish. And contains no information on what does the light mean if it's not red or green though now I know the words for "digital display".
In the meantime, have a song about Nicola Tesla.
20120412
Dear property manager (not landlady, note) came in at some time today and installed a carbon monoxide alarm. Given that our building already has a series of fire alarms that gets set off accidentally about every week and that I need to disable the fire alarm in order to bake anything over 375F, hopes of peace and quiet is probably futile at this point.
20120410
20120408
20120407
20120403
20120402
For knowledge! ...Or something....
Time-point experiments are truly awful things that we do to ourselves in the name of science, but they're even more ghastly, I've discovered, when the scientist happens to live an hour's bus ride away from her lab.
It's far too early in the week for me to feel this tired.
Though to be fair, it could've been much worse -- if it weren't from Anita I might've had to crash overnight in the student's lounge in the library basement. (Better option, still, than the couches in the lobby area, given how our lobby area's all glass and there are all these lights that I'm pretty sure can't be turned off.)
...if this experiment doesn't work I'm going to be so incredibly frustrated.
It's far too early in the week for me to feel this tired.
Though to be fair, it could've been much worse -- if it weren't from Anita I might've had to crash overnight in the student's lounge in the library basement. (Better option, still, than the couches in the lobby area, given how our lobby area's all glass and there are all these lights that I'm pretty sure can't be turned off.)
...if this experiment doesn't work I'm going to be so incredibly frustrated.
20120401
...okay?
So for some reason it's April Fool's day and the English (or at least the American?) version of Google is perfectly normal...but the Chinese (or at least the Xiang-Gang / Hongkong) version is...um...
...underwater. (As Neil Gaiman directed, click on the "I feel lucky" button, repeat 3x.)
(April Fool's definitely not a Chinese holiday.)
(Google why are you so adorable?)
But while speaking of stuff that Mr. Gaiman's posted, I wanted to share this Dalek relaxation tape.
Yep, you saw that right, A Dalex relaxation tape.
...thought I must confess that they have one of the least soothing intonations I've ever heard. (Don't tell me you didn't spent the entire clip waiting for the word "exterminate". I know I did.)
...underwater. (As Neil Gaiman directed, click on the "I feel lucky" button, repeat 3x.)
(April Fool's definitely not a Chinese holiday.)
(Google why are you so adorable?)
But while speaking of stuff that Mr. Gaiman's posted, I wanted to share this Dalek relaxation tape.
Yep, you saw that right, A Dalex relaxation tape.
...thought I must confess that they have one of the least soothing intonations I've ever heard. (Don't tell me you didn't spent the entire clip waiting for the word "exterminate". I know I did.)
20120331
But I fear she's not really paying attention
Dear Undergrad,
Yes you can borrow my stuff. In fact, I told you you that you may, without asking me each time but, as I've also told you multiple times now, please put back the stuff where you found it. This is not a difficult concept. Stop stashing my scissors and reagents and what-have-you in your drawers and yours boxes (where no one can find them when they're in the middle of their experiments and need them) when you're done. They're not yours, they are mine and mine to share with the lab. It's been over two years' worth of reminders and I know you're leaving lab this June but for the love of God or science or whatever you believe in, please show some common courtesy until then.
Your very irate labmate,
Me.
Yes you can borrow my stuff. In fact, I told you you that you may, without asking me each time but, as I've also told you multiple times now, please put back the stuff where you found it. This is not a difficult concept. Stop stashing my scissors and reagents and what-have-you in your drawers and yours boxes (where no one can find them when they're in the middle of their experiments and need them) when you're done. They're not yours, they are mine and mine to share with the lab. It's been over two years' worth of reminders and I know you're leaving lab this June but for the love of God or science or whatever you believe in, please show some common courtesy until then.
Your very irate labmate,
Me.
Blue nerds
Quick post to share this link. (It's...flash comic about industrial pollution in China at this point, I guess. I think the author explains it better in the notes.) It works as a stand-alone.
...that nursery rhyme from the beginning...I must've learned it before the age of four (because it pre-dates boarding school) and my parents know it because of me, and I just realized that I knew the first two lines of the second stanza...for some reason I've forgotten that until I saw the comic.
Last time my mother went to Beijing and stayed for more than two weeks she got asthma because of the air quality. Thankfully there is a movement toward environmental awareness and pollution, which got a large boost because of the Olympics (needs, must) and so there's some improvement these days. (Though if you're in Beijing you still can't really see the stars due to light pollution.)
...that nursery rhyme from the beginning...I must've learned it before the age of four (because it pre-dates boarding school) and my parents know it because of me, and I just realized that I knew the first two lines of the second stanza...for some reason I've forgotten that until I saw the comic.
Last time my mother went to Beijing and stayed for more than two weeks she got asthma because of the air quality. Thankfully there is a movement toward environmental awareness and pollution, which got a large boost because of the Olympics (needs, must) and so there's some improvement these days. (Though if you're in Beijing you still can't really see the stars due to light pollution.)
20120324
There's definitely seratonin around now
So: the science fair was awesome.
That being said, there were some issues of communication between the volunteer transport and the police (they had to cord off part of the streets for the fair but they were supposed to let the volunteer shuttles through) so that the shuttle drop off/ pick up point for us kept getting changed while we were waiting for our transport. So there was a lot of walking and crankiness.
But, an hour later, I finally managed to get home and rewarded myself by making French toast stuffed with cream cheese and strawberries and honey (idea from the super fancy mango-mascarpone-toast that I had last time Lucy and I went out for breakfast) to go with heavily honeyed tea so now I'm adrift in a sea of carb-induced bliss.
Have to go and deal with chores in a hour, but in the meanwhile: exercise + loads of starch & sugar = at peace with the world.
Key points of fair this year as noticed by me: elephant-brain-hat, live owl, live reptiles & tarantulas & squirrel, DNA extraction from strawberry, analysis of your snot, make-your-own skateboard (by lottery) booth, basket-ball-sized maze-navigating robots, something mysteriously small but definitely aerodynamic. Oh and balloon animals. Er. Molecules.
That being said, there were some issues of communication between the volunteer transport and the police (they had to cord off part of the streets for the fair but they were supposed to let the volunteer shuttles through) so that the shuttle drop off/ pick up point for us kept getting changed while we were waiting for our transport. So there was a lot of walking and crankiness.
But, an hour later, I finally managed to get home and rewarded myself by making French toast stuffed with cream cheese and strawberries and honey (idea from the super fancy mango-mascarpone-toast that I had last time Lucy and I went out for breakfast) to go with heavily honeyed tea so now I'm adrift in a sea of carb-induced bliss.
Have to go and deal with chores in a hour, but in the meanwhile: exercise + loads of starch & sugar = at peace with the world.
Key points of fair this year as noticed by me: elephant-brain-hat, live owl, live reptiles & tarantulas & squirrel, DNA extraction from strawberry, analysis of your snot, make-your-own skateboard (by lottery) booth, basket-ball-sized maze-navigating robots, something mysteriously small but definitely aerodynamic. Oh and balloon animals. Er. Molecules.
20120323
20120320
It's like a sneeze that doesn't come
After spending all of yesterday (as well as part of the evening) obsessing over my cloning experiment, my subconscious provided me with a dream that involves baking. Very specifically about putting shredded coconut in frosting. The baking part I understand because, all jokes aside, baking is really a lot like setting up an experiment in a molecular biology lab. Even the frosting I can understand. But why, I wondered during breakfast this morning, why coconuts? Not knowing bothered me.
Possible explanations, I concluded while brushing my teeth, are the following:
Zebrafish >> tropical >> coconuts
Fruit fly >>coconut oil (via information retained from classmate's talk) >> coconuts
What makes somewhat less sense is the connection with mice, because:
Mouse>> ??? >>coconuts
(For the record, the mice I work with are black in color.)
The mind is a truly mysterious place.
Possible explanations, I concluded while brushing my teeth, are the following:
Zebrafish >> tropical >> coconuts
Fruit fly >>coconut oil (via information retained from classmate's talk) >> coconuts
What makes somewhat less sense is the connection with mice, because:
Mouse>> ??? >>coconuts
(For the record, the mice I work with are black in color.)
The mind is a truly mysterious place.
20120319
20120318
Anderson predates the 8th, but does Disney?
About half way to falling asleep last night, I find my thought turning to the Disney sequel to the Little Mermaid, more specifically, to the fate of the villain. (Villainess? Villainette?) I was horrified to realize that what effectively happened to her is that she is trapped, alive and with full-awareness, in suspended animation (no pun intended), for presumably all of eternity somewhere in an abyss of the ocean.
I reflected that, if I were trapped in my head but with full awareness of my surroundings, I hope someone would have the mercy to kill me. It is cruel and unusual punishment. It is a fate, I think, worse than death. I would go mad from it, in the clinical sense, and given how the villain (villaine? villaina?) wasn't exactly the most mentally stable to begin with, this strikes me as an Extremely Poor Solution. Forever, in a chunk of ice, can easily be translated to "bidding her time". And as various stories done by other authors can tell you, there's nothing quite so terrifying as someone who's mind is broken, who's vengeful, and who's willing -- and can afford to -- bid his / her time.
Triton is immortal, but forever is a long time. A lot of things can be done in forever. Glaciers have crept across continents and melted in less time than forever. How long would a block of ice (even magical ice) last, in the face of forever?
Unless this is a hedged bet on another sequel, in which I applaud the writers for a job well done.
Admittedly I can pretend that the Lord of the Seas tracked down that block of ice some time later on, preferably before she went mad, thawed her out and gave her a fair trial. Certain to my knowledge no canon exists to contradict me. And then she will probably serve time in an underwater prison, but maybe they'll have craft classes (complete with the underwater equivalent of safety scissors) and she can learn underwater basket weaving.
And then I fell asleep.
I reflected that, if I were trapped in my head but with full awareness of my surroundings, I hope someone would have the mercy to kill me. It is cruel and unusual punishment. It is a fate, I think, worse than death. I would go mad from it, in the clinical sense, and given how the villain (villaine? villaina?) wasn't exactly the most mentally stable to begin with, this strikes me as an Extremely Poor Solution. Forever, in a chunk of ice, can easily be translated to "bidding her time". And as various stories done by other authors can tell you, there's nothing quite so terrifying as someone who's mind is broken, who's vengeful, and who's willing -- and can afford to -- bid his / her time.
Triton is immortal, but forever is a long time. A lot of things can be done in forever. Glaciers have crept across continents and melted in less time than forever. How long would a block of ice (even magical ice) last, in the face of forever?
Unless this is a hedged bet on another sequel, in which I applaud the writers for a job well done.
Admittedly I can pretend that the Lord of the Seas tracked down that block of ice some time later on, preferably before she went mad, thawed her out and gave her a fair trial. Certain to my knowledge no canon exists to contradict me. And then she will probably serve time in an underwater prison, but maybe they'll have craft classes (complete with the underwater equivalent of safety scissors) and she can learn underwater basket weaving.
And then I fell asleep.
20120316
I need an econ refresher
Dear all,
Would someone please explain to me how it is that the .mobi (ebook) version of a book costs around 13$ while the used paper copy costs 0.01$? Is this a case of supply-demand? Because then...how is the supply limited? It's digital. Making a copy of a digital book doesn't take that much resources or energy, even compared to the making of mass-market paperbacks (which still requires paper making and binding and such). Most authors these days have their final transcript in digital format, anyway, and it's not that hard to convert .doc to ebook formats. I've done that before too. There are even free online software for these sort of things.
Perhaps it's because the paper-copy is "used"? But...it's digital. I mean how do you even tell apart "used" from "new" copies? But if that were the case, where can I get used digital books? Because seriously, I don't mind used books. Either paper-copy or digitally.
This mini-rant is brought to you by my visit to the library website. I'm one of those people who prefer not to buy a book until I've read it and know that I like it. I read fast. To entertain me for extended length of time requires something either massive or going to the library (whose schedule overlaps with mine by only two hours every week) every week. I have a kindle. I have gone through the entire SD library ebooks collection. There're just over 2000 books. There are five that overlaps with my to-read list (121 books so far). They all have wait-lists ranging from 6 to 36 people. Hunting on the internet has not helped much.
Help.
[edit 11:00]
New thought: I hate to default to thinking the worse of everyone, but I realized that it's possible for it still be a supply-demand situation where, because the supplier knows the demand is high, they can purposefully limit the supply in order to charge higher prices and therefore obtain more profit (and they don't even have to subtract printing and distribution costs for ebooks).
Thoughts?
Would someone please explain to me how it is that the .mobi (ebook) version of a book costs around 13$ while the used paper copy costs 0.01$? Is this a case of supply-demand? Because then...how is the supply limited? It's digital. Making a copy of a digital book doesn't take that much resources or energy, even compared to the making of mass-market paperbacks (which still requires paper making and binding and such). Most authors these days have their final transcript in digital format, anyway, and it's not that hard to convert .doc to ebook formats. I've done that before too. There are even free online software for these sort of things.
Perhaps it's because the paper-copy is "used"? But...it's digital. I mean how do you even tell apart "used" from "new" copies? But if that were the case, where can I get used digital books? Because seriously, I don't mind used books. Either paper-copy or digitally.
This mini-rant is brought to you by my visit to the library website. I'm one of those people who prefer not to buy a book until I've read it and know that I like it. I read fast. To entertain me for extended length of time requires something either massive or going to the library (whose schedule overlaps with mine by only two hours every week) every week. I have a kindle. I have gone through the entire SD library ebooks collection. There're just over 2000 books. There are five that overlaps with my to-read list (121 books so far). They all have wait-lists ranging from 6 to 36 people. Hunting on the internet has not helped much.
Help.
[edit 11:00]
New thought: I hate to default to thinking the worse of everyone, but I realized that it's possible for it still be a supply-demand situation where, because the supplier knows the demand is high, they can purposefully limit the supply in order to charge higher prices and therefore obtain more profit (and they don't even have to subtract printing and distribution costs for ebooks).
Thoughts?
20120315
Some sounds go straight to the subconscious
I was pretty tired last night due to the length of my day and sadly, it also was one of those rare days when the neighbor had a few and then fell asleep in front of his tv with the volume on full blast, which meant that I could hear the dialogues, not to mention the music and other sounds, perfectly clearly. Even more unfortunately he was watching something with a lot of gunfire.
Eventually I was forced to get up, grab a jacket, and knock on his door until he woke up and then request he turn down the volume. Then I returned to bed and proceeded to have an extremely lengthy semi-science-fiction nightmare where I was sent off to war. I spent nearly the entire length of the dream feeling ill-prepared and terrified and now I feel a bit like my eyeballs are going to fall out of my head.
Please tell me this isn't going to turn into one of those days.
Eventually I was forced to get up, grab a jacket, and knock on his door until he woke up and then request he turn down the volume. Then I returned to bed and proceeded to have an extremely lengthy semi-science-fiction nightmare where I was sent off to war. I spent nearly the entire length of the dream feeling ill-prepared and terrified and now I feel a bit like my eyeballs are going to fall out of my head.
Please tell me this isn't going to turn into one of those days.
20120314
Last night I had a dream during which I was helping Sherlock Holmes troubleshooting the wireless connection on his laptop. Looking back, he was probably more patient than is canonically accurate.
Also, this is probably the record for early arrival to work since I moved to PB. Awful, isn't it? I'm tempted to ask Santa to 48 hours of nothing -- no chores, no obligations -- to just sit around and sleep except, rather like the lyrics from the song "Stress" suggests, I'd probably hate it.
That's the tragedy of being a self-aware workaholic. You are very aware that you really have no one to blame except yourself.
Oh well.
Also, this is probably the record for early arrival to work since I moved to PB. Awful, isn't it? I'm tempted to ask Santa to 48 hours of nothing -- no chores, no obligations -- to just sit around and sleep except, rather like the lyrics from the song "Stress" suggests, I'd probably hate it.
That's the tragedy of being a self-aware workaholic. You are very aware that you really have no one to blame except yourself.
Oh well.
20120312
Common sense fail
Sometimes the Thesis Adviser seems so genuinely interested in the details of what I'm working on that I forget common sense and try to explain the details to him. I usually realize the mistake thirty minutes later with either a vague memory or no recollection of what I was working on before the discussion started and uncertain predictions as to when the discussion will actually end so I can go back and figure out what I was supposed to be doing (possibly when the timer went off ten minutes ago).
Today, for instance, I tried to explain to him why I stagger experiments a certain way to be efficient, and why that kind of efficiency works for me. Looking back I suspect I may have had better luck trying to convince him that genes are made of green cheese.*
--------
*A famous geneticist (possibly Nobel laureate -- I forgot) once made a comment along the lines of "the principles of genetics would still hold true even if genes are made of green cheese". (Yeah IDEK.)
Today, for instance, I tried to explain to him why I stagger experiments a certain way to be efficient, and why that kind of efficiency works for me. Looking back I suspect I may have had better luck trying to convince him that genes are made of green cheese.*
--------
*A famous geneticist (possibly Nobel laureate -- I forgot) once made a comment along the lines of "the principles of genetics would still hold true even if genes are made of green cheese". (Yeah IDEK.)
20120310
I wonder what will happen in the fall
Dear all,
Today I encountered the most novel explanation for daylight saving I've ever heard: tomorrow an hour will be taken out of our day to be given to the Easter Bunny so it'll have time to go around the world to distribute candy to everyone.
Also, as per the song, "Raisins", I discovered that people do indeed wear orange pants outside of detention centers. Sorbet-y orange. It's...ghastly, actually, when paired with a shirt in an even more vivid shade of orange.
I don't understand fashion. I am better at drawing clothing lately but the nuances of what is tacky and what is fashionable appears to be, still, beyond me.
Today I encountered the most novel explanation for daylight saving I've ever heard: tomorrow an hour will be taken out of our day to be given to the Easter Bunny so it'll have time to go around the world to distribute candy to everyone.
Also, as per the song, "Raisins", I discovered that people do indeed wear orange pants outside of detention centers. Sorbet-y orange. It's...ghastly, actually, when paired with a shirt in an even more vivid shade of orange.
I don't understand fashion. I am better at drawing clothing lately but the nuances of what is tacky and what is fashionable appears to be, still, beyond me.
Lawn darts and baking soda
Confession: sometimes what motivates me to write a post is the title I can use for it.
Especially when the title is a result of my brain when I tell it to summarize the 24 hour highlights in ten words or less.
Especially when the title is a result of my brain when I tell it to summarize the 24 hour highlights in ten words or less.
20120304
20120303
So I've been told that the Comic-Con tickets are already sold out.
The tickets just went on sale for registered members only this morning.
It wasn't this crazy the first year I went. If this trend keeps up soon we'll have to register for it a year or even two years ahead of the time, and it will be as bad as the university-run daycare. (Yeah they don't really have good infrastructure for career professionals who are also mothers. At least not until you've made it to the income bracket where you can afford to hire nannies five days a week.)
Unrelated: I have stubble burn on my arm. It is obviously a better alternative than getting clobbered in the face but a) light-haired people's facial hair, until they grow a beard or something, isn't obvious, so this is ...sneaky ninja stubble b) ow and c) and I thought that sprained toes were hilarious.
The tickets just went on sale for registered members only this morning.
It wasn't this crazy the first year I went. If this trend keeps up soon we'll have to register for it a year or even two years ahead of the time, and it will be as bad as the university-run daycare. (Yeah they don't really have good infrastructure for career professionals who are also mothers. At least not until you've made it to the income bracket where you can afford to hire nannies five days a week.)
Unrelated: I have stubble burn on my arm. It is obviously a better alternative than getting clobbered in the face but a) light-haired people's facial hair, until they grow a beard or something, isn't obvious, so this is ...sneaky ninja stubble b) ow and c) and I thought that sprained toes were hilarious.
20120302
I didn't know necks could do that....
The man seated in front of me on the bus reeked of alcohol and was distressingly floppy. Based on what I recall from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, he only needs a packet of peanuts to be ready for hyperspace jump. (Though he is a couple towels short of being an actual space-time hitchhiker. Shame, that.)
Tired now. Sleeeeeeeeeeeep.
Tired now. Sleeeeeeeeeeeep.
Right.
So when a scientist is essentially told that she is too idealistic to survive in the academia, what is she not too idealistic for?
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