I was visited by bible teachers this morning, who tried to teach me the scripture despite of the fact that I informed them right off the bat that I am a graduate student of the discipline of biology and that yes, I believe in evolution. They even read from their book a quote to prove that the scripture is actually very Scientific (I can't help but picture the capitalized letter when every time they said the word). In return I decided that trying to teach them evolutionary biology is fair play, and I'm game for as long as they are.
They only ever got to read one quote.
It was interesting, since the two people were a lady and her husband, and they supposedly had background in Science. At one point we were talking about the idea that the world was round and referencing Copernicus and Hypatia, while at another point we were talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls and Book of Ezra (or was it Ezriel? There were a lot of Greek pseudepigrapha around). P-values and Lucy the Australopithecus were involved too. By the time that I was explaining that Latin grammar has no articles and how some things can be interpreted different ways, depending on the translator, I was wishing that Annie was here, because then I'd actually have someone who knows all the different main scriptures and the more detailed information about Homo erectus &c. and the discussion / debate could be really fun.
Or Kate, possibly, because she's much better with historical figures and dates than I am, though possibly the lady-teacher's comments might offend her at some point, cause an explosion of sarcasm, and then it'll be carnage. (I suspect that amongst my friends I'm the least adept at figuring out what AD, BC, CE, BCE all are relative to each other, but at least in biology we all reference things to events like the formation of the Pangea, so I'm not entirely hopeless.)
(Does Greek have articles in its syntax? Either the classic or modern form. According to these people, it doesn't.)
Then the lady said she had a class she had to get to or something and left, and her husband followed shortly afterward. I was amused and wondered how much of I've explained about random mutations in genes leading to embryonic lethal phenotypes in animals they would remember, especially as pertaining to intelligent design. (They insisted they wanted to continue the discussion on intelligent design after I hold them I work in genetics, so fair is fair.) Admittedly the lady claimed that what I have said was useful information to them, though it could be that she was just being polite at that point. (We were all very polite this morning.)
...
I still have a cold.
I have drank a cup of herbal stuff, a cup of hot chocolate, and a juice box today. (The scripture / genetics lesson occurred between the hot chocolate and the juice box.) At least the runny nose part (my second least favorite thing about being sick, because it never fails to amaze me with how utterly disgusting it is) has gotten better, for which I'm deeply thankful if only because my nose bleeds when I blow it too often.
20100109
20100108
Bleh
Have caught cold. Will most likely be spending this weekend huddled over copious amount of tea.
20100105
In which there is fake-math
Or at least, that is what Mike has always called statistics.
My first class of the quarter is a combination of biomedical statistics (one of the reading material is hugely entertaining because it's sort of "stats for dummies" except the target audience are physicians; it's published in a journal for emergency medicine) and, well, bioinformatics for dummies. Or at least for biologists. I expect that the people who do this for a living will look at the material we're reading and feel the same way about it that I did for the "biology for computer scientists" thing that was in the BMI course material Victoria sent me a while ago. (This is an allele, and this is a gene &c.)
Today's course is taught by my PI, who whilst talking to a student during our ten minute break, was heard exclaiming "jumping Jesus on a pogo-stick!". The students in the class who knew him already just gave each other a knowing look, so it looks like that the fact that my PI is strange (and entertaining) is general knowledge.
Also, he tried to draw for us today, for the mutagenesis screen in mice portion. He tried to draw mice, which when he looked at it, he decided could be a mouse, a rat, or any rodent we wanted. At that point someone said, "Whale!" and everyone started laughing while my PI challenged the student to "grab a pen". I have to agree though: my first thought when he started drawing was also "whale". (I'll leave you to conclude what the mouse that he drew looked like.)
It's hard to do three-day-long experiments with three days of class a week, I've concluded. I think I need to re-think my schedule for next quarter. Or go insane, but that would not be very productive.
My first class of the quarter is a combination of biomedical statistics (one of the reading material is hugely entertaining because it's sort of "stats for dummies" except the target audience are physicians; it's published in a journal for emergency medicine) and, well, bioinformatics for dummies. Or at least for biologists. I expect that the people who do this for a living will look at the material we're reading and feel the same way about it that I did for the "biology for computer scientists" thing that was in the BMI course material Victoria sent me a while ago. (This is an allele, and this is a gene &c.)
Today's course is taught by my PI, who whilst talking to a student during our ten minute break, was heard exclaiming "jumping Jesus on a pogo-stick!". The students in the class who knew him already just gave each other a knowing look, so it looks like that the fact that my PI is strange (and entertaining) is general knowledge.
Also, he tried to draw for us today, for the mutagenesis screen in mice portion. He tried to draw mice, which when he looked at it, he decided could be a mouse, a rat, or any rodent we wanted. At that point someone said, "Whale!" and everyone started laughing while my PI challenged the student to "grab a pen". I have to agree though: my first thought when he started drawing was also "whale". (I'll leave you to conclude what the mouse that he drew looked like.)
It's hard to do three-day-long experiments with three days of class a week, I've concluded. I think I need to re-think my schedule for next quarter. Or go insane, but that would not be very productive.
20100104
Snark hunters
First full day back at the lab and I remained strangely undisturbed by the PI all day, despite of the fact that he was out to harangue Wendy, who shares a bay with me. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed their break, and over the course of the day we got to swap a little bit of our holiday adventures in between taking turns to go down to the Mouse Room to take care of our mice. (I had mice to wean today. Weaning age mice are so cute.) Dorothy recommended going to the wild life zoo around this time of the year, because it gets crazy hot. She also served to remind me that oh right, Martin Luther King's Day is in January. My enthusiasm lasted until I remembered that I am a grad student and so probably will spend that day in lab as well. Then Wendy and I pondered over the fact that one of the PIs I know apparently does fencing as a hobby. The idea of the PI going around, whacking people with sharp objects, is a little terrifying. Mostly it's just very incompatible with the image of the PI. It's like trying to imagine your dress shoes & tie wearing professor loving sky-diving.
I have a crazy amount of paper to read, considering I only have two classes. I wonder if the PI seriously believe that everyone will be able to read through the six different articles that was only posted today by Thursday. At least the stuff seems fairly simple...for five of them.
I have a crazy amount of paper to read, considering I only have two classes. I wonder if the PI seriously believe that everyone will be able to read through the six different articles that was only posted today by Thursday. At least the stuff seems fairly simple...for five of them.
20100102
Whoohoo
Ivy had another round of black-screen no-boot-up issue. It was a repeat of the same problem as last time (corrupted bios) and this time took me exactly one hour since I arrived home to fix, counting the time I spent on lunch.
Win!
In other news. It's 74F in SD and sunny. Google thinks it's raining. I have no idea why.
Win!
In other news. It's 74F in SD and sunny. Google thinks it's raining. I have no idea why.
20100101
Dude
I just watched New Year's fireworks from two different locations by the simple acts of sitting up on my bed and pulling open the curtains. How awesome is that?
New decade's here, guys. Cheers.
New decade's here, guys. Cheers.
20091231
Thank goodness it's a studio
I think I might be able to finish all the cleaning today! Vacuuming is currently more work than I anticipated, since I have a lot of stuff arranged a certain way and they are a pain to drag around (I think I may be sore tomorrow, heh). However, the clear front on the dust collector portion of my vacuum cleaner means that this is not without entertainment value. So far when I gaze into it I can see, in addition to dust and hair (gross, I am apparently still shedding a bucket), three pieces of pasta, one watch battery, and a tablet of motrin. And a small round metallic bead of around 1mm in diameter that I do not recognize at all but, so it goes).
I keep coming across new areas that I have yet to wipe down. My bathroom is still sadly in need of one of those shelves that can be erected over the watertank. I think my neighbors (those who are still in) have concluded that I've gone insane since I got all the windows open for the cleaning and Pandora was just belting out Phantom of the Opera over the clangs and crashes that I have been generating. I also think I deserve a curry for all my trouble (also because I'm trying to avoid messing up my pristine kitchen -- surely the cleaniness is meant to last more than two hours?) but am dubious as to whether or not that Thai restaurant a short walk away is still open today. For reasons unbeknownst to me the Laundromat near my place is actually closed this week (with no signs or explanations of whatsoever) so I had to take my stuff to another Laundromat, given that I don't know when this one will be open again.
Also? I smell like lemon and bleach.
Happy soon to be another decade, everyone! I'll be at Lucy's tomorrow to commemorate the occasion.
[Edit 11:08]
For the record: HomeLife brand gloves suck. They leaked while I was scrubbing with bleach and I know it's leakage, not wet hands or sweat because my hands felt like they were burning. Ironic how I never really had to do the rinse under cold water for 15 minutes thing in all the years I've been lab and ended up having to do it at home for housework. There is some sort analogy there, I think. Or possibly just the proof that the lab-grade gloves are really that much better than drugstore gloves.
I keep coming across new areas that I have yet to wipe down. My bathroom is still sadly in need of one of those shelves that can be erected over the watertank. I think my neighbors (those who are still in) have concluded that I've gone insane since I got all the windows open for the cleaning and Pandora was just belting out Phantom of the Opera over the clangs and crashes that I have been generating. I also think I deserve a curry for all my trouble (also because I'm trying to avoid messing up my pristine kitchen -- surely the cleaniness is meant to last more than two hours?) but am dubious as to whether or not that Thai restaurant a short walk away is still open today. For reasons unbeknownst to me the Laundromat near my place is actually closed this week (with no signs or explanations of whatsoever) so I had to take my stuff to another Laundromat, given that I don't know when this one will be open again.
Also? I smell like lemon and bleach.
Happy soon to be another decade, everyone! I'll be at Lucy's tomorrow to commemorate the occasion.
[Edit 11:08]
For the record: HomeLife brand gloves suck. They leaked while I was scrubbing with bleach and I know it's leakage, not wet hands or sweat because my hands felt like they were burning. Ironic how I never really had to do the rinse under cold water for 15 minutes thing in all the years I've been lab and ended up having to do it at home for housework. There is some sort analogy there, I think. Or possibly just the proof that the lab-grade gloves are really that much better than drugstore gloves.
20091230
Clean slate
I am home now, ditching lab after another couple of hours spent with the cryostat. I now have coronal (i.e. frontal), transverse (i.e. horizontal), and sagittal sections all ready for next week. At which point I looked outside, noted the weather (rain), the light (dark), and the people still left in lab (three post docs) and decided I'd rather go home. And eat food. I had to throw away my lunch because I made it with some of the stuff mom got me and I suspect that it went bad, because it doesn't taste right. None of the on-campus stores, save the bookstore, are open and I am not sure if I drove off campus for lunch (free parking this week) I'd still have a parking spot when I come back. The school of med parking lot is THAT full. We have, apparently, a lot of workaholics.
In other news: the PI got me a monitor yesterday! It's giant and black and made people do a double take when they first see it, because no one is used to seeing anything larger than Ivy on my desk. The process of getting the monitor involved the PI walking up to me and asking how I would like to see my stuff on a larger screen, to which I replied that that would be very nice, and then he told me to go with him and we went to the bookstore and hauled back the monitor. It's the fastest acquisition of lab tools, ever. Except for when I have to get the common chemical such as salt and formaldehyde which I can just pick up from the chem stock room.
Am now caught up on the chores that have accumulated since last week (caught up as of this morning, anyway: I was scrubbing out my microwave before I left for lab). Tomorrow is the pre-New Year's house cleaning.
In other news: the PI got me a monitor yesterday! It's giant and black and made people do a double take when they first see it, because no one is used to seeing anything larger than Ivy on my desk. The process of getting the monitor involved the PI walking up to me and asking how I would like to see my stuff on a larger screen, to which I replied that that would be very nice, and then he told me to go with him and we went to the bookstore and hauled back the monitor. It's the fastest acquisition of lab tools, ever. Except for when I have to get the common chemical such as salt and formaldehyde which I can just pick up from the chem stock room.
Am now caught up on the chores that have accumulated since last week (caught up as of this morning, anyway: I was scrubbing out my microwave before I left for lab). Tomorrow is the pre-New Year's house cleaning.
20091228
20091224
General announcement
I don't have the camera-computer transfer cable with me and Daemon does not have a card port, so I won't be able to upload photos until I've returned to SD (and probably not immediately then either because I have a bunch of end-of-the-month chores to run and a date with the dissecting tools upon my arrival). I apologize for the wait. Please stop emailing me. Thank you.
P.S. Oh and apparently the blog comments too.
You will know when I upload the photos, there is really no need to ask / keep on asking.
P.S. Oh and apparently the blog comments too.
You will know when I upload the photos, there is really no need to ask / keep on asking.
Hmm
Dad's out poking at my car, despite of the fact that he knows that the wheels have just been changed, along with the oil, and that none of the vehicle's fluids needed to be refilled. It makes him happy, so I'm going along with it. Mom's just been out grocery shopping. In the general spirit of festivities I've decided to go through my closet again to see what else I get to throw away this year (before there were things I could not throw away without getting yelled at, such as the Chinese calligraphy books, now I can get away with donating them --let's face it, penmanship has never been an interest of mine; I'm keeping the Chinese watercolor books instead), since my parents were thinking that moving might be in order within the next few years (still at the thinking stage). Meanwhile, I want to make a post just to remark that my God, when did I get so much stuff?!
20091219
20091216
The forecast for next week (up till Friday, that is) is all clear in SD and in the high 60s, low 70s. The forecast for next week in Cupertino has rain on Tuesday, but otherwise looks okay despite of the fact that it's 10F colder than SD. Also: I need to find the time to pack. (But at least all the stuff that needs to be mailed out got mailed out on time.) I had class at 8am this morning so, on campus at least, it does not feel much like Christmas' next week.
20091213
20091209
The things I ordered from Think Geek have arrived. The packaging says:
"Your package packed with care by THINKGEEK MONKEYBOTS. ThinkGeek Lubs You! This bag is green because it's recyclable and biodegradable (both above and below ground), not because it's made of people. Free monkey breath enclosed!"
I don't think I've ever liked any one store this much before.
<3
"Your package packed with care by THINKGEEK MONKEYBOTS. ThinkGeek Lubs You! This bag is green because it's recyclable and biodegradable (both above and below ground), not because it's made of people. Free monkey breath enclosed!"
I don't think I've ever liked any one store this much before.
<3
From a former cyborg
I'm looking forward to my week of break, which I'm ridiculously excited about. I don't plan to be spending much time at home, which my mom will no doubt not be very happy about, but she understands. She even gave me leave to spend as much time with my friends as I want, which is depressing if I think about it too much, so mostly I don't think about it.
Today in the class of yours truly a PI mentioned something about screening through a genome and how, with a consortium, it shouldn't take too long with a bunch of robots, "or an army of undergrads", 'cause they're like the same thing. And then the other PI cracked a joke about how we've officially passed the bar into humanity while the class tittered.
I need to use the infrared scanner. Twice I went over and someone was using it. I'm beginning to feel thwarted.
It is now officially cold in SD. I have bananas that I need to throw away some time this weekend. I also gave Malvina the date to our gift exchange so she can call. Maybe we can put her on the speaker phone this time. The time delay between when I typed something and when it shows up in gWave is annoying.
Today in the class of yours truly a PI mentioned something about screening through a genome and how, with a consortium, it shouldn't take too long with a bunch of robots, "or an army of undergrads", 'cause they're like the same thing. And then the other PI cracked a joke about how we've officially passed the bar into humanity while the class tittered.
I need to use the infrared scanner. Twice I went over and someone was using it. I'm beginning to feel thwarted.
It is now officially cold in SD. I have bananas that I need to throw away some time this weekend. I also gave Malvina the date to our gift exchange so she can call. Maybe we can put her on the speaker phone this time. The time delay between when I typed something and when it shows up in gWave is annoying.
20091207
So build me an ark
Rain's finally arrived in SD and boy did it arrive. I woke up last night from the sound of it when it started, it was pouring by morning, and by lunch time the outside looked like we're in the middle of hurricane. (I did not know we can even get wind like that down here.) The ants on the ground level have already started their emergency-flood evacuation, so that by the afternoon we have...ants. And also fruitflies. My labmates and I could not figure out where they come from, since no one on our floor works with Drosophila. The current theory is that one of the labs from upstairs had a few jail-breaks and our intrepid arthropod explorers found their way into the ventilation system (the alternative theory means that they have managed to successfully navigate the many doors and exits/entrances in the lab building, which people frequently still cannot do, so this theory is somewhat less likely). (Also, as far as I know, the flies do not have access cards.) The flies we found have dark brown eyes instead of the normal red color of the wildtype animals, so they're probably some sort of mutant.
Dorothy put up the Christmas lights in lab today. It went around the thermocycler area and across the top of the chromatography fridge. They were very shiny.
Dorothy put up the Christmas lights in lab today. It went around the thermocycler area and across the top of the chromatography fridge. They were very shiny.
20091206
Why, life?
After the unexpected trouble with car wheels (again!) I came home today to discover that the kitchen sink was clogged and that the stress ball had somehow leaked and dripped semi-solid goo all over my shelf.
I did manage to get a lot of Christmas shopping done, but a little more transition between holiday-happy and oh-God-more-chores would've been nice.
(P.S. Anyone know what the heck is in that good and how I can get it off? It's too thick and sticky to scrape off and not water soluble.)
I did manage to get a lot of Christmas shopping done, but a little more transition between holiday-happy and oh-God-more-chores would've been nice.
(P.S. Anyone know what the heck is in that good and how I can get it off? It's too thick and sticky to scrape off and not water soluble.)
20091201
Dear blog, take 2
Life is suddenly a whole lot busier.
I knew, intellectually, how much time is between Thanksgiving and Christmas. What I hadn't quite factored was the fact that, despite of the three weeks period, I technically only have two days each week to do everything that I need to get done. Starting the comp bio portion of my project meant that most of my incubation time during lab is spent collecting sequences for analysis on my computer. I tried to do some work on the bus, but at 7am in the morning and at night I'm simply too tired to bother, preferring instead to stare out the bus window blankly and enjoy my hour of zen.
Which means I have this weekend and next weekend to get every thing done, since Lucy and I are leaving on the 19th. Lab event next weekend means I'll have to throw away one day. Which means I have a grand total of three days to get my cards addressed and sent out (19th the latest for mailing but I need to get the cards written before then), Christmas shopping & wrapping done (or at least 80% finished), and finish both my quarterly lab report and prepare a lab presentation. Mostly the hour I have at the end of the day this week will be spend, I think, digging through my clothing as SD finally decided that it was winter after all and dropped its temperature. It is now very cold out by the bus stop at night. Why do I not have a geeky hoodie?
So cheers. The Thanksgiving post (or the third of it I'd managed to write while I was at the airport) is on Ivy. I am on Daemon. The DEPC I requested finally came in today and its container bore an uncanny resemblance to cough syrup bottles but, still more unfortunately, to Pepto Bismo.
I knew, intellectually, how much time is between Thanksgiving and Christmas. What I hadn't quite factored was the fact that, despite of the three weeks period, I technically only have two days each week to do everything that I need to get done. Starting the comp bio portion of my project meant that most of my incubation time during lab is spent collecting sequences for analysis on my computer. I tried to do some work on the bus, but at 7am in the morning and at night I'm simply too tired to bother, preferring instead to stare out the bus window blankly and enjoy my hour of zen.
Which means I have this weekend and next weekend to get every thing done, since Lucy and I are leaving on the 19th. Lab event next weekend means I'll have to throw away one day. Which means I have a grand total of three days to get my cards addressed and sent out (19th the latest for mailing but I need to get the cards written before then), Christmas shopping & wrapping done (or at least 80% finished), and finish both my quarterly lab report and prepare a lab presentation. Mostly the hour I have at the end of the day this week will be spend, I think, digging through my clothing as SD finally decided that it was winter after all and dropped its temperature. It is now very cold out by the bus stop at night. Why do I not have a geeky hoodie?
So cheers. The Thanksgiving post (or the third of it I'd managed to write while I was at the airport) is on Ivy. I am on Daemon. The DEPC I requested finally came in today and its container bore an uncanny resemblance to cough syrup bottles but, still more unfortunately, to Pepto Bismo.
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