I think I'm ready
At least, I hope I'm ready. I'm leaving for the airport at 4pm to fly home for Christmas. I took the day off from work today to finish getting ready, which included packing. I ended up getting up much later than I'd wanted to, so I felt a little frazzled all day that perhaps I would not get everything done in time. I think I'm set. I really hope that I didn't forget anything. Of course, the original plan had been to pack last night, but instead I exchanged gifts with some friends and my roommates and ended up with some yummy beer and a copy of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" on dvd, so packing quickly became an after thought.
Anyway, I'll be in upstate NY until the 29th. I will have internet access but it will be dialup, so we'll see how much patience I have with being online; it might be email only. Hope that everyone has a very happy holiday and safe travels and I'll talk with you on the 29th!
I'm alive, I promise
Whoa!! I didn't realize that it had been so long since I had posted. Oops. Sorry. Well let's see...what have I been up to?
Last week:
Higlights
-Turned 26. Received roses (delivered to lab) from my college roommate which caused much gossiping, entertainment and general amusement for me around lab.
-The
Science paper was finished.
Lowlights
-Was reminded of the meaning of the words "cold-induced asthma" far too often
-Was reminded that I am a klutz who cannot walk on snow and ice far too often
-Saw a somewhat interesting and informative but ultimately infuriating talk on bird flu which I will likely discuss somewhere at some later date
-Really began to feel holiday stress
Oh...I saw "Chronicles of Narnia" and "Rent" in there too. I thought CofN had good points and bad points, but that the bad points were annoying and distracting and are really the main thing that I remembered. Since when have I ever disliked a movie like that because of
the music? I liked Rent much better. :)
This past weekend, however, was A LOT of fun. Friday night I went out with some lab people for my birthday and BOB met us there! I mean, how can a night out with
Bob and
Evan be anything
other than fantastic? (Note to self: Stilettos do not function as ice picks. They just make you extra klutzy.)
Saturday morning I got up early (for a Saturday) and got a haircut and then went Christmas shopping with my roommate A. all day. We went to the CambridgeSide Galleria, where she had never been and where I had not been in a very long time because of T renovations. It was excellent and we got a lot of shopping done. We were a little tired when we got home and took naps and then decided that we didn't feel like going out partying as we had originally planned. We eventually motivated enough to attempt to go to see "The Family Stone", but it sold out as we walked into the theater. Much consternation and hilarity ensued, and we ended up buying previously viewed movies at Blockbuster and snacks at 7-11 and having movie night at home. (It only took us an hour and a half of walking and riding the T around Boston to get those previously viewed movies and snacks!)
Sunday was a relatively lazy day, but then a whole bunch of us went out to dinner at a Hibachi restaurant in Cambridge. It wasn't the best hibachi that I've ever had (the "entertainment" part definitely seemed to be lacking) but it was still pretty yummy and definitely a good time. As for the entertainment part...well, what can you expect from the only hibachi place around, particularly when it is attached to a hotel? Afterwards A. and I tried again to go see "The Family Stone" (after changing out of our hibachi-smelling clothes of course). It is really a terrible movie. Really and truly bad. Fortunately, I got to come home and watch the Tivoed version of Duke beating Valpo in basketball, so my night ended on a happy note. :)
Our Hard Work
JP, Evan and I have been extremely busy and productive all day long. So that you can see exactly what kind of things we have been up to, we offer you a link and some samples that we made.
As we did these Mad Libs, I was laughing so hard that I could not breathe, so please do them at your own risk. Also, I would recommend not trying to do these Mad Libs around me if you don't want me to yell "THAT'S NOT A CRIME!" as you fill in the crime blanks. Lawyers, back me up...neither dismemberment, nor biting, nor pecking are crimes, right?
For your amusementSanta Clause
North Pole, Earth
Dear Santa,
I have been a good girl.
It really wasn't my fault what happened at Jenny's Office party. It was Evan who spiked the punch with too much martini. I can't help it if I drank 8 glasses. It was so good---smelled and tasted just like Obsession.
I thought it was funny when I put Andrew's tighty whities on my head and danced the Dance Dance Revolution on the Chair while singing `Rudolph the red nosed reindeer'. I didn't mean to break Jenny's IPod and don't know why Jenny would accuse me of Stealing.
I don't remember calling Ben's wife a whorish Sheep---even though she looked like one with blue eye shadow and white lipstick!
And when I threw up on Kate's husband's nose, it was only because I ate too much of that french fries.
After all that fun, I admit I was a little tired. So I fell asleep on my way home and drove my bulldozer through my neighbor's basement. I don't think that was any reason for my neighbor to call me a ugly horse and have me arrested for jaywalking!
So, Santa...here I sit in my jail cell on Christmas Eve, all antique and orange. And I'm really not to blame for any of this silly stuff. Please bring me what I want the most---bail money!
Sincerely and briskly yours,
Brianne (Really a nice girl!)
P.S. It's only 256 bucks!
Santa Clause
North Pole, Earth
Dear Santa,
I have been a good boy.
It really wasn't my fault what happened at Bree's Office party. It was Jenny who spiked the punch with too much Long Island Ice Tea. I can't help it if I drank 7 glasses. It was so good---smelled and tasted just like garlic.
I thought it was funny when I put Rachel's boxer briefs on my head and danced the Macarena on the stool while singing `Me So Horny'. I didn't mean to break Bree's digital camera and don't know why Bree would accuse me of sodomy.
I don't remember calling Chris's wife a sticky donkey---even though she looked like one with grey eye shadow and purple lipstick!
And when I threw up on Kate's husband's ass, it was only because I ate too much of that cheese.
After all that fun, I admit I was a little tired. So I fell asleep on my way home and drove my moped through my neighbor's chimney. I don't think that was any reason for my neighbor to call me a malodorous moose and have me arrested for dismemberment!
So, Santa...here I sit in my jail cell on Christmas Eve, all carnal and fishy. And I'm really not to blame for any of this vile stuff. Please bring me what I want the most---bail money!
Sincerely and gingerly yours,
Evan (Really a nice boy!)
P.S. It's only 25 bucks!
Santa Clause
North Pole, Earth
Dear Santa,
I have been a good girl.
It really wasn't my fault what happened at Evan's Office party. It was Bacardi Breezer who spiked the punch with too much 40s. I can't help it if I drank 3.141519 glasses. It was so good---smelled and tasted just like skunk.
I thought it was funny when I put AliCat's leg warmers on my head and danced the the running man on the soapbox while singing `I'm too sexy'. I didn't mean to break Evan's vibrator and don't know why Evan would accuse me of biting.
I don't remember calling patrick's wife a hairy cock---even though she looked like one with rainbow eye shadow and yellow lipstick!
And when I threw up on Ling's husband's pinky toe, it was only because I ate too much of that quesadillas.
After all that fun, I admit I was a little tired. So I fell asleep on my way home and drove my unicycle through my neighbor's attic. I don't think that was any reason for my neighbor to call me a fleshy penguin and have me arrested for pecking!
So, Santa...here I sit in my jail cell on Christmas Eve, all green and gooey. And I'm really not to blame for any of this salty stuff. Please bring me what I want the most---bail money!
Sincerely and gleefully yours,
Jenny (Really a nice girl!)
P.S. It's only 69 bucks!
A shoutout for JP
(My favorite picture of JP and I, courtesy of
Evan, the master photographer.)
My awesome friend JP has been a little stressed lately, so I thought I'd give her a shoutout. (She asked me if I would say that she was hot in a post, but I decided to do her one better.)
JP-
You are one of my favorite people in the whole world. I am so glad that I got the opportunity to become friends with you while we've been working in the lab, and I'm SUPER glad that we got to become even better friends when you started to work on my project with me. I don't know what would have become of me without your help, since we have already figured out that I can't clone for shit. (Exhibit A: Stop codon? What stop codon?) Anyway, like I said before, you are one of my favorite people since you are so funny and understanding and good to talk to about lab stuff or life stuff. And because you are a goofball. Did I mention that you are a goofball? AND you're hot too.
You are going to be a FANTASTIC scientist, due to your scientific knowledge but more importantly due to your curiosity and drive. I have been so impressed with the questions that you ask about the project...you definitely know your stuff. The best part has always been your enthusiasm. There have been times since you have started working with me that my motivation for the project has been lacking and I have either been buoyed by your enthusiasm or driven to keep my head up because of your excitement about the project. Really, I can't thank you enough for all of your help.
I am POSITIVE that you are going to get into graduate school. POSITIVE. I know that you are a little nervous about it (and it is good not to be too cocky), but I am certain that you will both get into graduate school and also excel there. I will point out that different schools have very different admissions requirements that sometimes seem to have no rhyme nor reason and it is unlikely to get into all of them (I have never heard of anyone getting in everywhere they applied), but I think you will get into the vast majority that you have applied to. As far as the ones you don't get into are concerned, remember one important thing:
I called them and told them not to let you in so that you wouldn't leave. They were totally going to let you in otherwise.
PS: While I was writing this, SS came by showing a new tech candidate around. He is hot.
PPS: I just had to quickly minimize this window because JP came by my desk. She came by to tell me that the new tech candidate was hot, which makes the PS a lot less funny.
Happy Endings
(I'm writing this post last so that in case you can only read one of the three that I wrote tonight, you can read the rave and not one of the rants.)
I've recently been feeling like I needed to something for myself, what with work stress and sad times and guy annoyances and what have you. The whole idea seemed to work out perfectly, particularly with my birthday coming up. I decided to get a massage for myself, though I didn't end up waiting for my birthday since my back hurt
now . The massage was last night.
BEST.IDEA.EVER
I went to
The Boston Bodyworker (MAJOR THANKS to
ExI for the recommendation) and it was fantabulous-tastic.
I had an hour-long massage to relax all of the back muscles that apparently do not enjoy sitting at a computer or sitting at a tissue culture hood all day long, and I even learned how to stretch to relax them when I work at the computer all day. (To be totally honest, I was told to do them for every two hours in front of the computer and I only did them once this afternoon to show off even though I spent a lot of hours computering. I decided that they make my back feel good enough that maybe I'll do them more often.)
So relaxing.
So chill.
I feel so much better.
I highly recommend it. (I even got a discount thanks to my crappy graduate student health insurance)
The happiest possible ending? The knot in my back is gone. :)
Now to end the slacking off and actually DO the statistics I brought home tonight...
I should have enough pulled together to write a "Conversations Part 2" post once I am done with the stats.
Assistant (n):
One that assists; a helper. (Thanks to dictionary.com)
A small part of me
really wants to send that definition to one of the administrative assistants for our lab. As a result of our recent expansion, we have hired two new administrative assistants, bringing the grand total to four. Originally there was one person in charge of financial matters and one person in charge of everything else. "Everything else" eventually got to be too much for one person to handle, so the original person became more of a personal assistant to our boss and another person was given the job of the rest of the random crap of lab details. I don't want to be mean, but I really have yet to be impressed by the new assistant's overwhelming intellect. She's nice and all, but she often makes me want to scream.
One of my favorite person's jobs is to be in charge of the lab email list. Since this change occured, the number of random emails sent to the lab has increased drastically. Some tidbits:
"There is a puddle of water on the floor and I almost slipped and fell. Be careful."
Varying emails letting us in on her hours...when she will or won't be in the office for either part of the day or an hour or so. Honestly, I'm not sure that our need for her is that desperate or that we wouldn't figure out how to get things done without her.
And my personal favorite (which we receive almost once a week):
"I'm free this afternoon and available to help out with any work that you might have."
While that might be a really considerate email to send in an office setting, it is borderline offensive (nyah, nyah, nyah I have no work today and you do) in the lab. I, and many others, am thisclose to sending her an email with a list of experiments I would like her to do.
There was also a little incident where I asked her to order some radioactivity for me (another her jobs) and somehow she managed to really mess up the order. (Long story short: chromium does not equal iodine. Any questions, ask Bob.)
Today's issue:
Yet another one of her jobs is to do some work on graphics/figures for papers for the boss. She is supposed to take graphs and re-size and re-format them. Today we had a lengthy email conversation that went something like this:
From Me to Her: Here are the figures.
From Her to Me: The boss wants these changes. Can you change them?
(My thought..why can't you?)
From Me to Her: Here are the new figures.
From Her to Me: You forgot one change.
From Me to Her: Here are the new figures. I remade them in a different computer program this time to make them more easily editable.
From Her to Me: Sorry to bother you, but I still can't edit the figures.
I opened the file. I re-sized the graphs and sent them back. (By re-sized I meant grabbed the little rectangles in the corners and re-sized, which you didn't need any special software to do. Glad to know that she tried.) She then proceeded to send the reformatted files to the entire lab (instead of just the boss) and then sent another email a minute later asking everyone to disregard the first. For the second time since we've been working on the paper.
Blech.
Don't be a statistic(ian)!
When last I left you (well, not including the hangover post) I was basking in the glow of praise from my boss over my scientific prowess (because obviously I called the monkeys and
told them what their cell counts should be to make the statistics come out right).
My new thought:
Statistics suck.
I spent ALL DAY Friday working on the analysis and figures for the paper, while getting hourly visits from the boss where he would ask about my progress. I didn't finish on Friday (before going to the bar) and ended up leaving a bunch of figures to be made over the weekend. I even turned down a day trip to go shopping so that I could get work done (and I'll admit, recover from the hangover). It was largely a working weekend.
Then, I was the lucky winner of spending ALL DAY yesterday doing analysis and making figures. The boss was again visiting my desk at least hourly to ask about figures, and he was writing the paper as fast as I could assemble the data, so he was also bringing by figure legends and text for me to look over and help out with. He seemed to be increasingly losing his mind over the whole thing as well. He kept coming up with new and outlandish analyses for me to do, making it less and less likely that I would finish the work that day. At least he was also profusely apologizing, to which I replied "Just as long as you don't yell at me come Wednesday for not having done any experiments since the last grad student meeting, I'll be fine."
I was able to calm down sufficiently well last night (see subsequent post) and then went in for another fun day of stats today. I didn't think that I had too much left to do, so I was hoping to get some real work done this afternoon. Ha!!! I spent yet another entire day doing analysis and on the phone with a biostatistician that we collaborate with. In the end (aka after my final boss conversation of the day) we decided to move some of the analysis down a different path. He asked me to crunch some new numbers and think about some of the issues tonight (which you can see I'm doing a great job with). Ugggggh. Such a pain.
Edited to add: To those of you who are grad students in my lab: a heads up....we are talking about this stuff at grad student meeting tomorrow.
Letters
Dear self:
Less cheap beer and test-tube shots next time. The goal should be to have something other than "Ugggh, it is possible to die from a hangover?" be your first thought upon waking up. It is quite fortunate that you live near a certain burrito place and could have a burrito for lunch, or the hangover may have been fatal.
Love,
Me
Dear guy who lives upstairs:
You know how I really hate you and your drum practicing normally? Well, today I hate you even more.
Love,
Me
:)
Things have slowly been getting back to normal (and back to positivity) here. I've felt much better today than I had in past days. And then it got even better. :)
One really major problem that I've been having lately has involved my role in the lab. We currently have 10 graduate students in the lab and somehow it works out that I am one of the most senior (I know, I know, I'm sure I've complained about this before.) I don't feel like I'm old enough (as a fourth year) to be a senior-ish graduate student, but here I am. As a result, I spend a relatively large portion of my time helping out other people on their experiments, which often has the unfortunate effect of leaving my own work (you know, the stuff that I have to accomplish to be allowed to graduate) to stagnate. Due to both the increasing abilities of the other students and my increasing irritability when asked for portions of my time, my work with other people has diminished to the point where I am really only helping one person with any sort of regularity right now. While that is also likely to diminish greatly soon-ish, it is really a story in and of itself. More recently, I have also become the lab statistician. I didn't take a TON of statistics as an undergraduate, but I took more than the average biology student and certainly MUCH more than most of the people in my lab. I can use some complicated software and do some complicated tests and generally understand the use of different tests/what I'm doing, but a real statistician I am not. In any case, my advisor has been taking a lot of advantage of my understanding of statistics for various projects around the lab (again, not the stuff that I have to accomplish for a PhD.)
In particular, I have been working on statistics for one vaccine study. Without going into detail, it's an important HIV vaccine study. Anyway, I've been involved in all sorts of seemigly mindless meetings over the past month or so and have been asked to do all sorts of modeling and testing parameters for lots of parts of the study. I've generally regarded the whole thing as a giant time sink, but I've gone along with it because it is obviously an important study and it needed to get done. My advisor has enjoyed waxing philosophically to me about the profound implications of the whole thing many, many times and I have to admit that he's only overstating the case a little.
Anyway, today I finished it all up, saw what the data said, ran and excitedly found my collaborators in the lab and went to the boss. It was exactly what he had hoped for. Exactly. He got on his knees in the middle of his office and bowed down to us. He looked at me and said "You didn't
just take lemons and make lemonade. You took lemons and made champagne!!" I am now making the figures for the paper, which he is dropping everything to write and which we are sending to
Science (the biggest journal). It looks like I might just end up being an author on a
Science paper. Maybe. If we're lucky. But either way, this is all really exciting and it is a very nice feeling to know that I had a small bit of impact on some work that will likely heavily influence HIV vaccine research.
Today is a very good day.
