Microbiologist XX

Five more days

2011-02-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

In five more days I am presenting my data to the department. It's not really that big of a deal as far as presentations go, but I don't want to embarrass myself in front of people I see on a daily basis. Not to mention, having a seminar looming has many positive side effects. 1. Extra motivation. I try to keep myself moving at a steady pace in the lab, but despite my best efforts, sometimes

Yep, it's been that kind of day.

2011-02-01T14:16:00.001-08:00

I started the day off well enough. I woke up on time, I made myself some coffee (bonus) so that I wouldn't need to stop on the way. I get in the car and proceed to work, quite proud of the $1.50 I am saving. However, about 30 seconds later, the universe decided that today, I would provide it with comic relief or something.Here is a break down of the events - and I'm just hitting the easy-to blog

Dumb F**king Donkeys Strike Back

2011-01-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

I’m sure this is common in many labs, departments and offices: Some dumb fucking donkey (DFD) takes advantage of a good situation and everyone suffers because the people in charge prefer punishing everyone instead of confronting the person who is actually causing the problem. These instances might include, but are not limited to the following examples. DFD situation #1:DFD

Friday Funny: Fk you and your fcking cheeseburger

2011-01-20T07:47:00.000-08:00

I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but I am from Texas. Although I don't share many of the opinions and views expressed by the inhabitants of my home state, I do love the Texas fast food burger joint know as Whataburger (when I was little I thought it was water burger). Like any establishment open 24h, drunk idiots tend to congregate at Whataburger just about the time the bars

I can't say I'm too surprised.

2011-01-14T06:26:00.000-08:00

I am not big on making resolutions. That's not to say that I don't make any, but they are usually the same and I tend to make them multiple times of year. Two of my on-going work resolutions are: (1) stay up to date on freezer stocks and (2) keep the lab notebook current.I fail miserably at both of these on a regular bases because I hate making freezer stocks and am always putting off my lab

More time please?!?

2011-01-12T15:24:00.000-08:00

Magnum, PI is very supportive and has no problems with his post-docs starting families. In fact, he was quite excited when I told him I was expecting and immediately told me not to worry about any decreased productivity that I might experience during the time before and after I gave birth. He went on to tell me about several other female post-docs that started families while

Good riddance 2010

2011-01-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

Although 2010 brought great enjoyment to my life; the birth of my first child in April and submitting a successful post-doctoral fellowship application, Thanksgiving to Christmas sucked some serious ass. First of all mini-xx got sick and then my husband and I got mildly sick. Not that big of a deal. Just sore throats and snot. He chose to stay home for a few days, while I stayed home for one day.

In the spirit of giving...

2010-12-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

I firmly believe that change is good. While I have already experienced quite a few changes in my life this year, I thought I needed at least one more. In this case, my change translates into a hefty donation to Locks of Love. In case it's not obvious, I have a lot of hair, both in thickness and length, so this should go a long way toward making a complete wig for someone. End result. (Sorry,

Turkey to Turkey

2010-12-02T10:11:00.000-08:00

Each year the time between Turkey-centered holiday 1 (Thanksgiving) and turkey-centered holiday 2 (X-mas) is different, ranging from extremely unproductive to insanely busy. This year seems like it is leaning toward the busy end of the scale and I am not sure I have the health or energy to keep up this year. Anyone who shares their home with a baby or young child can probably relate to the lack

Zzzzzzzz

2010-11-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the blog silence. I'm exhausted.Coherent posts just aren't possible at this time.For example, I spent 10 minutes staring at my sock drawer this morning. Just now, I had to use spellcheck because I couldn't remember how to spell staring.

Serenity Now!

2010-11-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Recently, I went from sharing an office with an insanely disgruntled grad student to sharing an office with an over-emotional post-doc (OEP) and all I can say is, I want the disgruntled grad student back.OEP is working on a project that includes elements that are out of Magnum, PI’s (and the rest of the labs) expertise. However, I happen to know a shit-ton about this subject

Week in review

2010-10-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

In the lab:Like everyone, my week in the lab featured it's fair share of ups and downs. Unfortunately, it also featured some stupid.The ups:Successfully electroporated notoriously difficult strain after being told it couldn't be done. (Yeah, don't tell me that if you want me to stop.)Purified six proteins (of 12) for final replicate. This means my paper will likely be out by the end of the year.

When pedestrians scare me

2010-10-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Recently, I encountered an individual who I thought seemed like your average everyday pedestrian, although dressed a little on the warm side. About 3o seconds later, I was worried I was going to end up a head line on the evening news: Mental health patient escapes from hospital, kills woman sitting at red light.Here is how it went down:I pulled up to a stoplight to make a right turn. While

Microbe Monday: O/OREOS, Microbes in Space

2010-10-25T16:40:00.000-07:00

Microbes are going to orbit the Earth's atmosphere for six months, the first mission since the 1970s to test how a life form handles the conditions outside the protection of the earth's magnetic field, according to Space Daily. The O/OREOS (Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses) astrobiology nanosatellite mission goal is to demonstrate the capability to do low-cost science experiments on

Friday Funny: Heaven and Squagels

2010-10-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

I freaking love David Cross. His comedy is exactly my sense of humor.(I recommend starting at the 35s mark.)Have a happy weekend!

Working Late and Loving It

2010-10-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

Since going back to work post-baby, my time in the lab is much shorter in duration. On the one hand, I get to the lab about 2 hours earlier, but I leave by 4:00, 4:30 at the latest. This is due to the fact that my husband gets mini-xx ready in the morning (minus the feeding) while I pick her up in the afternoon. There is no more staying late because something didn't work the first time or because

Microbe Monday: 1/2 lesson, 1/2 rant

2010-10-18T18:37:00.001-07:00

Last week at the International Conference on Gram-positive Pathogens, there were talks (and posters) on Bacillus anthracis and Clostridium difficile. While listening to some of these talks and poster presentations, I was forced to endure a phrase that grinds my nerves. What is that you ask? It's the phrase: "The dormant spore." It bugs me because it's (1) incorrect and (2) redundant. (1) Why the

A few states away

2010-10-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

I'm out of town this week attending the International Conference on Gram-positive Pathogens in Omaha, Nebraska. The conference started tonight with a dinner buffer and the first of four featured presentations. This talk was given by Olaf Schneewind, who also works on Gram-negative organisms. This is the first conference I have attended all by myself and it's a little strange, a little

Friday Funny: The best light switch evah!

2010-10-08T08:46:00.001-07:00

A family member of mine has a very dark bathroom and as a result, you don't see the above light switch plate until you've turned the light on. My husband was the first to use the restroom and discover Jesus and is junk. After leaving the restroom he informed my Aunt of his finding and she asked him if he had switched the light off after his "discovery." He replied that he had. My Aunt then

Advice Wanted, Please Help

2010-10-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

I recently received this email and I think it would be great if anyone with an opinion would give their two cents.This past winter I took a microbiology class for the first time and I fell in love. Now I am currently doing my doctorate in public health in an area that has nothing to do with microbes but I've felt this pull to the sciences since I started. (I must mention that the last time I saw

It just might work this time \o/

2010-10-05T06:05:00.000-07:00

The situation: I'm slated to present a poster (blech, I hate posters) at an upcoming meeting. When the meeting is two weeks away, the clouds part, the sun shines and all my cloning problems are resolved. The question: Now that the constructs are complete, can I get the strains made in enough time to do experiments and include the results on the poster? (I've wanted these results on the poster all

The lambs are still screaming

2010-09-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

Holy. Motherfucking. Crap. I don't know if I mentioned this before; I am claustrophobic. As a result, I don't particularly care for small spaces like elevators, closets, etc. I tolerate them because I know that I can leave. However, if you want me to freak right the fuck out, just make it so that I cannot get out. Today, I got stuck on the 37 degree room. I went in to put some cultures on a

Seminars, meetings and clubs...just kill me now

2010-09-28T12:35:00.001-07:00

I know that, at least in theory, journal clubs, group meetings, lab meetings and that fancy seminar given by a speaker from out of town are for my own scientific good. However, the fact that all of these things occur on a weekly basis is wearing me right the fuck out. My days are already a study in multi-tasking. I need to be productive. Just like everyone else I have deadlines and expectations

Here goes...

2010-09-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

nothin'I've noticed a lot of my bloggy friends are twittering and I couldn't resist getting involved. I'm trying to find everyone, but if you find me first, let me know.

Spread the love around

2010-09-22T09:05:00.001-07:00

Dear new lab person who shares my office,I am really glad you joined the lab. You seem smart, funny and motivated and I really love your accent. However, it would be totally awesome if you could just sometimes, like once a day, ask someone else in the lab for help. I know for a fact that they know where all the media, tubes, glassware and equipment is located and I think they will at least point

My big news in the form of a riddle...sort of.

2010-09-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

If a game of ping pong represented funding, and I was the dude in blue, what would you guess happened to me?If you guessed obtain my own funding, then you are correct. I actually received the good news back in June, but I didn't want to write about it until I actually received the fellowship money.And yes, I did dance around just like that guy.

Some times you feel like you have the force. Other times, not so much.

2010-09-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

When I first started working at post-doc institution, I felt pretty awesome. Experiments were working well, Magnum, P.I. was impressed with my performance, etc. Things were moving along quite nicely. During this period of bliss, I somehow became synced up with the building elevators. Almost every day the elevators doors would part just as I approached them. It was one hand wave away from using

Before you go on vacation...

2010-08-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

When my husband and I go on vacation, we can be sure that some kind of cat-driven hi jinks will happen in our absence. We can always count on the oldest cat greeting us with a very loud, hateful meow, followed by ignoring us for the next several days. Her style of ignoring includes sitting with her back toward us and sleeping by herself instead of next to my left shoulder. I guess this is just

Microbe Monday: A sterile stick and other tools

2010-08-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

My previous advisor used to joke that all you need to do microbiology is a sterile wooden stick. You can use this simple tool too isolate colonies, pick colonies, inoculate media and isolate DNA*. If you were to visit my bench, you would find a bucket of sterile sticks as I use them almost every day. However, I need a lot more than a wooden stick to get my research done. The machines I use most

WTF did you just call me?

2010-08-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

I was reading a post over at Profgrrrrl's and it got me thinking about names. As I mentioned in my last real post, there is a person employed here who does not bother learning the names of the people who work in the lab. This might be because they (a) are too lazy (b) have difficulty remembering and pronouncing foreign names or (c) are just plain rude. Personally, I think it is a combination of a

A little blog roll help, please.

2010-08-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

I've noticed a few of the blogs I frequent are moving over to lab spaces, etc. In addition, I've seriously neglected my own blog roll. I really want to get everything updated and I don't want to miss anyone, so I am hoping for a little help from the blogosphere. So, if the following statements describe you, please me a shout in the comments section, I would really appreciate it:1. You've changed

Nope, I don't have the ability to communicate with ESP.

2010-08-24T10:11:00.001-07:00

After working here in post-doc lab for just over a year and a half, I've noticed a thing or two about how the lab is run. One of those things is that my mentor, Magnum, PI is a total puss about letting people go. As a result, there are a few individuals who, on a good day, qualify as useless. One such individual is in charge of (1) ordering, (2) sterilizing and (3) keeping certain lab items

Germ tube in the sky

2010-08-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning I am leaving for a well-deserved vacation to...wait for it...wait for it...Hawaii. Kauai to be exact. I am very excited, as this is my first time to visit this portion of the globe. I just hope that when I get there I'm contagion-free.It's my understanding that, statistically speaking, you are no more likely to get sick on a plane than when you are in close contact with a large

Damn, I'm an idiot

2010-08-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

I spent the better part of today and yesterday, both at work and at home, running around like a chicken with my head cut off in an effort to get ready to go on vacation. I had abstracts to get written and submitted, freezer stocks to make, and of course favors to ask so that I wouldn't be totally dead in the water when I returned. Not to mention, trying to squeeze in a few more experiments.

Auto-tune is annoying unless...

2010-08-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

it's used in the following context.

I'm not the boss of you

2010-07-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of graduate students who feel the need to make sure that I know how many hours they spend in the lab. First of all, I don't care how much time these people do or do not spend in the lab because: (1) it's not my job My job as a post-doctoral fellow is not too police how much or little graduate students work. I think that my job (right this minute) entails (a) conducting research

What the hell?!?

2010-07-23T08:21:00.001-07:00

If I were going to smuggle a living creature through airport security and onto a plane, I would NOT consider inside the clothes I was wearing a viable option. Apparently, this guy thought it was an excellent place to hide 18, yes 18, Titi monkeys. The monkeys, which are quite small, were inside bags or socks. According to the story, the man was initially going to store them in his luggage, but he

Pimp my protein

2010-07-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

Have any of you had to fill out a disclosure of invention form? At my institution and I assume, many other institutions, this is a prerequisite to filing a patent. Well, I am currently in the throws of filling out one of these forms and I am here to say that it blows ass. I was initially very excited about getting a patent on one of the proteins that I engineered. That is, until I started the

Rebooting the blog

2010-06-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's been a while...a long, long while, but sometime real life gets in the way of blogging. While this is bound to happen, it poses a few problems for me:1. A backlog from hell. If I am not posting, I'm typically not reading. As a result, there are a ton of blog posts building up in my reader. I'll try to make the effort to read many of them, but I'll eventually give up and just

It's back to work I go

2010-06-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

I am so freaking excited to return to work tomorrow. If I've learned anything over the last six weeks, it's that I am not stay at home Mom material. Not that I am surprised. My general goals for the week are simple.1. Don't set yourself on fire.2. Don't pour anything caustic on yourself.3. Don't break anything expensive.If I can avoid any of the above accidents, then I can focus on the really

Get back to where you once belonged

2010-05-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

That is the theme of this week. Actually, my theme for this week is start the process of getting back to where you once belonged. This is the first week that I actually feel like a human. I'm adjusting to the sleep deprivation and mini-xx is getting into a routine which is allowing me to start accomplishing some non-baby related activities. Work.Although I didn't get all the experiments

Now I need a navigation system

2010-05-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

There is no way my brain can come up with a coherent blog post, so I present you with the following video. As many of you know, I loves me some Star Wars and that love is persuading me to make a purchase that I do not need. Plus, this video is fracking funny.

My F1: an update for all those curious blog friends

2010-04-28T10:48:00.001-07:00

She arrived early (just a few days shy of the due date) on Thursday (1:30 in the am) after much ado about whether or not my water had broke. Silly me, I thought that would be something that would be pretty obvious, but it wasn't. By the time I got to labor and delivery (on Wednesday), I was informed that I had been in early labor for at least a day. Again, thought that would have been a little

Busy with a short fuse

2010-04-14T07:40:00.000-07:00

It's been nose to the grindstone time for the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, that's not really producing more data. It is, however, creating one tired and cranky microbiologist. At this point, I am in the midst of troubleshooting. As we know, troubleshooting does not equal data. Therefore, I working more than 40 hours a week. Normally, this is not a problem. However, with less than two

Productive, pregnant, postdoc - Post 3 or Who am I kidding?

2010-04-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong. I really am making the effort to be productive. I put in extra hours to make up for the trillions of doctors appointments I must attend and I try to keep my schedule at work so that I don't waste too much time while I am here. You know, the whole work smarter concept. The problem is, I'm not smarter. I feel like my brain is on strike and I make a lot of really silly mistakes

Microbe Monday: Awesomely-strong glue

2010-04-04T14:23:00.001-07:00

Its shape, adhesive properties, intricate cell-cycle regulation and asymmetric cell division are a just few of the reasons why Caulobacter crescentus is a well-studied microorganism (1). In nature, C. crescentus is typically found attached to submerged surfaces within aquatic environments via a stalk structure which protrudes from a single pole of the cell. An adhesive holdfast, located at the

Lab coat fail

2010-03-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

I can't really blame my lab coat. (Picture is taken from my perspective.)

Microbe Monday: 10 Favorite Microbes

2010-03-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

A while ago, fellow microbiologist and blogger, Thomas Joseph, started a meme of sorts on his blog asking others to list their 10 favorite microbes. Quite a few bloggers put a list together, and I intended too, but for one reason or another, I never did. Well, I'm doing it now and using it for my latest Microbe Monday installation. Over the next several weeks I will use Microbe Monday to fully

Argh.

2010-03-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think the universe is trying to determine just how far I can be pushed before I completely lose my mind. I can tell you right now, it’s not that far. In general, my fuse is pretty damn short. Patience is not a virtue I possess and I do not fear or avoid confrontation. However, I really do try to keep myself under control, especially at work. If you compare myself

A dash of drama

2010-03-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

I can say with almost absolute certainty that right now, my plate is full and my ability to deal with unexpected problems that are potentially disastrous is, well, lacking in grace. Blame it on hormones, lack of sleep, an over-ambitious work schedule, feeling like a fat blob...whatever. It just is.I recently learned that one of the letters of recommendation required for my fellowship did not get

Productive, pregnant, postdoc - Post 2

2010-03-12T06:54:00.000-08:00

As I stated in my last post of this nature, my goal for this week was to combine all three PCR products and get them ligated into the first vector, pGEMTeasy. In short, I failed. However, I did get quite a bit accomplished. For ease, I've posted the picture from last week. (Come on, you know you love it.)As far as the PCR goes, I completed PCR round three for 20 of the 26. Of those 20, 13 of the

Sure, why not?

2010-03-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

Magnum, P.I. informed me today that I was presenting at out next data club. This is something that we do with a few other lab. It is more work than lab meeting, in that it is an actual talk, but it is still considered informal. I actually like presenting and getting feed back, but I'm not exactly bursting with free time inside or outside the lab right now and I'll need to prepare a lot of new

Microbe Monday: Way cooler than an ant farm.

2010-03-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

As a child, I did not own an ant farm. I thought they were pretty cool, but there was something about keeping a colony of ants in the house that just didn't sit to well with my mother. I did own Sea Monkeys, but I accidentally boiled them to death in the window.* Anyway, I think I found something even more cool than an ant farm or sea monkeys. While perusing the ASM website, I decided to check

Would you like me to yell at you?

2010-03-04T14:37:00.000-08:00

If you find a centrifuge in another lab with a sign on it that reads, "Out of Order. DO NOT USE!" Would you:(a) Find an alternative, knowing that using a broken centrifuge can damage the centrifuge further and even cause severe destruction or injury.(b) Ignore the note and use the centrifuge anyway.(c) When busted using the centrifuge, argue with the person who catches you, citing that since the

Productive, pregnant, postdoc - Post I

2010-03-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

My major goal at work right now is to get myself to a point where I can work on two manuscripts during maternity leave, IF it’s possible. To do this, I need to get a certain number of things accomplished. Unless the baby decides to make a very early appearance, I think I can get all of the following items accomplished in the next 7-8 weeks. I will post on my progress each week.Manuscript A: This

Aren't you forgetting something?

2010-03-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

When I started this blog, I intended to write about (1) general lab life, (2) my experiences at different stages of my career and (3) microbiology. I tend to write the most about general lab life, although admittedly, this area needs improvement. I'm only on my second career stage, but I do try and post about things that I think are relevant. Again, I can certainly do a better job. However, the

But I don't wanna

2010-02-23T18:39:00.000-08:00

look at Magnum,PI's grant...again. I know it's for my boss and I know he pays my salary and I know my writing and editing skills are better than his and I know that he was really happy with my first round of edits, but I just don't want to look at it again. But, I will. My revisions will be in his inbox tomorrow morning.It could certainly be worse. Magnum, PI's assistant tried to get me to put

Things...

2010-02-19T11:05:00.001-08:00

Although my work schedule this week was pretty darn relaxed, thanks to the poorest planning possible, my after work schedule was busy, busy, busy. There just wasn't ample time to post. However, I thought I would hammer out this brief post that is a hodge podge of things I considered writing about.The following are things that Idon't give a rats ass about, yet keep seeing in the media:Sarah Palin

When a vacuum-sealed bag might be better than Jesus

2010-02-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Some woman got busted at the U.S./Mexico border with 30 lbs. of weed stuffed inside paintings of Jesus. Apparently, the drug dog was not fooled.

Morning, afternoon and evening breath

2010-02-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

Dear graduate student,Please brush your teeth. Your breath smells like dog shit, sewage and sour milk all rolled together. When this odor radiates from your face it makes it very difficult for me to help you because I am concentrating on not vomiting instead of listening to what you are saying. I'm totally serious about this. It's the reason why 100% of our interactions begin with me moving two

Solutions for solutions

2010-02-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Apparently my current lab contains people who cannot or will not order supplies. As a result, we are constantly running out of certain regularly-used items. I know that this problem is not unique to my lab. On a good day, finding a certain reagent or supply completely gone makes me mildly annoyed. On a bad day, this can send me into a rage. Yesterday, I found myself annoyed as I was having a

What?!? No solutions?

2010-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Somehow, I inherited a graduate student. They were given a chunk of my project, and I was told to teach said grad. student to purify proteins using the FPLC so that I could then teach them a bunch more stuff to do with the purified proteins. In theory, this is totally fine.First of all, the chunk of project s/he received is the chunk I didn't want in the first place. It's immunology intensive and

One person’s delicacy is another person’s projectile vomit-inducer

2010-02-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

I'm talking about natto. I wish I could tell you that I've tasted natto, but my experience with this food merely extends to looking at it, smelling it and picking it up with a pair of chopsticks. The natto never actually made it into my mouth, mostly due to the foul smell, but also because it looks like soy beans immersed in snot. So WTF is natto, you ask? Natto is a fermented soybean product,

A bloggy February?

2010-02-01T19:25:00.001-08:00

Obviously, I wasn't burning up the blogosphere last month. I did, however, write and submit my first proposal for a post-doctoral fellowship. It was a learning experience to be sure. I had no idea how much the university was involved in the process and I had no idea how many zillions of documents I would need to upload. At least next time there won't be as many surprises. The funding rate for

So glad that's over.

2010-01-11T19:13:00.000-08:00

By that, of course, I mean the holidays. No more holiday music, looking at peoples holiday-themed sweaters or family drama. I suppose it's no surprise that the most overused statement of my 2009 Holiday Season was:"This time next year _____!!" Fill in the blank with something baby related, followed by some kind of high-pitched excitement that I can't replicate. I'm excited on the inside and it

I'd like to shove a tree up Santa's butt

2009-12-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

Seriously folks, my holiday cheer is all tapped out. I'm pretty sure I ran out a couple years ago. Don't get me wrong, I like the days off, but I dislike, dare I even say hate, almost everything else related to this holiday and since I can't drink or beat the crap out of the next person I see wearing a holiday sweater, I am going to use this blog as a place to let out my

I've been nominated!

2009-12-15T17:53:00.000-08:00

Over at VWXYNot?, Cath has assembled the first annual Reader's Choice Comment of the Year Award and your very own Microbiologist XX was nominated. The comments are derived from her Bragging Rights Central, which encompass Cath's favorites comments and posts for a given week. I am surprised each time I find one of my comments in the bragging rights section of her blog since VWXYNot? is typically a

I want to believe

2009-12-10T18:34:00.001-08:00

Seriously, this totally looks like something from the X-files.

Cloning tard

2009-12-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

That's me, at least for the last couple of days. Typically, I am a cloning rock star, but a combination of arrogance and laziness resulted in a 1 day process taking 3 days.Here is the situation. Currently, I'm in the midst of a protein trouble-shooting extravaganza and as a result my work load is significantly lighter than usual. To fill the gaps, I decided to pick up some cloning that I

Snow, sleet and pink gloves

2009-12-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

As I drove myself into work today I witnessed an event that rarely occurs in my home city; rain, sleet and snow all coming down simultaneously. In addition, my umbrella was safely tucked away in my office, far across the parking lot from where I exited my car.In other news, me and eight other science-types made comments about a friends Facebook status relating her recent and exciting acquisition

The ever-elusive carrot

2009-12-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

My graduate advisor is a classic carrot-dangler. Unfortunately, it takes forever to get her carrots and when you do, you are so irritated and annoyed that you don't even care about the stupid carrot, instead you want to jump up and down on the carrot or shove the carrot into a dark orifice not located on your own body. In this case, the carrot is a publication. I believe my graduate advisor means

A great holiday

2009-11-30T17:07:00.000-08:00

I did not travel.I did not entertain family or friends.I did not eat turkey, or any other Thanksgiving-type food.Instead, I had 5 days off from work (and I only worked on one of them).It was totally freaking awesome!

Today was not the greatest day I've ever known

2009-11-19T18:13:00.000-08:00

Right off the bat, I discover that my dialysis tubing leaked and my beautifully purified protein occupied a 2L volume. I first tried concentrating it, which worked at first until the apparatus broke. After that, I just loaded the remaining 1100 ml over a column. The unfortunate part is that this protein is one in a set of five (a parent protein and four mutants) that I purify simultaneously. I

Stalked in the lab

2009-11-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

When I am the new person in a lab, I am acutely aware of the fact that until I know, at least to some degree, what the hell I am doing and where in the hell everything is located and how things run from day to day, that I am going to be a burden to someone. However, there is really know other way to learn all this information, so I try to ask different people for help

+ and -

2009-11-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

Got out of bed late and arrived at worker later than I wanted too. (-) Magnum, P.I. arrived late for our meeting. (-) Magnum, P.I. decides my new data is super exciting, and as a result we are aiming new paper at a higher journal (+,+). Spend chunks of the day arguing with a salesman from the Toyota dealership. (-). Go over salesman’s head to manager, get what I wanted

Attack of the Rash (and hormones)

2009-11-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

I've decided I'd rather endure pain than itch. At least the drugs for pain work. All the crap on the market for itching is complete bullshit. Starting Sunday around 5:00pm until 5:00am, I watched as my entire body, from the neck down, was taken over by the rash from hell. At first, I blamed the new couch. We just purchased a new couch and I've heard reports that bed bugs are on the rise, so this

Avoiding the stuff I've been avoiding

2009-10-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

Sooner or later, it was going to happen. My bench space and office space look like a cat. 4 hurricane blew through them, I’m ages behind on my lab notebook and there are various acrylamide gels hanging around in destain mocking me. If I listen hard enough I can hear them. Mostly they say, “Do you even know what proteins you ran on me x number of weeks ago.” So today, I

Emerging from somewhere

2009-10-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

In my dreams lately, I live at work. With each dream that passes, more and more items from my home end up at my work place, mostly in my office. Last night, in addition to the majority of my bedroom furniture, I found one of my cats prowling the halls of the floor where my lab is located. I couldn't figure out how it got there. It's a very large cat and would not fit in any

I'm still here...

2009-10-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

I've just been way too damn busy to write any blog posts and even worse, I haven't gotten to read any blogs either. Anyway, I decided last week that this was going to be the week where I got my ass back into gear and started blogging again. Of course, the week before last, I had decided that last week was going to be the week, but clearly, that didn't happen. As I neared midweek, I was starting

Things that sound better than Nickelback

2009-09-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

A car containing two howling, caged cats on their way to a teeth cleaning. This is how my morning began. I awake to four howling cats who are very pissed about the lack of food and water since midnight. Two cats are subsequently caged, one of which requires trapping and capturing. As it is my turn to take the cats to the vet, I got the pleasure of driving in a small vehicle with two very upset

Lab stance

2009-09-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

Despite the presence of ample stools and the constant nagging by my old boss that I need to sit down, I still choose to stand-up at the bench. I know I'll pay for it in the future with lovely spider veins, but I just can't seem to keep my butt in a chair.I've tried to force myself to sit down in the past, but I find it inconvenient. Just when I get situated, I need to get up and get a solution

Like I need another distraction

2009-09-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

We pre-ordered it a few months ago. It came in the mail today. Yes, I'm talking about the Beatles Rock Band. I haven't played it yet, but I can already tell you it will be THE MOST AWESOME GAME EVAH!

Foiled Again!

2009-09-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Why is it that every damn time I try to leave the lab early on the Friday before a three day weekend, something always goes wrong?The only major thing I was planning today was to run a couple of proteins through the Q column. Easy enough, right? Wrong.The person who used the machine before me decided to fuck up every single dial on the data recorder as well as some unknown setting (unknown to me)

Grrrrrr

2009-09-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

My lab collaborates regularly with another lab located at an institution near by. This lab could do some nice clinical work, but unfortunately a dumb fucking donkey (DFD) of a “post-doc” works there. DFD is a combative and uniformed researcher who started working in this lab over 10 years ago. In that time, DFD managed to chase off every decent post-doc and grad student that

If I ever build a bomb shelter...

2009-08-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

I'll need about 100 cans of this:h/t GIZMODO

So you're funny now?

2009-08-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

I think we’ve all experienced instances where our PI’s say something that makes us want to laugh in their face, particularly when it comes to experiments. For example, “Microbiologist XX, I know you just told me you were going map the 5’ end of your favorite transcript using primer extension, but do you think that will be finished by tomorrow?” Microbiologist XX suppresses

A little OCD

2009-08-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

I've always obsessed over little things. In high-school and undergrad I was constantly checking to make sure my alarm clock was set and on. In grad. school lab I obsessed over a couple of things in particular: (1) the Bunsen burner - was it off or on, (2) the door to the lab - was it properly closed and locked and (3) the air shaker. Now, it's the garage door.During graduate school I tried

Soundtrack to my Science: Shake your rump-ah

2009-08-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Well.Not many things can break up the monotony of a slow day in the lab like the Beastie Boys. The new album, The Hot Sauce Committee, was supposedly set for release in September. However, the album release was delayed following Adam Yauch's (MCA) diagnosis with cancer. I want to revisit the complete catalogue (minus any compilation albums) before the The Hot Sauce Committee hits stores. Today

on being a mentee

2009-08-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I’m only on my first (and hopefully last) post-doc, so I could be wrong about the following. I did not take my post-doc position with the expectation that I would learn anything from my new PI regarding bench work. Hell, the last time this dude was at the bench, fire was still a novelty. Well, he's not quite that old, but his working at the bench days were a

An open letter to the I.T. department

2009-08-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

Dear I.T. staff, You dumb fucking donkeys are completely useless. I glimpsed this on my first day at post-doc institution when you walked into my office, hung your head, sighed and said in a defeated voice, “Great. You use a Mac.” Remember, I connected my computer to the network printer while you watched. I assumed your ineptitude was Mac-specific, but today I realized that

calmer now

2009-08-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks were a complete and total cluster fuck. Once I hit the lab, I usually work at a pretty good pace until I leave at the end of the day and through it all I multi-task. So, in a given day, I get quite a bit accomplished and when I can’t do bench work for a couple of days, I get behind, really far behind. There were a total of four days over the last two week

Brief surface

2009-08-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Life is kicking my ass right now. Work. I still have a trillion things to write*, a trillion proteins to purify**, a trillion constructs to make*** and two presentations to create and deliver this week****.Home.Renovations are stalled out due to a lack of time and motivation. Even so, that second bedroom really needs to get painted as the next several steps hinge on its completion. There is other

Ye Olde Book Meme

2009-07-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Not only does falling out of a sail boat make you feel like a clumsy fool, but it qualifies you for a book meme. Actually, I don't mind this meme. I love to read books. The rules: List fifteen books that had a profound impact on you in less than fifteen minutes. It will be difficult to make it to fifteen, so I'll just list as many as I can think of in a reasonable amount of time in no particular

o.O.

2009-07-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

My husband and I love, love, love Star Wars. We don't get dressed up in costume or attend conventions, but... we do engage in lengthy discussions about Star Wars, we did see the movies on opening day and watched the movies a trillion times, we have. We even used the music from the celebration scene (the last scene) from Star Wars Episode IV as the recessional music for our wedding (The music

The Lips and Assholes Paper

2009-07-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've spent a large part of my day writing a manuscript from using data obtained from graduate school and I'm ready to explode. I blame this on two things: (1) Half of this paper is negative data and (2) The data is what I consider "left-overs."Writing a paper half-full of negative data sucks ass for the obvious reasons. It is generally not as interesting as a paper based on positive data and,

Bacon, The devils meat?

2009-07-15T09:52:00.001-07:00

Almost anyone who knows me, even a little, knows that I love bacon. When said people see anything related to bacon, they either alert me to it or buy it for me. In the recent past, I've received bacon band-aids, bacon luggage tags and bacon-flavored chocolate. Today, I was alerted to the following picture on the blog, Picture is Unrelated - WTF Pictures and Videos. So, my question is, where the

And it comes full circle

2009-07-09T19:21:00.001-07:00

I don't really consider myself a klutz, but I'm not exactly accident-free either. The mishaps are infrequent, but the resulting pain and feeling like a jack-ass more than makes up for it. Since starting this blog, I've already documented two of then. Some of you may remember the story of the funky toe, or a nicely-documented account of getting my finger seared to a latex glove. I new I was

Writers on the storm

2009-07-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

Clearly, writing is an important part of science. I get this, but holy shit people, I can't believe the amount of writing that is in store for me.First of all, I just started another manuscript from my dissertation. The last piece of data from my collaborators finally arrived and my grad. advisor is raring to get started on this paper, as am I. Fortunately, I have a decent rough draft of the

Tuesday Kicks Monday's Booty

2009-07-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I got out of bed late, put on a shirt with multiple stains down the front and made it into to work to find three, yes three, plates chock-full of contaminants. (Contaminants at this stage of the game are so embarrassing.) On Tuesday, I get out of bed on time, put on clothes containing no visible stains and made it into work early enough to beat Magnum, PI to our meeting. Once he

So we bought Rock Band

2009-06-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

and I may never get anything accomplished again. I've already put off paper revisions, painting, eating, shopping and other domestic chores. I did make it back to work on Monday, so things aren't out of control just yet.