Damn, I'm an idiot

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. Outside of work, I also had no shortage of errands. I had to pick up the bridesmaid dress from the tailors, pack seven days worth of clothes, buy a swim suit to accommodate my redonkulous new bust, get my parents over to the house so that they could learn the delicate balance of litter box maintenance and trash day that comes with four cats and get all mini-xx's stuff together. It's not like I was waiting until the last minute, it's just that yesterday and today was all the time I had for the above activities. There was other bullshit that consumed the weekend.

Anyway.

About 30 min. ago, while I was coordinating with my Mom about when to pick up mini-xx in the morning, I was interrupted. It went something like this:

Lancelot: "Uhhhh, we're leaving tomorrow?"

MXX: "Yeah, dude. We're leaving tomorrow."

Lancelot (looking panicked): "I thought we were leaving Thursday! Seriously? We're leaving tomorrow?"

MXX: "Seriously. Yes. It's in my calendar for tomorrow." We stair at each other for a few minutes. "Let's check the itinerary."

I pull out the itinerary from the travel agent and find that we are in fact leaving on THURSDAY which is NOT tomorrow!

Fucking fuck! I really need to get more sleep.

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

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, enjoyed in Japan. In short, whole soybeans are cooked and then fermented with Bacillus subtilis (natto) until the beans are covered in that viscous, goo. When you lift the soybeans up with your eating utensil of choice, long, stretchy, mucoid tendrils maintain contact with the dish.* The viscous, sticky material is mainly composed of gamma-polyglutamic acid, a polymer composed of D- and L-glutamic acid. In less-scientific terms, the snotty mess is B. subtilis capsule. Yum.

I know I sound like a total puss for not actually tasting this, ahem, food. It's not like I was going to die from consuming the substance. Maybe just some intense gagging or projectile vomiting.

I've spent a lifetime overcoming food aversions. As a child I assumed that if it looked gross and it smelled gross, then it was gross. This hypothesis was tested in triplicate and as far as I was concerned, a scientific theory. The few times I did re-test the Theory of Looks Gross, Is Gross, it was boldly reinforced. I'm thinking specifically of the time I tried Vegemite during a trip to New Zealand. NEVER AGAIN!

It's only within the last four or five years that I've really ventured out in my food choices. I will typically try something at least once, and usually like it. I don't know what changed, but I am glad that it did, otherwise I would not know the goodness of sushi.

So....has anyone actually tried natto?

*I've been told that longer threads indicate better quality natto.

Grrrrrr

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 attempted to enter the lab. The post-docs left because DFD steals ideas and presents them to the PI as his or her own and the grad. students left because they don’t enjoy getting yelled at and treated like idiots. From all accounts the PI isn’t aware of any of this and on the contrary, thinks DFD is an asset to the lab.

Anyway, I had a run-in with DFD when I presented at our last “group” meeting. Fortunately, I knew it was going to happen because at the previous group meeting, DFD went on a 10-minute tirade about how a particular protein doesn’t bind a substrate even though everyone else reports that the interaction does happen. You see, DFD can’t replicate this interaction, therefore the interaction can't possibly occur. After this meeting, I discussed this conversation with Magnum, PI as we both know this interaction does occur. In fact, the apparent KD for this interaction is in the nM range. We concur that DFD is in fact a DFD.

Fast forward to a month later. I am presenting my data, which includes the previously mentioned protein binding nicely to the previously mentioned substrate. DFD goes in for the kill and repeats the tirade from the previous meeting. I let DFD speak because I am prepared with no less than 10 different accounts from multiple labs, demonstrating that this protein binds to this substrate, which I subsequently share with everyone in the room. The last piece of evidence I bring up is the crystal structure showing the very same protein binding to the very same substrate. DFD just stares and eventually replies, “Oh.” I move on with the rest of my talk.

I admit it, my summer student is awesome

When my advisor informed me that I would mentor a summer student during my remaining months of graduate school, I was not thrilled. I sighed, I complained, I rolled my eyes, I repeatedly pushed my hair off my forehead even though it was tied back.
I didn't think I had the time or the patience to deal with an undergraduate researcher. There were experiments to do, papers to write, committee members to convince and a deadline to graduate looming in the distance. Besides, my medical student researcher a few summers ago turned out great and I really didn't think I would hit the jackpot twice.
I am so glad that I was wrong. My Peruvian summer student (PSS) is a hard worker and my advisor and I are asking her to stay in the lab for the next semester. Instead of making my summer a pain in the butt, she has helped me out tremendously and will continue to do so for a few more months. I am very excited about this turn of events.
She spent part of the summer screening a transposon library and now she will get to map the transposon insertion sites. I hope all of them aren't genes that I already know about.