Oh, what a beautiful January?

Of all the months in the calendar, January is my least favorite. Okay, I actually hate January. Why you ask? Oh so simple...It embodies the after-Christmas blues and the weather is either very rainy or snowy and frigid. But this year is different. January in California is gorgeous! It has a rained a bit, but not much. Mainly the sun shines and it's in the upper 50's to low 60's. I have absolutely no complaints. On this last day of the month, I can hardly believe that January has come and gone. Perhaps January will continue to rise in the rankings.

And We're Dancin'...

I want to give my big sis major kudos for going to a hip-hop class today! You go girl!

As for myself, I have also returned to the wonderful world of dancing! Last week I took my first ballet class in about a year and a half and it was great! It was a challenging first class back but so much fun. Oh, how I love to dance! Don't you?!

Marvelous Monday Blues

What a bummer of a day. It started off well - I was in a "Marvelous Monday" (I'll save that story for another time) frame of mind. The weather was beautiful despite the weather man's predictions of clouds and rain. It was warm (upper 50's) and the sun was shining. I was listening to my new Ray CD (from the movie) as I walked to the bus stop, and I was even awak in my 9am class (at the beginning anyway). But after that things started going down hill.

About 45 min into the lecture my energy ran out (thanks to my late night reading my "non-science" book), and it was a struggle to focus on the molecular mechanisms of motility - myosins, actin, kinesins, dyneins, and all that jazz. (And I must say as a side note that I find the idea of motility really interesting, but the actual details and mechanisms just do not float my boat). Bottom line was I didn't make it. I saw the prof looking at me a couple of times, and I swear she knew that I was barely awake b/c I know that I had the bug-eyed look of someone who is desperately trying to keep their eyes open but is only barely succeeding. Somehow I made it through the 2 hour lecture and was there was a bounce in my step as I headed off to lab.

Today was supposed to be the day before our first "big" experiment. It was prep day. I was all excited b/c today was going to mark the beginning of 2 weeks of doing experiments and being busy. However, when I walked in the door, Gus told me (and not for the first time) that he had made a mistake. Evidently, the reason why our cells weren't growing so well was because the plates we were growing them in were not actually TC (tissue culture) grade, and thus something in the plastic was killing our cells or at the very least making them extremely unhappy. So he called up a supplier and got TC grade petri dishes and passed our cells into those. The good news is that this hiccup will produce only a short delay in our plans (ie. instead of starting the big experiment tomorrow, we'll start it on Thursday). The bad news is that there's nothing for me to do until Thursday. So it appears that this will be yet another week of doing nothing in lab.

I was also supposed to meet a friend (okay, well more like an acquaintance) for lunch today. I ran into him last week and he suggested lunch later that week, but I had lab meeting and seminar during the noon hours for the rest of the week. So I suggested Monday. He even emailed me back yesterday confirming lunch today at noon in the Clark Center. So today, a few minutes before noon, I head off to Clark with my lunch in tow (I'm a poor graduate student). I assumed, since the weather had turned kind of yucky just like the weatherman predicted, that we would be eating inside the little cafe. So I went inside to wait. I sat down and unpacked my lunch and waited. And waited. And waited. I was starting to get a little self-concious about sitting alone at a table (not eating mind you). I had specifically chosen a seat that faced outside so that I could see if he arrived and was waiting for me. But nope, he was a no show. Eventually, I just ate my sandwich and left...a little piqued. I had been stood up, and to make matters worse, it was raining and I had no umbrella.

When it rains, it pours, right? And it usually comes in threes. Well, I'm waiting for the third shoe to drop. (Until then, I'm off to my next 2-hour class of the day...whoopee. And I need a nap!).

Now we're rollin'...

Ah, today was the first day of something even close to resembling lab work. I was elated! After two whole weeks of sitting around "pretending" to read science papers (although I must confess that some actual reading was done during the first week...but the first week only!), watching cells grow, and watching toxoplasma invade (only interesting the first 99 times), I was more than ready to do something, anything! I was even going to ask Gus, the post-doc I'm working with, to give me a cloning project to work on (now you know the situation was dire!). But today, the cycle of lassitude ended and work began.

To make a long story short, my rotation project involves looking at host cell miRNA profiles in response to Toxoplasma infection. (miRNAs are small, non-coding, regulatory RNAs that generally function to repress translation of their mRNA targets). This project involves a lot of cell culture, RNA extractions, and microarrays. As I have limited experience with these three things, this project should be pretty interesting. Anyway, today we had a test run of the assay/protocol that we will be using, and I can see that organization and labelling will be key.

As I've rambled on here, I've forgotten where I was going with this, but let me just say that I'm glad to finally be doing something! (I hope your day was productive, too!).

Thought for the day

You can't let your insecurities rule your life.

Musical chairs

I was at my departmental Happy Hour (they call it "Social Hour" here for some reason, but we all really know they mean "Happy" Hour) last week when I got in a conversation with a fellow first-year grad student from another department. It was an enlightening conversation for many reasons, but one of the topics that resonated most with me was the issue "belonging." "Let's face it," he said. "S_____ isn't a welcoming place. There's no space!" He was refering to the appalling lack of available lab space for the research sciences here. Evidently, space was so tight in his previous rotation that he did not even a lab bench let alone a desk or a place to sit. He complained that every day he would sit at someone's desk until that person came and then would move to the next open seat -- musical chairs. While I was lucky enough in my last rotation to have share a bench with someone who virtually did no lab work and to have my own desk, I definitely empathize with him.

When I started at the CDC in August 2004, I was totally devoid of personal and professional space as well. There was no free space in the entire branch ("labs" are split up into "branches and sections" there)! For TWO WHOLE MONTHS I had no place to sit!! I would literally play musical chairs all day long and, when everyone was at his/her respective desks, I occupied a lone folding chair in the middle of a very crowded office (desgined to hold four people, but was crammed with seven). I couldn't help but be upset. I mean, if you didn't have space for me, why did you say I could come?!? It took me the better part of 5 months to finally feel as if I "belonged" in this group, and I truly feel that the delay at the beginning contributed significantly to my feeling of exclusion.

Ironic, wouldn't you say, that I now find my self in a similar situation again. I am on my second lab rotation, and yet again there is a space crunch. Today I played musical chairs among 2 desks in a small office, and when both of those people arrived I tranisitioned to the step-stool by the trash can. Eventually, even that was taken (needed to reach the printer placed way above average eye-level height...whose brilliant idea was that?), and I relocated to the floor. Despite my current lamenting, I don't feel as quite out of place as I did before. Perhaps this is because I know that I am just a rotation student and as such, I am not there all day every day, but rather for those short stretches of time in between classes and seminars. Although I did briefly wonder why my PI (Principle Investigator - the person whose lab it is) said it was okay for me to rotate at this time if there is no current space available? (AND they're expecting a new post-doc next month! I wonder where she will go? Will she replace me on the step-stool?) New Fact Learned Today: Space is definitely something to think about when it's time to make a decision about which lab to join. Anyway, my long rant was just to emphasize the fact that personal space - a space where you can sit, or dump your stuff - should be a neccessity not a luxury, and that if you want to create an inviting atmosphere where people can feel like they are welcomed and belong, please give them some space!

Plunger, please

I had my first plunging experience last night. No, I did not plunge off the side of a steep cliff, and I didn't plunge into a huge body of water. I used the toilet plunger! Shortly after going to bed, my roommate knocked on my door to say that something was wrong with our toilet (nothing disgusting). It would fill up with water when you flushed it, but the water only trickled out the drain and instead of refilling, the bowl would almost empty! We were both sort of puzzled as we stared at the toilet. Up to this point, we had avoided any major maintenance issues with our apartment (thankfully). So we were a little unsure about what to do. It was way too late to call maintenance, and it wasn't really an emergency situation like if our toilet had overflowed. And if our toilet had overflowed, K at least knew how to fix that, but what to do with a toilet that won't fill? At a loss, I spied the plunger sitting negelected in the corner. (Housing supplies every apartment with a plunger and everyone always prays that they won't actually have to use it. I mean, generally situations that require a plunger are not pleasant experiences!). So we gave the plunger a try. It took a couple of tries, but eventually, when we flused the water resumed its normal level. Hooray for the plunger! Crisis (ok, not really a crisis, but work with me here) averted! I've never had to use a plunger personally before so I was quite proud of myself for having crossed this milestone. ;)

the little things

Sometimes it's the little things in life that make us really happy or turn a bad day into a great one. For me, it's the sun shining, a beautiful day, a great song on the radio. I'm a firm believe that one should not underestimate the power of music (and this coming from a non-music afficionado). Music can take a rainy day and turn it into a sunny one. It can make your toes start tapping (and dancing can't help but make you feel great!). I think that one of the best things is not have to wake up to an alarm in the morning. However, if you must subscribe to a timely schedule (as almost all of us must), then waking up to music in the morning instead of that incredibly annoying beeping noise can definitely start your day off right. Nothing gets me out of bed and salsa dancing quicker than hearing the Miami Sound Machine on my radio in the morning. Today my inspiration came from popping in my new Christmas CD (christmas music is great ALL year round!), the Sounds of the Season, and hearing "8 Days of Christmas" by Destiny's Child followed by "Refuge" by John Legend. What music does it for you?

It's a small world after all

You've heard the phrase "It's such a small world," and it's true. You meet people that know people you know or have done things that you've done, etc. My small world occurrence is as such...I am starting a new rotation this quarter and I had lunch the other day with the post-doc with whom I'm working. We were talking about our various career paths (his obviously more extensive than mine), when we discovered that we both had worked at the CDC for a year in between college and graduate school. Low and behold it was the same fellowship program: Emerging Infectious Disease Training Fellowship! He was a Class III or IV fellow while I was a Class X. I've never met someone else who has done this fellowship outside of my immediate fellows and those that stuck around and got jobs at the CDC. Thus, it's so surprising that I should find one period, let alone one 3000 miles away from Atlanta and at the same university, in the same department and lab in which I currently find myself! Needless to say, we had a good time lamenting about the pitfalls of working in public health. Speaking of which, this post-doc, Gus is his name, had a newspaper clipping of great one-liners tapped up by his desk. The highlighted one was pretty funny and pretty apt as I used to work in the influenza branch on avian flu while at the CDC. It reads as follows: "If bird flu mutates to an easily transmitted human flu, as predicted by evolutionary theory, will the religionists who don't believe in evolution refuse the vaccine?" (Just to clarify things here, there is NO vaccine that works currently available despite what you here on the grapevine and a pandemic of avian influenza is a matter of when NOT a matter of if).