In some ways I am like Thomas the Train, especially when it comes to the end of the quarter/semester in school. Needless to say, this is the last week of the quarter (Yes, I know it's JUNE already, but what can I say...Californians are crazy), and life has gone from steadily doable to OMG I have so much to do in the next few days. So, here's my list. All do on or before Friday at 5pm.
1. Biotechniques critique
2. Innate Immunity problem set
3. Innate Immunity research proposal
4. Lab meeting presentation
5. Wrap-up in lab
6. Choose a thesis lab or decide/set-up 4th rotation.
Well, wish me luck...It'll be a crazy couple of days. (Did I mention that procrastination has become my middle name?) Oy vey!
Monday, June 05, 2006
Friday, June 02, 2006
Another One Bites the Dust
Today, as I was heading into the dance studio, I spied for dance teacher at the far end of the building smoking a cigarette. I was so disappointed! I really like this teacher. He's creative, always upbeat and energetic, and makes great analogies to get his points across. "He caved," I thought. Caved into the pressure, the stresses of the business of being a professional dancer. I have NEVER understood why dancers smoke. Oh, I've heard the excuses...it's an appetite suppressant...it keeps the weight down. What a bunch of baloney! Why would you poison your body, especially when you depend on the physical health of that body for your livelihood? How do you expect to do petite and grand allegro, let alone a full-length ballet, when your lungs are full of tar?!!!!
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Budgeting
I don't know about everyone else, but as a poor graduate student who only gets paid FOUR times a year, budgeting is an intimate part of my vocabulary and daily existence. I budget everything and even have a detailed Excel spreadsheet dedicated to chronicling where every precious cent goes. (Hmmm...this make me sound kind of anal, but it's not as bad as that. I just allow x amount of money for things each week or per quarter, and make sure that I don't spend over that amount. To help me keep track, I enter and tally my receipts into Excel. Yay for Excel!!) At first, when I realized that we would only get paid 4 times a quarter, I didn't think I would like it. Surprisingly, however, I love it. It allows me to pay all my bills on the day that I receive them. There's no waiting until the next pay period to pay things. That's great!
Anyway, I digress from my initial point of this entry....Yesterday, I stopped by the Student Services office for my department for a little sugar break (she keeps a basket of candy by the door), when MJ (the student services coordinator) said that she need to talk to me about budgets or finance or something. Hmmm, I thought...what could this be about? The only thing I had used department money for was to purchase my laptop fall quarter - department approved spending of funds. Well, what she had to tell me had nothing to do with my computer, but rather my stipend. Evidently, whomever had stipend allocating (it would be called payroll if we were employees) at the beginning of the year had made a mistake. I was incorrectly entered under some special fellowship that paid more than the Biosciences graduate student stipend ($30,000 vs. $26,750, which may sound like a lot, but this is northern california...nothing's cheap here). Well, to make a long story short, my stipend check will be about $2,500 LESS for the summer quarter than anticipated b/c of someone's mistake! $2,500 LESS!!! I'll be lucky if, after my on-campus housing is automatically deducted, I'll have money for groceries!!!! Not to mention that the summer quarter is longer than any other quarter! Longer by an additional FOUR weeks! Thus, not only will I have less money, but I'll have less money over a longer period of time! While I'm airing my grevieances, let it be known that at the beginning of the academic year, I didn't even get paid for weeks (several weeks after classes had started mind you!)!! All I know is that if this were a business, heads would roll. This kind of mistake is unacceptable in the business world and should be unacceptable everywhere! How can you mess up someone's paycheck?!
Anyway, I digress from my initial point of this entry....Yesterday, I stopped by the Student Services office for my department for a little sugar break (she keeps a basket of candy by the door), when MJ (the student services coordinator) said that she need to talk to me about budgets or finance or something. Hmmm, I thought...what could this be about? The only thing I had used department money for was to purchase my laptop fall quarter - department approved spending of funds. Well, what she had to tell me had nothing to do with my computer, but rather my stipend. Evidently, whomever had stipend allocating (it would be called payroll if we were employees) at the beginning of the year had made a mistake. I was incorrectly entered under some special fellowship that paid more than the Biosciences graduate student stipend ($30,000 vs. $26,750, which may sound like a lot, but this is northern california...nothing's cheap here). Well, to make a long story short, my stipend check will be about $2,500 LESS for the summer quarter than anticipated b/c of someone's mistake! $2,500 LESS!!! I'll be lucky if, after my on-campus housing is automatically deducted, I'll have money for groceries!!!! Not to mention that the summer quarter is longer than any other quarter! Longer by an additional FOUR weeks! Thus, not only will I have less money, but I'll have less money over a longer period of time! While I'm airing my grevieances, let it be known that at the beginning of the academic year, I didn't even get paid for weeks (several weeks after classes had started mind you!)!! All I know is that if this were a business, heads would roll. This kind of mistake is unacceptable in the business world and should be unacceptable everywhere! How can you mess up someone's paycheck?!
Birthday Review
Last Friday, May 26th, was my 24th birthday! It was my first one away from home or family that I can ever remember. As my birthday falls after the end of the college spring semesters, I am often home or with fam for my "big" celebrations. "Big" is kind of funny b/c we rarely do anything. Maybe it's dinner, but more usually it's a movie. Hmmm, let's recap the last couple of birthdays..
2003: Moving into summer housing at Wash U school of med, preparing for a rip-roaring summer of fun doing HHMI research in lab (woo-hoo). I was lucky enough to have my mum help me move in. Yay, mum!
2004: I had just graduated from college, packed up all my stuff, and moved back home. I then promptly (as in the very next morning), got on a plane for Miami and a little rest. I had gone straight from a surprisingly intensive final semester of classes, directly into finals (no reading week for me), then madly finishing up a year and a half of work in lab, followed immediately by the arrival of my dear college buddy (who graduated a semester early) for Senior Week, hail the arrival of parents/grandparents/etc. for the mad dash of graduation ceremonies, all topped off my packing up the massive amounts of stuff (dare I say "junk?") that I had accumulated over 4 years. When all that was said and done, I was tired of being around people. So, I packed a suitcase and headed off to Miami to hibernate in my sister's apartment and sit on the beach.
2005: I was taking a topics course in immunology at the CDC, and my birthday happened to fall on the day of the final exam. So I went into work, took the exam, and then high-tailed it out of there to catch a plane to L.A. (By this time, my sister had moved from miami to L.A.) to visit my sister (see a trend here?) and be a tourist. While my actual birthday was spent primarily on a plane, the weekend was fun. We toured Warner Bros. studios, went on a Hollywood homes tour, and did some shopping. My sister even baked me a cake!
2006: Fast-forward to present day. I had been talking for weeks about going dancing, and now that my birthday was here it was a perfect time to coerce people into going out with me. The salsa night at a local club was on Thursdays, so I celebrated my birthday a day early. I invited people over for cake (well, fruit tart really b/c to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of cake), and then we went out dancing. Surprisingly, a good number of people came over - about 15 or 16 (I was really only expecting a handful of people to come, so the large turnout was great!). We hung out for a bit, but when it came time for dancing, only 3 of us went!...Me, my roommate, and Simona. Go Simona! I think more people would have come if there was a salsa lesson ahead of time, but the beginner lesson was at 7:30p! Anyhow, as I hadn't been to this club before, it was probably a good thing that not many people came. The crowd was, how shall we say... a bit older than I thought, but we had a good time anyway. I must say, it's great to dance with old men when they really know how to dance! I'd never been spun and dipped so much in my life! It was fun!
2007: Who knows what's on tap for next year, the big 25? My mom has already made some noise about going to Vegas, but we'll have to see about that.
2003: Moving into summer housing at Wash U school of med, preparing for a rip-roaring summer of fun doing HHMI research in lab (woo-hoo). I was lucky enough to have my mum help me move in. Yay, mum!
2004: I had just graduated from college, packed up all my stuff, and moved back home. I then promptly (as in the very next morning), got on a plane for Miami and a little rest. I had gone straight from a surprisingly intensive final semester of classes, directly into finals (no reading week for me), then madly finishing up a year and a half of work in lab, followed immediately by the arrival of my dear college buddy (who graduated a semester early) for Senior Week, hail the arrival of parents/grandparents/etc. for the mad dash of graduation ceremonies, all topped off my packing up the massive amounts of stuff (dare I say "junk?") that I had accumulated over 4 years. When all that was said and done, I was tired of being around people. So, I packed a suitcase and headed off to Miami to hibernate in my sister's apartment and sit on the beach.
2005: I was taking a topics course in immunology at the CDC, and my birthday happened to fall on the day of the final exam. So I went into work, took the exam, and then high-tailed it out of there to catch a plane to L.A. (By this time, my sister had moved from miami to L.A.) to visit my sister (see a trend here?) and be a tourist. While my actual birthday was spent primarily on a plane, the weekend was fun. We toured Warner Bros. studios, went on a Hollywood homes tour, and did some shopping. My sister even baked me a cake!
2006: Fast-forward to present day. I had been talking for weeks about going dancing, and now that my birthday was here it was a perfect time to coerce people into going out with me. The salsa night at a local club was on Thursdays, so I celebrated my birthday a day early. I invited people over for cake (well, fruit tart really b/c to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of cake), and then we went out dancing. Surprisingly, a good number of people came over - about 15 or 16 (I was really only expecting a handful of people to come, so the large turnout was great!). We hung out for a bit, but when it came time for dancing, only 3 of us went!...Me, my roommate, and Simona. Go Simona! I think more people would have come if there was a salsa lesson ahead of time, but the beginner lesson was at 7:30p! Anyhow, as I hadn't been to this club before, it was probably a good thing that not many people came. The crowd was, how shall we say... a bit older than I thought, but we had a good time anyway. I must say, it's great to dance with old men when they really know how to dance! I'd never been spun and dipped so much in my life! It was fun!
2007: Who knows what's on tap for next year, the big 25? My mom has already made some noise about going to Vegas, but we'll have to see about that.
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