tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59050446233097181492012-01-27T17:55:13.216-05:00Chronicling my journey through grad school and navigating the so-called "Two Body Problem"Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.comBlogger2281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-77895051647205249462012-01-18T13:43:00.005-05:002012-01-22T10:37:06.295-05:00

This post brought to you by an acquaintance’s query on Facebook about her new child.Since becoming a new mother (about 6.5 months ago), I have been subjected to a wide variety of well-meaning advice. However, I have found (or at least can think of) two standard responses to problems I’ve had-- and are very common problems--- that I think are unhelpful. The advice givers are well-meaning and

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-3857729357284080142011-08-25T09:42:00.001-04:002011-08-25T10:17:49.676-04:00

A conversation Friend Who Wants An Unmedicated Birth: Well, what did your midwife have to say? Me: Nothing. I had an OB FWWAUB: Really? Well, you’re lucky you didn’t have a C-section. At least you didn’t have an epidural, right? Me: Actually, I requested one. FWWAUB: Then, of course, you had to have pitocin. Epidurals always stall your labor. Me: Well, the team wanted to augment my labor with

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-25337479672742842922011-08-17T09:16:00.000-04:002011-08-17T09:30:44.600-04:00

Sorry about the radio silence, but I’ve been a bit busy.I’d like to introduce Kiddo to everyone. He made his entrance into this world on July 1st at 6:46am (after I was in labor for just about freaking ever) and was 7 lbs. 15 oz and 20 inches long (technically 19.88 inches, but I’m rounding). The name thing was difficult for us. We were debating between the last name of a president/civil war

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-83090246390097333752011-04-22T15:41:00.002-04:002011-04-22T16:17:12.689-04:00

That’s how big the in utero one is according to babycenter.com at 29 weeks (and two days, but who’s counting?). Pregnancy has been interesting. I did some research prior to getting in this condition, but that mostly revolved around safe practices during pregnancy (eg. Can I take Claritin for allergies? What should I avoid eating? etc.). What I didn’t research was the side effects of pregnancy

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-40383105070661189462011-01-03T20:41:00.001-05:002011-01-03T21:12:12.302-05:00

Things have gotten rather dusty around here. It’s been a while since I came around here. Between writing the dissertation, preparing for the defense, and various family dramas blogging hasn’t been a very high priority. Today, though, I got the urge to blog and I decided to run with it. It’s a new year and I’m feeling very good about it. Not that last year was a bad year altogether. I mean, I

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-47682251872796147482010-08-22T10:40:00.001-04:002010-08-22T10:48:21.532-04:00

Alas! I am so far behind on everything. I mean everything. And the more behind I get, the less likely I am to rectify my mistake. So, here it goes: I’ve sort-of moved houses to Lab Spaces (I’ve been debating about whether or not to keep this space to vent about more personal things. Then again, I haven’t posted very personal things here for a while. So, that may be pointless.)Anyhow, all

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-56992688256450191542010-07-03T11:25:00.000-04:002010-07-03T11:33:25.917-04:00

I really want to post this on Facebook, but I can’t. However, I want to get it out somewhere. I’m getting sick and tired of people posting political comments on Facebook calling people of different political beliefs (or ideals?) as idiots or morons or some other derogatory term. I have friends from across the political spectrum and I do not post political statements because I know it would

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-72210063022243793762010-06-24T19:41:00.000-04:002010-06-24T20:06:12.844-04:00

Well, for the most part at least. (The wine is probably helping me a lot right now.) Unfortunately, that has meant cutting out anything that isn’t necessary for making it through the day and that includes commenting and blogging. I’m starting to emerge from a period of just surviving, though, so I should be able to comment more. Not sure about the blogging thing, though, because (1) I’m not

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-2530693172865866592010-04-29T11:00:00.000-04:002010-04-29T16:16:48.643-04:00

I’ve scheduled this interview for a postdoc. A few months ago PI called to ask me if zie could put my name on zie’s grant. I said that would be fine. At that point in time the PI mentioned that zie would like me to visit, even if I didn’t have a job talk prepared. A bit startled I stammered something about that I think I’d like to visit over the summer and should have something to talk about

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-55146662223650125252010-04-28T16:30:00.000-04:002010-04-28T16:44:53.801-04:00

I miss this space. I have a bunch of half written posts that are nice and fun and good. Yet they’re only half written. And I seem to be missing the time it would take to complete those posts. Instead, I bring you a post that doesn’t require any editing: RBOC.I am currently scheduling a visit to interview for potential postdoc. It looks like it will be at the end of June. There are so many

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-69518460671397257302010-04-03T10:28:00.001-04:002010-04-03T11:39:14.380-04:00

Recently I’ve been thinking about environmental sustainability in Science. There has been a big push at Public U. to be environmentally friendly. All new buildings on campus are LEED certified and there are new recycling bins on each floor. Also, a few months ago there was a big “Environmental Sustainability Fair” on the main campus. At this fair there was a big emphasis on things you can do

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-68128250951135596482010-03-01T18:19:00.012-05:002010-03-02T22:35:54.626-05:00

I wanted to thank everyone up front for all their submissions. We had quite the turn out this month; there were 22 submissions in all. I hope that you all have as much fun reading this carnival as I had putting it together.I chose this month's theme because it is constantly coming up in my life right now. I am hoping to graduate sometime this year. This has spurred a lot of talk in my lab and

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-74987773000923241092010-02-20T12:34:00.000-05:002010-02-20T12:35:16.146-05:00

Science Girl,I don't have any children, so I feel immensely unqualified to give you any advice. Although, I do have a dog, I feel that may not quite be the same. For instance, I can leave the dog home alone while I'm at work and I have no risk of going to jail. I do enjoy a good baby shower, though. Usually at these events, I enter someone's living room that has been decorated with pink and/or

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-74932785608880225252010-02-13T13:04:00.002-05:002010-02-13T13:13:08.675-05:00

I've been informed that I should start thinking/looking for a postdoc. I'm a bit in denial about this. It just doesn't feel like I'm close to graduating. Right now it seems like this nebulous goal. It shouldn't feel that way because I listed my aims in my proposal 2.5 years ago. I look at those aims, though, and see only 1/4 are completed. 2/4 are in progress and are closer to completion.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-76176708379288442752010-02-04T13:45:00.005-05:002010-02-04T13:56:38.507-05:00

I'm hosting Scientiae for March. First of all, I'm really pleased that Scientiae is continuing. The carnival is what got me into blogging in the first place. Now the difficult part: trying to figure out a theme for this month. I've never hosted Scientiae before and I didn't realize how tricky this could be! At last I've settled on a very broad topic: Continuity. The word applies not only to

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-23195138311145983112010-02-03T21:45:00.002-05:002010-02-03T21:53:43.669-05:00

I've been writing posts in my head, but by the time I get home I'm too exhausted to write. Today is no exception, but I don't want to lose my posting momentum. So, in classic style, I present to you: RBOCI'm making progress with my experiments! I'm afraid of jinxing myself by being too pleased about it.My parents want to know when I'm graduating. At least it's better than them asking if I'm

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-84131372519948560252010-01-27T20:31:00.005-05:002010-01-27T20:40:54.529-05:00

I've started exercising using the Wii Fit Plus (I'm not sure where the plus comes from). So far, so good. It's interesting to use and the activities are short enough to where I don't get bored. The last bit is very important because (for me) exercising indoors gets pretty boring and I get tired of doing the same thing over and over again. (Running outdoors is not the same because at least then

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-34554423434688935912010-01-23T13:50:00.003-05:002010-01-23T13:55:55.246-05:00

I've been given a homework assignment by Contemporary Troubadour , so I'm going to try to get right to it! The assignment is to write about 7 things that I've never talked about in my blog. This may be a bit difficult for me because I've written about a lot of things. :)1. Taking Contemporary Troubadour's cue, I'm going to talk about my hair. I have horribly curly hair. Now, I don't mean

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-45966577683087829112010-01-21T18:07:00.001-05:002010-01-21T18:09:08.745-05:00

Self-explanatory title there. A crucial experiment seems to have worked. So: Yay.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-66202003588892424702010-01-19T19:07:00.000-05:002010-01-19T19:07:00.410-05:00

I still enjoy blogging (and here's the...) but I don't have many exciting things to post about. However, it seems that everyone else is in the same boat and I figure no one is forced to read my blog. So, the worst that happens is that no one reads. And, hey, that's not all that bad of a consequence.This got me to thinking about consequences in the lab and, then, about roller coasters. Ok,

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-14011780006596942822010-01-17T14:27:00.001-05:002010-01-17T14:29:38.772-05:00

Whenever I think about coming back I think of this xkcd comic: The Least Interesting Man Woman In the WorldBut, alas, I'm not going to close up shop here; it's just that some unbloggable things have been going on around here. I've been dealing with the usual graduate student frustrations. My protein keeps degrading on me before I can run any experiments on it. The project I was counting on to

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-27883632007107873382009-11-15T16:55:00.002-05:002009-11-15T17:01:24.968-05:00

The title pretty much says it all. I'm boring right now. I'm not really complaining about that at the moment. It just is.I've gotten even more boring over the past week or so. I've got a committee meeting tomorrow, so I've been spending time getting data to show off for that. That entailed a lot of working late and working weekends. This schedule did not leave time for too much else. (Aside:

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-28982612705954942242009-11-08T18:40:00.001-05:002009-11-08T18:42:10.205-05:00

I tend to place a lot of pressure on myself. If I work 16 hours one day, then I should at least that amount of time working the next day. If I spend all day running around trying to juggle half a dozen experiments, then I should spend the evening writing or reading. As I'm writing this down, I realize how ridiculous this sounds. If one of my friends were saying these things, I'd tell them

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-28869324971455697852009-11-03T17:35:00.001-05:002009-11-03T17:35:54.115-05:00

(I'm moving this up here, so people don't have to read through my entire rant. I'm catching up on blog posts. I'll try to comment soon. I want to preemptively apologize if I miss people, though. I have about 500 unread posts... and I'm fairly distracted.)I haven't been posting. You haven't really missed much, I'm afraid. I'm very whiny. But to catch you up, here's my schedule:Wake upGo to

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-1528800221158696112009-10-11T15:22:00.003-04:002009-10-11T15:34:28.375-04:00

I'm averaging about once a week with this posting business. I keep vowing to myself to get better about it, but, so far, no dice. On the plus side this means that I've been better about managing my time in the lab. On the minus side, I'm going to have to resort to catching up RBOC style.Omnifocus = love. I got this program a while back, but just started using it a lot and it's helped keep me,

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-77227335106799943602009-10-03T10:34:00.003-04:002009-10-03T10:42:47.390-04:00

My life is pretty boring right now. Most of it consists of me waking up going into lab, coming home, and sleeping. So, now that I've caught you up on the past two weeks, I'll tell you the latest news (that you already know if you follow me on twitter). My Advisor didn't get the grant supplement, so now I have a hard graduation deadline of next summer. Otherwise, you know, no money for my

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-46016624622263464262009-09-18T21:18:00.002-04:002009-09-18T21:22:00.256-04:00

So, I'm going to be honest here (mostly because I have a hard time being honest with myself and this will help), I'm having a hard time right now. It's just normal run-of-the-mill grad school stuff. Progress has slowed to a crawl and I can feel that having an effect on my psyche. I'm getting this whole I'll-never-graduate feeling with the associated panic. This feeling is absolutely paralyzing

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-31050259244699871162009-09-14T17:44:00.000-04:002009-09-14T17:44:00.067-04:00

I try to stay out of politics in the blogosphere-- I just don't have a thick enough skin. But this stuff has been going on all around me in every day life and it's driving me nuts. So, I'm going to vent here.Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about Joe Wilson's outburst during the President's address to a Joint Session of Congress. The outburst itself bothered me,

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-50159042466307987472009-09-13T17:01:00.001-04:002009-09-13T17:01:22.664-04:00

First: The Dixie Dog is all better. I didn't want to say so before now (didn't want to jinx it), but it's been confirmed. No more symptoms and her white blood cell count is back down. I'm much relieved.Next: Thank you all for the birthday wishes. They made me smile after having a pretty crappy day and feel less guilty for having a bad day. (The common question asked after a birthday "Did

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-68167201068366491382009-08-31T20:57:00.002-04:002009-08-31T21:00:03.303-04:00

I'm back from vacation (I'll post more about it later this week). Just in time for my birthday. This, in itself, is not so bad. I'm ready to be back at work and start the new semester. Plus, we always do a little party (with cake!) for birthdays.* However, this birthday not so great (nothing awful, just not fun). It's just been a series of not-fun things that have happened all day. Such as

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-50318409153267480932009-08-20T09:32:00.000-04:002009-08-20T09:33:10.558-04:00

Posts are slowly coming these days. Mostly I've got lots of work to do that's leaving me with little time to blog. Also, my blog writing neurons seem to have seized up and died. I'm rapidly becoming the least articulate person I know. Sigh. So, here are a series of updates:Lab work is going fairly well. I'm making slow and steady progress, which I'd take any day over rapid and backwards

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-54645820007959733112009-08-11T20:48:00.003-04:002009-08-11T20:50:24.959-04:00

I just caused a grease fire in my kitchen (oops). No casualties (except perhaps the pan). And I remembered not to use water (luckily I was able to quickly find the lid). This is why I don't cook. Some days I just should stay in bed.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-71873044090523091792009-08-02T22:48:00.003-04:002009-08-02T22:55:24.802-04:00

I'm watching Ghostbusters right now (and enjoying a fine red wine-- ok, maybe not fine... it's Barefoot Bay Cabernet Sauvignon, but I'm a grad student and that's pretty fine as far as my budget goes). Anyhow, Ghostbusters is on AMC and the commercials are depressing (except for the Julia Roberts ones). So far there's been two types of commercials. One is for life insurance (really does one

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-86587292344468119482009-07-26T20:54:00.003-04:002009-07-26T21:10:28.064-04:00

I was tempted to start this post out with some sort of "I'm still here" comment, but I realized that I'm doing that a lot lately. So, instead let's just consider it said. I have ideas for posts, but I haven't had a chance to write any of them. I've putting in a lot of time in the lab and that brings me to my RBOC post.Dr. Man and I (a variety of people from his family: Dr. Man's Parents, SIL-

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-49871334276338173422009-07-14T20:33:00.002-04:002009-07-14T20:37:42.470-04:00

I don't know how many times I've started a blog post with some variation of: I'm tired, I'm wiped, I'm burned out, etc. That just seems to be my perpetual state right now. The good news is that I'm being very productive and solving my own problems (yay! I'm competent in troubleshooting-- I'm not sure how valuable a skill that is, though). However, I'm having a harder time focusing on my own

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-71917591872924063312009-07-11T14:51:00.002-04:002009-07-11T15:13:16.022-04:00

I know, I know. I never write, I never call, I've dropped off the face of the planet. I'm still here. I haven't blogged because I'm trying to be more positive about grad school (and life in general). But lately I've been grumpy. Over everything. And no one wants to hear me grump. So, let's see if I can be positive in this blog post. Well, research is going, well, like it always goes: in

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-26361470517756390012009-06-20T12:36:00.003-04:002009-06-20T12:58:59.250-04:00

Eventually, I decided against D, but for A. (As an aside, it turned out that I hadn't really lost any sample. Apparently, I can shave about two hours off of my protocol. So, yay!) By working last weekend, I decided that I could take this weekend off. That should have been an easy decision to make, but it wasn't easy. I never figured myself for a workaholic, but I'm beginning to think I might

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-62022582094632898982009-06-10T14:31:00.003-04:002009-06-10T14:39:29.509-04:00

If you've been working 3 weeks straight without a day off (albeit you've only worked half days on the weekends) and then you sort-of mess up a protocol (by losing some sample) do you:(a) Start prepping a new batch of samples while continuing with your diminished-sample prep because, hey! maybe diminished-sample prep will be enough (at the very least it may still tell you what you need to know).

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-17016001867737585582009-06-08T18:30:00.000-04:002009-06-08T18:30:00.564-04:00

Scene:Interior. Sunday. Morning.Grad Student leaves lab proper to get ice from the communal ice machine. She uses the door-propping-open-function of the door to keep it open because she has no pockets in her running shorts for keys. She makes it down to the ice machine and hears a door slamGrad Student: Please, please, please let it not be my door.GS walks back down the hall to her lab.GS: Crap

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-68314135493683799062009-06-08T15:00:00.000-04:002009-06-08T14:57:35.393-04:00

I previously wrote about a survey that stated that two-thirds of all Americans could not name an famous female scientist. While I still don't know how they defined famous (Mad Hatter pointed out that Field Famous versus Nobel Famous verses Household Name Famous are all very different), I think that it's still important for the general public to know that there are (and have been) very

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-36194141448797348692009-06-01T08:30:00.001-04:002009-06-01T08:30:54.457-04:00

This month's Scientiae theme is particularly apt for me (I'm just a lot late in posting). I'm within (approximately, you know, give or take a semester or five) a year of graduating, I'm training for a 13k in October, and Dr. Man and I have started brewing our own beer. I feel like I've been in a holding pattern throughout my PhD experience. There's a lot of 'Well, I'd do X after I'm done with

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-37275102924989669742009-05-24T16:14:00.001-04:002009-05-24T16:14:00.818-04:00

I had a committee meeting on Monday. It actually went fairly well. I was very worried about it because I haven't made much progress over the past 8 months (the meeting was delayed because of extenuating circumstances, see: the month of March). I put together my presentation outlining what I've been doing during this time. It added up to about 22 slides showing a variety of results (ranging

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-76782244568055712132009-05-22T19:20:00.000-04:002009-05-22T19:20:00.352-04:00

I received an email from Amy R. at a Strategic Agency (not the name, but the type of Agency). In it she gave me the following link: Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Can't Name a Famous Female Scientist According to National Survey Seeing the headline, my first thought was, "WTF? Seriously?" I asked Dr. Manto name one and he said, "You." (Which demonstrates his brilliance.) I've since asked

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-73237229867934220302009-05-16T10:15:00.007-04:002009-05-17T11:29:50.188-04:00

Now, I am a scientist and, so, I quantify. It's sort of what I do. (I also research, test, and experiment, but I digress.) Anyhow, my last post generated a lot more comments than I thought it would. It gave me a decent N value (for my blog) and I decided to quantify the results (like I do). But first I wanted to clarify something.The situation that brought this up was the death in the family

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-71143591848919880322009-05-12T22:07:00.000-04:002009-05-12T22:07:00.374-04:00

I have a question for all you out on the internets. But first let me give you a ramble-y set up for this question.I've got a religious bent. I think I've talked about this particular quirk before. I try to be respectful of what other people believe and their wishes. Above all else I wish not to offend anyone. So, here in lies the sticking point: I pray for myself and other people. I don't

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-73908092029413201802009-05-10T15:25:00.005-04:002009-05-10T16:22:04.138-04:00

You will be assimilated.*Our lab has acquired two new undergrads for (at least) the summer months. If they work out well, then they'll have the option to come back for the fall semester. (I like to think of this as the "lease with an option to buy" plan.) Today, I'm planning what I'll do tomorrow with the New One. That got me to thinking about assimilation (not only because I think that

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-6161295452169851062009-05-02T08:56:00.002-04:002009-05-02T08:59:24.787-04:00

We've been invaded by the in-laws! Well, they were invited, but invaded sounds so much funnier :-) It's a strange weekend for them to come up because Dr. Man is on call and he's been sick for the past week. However, he's been wanting to see his parents for a while now and who am I to refuse? This means not much blogging until Monday. And now I've got to go and keep the two dogs from knocking

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-61896447899699087972009-04-29T15:08:00.001-04:002009-04-29T15:10:24.427-04:00

Something partially worked. Well, it has worked enough that I know what's wrong and it can be fixed and I can get salvageable stuff out of this and it's wonderful. Strangely enough I don't feel like quitting now. I feel like celebrating.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-1655116129918194252009-04-27T16:28:00.000-04:002009-04-27T16:29:14.564-04:00

In my effort to milk this for as many posts as possible to make it through EcoGeoFemme's interview questions, I bring you this question:How is the biking to work going?Well, it's going not so great. See a few months ago someone stole the front wheel to my bike. Without a front wheel and my inability to ride a unicycle, my bike riding into work was brought to an abrupt halt. I didn't

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-31907514797431880332009-04-23T17:04:00.003-04:002009-04-23T18:09:28.013-04:00

Apparently, I'm not the only person who has ever considered quitting and doing something else. I enjoy science (well, not as much recently), but, as I've been told, Science is Not A Care Bear Tea Party. I think that comment is supposed mean that if you can't handle the heat get out of the kitchen or some other (similar) cliche. Well, let me tell you I'm definitely not too happy with the heat

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-71587173309939114302009-04-15T11:39:00.008-04:002009-04-18T14:11:37.720-04:00

I have thoughts about things, but nothing really coherent. So, I figured I'd start a list:This is the first time that I've seriously considered quitting grad school. I know that I have enough to master out and that I could find a job in the area. And maybe I just don't want to do this anymore. But I won't quit because I don't want the projects to win (Damned Yeast Project and Pretty Colored

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-72743536866788415542009-04-07T18:05:00.000-04:002009-04-07T18:05:00.896-04:00

I'm following Psyc Girl's example and making the most out of these interview questions that EcoGeoFemme asked me (many moons ago). I'm going to start with the first question she asked me:How did you decide to get into biochemistry?  What made you choose that over some other field of biology, like physiology or proteomics or forestry or something?At the risk of sounding horribly corny, it was my

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-57885026607026925422009-03-28T09:10:00.001-04:002009-03-28T09:11:38.884-04:00

"Fluid filled." Never have two better words ever been spoken in the English language. Everything is fine. I'm so relieved. Thank you all for your kind comments!

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-27785148255588245562009-03-25T17:03:00.002-04:002009-03-25T17:03:01.086-04:00

I'm still fairly freaked out over lump-gate. I've looked up statistics based on my age and family history. All of those things appear to be in my favor. I've quizzed Dr. Man about the work-up these things normally receive (it helps that he's studying this for the USMLE) and it shouldn't be too bad (worst-case initial work-up is a fine-needle biopsy). I like to know things. I like to be

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-53561662780210651122009-03-23T14:00:00.009-04:002009-03-23T16:59:52.777-04:00

Holy shit! My life is an amalgamation of everyone1 else's life in the blogosphere [link removed**]. This is just creeping me out.Ok, I'm only half-joking. It's just strange that over the past few days I've seen so many posts that relate to what's going on in my life at the moment. March has not been kind to me.Unblogable #1 (I still can't talk about it because it involves someone else), is

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-81886333685178394902009-03-22T15:51:00.000-04:002009-03-22T15:52:04.264-04:00

So, I'm still around, but I'm definitely swamped. I'll hopefully have a post up soon. The beach was good, btw.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-68747676014324227192009-03-12T21:11:00.002-04:002009-03-12T21:14:23.780-04:00

I go to the beach. I'm down, I'm out, and it's time to get out of town. I'm falling apart (see Unblogable Event and Unblogable #2) and I'm just done. I decided to leave... today. A long drive tomorrow and then I'm meeting my college friends at the beach for a Girl's Weekend. I'll see you all on Monday!

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-55940847188121673262009-03-12T13:54:00.003-04:002009-03-12T13:58:45.030-04:00

So, things are going to be a bit quiet around here for a while longer. There's a lot going around here at casa de Lady Scientist. First, I had Unbloggable Problem #1 that wasn't resolved until recently (and resolved very nicely). Now, I have Unbloggable Problem #2 that is a bit closer to home and I won't be able to resolve until the end of this month. Plus, Unbloggable Event is just around

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-33385968161511271042009-03-01T12:07:00.004-05:002009-03-01T12:17:21.960-05:00

The other day Dr. Man and I were carpooling to work and I asked him about his upcoming day. He had [Specialty] Clinic that day, which I thought sounded like fun. (As an aside, it probably isn't but the name sounds funny and vaguely wrong.) I told him that and he elaborated on the scheme of the place and about the types of patients he sees there. He said that most of his patients could be

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-72047166961268142682009-02-24T15:21:00.009-05:002009-02-24T17:25:12.772-05:00

BBC Book ListApparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.Instructions:1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. (I'll bold those I've read and italicize those of which I only read part.)2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-64033719786043007352009-02-16T13:27:00.003-05:002009-02-16T13:37:54.262-05:00

I turned on my computer this morning to find this list bandied about on my google reader. Curiousity (and a desire to read more blogs) had me clicking over to see who was on the list. Imagine my surprise when I saw my blog on that list! I was delighted to see several blogging giants on the list (and confused by one) and cannot fathom how I fit among them. I'm honored to apart of anything with

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-65752945483746839332009-02-14T13:22:00.002-05:002009-02-14T13:39:14.923-05:00

Recently, Dr. Isis had a post up about how she feels her religion (Catholicism) and science mix. As I do, when reading one of Dr. Isis's posts, I looked through the comments. I was dismayed by how many commenters seemed upset (outraged in some cases) that Dr. Isis had the audacity to have faith in God and believe in the Scientific Method, simultaneously. Much of the concern is centered on (

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-47341253833689210592009-02-08T15:51:00.003-05:002009-02-08T16:04:36.483-05:00

Things that I've noticed while being sick the past few days:I'm finally reading The Watchmen. I'm enjoying it so far. It's only my second foray into the graphic novel genre and I'm not quite sure if it's entirely my thing. I tend to focus a bit too much on the words than the pictures. A perfect example of this is: Dr. Manhattan. I was entirely unaware that he went about naked most of the

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-79764037011998209782009-02-06T11:17:00.002-05:002009-02-06T11:21:58.149-05:00

How in the world is it that I get sick out of nowhere and I escape when everyone else is sick? I hate being sick and feeling crappy and all kinds of icky. Anyhow, I have thoughts on things that include, but are not limited to: impostor syndrome, exercise (I'm working on it), lab progress, and books. Unfortunately, right now, I feel like my brains have been replaced with scrambled eggs.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-67102694778789436192009-02-03T19:13:00.002-05:002009-02-03T19:18:02.187-05:00

I tallied up the results from the comments in my previous post (where I asked about the best time of day to exercise). It seems that right now the majority of people try to fit it in the evenings. However, two of you noted that you'd prefer mornings but due to weather you're stuck with working out in the evenings. Some of you pointed out that I just need to make time and stick with it. So,

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-50452257945069206602009-02-01T11:52:00.007-05:002009-02-01T12:22:23.294-05:00

Awards:Contemporary Troubadour gave me the Inspiration Award and I'm very flattered. As I don't consider myself very inspiring.The rules are as follows:Put the logo of the award (above) on your blog if you can make it work with your format.Link to the person from whom you received the award.Nominate seven or more blogs.Put the links of those blogs on your blog.Leave a message on their blogs to

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-64032268357002313712009-01-27T18:32:00.000-05:002009-01-27T18:32:00.763-05:00

While hydrating my membrane, I came across this article in the NY Times. For some reason, I was really touched by this:It requires no metaphysical commitment to a God or any conception of human origin or nature to join in this game, just the hypothesis that nature can be interrogated and that nature is the final arbiter. Jews, Catholics, Muslims, atheists, Buddhists and Hindus have all been

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-55574177894387833792009-01-26T20:23:00.003-05:002009-02-01T11:49:57.165-05:00

After my program had a bit of a kerfluffle concerning a poor Grad Student-Advisor match, I got to thinking about my Advisor. Once the kerfluffle had kerfluffed, I really wanted to get out my opinions about choosing an Advisor and criteria to consider. So, feel free to skip this post (it's long and riddled with parenthetical thoughts), if you're unconcerned with such things.I'm lucky enough to

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-50116967494194010392009-01-24T17:21:00.003-05:002009-01-24T17:40:24.706-05:00

This is, indeed, the Year of Getting Stuff Done or at least The Two Weeks of Getting Stuff Done. I've been super-productive the past couple of weeks, without going over my 60 hour time limit. My Procrastinators Anonymous membership card may be revoked (if only the membership could get around to it). The boost in productivity can be contributed to things (finally!) making good progress.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-24173892955318091802009-01-16T16:03:00.002-05:002009-01-16T16:10:26.991-05:00

Things have been a bit crazy around here. Hence no posting. I took a few days off last week to go on an unbloggable adventure. Let's just suffice to say that it's great when you win. Then, earlier this week I had a talk with Advisor about graduating. He foresees it happening in the future and that's good news. Prior to this I was beginning to doubt that. The only semi-bad part is that he

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-19289214790682236562009-01-04T14:07:00.002-05:002009-01-04T14:10:52.492-05:00

I like New Year Resolutions (NYRs). I like the promise that they bring for leading A Better Life. This enjoyment is not diminished, not one iota, by the fact that I'm horrible about following through with NYRs. Over the past few days (while being sick) I've had the opportunity to look over last year's resolutions and I realized that I didn't do so well on them. In fact, I followed them for

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-60328565374943893582009-01-01T00:23:00.002-05:002009-01-01T00:24:46.079-05:00

I wish that everyone's 2009 is better than their 2008! And that everyone had a safe New Year's Eve!

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-88444717918205598412008-12-28T12:18:00.000-05:002008-12-28T12:19:53.059-05:00

Recently, I heard that phrase used by a former vice-presidential candidate. However, I'll try not to hold that against this post.I haven't done a lot of door shutting or opening this year as far as my science is concerned. I've done a bit more with regards to my personal life, though. The biggest things that happened this year are that Dr. Man came home and that my dissertation research is in

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-76253873674096517592008-12-25T22:38:00.000-05:002008-12-25T22:38:00.962-05:00

The alarm goes off and I stumble to the bathroom. Upon exiting the bathroom, my mother corners me. "You're awake!" she said delightedly. "Why are you up so early?""I had to take my anti-baby pill." I told her, groggily, and made a beeline to the kitchen to start making coffee. Once she starts talking to me it's a lost cause. Going back to bed is not an option."Anti-baby pill?" she frowned

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-74573649076206579642008-12-22T13:42:00.002-05:002008-12-22T14:05:42.647-05:00

This is how I always feel around Christmas. Unfortunately, no one uses twitter.I'm not a big Christmas person. I might even venture to say that it's one of my least favorite holidays. There's an inordinate amount of pressure surrounding the day. This includes, but is not limited to: presents to buy (which is not a small task with our combine families), cards to send* (and I'm not done with

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-51543346099728924842008-12-11T16:02:00.004-05:002008-12-11T16:05:52.263-05:00

I'm horrible about getting around to doing meme. Science Woman tagged me about a month ago to do the 5 things meme. And I just got around to it...5 things I was doing 10 years ago:1. Worrying about applying to college2. Trying to impress a boy who was completely wrong for me.3. Frustrating my parents.4. Taking physics and biology (and enjoying the courses).5. Daydreaming about leaving HomeTown

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-16051483249979497832008-12-06T12:50:00.006-05:002008-12-07T14:44:03.213-05:00

I've had a good weekend so far. LawyerFriend is in town and I've taken the opportunity to give myself a mental break from labwork (and the surrounding anxieties). Yesterday morning I was able to spend the morning curled up on the couch (and, yes, it is an ugly couch-- but it was free), snuggling with the Dixie Dog, and drinking coffee. This morning I'm aiming to repeat that and do a little

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-8527151513178380262008-12-06T08:00:00.000-05:002008-12-06T08:00:00.865-05:00

An explanation for the name change:Amanda is a popular name. Other people are as unoriginal as I am.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-81362329238128652142008-12-05T13:29:00.001-05:002008-12-05T13:31:36.298-05:00

The GirlsTM and I get together on an almost-monthly basis. We usually have some sort of potluck and wine. We've all come to like our little group. It's kind of like a graduate school support group. We formed during our first year in the required fall course. There were eight of us. Now, there are 5 of us. Two of us working on a master's degree and have graduated. One decided (wisely)

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-65278078855234848582008-11-25T15:59:00.003-05:002008-11-25T16:08:44.547-05:00

I'm still here and alive and worked for 33 hours last Thurs/Fri. The top two things on my agenda right now are (1) Salvage Protein Experiment and (2) Make Progress on Yeast Experiment. I've been working on those two things. I'm fairly certain I'll fail on 1 and have to start over (que sera) and I'm succeeding on 2 (thus far). If I'm 50% successful (obviously, with different things) all the

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-59780074065229032712008-11-21T12:16:00.001-05:002008-11-21T12:17:22.976-05:00

Very sleepy. I spent 16 hours here yesterday/early this morning. Now, I'm here again to assay my fractions and see if I have any protein. I swear I'm going home early today. I swear.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-81442461055268386072008-11-18T09:50:00.002-05:002008-11-18T09:54:46.755-05:00

One of my dear friends just had a miscarriage. My heart is breaking for her. I know how much she wanted this baby. I'm too far away to go and visit her, but I'd like to send something (a card, flowers, something). However, I don't know what would be appropriate or even what she'd like in this situation. So, I'm turning to you all. Any ideas?

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-77889820719768702642008-11-16T18:51:00.004-05:002008-11-16T19:00:48.334-05:00

I had the opportunity to go to Public U.'s football game this past weekend. I like football, Dr. Man likes football. It was a win all around. We bundled up and headed to the game. The seats we had were so-so, while they were not up in the nosebleed section, they were not optimal for viewing the field. But they were in the stadium and that was what was important.We arrived early to see the

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-32509895604981473942008-11-14T17:54:00.003-05:002008-11-14T18:04:27.955-05:00

Bad News: My enzyme died while I was waiting for the very-nice-now-working centrifuge to be fixed.Good News: It doesn't matter that I lost my sample.Bad News: I came in around midnight last night and will work for about 11 hours today.Good News: I'm taking one day off this weekend (I'm thinking tomorrow) and I napped after my midnight run to lab.Bad News: I haven't had time to eat lunch yet

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-35794303856469316792008-11-12T18:40:00.005-05:002008-11-12T18:48:33.344-05:00

Why is it that I have so little faith in myself?* I made a really stupid mistake in the lab today (accidentally dumped a sample that I sort-of cared about) that really won't set me behind very much (maybe by a day or a few hours). Somehow this is indicative of my entire laboratory career and, ergo, myself. It's not as if no one has ever screwed up before (or as if I have never screwed up

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-19202061107674691202008-11-11T14:05:00.001-05:002008-11-11T14:07:34.805-05:00

Bless me internet for I have sinned, I am a bad grad student.I took the entire past weekend off from the lab (I was here yesterday, though). Yep, I took two whole days off from lab work. I didn't even do any work-related reading. It was glorious. I did nothing and it was everything I thought it could be. Instead of going into the lab, I did the following:Went to the library and checked out

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-72556848514924830542008-11-07T13:15:00.001-05:002008-11-07T13:15:21.762-05:00

I'm so fucking burnt out. I wrote that on Friday. After that I just couldn't go on. I had nothing to say that wasn't some variation on I work all the time and other people around me don't do that and I still don't have enough data and I'll never graduate and I want to quit. Shortly after that I had somebody tell me that if I can't deal with the time commitment, the soul-crushing loneliness,

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-31375115829877010912008-11-06T08:32:00.001-05:002008-11-06T08:33:59.729-05:00

I'm so proud of my country.My entire country. Let's keep moving forward.[Edited to add: This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I had some technical problems. I still feel this way, so I posted it even though it's late.]

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-70906840325697635332008-11-04T14:57:00.002-05:002008-11-04T14:58:36.674-05:00

I voted a while ago. Still, I'm happy everytime I see an "I voted" sticker. If you can't do it for yourself, then do it for me: Vote. Continue to make me happy.

Amanda@Lady Scientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16512722132229479239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-29491868174369072402008-11-01T13:58:00.002-04:002008-11-01T14:01:54.220-04:00

Our poor, poor car is almost dead. It won't start, creates lots of smoke, and sounds like it's going to explode.* Sad.*Dr. Man begs to differ on this last point. I say it sounds like it's going to explode. He says, "It does not!"

Amandanoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-79565348714469956362008-10-30T17:35:00.001-04:002008-10-30T17:40:18.844-04:00

The wonderful Brazen Hussy has graciously organized this year's InaDWriMo. Unfortunately, I don't have much writing to do (Damned Yeast Experiment keeps chugging along, but not much reasonable data yet). However, I have neglected much reading (field specific and otherwise). I have an embarrassing amount of articles to be read. cough, cough, 67, cough, cough So, my overly ambitious goal for

Amandanoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-60744081235003633432008-10-24T17:23:00.001-04:002008-10-24T17:23:54.304-04:00

Disgruntled Julie tagged me a while ago with the "6 random things about me" meme. I'm in the midst of a 3.5 hour centrifugation, so I figured I might as well do follow up on her tag. So, here are the rules:1. Link to the person who tagged you.2. Post the rules on your blog.3. Write 6 random things about yourself.4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.5. Let each person you

Amandanoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-80994040293249475942008-10-22T20:05:00.003-04:002008-10-22T20:09:10.947-04:00

Proving once again that I have the maturity of a 13 year old boy.Scenario:A slide detailing the infection process of an STD, the words "vaginal lumen" are displayed at the top. I nudge CurrentLabMate... we giggle quietly. A professor asks, "Is there anything special about the vagina?," pause, "Is the infection process different there?" The student giving the presentation says, "No, it's the

Amandanoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-71725076396349365122008-10-20T18:45:00.002-04:002008-10-20T18:54:04.278-04:00

The past weekend was fun, but exhausting. The entire weekend was packed with activities. On top of the previously mentioned parties, there was a rehearsal, a rehearsal dinner, pictures, and the actual wedding/reception to attend. In the end, I though the ceremony and reception were lovely (although, not everything went off the way SIL-1's wanted). And I have a new brother-in-law (at least I

Amandanoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-44371812422871400662008-10-15T10:05:00.001-04:002008-10-15T10:08:23.234-04:00

Busy, busy, busy. It never really stops. In one shape or another, I've been very involved with work the past few months. This weekend, though, I get a bit of a break. SIL-1's wedding is this weekend. Dr. Man and I are going down this evening, though. This is for two reasons (1) Dr. Man wants to see his family and (2) there are about a billion events prior to the wedding.Now, I did have a

Amandanoreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-51693900402957010442008-10-09T16:57:00.003-04:002008-10-09T17:16:37.361-04:00

Many of my female friends have gotten married recently. These events always involve a variety of events and amongst these events is the Bachelorette Party. The locale of these have varied (from a night out on the town to a spa night in), but they all include one thing: lingerie giving. Why? I'm not sure. Very few have asked for such items (although, they were appreciated), but we give them

Amandanoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-7394342168862891442008-10-03T16:54:00.002-04:002008-10-03T17:39:47.072-04:00

Occasionally, I can be a bit territorial in the lab. I don't walk around my bench urinating or anything like that. However, I do get rather annoyed at certain people when they take things off of my bench and do not put them back.Imagine this scenario: I'm working on a multi-day, time sensitive protocol. This protocol requires many different solutions. So I do what any good grad student would

Amandanoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-48129685804673253082008-10-02T14:40:00.002-04:002008-10-02T15:46:44.184-04:00

I don't have enough wherewithal to give you an actual post. So, I've decided to just give you snippets of things I'm thinking about.I'm finally feeling better! I no longer snot all over the lab. CurrentLabMate (formerly known as FormerRoommate, unfortunately I'm just not that creative today) is appreciative that I've stopped doing that. I'm slightly behind in lab, as I took people's advice and

Amandanoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-71799034434498706362008-09-26T14:45:00.002-04:002008-09-26T15:00:52.300-04:00

I've been sick-ish the past couple of days. Sick-ish in the sense that I haven't been running a fever, but I've had the congested head, cough, sore throat, and general aches/pains of being sick. I freely admit that I'm a wuss when it comes to being sick. I don't like anything that makes me feel bad. So, I complain and whine. I talk about my symptoms like I'm the only person on the planet to

Amandanoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905044623309718149.post-39537702053235158002008-09-24T16:59:00.000-04:002008-09-24T17:00:44.220-04:00

I've been horrible about updating. And it's for the usual reasons-- I'm very, very busy. In the past two weeks I have: presented to the department for journal club, given the lecture to Advisor's class, and held a committee meeting. They all went reasonably well-- at least so I've been told. And now I'm sick with a lovely drippy nose, stuffy head, and sore throat. And for some reason I'm

Amandanoreply@blogger.com4