Sorry for the lack of anything resembling a post here, I am neck deep in classes and trying to write/finish a first author research paper. Oh and keep the apartment clean (dishes are a war of attrition, I am currently winning this round).
Yes, I may be insane.
More to come.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Great Moments In Lab
More like great mishaps in lab.
So lets start with last week, where our microscope decided to kill its bulb. Not the end of the world, we have extra bulbs, right? Yes, with a caveat of course. The bulb is in my PI's office, who is on vacation for another week. Greeeeat. Oh and did I mention I have no idea where the bulb even is in this microscope? And that we need it to look at our plates daily? And that the next nearest one is at least one building over?
Thankfully, after much fighting (gentle mind you) with the scope, I found the lightbulb and got the housing around it off. I then was desperate enough to try the bag of 'used' bulbs. 90% were in fact used, however there was one that worked! I cannot tell you how happy this made me.
Next moment of pure brilliance (please read much sarcasm into this statement). I tried to make 1g/mL of BSA in PBS. Instead I made snot. I seriously cannot describe the consistency any other way. And not runny snot, but the seriously thick goopy stuff. Okay, so lets bump the starting concentration down to 100mg/mL of BSA. Much better. Now we dissolve in PBS and really well in RIPA buffer. But the special extraction buffer? Yeah, I somehow dissolved my BSA partially in this water based buffer, walked away with it on the shaker to finish dissolving while having lunch, and came back to a gelatinous solid. And I do mean solid. Even my PI was like, well thats weird, what was in this buffer again? We think we somehow accidentally cooked the BSA with some chemical reaction in the buffer (we are thinking it may have been the beta mercaptoethanol). Needless to say, we just scrapped using that buffer in our Bradford assay as a standard.
And then to finish off the day, I am going through my old notes to figure out what experiments I still have in limbo and I realize, I used the wrong control reagent on a whole experiment. Face, say hi to palm. Thankfully I hadn't done the qRT-PCR (I the big expensive reaction part) on it yet, but it does mean I have to do it all over again. My PI did point out that I now have a nice bank of RNA for controls when I need it. Still does not make me super happy. Oiy.
Thankfully, this is an atypically high mishap week.
So lets start with last week, where our microscope decided to kill its bulb. Not the end of the world, we have extra bulbs, right? Yes, with a caveat of course. The bulb is in my PI's office, who is on vacation for another week. Greeeeat. Oh and did I mention I have no idea where the bulb even is in this microscope? And that we need it to look at our plates daily? And that the next nearest one is at least one building over?
Thankfully, after much fighting (gentle mind you) with the scope, I found the lightbulb and got the housing around it off. I then was desperate enough to try the bag of 'used' bulbs. 90% were in fact used, however there was one that worked! I cannot tell you how happy this made me.
Next moment of pure brilliance (please read much sarcasm into this statement). I tried to make 1g/mL of BSA in PBS. Instead I made snot. I seriously cannot describe the consistency any other way. And not runny snot, but the seriously thick goopy stuff. Okay, so lets bump the starting concentration down to 100mg/mL of BSA. Much better. Now we dissolve in PBS and really well in RIPA buffer. But the special extraction buffer? Yeah, I somehow dissolved my BSA partially in this water based buffer, walked away with it on the shaker to finish dissolving while having lunch, and came back to a gelatinous solid. And I do mean solid. Even my PI was like, well thats weird, what was in this buffer again? We think we somehow accidentally cooked the BSA with some chemical reaction in the buffer (we are thinking it may have been the beta mercaptoethanol). Needless to say, we just scrapped using that buffer in our Bradford assay as a standard.
And then to finish off the day, I am going through my old notes to figure out what experiments I still have in limbo and I realize, I used the wrong control reagent on a whole experiment. Face, say hi to palm. Thankfully I hadn't done the qRT-PCR (I the big expensive reaction part) on it yet, but it does mean I have to do it all over again. My PI did point out that I now have a nice bank of RNA for controls when I need it. Still does not make me super happy. Oiy.
Thankfully, this is an atypically high mishap week.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Reasons why breakfast (and lunch) are important
So I know I am someone who needs to eat fairly regularly, or at least with lots of calories. And drinking water is never my strong suit. Thus it was totally awesome when, in the middle of explaining a bisected head to a group of students I suddenly feel super hot and on my way to light headedness.
So not awesome.
Been here before though last time I think it was because I was standing for too long. This time, I am voting not drinking enough and thinking a few cookies, some fruit, and some almonds was a brilliant idea for breakfast. NOT!
Must eat better -.-
So not awesome.
Been here before though last time I think it was because I was standing for too long. This time, I am voting not drinking enough and thinking a few cookies, some fruit, and some almonds was a brilliant idea for breakfast. NOT!
Must eat better -.-
Friday, July 6, 2012
Guess what I did today!
This actually went really well! Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what this 'event' was!
Thursday, June 21, 2012
The heavens aligned, and then decided to giggle
So I was historically crying this morning. In a good way.
I got accepted!
Four years of trying and going back for a masters and it finally happened! I am accepted into medical school! I seriously cannot believe this happened!
For anyone ever struggling towards their dream all I have to say is keep trying, if you work hard it will happen.
And then I went to work to try and finish a western blog while being super excited. I put the ECL devloping chemical on and then forgot to add the film for this 10 minute incubation.
Whoops :)
I'm in!!!!!!!!
I got accepted!
Four years of trying and going back for a masters and it finally happened! I am accepted into medical school! I seriously cannot believe this happened!
For anyone ever struggling towards their dream all I have to say is keep trying, if you work hard it will happen.
And then I went to work to try and finish a western blog while being super excited. I put the ECL devloping chemical on and then forgot to add the film for this 10 minute incubation.
Whoops :)
I'm in!!!!!!!!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Amorphousness
Nope, not dead yet.
Just really stressed and as much as I want to vent here, well I don't want to sound like I am complaining about everything because in truth thats what I sound like to myself some days.
Pretty much lab is insanely crazy but there may be a first author paper by August (yay!)
Summer job is eating my life and I hate my boss, but everyone else is really nice to work with.
I am waitlisted. Again. At the same school. Needless to say, this does not do much for my mood. Yes, I have written update letters (I actually found out I was waitlisted in April, but yeah, thats how badly its killed my mood. I really don't want to have to go another round of applications because its depressing to say the least). I am really crossing my fingers on this because I really want to get my life boogying by now. Plus it means I also may have a shot at an MD/PhD, which never had even crossed my mind until recently because my PI is pretty much trying to make me a graduate student (and I am kind of enjoying it).
And my roommate is moving at the end of July. I am sad to see her go, but its awesome because she got accepted into an amazing PhD program in a near by city. She totally deserves it. But I will miss her.
And I am not even going into firehouse politics, other than to say I want to bang my head against a wall at the ridiculousness.
Med school? Please?
Just really stressed and as much as I want to vent here, well I don't want to sound like I am complaining about everything because in truth thats what I sound like to myself some days.
Pretty much lab is insanely crazy but there may be a first author paper by August (yay!)
Summer job is eating my life and I hate my boss, but everyone else is really nice to work with.
I am waitlisted. Again. At the same school. Needless to say, this does not do much for my mood. Yes, I have written update letters (I actually found out I was waitlisted in April, but yeah, thats how badly its killed my mood. I really don't want to have to go another round of applications because its depressing to say the least). I am really crossing my fingers on this because I really want to get my life boogying by now. Plus it means I also may have a shot at an MD/PhD, which never had even crossed my mind until recently because my PI is pretty much trying to make me a graduate student (and I am kind of enjoying it).
And my roommate is moving at the end of July. I am sad to see her go, but its awesome because she got accepted into an amazing PhD program in a near by city. She totally deserves it. But I will miss her.
And I am not even going into firehouse politics, other than to say I want to bang my head against a wall at the ridiculousness.
Med school? Please?
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