Core & Rind

The end of this week marks the completion of the last of the major things I need to do to graduate. There are, of course, some little things and a small experiment that I am guessing the reviewers are going to ask for when I submit this beast but for all intensive purposes most of the stuff is done. Just typing this is giving me a slight feeling of euphoria. However it wasn’t all sunshine and moonbeams this week…..the advisor was here this week from across the pond and he thinks that several of my SEM images are not publication quality so that means new fly crosses and another round at the SEM facility. Thankfully it is not too many so is definitely doable in a reasonable period of time. I am currently feeling like I will actually graduate and get a Ph.D. in a timely manner. I hope to remember this feeling when I am in the dark depths of dissertation and manuscript writing.

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I was tagged by Pamela for my first meme. I have to say that it is not the most exciting meme that I have ever read..in fact there is a chance it is the least. I will do it anyway partly because it’s my first ever and partly because I love Pamela. After that glowing endorsement….here it is!!

Rules, rules, rules: post what you’ve got on the table (chair, nightstand, whatever) beside your bed. Leave nothing out. Nothing. Heh. Link back to the kind person who tagged you and then tag 3 other folks. Really tag them - none of this “whoever hasn’t done this meme yet” tagging.

On my bedside table:

A lamp (that constantly falls over and drives me nuts)

Some books and a Los Angeles magazine (reading up on my future city)

Water

A plant

In my nightstand:

Chapstick

Ear plugs

Shea butter

Eye mask

Small notepad with a honeybee on the front

Mechanical Pencil

Next to my bedside table is the most exciting part because a very cute puppy sleeps there. Here he is looking up at me from his bed. Isn’t it a sweet sight to wake up to?

And since this one was really not exciting I am not going to tag anyone. I know it’s breaking the last rule. Oh well.

BTW, does anyone know where the term “meme” comes from? I remember it being discussed in Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene as something that was like a cultural “gene”. I think he used the examples of Blue jeans and rock and roll. I wonder if his term has made it into Blog lingo and I wonder what he must think if that is indeed the case

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An article I liked from the NYtimes this week. The idea is very interesting although I think that the two artists are a little crazy (”Cradling Tentativeness” ?!?! Huh?). It took me a few minutes to really grasp the concept they were promoting. Make sure you watch the short slide show to see more of this crazy house. I am sure that houses this extreme would never be suitable to the general population (partly because Americans are so lazy) but it seems like we could do small things in homes and public spaces to encourage people to move more and do a wider range of motions. Although any good neuroscientist would tell you the brain would quickly adapt, elderly or not. So perhaps a house who’s obstacles could be easily modified or rearranged would be best.

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Finally, I am feeling quite a bit of green/consumer/recycling/trash generating guilt. I have finished up the cleaning up of the “disasssembled” lab room at work. The building manager wanted it all gone by Monday. I found new homes for lots and lots of old supplies and tried my hardest (even calling labs and lab managers and using a contact at a local high school) to see if they would take some of the remaining stuff. Lots of it was taken but there was still quite a bit left.

I am sure that some scientist somewhere could use the old stuff (like scintillation vials, test tube racks, etc) but I just could not find them in a timely manner….and so the sad news is I threw out about 6 garbage bags worth of old lab supplies. I wasn’t even part of this lab when the majority of it was purchased but still I feel guilty. A good environmentalist would of found homes for every single one of the usable items. Perhaps posting this to the world will absolve me of my environmental sins.

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Hmmmmmm, I kinda like this format. Very time efficient on my end. Maybe I will do this once a week until I get my time/life/brain back from graduate school.

Happy weekend everyone. I hope you all are doing more exciting things than I am.