September 2006

ze goggles zey do noz-ing

This weekend, I went on the Biomass camping trip. I think there must be something about school sponsored camping trips; every single one I have attended leave me broken the next day. This particular time, I twisted my ankle 2 miles into a 11 mile hike. (I was trying to take a photo while walking along the trail.) Between that and general soreness, I'm a bit of a mess.

Just in time for classes to start!

Robin oh so kindly woke me up with a glass of water and 2 advil this morning. Then he packed me a lunch, and drove me onto campus. The advil and ankle brace do their part, and I can walk around ok, albeit rather slowly. This was nerve-racking with all the bikers whizzing by. Boy, campus got really busy all of a sudden.

I went to my first (and only) class of the day, Biosci 230 (immunology). Actually, it is the very first class I have been to in almost 3 years. Thankfully, I did not fall asleep. Even more thankfully, the material is not totally unfamiliar, so I don't foresee that it will be a struggle. The real test will be how Genetics treats me tomorrow.

Then I ate lunch outside with Nancy, a college classmate who is starting her master's in bioscience. It's really nice to have an old familiar face around. It's also really good to have someone to talk to about buying property, juggling kids with career, and other subjects that I don't necessarily feel I can broach with some of my other classmates who are more recently out of college.

I have the afternoon off till the Biomass orientation and dinner, so I'm going to hunker down in the library and do some reading for my lab rotation. I will NOT surf the web. I will NOT play the neat little web game that my husband discovered this weekend. (http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/core.html if you're curious. muahahaha.)

supposedly oriented

The past 3 days, I've felt a bit like I am back in my freshman year of college all over again. Just as I was one of about 20 freshman who were inducted into Blacker House (Tech's equivalent to a 100 person frat), I am now one of 13 first years into the ~ 60 person immunology ph.d. program.

We've spent the majority of these three days listening to research presetantions by professors with open spots in their labs. Lunches at the Bing Dining Room have offered some opportunity to socialize as well. So far I've found everyone in my class to be likeable, which bodes well for the rest of the year. (Who wants to ask for homework help from someone you don't like/respect?)

This weekend, I'm heading to Big Basin with a bunch of other Biosciences students. I don't think many Immunology first years are going, so I'll be hanging out with other folks. I'm curious to see who I recognize from interview weekend.

first afternoon on campus

I've stopped by campus a few times in the past couple weeks, but today I spent a full afternoon there. Now I really feel like a student, and a lot of the butterflies in my stomach have calmed down.

I'll be doing my fall rotation with Garry Nolan's lab, so I spent an hour and a half chatting with him about what classes I'm taking, what I'm interested in research-wise, who I should be working with for my rotation. I have a big pile of papers to peruse in the last few days before classes.

After a lot of introductions and a tour of the lab, I headed off to a FlowJo class. I showed up in time to see the end of the basic section, and then watched the advanced portion of the presentation. I felt pretty good after that; with the exception of one neat overlay trick and the commands to make movies, I had done most of the basic stuff in the past. The advanced portion was definitely informative, as I hadn't performed compensation via FlowJo previously. I may not have in depth knowledge of immunology right now, but I definitely have the lab experience to jump in.

After getting a keycard for CCSR and picking up forms to register my bike, I rode home. I'm really out of shape; all the walking and biking in the Boston area kept me fit, but I haven't done that in a month now. The half hour ride to/from campus isn't bad at all, but my legs are really tired tonight. I need to get both my mind and my body ready for this coming up semester!

my last free weekend

School doesn't start till next week. But orientation and other things start up in earnest this week, so I wanted to take advantage of my last free weekend before I dig in.

In summary, I hung out with some of my fellow first years, played a lot of World of Warcraft, and took a day trip out to Half Moon Bay.

Friday night, Robin and I headed to Christina and Xianne's (my fellow immunology first years) apartment on campus. After some requisite nerding out (comparisons of cloning experiences gone wrong) and fine beverages, we settled in for a game of Cranium and Taboo.

Oliver demonstrating a mermaid (charades) to Christina's puzzlement.

Xianne tries to identify Mike's frying pan.

Oliver, Mike, and Lori doing a club cranium charades for tofu. Yes, charading tofu means doing kung fu, apparently.

Saturday and Sunday nights, Robin and I spent online, playing World of Warcraft. Our guild has been progressing through an endgame dungeon that requires 40 people. We killed 4 bosses in all, the first 2 of which we had previously had trouble consistently killing, the last 2 of which we had never attempted before. It was really great to be part of a landmark achievement before I scale back my playing time, or stop altogether. At the moment, I still intend to play 1 night on the weekends, but clearly this is a low priority so for all I know, I might quit the game completely.

This is a screenshot someone took of the group who killed the 4th boss, Firemaw. My character is the big furry thing labeled "Jersey".

Sunday morning, Robin and I packed some sandwiches and drove to Half Moon Bay. We walked along a trail by Miramar Beach for awhile, then drove further north to a more secluded beach off a cliff. Turns out that second beach was secluded for a reason.... it was clothing optional! No, we didn't remove our clothing. We would have stuck out like sore thumbs, as the only folks without their clothes were all above 50. I think my favorite guy was the one walking around protecting his bald head with a hat. Protective of one head, not really caring about the other 2 between his legs.

The stairway down to the secluded beach, and the view from my towel.

What, were you expecting a photo of the old nude people? Nice try. Although Robin did grab my camera, turn me around, and proceed to take a picture of me with folks sunbathing in the background. Sheesh.

registration

I've been spending a few days as a couch potato. Robin is waiting to hear from a potential employer, and I'm just trying to relax before the 5-6 year grind starts. It's been very nice, but I'm starting to itch for something to do more than watch tv and play World of Warcraft.

Tomorrow I'm going to purchase a bike, go out to lunch with an old college friend (who coincidentally will be starting her master's in biosciences this fall, and will be taking an immuno class with me), and maybe do some clothes shopping.

More importantly, I finally got up off my ass (well, alt tabbed out of World of Warcraft), did some research on classes, and registered.

a few thoughts:

a) The whole thing was online. You'd think I'd have registered online before.... but I haven't. In college, I had to fill out a form and leave it for my advisor to sign off on before handing it in at the registrars. And while doing my master's, I did fill out something online, I think, but then I had to take a printout to the gym and get it stamped or something like that... along with thousands of other students.

you'd think that since my previous schools were Caltech and MIT, they'd have digitized the whole process by now. Go figure.

b) I registered for an extra class, so on top of the basic immunology course, genetics, seminar, and research, I'll be checking out an informatics class. Upon submitting my selection, I got notified that I wasn't able to add anymore classes or else I'd have to pay more tuition. Kinda makes me wonder, given my previous entry worrying about getting back into the groove of classes, whether I'm getting in over my head. Oh well, there's nothing to do but try it.

c) I rather like my schedule. I have 1 class on mon/wed/fri, and 2 classes and seminar tues/thurs. Leaves me nice big chunks of time 3 days a week to play around in lab.

d) NOW I feel accomplished. I've talked to a prof about rotating with him, and have worked out my classes. Somehow, that was more satisfying than unpacking our apartment. Definitely more satisfying than clearing Molten Core.

my first complaint

For the first time since Robin and I arrived almost a month ago, I am seriously irritated about a quality inherent in CA living.

Driving. Sucks.

We spent the last 5 years in the Boston metro area. The entire 5 years, we lived somewhere in between MIT and Harvard; hence, the idea of owning a car was laughable. Who needs a car when you can get on the T (Boston subway) for $1.25 and go basically anywhere in the city?

Robin always walked to school. I walked to school, and used various bus routes/T lines to get to work. We always lived within a 10 minute walk of the grocery store, and got a granny cart thing to tote our purchases.

But here? We're totally isolated without a car. It's made worse by the fact that we have to live off campus (no pets allowed on campus, and there was no way I was leaving my cat behind) and that there are two of us, so it's more likely that one of us is going to have to travel further to get to work or something.

And you're so... not mobile in a car. If I'm walking somewhere and realize I missed a turn, I just turn around and make my way towards the right direction. In a car, I have to get to the right lane, make a turn, often I can't U-Turn so I have to do some wackass maneuvering.... And then I have to worry about bumping into people (not damaging when you do it on the sidewalk as you walk!) and all that jazz.

And then of course we have car payments, car insurance, and gas to pay for.

What a hassle.

I miss the subway/bus system. I love the weather, love my school, love my classmates, love my apartment, but damn I hate driving.

and now for something completely different

I'm grateful that I have been given this amazing opportunity to study here. I'm grateful that I have the support of my friends and family. But most of all, I'm grateful to this man.

No, he's not for sale. Not for a billion dollars.

Robin has believed in me from the very start of this process. He quizzed me from flash cards while I was studying for the GRE. He took care of most of the household chores while I zipped around for grad school interviews. He turned down a very good job offer in DC so that I could come here.

He did all those things with the same panache as when he posed for the picture above.

So maybe I'm nervous about classes. But I have a husband at home who knows what I'm going through. That's worth a lot. More than 99 cents.

remembering how to be a student

Our boxes are almost all unpacked, and we've hung up most of our framed photos. Now I really feel moved in.

This leaves me with more time to think about the upcoming school year. Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say that I worry.

I've been out of school for about 3 years now. The last class I took was over 3.5 years ago, while doing my master's at MIT. The last semester I took more than 3 classes was about 5 years ago, during the first trimester of my senior year at Caltech.

This is not to say that I don't remember how to study. Last fall, I spent about 2 months studying for the Bio GRE, and that went well. And I sat in on a molecular/cellular biology class at MIT a little over a year ago and was able to absorb information from the lectures.

This is not to say that I am not looking forward to my new classes. Unlike most of my classmates, I am not coming from a biology background, so I definitely feel that my classes will be useful, informative, and interesting.

But even with all that in consideration, I am anxious. I haven't pulled an all nighter since I finished my master's thesis. I need my 8 hours of sleep. I'm not a young whippersnapper of 21 anymore.

In any case, I like to think that my age at least gives me a bit more focus, and a little added experience about the world in general. I've watched my husband go through the entire grad school experience, and I definitely feel I've learned something about how to be a grad student from him. And of course, my 3 years as a scientist at a company, and then as a lab tech in an immunology lab, will surely help me a ton when I start in on my thesis.

But classes. They still make me nervous.

yikes

Just as I thought Robin and I were really on top of things... our crate arrived. Gone are any thoughts of starting a lab rotation early; Robin would be furious if I left him to deal with this disaster alone!

Almost every square inch of our apartment is covered in boxes. At least Wirt is enjoying his new playground. The crazy cat is climbing as high as he can, playing a solo game of "king of the mountain". He also had fun with my old Furby from college days.... after we dug it out (upon hearing it start up because we jarred the box), Wirt sniffed at it, picked it up by the fur on top of the head, and carried it off.

I hope that we can be unpacked relatively soon. I really should get to a little pre-term reading, and preliminary research on profs I would like to rotate with.