October 2006
hey mom I made the paper
This afternoon, our lab administrator, the lovely Howard, came over to tell me that as he browsed the internet, he stumbled upon this blog. (Hi Howard, if you're reading this!) Then I realized that this article had come out. I had not known that the blogs would make the Stanford Report when I signed up for this... eep!
The most interesting part of the article was this summary of where this year's students are coming from. 4 from Caltech? Strange to think of it, but I probably have no idea who the other 3 techers are, as it's likely I graduated before they started. 2 from New Jersey? Where my homie at? Average age of 24? Yeah, I guess I already knew I am a bit on the older side.
I guess I should get on with describing my first week of classes.
It's been a week of highs and lows.
The best part has definitely been my lab rotation. Since I spent the past year and a half in an immunology lab, I'm pretty comfortable there. The Nolan lab does a lot of FACS work, which I have some experience in. I'm really looking forward to doing some 12 color FACS (if my rotation project calls for it). More importantly, I'm excited to work out what my rotation project will be. I have some vague ideas drifting around that I need bounce off my new labmates. I'll have to use my rotation project to get preliminary data for a grant proposal, which I'm nervous about. I haven't written a grant before (I haven't done much scientific writing since my master's thesis 3 years ago) so I definitely want to do this right.
The absolute worst part of the week was getting around this blasted place. (term of endearment, I promise.) Most of the week, I made Robin drive me into campus as my legs and feet were still useless from the BIOMASS camping trip. And of course, traffic was horrible. I spent a good chunk of my first Genetics class wandering around the quad trying to find a building that didn't exist (I wrote down the wrong number) and when I asked for directions, I was immediately asked if I was a freshman. The final indignity was trying to find a way home via mass transit. I couldn't find the stop for the Palo Alto free shuttle, got passed by when I finally found it, and then spent way too long wandering around my neighborhood trying to find a shortcut to my apartment complex. There are way too many loops around here. And streets that should be labeled "not a thru street" but aren't.... This week, I have a new pair of shoes, and lights for my bike, so hopefully getting to/from/around campus will be easier.
I'm still working on being productive in the evenings (hard after 3 years of leaving work behind when I leave at 5pm). The sheer volume of information being thrown at me is slightly intimidating. I'm used to studying formulas, not inches of text. That said, this text is a lot more interesting than formulas for laminar flow and whatnot.
We'll see if this week is better than the last. It started out right; when I got home tonight, I was greeted by Robin's employment offer, and let's just say the salary is appropos for his ph.d. status. It looks like he'll be a good sugar daddy while I do my ph.d!
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