A scientist's lifeDiary of a postdoctoral scientist, who works tirelessly in a lab somewhere.Goddamn them- September 16, 2008 I was preparing this post, with a starting sentence as follows: "How sweet it is to beat the (Devil) Rays...." Well, that didn't happen, now, did it I was kind of ticked off, since I actually did watch yesterday's game in full. Yes, from 12am (BST) to 3am. And why is it that I never ever watch a blowout I have a dilemma though. Do I start my live-baseball watching life now, or in October (http://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/09/goddamn-them.html On depression- September 15, 2008 Reading posts over at Lecturer Notes and Kyle, I was thinking maybe I should say a bit about a more personal matter. This isn't something I would normally do, since this blog is just a scientific rant blog; I also don't particularly like to talk about it in the public domain, since I hate sob stories. And I feel like an exhibitionist, you know, boasting about my problems and how I overcame them.http://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-depression.html Chests and breasts- September 13, 2008 Reading comments over at DM, it made me think. Some women are happy showing their femininity and cleavage (cue Dr.Isis). But have you ever met one of those lothario-esque, top 5 buttons undone, chest hair showing male specimen at a scientific conference I have met a student who was like that (as in, oozing sexy male-ness, with ass hugging jeans, and a nice ass to go with it too. No chest hair,http://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/09/chests-and-breasts.html The merits of a Ph.D.- September 13, 2008 A few people land on my blog via Google searches about Ph.D.s (search terms either "to do or not to do" or "I hate Ph.D."). They normally find this post, which I wrote over a year ago. I've been thinking about writing a positive post regarding doing a Ph.D. for a while. There are so many negative posts about it out there in the web. Of course, people only say something when things are goinghttp://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/09/merits-of-phd.html More libation and evilness- September 13, 2008 I was going to continue my journey down Bourbon Street, starting with the Jim Beam green label. But then I started drinking my "Evil Drink", Old Rip van Winkle 10-year old, 107 proof. This bottle has such a pretty, artistic label, and I just had to have it just to decorate my drinks cabinet (okay, it's more a corner of my cupboard), despite the price (it is basically double what I normallyhttp://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/04/more-libation-and-evilness.html Working hard- September 12, 2008 In between watching the Red Sox hopefully do something against the Jays this weekend, I shall be going in to work to try and squeeze a couple of more experiments in before teh move. I suspect that we will have to wind down about a week before - the hoods need to be fumigated and decommissioned before moving - but myself, I am setting two whole days for the packing. At least I don't have to worryhttp://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/09/working-hard.html Dumbass postdoc- September 12, 2008 I was talking to some of my ex-colleagues, trying to get a vector which has been discontinued (as well as catching up on gossip, and just chatting - amazing how a 15-minute trip to the homeland becomes a 90-minute catching-up session). Recently I received a couple of plasmids, with inserts in this discontinued vector pABC. I looked at one of the plasmid maps they sent with is, and it had beenhttp://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/09/dumbass-postdoc.html The scary postdoc bullies students- September 12, 2008 All the blogging I have done with regards to George, and all the negative ideas, must show in my attitude and my facial expressions, because George is now wary of me. Which is of course a good thing. This means he won't bother me uselessly and endlessly, and it also means that he wasted his time doing an ill-timed Bradford assay today. In our lab, the plate-reader and luminometer (it's backhttp://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/09/scary-postdoc-bullies-students.html I don't think I like you- September 12, 2008 George (yes, him again) and I were discussing his lates results on the corridor, when BigBoss walks by and stops to have a chat with us. The result we were discussing was to do with this particular stable cell-line, which have to be under antibiotic selection at all times. Through one reason or another, George hadn't been adding antibiotics (discussed in a previous post). I don't know whetherhttp://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-dont-think-i-like-you.html Southern Exposure- September 10, 2008 Went jogging yesterday down a cycling lane (oft used by walkers, joggers and cyclists alike), and on my way to the U-turn point of my course, two lady runners stopped me and asked where I was going. Apparently, about a km further down, there were two guys who were exposing themselves (to passers-by, not to each other, I suspect. I mean, there are bushes around, but we aren't talking Hampsteadhttp://labcoats.blogspot.com/2008/09/southern-exposure.html |