Danielle Blog

In lieu of flowers….

… give information.

So, since I don’t have any flower or fuzzy friend friday pics, I thought I would just write up a post about how things are going.

It is a new semester at school and I am on the verge of getting approval to lecture in a general biology course for non-majors. The instructor is okay with my teaching a lecture on viruses and prions. The woman who is the director of the Biology Program is fine with my teaching – she is actually the one who recommended that I teach in this particular course and section. Now I just need the nice man in the middle who is in charge of the course as a whole to agree. Hopefully that will go through today. I am also going to teach some labs, I think. But the details on that still need to be worked out.

Along the same lines, I am on the wait list to get into this course which is about learning how to be a good faculty member – what to expect, what to watch out for, be aware of, that sort of thing – and the other half of the course is doing this mentorship. If I get into the course, I’ll need to turn my teaching that I just told you about, into an official mentorship. So, think good thoughts for me on this front.

My work at the lab is progressing on one front. I’m writing up a manuscript for publication about the work that I’ve done in the year and a half that I’ve been there. I’ve done a first draft on every part of it, except for the introduction (which my advisor likes us to do last). The intro is supposed to be short, so it ought to be relatively straightforward. I’ll get to it next week, I hope. I’m trying to replicate one last experiment to go into the paper, which has been frustrating. Big surprise there. Research is frustrating, in my humble opinion.

This weekend I go to the US Figure Skating Championships. I got the tickets as Christmas presents from HB. I get to see the finals for the top 10 men, the top 20 women, the top 10 pairs (where they throw the girl across the ice and do all of the lifts), and the top 10 ice dancing. I’m allowed to take my camera – no flash photography – but it ought to be well lit. I’m not as close as I was for So You Think You Can Dance… and my photos will probably be more for me to remember than to show you, but you never know. Maybe I’ll get a few good ones.

I love ice skating. Although I can’t skate myself (except to an extent where I hurt my feet), it is my favorite sport. Gymnastics runs a close 2nd. Note that the finals are televised, so tune into your local stations if you want to see them. The womens finals are Sat night and the men’s finals are 1-5pm on Sunday. I think that they are live, although perhaps they are tape delayed…. I’m not really sure.

Finally, singing at church is going really well. I’m learning enough of the songs that each week I only have to learn 2-3 new ones (instead of all 6 or 7). For lent, I’m singing at special services they are holding on Wed. nights. That will be good, I think. Sundays are a long day with being there at 7:30 and getting done around 11:30. Wed nights will be shorter. 2 hours I think including practice.

Well, that is all for now. Take care and have a good weekend!