April 27, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 3 Comments
I’m getting closer to the end of the semester. I have finished about half of the grading for lab. I think it has taken me about 5-6? hours so far. So, with one big final push, I should manage to get it done. I really want to get it back to them at least a few days before the last day of class so that they can look it over and see if they have any issues with the grading…
In other news, I wrote the last lab manual section last week. I was up until 12:30 finishing it – sucky. But, I think it turned out well. I won’t really know until we have lab. I hope that when the prof who regularly teaches this comes back, he will use some of it. Alternatively, that some of my ideas are incorporated into the Intro Bio labs. Note that these labs are the sequencing of a portion of mitochondrial DNA that can be used to follow heredity through the female line of your family. There are 83 sequences from around the world that you can align your DNA with and see how your ancestors might have migrated. It was designed by the Dolan Learning Center, which has some cool lab ideas for high school and college students. The funny thing about the protocol is that they’ve designed the PCR so that the students can use waterbaths to cycle their reactions!! For those of you that know PCR, you’ll realize how hilarious this is. For those of you that don’t, suffice to say that this is how PCR was done in the early years (early 80’s I think).
We had a day last week that was solely dedicated to student presentations of their research and projects. It was really interesting. The best part about it, I think, was that I discovered a chemistry prof who is interested in some of the same kinds of proteins that I’m going to be studying. Maybe we can find some overlap and collaborate!
I sang at church yesterday. Practice fell on the night of the student presentation day, and I thought I’d be able to leave early and come home. However, it turned out that I wanted to work on lecture prep (and that lab manual). Instead, I basically sat down to unwind with about 30 min of American Idol and then slumped down on the couch and went to sleep at about 8:30. I ended up waking up around 10:3 and just going to bed. I felt minimally guilty about not going to practice. I knew all but one of the songs. And for that one, I learned it Sunday morning in about 10 min by showing up early. It was the really cool new song that I’ve been wanting to sing up front. Here is a youtube of it. This youtube is a bit slower than we sing, but pretty close. If you want to skip to the chorus, go 1:00 min into it.
And I think I’ll end there. 
April 18, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 4 Comments
I have little bits and pieces from this week to share with you.
**updated below**
1. I received my internal grant for summer research supply money! I am now in good shape to do the kinds of experiments I have hoped to be able to do with my 2 summer students. I spoke briefly with the person on the committee who is in the Bio department and he said that my proposal was well received. So, hopefully, if/when I go back to them for money to attend conferences to present this work (that I hope to accomplish), that will also be well received.
2. My Wii fit age was 29 on Monday!! Since I’m 35, this is quite exciting. Also, I’ve lost a wee bit of weight (a few pounds), but nothing extraordinary. I’m more excited that I’m beating myself at some of the games, whether they be balance (my favorites), yoga, strength, or aerobics. I’m improving in all of them. AND I’m getting to the point where I can do super hula-hoop without making my heart rate get too high.
3. I used a new lecture system this week by using a document camera. It is basically a live image camera that points down at the table. I can have my lecture slides on paper instead of transparencies and write all over those now. Now, I just have to wait on the tablet PC that Information Technologies has ordered for me…
… when I can use THAT for my lectures, it will be really seamless (and a better quality). Right now, I fight a little bit with focus and white balance.
4. I only have 2 weeks left of lecturing! Then review sessions, finals, grading finals….
… getting closer.
I have one lab to go, but a LOT of grading to get done. (I just sighed while thinking about it, and HB heard me and asked what is wrong.) It is weighing on me, but right now I’m just barely able to get my lectures done in time. So, grading labs, which aren’t as pressing, is hard to get done.
5. The weather has improved here dramatically. I went for 2 outside walks last weekend. Also, the greenery for the tulips is probably up 5 inches or so. The rest of the perennials are starting to show green sprouts too.
*** update ***
6. This morning there were two ducks in our back yard! Two mallards. One male and one female. I can only assume they were looking for a place to build a nest…
… alas, I was going to go discreetly out on the deck to take their picture and just opening the door scared them off. No ducklings for us (probably). Probably for the best, since the neighbor kids extend their play area into our yard all the time, and if the adults didn’t like me opening the door, then a game of football nearby would definitely not suit their need for peace and quiet.
April 12, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 8 Comments
even though this last one is overexposed, I kinda like it.
Happy Easter everyone!
April 10, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 7 Comments
So, I officially took yesterday off from work. It felt sooooooooooooooo good.
The main chunk of my day was visiting school where I did my post-doc. I had a Dr’s appointment there (yearly checkup for dermatology), and since I was in the area, I got together with a friend that I haven’t seen this school year. She took the same class that I’d taken with Preparing Future Faculty. So, it was good to swap teaching stories. She is also looking for post-docs and getting her thesis finished. So, that was good to hear.
I also stopped by my old lab and had a quick 45 min chat with my good friend there. We’ve also had trouble getting together this semester. My weekends are just too filled with frantically preparing for upcoming lectures this semester, and when I had time on Spring Break and then this break, she has had family visiting. It was good to see her too. I look forward to spending the day with her in May when classes are over and I’m on my short break before summer research starts.
Other than that, I did some Wii fit and caught up on my Dancing with the Stars.
HB is on a special project right now – I can’t talk about it – which means he is pretty much gone 4-5 weekdays. It is a little weird having him gone so much, but we are managing. And it is right career move for him. High profile but VERY high risk.
Let’s face it, we are both overachievers/perfectionists and workaholics, so our schedules mesh pretty well right now.
Okay, now it is time to face the exam grading that I didn’t do yesterday. They are looking pretty good right now. I’m a bit worried that the exam was too easy….
…. but how do I know if it is too easy, or if I did my job teaching and the students learned the material really well? This is the problem with having a departmental goal of having a class average of a C for Intro Bio courses. It is “acceptable” to have a B average for an upper division. I’m just hoping I don’t get in trouble if my Intro Bio average is too high this semester.
*sigh*
I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Oh, and on a flower note: I bought some purple tulips yesterday. So, look for some photos on Easter. I will definitely take enough of a break this weekend to get some close-ups. And now that I’ve told you about it, I’ll actually get it done. 
April 4, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 4 Comments
Another week has passed. This one, work-wise, was much better than the last.
I only had one night where I stayed up until midnight doing something that I thought was going to take a couple of hours – that turned into 4. It was preparing the lab manual for the week, again, that took so much time. So, relatively enjoyable work, but work, nonetheless.
We had a snow day on Tuesday. Of course, the sucky part is that they didn’t cancel classes until I’d driven all the way up to school through the really dangerous part. My drive is usually 1.5 h, so snow really tacks on another chunk. And this time, I saw a car UPSIDE DOWN on the side of the road. That is the first time I’ve seen one upside down due to sliding off of the road. Pretty scary shit.
I was told by some faculty that I could’ve canceled my class on my own and not wait for the official school closing. But, of course, I didn’t know that until after the fact. I figured that would be frowned upon. And being an adjunct, I feel I have to be particularly careful of holding classes at all times.
Anyway, the timing was such that we didn’t have molecular biology lab this week, which was somewhat of a blessing.
AND next week, we don’t have classes on Thursday and Friday, or the Monday after Easter – have I mentioned this already? I think I might have. It shows you just how much I’m looking forward to this break! God bless religious schools that value the religious holidays. I’m looking forward to attending Good Friday service at my church. Last year, it was really moving.
In other news, I did a playdough modeling exercise of the lac operon with my molecular biology students this week. I think they learned from it. I realized that a bunch of them missed a critical question on a quiz related to the lac operon, and I needed to do SOMEthing to cement it in their heads. On my drive in, I was dwelling on this, and came up with the modeling exercise.
This is part of the reason I don’t mind my commute. People keep asking me how I’m handling it. I suppose I am one of those strange people that needs a LOT of time to process my day and brainstorm upcoming ideas. Without that time, my teaching and exam designs would be a lot different.
More importantly though, it is 3 hours a day where I listen to music. People also think that I’d need to spend my commute listening to books on tape to keep from getting bored. But what they don’t realize, and what is so hard to put into words, is just how critical music is to my life and happiness. I’ll admit, this is something that drew me to lab work. I love that I can do work and listen to music while doing it. It really changes my perspective and my satisfaction with my day. Every now and then, I can grade papers while listening to music. But it is hard, because I have to block out the words to the songs. And I haven’t found (although I haven’t searched too hard) for instrumental music that works for me. Techno is too repetitious and almost anxiety-inducing. And symphonic/orchestral music doesn’t really do it for me most of the time. I kinda like Enya/new age…. maybe I should look into that more seriously.
The one other thing that was nice this week, was that I got together with the 2 other “young” female faculty in my department to celebrate my b-day. We went out for drinks/supper/snacks after our departmental meeting. It has been a good bonding and venting time. I would like to do it more, but one of them has kids that she has to pick up from daycare and school. So, it is trickier for her. But the same woman is the model that the department is using to revise 3rd year review and tenure requirements, so it is good to hear her perspective about how she handles things related to teaching and research. I try to absorb as much experience as I can from my colleagues.
Well, I guess that is all for this week.
Keep happy thoughts up for SeaQueen. She is in the final weeks of finishing the writing of her thesis for her PhD. She has a really tough time right now. And she is under the gun to make an April deadline so that she can get her hood at commencement this Spring.