Here is the weather for MN right now (8:00ish in morning) and up until tomorrow
Compare that to the weather in TX right now and up until tomorrow
I do admit that I’m smiling right now as I write this….
Remember that list of things I was hoping to do over these 4 days? Well, I was a bit derailed by my head.
I ended up with migraines on Thurs and Friday. At first on Thurs, I thought it was just a headache and it would get better. But just before I needed to go to the salon, it really intensified. I still went – I just wore earplugs and didn’t talk to anyone. And when I got home, I took my super-strong medication and rested, and tah-dah, it went away. But when that happens, I’m pretty much house-bound with reading and minimal computing.
Then the same headachey feeling came back on Friday!? This reminded me of what happened a month or so ago when I stopped using my humidifier (because it needed to be cleaned). This time, I’d stopped using it, because I couldn’t seem to get it working. However, HB came to the rescue. Before he left for work Friday morning, he got it working.
Today, after sleeping with my humidifier again, I’m headache free.
I usually don’t like to talk about my health, but this whole humidifier thing has been rather eye-opening. Minnesota must be particularly dry or something. It is odd, though, because I don’t have this problem in TX when I visit there (and don’t use one). Puzzling, I say.
Anyway, yesterday, I went ahead to the movie theater and saw Earth. It was really good. They did a really nice job of starting in the Arctic in January and then progressing through the year and the globe and ending up again in the Arctic in December. It had its usual sad predator-prey moments, and another sad moment (I won’t say, in case you watch it), but it had a joyous ending. I got chills watching parts of it. Some of the shots that they got of migrations were just incredible. I don’t know how they manage to be up in the air at just the right time and place to film them – particularly the birds. They had some shots of birds trying to migrate over the Himalayas that were just spectacular.
As for my other plans, today, I may or may not weed. I don’t want to stir up my allergies. I need to have a clear head and throat to sing that mini-solo in church tomorrow.
I did call the garden center and they said that the official last frost date is around May 20. And she said not to plant anything before Sunday, because someone there had told her that there was a frost warning between now and then. So, my annuals will wait a little longer. That’s okay. I’ll have them soon enough.
That is pretty much my excitement. I just finished the last book in a Fantasy fiction series that my friend from my post-doc got me started on. It is the Summoning series by Robin D. Owens. It was good.
This week, my copy of Hearts and Bones arrived and so did the Spymaster’s Lady. I might read my library books first, though, and save them for later, since my library books have due dates. We’ll see.
I’ll keep you posted on how they turn out. 
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.
Per my usual Saturday routine over breakfast, I was just getting ready to check some blogs of yours. But then it hit me that I haven’t updated my own blog since my b-day on the 12th. *bad blogger! shame on me!* 
I could use being busy as my excuse, which is completely true. But the other part of it is that A) I didn’t feel like whining and B) nothing totally major has happened that ‘warrants’ blogging.
However, maybe some medium (but not minor and major) things have happened that are worth sharing.
1) Being busy.
Things are crazy this semester and they are just going to stay crazy as I give exams and have to grade these big lab research papers that my first year students wrote for Intro Bio. Most nights I have to do prep for lectures for the next day. Usually, I spend Saturday prepping for Monday. Sunday prepping for Tuesday. IF I have time during the workday, I prep for Wed. But let me tell you, by Wed night I’m staying up until 10, 11, midnight, doing the prep for Thursday. Then Thursday is just like Wed night.
Hard stuff.
By Saturday, I’m so exhausted that my prep for Monday is too slow, which is why I only get the prep for Monday done and not, for example, all of Monday and then half of Tuesday or something like that.
I’m really looking forward to Easter Break. (Thurs, Fri and Monday off) Yay for working at a religious school!
2) Maybe this is major. Job security.
I asked my chair to write the high-up people to find out my status for next year. In other words, am I being rehired, as expected, or did the letter telling me I wouldn’t be rehired fall through the cracks? For some stupid reason, they send a letter if you won’t be rehired. But just don’t send anything if you will be. How dumb is that? What if the letter gets lost in the system?
Anyway, the end result is that I’m still expecting to be issued a contract next year when they do the contracts for everyone else. So, that is a relief. The very last thing I’d have time for right now is a job hunt.
3) Summer research
I have 2 super students lined up to do summer research with me. This research is strictly to get things going. It wouldn’t help my tenure process in the future – presuming I get a tenure-track position. BUT it will A) allow me to apply for outside funding, if the results are decent and B) potentially get hired for that tenure-track position that they should have this fall.
4) The lab for my molecular biology class.
First, I LOVE the lab. It is a bit hectic, because the students take about twice as long to get stuff done as I do (if not more). So, I think that things are going to fit in the amount of time alotted to lab, and then they end up staying late. *sigh*
Second, I am replacing an outdated set of labs (Southerns) with an updated set of labs (sequencing). This seemed like it would be simple, because the labs were done in the Intro Bio class last semester. But, of course, in actuality it has been really hard. This is because A) when I ran through the labs to optimize them and check that everything is working, I got DISMAL results. Pretty much 3 reactions out of 6 worked. And there was no pattern to what worked.
BUT B) I just got the data yesterday from a second attempt that 7 out of 8 reactions worked! And the one that didn’t work was the one with the max amount of DNA in it. This is something that the company actually warns against, so it fits with their recommendations. Yay! Something that makes sense!
C) I got this working barely in time, since I have to give the students the next part of the manual on Thursday.
D) The manual.
It took me all of last Saturday, and part of Sunday to write the dang manual that I gave them on Wednesday! It was an incredible time sink. (look back at number 1 for how this was a major problem for lecture prep too)
E) Part of why I thought the expts were screwed up, was because the freezer holding the enzyme for the sequencing wasn’t hooked up to a generator when the power was out for 24 h. But that appears to not be an issue. Thank goodness. A missing extension cord could’ve been the reason for a loss of a $200 loss of enzyme. And how stupid is it that if you are the person responsible for the hook-up that you wouldn’t just go to a store and buy more extension cords???? I mean, come on, $20 extension cord vs $200 enzyme? Isn’t that a no brainer?
5) Singing for volunteer service
My church organized a day where they tried to get everyone at the church to volunteer for a couple of hours (or for 2 blocks of time, if possible). As it turned out, one of them was a recital for an assisted living complex. So, I prepped a couple of songs (acapella, because there was no time to get accompaniment lined up), and sang. I sang “Everlasting Arms” and “I’ll Fly Away,” 2 lively gospel songs.
I also led the whole group of church people in a song that we often sing at church to close the service. Probably not one you’ve heard of, because it is contemporary, but it was “Reign in Me.”
It was a good service opportunity. I’m glad I squeezed the time into my schedule to do it and didn’t just use the excuse of “I’m too busy.” Of course, I did it by skipping the church service that morning, but hey, you have to prioritize.
Okay, that was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay longer than I thought it would be. I guess this shows me that I need to update more frequently even when I only have “minor to medium” things going on.
One final note: Even though teaching is really crazy this semester it is still FAR better for me than research everyday. And next year will be easier, because it will be some of the things I taught this year.
So, on Monday when I was out walking I felt this pain on my arm. I looked down and had this big ol’ bug (black fly? horse fly?) chomping on me. I eeeeked and slapped at it and it flew off. Then, probably 5 min later, it was back! Since then, the 2 spots have been itching like the devil. I think it is time to buy some anti-itch/burn ointment with lidocaine in it. ugh.
That, compiled with the bird that attacks me near my half-way point is enough to keep me from walking.
I have actually altered my route lately and moved my half-way point shorter so that the bird doesn’t attack me. Of course, with it being hot, I am pretty much walking back and forth in the shaded section lately (the bird is on the sunny/hot section). But still. Damn bird.
Speaking of itching and flying (well, in a round about way) I’m also itching to fly away on vacation.
Just found out today that I have to do one more pain-in-the-ass experiment before I leave. This is to teach a grad student in the lab how to do it – for posterity. This would be the experiment that I was optimizing for 3 months and that took me 6 months more to actually get the data that is in the paper. That would be a total of 9 months out of my 2 years here. All for one figure in a paper. That would be ONE, numero uno, figure. Not two, but one. one.
I sound grumpy, don’t I? I think itching for a night and a day is getting to me.
Flowers will be on Friday. I actually took a whole ton of close-ups yesterday. So, I’m good for a couple months or more. There, something to smile about.
That and, can you say vacaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaation?
I’m happy because in a week and a half, I go on vacation to TX!
In the meantime, I am doing things in the lab to wrap up my work. I’ve made sure there is an index in the front of each lab notebook. I found the best experiments and put them into a summary sheet. I photocopied and organized data that will be followed up by a grad student in the lab. I updated all of my protocols, including how to make solutions of different drugs. All good stuff.
I do this, because it is not only getting time for me to leave (last day Aug 5), but my experiments have been a bust. So, I don’t have much else to do with my time that is related to lab work. I have been prepping lectures for my new job here and there too.
I took some photos of our deck flowers in the middle of the week, but I had to come into work today before getting a chance to download them from my camera. So, I think I’ll wait until I do a few up-close (macro) shots and then post them.
In other news, I’ve been doing well walking this week. On the day when it was hot and muggy, I walked back and forth in the shaded part of where I walk. It is probably about 0.25 miles, so I did it several times until I hit my usual 40ish min, 2.5-3 miles distance. I have now worked through my 4 walking music mixes and have tweaked a couple of them when I ran short on songs or when the song was too slow.
Not much else happening. Lab work, home, reading, TV and movies.
Oh, speaking of TV…
… there is a friend of a friend of SeaQueen’s who is on the reality show I Survived a Japanese Gameshow. I think it is on Tuesday nights at 9:00 eastern/8:00 central. It was hilarious. The participants had no idea what they were getting into, they just knew they were going to be on a reality show. They didn’t know they were going to Japan, that they were going to be competing for $250,000 or anything. It is definitely more interesting knowing to watch out for a particular person.
And did anyone else watch the NASA special on Discovery the past few weeks? I thought it was really well done. Of course, HB and I have always been fascinated with space flight and NASA, so we were particularly enthralled.
See ya’ later!
Another food first for me this week; I got to go out for tapas for the first time! Our lab went out for tapas as part of a recruiting effort for a potential post-doc who was interviewing.
It was a lot of fun and the food was awesome. The numbers in our party were just perfect, because we got this tasting menu where you get 8 different dishes. And each dish has 3 items on it (mostly). We got 2 sets of 8 and there were 6 of us, so we always each got a piece. I had things like crab, flounder, lamb, cherry tomatos (still a bit scared of other tomatos), awesome cheese, dates, chorizo, deviled eggs, lots of green veggie things with a vinegary flavor that were fantastic, and other things that I just can’t remember.
The interviewee is a lot of fun and it is too bad that I wouldn’t still be in the lab when he comes, if he decides to come. All in all, it has been quite a good week!
I had sushi for the first time last night. We were going to go out for sushi 4-5 years ago, but HB was on the Atkin’s diet at the time and the whole rice thing didn’t work.
Since there is a new restaurant in town down the road from us, we went and tried it out. This place also considered themselves “fusion.” I was torn between getting some traditional “sushi” rolls or a tuna steak (cooked) that had a tasty sounding description. In the end, I decided to get the rolls, since part of the point of going out (in my mind) was to try something new. I got California rolls with (cooked) crab and avocado. They were really cheap, only $5 for about 6 or 7 pretty decent sized pieces. Of course, there is a lot of rice in them, so I can see why they wouldn’t be that expensive.
I also got a house specialty called Crazy Monkey Rolls that had smoked Norwegian salmon, cream cheese, mango, rice, seaweed (of course), avocado, and mango drizzle on top. They were really yummy. I’m glad I got 2 types of rolls, because I kind of needed the difference in flavors to alternate. HB helped me finish them. It was too much food for just me.
I also tried HBs Sashimi (raw fish). He got yellowfin tuna and walu. The walu was a substitute for a different tuna called toro that he really likes, but is evidently hard to find at restaurants (they had run out of it too). The yellowfin tuna was pretty tasteless, but the walu was good. I wouldn’t have wanted an order of it, like he had, but it was fine to taste. I also tried his sake, which reminded me a lot of whisky or scotch.
Finally, we got dessert – green tea ice cream for HB and lychee sorbet for me. I really liked them both, but was happy with my sorbet.
All in all, it was a good food experience. I’m glad we went.
Have you had sushi? What kinds?
WEEEEEEEEEEEEELL,
My interview day went extremely well. So well, that they called me yesterday and offered me the job! I accepted with pleasure and excitement.
So, here’s how it went down.
The position is available (it is a 1 year position), because one of their faculty members is leading a study abroad the spring semester. He normally teaches a molecular biology course and some intro bio. Also, they are perpetually short on teachers for intro bio. They can have about 500 students that take intro bio and since the classes are 25-30 students, they need a ton of teachers. So, a full work-load is 2 lecture sections and 3 labs. Fortunately, for the fall, my 2 lecture sessions will be intro bio – so I can do one prep. And the 3 labs are also intro bio – again, one prep. Which will be awesome. In the spring, I’d do the molecular biology class with 2 lab sections (12 people apiece), and then an intro bio session with 1 lab.
!!
The molecular bio class is _right_ up my alley. It is an excellent, excellent fit. I initially thought it was more of a genetics course, but that isn’t the case at all.
So, the day – I found all of this out as we walked over to lunch. I had lunch with the guy I’d be replacing, the director of the intro bio course, and the department chair. I wasn’t sure if it was time for me to ask _them_ questions, or if it was for them to ask _me_ questions – so I started asking them questions. After I got a feel for the coursework, the level of abilities of the students (which is quite varied in the intro course), teaching methods, that sort of thing – they asked me a few questions about my experiences. It was not nerve wracking at all and I was very comfortable talking about myself.
Then I spent some time being shown around the laboratories and seeing all of their equipment. It will be a change from being in a super well-stocked molecular biology lab, but it isn’t like they are in the dark ages either. They’ve got more microscopes per student than the U of M has, where they have to share some of the time. The lecture rooms are all outfitted with digital projectors and podiums with computers, so they are all set for teaching via powerpoint and that sort of thing.
I met with the director of the intro bio course briefly. We were actually running out of time to talk. But he is the one that my mentor for whom I’ve been guest lecturing, called up and told him he should hire me. So, the wheels were greased for that one.
I then met with the Dean/Associate Provost. That was actually very easy as he was there to tell me about the school and doesn’t make any hiring decisions, so there was no “interview-like” process. The only thing about it is that it went for a full hour and we had to rush back to the building where I was giving my talk.
For my talk, we basically walked in at the time it was supposed to start – plugged in my flash drive, waited for powerpoint to come up – it came up, and he introduced me and I started. It was a little fast, but worked out fine.
My talk was very well received. There were fewer faculty than I was expecting, and about 20-30 students (they are required to attend a certain number of seminars for class, I think). Everyone seemed to be following it and I appeared to hold their attention. I think it helps that I link what I do back to Parkinson’s and drug addiction – which are more exciting than not mentioning them at all.
Then supper. The drive to supper was with the most senior and respected member of the department. The chair actually “warned” me that his word carries a lot of weight – which was extremely nice of her to tell me that. The other person had been dean of the school for 7 years, so was also more senior and was the one who asked the pointed questions. I won’t go into all of the questions, but suffice to say that I didn’t eat much of my soup, bread or salad. As we got into the main part of dinner, I was able to ask them some questions and have time to eat.
I kinda expected it to be like that. The questions were mostly telling them about my experience. Or at least, that is what I turned them into. My questions for them were mostly (again) hearing more opinions about styles of teaching, methods for helping the students stay on top of the material, expectations of the students, that sort of thing. And some about their feelings toward the school and students – which is just amazing.
I asked the chair about more permanent opportunities and she said 2 things 1) they always have a shortage of faculty to teach, so there will likely be positions in the future 2) they have a few people who are getting close to retiring, which would open up some tenure-track lines. SOOOOOOOOOO, very encouraging.
I have to commute pretty far. But it won’t be any longer than what I did in MA. And if I get something more permanent, we’d move up that direction.
I couldn’t believe they called me the very next day! At dinner, they told me that would be the case. So, I knew I didn’t have long to wait. Which was awesome.
Oh, and evidently my letters of recommendation were (probably) what got me in the door. They asked me why “some other school hadn’t snatched me up”. And I basically told them that I thought it was because the other schools only asked for names to contact and were using CVs (resumes) as a way to weed out people – and that my letters were (probably) very strong. And they said “oh yes, very strong” with lots of nodding. That and my presentation were the key, I think.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO. All in all, I’m VERY excited! Pretty soon, I’ll be “Professor Danielle X”! wooo hoooooo.