Records of a Mad Scientist: Monday... a brief list

Monday, September 27, 2010

Monday... a brief list

8 am Biochemistry -- WE TALKED ABOUT DINOSAURS. DINOSAURS! Admittedly, we were doing protein sequencing, but still... DINOSAURS. The best part? The kids expression when he walked into the classroom and heard my teacher announcing that fossils involved the demineralization of bones...

10 am Cell Biology -- I had a two hour exam. It wasn't awful, I only really didn't know one question. Br finished first. I finished the middle of the pack. The only concerning area was the stiffness in my right hand. I feel like i need to do excersizes so I can hand write stuff.

12 pm Resource Room -- My school mandated office hours. I spent them hopping. I had three students on experiment 2 for the first semester chem class, three students on experiment 3 from the same class, four on the second experiment for the second semester freshman chem class, one wanting help with the second semester class, and a handful of students in "Kiddie Chem" who needed to pick up the quizzes. It was a ZOO! But, I think its always a zoo... Oh well....

2 pm LUNCH!!! -- Apparently I eat too many noodles. Also, I need to know how to do an ANOVA test. Any one want to volunteer to teach me? Anyone? Buehler? Buehler? Anyone?

4 pm Lab -- Students were done in about two hours. It was a triumph. I made a few notes, and generally they were a success...

6pm Email -- Apparently the labs are a mess after students leave. TAs now have to worry about the loss of equipment. Great! MORE things for me to do that threaten my work AND my job.

7 pm -- Returned home. Fell asleep.

9 pm Dinner and Work (again) --Peanut butter and honey on rye is kind of awesome. Castle is good. Lemon pudding is okay.

1 comment:

ADSeptember 28, 2010 at 9:11 PM
4 pm Lab -- Addendum:
This was a triumph!
I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Cast of Characters

AC -- AD's roommate. Famous for his frustration with his own epic procrastination and ability to curse the latin word on the tip of his tongue.
AD -- my boyfriend. Its new... and exciting... and hard from this distance. An aerospace engineer. Still goes to the famous former football giant across the road from the castle where I went to undergrad.
BD -- one of my best friends from undergrad. Another ex-boyfriend and part of my incestious little circle of friends. Has rigid boundaries that serve him well. Math major and genius.
Dr.jR -- head of the chemistry and biochemistry department. Researches NOM (not eating, sadly, but natural organic material). Nice, but unpredicatble.
DrA -- my research boss. Somewhere in his thirties and totally chill. The first PI I've ever met who bakes cookies during lab meetings.
DrR -- my teaching boss. Crotchety old man who doesn't take shit. Slightly sexist. Smokes like a chimney. A teddy bear.
JL -- our post doc in lab. Chineese. Tells me not to work so hard.
JP -- an ex-boyfriend of mine and sort-of friend. Suitmate of AD. Sort of an asshole. VERY crude. We tend to play off eachother. Once dropped his pants in the middle of a crowded room. Also, halo teabagged someone in real life. More than once. Signature phrase is "Dicking Fuck." Exemplifies why Physics and Math double majors scare me.
Kara -- basically the person who told me to write this.
Michael Cera -- guy in my program. Actually younger than I am (I was suprised). Very nice. Lutheran boy scout. Might decide to teach chemistry. Analytical chemist.
MK -- The youngest member of the Quad (AC, AD, JP and MK). Computer science major. Bearded. Sometimes more mature than his fellow seniors who can drink. More or less uncorrupted. It was adorable when he had his first girlfriend.
N -- my fabulous Indian roommate. Seriously, she is great. And, she feeds me.
St. Pat -- One of the guys in my program. Older than the rest of us by a few years. A good analytical chemist. Smart. Familiar with the works of Joss Whedon.
T -- my former roommate. Gave me a cold for my brithday. LIke, a stuffed one.

A few definations...

Cell Biology -- a field of biology that is basically their answer to the fact that life is based in chemistry. As a graduate level course, it has involved a 2 day lecture on atomic bonding and the Krebs cycle. These were things covered in my freshman chemistry and biology courses.
Cubby's -- My prefered non smoking bar in graduate school
Macrophage -- Somestimes called Macs; a type of immune cell, and the target of my research. I've been told they're ugly, but I think they're pretty cute when I get to dye them pretty colors with florescent dye or proteins and look at them under the microscope. I get geeky abou them.
Microscope -- Dr.A's big, expensive microscope that looks at cells. It can see brightfield (normal cells) and florescent ones. We can also see if protiens are clumping together with it.
Students -- I teach freshman science majors, except for the ones who want to be chemists. I have a lot of engineers, a handful of premeds and biologists, and quite a few pre-pharmacy. Sometimes agravating, often exhausting, and a huge time suck. I want them to suceed, which, according to my defination, is learn something.

WARNING: Scientific Content

I realize that not all of my readers are scientists (I think maybe 1/3?), and even fewer are chemists. So, I propose a science warning system.

* Basic science. Things you should have learned in school if you had been paying attention. Or... if you don't know this, you need to talk to T because our science education system sucks.

** High School/Freshman college science and math. Stuff I would expect you to know after a calculus class and at least one class in physical and life science.

*** Some scientific knowledge. Let's assume you've had 1+ upper level science course in either biology or chemistry.

****Upper level science. You probably need 3 - 4 years of college chemistry/biology to get this part. Maybe not, though. I'll try to avoid this as much as possible. Sometimes, though, I can't help myself and I geek.