The devil is in the details

The update post (aka #1 of 4)

Hmm. My day just got a lot better. I ended up deciding to bag a big experiment, which frees me up a bit. This particular big experiment was going to take me at least 12 hours (but I am never that fast) and be only one of the things that I had to do today. I was sitting at the tissue culture hood working around 8:30, and had the following thoughts:
"Self, this is a really shitty experiment. What were you thinking when you planned it? I'm not sure that we are going to get any useful data from this experiment as planned. Maybe if you hadn't been so frantic over everything that you had going on at the end of last week, you would have actually set up this experiment the way that you really wanted to. Hmmmm. Perhaps it would be a better use of your time and the lab's reagents if you spent today a little less frazzled and took the time to properly re-plan this experiment."
I decided that was a very convincing argument, so the experiment went away. My day now isn't un-busy by any stretch of the imagination (especially since I am currently waiting to start another experiment until someone else who is watching me shows up today...) but it is certainly better. Someone looked at me this morning and commented that I looked swamped, and I replied that I was and would be for a while, with Monday being the next possible calm day on my horizon. They looked at me in a kind of surprised way and said "You're looking forward to next Monday and NOT the weekend?" That's not entirely true, since I AM looking forward to the weekend, but I'm not expecting to have much in the way of free time then. I actually had to go through a bunch of dates over IM with a friend last night to find a time when we could actually talk on the phone.

When last I left you, I was bitching about an early morning meeting. Things last week pretty much went to hell in a handbasket for me right about a minute after I hit the "Publish Post" button. (let's hope that I'm not damned to the same fate today) Some new experiments ended up on my plate and it just became insanely busy. I ended up having to work on Thursday night; I was in at 11 am on Saturday morning after the bachelorette party and I was in on Sunday as well. Exhaustion is certainly a key word for the past few days...I really need to learn how to not like sleep so much. The whole 8:30 Wednesday meeting (which may be moved, surprise, surprise) is looking minor this week since I've got to be in that early to do experiments pretty much every other day too. Anyway, the summary of this part of the story is that lab work has ramped back up again...(and that my desk surface looks inviting for a nap.) I'm hoping that I'll have time for more than the drive-by reads of a couple other blogs and some technical finagleing here this week, but at this point I really have no idea. I'm glad to feel like I am getting things done and moving forward (I have certainly felt productive lately), but I could do with some more sleep.

As far as the non-lab side of things...that's been pretty busy too. A lot of it is sort of minutiae/not for prime-time/classified stuff, but much of it has involved hanging out with cool people. The biggest thing, of course was the penis bachelorette party on Friday night. I think it went really well; I had a good time and most importantly I think that K. had a great time! Woohoo!! Many jello shots were had by all. (note: grape jello+vodka jello shots taste hauntingly like Dimetapp and are somewhat psychologically disturbing when taken out of syringes.) We weren't particularly crazy, but we had a great time hanging out with fun people, admiring the men on the walls (and writing on them!), pinning penises on our naked man (who was also written all over) as well as other various places around the apartment, watching movies and drinking lots. Also on the wedding front: the shower is tomorrow evening and then the wedding is Saturday. The other major thing that happened is that yesterday was Evan's qualifying exam, so we went out last night (after my insane lab day and in the remnants of Rita) Evan passed with flying colors as we all knew he would and then a good time was had by all. I have a very unfortunate feeling that some pics will be showing up in one of his forthcoming blog posts. (Coco might want to avoid them unless she wants to get jealous.) Somehow my cell phone ended up spending the night at his apartment. (Hmmm. I really hope that the other student who is supposed to be meeting me to do this experiment this morning isn't trying to call me.) As far as anything else goes...you'll just have to speak with my assistant to set up a time to talk with me on the phone or send an email. :P

Let's see....what else goes into this update post? I just started reading blink, which seems excellent thus far. I'm not terribly far into it, but it has been extremely interesting, so I certainly recommend it. Oh...and on the vanity front (not to be confused with the stuff that will eventually show up in the vain post)...I realized this weekend that I can now fit into my super-skinny clothes that I haven't been able to wear in two years. (Psyched about this. Particularly the ability to wear my two favorite skirts to the shower and rehearsal) I guess that having a crazy busy summer does have some benefits, huh?

posted by Immunegirl @ 10:28 AM