Can't Stand Lisps

So, tonight, after a 2 hour nap to recover from an insane week, I decided to have a beer and watch a movie. I was in the mood for something kinda fun, not too serious, so I watched "Raising Helen" with Kate Hudson (who I think is super cute). Anyhow, I realized that I absolutely could NOT stand one of the characters in the movie... mostly because of her terrible lisp. It instantly reminded me of another actor that I can't stand, John Cusak. So, like any modern person, I Googled her, it was Joan Cusak!! I should have known. They sound the same. I can't handle it. Neither of them. Be warned, I notice lisps. So if you've got one, I will notice, and I will try not to judge.

*Hug*

Sometimes a girl just needs a good hug. You know, the kind of really good hug you might get from a boyfriend or parent or brother... or from your tiger. Just someone to hold you for a minute or two and say 'it's gonna be fine- and I love you'. And it is, but it doesn't negate the fact that I could use a really good hug. I guess I'll get a hug at Christmas. Not much hugging in these parts... good ones at least... but i'm looking forward to it.

But I digress...

Today I sit at my desk reading and writing. It’s a nice change from the constant “on” state that I must maintain in the lab. But, I took some time this weekend to paint my toenails pink and while I was doing this, I was inspired to have a go at a French manicure on my fingers. I have a bad habit of picking at my cuticles and munching my nails when I get a bit stressed out so in my effort to not do that, I thought I’d paint them. Problem is, now I think that my hands look rather pretty and I find myself sitting here at my desk admiring my nails on my hands and cute little toes as a bit of a diversion from my studies. I’m sure you’re thinking, wow, wish I could see them… ah technology today… :-)

Beautiful Saturday

Check out these pictures of my nice quiet street. Doesn’t it look like an incredible day out? It is. It’s perfect. About 83°F, not a cloud in the sky, perfect. I haven’t left the house either. :-) I slept in, woke up slow, did some reading, did some laundry, mosied around the house in my PJ’s… it’s been glorious. There aren’t too many days I get to do this. Most days I have to go go go. Today I don’t have to, so why? If I had someone that I know would want to go hiking, I would, because I think I could muster up the enthusiasm for that, but today I’m feeling lazy and I don’t want to go all by my lonesome self. I was invited to go spend the day at a friend’s house on the cape, but I got the invitation too late and wouldn’t have gotten there until about 3pm after sitting in traffic for a couple hours. So I declined. I did just venture out to the end of my driveway to get the mail… mostly to test the waters to see if I would actually like to leave the house. I may go to the rail trail for a walk along the river.

Three things may stop me from going. 1. When I went to get the mail, I saw a bug, the kind that stings, which reminded of certain outdoor hazards so an outing would require bug spray. 2. Leaving would mean that I have to put on a bra and the girls like to be free… especially in the summertime. (This is actually a very serious consideration). 3. I am being productive working at my desk with the windows open feeling the nice breeze… so it’s almost like I’m out enjoying the day.

Hmmm… what do you think?

Food for Thought

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting recently. When you’re the odd one out of your friends this is easy to do. All my best girls are married, all but one couple has kids, and they’ve got jobs, houses and pets. Just a few years ago, I would have killed to be where they are. I don’t know if it’s just in Christian circles, but it’s as if achieving all of that is the goal of life and that all of my energy should be focused on living “the American Dream” and if you don’t have it, you’re missing out. And you know what, I totally bought into it. I convinced myself that I should be there too and was a bit sad about not being there. Don’t get me wrong, I want to get married, I want to have kids… but I am realizing that there is much more to life than that and I should really just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I think that as I am *hopefully* approaching the end of my graduate career, I am realizing that the choice to pursue a PhD has made a huge impact on my life. More than just the job that I will have and the years I will have spent in school, but other things too. Here are a few that I am slowly coming to grips with that you may/may not understand or agree with.

1. I might be a good 5-10 years behind my friends when it comes to the whole married/family stuff just because I went to grad school. I don’t care what men say, but it IS different for women. We basically ruin a lot of prospects by pursuing this much education… but I’d do it again in a heartbeat because when I’m in the lab, I feel like I am reaching my full potential and not settling for anything less… and I’m just not the type to sit around waiting for a guy to come around. And I REFUSE to settle for a guy that I’m not absolutely crazy about… no matter how old I am… not worth being miserable for the rest of your life!
2. I may not change my name when I get married. Never thought I’d say that… I’m pretty old-fashioned, but the further I get in my scientific career, the less likely I’ll be to change it.
3. I may be too old by the time I’m married to have more than one or two kids. Maybe that’s a good thing and it’s God’s way of watching out for me, but I’ll admit that I always thought I’d have 3 or 4 because I come from a big family and like the feeling of it… it’s comfortable to me.
4. I may not ever make it back to the West Coast permanently; let alone the US, after I do a post-doc abroad… I think I’m ok with that. I don’t like to think of anything as unmanageable right now though. Anything is possible and I’m open to a lot of different things.
5. If, by the time I’m 35, still single, have no prospects of getting married, I think I would “accidentally” (if that’s possible) get pregnant. REALLY thought I’d never say that… for a lot of reasons… I would be really heartbroken if I never got to have kids and I’d rather be a single mom with all the stuff that goes with that, and be able to experience the joy of bringing life into the world and raising a son or daughter than to never at all. Maybe that is selfish, I don’t know… hopefully it never comes to that… I’ve got about 8 years… but women have a bit of a time limit for these things.
6. I will live and experience life to the fullest. I will go places and see things and live with no regret. I cannot see myself with a partner who doesn’t see life as an adventure or thinks that it ends the second you get married and have kids. If I had gotten married a few years ago, I would be miserable right now.

Antonela

Our lab technician Antonela is moving on to bigger and better things. She applied to dental school this past year and was wait listed until last week when she got the news that she was accepted to Boston University Dental School. Our lab manager Laura threw her a barbecue... we had a good time... she has a bright future! Here's some pictures:

Laura's daughter Gia... always smiling!

Post-doc in the lab Jinhee with his daughter

Therese (another post-doc in the lab), Me, Laura and Antonela

Some more party people...

Midnight Premier of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I really like Harry Potter. I read the books. I own all the movies. But this is the first time that I've gone to the movies in the middle of the night just because I could. I didn't dress up like I could have. I didn't go at 8am to buy my ticket. But I went. The theater was packed. We bought tickets at 10:15pm or so and the earliest show we could get into was 12:35. the 12:01, 12:05, 12:10, 12:15 etc. were all ready sold out.

It was a good time though. Book 6 was my favorite book of the series. The movie obviously doesn't do the book justice, but I enjoyed it. It was funny, it was sad, it was the adventures of Harry Potter. I recommend that you go and have a look.

Yuly and I with the proof that we actually went to a 12:35am showing of the latest Harry Potter movie

It was late... Erik took a nap for the 45 minutes we sat waiting for the movie to start

The Mayhem

Boys are Stupid

Today while at the gym after work, I was on the elliptical minding my own business and I noticed a guy walk by me and kinda look at me. Well, it's the gym, so I take it all as a grain of salt and continued on my merry way. Then he "conveniently" stepped on another machine caddy corner to where i was. I continue ignoring him because at this point, still nothing that weird. I go to the Greendale YMCA and the cardio room isn't super huge. But then, I go to the mat to stretch and do some ab works. He follows to the mats a couple minutes after I get there. Now I'm noticing this. He's working extra hard over there... I roll my eyes, decide I'll come back later and go to lift some weights. Shock of all shocks, it isn't too long until he's over there lifting weights, walking by constantly. I decide to lift weights with my eyes closed (I'm on a guided machine so this is possible). I decide that I was tired of avoiding this guy and all the annoying high school boys trying to impress the high school girls that I go back to the mat to stretch again before leaving. Again, no surprise, gym guy is back on the mats and all I can think is "go away!"

Now, I will say this, he wasn't ugly. He might have even been nice... but don't follow me around the gym!! Muster up the balls to say hello or smile even if I've got "don't talk to me" written on my forehead... or don't. If I'm interested, which I'm probably not, but if I am, maybe I'll say hello back... but I doubt it.

Last but not least, since the YMCA is a family type of place, it is no surprise to find that parents bring their high school kids to get them to exercise. Good. But seriously, I do not remember being around boys in high school that were so ridiculous (although I'm sure I was)! They are basically wild hormones inside of skin vaguely resembling people.

The "dumb jocks" walk around talking about football and their protein shakes while lifting a bit in between long breaks of checking out girls, drinking water, showing off their knowledge of weight lifting and acting cool. The "nice guys" travel in groups of at least 3 with the designated ring leader that will initiate the conversation with the pretty girl who is not sweating too much on the elliptical or stationary bike. The "dorky guys" follow their dad around and do what they're told.

I do my best to ignore them, but mostly they just annoy me like crazy. When any of the high school kids look at me, all I can think of is, "I got 10 years on you kid! Go away." Otherwise, unless they're some creepy guy that icks me out or follows me, I take it as a complement.

I've decided that boys, in general, are stupid. Something I've known for a while but am only just coming to grips with it. After all, dad always told me over and over "Michelle, all guys think with their dicks... you gotta watch out." Which, strictly speaking, doesn't make for a very smart species.

Not the Sharpest Tool in the Shed

OK, well, not really... I've been really busy and haven't been super good about keeping my lab notebook up to date. So, last week I spent a couple hours counting some M.tb colonies that were the result of an experiment that I've done recently. In the lab I tend to only label my plates with numbers or letters so that when I'm counting the colonies I don't know what the individual plates are. This is a good practice because it keeps any deep and hidden biases that I may have when I'm looking at my data. Well, the experiment that I did on 6/15/09 I didn't write up. Nothing. I am sure that I probably put some notes on a little sticky that I probably threw away. Can't find it. But here's the graph from the data that I made. Bummer that I have no idea what is what.

Get this... I did it twice in the same month... it's been a busy month. I had a huge experiment that literally filled an entire shelf in the incubator. About 300 plates. Last night I went home with what I thought was everything that I needed and guess what. I have no idea what A-U are. I know how I did the experiment, I know what concentrations of various chemicals that I added... I found those stickies. But I have no idea what groups were assigned what letters... I can't find the key. Bummer. This was an experiment that I really needed and was really excited about. I am really not happy about this right now. I am getting ready to basically tear my desk apart to search for the missing pieces... wish me luck.

Summer Perfume

On Saturday, my friend Orla and I went hiking at Mount Greylock. I had always heard that the Berkshires is one of the best places to hang out in Massachusetts if you're into hiking etc. So, since it was an incredible day, we decided to make the two hour trek out to go for a hike.

We did a couple things wrong. First, we got there a little late, so the big hike was out of the question. Second, we did not anticipate the serious thunder storm that was on it's way in by the tie we started. Third, we took the ranger's advice and did the short Round's Rock loop which took us only 1.5 hours and was about 3.5 miles or so and we could have done a longer hike. It was a very easy trail that didn't challenge us much and since there was no climbing, there was no great view.

The good news is that we really liked the park a lot and are planning another trip out there soon! So, now we know...

You'll be glad to find out that due to my heavy dousing in OFF! Deep Woods Sportsman bug spray, I didn't get a single mosquito bite! I'm pretty sure that is a first!

Quote of the Day

"I dream about being a beach bum these days... I only get to be one when I graduate."

A Perfect Sunday

I have to say, yesterday was bar none, one of the best days I've had in a long time... I slept in... I moved around slowly... I baked a cake... I went to dinner at a friend's house... got some laundry done... I painted my nightstand table black... read a couple chapters of the book I'm half-way through... it was glorious!

I wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere. Didn't have to put on any shoes... It was Sunday and peaceful and perfect.

I played tennis with Marianne on Saturday and told her that since Sunday was supposed to be good weather, we should cook out for John's birthday- complete with the cake that I had promised in the birthday card I gave him. We had a feast! John made shrimp and clams and corn... Marianne made a tomato mozzarella salad and I made the cake.

4th of July

This is part of the crew that I went into Boston with for the 4th of July. We sat along the Charles River and enjoyed the day by shopping a bit on Newbury Street and hanging out and of course, a Neil Diamond appearance and then of course the fireworks. The fireworks were the best I've seen. The weather was perfect and the time was great. (above from left to right is Erik from Denmark, Orla from Dublin, Me from California and Gabor from Hungary). None of them had seen fireworks like the display that we saw on the 4th. They were all happy that they braved the crowds to come and watch! It really was a grand time!

This is Missy, Arlyn and Rhiannan who I hung out with for some shopping. I met Missy and Arlyn last year through some mutual friends that we have at the same event! It was nice to have some people to hang out with.



Orla's mom (above right) came into town from Dublin for her niece's wedding and spent the afternoon hanging out on our blanket on the river bank.