Talk Titles

OK, so, I just got an e-mail reminding me that I'm presenting at this month's IIDC seminar. This basically includes everyone who works on my floor in the LRB at UMass Med and a couple of miscellaneous participants. This seminar is particularly good because the people who will be there will actually understand my research, they'll have valuable input for project directions AND they serve cheese and fruit and beer to keep everyone occupied from 3:30 to 5pm.

Anywhoo, the point is, I had to provide a title for the talk that I am going to give. I hate titles that are basically run-on sentences that spill the beans before you even get there. I try to be creative.

Previous seminar titles of mine have been:
"TB murder by Host Cell Suicide"
"M.tb's Prime Time before Execution" -- this one was around Halloween and I found a vintage Italian propaganda poster picturing the Grim Reaper that warned people about the dangers of tuberculosis-- awesome!

I submitted two titles this time in case the first isn't adequate.
"Cell Death Rescue Mission Leaves Two Dead"
(the "Two" referring to M.tb and the infected cell... genious!!
The more dull alternative is "M. tuberculosis and Macrophages"... I'm hoping the guy in charge will choose the first one. However, I have learned that all I have to do to get people to show up to my talks is to put "M. tuberculosis" in the title. It's really amazing...

My Online Dating Experience:

Ok, so basically all of my friends are married… most of them are having kids… and sometimes I feel a bit left out and several have said, “Why don’t you try online? I know lots of people who meet that way these days.” So, I gave it a shot. This is what happened in chronological order.

#1- Mr. Know-it-All: everything that we talked about and every topic that came up, he’d been-there and done-that. I thought to myself “well, you’re ready to die then because there is clearly nothing left in life to experience”. First date we went to lunch and had some good conversation but I left thinking “whatever”. Second date we went to dinner and he brought me a single red rose (gag) but otherwise went ok. I’m really not into roses. Especially red ones… on a second date with a guy you don’t really know. Daisy’s or something would have been ok. Third date, a hockey game (he used to play) and that’s when his “know-it-all” really started to bother me (although it did bother me previously, not as much as that night). Other than that, he was nice, but we didn’t have any chemistry and I didn’t think he was all that cute.

#2- Mr. Creepy: First of all, he was really awkward or just creepy… I couldn’t tell the difference. He basically had me trapped in a booth at Panera so that I couldn’t move an inch without coming into contact with him and that grossed me out. Second of all, on paper he had it all together, but then he said he really doesn’t like engineering and would like to be a “public servant” (AKA- politician) but I really don’t think he’s smart enough for that. Then he grilled me about what I wanted to do when I was done with my PhD (as if he had any clue)… he thought I had 2 choices: academics or industry. I acted clearly ticked off that he had the audacity to assume he knew anything. To get out of there I said that I really had to get back to lab (at 9pm) and that all I ever do is work and I really don’t have time for anyone (not true- I have time for the right guy just not creeps like him).

#3- Mr. Napoleon Complex: I didn’t actually go out with this guy because after talking to him on the phone, I couldn’t bring myself to even meet him for a beer. He was short, which is fine, but he talked like he had a lot to make up for. Even his voice sounded short… I couldn’t do it

#4- Mr. Philosophy: Those that know me well know that I do not intellectualize everything. I don’t enjoy philosophical discussions (except on the topic of microbial genetics) and I really don’t like turning everything into a mind game. This guy was horrendous. At first he was ok… then, on the second date, he clearly felt more comfortable to be himself and it was all-downhill from there.

Second date: First, I missed the exit off the highway so I called him to say I was going to be late. He wasn’t concerned but asked if I would mind driving. Wow- tacky!! I picked him up and his wardrobe was as follows: old-man jeans (yuk), blue button-down shirt (ok), disgusting worn-out bright yellow sneakers (double yuk), brown corduroy jacket (maybe with better jeans) and a green ball-cap. Outfit was strike two. Strike three- the most disgusting cheap $4 “brunch” at a diner. Strike four- the non-stop everything-is-philosophical conversation. I wanted to stick my fork in my eye. I had wasted half of a gorgeous weekend on this lousy “date”.

#5- Mr. Pharmacy Grad-Student: He’s working on his PharmD locally seems fun and active and nice to be around. Like me, he’s the oldest of 4 siblings and just seems really down to earth. He’s tall and handsome with blue eyes too so that’s never bad right? WRONG! Turns out he just wants someone to "work out" with if you know what I mean. On date #2, he kissed me and it was bar-none the worst kissing experience of my life. I didn't know anyone could kiss that badly!! Not to mention, it was only date #2 when I just met the guy!?!?! I had to push him away... Not my style AT ALL!!

I have removed my profile from Match.com. After #4 I went on a rant about how much I am SO over dating and that I'd rather be single than go out with another frog. #5 confirmed it. I'm pretty happy with where my life is and where it's going right now, it's just not worth the energy.

Friday

So, last night I checked the weather before going to bed and found out that we were execting an ice storm this morning during the commute to work. I took the liberty of not setting my alarm since I didn't have to be at work until 5pm when my time point was, so that I could sleep through the storm and safely make it to work. I woke up at about 8:30 and there was no ice. But, this week I'm putting in about 80 hours in the lab so the fact that I had a slow day meant that I seriously needed to take advantage of it and catch up on some sleep. I made myself some blueberry pancakes for breakfast, took a long shower, took care of the kitty's that I'm babysitting for the week and then went to my apartment to pick up some clothes to last me until Tuesday. Picking up clothes would have been quick except that I have a date on Sunday so of course I had to make sure that outfit was perfect. I had to run to the store to pick up some stockings and then by 3pm I made it into work. Normally I would feel guilty about this but when I got to work a friend of mine said "why don't you just take the whole day off?" I no longer felt the guilt. After all, I'll be here most of Saturday.

Emergency Broadcast System

rrrrrrrrrrr....rrrrrrrrrrrrrr....rrrrrrrrrrrr "this is a test of the emergency broadcast system, this is only a test" rrrrrrrrrrr....rrrrrrrrrr.....rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

OK, so, for the FIRST TIME EVER, I heard this for REAL, and it was NOT a test!!! Can you believe it! They actually use these! I heard the warning "rrrrrrrrrr'S" and changed the channel thinking "I hate it when they interrupt a perfectly good song on the radio to do a test". But I changed back to see if it was over and they were actually giving out directions about the up-coming gigantic storm that hit us this past night. Unbelievable. It was cool... they were saying things like "drive slowly" and "15 inches of snow expected in the Worcester area" and "driving conditions will be bad".

We did get a lot of snow. This morning I shoveled the entire driveway and half the street (that didn't get plowed thanks to my roomate who parked on the street instead of the driveway). There was at least a foot of snow at 7am and it's still snowing out there.

I am, of course, at work. It is Monday and snow storm or not, I work on Monday's. I actually might have stayed home and worked there but I had an important time point for an experiment that I started early last week and today is the last day of the experiment. Not coming today was not an option... although the place is a total ghost town right now.

Bowling

Today I volunteered at the Special Olympics here in Worcester. I was stationed at the bowling alley with about 8 other UMassers. We showed up at 8:30 and left at 1:30. We were there to make sure that the kids that were bowling matched the name on the screen and to cheer them on. The girls were first. They were timid but excited. I think that we were with the kids in lanes that had “less” of a disability than other kids and they were all about middle school age. The girls were bowling ~120 and the boys were ~160 which is pretty unbelievable. And on top of all that, they were super happy kids… you could tell that it wasn’t just the excitement of the day but that they really had some pretty sweet dispositions. It was grand.

I really wondered what kind of a difference we were making. It seemed that parent’s and “friends” of these kids were more in the back seat and cheering compared to us who showed up for a day and then left as soon as it was over to come back to the lab to get a few things done. No doubt that they needed people to watch the bowlers, but there were probably twice as many volunteers as needed. People would say “thanks for volunteering” and I found myself thinking “Are you serious? You do this every day!” It’s easy to show up to a charity event, it’s another to life your life for others as so many do.

Last Name

Sometimes I have random thoughts. Today's is about whether or not I will change my last name when I get married. I have always said that I would, but now I'm not so sure. The older I get… wait… no… scratch that… the further I get in my career, the less sure of this I become. I will publish papers with the last name “Hartman” and when I go on to get jobs etc. they will want to know what I have published. If there is a name change in the middle of that, it has the potential of being a bit confusing. One option will be to hyphenate my last name but that’s a lot of work. Or what if I marry a guy who has a hyphenated name already… I can’t have a triple hyphen! I also know ladies who keep their maiden at work only and in every other aspect of their lives have their married name. My mom moved her maiden name to be her middle name, but that still doesn’t help me much when I publish.

I guess if the guy I marry is adamant about me taking his last name and it’s his way or the highway, I’ll take his last name… even if it’s something horrendous. But what if he doesn’t care? I don’t know what I will do. I think I will take his last name. I don’t want classic American tradition to be lost just because I am an overly-educated female. Tradition, after all, is important. But if I’m 35 when I get married and quite established, I don’t know if I will be able to part with “Hartman”. Hmmm… we shall see.

Loon

Well, I got back Sunday night from a 3-day trip up to Lincoln, NH where I spent a significant amount of time skiing at Loon Mountain. It was really phenomenal. Friday and Saturday was a bit crowded because it was winter break for kids at public schools in MA but Sunday was incredible!

The first day was kinda funny because I was promised a "green" (aka- easy) slope but there wasn't one. I had to go down a blue slope on my second time ever on skis. I made it down without wiping out, but it was seriously stressful. About halfway down a guy ran into me, knocking me over and twisting my knees. After that, I told him that it was only my second time ever on skis and that there wasn't a green slope like I was promised. So I got a private tutorial to get me almost to the bottom. (He happened to be a ski instructor who wasn't paying attention when he ran into me). I survived and on Saturday I got up and did it again after I managed to figure out where the green slopes were.

Originally I had not planned on skiing on Sunday because I was going to drive home and do laundry and get ready for my week. But, when I woke up that morning, it was beautiful and snowing so I decided to put in another day. I am so glad that I did. There was nobody on the slopes. I would look behind me and see nobody, I would look ahead and see nobody. It was as if I had the entire mountain to myself. It was glorious. I'm really starting to get a hang of this skiing thing. I was able to stay loose and really work on my technique. Considering that I've only been on skis 4 times now (once for each day this weekend) I think I'm doing alright. I can get down in decent time, stop, turn, etc. I'm looking forward to doing this more often.

I'll post pictures as soon as I remember to bring my link to work.