Lab OCDness

Today in the lab I was having this conversation with my fellow post-doc about people with OCD. He was recanting his experiences working in a previous lab about some bloke who had what we would classify as borderline-clinical commitment OCD. Some examples:

When using pipette tips, this guy picked them out in line-order from his box compared with random selection. FYI: Apparently this technique is called the anal-retentive tip usage method (ARTUM).

Ordered tip-usage:


Random tip-usage:



Another example was the reagent bottles and microcentrifuge tubes on his bench would be perfectly aligned:



The best example was that if you needed to take one glove from this guy's latex glove box, you had to take TWO. Never one. Otherwise there would be an unpaired match left in the box. Ohhhhh! The HUMANITY!

Now I have a few friends who have either openly admitted to having OCD or have closeted OCD (they exhibit the behaviour but haven't admit that there's a problem). I know that this is a legit psychological disorder. However, personally I think everyone has an OCD quirk in their daily routine. I found out mine a few years ago. It has nothing to do with lab work, but personal grooming. If I notice an aberrant hair on my face, I HAVE to pluck it out immediately (otherwise it really annoys me for the entire day/night). As for lab OCDness, I'm more a of random tip-user and although I like keeping my microcentrifuge tubes in order, if one's facing the wrong way... eh. As for the glove box issue. I will have to admit that if I take one glove, I do think, "but that will mean an odd number of gloves in the box". But that doesn't stop me. I'd like to think it's more environmentally friendly. Yeah... that's it.

I'm with the Jules

A few weeks back I was treated to a delightful night of modern and contemporary dance. I'm no an expert on dance styles and neither know the difference between a dosado and chassé. But I do enjoy watching dancers take the stage with imaginative choreography and unforgettable music. What made this performance extra special was that a friend in a former lab was one of the performers. There's a stereotype that scientists are married to their research. While that may be sadly true, we do have interests outside the lab (much to our supervisor's displeasure). Mine being obviously hockey. For Jules, she has recently rekindled her passion for dancing. Her enthusiasm and dedication to dancing is contagious. I often wish I had the grace in my muscles to move like she can. A Mad Beaker award to you Jules! She started a blog about her experiences if you'd like to follow along.

Back to the performance which was Orchesis Dance Motif 2010, I wasn't able to sneak a camera in and record some moves from the show. However I was able to make a soundtrack of the night with the selected music in which I'll post a few links in the coming weeks. Today's music is from an old group called Vitamin String Quartet. It's a group which could be classified part of the Baroque Rock genre. They take rock/pop songs from Coldplay, Evanescence, Linkin Park, even Eric Clapton and Enya and rearrange the music into a classical tribute. The result is you hear a great song remade into another great song. Radiohead's Reckoner remake is simply fabulous!

All good things...

Alright - hockey announcement time:

I'm retiring.

Yes, this die-hard hockey goalie is hanging up the pads and glove with the first team that got me back on the ice: Bio Sci Roaches. 7 years ago when I started my Ph.D. studies I heard about a women's intramural recreation ice hockey team in my department. They were looking for a goalie. I've been long interested in returning between the pipes for ages, but dilemma, I had no goal equipment. Not a problem, the rec league provided all equipment except for skates. Although I had to brave wearing common, smelly, damp, psoriasis causing equipment (ew!), I returned to the ice and rekindled my love for stopping pucks.

During the early years, I decided to add my own equipment time to time. Saved up enough for a helmet (painted no less!), then blocker, then goalie skates (I started out using just normal ice hockey skates. Goalie skates are about double the price of regular skates), until the point that I was proudly toting my very own full gear with the last purchase being my $900 hockey pads (a gift to myself for my 30th bday). But something was still missing. One game every other week wasn't enough to justify the money spent on equipment and I was wanting more athletic workouts. So I started to look elsewhere, finding women's leagues in city ball hockey and provincial ice hockey.

I still kept playing with the Roaches, them being my #2 team. I had to devise a commitment schedule with the provincial team having first dibs on me, then the Roaches, then city ball hockey, then rec ball hockey, then pick-up goalie status. Soon I went from playing once every other week to playing 5 times a week. People started calling it an obsession. But I found it therapeutic. This was "me" time. I could shut out all the noise (literally!) and daily problems between those pipes. And most of all, it was the only place that it really mattered that I showed up. People were always glad when I entered the dressing room to suit up. And even when I played like crap some nights, I was still accepted, still cheered on, still got "see you next game!". No other place, no other group of people has given me that feeling.

But to cliche things: all good things must come to an end. The 5 nights/week are a lil' excessive and I had to cut back somewhere. Because recreational intramurals are no longer my level of play, I decided to retire from the Roaches. I do so with a heavy heart. Although the roster has changed over the years, this team remains a great bunch of women.

And what better way to leave the team, being on top, undefeated, and the Champions of the Winter 2010 recreational intramural women's ice hockey. Congrats ladies! You did me proud!

Oh Canada!

The party's over in Vancouver. I did catch Olympic fever throughout the entire 17 day competition. In the lab, people were constantly refreshing their web-browsers for up dates on the daily results. At the start of the competition, Canadians were moaning about the lack of performance from their athletes. Team Canada organizers made a very boastful prediction that Canada would take home the most medals. I love Canada (natch), but to put that expectation on our athletes is just unfair. Especially when you're competing against powerhouses like USA and Germany. The "Own the Podium" program is a good thing, as Olympic athletes are severely underpaid for what is expected of them (hmmmm, that sounds familiar). Well, everyone except NHL players. But let's not go there. When I was living in Vancouver, I befriended a lot of people from Team Canada Field Hockey. From them I admired the commitment to their sport. Especially when they were expected to train for 6-8 h/day and be paid only $50/day. How could anyone live on that? In Vancouver no less! I'm not sure what "Own the Podium" has now done for the athletes pay-wise, but at least it's bringing to light that if we Cdn taxpayers want the golden glory - we better be ready to dish out the funds to support those who compete.

Back to the Vancouver 2010 games. So then, Canada didn't win the most medals. But quality over quantity people. Canada did take home the most gold medals and broke records doing so (most gold medals in any Olympics and most gold medals by hosting country). If we complained about a gold drought on home soil, I think it's safe to say that we've got our fill now. And what a finish! Gold medal in both women's and men's hockey. I think that is probably the only thing that matters to Canada. We acknowledge that we're not perfect in many things (even trying to get the cauldron up), but when it comes to hockey - that's our game you're playing.



So congrats to the ALL the athletes. You did me proud along with the rest of Canada. Someone asked me whether there would be a holiday on the following Monday. I said "no, but whenever you see a Cdn, you'll note a small satisfied smile." People will carry that feeling around for a long time. Like the '72 summit. "With Glowing Hearts" indeed.