Good Ripples

I've been getting a lot of emails/phone calls from friends and family from everywhere over the past 5 days. I think I'm experiencing what's known as the "thesis high": the euphoria of completing something that you'd thought could never be completed (ask any grad student if they ever felt that they'd never graduate, you'll get a resounding YES!!!).

I'm kinda overwhelmed with the response so far. For some reason, everyone's going over the top about this one. I could ramble on how great the accomplishment of completing this degree is impacting a lot of people, but honestly everytime I start writing about it, I feel that I'm gushing too much. And it's just in my nature not to gush. Vent, yes. Gush, no.

But one thing that has been on my mind, this whole hoopla has started me thinking about "good ripples" effects with completing this degree. I'm seeing that completing this degree has connected a lot of folks and ultimately producing good ripples. I'll admit that I'm a fan of the Joan of Arcadia TV series and good ripples was something that just kept with me from that show, along with various other meta-philosophical or quantum physic theories. I felt that the show pulled it off in not such a sappy "Touch by an Angel" way (I don't even want to link that series... ick).


So good ripples are already being felt from the thesis completion and hopefully for many years to come.

Update of current activities, I am working in the same lab as I've been for the past 6 years working away on the same project. On my bench is 6 copies of the thesis riddled with revisions before it can be officially accepted. My bench itself is choked with various papers and textbooks in which need to be cleaned out as someone has already called my bench. So deadlines still in need to be met, things still need to be written, desk/bench to be cleared out. It sounds stressful doesn't it? But everything seems a lil' brighter somehow as the dark ominous thesis cloud isn't following me around. So next few weeks are busy making the final finishing touches of the degree before I plunge finally into the "REAL WORLD" (eeeeeeeeeek!).

I haven't posted music for sometime now. I've thought about what songs would be appropriate during this time. One of the grad secretary's was humming the Rocky theme and said I should run up the steps in Rocky-style... so, who am I to argue with the masses?

This little part...

It's been a busy past 60 hours for a very eventful three days.

So first... without any further ado, it's official: I'm a Doctor (ehhhh... that title still hasn't set in!). The whole experience of defending remains surreal. It's NOT something I recommend for those with a faint heart. Seriously, I don't remember much details, you just go into a mode in which you hear yourself talking, it sounds kinda smart, but still you can't believe you're saying it. But after nearly 3 hours of questioning and 10 minutes of pacing outside the meeting room while they decide my fate, my boss opened the door with a smile and a congratulations. I think it's the first time I hugged her. Twice, even in one night. In fact, I hugged all of my examiners... twice.

People have asked about the feeling and honestly I can only relate it to "this little part of my life" scene in the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness". There's not many good and wonderful moments in my life, but when a rare moment comes, this is what it feels like. I think I even clapped while walking alone to my car after the day was finished. Since then, I can't keep this smile off of my face.

My boss gave me a great party on Friday night. I spent Saturday de-stressing and enjoying time with some good friends. Today there's another party in my honour. Not just for the doctorate, but also because it's my birthday. Yesiree, eventful weekend it is.

Being Sunday itself, time for another "something sciencey Sunday" blogpic! Today, Congrats to the Cloning Queen.

Cloning Queen is a parody that I wrote to ABBA's "Dancing Queen". As one of my skills is cloning, the lab adopted this nickname for me ever since, so it was a fitting poster to greet me after I was awarded my Doctorate. Of note, yes, all those binders are full of thesis revisions. Joy joy joy! But I remember thinking in the defense when they asked me to include some discussion about something, "I'd even clean your house if you want!"

Eeeeep!!!

Deep Breath...

Haven't been blogging this week that much seeing that tomorrow (Friday the 12th, hmmm, there's a new spin on the horror genre) is the d-day. It's been a long time coming (6 1/2 years for this day). I've been reading over my thesis, making corrections (80% mostly typos), thinking about things my examiners could ask me about. There's four levels of questioning that I'm expecting:

1. why did you do that?
2. what would you do next?
3. tell me about (science word/technique/system/something that I should know, if not gawd help me)?
4. why is the sky blue?

The first level is the basics and generally I'm not too freaked about them. There's always "better" ways to do any experiment. Also it's nitpicking about your writing style and/or data presentation. You just need to defend why you chose the way you did, but be humble to admit that you could do things another way.

The 2nd level is more testing whether or not I have the cajones to sport that Ph.D. title. We are trained to think about the next step, the next experiment. No project is ever truly finished, there's always one more experiment you can do to forward the knowledge from it. Sometimes I falter with this level, I think it's more to do with self-doubt of my own expertise. I usually overthink the experiment or not think about it enough. So I'm fearful of these questions. Depends on the day and whether my brain is connected to my mouth.

The 3rd level is the part where you study for real. I've been going over methodology and systems like crazy this week. It's all vaguely familiar, but I often need a refresher course for the finer details of the exact chemical equation of how a bacteria makes light. These questions, ehhhh... it all depends on what I studied right? There's always a few questions on systems that I didn't spend much time on reviewing, so it's the luck of draw. Like on any written exam.

The last level, these are the "WTF?" questions. Totally out of the ball park, no way to prepare, you just simply dance for them. Often these are the "BIG PICTURE" questions, but they are just "Let's watch her pupils dilate more for fun" questions. I remember one past defense question was: How did you feel about working with GMO? I'm thinking, "GMO... GMO... acronym for what chemical compound... guanine mono... WTF?"

He rephrased, "Are you okay with working with genetically modified organisms?"

I blink.

My advisor blinks then rolls his eyes.

Yeah... and these folks are the ones with the Ph.D.s

Back to reading... deep breath.

Pressing print!

So I know I haven't been updating here for a few days... but you know the reason! As predicted, my deadline was extended til Monday. And boy did I need those two extra days! But yes folks! I hit the print button today! Took me 8 hours to put together the copies for the internal reviewers, but hey, today was a good day. The things clocked in at 299 pages, longest thing I've ever written in one sitting. Now it's in the hands of the examiners and the defense day (note... d-day) is set for June 12th. Another hurdle cleared today, just one more left to go.

Now what?

I'm not going to go into my life plans here, there's too many uncertainties as it is. But tomorrow I'm going to take the day, the ENTIRE day, to myself. Go for a walk, lounge in a bookstore, maybe pop into a good museum, stop to smell the flowers, take in some recreation with absolutely no guilt. Mmmmm, nice change! Oh oh.. a movie probably too tomorrow, hmmm Wolvie or Star Trek, tough call!. It's a celebratory week for me. So I'll keep you updated on those activities.

Music... the thesis is finally on its way! And so am I. Made me think of The Proclaimers. Now off to bed for a some REAL sleep.

Bruised, battered, and beaten

There's a geek quote I was reminded of not too long ago (I thank Levar Burton for tweeting it): Somedays you get the bear, somedays the bear gets you. So hockey weekend over, 4 games played and not one game won. Collectively I let in 23 goals. Yeah... ouch. The last game was good though, we lost 0-1. Considering 80% of the team was playing their 4th game in 3 days, we were pretty amazed with ourselves. But beaten, indeed.

Bruised and battered, oh yes. My thighs are now spotted again with slapshot welts. None of them really serious, they'll fade in a week. I have some bruises that are still faintly seen even after 7 months. So I'm lucky there. However, there's something I need to make my fellow team mates aware: 80% of my bruises are from warmup! Seriously! The latest example is a bad bruise on my right wrist. Part of warmup is firing squad shots, where my team lines up in a semi-circle around the net and take shots at me. Most part is fine, however there's often a few wild ones that smack me in the face (with helmet on, of course) or catch a piece of unprotected Nanc such as my wrist. Owwwie. It still stings and the bruise is just starting to form. So if any of my team mates follow this blog, my message to you: be a lil more gentle!

It's midnight right now, and I've decided that I'm not going to sleep until the tables are finished for the next chapter of this thesis, so looooong night still ahead. Must get back at it.

In my ear while I peck away making pretty thesis tables, a Cdn artist, Feist. I liken her to the newest Alanis. Her fresh songs remind me of Alanis Morissette back in the 90s. Just good tunes. This one has a haunting beat/tone to it despite being titled "Honey, honey".

Typitty type... typitty type...

I am slowly going...

So the pressures on! Like it wasn't on before. In 3 weeks I hand in this scientific tome. The daily question irks me, "How's writing?" I know people ask because they care and really what else are they going to ask? It's all I'm ever doing these days!!! It's... slowly... going... like ME!

Now with that lil' viral song stuck in your head, I'll try to switch gears and give you a more catchy tune. Ben Lee has this boyish look that I'm certain makes him go crazy looking at the mirror in the mornings wondering if the hormones will ever kick in (lil' note, Ben's MY age). But then again, he'll have those same timeless boyish looks at 60, so it'll be a blessing in the long run. I first heard Ben from the secksay Shanty Raidio DJ Morte. Morte, I know you've gone onto greener fields, but I'll always miss your Wicked Wednesdays. So to stop that Sharon, Lois, and Bram song in your head... please "Catch my Disease". Enjoy folks!

Someone's watching me...

So that was a first Easter for me. I had two dinner invites but in the end turned them down because I caught the writing bug over the weekend. It's a rare thing, when you are actually productive writing a thesis. So please forgive me those who invited me for yummy cooked ham or turkey, but I felt that it would be better if I just wrote. Come May I'll appear on your doorsteps with a fork in hand. Promise!

So yes, I've been writing... hoohah. These things take so bloodly long to write and revise. Somedays I wake up with 10 pages on my screen and by the time I shut down the laptop, there's only 8 pages that remain.

But as I write this, I must note that it's happening yet again! I swear that the creator of Ph.D. comics has a camera in my lab and home to record the nuisances of my grad life. I'd be writing a manuscript and BOOM, the comic script story arc is on manuscript writing and revisions:



Or there's insane construction around my building... BOOM!!!


Or my grad life in general:




Jorge hits it on the nail every single time. It's frightening that it's so correct, but also comforting knowing that I'm not alone in this.

Of recent story, one of the main characters has decided to start writing her thesis:



It's true... crtl-c, followed by crtl-p. Most of the reports/manuscripts I've written over the past 6 years count as thesis material since I wrote it to begin with. It's just a matter of shifting through all these reports, editing, revising, to make it sound continuous. Sounds easy right? Well, hitting the crtl-c/p is. Trying to make sense of it all... THAT'S the tricky part.

Finally, I'll post one of my faves of Jorge's. It's an older one, but since I think I'm being watched anyways, this makes the most sense.

It's 1 AM, do YOU know where your scientist is?

... in the lab natch.

So far this week it's been nothing but disappointment research wise. I'm so desperately trying to do final experiments, but the hitch is that in order to DO the experiments, you need the constructed bacterial strains to work with. Most people believe everyday science is running experiments and interpeting data. At times we DO get to do that, however about 80% of what we do is mainly preparations for the experiment. It's one this to see what a deletion of a gene does to the bacteria... it's an entirely different thing to MAKE the deletion in the certain gene to begin with.

So no progress with that. My boss kindly reminds me everyday that she wants more chapters to read. I kindly want to tell her that working in the lab trying to finish "oh so essential" experiments isn't helping on the writing front. So right now, a no-win situation. Ehhh... this will end soon. I try my best to minimize my time in the lab. Be efficient. But alas, it's 1AM and I've still have yet to have my supper.

(cues stomach growls)

Something popped up unexpectedly... Easter! I had no idea Friday was Good Friday. Normally I head back to my stomping grounds for a visit, but seeing that research SNFU, my family will understand. I might head over to my friend's on Sunday for a potluck dinner.

(me hears my cat's stomach growling... 60-some blocks away)

Let's see... music, at least there's music here. Lord knows how much more batty I'd go without music. Oooh.... Annie was just on. I was able to see her and Sting perform a few years back on the Sacred Love Tour (the pic shown is from the actual night!). If you EVER have a chance to see Annie Lennox sing, by all means go forth and buy thou tickets. She opened for Sting and frankly was the best part of the show (sorry Sting, but Annie didn't need all those pyro techs to raise the roof). I can still hear the harmonica wonky tonk on stage. Annie, you're truly a Music Diva. Mad Beaker award to thee!

No news is good news?

So no callback as of yet about the job. I'm thinking either they are interviewing more folks or making a tough choice on who will get the position. At least it's not a balatant NO! Thus, I'm still hopeful. I did find a position in Vancouver that sounds intriguing. It's with a biotech company on UBC campus. The pros of the job: more money (which would be absolutely essential if I was to move back to Vancouver), the chance to develop new DNA isolation techniques, and it's VANCOUVER (my self-proclaimed lil' piece of heaven on Earth). The cons: it's not microbiology related which is really my first love. I've been pondering more about what route I should take after the PhD. Normally as a "good lil grad" you're supposed to go do a post-doc then obtain a faculty position to own your own lab. Post-doc positions aren't something to envy. You're usually under MORE pressure to perform publishable science and seriously not paid nearly enough for your skills that have taken 10-odd years to perfect in university. However having a post-doc under your belt keeps some doors open for you and there's only a 3-4 year grace period after the PhD to do one. However for me, I'm not certain whether academia life is for me. On top of the pressure to pull scientific marvels out of your labcoat, there's always the issue of funding. You can be happily working in your lab one day and then POOF! Funding gone! Out of job! Move elsewhere. It's not a great "settle-down" lifestyle. I'm kinda yearning for moving only once or twice before settling down for good. So the debate rages on... time will tell.

It's seasonably warm and sunny today which always brightens my mood. Winter is nice. I don't mind snow and ice (ice meaning hockey, natch). But I do enjoy walking outside without a jacket and freezing my tush off.

It's Monday... so how 'bout some Stones to start off the week?

Mad Geek Humour

Lil' unknown fact: I'm crazy.

Yes, if you haven't figured that out with the "Mad" in Mad Scientist. Then my question to you: WTF have you've been thinking? Yeah, that's me a few years back. No, it's not my normal daily attire (asides from the lab coat), but an example that I enjoy having fun being a Mad Scientist.

Anyways. I am a bona fide Mad Scientist as anyone who's worked with me in a lab knows that I have many "antics" to pass the day (not JUST dressing up). See, working in a lab 16h/day can become tedious (shocking, I know). So I spice things up every once in a awhile with either humour, jokes, swivel chair olympics, or the occasional parody song. Apparently I'm not alone. The biotech companies are also great cess-pools for wacky mad scientist activity. To demonstrate my point there are several ads for scientific products in which the creative team decided to have some fun.

The first one is "Scientists for a better PCR". Obviously a nod to "We are the World" song from the 80s. Best line: "PCR...when you need to find out who's the daddy!"

The next one came out last year: epMotion. Believe me, I feel the chick's pain with pipetting. You've heard of Nintendo thumb? There's also pipettor hand. Everyday I do that repetitive motion on average 100 times/day (somedays over 1K depending on the experiment). Though I doubt epMotion would solve my problems (in fact my first thought: Hey! That's my job being replaced with a robot!), the backstreet-nsync-boy-group was a good laugh.

The latest one that I've been made aware of: GTCA. Natch, it's to the classic tune of YMCA. I enjoyed the scenes shot in the lab because THAT my friends actually happens. If there's a good tune in my ear, I dance at my bench. And truth be told, others join in.

Okay... off to lab (humming "Geeee-Tee-Cee-A").

the (continuing) woes of being a grad student...

For those who don't know, I've been a grad student since the turn of the millennia. So you do the math and that means I've been a labrat for 8 years now. I think it's due to my mild masochist nature why I've stayed so long being a grad student. That doesn't mean I've been 8 years on this project alone. The first three tender years were spent on my try at eukaryotic genetics for my Masters. They say that a Masters is a buffer degree. When you graduate with your Bach, there's still too many directions to go. So I ventured to watch worm porn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXx35u7zLxs) for three years and thought... ehhh, no. So I went back to my first love: bacteria, and I've been happy ever since to work in the field.

That's not to say that I'm a happy grad student. I think the number of years you spend in grad school is porportional to the bitterness of being a grad student. Seriously, we're slaves. Sure it's a full circle as the advisors were once mistreated as grad students long ago and now it's their turn to hold the whip. I think Gandhi was onto something with that "eye for an eye..." way of thinking.

yeah... I'm bitter, but it goes with the territory... c'est la vie!