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?

Great debate...

To the lab or NOT to the lab. That is always the question I ask myself these days. In theory I'm supposed to be done experiments and JUST writing. However my dear old advisor has other plans for me. For some reason I just CAN'T write and do expts at the same time. I find writing at the lab distracting and not much lab work gets done. So with me it's either one thing or another. Oh I can multi-task expts... just writing isn't one of those tasks.

Eh, I forgot my mouse at the lab, so that probably means I'll go in eventually.
Edit: I went to WalMart and just bought a new mouse. Wheeee!

Onto "normal" things. Update with owning a Wii Fit. It's going quite well actually. I've been working myself up to spending 35 min of workout time (not real time) on the machine everyday. I'm enjoying myself. There's lots of variation and so far some muscles are getting sore which indicates that it's working. No loss of weight, yet. I think it'll be a few weeks before any change will be noted. I'm aiming 3 months to decrease my BMI by 8 points. So stay tune for updates.

I've been enjoying Twittering. It's kinda neat to hear updates from people throughout the day. Kinda makes even famous people seem "normal". For example I'm following one of my favourite groups Collective Soul. It's interesting hearing their day to day updates on the road. I own all their albums and have seen them perform over a dozen times. I just love their music, it speaks my feelings so clearly at times that it's scary. Dean Roland asked on Twitter what was my fave song. Seriously I can't give just one. I've got two self-burned CD compilations of my faves. So you'll hear about my CS faves time to time. Today, I'll start off with the ballad that hits home the most: Needs.

There are a few reasons why "Needs" is special to me. The biggest one is there a repetitive chorus throughout the song "I don't need nobody". Which at face value, means, well... I don't need anyone. I lived most of my life as an outsider, fiercely independent, swearing not to need anyone. But "I don't need nobody", it's a subtle double negative. All this time swearing off people, you realize that you've been crying out for somebody. I think that's why there's a break in the song, almost a realization. And the chorus changes to "You're all that I need." Kinda a self-discovery song in which those are always the best.

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").

Alas poor Yorick...

Alrighty, as promised a lil' detailed info on graphic novels that appear on my bookshelves. One prominent is "Y: The Last Man" series by Brian K. Vaughan. I was drawn to it due to the science of the plot. There's been an outbreak that has killed all living mammals with the Y chromosome except for our hero Yorick Brown and his sidekick pet monkey, Ampersand. The story revolves around the adventures of Yorick, the women he meets, the aftermath of such a holocaust (just think, the entire world population drops by 50% in one day) and the long sought quest to discover the cause to the outbreak and why Yorick and the monkey were immune. I'll admit that I need to reread the series front to back (post-thesis though), as I've been reading along for the past 4 years and some side stories get forgotten. But truly, it's a good thought provoking series: what happens in a world with no men? Social norms become skewed, religion is polarized, propogation of the human species is threaten (the outbreak kills EVERY cell with the Y chromosome, so even sperm banks are toast), plus there's that exploration of the "Day after the Armageddon: what now?" storyline. Yes, it's all wrapped up with the "whodunnit" adventure of why/how? The series has now ended. I wasn't too impressed with all the finale answers, but the journey along the way to get there was a good one. I give it 4 Mad Beakers out of 5. Definitely flick quality, so expect to see it in a theater within the next 5 years.

In the ear, hmmm, talking about "Y" made me think about Leonard Cohen's "I'm your man". There's a recent flick of him with the said song title. I need to pick it up soon to watch. Lenny is an old time fave of mine. His sultry hypnotic baritone voice wins me over any day. Of course there's this "slight" memory of an ex and I listening to Lenny at night. (coughs) Anyways, enjoy. ;)

Hello Darkness, my old friend....

So the interview went... I can't say it was one of the best. I think the wear of the thesis writing was showing. The questions were expected, no surprises. So it's out of my hands. They said I should get a call in a few days. I know that I'm overqualified in many areas, but some aspects of the job I've never trained for. That can be a major dark blotch on the chances of getting the job. But I think I hit home the message that I'll learn anything. That's one thing I'm hoping to get the job. I can expand my technical skills. If things don't pan out, I'm going to take it that it wasn't meant to be.

Back in the lab. Sequencing and digests. Hoo-hah. Next week I start the final stages of my experiments. And oh yeah, finish the thesis.

In my ear... more Simon & Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence". I've renewed my interest listening to the folk duo because "The Sound of Silence" was a prominent track in the latest graphic novel flick "The Watchmen".

It's a hobby of mine, graphic novels. Yes, they ARE comic books. But my personal collection is comprised of graphic novels. What's the difference? Comic books are weekly releases. Graphic novels are complete story arcs. I know, "ooooh ahhh, same difference there Nanc". Remember though, I'm a bona fide geek. Of course I read mainstreams like Superman, Batman, and X-men. But I also have a love for indie graphic novels. Especially ones as grounding breaking as Alan Moore's "The Watchmen". Other lesser known series I follow are "Y: The Last Man" (which recently wrapped up its series) and the ongoing "Fables". I'll talk about these at a later date.

Anyways, "The Sound of Silence"... it has been always been a heartfelt song for me on so many levels. Paul once mentioned that it's about society's failure to communicate. And being deaf I can identify personally with the problems of communication failure. Of course you might think, "how the fuck does she listen to music then?" Being deaf doesn't mean totally deaf. Just an extent of it. When I awake in the morning, it's silent and remains that way until I decide to rejoin the hearing world with putting aids in. Some weekends I go the entire time deaf. It might sound frightning, but honestly there's a peace within silence, expecially the sound of silence. Also being deaf, lets me appreciate music more. I enjoy all genres, but tend to gravitate towards rock with a good drum beat. People forget that music is all about vibrations. Feeling those vibes when unaided is an awesome experience.

Alrighty... off to meetings then a lil thesis writing tonight. Tally ho.