(no subject)
I complain a lot in here. Let's say something positive today.
Hmm...this is tough. Well, research is going "well". I say "well" because as a researcher, you're never satisfied, and there's always another experiment you want to get that never works and it all kind of negates all of the big breakthroughs you make with your research. For example, last month I presented my research at Pittsburgh's local membrane trafficking conference and this past week my advisor presented a poster at the premier scientific Gordon Research Conference and got positive feedback! Including feedback from a researcher who is working on the same protein as I am, except in yeast (I work in mammalian tissue culture cells). The downside is that I need one more good figure in order to have a good paper. The problem is I've been working on the experiment for four months and it's really bringing me down. I'm so close, yet so far from publishing! Very frustrating, especially since other labs are publishing on the same protein, which is creating a sense of urgency and doom.
In former rotation news, my work on biosensor development from my third rotation is being published. The article is due out in September. It's a big coup. You'll be able to do a PubMed search for my name and actually get a result!
I got laryngitis this week. I was really sick throughout the entire July 4th weekend, which was awesome because I took some extra days off to spend with my family and I had to spend them watching WifeSwap on the couch. (Wow, America, wow). I did medicate myself up enough to go out and see Our Lady Peace and the Guess Who. And my dad recently became an American citizen, so now he has a dual citizenship with the U.S. and Canada. We threw a big Fourth of July party for him which was...interesting. I got to see some old family friends, which was nice. Unfortunately the laryngitis made it less fun, and my insistence on talking probably made it worse than it would have been. I'm finally starting to feel a bit better.
So yes, work is going well. Life is all right. It's lonely here, but I'm getting by. I'm fueled by dreams of getting my PhD and moving to California for a few years with a boy I love.