(no subject)
My first completed week on the job.
My coworkers: So far, they seem really cool. Based on the people I observed in the other labs, I feel like I'm in the "cool" lab. Mary (the grad student I'm working for) has been patient thus far explaining everything to me and answering my stupid questions. I've had so much information come my way this week that hopefully it will absorb and retain this weekend while it sits. I feel like in the past week I've learned and read more than I did for half a semester at school. I like the relaxed atmosphere at lab. It's not like school lab for class, in which you run around to get everything done. This is like, come in, figure out what you're accomplishing for the day, then do it, and relax while waiting for everything to run. I'm sure it's more stressful at other times of the year, but this is just what I'm noticing. The two post docs in the lab are pretty cool. They're funny and down to earth. Everyone has been so nice to me. I just need to get comfortable and be myself more, cuz I've never quite been that good at the whole small talk thing.
I've done a few things in addition to watching. I might to a dissection next week, but I've watched a couple (both pups and mother). Next week I will do immunohistochemistry, which is like fluorescence microscopy. This week I've aspirated cultures and fed them, dropped in treatments, and helped with a Greiss Assay, which measures nitric oxide (nitrite) in the cell wells. Today I fixed the cells for the microscopy next week, and I hope I did it right, cuz I *might* have mixed up the plates, so that one got fixed for six min, and the other fixed for only four, and they needed to be done at five. AHH! So stupid of me. Actually, I'm pretty sure I did mix them up. It stresses me out a lot. I mean, it's not like I dropped a $100 bottle of something, but still. Does anyone know if it makes a huge difference if cells are fixed for more or less than five min with 1:1 methanol/acetone? I feel like in cell bio it didn't really matter, that we just kind of estimated the treatment times from the wall clock. Next week I will find out, I guess.
I also did some graphing and statistical analysis using Prism, which is SOoooo much better than excel in so many ways. I wish I had a copy of the program for school.
So working 40 hrs a week is taxing. More like because it's summer time and I feel like just hanging out but now I cant.
My father is so obnoxious. Mother is too. I don't know how I'm going to survive living with them for the whole summer. Next summer I will be sure to find an internship I'm not commuting to so I don't have to stay at home.
My coworkers: So far, they seem really cool. Based on the people I observed in the other labs, I feel like I'm in the "cool" lab. Mary (the grad student I'm working for) has been patient thus far explaining everything to me and answering my stupid questions. I've had so much information come my way this week that hopefully it will absorb and retain this weekend while it sits. I feel like in the past week I've learned and read more than I did for half a semester at school. I like the relaxed atmosphere at lab. It's not like school lab for class, in which you run around to get everything done. This is like, come in, figure out what you're accomplishing for the day, then do it, and relax while waiting for everything to run. I'm sure it's more stressful at other times of the year, but this is just what I'm noticing. The two post docs in the lab are pretty cool. They're funny and down to earth. Everyone has been so nice to me. I just need to get comfortable and be myself more, cuz I've never quite been that good at the whole small talk thing.
I've done a few things in addition to watching. I might to a dissection next week, but I've watched a couple (both pups and mother). Next week I will do immunohistochemistry, which is like fluorescence microscopy. This week I've aspirated cultures and fed them, dropped in treatments, and helped with a Greiss Assay, which measures nitric oxide (nitrite) in the cell wells. Today I fixed the cells for the microscopy next week, and I hope I did it right, cuz I *might* have mixed up the plates, so that one got fixed for six min, and the other fixed for only four, and they needed to be done at five. AHH! So stupid of me. Actually, I'm pretty sure I did mix them up. It stresses me out a lot. I mean, it's not like I dropped a $100 bottle of something, but still. Does anyone know if it makes a huge difference if cells are fixed for more or less than five min with 1:1 methanol/acetone? I feel like in cell bio it didn't really matter, that we just kind of estimated the treatment times from the wall clock. Next week I will find out, I guess.
I also did some graphing and statistical analysis using Prism, which is SOoooo much better than excel in so many ways. I wish I had a copy of the program for school.
So working 40 hrs a week is taxing. More like because it's summer time and I feel like just hanging out but now I cant.
My father is so obnoxious. Mother is too. I don't know how I'm going to survive living with them for the whole summer. Next summer I will be sure to find an internship I'm not commuting to so I don't have to stay at home.