In the Friggen Beginning

Hmm...blogging. My sister Julie does this and I thought, "Hey. Great idea. Why haven't I started this already?"

Well the short version is I don't imagine I have the time and I'm not practiced in sharing information about my day-to-day life with people. For instance, right now my panic level increases by 1/1000 of a unit per word I type, because I have five readings to complete for my Philosophy of Mind class before next Wednesday and probably a chapter of microeconomics to complete by Monday. Also, I should be finding time to work for Charter more cause I need that cash money. Cash money is only second to chocolate money.

Fact: Life does not get better than this.

But you know...screw it. I'm gonna do this anyway. It will challenge me to have something new to report at least once a week just so I have something to write about. Most of my weeks look something like this:

Ballpark, anyway.

I really enjoy the lab I'm working in. They study hematopoiesis in zebrafish, which for all intents in purposes means a lot of molecular biology work for me. I've learned how to perform PCR, run electrophoresis gels, screen zebrafish (adults and embryos) for fluorescent tags, isolate plasmids from bacteria cultures, and prepare a hell of a lot of stock solutions for the lab. But the truly awesome part of working the lab is working with Claire. She's very direct and immediately calls you out when you make mistakes. That might sound harsh at face value, but it also means I never have to wonder whether or not I'm doing well because I always get immediate feedback from her. She also seems genuinely interested in acting as a mentor, not just having an undergrad to work for her.  We take time on roughly a bi-weekly basis to discuss the big picture and all the science behind her experiments. I'm constantly learning.

YAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!

This blog entry is taking too friggen long. I'm done now.