tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54393482008-05-17T11:22:44.479-05:00Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comBlogger520125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-30203790949987779682008-05-17T11:05:00.002-05:002008-05-17T11:22:44.666-05:00

@&%*#& Before I left the house this morning, I had to clean up after the dog so hubby could mow the exuberant grass and dandelion collection we call our lawn. While I was doing my doody duty, Foley curled up in the sunshine to watch me in the most impossibly adorable way and I cursed the fates that would send me to the lab instead of lolling in the sun with my dog all day. Then when I got on

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-4503112237415772902008-05-15T13:55:00.003-05:002008-05-15T14:04:36.961-05:00

Wait, what happened to day 3?? Too frantic to write. I was the Sir Georg Solti of molecular systematics, conducting an orchestra of lab equipment and reactions and glassware in a harmonious symphony of productivity for nine straight hours. Followed by a mellow dinner of Quizno's and Dickens. Followed by seeing Flight of the Conchords at the Chicago Theatre. *love* Day 4: Franticness is

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-36703856500267401602008-05-13T17:07:00.003-05:002008-05-13T22:06:43.397-05:00

About half of my PCRs failed for whatever reason. Argh argh argh. Rerunning now, moving ahead with sequences on amplicons that did work. Also, somebody has been moving stuff in the lab, or not washing it properly, or using items for the wrong purpose. Since I'm alone in the lab these days, I can safely rant about it and nobody has to hear what a control freak I am. MY lab! Don't touch

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-91656974137945368062008-05-13T10:17:00.001-05:002008-05-13T10:19:49.542-05:00

I've had the last line of the song stuck in my head for the past hour. (ref. the bookshelves of doom blog)

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-88892045330093447202008-05-12T11:46:00.002-05:002008-05-12T12:11:48.183-05:00

I have set myself an ambitious schedule for getting my data for the Evolution meeting by the end of this week. I just put 60 PCRs in the thermal cycler; each successful PCR represents 3 sequencing reactions, and I can run 48 sequences at a time. Then I have to edit the data and analyze it so it makes some sense. My preliminary results were a bit nonsensical so this may take some creative

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-16695744334669541672008-05-09T08:58:00.005-05:002008-05-12T12:33:09.398-05:00

I spend a lot of time on the 'L' or walking, mind wandering. As I reflected on my recent committee meetings and made plans for the next year, it occurred to me that I could conceptualize my whole project as a series of derivatives. For those of you who would like to know what it is that I'm doing (without me giving away any of the interesting results), here's an overview: First derivative:

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-6789275919751027802008-05-08T16:26:00.003-05:002008-05-08T16:50:06.088-05:00

Final exam scores are in. The professor is wisely leaving town for a week, but I don't have that luxury. The onslaught of email has already begun. "Can I come plead for extra points on the exam we took two months ago?" Everything is a negotiation these days. The students think they can talk their way into a higher grade, and it must work sometimes or else why would they keep trying it? Why,

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-65795004570847218582008-05-03T17:03:00.000-05:002008-05-03T17:04:40.221-05:00

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-81027472318092646412008-05-01T11:08:00.001-05:002008-05-01T11:10:15.491-05:00

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-23615597684950597112008-05-01T09:09:00.002-05:002008-05-01T09:18:53.288-05:00

1) Could it be?? Yes!! It's the Return of the Obvious Metaphor Anxiety Dream!! Last night's dream featured the storefront church I walk past every day. They had converted the front half of their space into a convenience store to help raise money. I went in to buy an ice cream bar, but I checked each of the dozens of racks of ice cream bars scattered around and discovered that everything was

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-51010547553074861992008-04-28T13:18:00.003-05:002008-04-28T13:45:51.388-05:00

Just an idea I've been kicking around and I wanted to set it down in writing. It comes from our family's recent obsession with the gas mileage in our car, which reports the mileage in real time. It has completely changed our driving behavior. Taking off from a light too fast now makes me wince when I see the graph for that minute down in the 10s, and cruising on battery from Pulaski all the

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-18512178815154064052008-04-28T11:10:00.002-05:002008-04-28T13:17:54.706-05:00

Having a hard time concentrating on the things I am supposed to be doing. Annual committee meeting is in one week and I've done almost nothing about it yet apart from creating some rather confusing maps. I'm supposed to write some final exam questions one of these days. I need to prepare for the Evolution meeting and for my field trip. And for some reason, I'm not as stressed out as I should

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-85896063187276960992008-04-18T09:21:00.003-05:002008-04-18T09:29:47.930-05:00

1) Slept through my second Midwestern earthquake this morning. At least last time, we were vaguely aware something was odd because Libby was pacing and panting but there was no thunderstorm. Today I had no idea until I saw it on the news. 2) Accepted a carryout menu from a man dressed as a pumpkin and riding a Segway. 3) Holy crap it's April 18th already *sob* Welcome to the final weeks of

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-2446943570199753382008-04-16T08:52:00.003-05:002008-04-16T09:30:10.841-05:00

I said a couple of years ago, after an emergency evacuation of the Blue Line, that I thought it would be interesting to be evacuated from the tunnel sometime. I was mistaken. It's actually somewhere between tedious and infuriating. Also filthy. A train ahead of us broke down yesterday morning at 8:10, stopping every train behind it. We were in the tunnel halfway between Grand and Lake. No

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-10873323218698384232008-04-09T20:38:00.002-05:002008-04-09T20:41:36.149-05:00

The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign. Give if you are able; I did. Think of it as a carbon offset.

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-79968488043339851282008-04-09T12:28:00.004-05:002008-04-09T17:59:03.469-05:00

In keeping with my own personal belief that my PhD, and life in general, would proceed effortlessly if I could only find the right mix of school supplies: Mead Releases New Grad-School-Ruled Notebook Grad-school-ruled notebooks will have lines 3.55 mm apart, much narrower than those 7.1 mm college-ruled notebooks. Much more practical! "And with the time you'll save by not having to flip a page

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-89700541867355193692008-04-09T09:45:00.005-05:002008-04-09T17:58:40.177-05:00

I have been following this story with great interest, outrage, and amusement. Yes, Rob Sherman is annoying and goes way too far most of the time, a la Madeline Murray O'Hair. However, every cause needs an extremist to get things rolling; the truth, or compromise, will eventually lie somewhere in the middle once people get used to the idea that there are two (or more) sides to the issue. In

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-41027564867427536722008-04-03T13:02:00.002-05:002008-04-03T13:05:22.235-05:00

It's in Spanish, but I think the video speaks for itself. I did notice repeated use the word "pistolas", though. Pistol-packin' worms! (via Neatorama)

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-9880781606479126942008-04-03T11:45:00.003-05:002008-04-03T12:03:17.903-05:00

According to an ad on the Tribune website, it is now possible to rent designer handbags, starting at $6 a week. I don't even know where to begin with that, so I'll just let you imagine my sputtering disbelief. Took Miss Foleyface to the vet yesterday to have her gimpy leg x-rayed. She was SO good through the whole thing that I was popping with pride over how far she's come. She even zonked

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-12113593174260057572008-04-01T11:19:00.004-05:002008-04-01T11:45:08.762-05:00

Oh, how I despise April Fools Day. I am without a doubt the most gullible person I know, which is ironic since I'm also probably the most skeptical and suspicious person I know. Go figure. But I dislike practical jokes in general and only rarely will be a party to them.* See, practical jokes are designed to make someone look dumb, and I disapprove of that. Also, even though I'm aware that

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-24370179513186791402008-03-30T16:34:00.003-05:002008-03-30T16:50:12.870-05:00

This morning I drove to the store in my hybrid car and hauled my groceries in reusable canvas bags and felt rather virtuous. I will not take it one step further, however, and buy my groceries from an organic localvore co-op. I am rather partial to my prepackaged, overprocessed, easy-to-prepare foods. I choose my battles. We participated in Earth Hour last night. For one hour, we shut down

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-66671122716087371902008-03-27T15:03:00.002-05:002008-03-27T15:24:43.035-05:00

I planned to give myself a glorious, well-deserved weekday off this week, do some shopping, eat something tasty, pick out new glasses, color my hair. Well, it's not gonna happen. Too much to do! The field season is looming, the Evolution meeting is looming, and I have to have a committee meeting soon so I can tell my committee that I am not really sure where the last 10 months went but I

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-59211923316873224512008-03-26T12:37:00.002-05:002008-03-26T12:42:53.921-05:00

Somewhere, someone is having a sunny spring break filled with friends and alcohol (and of course studying for the upcoming exam in 230 - right, my little students?). I am at my desk, involved in a silent battle with the guy across the hall for possession of the Sequencher license key, and bored out of my head. Going to lunch in a minute, but first I took a moment to blog-crawl, and found this:

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-88776640640289236732008-03-24T10:29:00.004-05:002008-03-24T11:22:08.697-05:00

We had a sunny, snowy Easter yesterday. Easter came unusually early this year, rather disappointing for all the girls who wanted to show off their cute spring dresses. We drove the new car to Rockford and obsessed over the real-time gas mileage calculator. Unfortunately, had to leave little Foley at home, because in two trips in the new car she has peed both times. I am convinced she is making

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439348.post-39758317999249689732008-03-17T10:19:00.003-05:002008-03-17T10:28:22.849-05:00

(imagechan.com)

Dianehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589473046882217457noreply@blogger.com