Why are molecular biologists fashionable? They wear designer genes.
January 4, 2016
I am still here…
Fall semester held me in it’s miserable thrall up to the last possible moment. I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped, but all things considered I did pretty well. As I look at my grades I had to laugh. Apparently I wasn’t allowed to get the same grade in more than one class:
Genetics Lab: A
Virology: A-
Genetics Lecture: B+
Biochemistry Lecture: B
Biochemistry Lab: B-
If it wasn’t for that cursed Biochemistry Lab being twice the work of all my other classes combined it would have been a very different semester, I tell you.
But, it is over and now I have 72 more class days left in the spring semester to endure before graduation.
The holidays were fun, but busy. The spud visited which was nice, but exhausting. And, right after taking her back to the airport it was a mad dash to finish off the essays for my Graduate School application.
Oh, that was fun. Man o man, have I stories I could tell, only I’m so ripped to shreds by the last 4 months that I have lost the will to bitch.
In any event, it has been submitted and application fees are paid so it is out of my hands now. The decision on whether I am accepted will probably come sometime by the end of March. Depending on the outcome I may graduate in May and be done with the collegiate chapter of my life, or I may decide I haven’t been totally and utterly annihilated by the educational system yet and pick up another 4-6 years.
And in the Lyme Research Lab we have been out of media (read bacteria food) for over 2 months. Apparently there is only one place in the United States that makes the precise formula these bacteria live on, and they are, I guess, back ordered for some unfathomable reason.
I managed to scrounge up a couple dozen mLs from another researcher who didn’t need it and have had my little buggers on short rations this whole time. But I have about two more feedings left (about 2 weeks) and then they starve to death.
You might not think this is such a bad thing. But in a research lab, if you have no subject to research, well, you don’t get much done. And, in general you don’t get paid to do nothing. I volunteer, so what does that say about me. Should I be worried? Well, I kinda wanted to do my graduate studies with this lab.
Well here’s hoping 2016 is a better year.
December 23, 2015
A little biochemistry on the brain
You know you’ve been studying a little too much when you start seeing obscure science-y stuff in every day life.
Take this advertisement for boots I got in my email:
I don’t know why the company calls itself UGG Australia. But after 16 weeks of biochemistry, genetics and virology, when I see UGG my mind immediately goes to the DNA sequence abbreviation for Uracil, Guanine, Guanine which is the codon for the amino acid tryptophan. But that’s just me.
16 weeks earlier, my mind would just have gone from UGG to ugg-ly. And that context is perhaps more fitting.
September 15, 2015
Tuesday Titters: assorted funnies
I have a smorgasbord of comics I’ve downloaded over the years. For any of you who are worried about proper citation, I have none so read at your own risk…
In honor of my Genetics class:
In honor of Biochem class:
In honor of Virology class:
September 8, 2015
Tuesday Titters: another genetics joke
Sorry, but you might have to have a background in cellular biology to get this one, but oh man, I find it hilarious and *had* to share.
In other news, DNA helicase was arrested this morning for unzipping his genes in public.
September 1, 2015
Tuesday Titters: Yesterday was my first Genetics lecture, so naturally here’s a chromosome joke
What is the fastest way to determine the sex of a chromosome?
Pull down its genes.
Janie's Place 