Create your own scandal...

Obviously, since I'm in the biomedical research field, I hear about a lot of the drug company scandals that occur on a regular basis. Imagine, then, my excitement when I learned that I no longer have to actually read the news to find scandals...now I can create my own, thanks to the lovely people at Nature. What a time saver!

Dream job...

You know you're a strange duck when you decide that your dream job would be to be a microbiological history professor... teaching impressionable young college students about how the plague changed western civilization. How cool would that be?

How Ironic...

In the same family: 

Sam I. Am: has autoimmune disorder causing dangerously low platelet levels (can potentially lead to severe bleeding).

One of Sam I. Am's siblings: hospitalized for pulmonary embolism (although in the end they couldn't find one). Platelets: way above normal. Clotting factors: sky high.

How, how do genetics explain this? (I know, I know...8 years of Microbiology training and all that, I do know the answer, but still...)

Thoughts from an immature grad student upon walking by a meeting...

"Neener neener neener! You guys have to be in a meeting at 9:00 am and I don't! Sucks to be you... Hey, wait! You guys get free food at your meetings? No fair! Aah...you have free coffee too? Oh man, why don't we get free food and coffee at your meetings? That's totally unfair."

-Sam I. Am, doing her best to shatter the myth of the pretentious scientist every day.

Nom nom...eww?

We have two lovely and devoted (when they want food) cats. One of these cats, Eve, is dumb as a post. The other one, Anya, is both reasonably intelligent (for a cat), and dutiful.

Before Anya's injury we used to let her roam around free outside. In appreciation of this she would bring us nice little presents, such as the ever-popular half eaten mouse. Unfortunately, she got seriously creamed by something (car? cow? who knows), so we keep her inside now. Apparently she has been worried about how to give us presents in her mobility-limited new lifestyle.

The result? Last night Anya came bounding into the kitchen from the garage. Seeing Mr. Sam standing at the sink, she proudly offered her newest gift: a dead cricket. Nice to know she still loves us... I think?

A break from book stuff...

Am too busy doing real life stuff to be bothered with "trying to get published stuff". (Oh, who am I kidding? I'm just tired of rejection letters). I passed my PhD qualifying exam last week, which is very nice and gives me a lot more time. On the other hand, I'm TAing a class of... shall we say non-biologists? In another section of the class yesterday three (yes, three!) students managed to catch their lab gloves on fire. I didn't even know that was possible! And to think I missed it all... the one section I don't TA has all the excitement. Wow. These kids find new and exciting ways to put themselves in danger. Who knew you could have so much fun with a bunsen burner? I mean, I've certainly considered the possibility of toasting marshmallows with a culture needle over the burner, but not so much with the setting myself on fire.

Hmm...

There are times and circumstances that force one to reevaluate one's choice of occupation and/or place of employment.

Finding oneself walking through the halls with a liter of e. coli in one hand and a fully grown cucumber in the other is one of those circumstances.