One 'A' Please, Wrapped and Delivered

Things have been pretty busy over here… an insane number of hours in lab last week but luckily I have managed to score a few days off altogether so I can actually do some studying between classes as my finals have already started. I’ve also managed to learn a few new techniques in the lab without causing any major catastrophes/disasters/breaking lab equipment/exploding things/setting anyone on fire – so I suppose there is still hope for me yet! Not to mention that in sitting and talking with my PI the other day, he said he has been impressed with my work thus far and if I would like to return to his lab for my dissertation then we can talk about that in the next week or so, but he thinks I am the right caliber for his lab (apparently breaking shared resource centrifuges and duct taping the spectrophotometer makes me fit right in with everyone else? I’m not sure..).

Regardless, there are a few things I am saving up to discuss at a later point in time... and by later, I mean after finals, when I have time to sit/think/function again. One final down today, and I’m sure I could have aced it if I knew everything possible about making transgenic mice and how to express siRNA in cell lines in an inducible tet-on/tet-off Cre recombinase system, and the step-by-step reagents and incubation times on the ten thousand experiments you can run based off a Western, and all sorts of stuff that is, you know, really simple and obvious to everyone and honestly, what first year PhD student shouldn’t have had lots of direct experience in this already and be able to answer all sorts of manipulative questions? [rolls eyes] As one of my fellow PhD gals put it, some of those essay questions could basically have stated “write out, in three paragraphs, exactly all the laboratory work required to complete a thesis on topics X, Y, and Z.” All I can say is with all crap shoved into my tet-off Cre recombinase siRNA inducing cell vectors, they have about a 0% chance of survival (which is, coincidentally, approximately the grade I expect to receive on that section since I think don’t think I was supposed to have the tet-off system on the same vector on which I floxed the siRNA, my bad). Next up: biostatics, followed by the absolutely dreaded and practically tear-inducing biochemistry final, and the immense amount of detail transformed cell final bringing up the rear next week.

Just thought I would share a bit of holiday humor courtesy of my ever so witty mother. Last week I received an email from her asking for a holiday wish list (I’m 22 – somehow, I feel I’m a bit old to be writing out what I want for the year). I responded stating that there is only one thing in the entire world that I actually want/need/desire/have a use for at this point in time, and that is an A in biochemistry. There is not a single material object that I want more than an A. This is the email response I received, which did add a chuckle to my otherwise study-packed mind-boggling day:

To: Julie

From: Hanukkah Harry

Re: Your skimpy wish list

This memo is in regard to your wish list of an “A” on your biochemistry final. This is a most unusual request that may not be the easiest to fulfill. However, since you have been a good girl this year, we will try our best. Please forward the name, email address, phone number, and home address of the professor. I will contact him and try to determine how much an “A” will cost in the form of a bribe. It may be easier if you have any ‘dirt’ you can dig up on this professor. So I may budget accordingly, do you have any idea how much an “A” usually goes for? I have ties with Santa and checked with his reindeer and some of them have contacts wit the FBI and CIA, so we may have some additional reinforcement there. Please advise if this is satisfactory if you have some other requests that may be easier to fulfill.

OY VEY, Hanukkah Harry

So… anyone have any idea what the going rate of an A is these days, anyway?