I hit 200 blog posts a bit back, but that's not it.
In two days I fly off to my first international conference.
Wish me luck.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Friday, 19 November 2010
That Which Pride Precedes
Shortly after my meeting with my supervisors yesterday, I collapsed in a faint. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except:
One ambulance ride, a cannulation, an eye-examination which enabled me to see the blood vessels in my own eyeball, and some blood tests later, and it was determined that there was nothing more wrong with me than simple stress and exhaustion, combined with illness, poor diet and lack of regular sleep. Which I suppose isn't so simple after all.
I'm now at home, condemed to a day of boredom which I suppose I'll have to spend reading papers and looking at my sequencing. And laundry, probably. The everyday stuff which I normally shelve in favour of labwork.
I suppose I had this coming. Too much of anything, even something you enjoy, can lead to harsh consequences. In retrospect, it's just as well that I keeled over in the office, with my co-supervisor standing next to me, and not, say, while jaywalking.
I just wish I had been more conscious to enjoy the ambulance ride. What's the point of riding in an ambulance if you're going to be sick through it? Same thing with police cars - you have to be a criminal to be a passenger in one. How harsh.
The hospital food wasn't so bad though. Admittedly, I had gone for some nine hours without food by the time someone thought to send a tray in. Also, hungry or not, I didn't have more than a spoonful of the custard pudding. It was horrible.
I'm sure I'll consider this a grand adventure some day and laugh at it all. Kinda tired right now though. Hospitals are freaky places and I hate them.
Gonna get lunch now. I'm thinking hard-boiled eggs for some reason.
...
- I couldn't move my legs, or even my upper body immediately after it happened
- I work on a deadly pathogen with a varied and often unpredictable clinical presentation
One ambulance ride, a cannulation, an eye-examination which enabled me to see the blood vessels in my own eyeball, and some blood tests later, and it was determined that there was nothing more wrong with me than simple stress and exhaustion, combined with illness, poor diet and lack of regular sleep. Which I suppose isn't so simple after all.
I'm now at home, condemed to a day of boredom which I suppose I'll have to spend reading papers and looking at my sequencing. And laundry, probably. The everyday stuff which I normally shelve in favour of labwork.
I suppose I had this coming. Too much of anything, even something you enjoy, can lead to harsh consequences. In retrospect, it's just as well that I keeled over in the office, with my co-supervisor standing next to me, and not, say, while jaywalking.
I just wish I had been more conscious to enjoy the ambulance ride. What's the point of riding in an ambulance if you're going to be sick through it? Same thing with police cars - you have to be a criminal to be a passenger in one. How harsh.
The hospital food wasn't so bad though. Admittedly, I had gone for some nine hours without food by the time someone thought to send a tray in. Also, hungry or not, I didn't have more than a spoonful of the custard pudding. It was horrible.
I'm sure I'll consider this a grand adventure some day and laugh at it all. Kinda tired right now though. Hospitals are freaky places and I hate them.
Gonna get lunch now. I'm thinking hard-boiled eggs for some reason.
...
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Recipe: Chocolate Cookie Mice
(Adapted from a recipe published in Cookies, Bars, Brownies by the Pillsbury Company)
Ingredients
Shape cookie dough into 3 cm balls. Pinch one end to form a pointed mouse nose. For the ears, make two tiny balls of dough, less than 1 cm across, and flatten slightly. Press carefully onto the upper-front portion of the mouse body. For the eyes, push two miniature chocolate chips into the pointed end of the dough ball.
Place cookies about 5 cm apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes until the cookies just set. Remove from the oven and immediately push a piece of licorice into the rounded end of each cookie. Allow to cool completely. Remove from cookie sheets. Makes 36 cookies.
Variations
Stuff the mice with chocolate by pressing two chocolate chips into the dough while rolling it into a ball. Technically the cookies can also be stuffed with jam, but the cookies tend to lose their shape during baking.
Additional notes
...
Ingredients3/4 cup sugar
100g butter, softened
100g vegetable shortening, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract1 large egg
2 1/4 level cups plain flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
Miniature dark chocolate chips
Red or black string licorice, cut into 5 cm lengths
Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Stir in flour, cocoa and baking powder. Mix until well combined.
Shape cookie dough into 3 cm balls. Pinch one end to form a pointed mouse nose. For the ears, make two tiny balls of dough, less than 1 cm across, and flatten slightly. Press carefully onto the upper-front portion of the mouse body. For the eyes, push two miniature chocolate chips into the pointed end of the dough ball.
Place cookies about 5 cm apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes until the cookies just set. Remove from the oven and immediately push a piece of licorice into the rounded end of each cookie. Allow to cool completely. Remove from cookie sheets. Makes 36 cookies.
Variations
Stuff the mice with chocolate by pressing two chocolate chips into the dough while rolling it into a ball. Technically the cookies can also be stuffed with jam, but the cookies tend to lose their shape during baking.
Additional notes
- Shortening is annoying to soften. You might have warm it over the stove or in the microwave oven.
- Press the ears onto the mice properly, or they may fall off during baking!
- I find it easier to insert the licorice tails if the rounded ends of the mice are facing the edges of the pan.
- Don't touch the chocolate chip eyes after taking the cookies out of the oven! They will be melted, hot and very painful!
...
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Witches and Wizards and Magical Beasts
A Very Potter Musical, where have you been my whole life?
Parody musicals are one thing. Highly-polished parody musicals with original music performed by actors who can actually sing? They're another thing. Which you should be watching.
AVPM is a musical based on the Harry Potter series. It's not based on any particular book, but rather takes elements from various books and ties them together with original touches and comedic elements, into a colourful, entertaining story with memorable characters - and memorable villains.
And the music. Did I mention the music?
Watch it. It's the missing piece in your life.
(There's also a sequel, which you should also watch. After finishing the first one. Lucius Malfoy is amazing. And Draco Malfoy. And Dolores Umbridge. And - just watch it.)
...
Parody musicals are one thing. Highly-polished parody musicals with original music performed by actors who can actually sing? They're another thing. Which you should be watching.
AVPM is a musical based on the Harry Potter series. It's not based on any particular book, but rather takes elements from various books and ties them together with original touches and comedic elements, into a colourful, entertaining story with memorable characters - and memorable villains.
And the music. Did I mention the music?
Watch it. It's the missing piece in your life.
(There's also a sequel, which you should also watch. After finishing the first one. Lucius Malfoy is amazing. And Draco Malfoy. And Dolores Umbridge. And - just watch it.)
...
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Update XXVII: For Science
So. We haven't spoken in a while.
I've finally experienced a researcher's worst nightmare - finding out that someone else is doing the same thing you're doing, only better. Also, they are based in Hawaii. Hawaii.
It's not too bad. Science is ultimately an altruistic pastime, and if you go into it hoping for fame and wealth you are going to be severely disappointed. Your contribution as an individual means nothing compared to the contribution to the overall picture - and it doesn't particularly matter who makes that contribution.
It is a noble, harsh thing, to be a scientist.
But Hawaii, goshdarnit.
The "Dance Your PhD" competition has recently come to my attention. It has to be the single most bizarre method to be recognised by the Science magazine. (For those who have not been exposed to the cut-throat world of publications, getting published in Nature or Science is akin to an article about you being printed on the front page of your national newspaper, complete with full-colour photographs.) It probably would be quite challanging to express a PhD topic by dance.
...
...
I want to do it.
What does everyone think of Google Instant? While potentially annoying to slower typists looking up obscure topics, I can see how it would be intuitive to the impatient among us. I actually didn't notice anything different for the first thirty minutes or so, until - "Hey, why is the page loading before I can hit the Enter key?"
I like how they put up an actual graph to prove that Google Instant is faster. A graph with no axes.
Look! Jurassic Park the Musical!
...
...
I've finally experienced a researcher's worst nightmare - finding out that someone else is doing the same thing you're doing, only better. Also, they are based in Hawaii. Hawaii.
It's not too bad. Science is ultimately an altruistic pastime, and if you go into it hoping for fame and wealth you are going to be severely disappointed. Your contribution as an individual means nothing compared to the contribution to the overall picture - and it doesn't particularly matter who makes that contribution.
It is a noble, harsh thing, to be a scientist.
But Hawaii, goshdarnit.
The "Dance Your PhD" competition has recently come to my attention. It has to be the single most bizarre method to be recognised by the Science magazine. (For those who have not been exposed to the cut-throat world of publications, getting published in Nature or Science is akin to an article about you being printed on the front page of your national newspaper, complete with full-colour photographs.) It probably would be quite challanging to express a PhD topic by dance.
...
...
I want to do it.
What does everyone think of Google Instant? While potentially annoying to slower typists looking up obscure topics, I can see how it would be intuitive to the impatient among us. I actually didn't notice anything different for the first thirty minutes or so, until - "Hey, why is the page loading before I can hit the Enter key?"
I like how they put up an actual graph to prove that Google Instant is faster. A graph with no axes.
Look! Jurassic Park the Musical!
...
...
Friday, 27 August 2010
I Just Had a Friendship Aneurysm
[shudder]
No wait, I have more to say.
It's...it's just like those children's shows. Those shows for extremely yourng children. Those extremely saccharine cartoons dripping with sugar and treacle and sing-along-songs and pure undiluted sweetness.
[shudder]
No wait, I have more to say.
It's...it's just like those children's shows. Those shows for extremely yourng children. Those extremely saccharine cartoons dripping with sugar and treacle and sing-along-songs and pure undiluted sweetness.
[shudder]
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