"25 before 25"

I'm totally re-inventing myself in dental school. For one, I won't care about school. I mean, I won't only care about school. I will also love and enjoy school. I mean....

This weekend was just lovely. Take a look at this scene outside of our department:

After thundering and pouring all afternoon on Friday, this weekend's unexpected beautiful weather coaxed me to work outside.

I sat outside and thought about 25 things I hope to accomplish before I turn 25. It's at D is for Dentist: "Yesle's 25 before 25."

And I want to have an identity outside of school: "Don't let school define you."

(Can you tell this two-blogging is getting complicated for me?)

I wore my Chick-Fil-A shirt to the gym today and wondered if this was totally inappropriate! Oh wells. Happy Earth Day.

why being the first 100 at chick-fil-a will wreck you

I spent 27 hours with 109 strangers camping outside in a concrete parking lot yesterday. All for the promise of free Chick-Fil-A for a year. (52 meals for one meal a week anyway).

I learned how to pitch a tent for this occasion (It's surprisingly easy). I felt a little rugged and outdoorsy until I remembered why I needed to be outdoors.

It is sort of like being on a cruise. Since there were more than a 100 people, there was a raffle to determine the lucky 100 with 10 more alternates. I made friends with a former longhorn who works at a downtown hospital.

The crowd was predominantly middle-aged and female. There were a few other college students. Some of the raffle winners were wheel-chair bound so they had "guests" who stayed to move them around. You have to be at least 18 but there were a handful of kids that stuck around with their parents who had won the raffle. A lot of them, I found out later, are home-schooled. Some moms had brought their infant babies! Fortunately the weather stayed cool so no medical emergencies there.

The same people host the Chick-Fil-A openings nationwide. Many of the people were repeat customers who knew the CFA staff like old friends. A surprising bunch had driven hours and hours for this. One elderly woman told me she drove eight hours from Louisiana and was planning on coming in again next week to Katy.

Let's think about this. At 52 meals valued at $250, I was just at the tipping point of making economic sense, missing an entire day of work and babysitting. But to do this repeatedly? I wanted to ask others how they were spending an entire day sitting out here. I was in the parking lot from 5:30AM Wednesday to 6:15AM Thursday.

After lunch, there was a mini-jam session behind the building in the shade! I took my papers, poured myself a cup of iced sweet tea and studied listening to live music.

I met people I would normally never talk to. Being in the same boat naturally confers a feeling of solidarity. Huddled by the one outlet charging phones, talking about homeschooling, discussing "old" antibiotics (She gushed, "I remember when methicillin came out!"). I danced two-step with new friends, found another Kurt Vonnegut aficionado, checked off an item on my bucket list, and oh, got 52 free CFA meals.

#12 and #13 after an entire day in this CFA parking lot

But about the title (besides having your last exam two hours after you pull out from the CFA parking lot...), from the Chick-fil-A meal calculator I added up what I ate:

I had made some actively healthy choices, such as not constantly pouring myself sweet tea, ordering a chargrilled chicken sandwich for dinner, not winning a milkshake for a contest. But this day was out of control food-wise. My fitness calculator told me I'd gain an extra five pounds in five weeks if I kept this up. YIKES. Many people brought in chips and cookies in addition to the CFA food we were fed, so...

Some final thoughts:
I wondered why homeless/jobless people weren't here. For them this would be a great opportunity right? One speculated they probably didn't know because she heard about it on the Internet- how did I figure this out? (Facebook through a friend). People who could benefit the most from these openings simply don't know about them...

Did you see me on the news?? Houston Press and Click2Houston

the crawfish party.

There once was a boy who was turning seven. His parents asked him what he wanted for his birthday. He answered that he wanted to have a crawfish boil. His parents found this curious since the boy never liked crawfish (he found it too spicy) but promised him one anyway. The day before the dad went out to pick up the ten pounds of crawfish for the boy and his six friends, he asked the boy: "Why did you want to have crawfish instead of pizza or ice cream?" The boy answered: "I want to play with the crawfish." He was referring to the cleaning process where crawfish would sit in a salty tub for a few minutes. His parents laughed and headed over to the grocery store. They asked if they could buy one crawfish. One lucky (or unlucky) crawfish was brought home for the birthday boy. He put the crawfish in a glass bowl filled with water. He felt its smooth shell and looked at his claws. The birthday crowd ate pizzas at the party.

Homemade tortillas!!!

I woke up early on a Saturday morning and I decided to make flour tortillas from scratch.

This recipe is so simple: Easy homemade flour tortillas from Cooks.com with four ingredients everyone has in their kitchen.

Knead, form into 1 or 2-inch doughs, flatten and cook on hot griddle (or a frying pan!). I didn't have a roller so I flattened the dough by hand. You could probably get two dozen tortillas from this recipe if you made them really flat.

Off to work on today's errands! One week of school left.

Be like Charlie: observations.

I live in a nice neighborhood thanks to my second job and while running around the neighborhood yesterday I had to smile at three boxes of pizza piled outside an almost-immorally-big house. Because 1) they live in this beautiful house but ordered $5 boxes of chain-store pizza? 2) Three boxes. That means enough people live in this house to maybe justify its size.

I got an email from Joe Biden titled "Saturday night". As soon as I clicked and waited for Rice's slow webmail to load, I regretted it- it had to be spam! (It wasn't). I also got an email from Barack and Michelle Obama! Campaign season.

You know the farmers market spinach I was so excited about? I dug out a small orange frog out of my dinner last night. I poked at it because I thought it was a bean or something! It was smaller than the nail on my pinky. Sorry little frog.

I miss Village Inn. Of all the delicious meals and beautiful restaurants I've been to, this is what I was craving yesterday. Because they have the most wonderful pies in the world and the most attentive waitresses. I hope I can find somewhere as comfortable as this diner next year.

Also speaking of my second job, what is up with all these "elite nanny" craze? NY Times and NPR picked up feature stories about expensive nannies who are paid six digits a year. It sounds like a lot, but same logic for any other job: you are being paid for your time... so if you need to be constantly on call and not have any freedom of your own, then your hourly wage is probably low.

And this comment made me LOL, because I do the same thing and keep re-considering changing the station every time NPR talks about something crazy:

Ellen Whitton (EllenKW) wrote: My alarm clock is set to the station that plays Morning Edition. I guess I was sleeping pretty soundly this morning because I thought I'd had this really weird dream, and woke up shaken. Now I see that I actually heard this. Maybe I should set my clock to a music station.

I got an unwanted suntan from Beer Bike this weekend! Two hours in Houston sun means I need to make the switch in foundation to summer shades if I wore foundation. Also very dehydrated from junk food and free sauna, slept all day all weekend and tried very hard to focus at today afternoon's meeting.

When studying Spanish pays off.

After that sad morning in Philadelphia when I failed to squeak a single Spanish word to Portuguese men, I've made progress.

1. I understood phrases from "Born to Run" without Chris McDonagall dutifully explaining ever line. (Awesome book, by the way.) Bruja. Caballo. Loco. Corriendo. I think I may have summarized the entire book in four words.
2. I was able to read SkippyJon Jones believably for the kiddos' bedtime. Including the parts where Chihuahuas appear in SkippyJon's fantasy and speak in Spanish and Spanish accents. Holy frijoles!


I wanted to be an interpreter for a long time in middle school because I thought I was talented at languages. I took up English so easily! I had no accent! I took Latin in high school and gradually decided otherwise. Taking Chinese at Rice also convinced me that I didn't have natural talent at learning languages, I just had exceptional English tutors.

Because the sun is finally out after months of clouds

At the library yesterday I saw a 5-year-old reading a storybook in Chinese. So wonderful.

old and new roommates.

I almost included a video to a 90's pop song with cheesy inspirational topics, but I'll spare you. For the first time in a long time, I can picture myself in 5 years, maybe 10, 20 years. It is not a hazy image of me floating around anymore. And I am starting to move in that direction towards the new me, wrapping up my life in Houston with checklist of tasks.

One is leaving the boys.

I think I've found someone to take over my spot. She'll be amazing, and as Lo reminded me, I am happy I'll be leaving them in good hands. But it still saddens me to know my Friday evenings will soon be sans Wii, made-up games and bedtime stories, nights like tonight.

After I let Littlest pick his out his pajamas ("Ta-yo!"- this means Star Wars) and loop each limb through the opening, he hops out of the bed to brush his teeth. He holds out his toothbrush so I can squeeze a pea drop of toothpaste onto it. While he's brushing his teeth (which means he turns on the toothbrush and holds it in his mouth for ten seconds), I tell him "I'm going to be a dentist." He looks at me in the mirror and smiles, letting his little teeth show. "Do you know what a dentist does? Open your mouth? I'll be taking care of those teeth." Littlest collects water in his palms, licks his hands, then puts the toothbrush back in the medicine cabinet.

Littlest get in bed and looks at me as I'm about to turn out the lights. He says "Good night, Yesle" except his "Yesle" sounds more like "Yah-slee".

I think I definitely want a roommate next year. But how can I really know someone through Craigslist or facebook? Roommates used to be completely random in the World Before Facebook, and college kids all over the world survived just fine. So why not?

Tomorrow a penthouse, that's way up high! Tonight, the "Y", why not? It's NYC!

This has got to be my favorite part from Annie. Same goes for me. Why not live somewhere historic, "cozy", rat-infested with roommates for a little while?

Christmastime...

Yesterday I had a small Christmas gathering with friends in the shoebox. My apartment was impeccably cleaned for this occasion, and I even had the ingenious idea of opening the gate for guests through my open window instead of running down the stairs every time. (Okay, it's not really "ingenious", but I was so proud of myself for thinking of this!).

Falling leaves, bare trees, 70's weather-  Christmas in Houston

I had been saving this occasion to try something new with everyone: ice cream with olive oil. Yes, you read that right. Drizzle your favorite vanilla ice cream with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt. There are recipes out there to make ice cream with olive oil, but in our case, using olive oil as a novel ice cream topping was enough. The verdict? "It tastes gourmet", we declared, "It's... interesting, not bad". I think if you like to dip your French fries in milkshake, you might like this combo.

The most adorable Christmas cookies with perfect frosting

With non-matching cups and plates out to accommodate everyone with the most random foods laid out on the coffee tables (popcorn, homemade ratatouille and white chocolate cookies by the adorable E, blueberry bread and ice cream among others) we talked about (correspondingly) random things, jumping from topic to topic. But facebook was probably the star of the night- the new Timeline format, dangers of facebook-ing acquaintances, applying(more often adapting) cultural norms to online technology...

By the end of the night, I had to laugh at my makeshift table, probably too small for the occasion. Every inch was covered with cups, ramekins, spoons with the remaining space scattered with dropped popcorn and napkins. A beautiful evening to end a hectic week.

some of the nom nom's of the night- before the party

Merry Christmas, everyone. If you don't celebrate Christmas... Merry Christmas anyway.

another kind of oatmeal.

I've gone grocery shopping three times in less than seven days, at three different grocery stores. Where I live, there are more than a dozen grocery stores within a five mile radius, and I feel productive when food-shopping because I need to eat anyway.

Oatmeal. My go-to food for every meal. I finally finished off my huge cylinder of oats and wandered through the aisles of Fiesta searching for oatmeal this afternoon. There were three different kinds: old-fashioned, "ready in 5 minutes" and "ready in 1 minute!". I don't even know what kind I am used to, let alone how different these are. Turns out the answer is simple, the same two words you put down on every AP Biology exam if you didn't know the answer: surface area. The quick-"cooking" ones are rolled flatter and chopped up smaller in order to cook faster.

In addition, the usual oats we eat are rolled oats. Another kind is steel cut oats(also called Irish oats), which look different from the rolled oats which are literally rolled flat:

rolled oats and steel cut oats Picture

Met up with friends to check out the Farmer's Market on Eastside this morning. I had an Egg in the Basket. (did you know the popularity of this dish rose by 27.5% after V for Vendetta?)

walk and chew Saturday breakfast

Fact: adding oatmeal makes pancakes, cookies and muffins exponentially delicious.

row row row

I finally made it to rowing today after weeks of being unable to make group rows. Since I was finishing up the class much later, I was the only novice this morning. There were sixteen people, so we naturally divided up into four quads- prelude to my traumatizing moment.

We row-row-rowed downstream with me in the 2 seat. Jose sat behind me & yelled out instructions and suggestions: reach with your back, push with your legs, control your slide. So many things to remember, all while you are repeating the same motion over and over again. I wrote about how difficult it is to keep the repeating motion going, and today was equally difficult, but I learned to feel the water and enjoy it a little bit more.

He's caught the elusive ejector crab. Picture

We got to the end of the creek and the other two boats were lined up, waiting.... uh oh. One of the rowers had suggested that we race, and everyone began jokingly dirty-talking the other boats. All the boats lined up and with someone shouting "start!", our stroke began rowing at a ferocious rate, 0 to 60 in two seconds. Holy crab. I panicked, fumbled, my oar hit seat 3's then my ribs, and Jose yelled out "weigh nuff!" (=stop).

Oh-oooooh. That's how a race starts.

All the while my hands were killing me. I refused to look at them until I got in the car, and oh my oars, those dishes will not be washed today or tomorrow. After a painful shower, I called up Sporty Bro who was walking on Times Square & flooding the family chat room with his NYC photos. I uploaded a photo of my own which elicited a stronger response from Appa: "OMG".

A productive weekend minus the fact that I can no longer straighten my fingers. This reminds me of the most heartbreaking interview I heard today with Darrell Hammond of SNL (that he portrays John McCain... is the connection). Spending the evening prepping for my L.A. trip this week.

Good Eats, my kind of cooking show.

I watched a cooking show en route to California on the plane last week but didn't catch the title. I wandered the food show websites looking for an older male host and Dutch shots, with a heavy science emphasis.

Good Eats with Alton Brown.

Half scientist, half chef (picture)

This show fills the perfect niche for me. Alton Brown is the goofy host behind this cooking show which goes beyond the usual techniques and entertaining ideas. He explains the science between his recipes and methods, going into why a certain method is the best and why others would not be quite as effective (ex: don't wash pasta with cold water after draining it, so the hot noodle absorbs the sauce more readily). He also throws in helpful tips such as how to keep store cookie dough until ready to cook (carve out little balls with an ice cream scoop, put in the fridge for few minutes then throw into freezer for longer storage), all with every day ingredients and simple recipes anyone can follow.

So next time you want to spend some quality time osmosizing information but are not feeling the PBS or TED, watch Good Eats. You'll learn something while laughing at Alton's silliness (he's a goofy chef) & walk away with new dinner ideas.

Also, last but not least, Alton Brown's "Live and Let Diet":
Eat every day: fruits, whole grains, leafy greens, nuts, carrots, green tea
Eat at at least 3/week: oily fish, yogurt, broccoli, sweet potato, avocado
Limit to 1/week: red meat, pasta, dessert, alcohol
(Try to) never: fast food, soda, processed meals, canned soups, anything "diet"
And remember a simple rule: EAT BREAKFAST!

Not sure if this is doable on my end (dessert to once a week?), but I like this method of thinking about nutrition balance in terms of weekly consumption.

Okay, running off for skype chat with my summer family.

so worth it.

Sporty Bro & I had a much-needed chat today. He is going through "prelims" & we discussed the concept of doing your best. Our question: is it better to do fail knowing that wasn't your best shot? Or like the Coldplay song: "when you try your best but you don't succeed..." give it your best effort, fail, but know that at least you gave it all you got? The first protects your ego, at least. ("I didn't even try!")

Sometimes, little things you push in life can be so worth it.

no, it wasn't me taking the bath...

An evening of chasing kiddos around and outside, watching Yo Gabba Gabba (yelling at the screen and dancing around), playing Blues Clues and giving kiddos a bath... is so worth it when you tuck them in & they whisper: "you're the best babysitter ever."

repetitive motions.

Snow cones- when's the last time you had one?

This weekend was the busiest I'd been in a while. I spent my entire Saturday babysitting (8AM: woke up to literally run out the door) and helping out at a local event. The weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful (high 60's!), but spending hours trying to catch up to young ones really wore me out.

because everyone wants to be velcro-ed to a wall

Sunday morning, I woke up at six to make my way over to Sugar Land for my first novice row at 7:30AM (rowers are early risers). I was put in a quad with one other beginner where I caught three crabs and was almost knocked off the boat (I have the bruises to show for it!). But I had such a great time. At the end, we "full power"-ed it 1500m back to the boathouse.

The beautiful boathouse

I must note that the repetitive rowing motions- leg, back, arm, release and repeat- almost made me... nervous. The rhythmic motion of sliding back and forth, and the coordinated sounds of oars splashing into the water, the click of the oar squaring against the edge... I had to distract myself from the robot-like motions and not think too much about them, because the moment I began noticing everything I had to do, I became overwhelmed by the movements and fumbled. 

A conversation I had with my cactus-loving friend Lobo made me think about the repetitive daily events I go through. I had been feeling a little uneasy about my everyday life, because it is so regular and predictable; it is so okay. Not ohhhh-I-got-an-A-on-that-essay or holy-shmoles-I-have-five-exams-next-week extremes, but a stable ongoing rhythm of work and everyday happenings, a simple contentment. I must admit it sometimes makes me uncomfortable to feel this way, after a whole lifetime of squeezing in extra commitments and strong emotions associated with little successes or failures. Another question Lobo talked about has me thinking: what is happiness? And the biggest question that follows: what am I doing to achieve that happiness right now?

A regular life may be something I am simply not used to, but the more important question must be: am I happy? (or becoming happy?)  I have lots to think about as I drift off to sleep clutching my aching back from carrying 50-pound-kiddos.

Sophie's World...

I finished "Sophie's World" and this book has me thinking about religion, existence, and our place in the World. Reading this book was definitely an adventure, since the book extended beyond its plot and reached out to my life. Although it is a novel, "Sophie's World" follows Sophie, a 15-year-old living in Sweden as she discovers mysterious letters from a philosopher leading her to explore philosophy through the ages and question her reality. There is a surprise at the end, as I began evaluating my suspension of disbelief, similar to "Lolita" in this way.

wearing invisible socks

I thought I put on enough sunscreen but two hours of Houston sun may be enough to melt away any prepared defense against the rays- I have sock tan lines! I spent most of my weekend outdoors- relaxing at Brochstein, working on my lab report outside, and rowing today morning. 

breakfast at Brochstein before football with little one

I think the hardest thing about philosophical questions is that there is no clear answer. You can believe it this way or that way, and push your beliefs into a direction. But it is also difficult to glue yourself to a body of thought because there are always great counterexamples that make you re-evaluate your position. I was also struck by the intimate weave between religion and philosophy throughout history. "Sophie's World" frames philosophy with a bigger storyline which keeps it exciting (and really makes the ending resonate)- definitely worth a read, just be patient.

learning to row.

I've been learning another fun skill lately: rowing! The closest boathouse to my house is the Greater Houston Rowing Club on Oyster Creek in Sugar Land, so I decided to sign up for their introductory rowing class.

During our first on-land class, we learned the basic terms, safety precautions, and instructions for the ergometer. Today was our first on-land rowing session, and I was placed in an eight (sits 8 sweepers). You actually face the stern, or the back of the boat, which makes the terminology a little tricky. Port is boat's left (your right) and starboard is boat's right. You are also assigned a number starting from the bow (front) of the boat, and once you are seated, you are called out by that number ("4! Square your oar!").

Since more than half of us were beginners, our boat did not look like this:

Picture Source

Our coxswain, who sits at the stern of the boat and is the only one facing forward, yelled out directions, cheered, made corrections- "you guys look like a crazy caterpillar!".

The Oyster Creek, calm waters

I already have blisters and jammed fingers. But I like this rowing business, and I think I might join the boathouse once I feel more confident in the water. Rowing is a great exercise because it uses the entire body. You use your legs-back-arms sequentially to row- it requires much coordination! Also, I was surprised at how sleek and light the boats were. We had nine people on our boat keeping us afloat on the water, but it was unbelievably light when we carried it back into the boathouse.

In other news, it finally rained here in Houston! It poured on my way to get gas- this is how I remember Houston summers.

free carwash!

A lot of driving this weekend- I picked up kimchi and am still finishing up the grilled chicken bulgogi from H-mart (finally).

daydream& visualize: my diploma.

I finally got my rolled-up diploma framed! Our diplomas are hugemontacious(18 by 23), and now that it is hung up, overshadows everything else in the room.

Diploma finally hanging on the wall

I spent a good ten minutes making the borders perfectly even on all four sides and then putting the frame straight up on the wall. This diploma represents the four years of studying, learning, and growing up at Rice, and I am so proud of myself for earning my degree.

+++ Worst case of fuuuu today: I went to the gym and found that I only had one sock in my gym bag! Not wanting to waste the perfect parking spot I'd snatched, I hopped on the treadmill. Three miles later, I found the other sock while digging for my water bottle.

green leprechauns in the mantle.

Hi, it's September.

1. I went to a baseball game(Cubs vs. Astros) where we watched three Taco Bell sauces race around the field:

Mild won. How do you get jobs like this?

2. I am obsessed with this picture from Bonnie and Clyde. I'd like to look this excited and equally fantastic when I am running away from cops.

3. With classes we begin the quotable professor series: "Inside of the earth is green, like green leprechauns, not those red devil-ey thingies".
(and another by a student: "Could you... tell me about the forbidden zone?"- I swear this was relevant. The way he said it after everyone had been eyeing this area on the graph up on the screen made it funny.)

4. Bruce is now the official spokes-moose for skin cancer after a summer on Kasey's dashboard.

5. The quote on my mind (after watching One Day & etc):

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." Orson Welles

baked goods before first day of class!

I have my first day of class tomorrow! I am still a non-student, but I decided to take an interesting class in the Earth Science department. I figured should know something about the earth and its chemistry since I work here. This weekend was filled with many baked goods! I spent my Friday and Saturday in Sugar Land and used this old-school oven to bake some very dense buttery muffins.

Actual buttons and knobs?

My friend hosted a chili & bread dinner at his house today (he claims he had a quarterlife crisis because "I bought a BMW and am now moving across the country!"). I think next time he has a legitimate midlife crisis, he should open a bread shop and make these three-pound loafs all day- they were so good! The perfect amount of chewiness and softness... mmmm heaven.

look at that soft, chewy inside- pour some butter on me...

three pounds of pure deliciousness

I missed hanging out with other bio people- the entire evening we chatted about silly health products seen in pharmacies ("this contains the same amino acids as whatever-hormone") and discussed how parts don't equal the whole ("How about we ingest some sodium and then chloride? Because table salt is tasty"). Dorkiest thing ever, I know, but when you have graduate students(bioe and medical) plus a sprinkle of scientists in the room, dinner conversations take interesting turns. Classes start tomorrow both for Little Brother & me- I am excited to be learning new things, especially about a subject I hardly know anything about.

thinking about "cost per wear" not the rack price.

I went shopping for a suit after work yesterday. I had fun browsing through the racks of beautiful clothes. With the help of the salesperson, I dragged about twenty items into the dressing room and spent hours trying them on. In the end, I bought a great pair of black pants that were classic and crisp- just what I was looking for. The search for a perfect blazer continues.

I chatted with my mom about how pricey suits were, and she told me to think about the cost per wear of these items. Cost Per Wear, or CPW, is the cost of the item divided by the number of times you wear it. This method of calculating the cost of your items focuses on how much you use the item, rather than the price off the rack. For instance, the dress you bought on clearance but never wore, the price of that is effectively infinity(divide by zero...). Not really, but kind of. It means that if you invest in a classic piece that you wear on multiple occasions, your CPW may be less than that of something you considered a bargain.

could 60's fashion be any more glamorous? Banana Republic's Mad Men collection.

Rent The Runway markets off the idea of Cost Per Wear. You can borrow designer pieces such as dresses, jewelry, and even purses from this website, at a price correlated to the market price. For example, most of the dresses that are $500-$1000 rent at $50/weekend. I thought this idea was silly until I remembered my prom dress- I bought a very puffy/pink/tulle-y typical prom dress, and ended up wearing it just that one night.

I scheduled my first interview this morning. Now I have another motivation to be invited to more interviews- to lower the CPW of my suits.

lessons from the workplace.

I have learned a lot in the last two months that I've been a grown-up with a full-time job. I learned how to access distant files via WinSCP, how to use an interferometer, how to formulate a research project... but I think the hardest thing I learned is to be responsible.

Oh, and managing caffeine intake...

The things I do have implications for other people not just myself. When I was in college, the worst thing that could have happened to me would have been failing a class. This would have been devastating for me, but besides friends who truly cared about me and were concerned to see me in despair, this would have been an island of disaster affecting really only me.

snacking while running to next experiment- counting down 10 minutes....

But now I feel like I am an atom in a well-organized crystal lattice which, by me acting out (being the wrong charge or size), I'll affect the stability of the entire grain by serving as the flaw which initiates mineral dissolution(can you tell I work in a geochemistry lab?). People depend on me for things.

Pure Au makes this a priceless piece of sticky tape.

Practicing safe lab protocol.

Something cool I've learned to enjoy is having conversations about my research where we brainstorm and discuss ideas. Coming back from a play with a friend, he mentioned something cool he saw on PBS, which I watched and naturally relayed to my co-worker. He was excited and amazed that we hadn't heard about it, and prompted me to dig up some papers(thank you B!). Every conversation can be a spark for research material. I've grown to love our "power meetings" where we throw out ideas, discuss potential problems, mention papers we've read... three is definitely better than one.

In other news, I am becoming a CheB- bacteria in my own bed. Maybe because I have no less than nine pillows and three comforters in my bed, but I wake up every morning facing a different direction.