I couldn't sleep. well, I'm sure that if I tried hard enough, I could have. I just thought getting up at 6 seemed like a great way to start my Sunday. I'll be up this early again Monday (tomorrow) and Wednesday to get my spin teaching on. Plus my brain was definitely ready to get up. Seemed strange to waste that with sleep.
I did probably one of the best runs of my life yesterday outside in the cold. It was high 30s, I was wearing a long sleeve tech tee with my tie dye Alaska Grown tee shirt on top (thanks Mom and Dad), and a pair of tight compression short short. Okay, not Cheerleader or Volleyball player short, but short in Liz world. And you know what? I rocked those 10+ miles. Finishing faster towards the end than in the beginning. My pace was steady and my form smooth as I spend close to two hours admiring the leaves and their gradients of color through the Arboretum. It was a very very great way to spend the day.
There really was no way to top that, so I came back inside, made Mahi Mahi and top Ramen for dinner (I know, its really weird but I ate them separately, not together). Ate some amazing wheat bread, and later on dowered some eggs and tomatoes and another piece of that wheat bread (do you sense a carb and protein theme). My mother should be ashamed that my dinner last night consisted of no vegetables. NONE! Because, technically tomato is a fruit. Also, I boiled up some quinoa in the hopes of making Fried Quinoa (like fried rice but with no rice) for dinner today. Maybe throw in some frozen fish, veggies and some fruit and I should be good. Let me just say that there is little I wouldn't do for a fresh king salmon grilled in my parents back yard right about now. NOTHING.
On cheerier news, I'm a little behind in lab and need to really start pushing to get some of my project stuff done. My bacterium Desulfuromonas hasn't been growing without a special reducing agent in the culture tubes that will potentially mess up my results in the future. Its super super frustrating, and I need to solve this problem. I also need to spend an hour or three making media, which hopefully I can get done today.
As far as classes go, crystal chem is finally starting to make sense and all come together, which is amazing. Now I just need to go write a story for science journalism...
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Fortune Faded
I will update more...promise.
I actually need to update more because I find that writing more allows to write more freely. As someone eyeballs deep in a science journalism class with assignments ticking by, I can use all the writing exercise I can get.
This morning it was miserably rainy. Blustery, rainy and just overall icky. I made it into school around my usual 8:15 morning just as the rain ceased. It abated until my class at 9:30, and I managed to get hit with what I imagine could only be Madison's version of a tropical monsoon with cold on my bike back. The sun finally managed to peak through the clouds about 10 minutes ago, making this one heck of a weather day. I teach spin at 5:15, so I'll be holding up in my office until 4:30 to venture on over to the NAT. I have a pretty good workout today, many new drills, not quite so many hills.
On the lab front, I'm giving a presentation about my research for the large Astrobiology group on Thursday. I have officially up to two hours, although most presentations are running about an hour, and I have all of 20 slides. Its not that I haven't done a ton of diverse research, I have. Its that I want to keep it focused and on topic with the research specific to my Masters. Research that really feels like two steps forward 1.750 steps back. I'm throwing a demonstration in there to mix things up, and I know I'll get slaughtered with amazing questions that I wish I had thought of in order to know answers.
I suppose the longer that I've been immersed in my program, the more I don't mind looking dumb or not having the perfect answer to all of the little questions that crop up. I could say that I really don't care at all about how dumb I look, but that would be very incorrect. I do very much care about having a smart-appearance, and that motivates me to do more reading and more background work than I sometimes have to. That being said, I'm finally getting over my fear of asking dumb-ish questions in presentations. And trust me, they say that there is no such thing as s dumb question, but there is, and I have asked one or two in my day.
I actually need to update more because I find that writing more allows to write more freely. As someone eyeballs deep in a science journalism class with assignments ticking by, I can use all the writing exercise I can get.
This morning it was miserably rainy. Blustery, rainy and just overall icky. I made it into school around my usual 8:15 morning just as the rain ceased. It abated until my class at 9:30, and I managed to get hit with what I imagine could only be Madison's version of a tropical monsoon with cold on my bike back. The sun finally managed to peak through the clouds about 10 minutes ago, making this one heck of a weather day. I teach spin at 5:15, so I'll be holding up in my office until 4:30 to venture on over to the NAT. I have a pretty good workout today, many new drills, not quite so many hills.
On the lab front, I'm giving a presentation about my research for the large Astrobiology group on Thursday. I have officially up to two hours, although most presentations are running about an hour, and I have all of 20 slides. Its not that I haven't done a ton of diverse research, I have. Its that I want to keep it focused and on topic with the research specific to my Masters. Research that really feels like two steps forward 1.750 steps back. I'm throwing a demonstration in there to mix things up, and I know I'll get slaughtered with amazing questions that I wish I had thought of in order to know answers.
I suppose the longer that I've been immersed in my program, the more I don't mind looking dumb or not having the perfect answer to all of the little questions that crop up. I could say that I really don't care at all about how dumb I look, but that would be very incorrect. I do very much care about having a smart-appearance, and that motivates me to do more reading and more background work than I sometimes have to. That being said, I'm finally getting over my fear of asking dumb-ish questions in presentations. And trust me, they say that there is no such thing as s dumb question, but there is, and I have asked one or two in my day.
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