Saved by the System

You know that awkward moment when you accidentally transfer your Western gel to a piece of filter paper as opposed to the nitrocellulose? Yeah, I experienced that today of all days, which happened to be the day of a demo that we were having for a new type of Western reader.

 <-- Not Mine

The good news is, due to poor package handling on the part of a packaging/mailing service that I will not name, the demo did not happen. Apparently the reader was not only broken a few days earlier by said service, but did not arrive at the supposed destination today. How they broke equipment in specialized packaging that was meant to be able to drop 4 feet and survive and labeled fragile, I do not know. With that said, I do not really care, I just thank the universe for doing me a favor.

They Say a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

Being an undergrad requires that I learn a lot of stuff before I can be remotely effective in the lab... being a Freshman means that i have to learn A LOT of stuff before I can be remotely effective in lab. This week my grad student has started giving me papers to read about the specific proteins we are studying and the system and pathways in which they operate.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I don't think this picture can quite accurately represent how daunting it is to see these approximately 30 papers in front of me. I'm excited to finally begin learning about the system more so than just working on technique and I don't have to read them all quickly. However, knowing that I am at some point going to get through them all is both exciting and a little nerve wracking because I know that, especially at first, that I am going to have to look things up to understand it, which will require me to look things up to understand those things and so on and so on. Well, I have to go become more acquainted with CIITA and my list of things I want to do before I turn 18. Happy Science-ing!

I lied...again

This is a picture from the lab building. I was walking in the other day to print something and this just struck me. In all honesty, this was the first sunrise I've ever watched. I've seen them, but I've never just sat there and looked at one and even though some of the city was in the way, it was still a beautiful experience. I also feel as though it is representative of what I've been feeling for the last few days. I've been feeling better about the position that I'm in as far as life goes. I'm 17 in a great lab with great people and I'm learning A LOT.

I've also been looking for a good format for this blog, but I haven't really been comfortable with anything that I've tried so far, but I've been inspired by The Sugar Scientist (a blog) to start chronicling my undergraduate life and the problems that I've been having and just my thoughts. I think this one will actually work out, but we'll have to see how it goes. I'm excited for this and I hope you all are as well. I will post regularly, but on no schedule, contrary to what I said in the last post. Cheers!

A Little Bit of a Change and a lot of Science

I've decided that I'm going to start moving this blog in a less personal direction and start covering events in the news that relate to... well... girls, cars, and science. Mostly science, but the other 2 will of course be included. I still planning on doing My Life of Science Part 2, however, a few months ago, I took a big step and I feel as though it wouldn't be right to write Part 2 without more experience. That big step?

The Big Step- Yes, it does need its own title. 

In early August, I got my first lab job at an Immunology lab at Georgia State University. It is a very exciting time for me and as I said earlier, this experience is something that I think is essential to describe in Part 2 along with my internship from last year. This means that My Life of Sciences Part 2 will be a ways off.

This is the real post promising to post more from now on. I've included a bit into my schedule and I will start posting on Tuesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays. 

Thank you for your support and I will try my best to deliver.