Happy Birthday to ME!

So tomorrow is my birthday, and for the record, I am staying 25 forever! Geez, I feel so old. 30 is not far away!

I was a little down in the dumps again this weekend. Research is still frustrating the heck out of me! Now we've thought of a few issues with my experimental design which may not be optimal so I'm trying to decide if it's worthwhile to go back and reconstruct a lot of things. It's funny b/c these are simple things that should be well established in the yeast community like which selection markers are best and what sequence should precede the start codon for efficient translation (protein expression). Yet, this information is not highly publicized or prominent when you read through the literature. For now, I think I will just proceed with the in vitro characterization I have planned before I try to redesign anything.

So, I wasn't really motivated to do a lot of labwork and got rather bored. It seems like when I want to go out, no one is around. So sad. It will be nice tomorrow to go out with everyone for my birthday. It's been a while since we've had a nice dinner together. Most of my best friends are in the lab and we kind of scatter on the weekends. And I have friends at the gym but we don't really socialize outside of that. Funny how that works.

I also think the diet is getting to me a little. This is different from what I've done in the past, and most of the time, I'm just eating protein and veggies. Even though it seems like I'm eating a lot, I have NO energy! And when I do get carbs, it just makes me hungrier! I'm used to having more fat (not carbs) to keep me going. It seems to be working though and I'm even putting on some muscle. But sorry, no pics till next week!

Oh, I was also following the Europa results last weekend. I have been a fan of Toney Freeman for a while and was happy to see him get his first pro victory! And for the women, well, the judging was all over the place. BUT I was happy to see Colette and Dena qualify for the Olympia! I know they are both thrilled to have this opportunity.

I should be getting to bed soon--tomorrow starts another week of 6am cardio!

Webcam

OK, so I am having problems getting setup to do webcam (www.FTwebcam.com). It seems my security settings won't let me view the chat window--I think this is related to the Caltech firewall which is even in effect in my apartment (since it is student housing). I will post something if/when we get it figured out. In the meantime, I'm trying to get some work done in the lab today!

This has been another pretty boring weekend. I had a friend in town from Chicago so I spent some time hanging out with him at the end of last week. On Friday, we went to a spa and got a deep tissue massage--what a nice treat! Other than that, I just cooked and did laundry yesterday and kind of laid around the house. Ahh, it's nice to be lazy every once in a while.

So I'm now at the 12 weeks out mark for the Nationals. I feel good about my progress so far and am always ready to kick things up a notch. The changes we made a couple of weeks ago seem to be working and I'm noticeably leaner. But still a long way to go!

Lone Star

OK, here is the picture from 15 weeks out I tried to post. I will take more next weekend. And Lonnie Teper sent me this pic from the Lone Star in 2003. He MC'ed the show (in TX) I told him I was moving to Pasadena to go to Caltech. Lonnie teaches around the corner at Pasadena Community College so every once in a while he comes by the lab to harrass me. Gene, notice the "sword"!

Not much else going on. I kind of had a nervous breakdown last week. I'm just so frustrated with labwork and have lost all motivation. I am trying to push through it but just have this feeling like nothing's ever going to work--very depressing. I think it's a common experience in the 3-4th year of grad school but that doesn't make it any easier. I'm trying to step back from everything and clear my head but there is always something to do. Even if it's just a few hours, going into the lab every single day is very draining mentally, especially when you feel you have nothing to show for it. I don't know what to do. It has been so bad that I have seriously considered leaving but I know I would always have regrets if I didn't finish my degree. I'm just not enjoying the work anymore and my project has turned into something that doesn't interest me at all (due to all the troubleshooting experiments I've had to do). Normally a project like mine would have ~10 people working on it because there are just so many different experimental techniques required. Last week, I had to learn NMR and may have to do some organic synthesis--gimme a break! Maybe I can somehow turn things around--I just need some glimmer of hope! Something! Or maybe I can find something entirely new to work on, at least for a while, then come back to my pathway. Sigh. Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

Last Comic Standing

We just got back from the Last Comic Standing season finale taping. I had a blast! I doubt we're on camera but look for me in the audience. It's actually filmed at the same auditorium as the Ironman Pro show which I thought was funny. And of course, the warm-up comic spotted me going to the bathroom and made me flex!

Hoover Freakin' Dam

Well, we made it back from Vegas safely, but not without a little adventure. As many of you know, there were 2 fatal accidents on the I-15 early Sunday morning that caused major delays all day and night. We happened to stop in Jean to get coffee and found the gas station packed. The attendant was advising everyone of a detour, and against my better judgement, we ended up trying to follow her directions. Actually we tried to stick it out on the 15 first, but people were turning around and coming back on the 'on' ramp which was not a good sign. So we drove all the way back to Vegas to get on the 215, then 93-95. This is where we messed up--we stayed on the 93 instead of taking the 95 (the directions didn't specify). And we ended up driving over the Hoover dam and into Arizona! By the time we pulled out the Atlas, there was no way to get back on track. So after driving for over 3 hours, we were near Lake Havasu and my friend informed me this was still 5 hours away! We didn't get back until ~5pm--and then I had to go straight to the gym to do cardio. Ugh! Luckily, Steph was in the car and she always has a positive attitude (even though she had a lot more work to do that night than I did).

Overall, we had a good time but most of it was spent at the show between prejudging and finals. We only had a few hours to walk around Vegas and check out one of the 5 Gold's gyms. We did see the Ansel Adams photography exhibit at the Bellagio but that's the only cultural experience we had--unless you count Sapphire's male review.

Tonight we're going to a concert in LA--a band called Bloc Party. I just heard them today and am not too into it but I'll give it a chance. My friends usually have pretty good taste when it comes to music.

Then next week, we're going to the finale of Last Comic Standing. I love this show and they tape right here in Pasadena. I have tickets reserved for both tuesday and wednesday but we'll probably just go for the results show b/c there will be more comics performing. I'm really looking forward to it!

Finally, I'll leave you with a pic of me from earlier this week--~15 weeks out from the nationals. Things are starting to come together already (but I know I still have a good 20 lbs to lose). Oops, I can't seem to post pictures--maybe later!