Burning the midnight oil...

Well, my fate is officially sealed. I've set my defense date for Oct. 28 and will start work at Amyris in Emeryville, CA on Nov. 3. The past couple of weeks have been a blur since I signed the papers. I kinda have to do this thesis thing, not sure what that's about. I've been trying to work on it but I still have so many experiments I want to include (and even things I've done that I want to double check to make figures for, etc). There are not enough hours in the day...or night since I've officially switched to the graveyard shift. I'm so much more productive when it's quiet in the lab without so many, well, we'll just say distractions. So here I am still concentrating my protein to start a western blot at nearly midnight. Which means I still have to do a Bradford assay, run the gel, transfer, block, wash, and add my antibody (in addition to other experiments I have going). Sigh. Last night I did go out for a bit for a friend of a friend's birthday. We went to a piano bar which was a lot of fun. Why do guys always like to challenge me in public? Hello, these muscles are all show and no go! We weren't out too long but it was still nearly 3am by the time I came back and finished my cloning.

No worries, I'm still hitting the gym HARD every day no matter what. It keeps me sane. I almost ran out of chicken today though which NEVER happens! But honestly, life is great; just extremely hectic but I will get through it. My thesis is due in ~3 weeks now plus I'm going to China the week before that. I found out today I'm giving a talk at SB4.0 instead of just a poster so that's really cool and also much easier to prepare.

Right now I'm not sure if I'll make it to the Olympia. I think Branden will cry if I can't go. I have to get a new laptop at least so I can sit in the hotel and work. I just can't seem to leave my bench for a day. We'll see. I want to go just to see him since we've both been so busy (him with the election coverage at CNN). Back to work!