tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34759682854628786872009-03-01T11:42:58.899-05:00Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-79368947551461989972008-05-14T19:27:00.003-05:002008-05-14T19:54:57.740-05:00

I live a fair distance from the university. It isn't too bad because the drive is relatively pleasant with rolling back roads with picturesque landscapes. Lately I seem to have the luck of being stuck behind some suburbanite mother who believes that "when in doubt, coast with your foot on the brake." This is clearly frustrating when navigating behind said twit and not wanting to wear down my *

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-32577461198759048902008-04-21T11:59:00.003-05:002008-04-21T12:48:07.104-05:00

This particular semester I'm hit with 4 lectures back-to-back that provide a weird perspective that I sometimes wish the rest of the world would introduce themselves to. I do not mean that in a "higher and better" context, b/c I'm all about realizing my humility on a daily basis. I wonder sometimes, if people would have their heads up their @sses less if they stopped and thought about what

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-9623204050347937582008-04-16T22:24:00.002-05:002008-04-16T22:29:57.234-05:00

I promised that my next post would be something not-so angry...With the onslaught of the end of the semester, I'll just leave it at humor.I love the comic Bunny.I especially love it when there are little jokes that are tailored toward the geekier side of the spectrum.I'm easily amused, and easy to please.

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-29984577636137590642008-04-02T14:40:00.005-05:002008-04-02T15:11:27.546-05:00

As the classwork builds up, it's hard to remember that you just need to keep your head down and focus on the task at hand. I partially blame myself for taking 16 credits, all sciences, and 10 of which are lab classes. (There's a reason for those electives - buffering fluff classes.)It just gets worse as the end of the semester is crammed full of exams (pushed back due to snow days), lab reports

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-25162451626403668692008-03-24T14:23:00.006-05:002008-06-06T09:32:47.232-05:00

After catching up on my blog reading, I couldn't ignore the hub-bub concerning the release of a new movie put out by Ben Stein called Expelled. The trailer is here.Ironically of course, one of the scientists interviewed was denied entry to the debut of the film. Does anyone get that? It's a movie that talks about creationist scientists (I can't believe I just typed that) are being victimized

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-61570569147196652702008-03-21T13:18:00.003-05:002008-03-21T13:41:05.813-05:00

Haven't posted in months - guess that's how it goes sometimes.This semester has proven to be rather irritating, not due to my classes, as I'm currently really digging most of them. The issue is one particular lab class, a 400 level at that. I realize that not all students are going to be gung-ho scientists, and thats why we have degrees in business, marketing, etc. Most liberal arts degrees

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-1040066145054627102007-10-18T18:38:00.000-05:002007-10-18T18:54:19.329-05:00

One of my favorite threads from In the Pipeline was the famous "how not to do it" topic.Today I had one of those little fun days where you learn something you never forget.While last semester I was doing a lot of molecular work, this semester I'm dealing with picky organisms that never seem satisfied with the media we provide them with. So today I decided I needed to replenish our supply of

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-43864638166158907412007-09-27T21:41:00.000-05:002007-09-27T21:50:53.488-05:00

Things to expect from time to time:Driving home from classes, you feel a slight irritation on your hands from an acid you were working with in your organic chemistry lab. Instead of concern for your skin, all you can think is, "damn...there goes part of my yield."You realize you never have any good pens lying around because invariably they're all in the breast pocket of your lab coat. Never

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-63091753481532205772007-08-14T12:48:00.000-05:002007-08-14T13:11:22.508-05:00

Sunday was gorgeous. It began with a pleasant walk along the Wissahickon River park with friends to a quiet inn for an over-priced but otherwise delicious brunch. Afterwards, a full 1.5 mile walk back was welcome on all accounts. About halfway back, one of my friends had felt something fly by her arm, and it turns out it hit me instead. A black wasp or hornet stung my left hand. There was a

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-47545022195893005792007-08-06T13:12:00.000-05:002007-08-06T13:15:18.427-05:00

While on errand at "The Building of Screaming Children," aka Target, I happened to walk down a tissue aisle. I was hurrying to the end, when my peripheral vision picked up a word one is not used to seeing in the facial paper products."Anti-Viral."Are you kidding me? It appears that Kleenex's latest marketing ploy is to cater to the germ-phobic house parent.I stopped immediately, picked up the

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-63463570396110571432007-08-03T12:11:00.001-05:002007-08-03T12:19:10.119-05:00

As of late, I haven't been honing in on much associated with the biosciences. I suppose my explanation is that A) it's summer, and B) because it is summer, I've been hanging out with friends, playing Rampage on the Wii (while laughing a lot), and engaging in more technology/culture-centric conversations. I'm sure once fall semester kicks in I'll be back to my OCD-oriented biochem realm of

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-39681538982201989472007-07-19T16:31:00.001-05:002007-07-19T16:53:39.964-05:00

While it is not an area of expertise, I do have a reasonable amount of fascination with technological advancements. I think a lot of it stems from that first trip to Epcot Center when I was child. Being a true child of the 80s, one trip to FutureWorld led me to believe that by the year 2000 we would all be traveling through airlocks and talking on the phone through our TVs. Yet not a whole lot

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-56102728719104291682007-07-06T12:39:00.000-05:002007-07-06T12:47:13.340-05:00

Today I drove out to Whole Foods, and I always have to get the tofu dishes at the salad bar. I rarely eat tofu, but I eat it when it's already prepared for me.And today I noticed something fabulous. Their take-out containers are biodegradable! I nearly said, "Damn skippy!" to myself as I noticed this. As I was paying for my purchases, the check-out woman gleefully told me that they biodegrade

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-75546582029491777642007-07-05T13:29:00.000-05:002007-07-05T13:53:10.260-05:00

"I love weather. I'm a connoisseur of weather. Wherever my travels take me, the first thing I do is turn on the weather channel and see what's going on, what's coming. I like to know about regional weather patterns, how storms are created in different parts of the country and the world, what's happening at different altitudes, what kinds of clouds are forming or dissipating or blowing through,

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-30194240402498354112007-06-29T00:26:00.000-05:002007-06-29T00:43:08.431-05:00

Over at Stranger Fruit, there was a post concerning a species of red ruffed lemur that is endangered. The picture was of one of triplets born in a zoo recently. It begged for a LOLlemur caption...so I posted the first thing that came to my brain (I never said it was functioning at max capacity lately).It's just so cuuuuute. =)That's all I got for tonight...I'm feeling quite ok about my o.chem

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-79107856872939949202007-06-28T00:30:00.001-05:002007-06-28T00:42:32.801-05:00

An amusing side of working in a lab...You become accustomed to opening everything with one hand. My lab mates have teased me endlessly for being "the girl" in the lab, and occasionally I cannot open a jar or bottle of this or that.... Though my argument is that sometimes they tighten it on purpose just to make me fee like a wimp. (I've been lifting weights, it's ok.)But sometimes one of the

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-63172524787016442502007-06-25T17:15:00.000-05:002007-06-25T17:27:53.750-05:00

I'm not entirely sure that taking O.Chem during a 5-week summer session was the wisest thing. It seemed to make sense at the time. The first three weeks have been fairly agreeable, but then suddenly there was some rabbit hole I fell down, and I'm struggling to make sense of it.The frustrating part, is not that I cannot or won't get the concepts. It is that the language employed at the first of

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-2148461661942042042007-06-20T09:00:00.000-05:002007-06-20T09:34:10.448-05:00

During the usual blog rolling this morning (which I need to update my current list), I came across a few nuggets that peaked my interest.Via The World's Fair, there was a link to an article: Nuclear Power Can't Curb Global Warming - Report. I figured this would be a reasonable argument against nuclear power in contrast to some thoughts my physics professor had to say last semester. While I'm

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-75723474929310637442007-06-13T21:39:00.000-05:002007-06-13T22:04:32.656-05:00

I was listening to the radio while driving my car today. Actually, the radio is the only option because the cd player is broken. I drive a 14 yr old car that is approaching 180,000 miles. I learned how to drive in this car, ironically enough, while my sister was driving it in its prime. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful, and as a poor student, the insurance is pretty damn cheap too. The good

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-35455251536477757682007-06-05T15:47:00.000-05:002007-06-05T16:12:50.972-05:00

Twenty more minutes. Sometimes waiting can be a pain in the butt.This summer the grad student is trying to wrap up some stuff for our grant renewal. The senior student who just graduated is pretty much gone for good. He said he'd be here over the summer, but we're not holding our breath. *shrug*But there's a bit of a snag. The grad student ran a DGGE gel using PCR product from a new DNA

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-28934317578861264712007-06-01T08:51:00.000-05:002007-06-01T09:12:37.002-05:00

I noticed over the last few days some slight reluctance to post anything. I suppose some of it stems from slight intimidation. The majority of the blogs I read are all grad, post-doc, or PhD level scientists. What the heck would I have to contribute as an undergrad? Probably not much...but I'm trying. The purpose of me starting this blog was to interact more....so....I need to get off my

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-11649602629731125222007-05-16T11:50:00.000-05:002007-05-16T12:01:10.765-05:00

T-minus ~24 hours until grades are posted. I'm still waiting to see how that physics grade is going to turn out. I'm a bit disheartened, as I really enjoyed the class, but some of the problems on the exams were quite trying. It's not my strong point, but I really dig the subject matter. Some people learn physics quickly, almost naturally...for some people like me, it's not so innate.In other

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-54113442401477631702007-05-13T22:52:00.000-05:002007-05-13T23:18:13.145-05:00

So in my usual reading around the 'net, I came across this article on NewScientist:http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11833-the-face-not-the-body-attracts-a-mate.htmlWhat gets me is this note on the "research,"Twelve women and 12 men took part in a trial to assess the attractiveness of people in photographs, on a scale of 1 to 7.The journal cited was Animal Behaviour, DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-6654473516052906552007-05-07T15:03:00.000-05:002007-05-07T15:49:14.692-05:00

I'm over the crest of finals week already. The results are foggy. That's ok with me. I'm a little annoyed that my luck drew me two finals first thing on Monday, but it's behind me now. Nothing else to do.The weekend provided a mulling of thoughts while I studied, like I had a a quiet and understanding monkey lingering on my shoulder. I suppose it popped up in conversation late Wednesday

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3475968285462878687.post-49971926005766755882007-05-02T21:01:00.000-05:002007-05-02T23:13:32.973-05:00

During the course of my day/week/whatever, occasionally I’ll find something that I find completely fascinating (even if it is mundane to some, it’s better to live with child-like eyes I suppose), but I am hestitant to share it with my usual audience of friends. It’s not that they aren’t intelligent, they just don’t find the same things interesting. More to the point, I’m posing my thoughts to

Magneticfieldzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02300427007511750387noreply@blogger.com0