Textfull Thursday AKA life lately

Boy, is this blog neglected or what???

Let's try and fix the situation, shall we. 

In a nutshell, life 's been a bit mad this past week. Basically, I could be found in exactly two locations. One being the lab, the other being my bed. Nothing in between. Crazy, but weirdly gratifying, since long hours in the lab mean tons of experiments done. Booohoohoooo. 

SOTD: Alanis Morissette - Not the Doctor. Duh!

Of course, I might be embellishing a teeeeeeny tiny bit. Long hours in the lab might mean tons of experiments done, sure, but they not necessarily bring useful data. Often, shit does not work. But us postdocs love science, so we are willing to push it until our brains turn into something that resembles a jellyfish left on a sandy beach. Welcome to my life...

Running three projects at once. Ordinary business.

Of course, long hours in the lab ALSO mean that certain things, like for example those hardly relevant things such as housekeeping/ironing/groceries/life, are left sadly neglected.

Don't tell my mother! She'll kill me!

What is not neglected is my desk at work. Although most of the hours are spent at the bench or in cell culture, one must get caffeinated regularly. And one must scribble stuff in notebooks etc. Especially when one has a terrible, terrible short-term memory.

This one happened last Sunday while some westerns were washing. 

Although I mostly traded daylight for lab glory, I had the chance to peek out the window before leaving the apartment each morning and make an informed decision about what to wear. Yes yes, I am gifted that way.

Last weekend was very generous in terms of weather. Fortunately, it kept behaving reasonably well throughout the week. And why would that be relevant, you may ask. 

HERE's my answer: no snow = no salt = dry clean pavement = no need for sturdy saltproof snowproof boots. Enter, pretty shoes!

Pumps.
Three days in a row.
FINALLY!
Top to bottom:
Miss Sixty
Stuart Weitzman
Alice & Olivia

Now excuse me, but I have a nap to take.

Nighty night.

Jules

Bonus entry. Just because.
Thank you endlessly, AM!

Melt away!

Ha!

A warm day! A sunny day! A Saturday! All happening at the same time!

Seriously, this winter has been a serious pain in the ass so far, thus, the collision of the above-mentioned concepts that finally happened today made me beyond extatic. 

I started the day by opening my windows and taking a long deep breath. The air finally feels fresh and crisp and not bloody freezing cold and wintry stale. I've had enough of the wintry stale air.

Breakfast aftermath.

After devouring my bagel & cream cheese breakfast & coffee, it was time to take Stan for a spin. Since he's been dormant for a good two and a half months, his tyres needed a bit of air. And the nutcase needed a good dusting. 

Accessorizing 101.

After the pit stop at the bike shop (I do not own a pump, because who would ever need a pump when one owns a vintage bike, non?), it was time for the big loop in Central Park. 

Beautiful. 

Sure, it looked like all New York runners currently in existence decided to occupy the paths at 10 am this morning, but I couldn't possibly care less about the crowds. Everything was so darn perfect. Almost puke-inducing-it-is-so-saccharine-perfect. 

It was actually warm enough for short sleeves, so naturally, I exposed my pasty arms to the February sunrays. It honestly felt weird - with all the (melting) snow and with about half of the people around me still bundled in all-winter gear. But again, I couldn't possibly care less!

Bye, bye snow.
Hello blue skies!

Riding Stan (ok, that kinda sounds marginally inappropriate, but do your homework and you'll learn that it is actually not) after such a long time was really fun. And actually setting foot (and wheel) in the Park felt like returning home after a long-ish absence. Made me feel all warm and nice and gooey inside. All the biking paths were clean and dry, whereas many of the smaller, bikes-not-allowed trails were still covered in yuckily melting, sad looking snow. Good. 

And by blue skies, I mean BLUE skies.

I made it back home a bit before noon, just in time to go to the pool for a swim before heading to the lab. Because yes, nothing better than killing some cancer cells on a lovely Saturday afternoon. 

My today's thoughts exactly.
Source.

The bike ride and the swim and the sun gave me so much positive juju that the prospect of spending the rest of this lovely day in our grim looking lab did not sound dreadful at all. Phew.

This one is a bit random,
but let's all accept it is photo proof of my trip to the pool.
The pool is awesome!

Actually, I am at the lab now, running yet another western and killing some more cells. The sun is slowly sinking behind the skyscrapers and I just feel happy that it decided to show its face at all today. 

Sun, I love you and and I have missed you. Why don't you hang out here for a while?

SOTD: Zmelkoow - Čau s(l)onček. Because it's perfect!

The weather people are, of course, forecasting another shitload of snow for Tuesday, but now it's not the time to be bothered about that. We were given a perfect springy day and let's just roll with that. 

Cheers to spring!

Jules

Textless Thursday (32)

Source.
... I really truly honestly WANT this bedding. 

Textless Thursday (31)

Zadar - Miami - Ma_nhattan - Ma_belly.
Yum!

I just swam a mile.

My girl M and I made a solemn pact before I went back to New York and she made her big move (both flights out happened in a matter of days, so you can imagine the degree of gooey emotions and all-around panic).

Yards, feet and inches. Say what?

We had agreed we'd pick up our good, but sadly neglected, habit of swimming regularly. As a way to fell better, and, more importantly, because being in the water is the best freaking thing in the history of forever. So she found a pool close to her home in her new city, with me following into her footsteps in my own city a few days later. We're on, bitches!

Cool vintage looking locker room. 

And we both loved our respective ones. My pool is a community one in my neighbourhood, exactly halfway from home to work (yup, convenient!). And being a community affair, membership is really affordable and the whole atmosphere is very down to earth and relaxed. Not a very common good here on the fancy UES, by the way. And I figured I'd go and splurge and bought a 3-month membership. Talk about commitment.

Putting those Miami Beach flipflops to good use.
No comment on that fish cracker there, not mine.

I finally made it to there today after work. The pool itself is small. A half-size, so 20 yards long. Which roughly translates to 18-something meters. I had no idea the yards vs. meters thing would give me such trouble. The original plan was to do 1000 meters + a little warm-up and cool down, which translates to 55.5 aka 56 lengths (I did the advanced maths all on my own!!!). Since I am colossally out of shape, I figured that would be a good start.I am by no means a serious swimmer, but having virtually grown up in a 25/50 m pool, I am sort of used to those lengths and, apparently, so are my strokes. I lightly bumped either my head or my arm into the edge a few more times than I care to admit and I shall never speak of it again. Back to serious workout now. I'm going to talk imperial, as it's just easier in this context. 

The first 400 yards, aka 20 lengths, were pure hell. It was awesome to be IN the water, but moving around in it? Strange. Very strange. Fortunately, after a while I found my pace and boy it felt good. So good in fact, that I ended up doing a mile. A MILE, as in 1.61 km. I feel on top of the world right now. 

Coolest cap & goggles ever.

You, proper swimmers who munch miles like it's nobody's business, can shut up and let me have it, ok? It is very likely that I won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning, so I am enjoying my endorphin buzz while it lasts. Dinner also helps.

SOTD: From Disney's The Little Mermaid - Under the Sea. 

Because: duh!

As mentioned before, I will very likely resemble something dead tomorrow morning when my muscles decide today's adventure was a bad idea. But until then, I'll enjoy my buzz and do some work around that sciency thingy I love doing so much. 

Source.

Just do what Dory days, just do what Dory says, just do what Dory says.

Jules

A horsey bowley beery weekend

So. Two major things happened this past weekend. One was the lunar aka Chinese new year. On Friday, the water Snake left us and the wooden Horse began its gallop into the year 4712. 

Chinatown. Colorful. Cheery. Confettied.

Supposedly, the year of the wooden Horse will be a fierce one, so watch out and be prepared to pick your battles.

Probably one of my favourite shots from Saturday.

I order to bid the Snake a proper farewell, I spent Saturday afternoon roaming Chinatown, drinking ginger tea and eating away my weight in red bean cakes and coconut custard tarts. It was fun and colorful...

... And a great intro in a dorky Saturday evening spent in the lab. Oh, lentiviral transfection, how I cherish thee!

On Sunday, I had actually planned to return to Chinatown to watch the parade, but instead, 75 % of the day got eaten by annoying student paper grading. Which did not exactly put me in the best of moods. Luckily, there was this great Superbowl beer party in the evening. I mean, I have no idea what american football is all about, but judging by the amount of buildup going on all around New York, the Superbowl is apparently a ginormous deal. Europeans, think FIFA Champions League finals on freaking steroids! I mean, I get that it's the final game of the season, Clash of the Titans of some sort that determines who's this season's champion. But the marketing stuff was just so intense with ads, all around the city, since the fall, you would think Earth's destiny was going to be decided or something.  

Source.

Things have been hyping up a lot (hello, junk food and beer on super sale everywhere for the past ten days) and there was no way I was going to miss this quintessential American thing. 

Even the Empire State Building was lit up in
NFL's colours in honour of the 48th
Superbowl

Honestly, I got into it mostly because of the beer and the company. And even more honestly, I still am not sure that I understood what the game is all about (ups!), because the Broncos (orange team) did not do much on the field and they seemed to be totally smitten by Seattle's action. So, rookie dilemma: is that what NFL games usually look like? One team standing there while the other hammers the crap out of them? 

And WHY for the love of all that's holy is the sport called FOOT-BALL? They hardly ever touch the ball with their feet. Unlike in proper football... 

Moving on.

It's Monday. So I guess The Compulsory Complain-About-The-Weather Note is to make its entrance: after a balmy weekend spent wearing cute flats and a light jacket, this morning looked like this:

Snow-covered UES

I'm so over winter!

SOTD: Bruno Mars & Red Hot Chilli Peppers - XLVIII Superbowl's 

halftime show. Because every now and then, even I dig Bruno Mars.

I like the month of February well enough, but I am seriously waiting for spring!
Jules