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!
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.
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.
Lately, there've been HUGE amounts of drama at work. So, the picture above synthesizes my feelings about the situation perfectly. Yup, Tard's wisdom never disappoints. I mean, to some extent it was hilarious to observe smart, grown MEN act like catty teenage plastics, but enough is enough.
SOTD: Winnie the Pooh - Everything is honey.
On a brigter note, I have visitors from home and we opened their stay with medica shots. Nice. It reminded me how much I dislike honey, but also how much I needed booze with my bitches. I'm so glad they're here!
Oh, boy, tis blog is dusty and neglected! I am so sorry. Life kind of took over...
Let's catch up, my dears.
So. Many. Pumpkins. Everywhere.
Ireland and Estonia love me. Ok, I might be exaggerating. But at least a few people from those two lovely countries think of me.
Thank you, ladies!
New scent for the home.
Kate Spade mint green heels. A favourite.
SOTD: Morphine - Honey White.
Yes, life has been a bit up and down these past few weeks. There has been drama at work, spinster ways in terms of being either cooped up in the lab or cooped up at home with an empty fridge, Seamless abuse and Homeland catch-up. I am pathetic.
But, between Carrie and Brody and westerns and IPs, I managed to savour life from time to time. And to catch it on camera, so I have proof.
The Marathon. All those people are superheroes!
Boot season at last.
Hey, unbelievers, western worked. Not the prettiest looking blot, I admit, but we got bands.
Jules walked into Sephora to get nail polish remover. Walked out with Clinique Black honey collection (legendary Almost lipstick PLUS nail polish and gloss). Yay for sophisticated vixen makeup!
A little bit of wisdom from my girl AM.
Autumnal views from the 5th floor.
I better leave the house now. A reasonably nice Saturday is waiting for me outside of this apartment.
Science is awesome. When things work and you find what you are looking for. Then again, sometimes a funny result opens the floodgates and you just WANT to find out more because you're curious, although it might not be exactly what your project was about. Then again, sometimes you feel like banging your head violently against the wall.
When that happens, it's time to bring out the lab jokes. And rum.
Yeah, it's Wednesday, which means that the weekend is close.
On the other hand, last weekend (which feels like a million years ago) was really fun, so I'd like to share it with you.
Of course, there was tons of lazying around, laying in my bed until noon with a triple dose of turkish coffee and Polish nutella on toast. But hey, I live alone so nobody really knows I have an extraordinary ability of doing nothing. Wink, wink.
There were episodes of activity in between the laziness, mind you.
Here they are (for some, there even is photographic evidence!)
- 2 trips to the lab to do a little bit of work. Common law in postdoc-land. The lab was packed, both on Saturday in the late afternoon and Sunday mid-morning. Common law.
One does not simply walk by the snow monkeys.
- A super fun afternoon at Central Park Zoo. Yepp, The Penguins rock.
Hello, handbag. Also known as some kind of boa.
Or python. I don't really remember.
- A dim sum lunch with a group of coworkers. Delicious AND filling.
- An afternoon spotting spelling errors in Italian signs around the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy. And a big box of cannoli. Because a cannolo can save your day. Unfortunately, same does not apply to your hips. A cannolo (or four) can not save your hips.
- Taking in the September golden hour in Central Park. Gorgeous light, crisp air, first glimpses of colour change in the trees and good company. And Alice in Wonderland.
A change of seasons. Central Park.
- Jazz at the Kerbs Boathouse at the Conservatory Water - in Central Park, while the sun was setting.
Also at the Central Park Zoo. Ginormous hissing roaches.
New York ones are SO last year, they're just ginormous.
And they have no connection with the jazz concert in the Park.
Oh, and I managed to perfect my pumpkin spice latte order. Now I love it and I make the trip to Starbucks WAAAAAAAY to often.
My own little PSL in the shade of the Berlin wall.
In New York in the fall.
I left Slovenia on June 18th, which means that today marks 3 (!!!) months since I moved to New York.
I still have to pinch myself from time to time, because sometimes this whole shenanigan simply fails to feel real. Dude, I live in freaking New York!!!
The past three months have been a rollercoaster to say the least. Ups, downs, side turns, flips. You name it, I got it. All of it. I went from crazy-bordering excitement to deep sadness and everything in between. There's been frustration, joy, laughter, disappointment, worry, anger, hopefulness, awe. With no order whatsoever, no transitions, no small changes before the big ones. And a couple of briuses, both physical and emotional. But no tears.
Yepp, I've had it all.
SOTD: The National - Hard to find.
One thing that has NEVER popped into my crazy brain? Regrets.
There are none. At all.
No matter how hard it sometimes is, how many times I get mocked for being "unadjusted" or an "uneducated foreigner" or "obnoxiously stubborn in my foreign ways", or how fun and exciting everything back home seems*, I LOVE MY CHOICE and would re-do it a million times over.
IstraTiMaterna view towards the Adriatic from Lipnik near Rakitovec, Slovenian Istria (aka home turf), Slovenia
Of course, I miss my friends horribly. Not a day goes by when I see, hear or do something and think how much more fun/awesome/meaningful that thing would be if I could share it with the people close to my heart. I still text them those random things, but a transatlantic text is never as powerful as one that only needs to cover a few kilometers. And more often than not, I hate the 6-hour time difference between Koper and New York and the 5-hour difference between Dublin and New York. It makes catching up more complicated than necessary, because, em, all of us, no matter which side of the Atlantic we occupy, sort of have, em, lives et cetera.
Well. I've met some pretty cool people since moving here, but haven't gotten really close with anyone. It is not easy for me to truly connect with somebody and my friends(I put that one in italics, because my definition of "friend" is quite different from what a typical American's would be.) from home still find me interesting enough to keep in touch regularly. So I don't feel like there is any necessity for new friends. Unfortunately though, it does not exactly work both ways and keeping in touch does not significantly reduce my withdrawals. Plus, my social life over here mostly sucks, as it is basically non-existent. I don't really go to glamourous clubs or cool beautiful-people-clad bars. There is the occasional coffee, stroll, drink or chat, but nothing more.
Non-IstraTiMaterna view from 30, Rockefeller Plaza (aka Top of the Rock), Manhattan, NYC.
And that is perfectly fine, actually.
Although a superfun night out with mojitos wouldn't hurt... But darn, it would ONLY be as superfun as expected if M and Z were there, too.
Oh well, I guess sometimes a girl can't have it all at the same time.
Cheers.
Jules
* I kind of know from experience that things back at home are NOT all that exciting. Nevertheless, I do have 30+ years of experience with life in Slovenia :)
Science is fun. And exciting. And surprising. And humbling. And it can be a bit magical, too.
SOTD: The Moody Bues - Tuesday Afternoon. Because there's nothing better than a bit of magic lab fog on a day like this...
But, honestly, sticking around the lab for endless hours can mess with your brain. Rational thoughts become more and more tangled around fuzzy ideas and you slowly start to go crazy.
When THAT moment arrives, you absolutely need to unwind. Coffee usually saves the IQ, but sometimes you just can not leave the bench to go get yourself a steaming cup of brown lifejuice with just the perfect dash of milk in it. YUM!
When that happens, alternative unwinding techniques NEED to kick in...
… enter: MAKING FOOOOOOOOOG!!!
Woo-hoo!
Simple, fun and really cold. Just pour water over dry ice. But, please, make sure NOT to toss the dry ice chips directly into the sink or drain, because THAT might make your drain pipes crack (=worst case scenario) or just block your drain for hours due to a chunk of superchilled ice forming in the drain (=most annoying case scenario).
And the list of things I love about this city is constantly growing. From the enormous and glamourous, all the way to the touchingly humble and the mundane. Of course, there's manythings that constantly remind me New York is not perfect, but its perks surely make up for a whole lot of its shortcomings.
Witty signage is one of those things that makes New York so fuckingly New York-ish and, thanks to what's pictured below, has just cemented its spot among the top 20 things I absolutely, irrevocably, undoubtfully, definitely love about it.
Seen today at one of the research campuses on the UES.
Although it started all nice and mellow with sunny weather, exceptional coffee and some more deubiquitinases papers reading (just let me have the excitement about this one, kay?), the day finished on a substantially bitterer note. Yuck!
I had a meeting with the boss after lunch - the day was actually still in the "yay, positive!" zone at that point. And even after the meeting, we were still firmly in the "yay, positive!" zone. Because the boss is a cool guy and the meeting went well and I left his office with the impression that I am gradually getting where I was supposed to be getting. So, "yay, positive!" all the way, right.
Right?
Hmm…
Around 4 pm the results from Mycoplasma testing of my cell lines came in. And again, they were positive. Which means that MOST of the cell lines I was supposed to work with are infected. With a sneaky, nasty infection that does not significantly affect their growth in my case (meso cell lines pretty much grow like crazy), but definitely DOES affect other aspects of their biology. The very aspects I was supposed to investigate in these very cells.
For those who've never heard of Mycoplasma before, let me just introduce you. These devils are tiny bacteria without a cell wall. Why is that piece of information crucial? Because most antibiotics used in cell culture are actually the ones that kill bacteria by interfering with their cell wall. Since Mycoplasma do not have a cell wall, those antibiotics have no effect on them. And to add to the messiness, Mycoplasma are a really widespread "occult" contaminant of cell cultures. Many researchers do not really care about the little fuckers. But since this type of infection can seriously affect a lot of cellular processes, having Mycoplasma in your cell culture can skew a substantial part of the results generated using said cell culture. NOT exactly what I was aiming for.
Well, all in all, it is not as tragic as it sounds, since we have ways to get a new, healthy stock of some cell lines and we can cure the irreplaceable ones. So it's definitely not the end of the world… That would be the rational response to such crappy news.
My response was a bit less rational.
I was so mad that I was "blessed" with inheriting infected cell lines that I just dragged my bummed ass to my favourite coworker's bench and sat there for half an hour, feeling sorry for myself and angry at no one in particular (Mycoplasma is definitely NOT something people would get on purpose). A whole bunch of people tried to cheer me up or to explain to me that they were not the cheer-you-up kind of people. The poor devils don't know me yet, so I then explained to them that I did not need nor expect any cheering up or anything of the sort. I just need a bit of time and something to distract me.
SOTD: Richard Cheese - Die, Motherfucker, die (Dope cover). Need I say more?
You think I overreacted? Me too. But you see, it was not the horribly high Mycoplasma titers themselves that bummed me, but the fact that I CAN'T WAIT TO GET TO WORK on my project and this "nursing the cells" gig I'll have to do now means that I'll have to wait a few weeks more for the real action to start. Emphasis on wait.
The distracting obviously worked, as I now feel better. Luckily, my favourite coworker is a workaholic overachiever and I suspect we'll find ways to keep me busy while we wait for the grass to grow cells to heal.
Jules
p.s. Check this out. And donate if you can. Because these guys rock!
When you are a postdoc, a new job usually means a new lab, new PI (= Principal Investigator, a.k.a. boss) and a totally new project. Even though I am sticking to the same cancer I was studying before, all similarities sort of end there. Ergo: Jules has A LOT to learn.
…and there are A LOT of things that Jules has already learned in the past, but has somehow buried deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep down after she passed the particular exam. Which was way in the past. We are talking about a decade, people. Wow. Jules is getting old.
So… this is how my work and home life look like these days:
11: Cherry tomatoes. Again, a healthy snack (When it comes to food, I'm being such a good girl in the U, S & A!)
12: Another paper on ubiquitin.
13: A paper on mesothelioma genetics. Because when your head starts spinning, you should really let it spin. Like a boss.
14: Some light reading thrown in the mix. Good old papers on the Hallmarks of cancer. Compared to the above-mentioned papers, both of the "Hallmarks" actually are a light read. And yeah, there's two of them. Because the best stuff always comes in pairs.
15: Couch. Because when your head starts spinning, you better have a comfy place to lay down.
16: Alberts' Molecular Biology of the Cell. 'Nuff said.
I spent half of it dusting and cleaning and organizing my desk, and the other half reading scientific papers and perusing my predecessor's notes. At least they're not written in Thai ;)
SOTD: Depeche Mode - Clean
It was a rainy Monday, but it didn't start raining before I was safely inside the building. Oh, and I found a (lucky) penny behind my computer. I deem the day a VERY lucky one!
A bottle of my favourite variety of Guinness (sorry, Draught, but E.T. beat you) to unwind with.
You did not quite treat me right, did you? You were superhot and stuffy. Not cool, man.
You see, today was my "pre-employment tasks" day. Meaning I had my hands full of paperwork and red-tape stuff. And for a person coming from a tiny university in a tiny town, all the structure and level of automation of the whole process was quite overwhelming. And made me feel quite the idiot on more than one occasion. Plus, it provided enough material for yet another superlong blog post.
SOTD: Green Day - American Idiot.
An important thing to note is that my new work place is HUGE. Not only does the main campus occupy 2 whole blocks on the UES, it also has offices and support services scattered around the neighborhood and way down into midtown. Yay.
First up on the agenda was my medical. I passed with flying colors and got cleared for duty. But still I made sure to cause a moment of awkwardness, thanks to my ancient vaccination card. You see, in Slovenia, the nurse at my doctor's office refused to print out a fresh record of my vaccination history. It is all stored in my electronic file, but she just didn't feel like reading my insurance card and printing it out. Instead, she suggested I just take a copy of that cardboard card that I got when I was born. 31 years ago. With information typed onto it with a typewriter and dates of vaccines stamped onto it, some of them crooked, some faded. Needless to say the nurse who examined me chuckled a little and then needed my help deciphering the information she required. She had translations of the required vaccinations in Slovakian, Serbian, Croatian and Russian. But not Slovenian. Does that mean I'm the first PhD from Slovenia to go to work there?
My second appointment of the day was with Human Resources, 40 blocks downtown from the Employee Health Services. That went smoothly as well, but again, I managed to stir the routine a bit, since that's just who I am. And again, it's because I'm from Slovenia. A country in which every resident is required by law to have medical insurance. I'm covered until the end of this month, but after that, my current insurance will be suspended. So I need a letter form HR confirming that I will have said insurance and I need to send it back to Slovenia so they don't send rude letters to my mum demanding me to get insured. The nice lady at HR said that she will see to that, but still found my request kind of weird.
My third appointment was for mandatory drug testing. 46 blocks uptown from HR and 14 blocks uptown from home. It was just the basic pee-in-a-cup thing that's required by law for all new hires. I was not the least bit worried about the results. I'm a good girl. What freaked me out was the whole pee-in-a-cup process. The test goes like this: you're given a cup and need to pee 60 mL of pee into it. But after you do that, you're not allowed to flush the toilet or wash your hands. You first need to give the cup to the lab person and only after she decants 30 mL of your pee into a fresh vial, you are allowed to pour the rest into the toilet, toss the original cup into the biohazard bin, flush and finally wash your hands. Needless to say, that was one of the grossest things I ever did. Can you imagine? Hundreds of people pee in those cups and then touch the doorknobs, taps, you name it with those pee-splattered hands. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Yuck! I went home and showered and then took a nap.
My fourth and last appointment of the day was later in the afternoon at the Security office. I was instructed by HR to to go there ASAP in order to get my ID badge. That is one of the things I am really excited about. I had a bit of trouble finding the Security office, as the building where it is located is some sort of maze. But when I did, the first thing I was asked was when was my start date. I said next Monday. The guy said "no can do". Then he kindly explained that HR insists on sending people over to him as soon as they're done with the hiring process, but for most of those people, their information doesn't get uploaded into his system prior to their first day. And uploading people's data is one of the things HR is responsible for. So, no ID badge for me today. Bummer.
He was very nice and genuine and told me that he's been trying to talk sense into HR for the past 6 months, but to no avail. Actually, I felt like he was the only TRULY nice person I dealt with today. Everybody was nice and helpful, but mostly they were "professionally" nice, as being nice is clearly part of their job description. This guy was just plain cool. I guess I'll have a blast with him once we get to the point of getting me that ID badge.
Now I'm sitting at a coffee shop having a double espresso relaxing after this rather mad day.
Tomorrow is IKEA madness (delivery + assembly day). And on Wednesday, my New York vacation can finally begin. Well, after I manage to apply for a Social Security number.
Saw this comic posted on I fucking love Science a couple of days ago. The original image belongs to the geniuses over here, though. Needless to say, my inner microbiologist flipped and sang a happy tune. My outer self just laughed. Hard.
It's quirks like that that made me fall in love with the life sciences many years ago.
Of course, now I am a molecular/cell biologist by trade, but in my heart, I'll always be a microbiologist - got a BSc in microbiology from the University of Ljubljana in 2006 (Shit, has it been THAT long???).
The program itself changed, as it's now a 3+2 formula, whereas we did the 4+1 thing back in my day. Why am I talking about this and ruining the nerdy joke in the comic? Because microbes rock AND this year marks the 20th anniversary for the undergrad programme in Microbiology at my alma mater. They are putting together a big celebration and aiming at reuniting most of the alumni and the teaching staff. Which I'll sadly miss because I'll be busy conquering Manhattan.
Us microbiologists are just cool like that, you know, conquering fancy cities and all...
After gradually shutting down lab work, cleaning my desk and shelves in the office, clearing the paperwork and backing up all the data on my computer, that's it.
All I had to do today is cut up a giant goodbye apple strudel (℅ of my amazing mother) and feed it to my colleagues.
But first, a quick trip down memory lane… hmmmm… I've started my first job at fourteen, worked many different temp ones in between and then took this one in 2007. My first real, big girl gig.
This is the place where I grew up professionally, learned how to be a scientist and a teacher and figured out where I want my life to go. Six years, endless hours, wonderful people, eight SCI papers and one PhD, many funny happenings, the occasional "entitled" student that annoyed the shit out of me and whatnot.
Now it's time to turn the page. It certainly feels like the end of an era. And the beginning of a shiny new adventure.
The last two weeks at the old job started today. Oh, Time, why art thou flying by thus quickly?
Just looking at all the folders, papers, microscope slides, folders and binders of student material and all the other crap that somehow has to be moved out of my office and into a happy storage place, makes me cringe. Planning farewell drinks with the coworkers, on the other hand, is a superfun activity.
But I will deal with the packing at some point, promise.
What I wanted to talk about today, though, was MY LAST EXPERIMENT in the old lab. It was just a side project/part of a collab, nothing major. Needed to measure the apoptosis levels in cells exposed to some chemicals. All in all, no more than a few hours of work. But I loved it, mostly because I've spent far too few hours in the lab lately and I really missed the action.
I don't really miss the 10+ hour experiments or spending 17 days in a row in that hood, but I did feel some withdrawal in the past 6 months, when most work days revolved around teaching and students.
There is still a flask of cells growing as backup, which will probably (very solemnly) meet their end tomorrow. RIP, human osteosarcoma cells.
Obviously, I went all nostalgic and dramatic at the end of today's experiment, saying goodbye to the centrifuge and hood, just to keep up with my "Drama queen" nature. And I went a bit crazy with the nitrile glove, because there's no proper lab send-off without some smiling blown-up gloves and some giant bubble wrap popping.
So long, my dear cells and multichannel pipette.
Besides office packing, I still have to wrap up some teaching-related stuff, but as far as labland action goes, nothing until New York.
I just hope my general crankiness and sleep deprivation (due to some self-inflicted issues in relation to certain people) decide to leave me alone so I can enjoy the last days at work.
Jules
P.S. Sincere apologies for the crappy photo quality. My very average phone has been the main photo-snapping technology I own since last September, when camera decided to die. Fingers crossed a more blogging-friendly solution will come in my possession soon
