Quiet! Work In Progress...

Well, I don't want to spoil the surprise just yet, but I have some big things (hopefully) happening that I'm very excited about! I won't know for sure that things have taken the direction I want until early next year, but I have a couple months of work ahead of me to put in as well, so I might be a little more absent than usual on this blog (I see you rolling your eyes at me).
I've taken some cool "breaks" though that I want to post about eventually, including my first trip to New York City, which has been a "never have I ever" go-to of mine for way too long now (even though it was always a total winner). I am currently the least excited for fall I think I've ever been in my life, not in the least because it strikes dread in my very soul that winter is coming. But things are going to be busy soon with holidays and elections (though oh god, can't wait for it to be over already) and conferences and there's SO LITTLE TIME to get everything done and I am so bad at not getting enough sleep now! I hope your fall is going a little more relaxing than mine, and if you live somewhere warm, please for the love of all that's holy, send a little more summer my way.

Nostalgic Trip

I am currently sitting on the balcony of my hotel room and looking out at this view, except now the sun is setting so the hotel adjacent is reflecting the pink light of a beautiful California sunset:
I have a glass of water at my side because I bought a bottle of wine without realizing I had no corkscrew, but I've been thinking. Something about living here made me want to start blogging, and even though I've had months of absence on this blog since I've moved away, being back here again after three years (and in a swanky bay-side hotel I didn't have to pay for on top of that) made me want to blog again. I'm pretty sure this feeling will go away once I return home, so I figured I ought to hurry up and post this.

I am so enamored of the food here. I am lucky if where I live there are places have 3.5+ stars on Yelp with >50 reviews. Here, I am swimming in 4.5+ stars and sometimes >1000 reviews. As someone with an obsession with Mexican food and sushi that could rival our society's obsession with celebrity breakups, I am in fresh salsa and fish HEAVEN. I seriously never want to leave. It's been so amazing to see a few of the wonderful friends that live here and spend time with them, too. And finally, this conference I'm at has been excellent. It's reminded me why I went into infectious diseases in public health and how critical conferences like these are to keeping up with research and making connections in the field. But, I wish I could be doing this from somewhere else. I don't mind the Midwest, but it pales so much in comparison to where I grew up and the hot southwest that I love.

Why did I leave again?!

1.5 Weeks IN

Have I mentioned yet how much I am loving my new job? My main task is tracking and hopefully preventing outbreaks of several diseases. I will be the first to admit that I have no flippin idea what I'm doing half the time yet, other than maybe gaining an insane amount of respect for the other people in my office and the previous person in my position. I remember dreading the full-time workforce, because I can get easily bored if a job doesn't have enough task variety, but this one had me hooked from the job description, and boy has it lived up to its promise. For every thing I cross of my to-do list, I feel like I'm adding two for tomorrow (which might be less exciting if it continues....forever), but in nearly two weeks, I've still yet to look at the clock once and will it to go faster. I'm taking that as a good sign.

Next task to tackle is how to get that productivity going outside the workplace, because I started watching The West Wing for the first time a couple weeks ago, and I literally want to do nothing else when I get home.

Working Girl

Guess who starts her first big-girl job on Monday?!
I've been waiting to announce it for a while, but have been biding my time meanwhile trying to figure out the perfect first day outfit (because, priorities), creating all sorts of contingency plans for anything that could possibly go wrong, and not thinking about how I no longer get any breaks unless I plan them. Also, somehow I've made it this long without owning an iron, which I'm thinking probably needs to be rectified. But do I get an iron or one of those fancy steamers? (#firstworldproblems)
I really enjoy these and already have a khaki skirt, but there's the constant nagging worry that I'll look like a schlump because of my figure and height. Also, sorry, random girl, for putting your picture on my blog. As I've never had the need for them previously, I have a distinct lack of "work staples" in my closet, but I'm trying to focus on just first day for now, because I'm not too sure on what the work culture is like re:clothes, and will probably have to adjust accordingly.
I don't know when I got so modest, but I have been in the market for some really good below-the-knee, slightly-flared/A-line skirts for months! They are a little problematic to wear in the winter, which is a bit of a downside (unless anyone has tips for that), but otherwise, I would be all up on this outfit. It looks so comfy!
And finally, I guess I have to get some pants and probably some blazers. I love this color, and love the cropped pants trend, but am not excited about trying to find things that I don't have to have tailored.

What are your work staples? Where do I find them where my poor, broke ass doesn't have to shell out an arm and a leg? Help, I want to dress like Blair Waldorf!

New Beginnings

Sawubona! That's Zulu for "hello!" The first week-ish has been a blur and a half. I'm feeling a bit less jetlagged, which has been nice, because now I actually want to interact with humans and see things instead of just nap and watch re-runs of The Big Bang Theory on my computer. My stomach still isn't really on board with this new schedule yet though and I keep waking up from hunger pangs at 3am like clockwork. C'mon, body, get with the picture. Don't you want to be able to enjoy delicious treats like avo sandwiches (pictured below) at the appropriate time?
I'm staying in a cute little place on a very steep hill and if I walk to work, it's basically a 20 minute climb. I probably won't be making the trek too often, but the view down the hill (pictured below) is killer. Maybe I should though...it's definitely good exercise.
I'm working mainly in clinics in the townships on the outskirts of the main city. The drive there is super scenic too (pictured below). You're probably going to get sick of me telling you how pretty I think Durban is in every synonym I can find by the end of this trip. This was a lot of words and not a ton of pictures, but eventually, I promise a ton of pictures. I do.

  Until next time, hambani kahle!

Ride Along

This weekend I got to go on my first clinical ride along for my EMT class, and let me tell you, cooler things there never were. Without violating HIPAA, I want to tell you a little bit about them! First off, let me explain what a ride-along is. Basically, we get to do a 12-hour shift where we go on all the ambulance calls that that department gets and we're allowed to do as much as we've learned in class, which is a good deal by now! I went on three calls (it was a little slow because it was Sunday).
Things I learned:

• Firefighters cook damn well. Cheesy eggs, biscuits, bacon and hashbrowns for breakfast and the best steak ever, fries and green beans for dinner. My stomach really likes this job.
• Sometimes people are dumb. We had an "I forgot to eat or drink water for two days." Okaayyy.
  
• That checklist you learn in class is just so they can cover everything you should know. And people will look at you weird if you ask why we aren't doing the rest of the medical exam once the chief complaint has been identified.
• When they're telling you in class that you better document your shit well and quickly, they're not kidding. I could barely remember details for the first call after the second. No way could anyone remember in two years in court. 
• Fugliest uniform ever. Sorry. And I have bruises from those steel-toed boots. 

Overall, it was awesome! I got to do a bunch of vitals and a couple glucometer readings. I think I was nervous for nothing. I'm really excited for my next one in a couple weeks! It's a Friday night shift, so there's sure to be interesting things.

It's Here!

Drum roll, please...
Finally...
The much-anticipated...
Planner post!!

2013 Flexi Navy Engagement Calendar by Punctuate for B&N

  Well, maybe not that anticipated for some of you...but I know at least one person that wanted to know. I'm obnoxiously particular when it comes to planners, but I also don't like buying the same one every year, so more often than not, I'll spend weeks checking this store and that and etsy every year for a new planner that's up to par and won't ruin my budget. I think about every other year I end up going with just clean, black leather...but I can't help it! I am a huge sucker for simple and chic. On this planner, I particularly love that it doesn't have hour slots for each day and is big enough so I can divide each day into school and non-school events. What are your planner particulars?

Also, I just entered the world of the smartphone (Windows Phone), sooo if anyone has any good planning/task-management apps to recommend, PLEASE DO!

Some Guys Just Can't Hold Their Arsenic

Several months ago, as I was rolling through my usual science blog updates, I stumbled upon something truly amazing. Scientists had discovered life forms in California's Mono Lake that used arsenic instead of phosphate in their DNA.


A little background to hopefully make this all seem a little cooler (and less nerdy): Our DNA (and all known DNA to this point) uses a sugar-phosphate backbone to hold the nucleobases (A,T,C,G) in their double-helix structure (see picture). These phosphates have important chemical properties and interactions, without which our genetic code wouldn't be able to be expressed. So, really, this small structural change from phosphorous to arsenic (which has been thought to be totally toxic to cells) would open up a WHOLE Pandora's Box of problems that could have shaken the very foundation of what we know about evolution and modern biology.


A few days ago, though, I discovered that further studies have brought this discovery into serious question. The original findings have been deemed "not thorough enough" and lacking rigorousness of the scientific method. This article sums the arguments against the idea pretty nicely, but it's a little technical.

What's somewhat depressing to me here, is that I was so excited and all "Holy crap, this is science at its awesomest! Look at the awesome shit we are going to discover about life after this!!" but sadly, it seems that it isn't so. I get like this a lot about science, where I can suddenly see all these possibilities, but unfortunately it just isn't that simple. One study is rarely enough to be a complete and total breakthrough, and even then faces years and years of revision and opposition to hold on to its promise. That is kind of discouraging to me, and one of the reasons that I knew research wasn't always going to be for me. I love my work, honestly, but I'm totally one of those people that needs to see the fruits of my labor...like immediately.

Funny Story

At the lab, I've started working with another postdoc (not HPD, sadly) on a different project, so I've been really excited about coming to work the last few days. He's foreign, so he stumbles around his words a little bit, but mostly he's awesome and hilarious. We'll call him FPD, for foreign. And funny. Today, he had me fix slides with clear nail polish. Basically, they do this so they don't have to buy expensive fixing agents, can see the cells, and the cover slips won't be moving around the slide. Anyway, hilarity ensued:

[I am diligently fixing while HPD and FPD are talking]

FPD: I love working with girl undergrads!
(HPD makes eye contact with me, we both laugh)

HPD: Really, FPD?

FPD: Wait, oh, not like that! I just, you know, not like that! They're just so much better with the nail polish!
(HPD and I make eye contact again and keep laughing)

FPD: No! Really! They're always better at fixing the slides! Boys get nail polish all over everything, like buffoons!

HPD: (still laughing {probably at FPD's use of 'buffoons' in normal conversation}) It's okay FPD, we get it, we get it. We won't tell your wife.

I love my job.
***

Pimped!

Let me tell you the story of how I was pimped out:

"Hot Postdoc (to supervisor): I'm thinking about getting a student volunteer to work with me. Do you know what the best way is to go about getting one?

Supervisor: Umm...well during the year we can put out ads on campus, but the summer is usually hard to find people...

HPD: Yeah, PI suggested this girl, but her resume worries me. She has a 4.0. When kids have 4.0s, I worry that they're using me and will always put school first.

Supervisor: [laughs] Well, Mugdha here's not going to be doing that much in the next couple weeks, but she's good and she knows the lab layout and stuff. You can have her.

HPD: Oh awesome!

[Supervisor and HPD continue to discuss how many hours he will get to have me and what skills I have while I sit right there.] "

Good thing? Bad thing? I'm unsure. I think if I play my cards right here, not only do I get to work with HPD, but I might go back to having some semblance of a project since somehow I've been devalued in the last month from project-having,knowledgeable,super-intern to little lab bitch girl. Eh, I guess that happens though when every PCR you've done in the last week has not worked. Will work harder.

Master of the Cold!

I just got off work. 10 hours after I started. You know why? Defrosting a freezer. So, I normally half-brag about the fact that I have to do very little cleaning/maintenance at my lab job, but this is the third freezer I have had to defrost within a year. We only have four -20 degree freezers for Christ's sake! God forbid I have to defrost the fourth soon and start all over from the first one. I swear, it is one of the few completely thankless jobs in a lab (could I possibly be overusing the italics?). Not to mention that you end up totally wet, cold, and unhappy by the end.

In other news, we had an earthquake today! It lasted about 15 seconds or so, during which I mainly watched the glass on the windows ripple. Point being, I'm probably going to die because as the building collapses around me, I will be staring fascinated at the window glass bending like a sheet of plastic.

[5.9 magnitude earthquake has just happened. Note: There is basically construction happening for 100 ft in every direction around our building. ]

Hot PD: Aren't we supposed to go outside to the designated meeting spot after to make sure everyone's safe?

Rest of Lab: Probably. [shrugs and continues work]

Me: Does anyone here even know where this meeting spot is?

Hot PD: Knowing how much the school cares about our safety, probably right in the middle of the construction.