Well, the big news for today is that, on the way to work, I saw a bunch a baby ducks waiting behind a mommy duck to hop into the Engineering Sciences fountain while some band with a drum set was rocking out on the lawn in front of the building.

Sometimes, especially when the weather is nice, Madison is one of the dreamiest places to be.

We're nearing the end of the spring term, and all the undergrads are busy AND I have another set of lab reports to grade. Concurrently, I rented The Sims: Bustin' Out for the GC and have been horribly addicted for several days. Before I ran into a bug in the game and lost my car (in the game) I was a Gene Splicer (Mad Scientist Career Track) and I was living in a government compound. Awesome.

You know, the really great thing about grad school is that it's turning me into something different. Not different from "who I really am" but a more assertive me. I have good ideas. I have a short attention span but I'm not the only one here with THAT problem. I can do science! Hell Yeah!

P.S. I'm so excited for Alice who has finished her Thesis!

Back in Madison!

Well, I'm back from my 4-day conference on Beneficial Microbes--back from Lake Tahoe, CA and Reno, NV. So close to the ocean and yet so far away . . .

First off, the science was quite awesome at the conference. Although my brain was beyond full after each day of talks starting at 9:00AM and going until 8PM with breaks in between for lunch and dinner plus a poster session. . . the science was really amazing, and I am glad I went. Even though scientific meetings still make me feel less academically and socially adept.

Since it was snowing in Lake Tahoe, I got to sit out in the hot tub chatting with other scientists while the flakes gently fell. It was surreal.

Conferences are supposed to be, in part, about networking, and I'm still learning to do that. I like people and places with lots of them, but there's still a bit of the Pollack side in me that wants to just go hide in my room and be quiet sometimes. And by the end of the conference, it was a welcome change to head into Reno with Sarah and just chill and watch TLC and Style Network, while contemplating nothing more involved than wandering around the casinos later.

Reno is special. Originally, I had prepared myself for a city that was old and tired and glitzed out, but really Reno was more intact than that. Yeah, it was chock-full of neon lights and liquor stores, but most of the people Sarah and I met were friendly and human--mostly. We went into our first pawn shop ever, right on the main drag, and made friends with all the clerks inside. When we told them we were just browsing, they'd all tease us that browsing wasn't free, or something like that. The thing about being a cute girl with no associated male in sight is that men tend to be much friendlier to you, and try to impress you. One of the clerks called Sarah and I over, and let us each hold a $50,000 opal in our hand. It was blue and flashing green, with a diamond-encrusted snake encircling it. Can you imagine holding more than twice your yearly salary in one hand?

All in all, Sarah and I had a great time wandering aimlessly around the casinos: El Dorado & Silver Legacy, Circus Circus, The Golden Pheonix, Harrah's, and Fitzgerald's. Our motel was across the street from one of the many wedding chapels (Chapel of the Bells, with Reno's 1st Drive-thru wedding chapel). I gambled only about 15 bucks total, and learned that I should stick to the penny slots because MAN, does the money go fast. . .

By late Saturday evening, we were back in Madison. After being gone for a week, I come home to find all the trees budding and plenty of e-mails and homework to catch up on. The outdoor farmer's market has started up again, so I have Saturday afternoons booked to walk around the square nibbling on croissants and coffee whilst inspecting produce. . . .

Just stupid venting

Sometimes, the world seems really ridiculous. Sometimes I read stuff that feels like sticking my nose in an old tire and getting bit by a giant, deadly Australian Brown snake (Like goddamn Steve Austin might do, not Steve Irwin who would do something much cooler and less stupid).

Or maybe it feels more like watching Tenchi in Tokyo after Tenchi Universe--it's the same characters but the plot's all different and not at all like I remembered it. And I get this angry, confused sort of feeling that boils hot in my stomach.

Sometimes, I get really angry about what I read, and I want to go nuts and flame people. I want to yell at them about how wrong they are. But I don't. In my sometimes-burning gut I know that doesn't do any good. I'm not above that, but I try to be.

So every day I tap away on the keyboard, and I stick my head in hornet nests and snake pits and other dens of iniquity and cliche across the internet, and I think to myself: This is all craziness. I'm glad I'm only reading about it, and not living it.

Then I read Alice's wonderful entry on the value of arts in the school programs. . . and I am refueled.

God bless the internet. At some point I need to support my non-local Sam and call him. Night-O!

Hell is grading lab reports and quizzes

I'm pretty convinced of this now. Yes, yes, mainly it's my fault for not getting started on this batch early enough, so that now I'm buried in work, although I'm done with the quizzes and should be able to finish up this report madness tonight, at some point.

My work with the squid had me up "early" on Sunday morning, around 9AM. I'm well aware that 9AM is nowhere near early (especially compared to the 6:30AM timepoint I had to collect THIS morning) but you must understand what a crime it is to leave a warm, cozy, quiet sunday bed on a beautiful mid-60's day to go off and do labwork and grade things.

Other big news was getting to see in person Lynn Margulis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Margulis

She's one of those people, a legend in the field, that you hear about but never think you'll actually see eating lasagna at a potluck. I feel bad about being most excited about who whe was married to, but hell, I'm in awe of her as well. She was married to Carl Sagan!!! Holy crap! My degrees of seperation network got that much shorter for alot of cool people. This keeps happening more and more, meeting huge names in the field of science, symbiosis, and microbiology. It kindof rules.

Back to grading hell. Maybe I'll be saved by Reno 911 soon. . .

The combination of sitting in the sun at the Union terrace out by the lake, and then eating spicy pasta arabiatta at Casa Bianca had my skin feeling glowy and warm for most of Friday evening. I'm sure the beers helped with that too. And my freckles, which have been on vacation since last years, have made their comeback. Hello lovely weather!

I have alot to be happy about. The weather has been beautiful. I gave a very nice presentation for my Microbio at the Atomic Resolution class--someone told me I had balls for presenting on the same topic the professor specializes in. Watch Amber puff up with pride! It went really well, I think, with some cool discussion. And it was the last in-class presentation. . .awesome. Waltzing back in to lab, I had flowers on my desk, and a little note telling me someone was certain I'd do well. I never knew what a weakness I had for getting flowers. So here I am!

But I do have things to be sad about too. Foremost is that my dad's father and aunt are not doing so well. His aunt is grandpa's older sister. I remember at my graduation party she introduced herself to my boyfriend at the time: "I'm Aunt Mary. I'm the boss around here." And as an older sister myself, I appreciate that comment. She has taken care of everyone. My dad's family, my grandpa Pollack in particular, and a crowd of little old ladies who can't drive to get their groceries any more. She is active, fiesty, and giving, and now she's got to be house-bound or in the hospital. She can't care for Grandpa Pollack anymore, so the four brothers and one sister (my dad and aunt and uncles) have to take over, but they all have families of their own, and are spread out everywhere. Dad's mom died several years ago, and the loss of his father would be a huge blow to us all as it is. And on top of it, losing Aunt Mary? It hurts my heart, because I love them, but I'm far away. My heart hurts for my dad and all my relatives on that side, and I really can feel their pain all the way out here.

But for now, no word other than "things aren't looking well." So I work through it and think about all the nice things I have, and am thankful for. I'm really lucky. I have maybe too many friends (there is no such thing though). Plenty to keep me busy. A wonderful lab. A great program. I'm learning to be ballsy, and I am proud to be an independent woman. And happy to have people in my life that encourage me to be just that.

So today I must grade quizzes and lab reports. . . and hopefully escape into other parts of Madison at some point. Enjoy the weekend!

Cleanliness is next to workliness?

My living conditions are always improved when I have a presentation coming up--I always end up taking "breaks" to clean everything in sight. I've ripped up my 10-month backlog of credit card offers, and made my bed, but most importantly swept all the dead flies off the floor of my three-season porch.

This is key, because it's mid sixties here today, and I have needed to read, but have wanted to do so outside. My bedroom is quite small, but I have this wonderful three-season porch which is attached to it. It has glass shutters, so yes, it's drafty in the fall, but right now I'm fully enjoying the greenhouse effect AND I can here the birds and the neighbors if I want.

In recent news, I just saw Sin City last night, and it was FANTASTIC. I mean, if you don't like comic-books, you might not like this, because it really is a comic-book movie. It will seem a bit to arty and stilted. But the violence? damn.

The other big recent happening is that I will be presenting in class on tuesday, and it's hit me that this is (in theory) the last class-presentation I will have to give ever, since I should really be done with classes after this semester. It's one of those small revelations. Done? Really? Finally? I've been in classes for what, nearly 18 years?

Soon, as in April 17th, I'll be heading out the ASM Beneficial Microbes Conference in Lake Tahoe! Sarah and I are going to try to find the Reno Sheriff's Dept., in honor of "RENO 911."

Ok, enough blogging-related procrastination. Off to work or dinner or something not this!