Fried brain.

Well the biochem madness has subsided for the time being, and my brain is fried. I think its going to take me a few days to recover. But now that it's over I have nothing to post about because I did nothing but study/research for the last week.

So now I am sitting in my lab rebelliously doing nothing, because I feel like I deserve some sort of break from my horrific exam yesterday (15 pages, 3 hours long). I should be making Trypsin and PBS stock solutions. No thanks!

Whats weird is that while I have been working in my research lab 40+ hours a week, my PI tells me that I need to work more in order to get everything done in 2 years. How much more can I work that 40 hours while I am taking 7 classes? All of the other first year MS and PhD students are only working about 20 hours a week in their lab. How could I possibly work more than that? arggg.

And today I learned that the "EX" on my antibody serum meant "execution kill," meaning that the antibodies were injected into a rabbit, which was then killed in order to obtain the blood serum. I feel kind of cruel, as I wouldn't have ordered those antibodies if I knew that.

Oh yeah and I had to remind myself that I have a husband. I leave before he wakes up and don't see him until about 9 that night. Every day. And by then I'm doing homework into the night and just collapse into my bed from mental/physical exhaustion.

I'm sorry if you're tired of hearing me talking/complain about grad school. My life is consumed it in and I pretty much have nothing else to talk about anymore. Hopefully things will lighten up this week.

Some positive notes:

-I finally beat my mom at Words With Friends!!!!!!

-I witnessed a tornado in NY this week. The positive thing was that I was indoors when it happened.

-Seth will come all the way across town to my lab to walk me home at night to protect me from creepers (my creeper interactions are for another blog post to come).

-aaaaannnnddd.... Trader Joes just opened across the street. Yay!

Isn't it sad that beating my mom at Words With Friends is at the top of the list of positive things for the week? hehe. It was quite the accomplishment. IN YOUR FACE MOM! ...just kidding... That was the first time I won in like 50 games. Sad, I know.

Cheers.

Shake Shack

I just wanted to quickly post something before school completely takes over the week.

My lab at the Immunology Institute has got me on some time consuming projects. Right now I am looking to see if a protein is associated with V(D)J recombination. I have 3 ways of doing this; through point mutations of both domains of the protein, down regulation of the protein, and using antibodies (but I have to purify them first!) to measure the levels of regulation of the protein! Arg! blah, blah, blah.......

Anyway, I also have my first Biochem exam on Monday (scary!). Biostats hmwk, biochem problem sets, starting 2 more classes, and whatever else my PI wants me to do in the lab leads to a BUSY week. Plus I have to get a lot of things sorted out for this year's financial aid (FAFSA, oh how you cause me so much pain!). So since you won't hear from me until this storm passes, I thought I would quickly post on where we went this weekend.

The Shake Shack is kind of NY's In N Out. Same concept: freshly made food that tastes really good. Plus the Shake Shack claims to use all-natural beef; no hormones or antibiotics added. So we heard that the one in Madison Square Park was the famous one, so we took a trip down there.

I was excited, until I saw the LINE...

All the way around the park! Translation: hour + wait. Psh, no thanks!

So we went home with sad stomachs. But then I remembered someone mentioning there was a location on the upper west side, so we ventured off to find it:

The line was still long (out the door) but it was doable. Plus it was Saturday night, so I couldn't expect anything less.

The burgers were SO good! I would still say that In N Out is better because the Shake Shack burgers were a little greasy. Plus twice as expensive. But still great nonetheless! I will be back, thats for sure.

MmMMMMMmmmMMmmmmm...

(Sorry for the coloring on the pics....all from the iphone!)

We also went to Columbus Circle, Madison Square Garden, and ventured around Madison Square Park. Those pictures will have to wait because I gotta get crackin' on some lab research.

Have a great week! I'll let you know if I make it through alive.

9/11

Do you remember where you were that day?

I do.

I was only 14, in my english class. I was a freshman in high school. I remember just watching the news all day at school, and being completely bewildered at what happened. I was amazed that there were people in the world that wanted to cause so much harm and pain to others. But I also soon realized that this experience brought our country together as one. This trial has helped to refine our country.

Seth and I had the opportunity to go and visit the World Trade Center site the other week. As soon as you set foot on the site, you can feel the somber and humble spirit that surrounds the area. You can instantly feel that something significant happened there.

It was a great experience. We were able to see how the site is being rebuilt and how many people are working to create a memorial for those that passed away and who were involved that day. The construction and the rebuilding site in a way represented how united we are as a country and how we are able to rise above and move on from what happened.

This is the church that was the first to react to the 9/11 crash. They immediately started to care for people who were hurt and provide food and water to people in need. This bell is rung every year on 9/11 in remembrance of what happened.

We were able to go to the WTC visitors center, where they had various tribute displays about the day 9/11.

I have to admit, it was very strange. I've always remembered 9/11, but to go into this center, I felt like I was reliving it from the perspectives of the people that were here in NYC the day that it happened. They had parts from the actual planes that crashed, footage of the event, testimonials and quotes from those that were in the World Trade Center when it took place, and other displays. It felt very real. And it was very humbling. Its a completely different experience to have viewed the event from the West Coast, and then to view it again at the actual site. Very different. And very humbling.

I thought that the most touching thing was the wall covered in "Missing Person" flyers. These were actual flyers of missing people after the event that were posted by family members and friends. Seeing a whole wall of these was very, very sad. It brought a personal feeling of how many people were affected by this tragedy.

There were also a lot of drawings and pictures that were drawn by kids who were affected by 9/11. It was very touching to see how they felt about that day.

This statute of Liberty was constructed from notes and other things left at the World Trade Center site.

This experience was very humbling for us. But it was also very strengthening to see how our country is recovering. We were able to listen to a lot of testimonials from people who are working to rebuild the site into an amazing memorial of those involved with 9/11. I'm not sure when it will be finished; I'm sure you could look it up somewhere, but when it's done its going to be incredible. We were also able to hear about how people were able to move on from the tragedy, and it was very moving. It was also very touching to hear from those that worked day and night to help recover missing people and helping family member reunite. I would definitely recommend coming to the World Trade Center site to visit the tribute center if anyone comes to NYC. It's a big part of our history and it's definitely something that is worth coming to see and learn more about.

God Bless America!

Hooray for the Weekend!

This weekend could not have come sooner!

I spend my days in class or in my lab at the Immunology Institute from 9AM-8PM every day, so I am sooooooo happy to be home with my hubby for 2 days!

Here's my lonely desk and bench. You can see my PhD friend Lekhana in the next bench over!

I tried to get the view from the window, but my iphone was just not cooperating. Bummer.

This week I started a project for my PI. Lots of work and lots of time required (not to mention patience). Luckily, I have a friend who's starting in a lab in the microbiology department 1 floor up so I get to run in and see her and take lunch breaks with her soon---so excited.

So today I got to skip out on my lab early to go help Seth pick out some glasses, and then we went to Target to get some food/essentials. Not the most exciting day, but it was just nice to be together and not in school.

Tomorrow: I think I'm going for another run in Central Park, and then we might head down to the Shake Shack for some burgers (the best burgers ever!). Maybe we'll go to Little Italy for dinner? Cupcakes? Ok, now that I think about it, NO MORE cupcakes for me! I eat way to many cupcakes!!! Whenever my friends want to get together, they want to go out for cupcakes! And then I get some for dessert after dinner, too. No more!!

Sunday: Game night.

Next week: busy.

Seth is starting a new class and I'm starting an MCAT prep class. My MCAT prep is a tutoring class 3 days a week that is taught by med students. Its free, and 1 credit, so I signed up (GPA booster!). Maybe I'll do well on the MCAT and end up going to med school. Who knows whats in my future. I kind of don't want to go into med school debt, but I think I'll apply anyway. I just know these types of MCAT prep classes are thousands of dollars, so I thought, why not? It might end up helping me out in the end.

Those were my end-of-the-week thoughts. Boring, I know, but my brain is fried from overwork and I'm not thinking clearly!

Have a good weekend!

Street Art

Amazing.

All dyed sand. All done by hand.

This guy is awesome.