300th Post!

Just noticed that this will be my 300th post!

I am in lab waiting for people to get back for a seminar. It is strange that after next week my time in this place will be limited. This building has been a home away from home for the past four and a half years as I toiled away on my thesis project. I have had many highs and many more lows sitting at this desk. Weird....

It looks like I will be making paella for Christmas Eve. I wish I would be at home eating my Mom's cooking, but paella is so good that it might come close to substituting. Bonus: it gets me out of socializing somewhat! Ok, that is a bad though, but a long weekend in Fargo gets to be VERY long with more exposure. Having distractions helps decrease my blood pressure and is good for everyone:)

Well, the Christmas card are out, the Christmas tree is up (and decorated to be kitty safe). The last step is to do some baking. I vow NEVER to make homemade peppermint patties again, but I am going to try a Christmas log recipe. Wish me luck at creating tasty cookies!

Long busy fall

My Aunt Sherry recently posted on her blog that it had been a whole month since she had written. That made me recall that I have long neglected this poor blog. Once I resumed medical school all my free time was devoted to studying (to remember what I forgot), or sleeping. I am so grateful that Matt, Karen, Mom, Jenny, and the rest of my family and friends are so understanding when I drop off the grid for a while. The transition back to medical school has been frightening, but I have realized that the student who haven't taken the time off are just as intimidated as I am. Having my PhD helps me realize that medical school really isn't that hard, as they always spell out the expectations. Graduate school was this vague hazy series of events that luck and hard work made happen.

Once again it is December. The cities are getting dumped on with snow. This is the most snow we have had since I moved here, and not an event I want a repeat of anytime soon. My poor little Christmas decorations are buried in snow, and I may have to wait until spring to retrieve them. With the storm Matt and I are snowed in, so he actually helped me with the Christmas cards while we watched the NDSU Bison playoff football game on my laptop. I chose a simple card with no letter this year, it saved some time and $$$. Poor Tommy had to suffer more humiliation for the photo:) Look for it in your mailboxes sometime soon

December/Christmas time is always a little hard for me, because I really miss my father. We were the "Decembers", ie we had of birthdays ten days apart. This year I get to spend his birthday with my "lab family", which should help make the day seem a little cheerier. We then head to Fargo for the holidays. It is always hard for me to spend time there, as my heart is really 100 miles down the road with my family. Christmas is the only time I see some of my Dad's family, so missing it is hard, especially when I know some of them may not be with us forever.

Ok, off the sad topics. Matt is really busy with his two new classes this year. I would say he is probably spending more time studying/working in our office than I am right now, which is a big change of pace! Poor Tommy is quite bewildered by this:) This spring I have a fairly brisk schedule, and Matt adds coaching to the mix. This means that we will be orbiting each other most of the time. Hopefully our poor condo will not suffer too much. I hope to do a few intense projects this spring to cosmetically fix Matt's bathroom and our hall way. Anyone what to help?

Well, it is time to feed Tommy. Since he started this new kitty food, he REALLY lets us know when he is hungry!

Merry Christmas everyone. I will resolve to write more in the New Year!

Working one final weekend here in the lab. I officially graduated from my PhD program last Friday, but the reviewers of my lab paper don't really care:)

I had such a great time over last weekend celebrating my degree with friends, family, and co-workers. I have been so blessed by the people in my life.

DEVO Cat Listening Party

This makes me smile:)
Hectic few weeks ahead. My poor cat probably will not even know who I am!

KHAN! (aka my disseration)

This comic strip pretty much describes my life.

What a few days!

It is amazing ow things can rapidly change. On Wednesday morning my Mom found out that she won the lottery with her co-workers. They each get a share of $250,000. She just started her new positions, so she had not been playing that long. Needless to say it was VERY exciting for her (and everyone else).
On Thursday Matt found out that he is going to get to teach TWO history classes next year. He will also teach three spanish classes. History has always been Matt's first love, so the opportunity to teach it is awesome for him. He will also be busy this summer prepping for his new classes, so I am happy too:)
I also had VERY exciting data on Thursday. My only bummer is that because of how late it is, the data will not make it into my thesis. It will also be a crush to try and wrap up the analysis before I head back to clinic. One thing I do know is that I can't post-pone my return to medical school for it. There will always be "one more experiment", and delaying another month or two gets me nothing. Time is NOT on my side right now.
So, on Thursday night Matt and I were having a nice pre-dinner conversation, when diaster strikes....our oven started on FIRE! My poor cousin Grant recently severely burned his hands in an oil fire, so both Matt and I were aware how scare a kitchen fire can be. We turned off the oven, the flame keep growing. We added baking soda, and it keep going.....so Matt used the fire extinguisher. What a mess! Plus, the flame keep going! Finally, Matt cut all the breakers, and it finally went out.
SOOOOO, we spent all night Thursday and all day yesterday cleaning out the chemical retardant from our kitchen, dining room, and living room. We also went and bought a new oven. What a crazy few days!
Now I am struggling to get my work effort back on track. Plus, our new oven can't be delivered until next Thursday, so Matt and I have to figure out how to cook without an oven or a stove. Grilling was our first choice, but it looks like Mother Nature is going to give us a week of rain. I think we will be using our electric griddle, electric grill, slow cooker, and toaster oven a lot!
Wish us luck!

Procrastination central

Many of you have been reading this blog for a while. If so, you know that one thing I struggle with is procrastination. Right now I am in an ultimate fighting smack down with the ugly p. I am trying to get motivation (and inspiration) to complete my written dissertation, all while wrapping up 4 years worth of work in the lab. Letting go is hard to do!
Wish me luck. Oh, and look for MANY new posts as I site for endless hours in front of my laptop.

Lazy(?) Sunday

Today is sort of a sad day for me. My mom's favorite basketball team was upset in the second round of the NCAA tournament last night. Mom loves her Jayhawks so much. They are one of the few things that she looks forward to during the long months of winter. On consulation is that she can now focus more on re-decorating her family room. I think we have debated 1000+ different color combinations!

The lab work is picking up nicely. I survived the medical school years 3/4 course lottery and got a schedule that will work nicely. I am a bit nervous about having enough time to prepare for my Step II boards, but hopefully that will work out. As of today, I am on-track to complete my PhD by the end of July. I have a meeting in April that will set the exact date....and then the real pressure will start.

Matt is back coaching softball. This is actually nice, since I don't feel guilty staying at lab longer at night to get "just one more thing" done. Unfortunately, that means that poor Tommy cat is alone longer....but he just sleep anyway:)

Well, I don't have to head into lab until 2:30 today! I need to spend some quality time in my office organizing stuff and paying bills:( It is too easy to let stuff pile up during the week.

ND on my mind

Spring has sprung out here in MN, but unfortunately, that heralds in the advent of the newest season....flood season. Once again my friends and family are doing their best to battle back water as a sudden thaw has taken ahold of ND. My mom has spent the last two days sandbagging at my Uncle Terry's house, and probably spent the past 3-4 weeks worrying about it. So far it sounds like OJ is staying calm, so that is nice.

With spring also comes girl's softball. Matt was "promoted" to JV coach this year, so he will have a larger team with more games. I think so far (1 week in), he is having fun with it. I am so busy in the lab (less than 90 days of bench work...eek!) that having him occupied is a relief. The extra $$$ isn't bad either, especially since he doesn't have to pay most of it out to go to FL this year!

Well, I better head back to work. My data dry spell is starting to end, and I am already hopelessly behind in my lab notebook, data analysis, and paper writing (not to mention thesis work). In one way it is nice to know things are going well, but in another HELP!
That's all for today.
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

I have acquired a really bad cold. I guess March is coming in like a lion for me.
Here is a comic that is too true!

Bad week

I don't have a lot of time to go over everything here...but it was an awful week for myself and my loved ones. What is it about January that sucks the will to do ANYTHING disappear?

I hope February goes better!

Good Reading

Due to my skin biopsy I have not been able to do much. I drove into work today and even that hurt (who knew you used your abs so much when you turn around to look for cars while changing lanes!). I probably should have been diligently working on some paper and the ever-looming thesis, but due to a number of factors I just couldn't bring myself to. Instead, I indulged in one of my favorite hobbies, reading for pleasure (ok, I did read the latest Science and New England Journal). I had the luck have two books that I had been meaning to get to, so I picked them up and distracted myself from my pain. Matt (and the rest of my family), have a joke about my reading abilities. When I am reading something, the rest of the world is dead to me. Additionally, I read really fast. I read the entire Last Lecture in one 2-hour sitting.

The first book was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I purchased this book for two reasons. The first was that I had seen in my MANY people's hands over the last few months. On the bus, at the gym, on planes, it seemed like everyone was reading. The second was the description and the fact that it was being made into a movie. I find it odd that a personal memoir can be made into a film. After finishing the book, a first-person narrative about the author's year long adventures in Italy, India, and Indonesia coping with depression, a divorce, a break-up through a search for a relationship with god, I am still perplexed on how on the movie will turn out. LOTS of the dialog in India is the author having conversations with herself. I am intrigued about how "movie magic" will make this not seem hooky.

The second book I read was the aforementioned The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I read this book in one sitting, laughing and crying at the same time. I could relate so much to this book, as my own father wrote my sister and myself letter with "words to live by" when he was preparing to undergo treatment for his brain tumor and his colon cancer. He survived those battles, only to die unexpectedly from a cardiac complication of those battles 13 years later. Even though Karen and I were "adults" when we read his words, they are still timely and poignant to me. Randy knew he was dying, and was able to eloquently write a novel for EVERYONE, not just his children to learn from. I have had this book on my nightstand for several months, not being able to bring myself to read it because of the knowledge that it was a father's writing to his kids. I think it was sitting on my nightstand so that I would read it at the right time. Given the upcoming difficulties ahead of me, this weekend was the right time.

I don't know when I will next get to indulge in surrendering an entire afternoon to a book. I don't think it will be for a while. I am grateful that I took that time this weekend. It has allowed me to clear my mind for the challenges ahead, with a little wisdom for the authors of both books helping me along.

Wear sunscreen

Anyone who has every had the misfortune to see me in a swim suit can attest that I am covered in moles. I think it was my genetic destiny to look like a spotted leopard, and the fact that I spent most of my summers getting severe sunburns probably didn't help. As a consequence I now get to make yearly pilgrimages to see the dermatology for a mole check. This year one of the my "cuter" moles on my left abdomen was changing. I am 28 years old and have had three dysplastic (ie precancerous) moles removed already from my thighs. SO, my nice dermatologist decided this one had to go too. So on Thursday I had a 1 centimeter excision biopsy done, leaving me with four stiches in a VERY sensitive place (right where my waistband is). Needless to say I have spent the last three days trying to lay on my back and not move, and also trying to not roll over onto my left side. Why is it that when you are told NOT to do something, you can't think about doing anything else? I over did things yesterday, as I was oozing blood onto my bandage. Today I am going to camp out on the couch and do as little as possible, something that is definately not in my nature.
So, when I am writing about this (well beside to gross you out)? Well, because on top of all this stress (is it cancer?....damm it hurts!.....man I am sick of lying here), there is a LOT of things going on in the lab. Labs are full of fun, intelligent individuals. I have spent the last four years in one getting my PhD, and now I am in the home stretch. Just as the "finish" line is in site, my right hand person has decided to leave. She is not happy, and I respect her for trying to change that, but I can't help but feel a sense of abandonment and a lot of sadness. I am quickly becoming overwhelmed with the thought of trying to get my massive "to do" list accomplished while trying to train in her replacement. For people who have read this page over the years, you may guess that I will NOT be getting help from Dr. B. , and Dr. V. barely know where are pipets are kept. I am hanging onto my sanity by a thread here folks....and things look they are going to get worse before they get better.
Wish me luck!

The Jamestown Sun | Jamestown, North Dakota

The Jamestown Sun | Jamestown, North Dakota

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One of my cute little cousins is in this photo!

61 is STILL the Record!

D12: Maris family forgives McGwire, but won't let go of record - Big League Stew - MLB Blog - Yahoo! Sports

The world was "shocked" when Mark McGwire finally admitted to steriod use yesterday. In 1998 he broke Roger Maris's single season home-run record of 61 hits. When Maris broke the record in 1961, the baseball commissioner found it necessary to notate the record with a *, because it took Maris 162 games, and Babe Ruth, the previous record holder with 60, fewer (See the wonderful movie 61*. Maris retired from baseball, and was NEVER elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, mostly because of his poor relationship with the baseball sportwriters. I find that Major League Baseball's treatment of Roger Maris crappy. This quite man from North Dakota broke a record, and then never received any respect for it because he wasn't as popular as Mickey Mantle. I think it is time for MLB to teach its players that CHARACTER and INTEGRITY matter by stripping the record from Bonds, McGuire, and Sosa (the three players currently ahead of Maris on the single-season HR list), and restoring it to Maris. If not, I think that his candidacy for the Hall-of-Fame should be taken up by all the teams he played for (hello Yankee AND Cardinals!)

This could be dangerous

I got a new laptop for "Birthmas" this year. My old one was purchased at the end of my senior year of college. It was a Dell (as was my first laptop), and it served me well during two years of medical school and 3.5 years of graduate school. However, in this new world of live streaming media, it just didn't have the juice to do everything I needed anymore. A single download on iTUNES would bring it to a crashing halt, and forget about running Endnote, Word, Excel, Acrobat Reader, and Photoshop at the same time (writing is bitch man). My new laptop is, as the Dell service guy put it "top of the line". So, now that I have the speedy new toy, I decided to try out Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature. Boy was it slick! I clicked three buttons, and was instantly able to watch Wives and Daughters a BBC miniseries for Masterpiece Theater (yes I am a dork). I was impressed by how my high-def screen made it the picture look crystal clear, and how I didn't not have an interruptions in the media. Unfortunately, the movie was a tad long....so now I am sleep deprived. I suffer from a common disorder in my family call procrastination, and the discovery that endless amounts of movies and tv shows are now at the tip of my fingers whenever I want them is going to be a dangerous temptation in the months to come as I try to complete my PhD.
Technology really is a beast sometimes....

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season. I can't say I enjoyed the Christmas blizzard in ND this year. It is pretty sad when shoveling cars out of snow piles is a Christmas tradition. Luckily all my loved ones were safe and warm during this storm. We are already getting nervous about the potential for flooding at my uncle's house again this year.

I received my "birthmas" present this year...a new Dell laptop. It is a beauty. The only problem was that the memory was bad...leading to blue screen of death whenever I tried to do anything. I am lucky to have a husband who dabbles in computer stuff, so after an hour or so on the phone with Dell support, my new memory was in the mail. After we dug out of ND, it was waiting and my new machine is up and running. Now I just have to find a nice laptop bag for a 17.3 inch screen.

Karen is preparing for her oral doctoral candidacy exam at the end of the month. At the same time, I am starting to plan out the next 4-5 months before I defend my thesis. At times in lab (like today), I feel like time moves by like molasses. BUT, all I have to do is look at the list to "things to do" and I am off like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland (I'm late, I'm late), and feel like going home to drink heavily. I know that everything will mostly likely get completed one way or another, it is still daunting to think about it. Even scarier to think I will be back on the wards in 6-7 months!

Well, my timer for competant cell transformation is about to go off. Time to plate some E. coli and pray that I have colonies tomorrow.