Today my little sister graduates from high school. This is a good thing, as she will be free.
I'm done with year two. This semester was just awful, class-wise. But it's over and wasn't a complete waste of time. Now on to studying for quals (which are in September) and doing as much research as humanly possible. I'm working on 5 different projects with a possible 6th.
1) Anatomy
2) in vivo physiology
3)in vitro physiology
4) allometry/development
5) cross-taxa coding model
6?) comparative within taxa
As I write this, I'm watching the Blues Brothers--which is always a good choice.
I'm reading Intuition by Allegra Goodman to see if it's a good alternative to the awful novel we read for research ethics. With about 50 pages to go, I'm very pleased. Decent writing + interesting treatment of ethical issues = good choice. Anyone else ever read a good novel about research that has some form of ethics in it?
Peace.
May 24, 2010
April 15, 2010
graphs!
Anyone who knows me knows how much I like graphs and charts and any kind of visual representation of just about anything.
I found this website:
And here's the graph for the ingenious site you are now perusing: http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/?url=http://laboratoryamusings.blogspot.com/
I can't figure out how to get the code into blogger, so you'll have to click.
I'm writing a paper on how the brain and intelligence may (or may not) be related on various anatomical and physiological levels. So, in that spirit I give you this:
What they (CBS News) tell you about the brain:
Reality (well, at least closer):
The letters are abbreviations for different structures/areas and each line indicates that the areas are connected to each other
Real post someday soon.
Peace
I found this website:
And here's the graph for the ingenious site you are now perusing: http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/?url=http://laboratoryamusings.blogspot.com/
I can't figure out how to get the code into blogger, so you'll have to click.
I'm writing a paper on how the brain and intelligence may (or may not) be related on various anatomical and physiological levels. So, in that spirit I give you this:
What they (CBS News) tell you about the brain:
Reality (well, at least closer):
The letters are abbreviations for different structures/areas and each line indicates that the areas are connected to each otherReal post someday soon.
Peace
March 10, 2010
Netflix
In an effort to avoid studying for my midterm (yes, it's tomorrow, and, yes, I'm avoiding studying right now), I decided to look at my recommendations from netflix. It tells my that I like "visually-striking cerebral dramas" along with "mind-bending romantic comedies." I don't even know what those categories mean. But I think it makes me sound really pretentious.
Back to molecules.
Back to molecules.
March 7, 2010
books, work, etc
I should be programming now. But I'm watching the Oscars. Which is rather inexplicable. But there's Neil Patrick Harris doing a song and dance number wearing a sequined suit jacket, so that's totally worth it. Also, if Avatar wins best picture, I will be very cranky. Because that was neocolonial nonsense. Along with about a hundred other awful things that I will not enumerate (out of sheer mercy).
Programming is still making me crazy. But I shall beat Matlab. Woman shall triumph over machine.
I've finally finished The Dangerous World of Butterflies. And it was wonderful. Far more so than I expected.
Back to pretending to work.
Peace.
Programming is still making me crazy. But I shall beat Matlab. Woman shall triumph over machine.
I've finally finished The Dangerous World of Butterflies. And it was wonderful. Far more so than I expected.
Back to pretending to work.
Peace.
February 27, 2010
ambivalence
Paper due (almost)
So I have two more days left
Procrastinate much?
I'm writing a paper on octopus intelligence (for animal intelligence seminar, of course). Really. So in that spirit, I give you OCTOPUS VIDEOS!!. They're actually neat little (or giant) organisms. And the invertebrate factor makes for an interesting discussion; one I may subject my dear readers to at some point.
Clearly, I haven't been a very good blogger lately. This semester has been more frenetic than I thought it would be. And I was betting on very. My computational neuro class, while fascinating, involves Matlab programming. Which makes me want to curl up in the fetal position. Cellular and molecular neuro is fantastic and makes me miss biochemistry.
So yes, that brings us to 3 classes. 10 credits. And almost 0 research. This makes me very irritable. I have some data to analyze, but most of it looks like trash. And I have some digital models to work on, but no time to do experiments.
Which brings us to our point: I have a lot of ambivalence about this interdisciplinary program thing. I chose this program, this university because I wanted the broad background in neuroscience. But right now, it is making me absolutely crazy. We're required to take a few more classes than the other biology programs, which doesn't seem like a big deal, but a few more grad classes is a lot. I know I'll be grateful for it in the long run (when I try to get a job), but I just want to be done with classes and get fully into my dissertation research. This is like how I felt about gen ed classes in college. Let's be honest here: US history post-Civil War was a royal pain in the ass when I was taking it. But I'm glad I did.
Has anyone else had this experience?
Anyway, I shall continue to trudge through the code and signal pathways and primary literature.
Peace
So I have two more days left
Procrastinate much?
I'm writing a paper on octopus intelligence (for animal intelligence seminar, of course). Really. So in that spirit, I give you OCTOPUS VIDEOS!!. They're actually neat little (or giant) organisms. And the invertebrate factor makes for an interesting discussion; one I may subject my dear readers to at some point.
Clearly, I haven't been a very good blogger lately. This semester has been more frenetic than I thought it would be. And I was betting on very. My computational neuro class, while fascinating, involves Matlab programming. Which makes me want to curl up in the fetal position. Cellular and molecular neuro is fantastic and makes me miss biochemistry.
So yes, that brings us to 3 classes. 10 credits. And almost 0 research. This makes me very irritable. I have some data to analyze, but most of it looks like trash. And I have some digital models to work on, but no time to do experiments.
Which brings us to our point: I have a lot of ambivalence about this interdisciplinary program thing. I chose this program, this university because I wanted the broad background in neuroscience. But right now, it is making me absolutely crazy. We're required to take a few more classes than the other biology programs, which doesn't seem like a big deal, but a few more grad classes is a lot. I know I'll be grateful for it in the long run (when I try to get a job), but I just want to be done with classes and get fully into my dissertation research. This is like how I felt about gen ed classes in college. Let's be honest here: US history post-Civil War was a royal pain in the ass when I was taking it. But I'm glad I did.
Has anyone else had this experience?
Anyway, I shall continue to trudge through the code and signal pathways and primary literature.
Peace
January 13, 2010
builiding rehabilitation
Duct work, new lighting
Ladder evasions galore
Let it end soon, please
They're ripping out all the lighting and duct work in our building. Which is nice, yes, but I had to avoid three ladders to go from my office to the lab. And that is a distance of about 10 feet.
Other than that, experiments proceed as planned. It is awfully nice when classes (other than intersession) aren't in session. It is so quiet. And there's no line at the co-op!
And on top of that, I have an awesome new vegetarian cookbook. The two recipes I've tried so far have been quite tasty. Good days all around.
Peace.
Ladder evasions galore
Let it end soon, please
They're ripping out all the lighting and duct work in our building. Which is nice, yes, but I had to avoid three ladders to go from my office to the lab. And that is a distance of about 10 feet.
Other than that, experiments proceed as planned. It is awfully nice when classes (other than intersession) aren't in session. It is so quiet. And there's no line at the co-op!
And on top of that, I have an awesome new vegetarian cookbook. The two recipes I've tried so far have been quite tasty. Good days all around.
Peace.
January 12, 2010
December 31, 2009
November 13, 2009
what I do for fun now
It's Friday night what
better time to track down some
obscure articles
Internet searching for turtle vocalization sound files led me to a claim that a certain species vocalized. (But why would I trust an wetlands ecologist on that one?) Anyway, I found a journal article backing it up.
FTW.
I really need to get out more.
better time to track down some
obscure articles
Internet searching for turtle vocalization sound files led me to a claim that a certain species vocalized. (But why would I trust an wetlands ecologist on that one?) Anyway, I found a journal article backing it up.
FTW.
I really need to get out more.
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