Hanging In The Lab - schooooooool!

finally an update

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:47:00-0700

Everyone seems too busy to post, so I thought I'd pick up the slack (being the biggest slacker in our group). I've been lab-ing it up for the last could of months. I've developing some molecular markers so I can determine when a female (salamander) is promiscuous who the father will likely be and how the female's reproductive tract could determine this. Being in the lab hasn't been as dreadful as I thought it would be because I bring in music and play it loudly. You can shake your samples really well when you are dancing around. I've also been spending a lot of time on my teaching (as per usual). This term I've really been obsessing about it because I post my powerpoints for other TAs to use. This means that I have to make sure every detail is as close to perfect as I can make it. The other day, I spent an hour on a single slide. Ridiculous! And least it's fun though! My advisor actually came in and evaluated my teaching one day this term. Of course it was the day that one of my group activities failed completely and utterly! The funny thing was that she said she didn't even realize it hadn't gone the way I wanted. Evidently, I had good recovery. So, this experience was cool 'cause my advisor said she thought I had my teaching skill set down (score!), but that meant that she wants me to concentrate on my research now instead =(. So, next year I'm only going to teach one term instead of 3. This is good, of course, but sort of sad. In other news, I have signed up for counseling. I've had one too many moments of anxiety in social settings, so I'm going to get a counselor to suggest some exercises for me to do to stay calm. My biggest worry is that she is going to unearth some dark horrible personality trait that will give me new anxiety once I know I have it. Note how I'm more than capable of working myself up about counseling. This is going to go really well, I think. Yay for fun!

Long Day...

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:55:00-0700

I had my first bad lab day in awhile. I had to kill (off with their heads style) three salamanders and dissect out their cloacal glands. Of course these glands are small and all the work has to be done under a microscope. Turns out I do not have fine motor skills nor do I have a hard heart. So, not only was I racked with guilt, but one of my salamanders had a wasted death because I totally butchered his gland. *Sniffle* Poor little guy. It was a rather unpleasant day. On the plus side I've been analyzing my data from my behavioral experiment and I appear to have some statistically significant results (yay!). I may be a publication out of my behavioral work yet. I'm also getting super excited (again) about how the female reproductive tract could influence which sperm fertilizes a female's eggs. I think I like the projects that are in the future because I don't have to worry about the hard details, but can bask in the glory of the potential results. Oh science, how I love/hate you. I've also decided I'm dropping one chapter of my thesis (hopefully replacing it with something cool). We shall see how all this goes. Teaching teaching teaching consumes the rest of my life. I'm a little resentful of it this week, because I need help on my research and meeting with students is getting in the way of getting that help. Most of the time, though, I'm super happy with it. I'm learning new techniques for lecturing and have been given a new title of mentor TA meaning that I help teach other TAs how to teaching. Its been really fun to be involved in this. I do love teaching. And that is my life. I had a surprise trip out to the coast this weekend. Found a really lovely beach with large rock formations that the waves crashed over and seals and ducks and gulls. It made me think longingly of the Farallons. Evidently at low tide this beach has really good tide pools. Unfortunately the tides weren't that low when my roommate and I were there. Caught a bunch of salamanders in the mountains (big 'uns!) and saw 2 new species of bird. It was a really great day. Oh, and how can I forget the clam chowder and hot choclate for lunch?! Still loving my living situation. We have a fireplace and a bunch of bird feeders. I also have totally awesome roommates that make me look forward to coming home at night. Its nice. Of course, many of you have met them, so you know this. So, Justin, you can see why I don't update. All I do is spew out science as that is my life. Oo! Except that I'm reading Lolita and loving it! I totally thought this book would freak me out, but it's written so beautifully that I get completely sucked in. Yay for good books!

Summer time!

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:35:00-0700

I survived the term! Yay! Spring term ended two weeks ago. Spring term involved teaching a very time intensive course, having my first committee meeting about my proposal, and taking two classes. One of the two classes was decent. The other was lame-o and I, channeling my inner undergraduate, skipped the last 3 weeks of class. Now the fact that I got a 94% on the final despite this lack of attention shows that this class was in fact worthless. My proposal meeting went well. There we some concerns about the feasibility of my projects, but my committee members seemed really supportive. So, you may or may not know that I started my PhD thinking that I would examine the salamander mating system from the female point of view (what the pheromone does to her, what her mating history is like, her motivation, etc). Well, at this point I am doing a complete 180. I'm only looking at the male's side of the equation because females don't mate enough to make working with them feasible. Its a shame, but males are totally the way to go. The best thing that comes out of doing a proposal meeting that that I have a 24 page document with all my experiments already planned out that I can use for the next two years. Convenient! Once school was out I started on my first experiment of the year. I'm trying to determine sperm precedence. The idea is that if a female mates multiply (which is very very common in nature) do males in a certain position (the first male to mate vs the last) consistently father most of the offspring. So, I'm trying to get females to mate once with two different males and then I'll determine the father of each of their offspring using genetic markers(microsattelites). It should be cool, assuming I can get the females to mate, which is happening very very slowly. I was watching them, but when you are sitting in a room for 4 hours in the dark and only getting one mating you go a little crazy. Now I'm letting them go overnight and checking them in the morning. On the fun front I have a lot going on this summer. I've already been to eastern orgeon and spent 4 days running from mosquitoes, getting sunburned, catching snakes, seeing 4 new herps and 23 new bird species. It was pretty great. Brett, Justin and Brian came down last weekend and it was much fun. I'm guessing justin might blog about it so I'll let him cover it, since he is much more entertaining than I. I'm going to Philly for the 4th of July to hang with my cousin Karen. We are going to NYC to see a comic book/fashion show at the Met. I'm spending a week on an island with my parents and some extended family. We are right on the beach (tide pools! otters!) and my uncle has an ocean kayak, so it is much fun! And of course the food is great! I go to highlands NC again near the end of July to collect salamanders. See lots of adventures! Oh and I'm moving this weekend. The place is cheaper, larger, has a fireplace and a back porch. I'll have to send out a new address at some point because I know you all like to buy me presents! Alright, well this was a longish post, so I'm done. See ya in the future!

A random collection

Fri, 09 May 2008 17:53:00-0700

Alright, I came up with a list of unrelated things to share. 1) I am going to be in Philly for the 4th of July visiting my cousin, her husband and their barky dog who I haven't seen in a year. I just purchased my tickets (for way too much money) and am really excited. I have convinced her to venture into NYC with me. Normally, the thought of such a large city would make me want to vomit, but I was tempted by this exhibit at the Met: http://www.metmuseum.org/special/superheroes/index.asp I will try my hardest to not have a panic attack. Plus, I really need to see NYC at least once, right? Then I never have to do it again. 2) I really liked Kris's mix tape, so I made one too ('cause I'm obsessive compulsive like that). Mine does not fit together as well as his, but its got some of the new bands I've gotten into as well as some of my favorite folks. The link is: http://fixedinaphrase.muxtape.com/ 3) This amazing video. Don't play it unless you have the sound on. It is only spectacular with sound. As for my life, it continues on as usual. I have now switched my caffeine consumption over to its summer pattern of iced lattes and bubble teas. I also broke out my sandals the other day which was a delightful experience. My proposal is progressing a a reasonable pace, except for the parts that i have no idea how to tackle. For example I want to find spatial statistics to quantify the difference in sperm location in a female's reproductive tract after one mating vs. two. No idea how to find such statistics. Well, that's me! I'm having fun and sorta getting things done! UPDATE: My brother also made a mixtape. His is at: http://pmeddy84.muxtape.com/ Its fun!

Ridiculous!

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:03:00-0700

Well, I'm pulling a Patience. I don't actually have anything to say, but I've got to share the most amazing video you will ever see. Are you prepared for a WALRUS DANCING TO MICHAEL JACKSON! Life is good here. I've managed to learn how to do path analysis on my own and am now ready to use it to take over the world. Or in all actuality to re-write and resubmit the paper that was rejected using this new analysis (not nearly as exciting). I'm headed up to WA for an Evolutionary Biology conference this weekend. I'm super excited about it. I'm presenting a poster over the experiments I did this spring. Oh, and all my friends are abandoning me for at least month of May. Five of my friends (and you all know how well I make friends so that's a pretty big portion of my circle) will be gone. I'm going to have to resort to talking to the spiders living in my house again.

Just a little update

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:09:00-0700

Well, the guilt and need to procrastinate hit me, so I'm blogging. No real exciting stories, but here's are the important variables in my life: 1. I'm taking a shit ton of classes (1 class[statistics!] and 3 seminars, teaching and reading modeling papers with my labmate so I stop being scared of math. Modeling papers are actually really fun once you get oriented 'cause they are so logical. They are especially fun when they are modeling processes of sexual selection and incorporate variables that correspond to no actualy force in nature. Its special. 2. My mondays sucks: I'm in class (straight mind you) from 10 am until 7 pm. I thought these things weren't supposed to happen in graduate school! 3. My thursdays are beautiful: I have class at 8am (thus forcing me to school early) and nothing the rest of the day so I read all day! 4. To be comparable to Kris: I exercise too! Its still the early morning thing, but now we are doing circuits in the weight room instead of just a set number of reps. Its a little more exciting 'cause you are supposed to move quickly between the weight machines to keep your heart rate up. 5. My triumph of a submitted paper has turned to annoyance at a rejected paper. The reviewers want me to completely redo the intro and work on some of the stats. Boo.... but, at least the comments were constructive. 6. I'm watching a lot more movies and anime at night to relax and keep sane (netflix I love you!). Some of the best things I've seen recently were: Deathnote (anime) Beck (anime) Night on earth (Jim Jarmusch movie) Samurai Jack (cartoon network show) and of course Avatar: the last airbender In conclusion, school is my life and things are a bit stressful and I constantly seemed to be anxious about accomplishing something or other. I think I might be shortening my lifespan. On the plus side, I enjoy it all and wouldn't do a lot of the work if I wasn't pressured, so I'm learning a lot. I also get to hang out with a cool group of people. I've infected my roommate with the comic book love bug this term (always gradifying). Okay, now I should accept my fate: I must figure out how to put to multiple regression lines on my scatterplot using R this afternoon.

Still Here!

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:48:00-0700

Whoah, okay so its been awhile. I was starting to feel guilty and as I am done at the office but too lazy to walk home I thought I'd delay the walk by writing. Things are going well here. This term has been crazy, but I feel like I'm accomplishing tons. I sent out a grant that I'm pretty proud of. The chances of me getting any money from it are small, but I was impressed all the same with how well it turned out. Now I just have to forget about the whole thing until April when I find out whether or not I got it. I am also in the middle of revisions for my first publication! The paper is looking at how courtship history and courtship behaviors can affect whether or not a courtship is successful. Its been fun to write. My lab mates are amazingly supportive and are helping me out immensly in areas I am defficient (ie stats). For the most part the process has been really good. I'm still teaching and taking classes as well, but have not been spending as much time as I should on either of these because of the paper and grant. Sadly, that's really my life. I'm looking forward to escaping up to Seattle for thanksgiving. Brett and I are going to get hair cuts. I'm going for a big change. It was suggested to me that I should try the long in the front/short in the back thing. Brett mentioned a bob, but I'm scared of the bangs. Anyone have any other suggestions? It has to be fairly low maintenance. And I'm not just shaving it off.

I'm a real graduate student now!

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:20:00-0700

I have the pull-ups theme song running through my head right now: Mommy, wow! I'm a big girl now! I made my first poster today! That makes me an offical graduate student. I've also been working out what my various goals are for this summer and what topics I want in my thesis! Patience, I'm making lists! Hopefully these lists keep me focused. Next task is to design my experiments for the summer... Its amazing not taking any classes. I've already read through a bunch of papers and made a poster and I've only been back at school for two days. I was back in Lafayette for two weeks. My cousin Karen got married and I GOT TO PET A SHARK (!!!!!) at the indy zoo with beth and scott. It was cool. Sadly for Scott we saw no copulations. I also got to nerd-out with Kris over a lunch break (yay science geeks!) and have beth, scott, kris and em over for dinner complete with a bananna cream pie (which is one of my favorite pies!). The wedding was fun (Karen and Allen are awesome!): many gin and tonics were consumed, my toast went well, and my brother's girlfriend introduced marvelous concoction of southern comfort and doctor pepper to my family. Protests were made, but ultimately my dad and uncles seemed to like it. Oh and I also bailed hay. That's my life. Next week I get to go backpacking! Yippee! Its been at least two years since I have done this. Craziness...

Had the best dream last night

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:27:00-0700

So, I'm starting to feel guilty about being two months behind... I really don't have much to report for those two months. School continues on. This quarter I'm talking herpetology from a super grouchy old man. I'm taking the lab and the lecture and sadly his presentation are exactly the same for both. As Josef said yesterday, you just want to gouge out your eyes out of boredom. Not only does he have the same slide he says exactly the same things ("only two things fall out of trees- bird shit and fools"). Fun times! In general the class if fun, but I do have to exaggerate to make a better story. I'm also taking a seminar on Virginia Woolf. Its one of those classes that I think is supposed to be a discussion class, but the teacher talks so much that we don't really get a chance. She says interesting stuff though. Sadly I can really feel my scientific training. I'm too partical minded to get what she is talking about a lot of the time, until she gives a solid example or two. I'm sure I'll get back into it. I am also sitting in on a calculus class. Yes, volunterily! The professor is soooo much better than the strange german man at Purdue. I'm learning things which is exciting. The other members of the class on the other hand seem to feel that class is a good time to talk. The professor has to shush them periodically. Twice now I've sat by a male and a female who actually proceed to flirt though the whole class! Makes me want to punch them in the face or make use of Justin's compass idea from physics class. Oh well, the cool thing is that I think I have a good chance of understanding calculus this time if I keep going. Wow, so yeah, school is my life. I get periodic breaks where I flee up to Seattle and play, which is always awesome. But for the most part I'm teaching and taking classes as usual. Wish I had more exciting things to report. Geez, I got through that and forgot to talk about the dream. Two nights ago I dreamed that I was a ghostbuster. I had the jump suit, the proton pack and everything. I was pretty good at it too. I had two ghosts caught in the stream. There wasn't really a plot to the dream or anything, but its been a long time since I've had such a nerdy dream that I woke up quite amused and happy.

new layout by Patience!

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:08:00-0700

Look what she did! And it doesn't even have the threatened puppies! So, supposedly this is a picture of johnny depp from sleepy hollow. I haven't seen the film and I sure didn't recognize him! Life is still going well. I finally got my measurements for beth (and in the process learned where my waist was, which is actually something I have never contemplated before). I am in the middle of a chapter on sperm competition which I am presenting next week to my behavioral ecology class. I had forgotten how much I love science. I just read about theories for the evolution of two gamete types leading to the two sexes. Amazing stuff! I wish I had the deductive ability that the guys who came up with the theory did. I also taught the most chaotic lab this morning. As soon as it was over I had to go steal a piece of choclate from my roommate's labmate to calm my nerves. Pandamonium is not my friend! But we all survived and will be showing up at the same bat-time and same bat-channel next week. My poor poor children (as I call my students) I'm not sure I'm instilling a love of science. I need to work on that! Maybe if they ready about sperm competition they would dance in their seats like I do! Well, to bed with me. I just wanted to take the new blog out for a test drive. Must get up early tomorrow and hopefully the blisters I got from exercising on weds won't appear again. Obviously I haven't done any sort of manual labor in a long time. Good-night, folks!

ridin' the wave

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:55:00-0700

Well, everyone else is posting today so I figured I should just ride the wave. Its been quite awhile. Now Scott will be the only one left in 2006. All of us progessive people will go and do something cool and he can wallow in the year that brought us... okay I can't come up with anything particularly bad, so lets just leave it with the image of him wallowing. I am currently in a mentally exhausted loopy kind of state. I'm really annoyed with one of my classes. The instructor started the class out by telling us how he understood that graduate students have to be really cutthroat with their time and then proceeds to assign us a lab a week to write up like a journal article which inevitably ends up taking me over 6 hrs to complete. I worked on it all day and will be reviewing it and checking answers tomorrow morning. My lab mates and I were discussing the best ways to commit suicide and I believe working on this lab spurred the conversation. So, I've been being a super good girl and getting up and to the gym by 630. I have a partner (Mr. Rocky Parker) and we do cardio and then lift weights. Its quite amusing to watch Rocky check out guys at 6 in the morning and then to hear his comments! The best so far was voiced this morning(and this is not totally pg, so...): "Look at the guy in all grey. He's so hot. (I stare at Rocky incredulously- its just too early to have a libido) What? I can't help it he looks just like my favorite porn star." Okay, so I promised Beth that I would get her measurements tomorrow, but my roommate is still on the phone and I have to go to bed soon! I think I'm going to flake out on her again. I'm a superfriend! Go me! Dunno what else to say. I must sleep! Goodnight, folks!

finals week!

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:55:00-0700

So, its finals week and I have a take home final that I need to have done by tomorrow night and thus I must procrastinate! Its an icky quantitative genetics final. I'm not even sure I understand all the questions, but luckily I'm taking the class pass/fail and I defnitely won't fail. Sadly, the guy teaching the class is my co-advisor so I really do need to try hard anyway. The class has been over my head with calculus and matrix algebra for awhile now which makes this whole experience especially fun! Whatever, I can't complain that much because I'm having a great time out here. I've made a bunch of cool friends that will do things like go birding and herping, and watch Christmas movies, and make large number of Christmas cookies to give to me and go for long random rides into the mountains to visit small towns and sing Christmas carols as we walk down the street and offer to have a geek-out night about great white sharks! I've been doing tons of socializing and exploring ands its way too much fun. I really am going to get pictures of some of these exploits up on the net someday.... maybe while I'm home over christmas. I'm also really enjoying reading papers and really starting to get into the sexual selection literature. Its so much fun! I wish I could just read papers and not take exams. That would be perfect! Oh well... I'm also trying to get a real handle on my project so I can start work on it this summer. I don't want to be here for more than 5 years so I have to get working! What else can I say? I'm proctoring my first final tomorrow night. My roommate made cookies for her students, but I really am not that passionate. I feel that my gift to them is the ridiculously high average for the class (86%). I promise that most of my students are not that bright (nice and amusing, but not all that bright). There are just way too many give away points in this class. As an added bonus to my life I'm going to be home this Friday! Whee! First I'll be in indianapolis hanging out with my mom and her sisters and some cousins making baklava. On Saturday night I will be back home on the farm! Much excitement. I'm hoping to find some sort of job while home because I'm super broke so if anyone has any suggestions I'm open to them. Okay, I must get back to work. Here the question I'll leave you with (number 4 on the final): Generally speaking, an analytical solution to a mathematical problem (a closed solution in the form of an equation) is more powerful than a solution achieved by computer simulation. A. Why is this the case? B. Give that it is generally true, why would one resort to a simulation study of G-matrix evolution? (a paragraph) Fun times for Sarah!

Adventures in Corvallis!

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 19:27:00-0700

Alright, guys, are you ready for my awesome adventure?! Last night I ventured forth with a group of friends to my first drag show! I'm gonna have to say it was awesome. One of the Zoology graduate students (Rocky) won the contest last year as Potpourri Ali. He preformed two dances in this contest and was an assistant MC. I think he went through about 3 costumes and at least 3 wigs. It was much fun. I would love to walk with as much feminine confidence as he does! The other performers were primarily students too, although a couple of professional queens came down from Portland (one of them did a roundhouse in high heels- amazing!). Rocky's last performance incorporated 5 other grads as back up dancers and got a standing ovation! The evening was really great. The only flaw was that my roommate's advisor was sitting next to me which was a little uncomfortable when things got a little bawdy on the stage. One of the other graduate students took a series of pictures that are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/phillipsen/DragShowAndDrinkin Rocky is the blonde. There are a couple of pics of lindsay and I kneeling by the stage. You are supposed to tip the dancers, so we were down there to give Rocky his dollars. Most of the dancers took the money in interesting ways. Rocky just had you throw it at his feet. Amusing! What else has been going on in Corvallis? Well, this week the rain set in. Its very gloomy and wet outside. Its not good for my motivation, but luckily I don't have too much to do. My grant is due this weds, but I'm on my final edits, so I'm not too concerned. Two weekends ago Lindsay and I made four pumpkin pies from pumpkins that we pureed. We also went to a haunted corn maze with a group of friends. That experience was ridiculous. I was totally freaked out and also laughing at myself and others for getting freaked out about something we knew was all fake and we had paid for! Fun was had by all! We also carved pumpkins and ate lots of pie. Oh, and I bought my tickets home: I'm coming in on Dec 8th (fri) and flying out Jan 4th from indy. Hopefully I can get down to philly for new years!

back to procrastinating!

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:28:00-0700

Wow, so lots of people updated in the last few days and I started feeling guilty so here goes: First off, I still have no bed. This does not mean I have not paid for a bed. I bought a bed 3 weeks ago. They said it would take up to two weeks to deliver. We are definitely passed that deadline. I am super excited about the idea of not sleeping on the floor and am thus anxious for this bed! Think about it! I've been sleeping on my thermarest for over 6 months now (on and off). Of course I haven't managed to call the bed store yet to complain because I hate doing that shit and I'm lazy. When the cost of not having a bed becomes greater than the benefit of not having to call I will be forced into action, but until then I will procrastinate from school work in other ways! School work, oh yes, school work. Since I have been working for the last few years I have forgotten the joy of procrastinating from homework. Its only the third week and already I have fallened into patterns of procrasination. For example, I have a grant due the first week of Nov. I'm supposed to be turning drafts of it in each week in my grant writing class. I am managing to do this, but instead of working on it steadily though the week I'm putting it off until friday morning and then desperatly trying to write. The reading and the talking about it and the thinking about it are fun. I'm able to do that all week with little need for motivation, but that actually writing gets me every time. Thus, why I'm posting this morning. I should be working on my grant. Other than the grant, life in Corvallis is pretty great. I'm enjoying my house and my room (now that I've finally gotten all my stuff down from seattle). My roommates are awesome and so are my lab mates. I'm pretty sure Josef is gonna get tired of sitting behind me in our office because I'm that annoying lab mate that is always turning around to ask questions (especially since he is in all the classes I'm taking and teaching the same lab that I do!). I try to bribe is goodwill with snacks periodically. The rest of the department seems really cool too. The graduate students have lots of parties. I've managed to avoid most of them, but tonight I promised people that I would go. So, here's looking forward to a night of being uncomfortable! Hmmmm... whatelse? Ah, I adore teaching (although 48 students is a lot)! I love being able to answer people's questions and help them gain an understanding of some concept. On the other hand, I hate grading. I sit there an agonize over giving my children (as I refer to them in my head) bad grades. THey are nice people and I know most of them are trying. I want them to do well. To help the poor souls out I've decided that each week I will tell them what they need to study for the next week's quiz. Week 4 is the trial run. I'm interested to see if anyone listened to me. What else can I say? Corvallis is a really nice town. We have a farmer's market downtown every saturday with nice local produce, breads, honey, flowers, etc. There's a co-op down the street that encourages you to reuse containers, which is awesome. I always feel guilty throwing out plastic containers and now I can just re-fill them. There are some really good restaurants near campus. There's also a niced used bookstore as well as a couple nice new ones (none of them are chains!). The only downside I can see is the comic book shop. It seriously sucks. The guy only orders enough books to cover people who preorder, so now i have to stay on top of preordering, which you have to do a couple of months ahead of time (blech). Of course this shop is basically the owner's hobby and really I should be happy its there at all. Well, that's it. Now I'm feeling guilty for not working on my grant. Maybe I'll go make a cup of tea and get back at it. Hmmm... at some point I will have to change the name of this blog too...

First Day of School!

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 08:00:00-0700

So... its 8:00 and I'm about to head down to campus. I haven't been in classes in 3 years and I've definitely never taught. Obviously, I'm a little nervous about the work load (have to have a grant written on my project by Nov 8th and I don't even know what my project is!), but it should also be fun. I'll let ya know how the week goes and try to get some pics up of cute little corvallis by the end of the week too! Of course that means beth is going to get a phone call about how to do such things. Okay, I'm just procrastinating the start of this experience. I'm off to make lunch and then get to campus! Wish me luck!