Real life update

[tarigwaemir]

Stanley Hall, on the Feast of Blessed Apollinaris

No incentive to work. Maybe I should go home and eat, before attempting to poke at this data further.

Summary of this week:

1. I should not be allowed to write quiz questions. Not only did I make several mistakes in writing up a question on dominant epistasis--and in the process of trying to correct them, I made more mistakes--but I also answered another question on sex linkage incorrectly. Wow, who knew that I was so incompetent at genetics? To think I actually got an A in my undergraduate genetics course...all the way back in freshman year. -_- Anyway, all mistakes have been caught, so luckily it wasn't too much of an issue.

2. Violation of my personal space gives me a headache. Granted, my personal space boundaries extend much further than most people. -_-

3. Despite having a few eye-rollers in my Tuesday section, I think the class is starting to warm up to me. Also, my Friday section has become less quiet, and unlike my Tuesday section, the smart students seem to like me. I think it helps that I'm making an effort to connect names to faces; one student seemed flattered that I remembered her name when I called on her in section today. Another student, who isn't enrolled in my section, asked me if she could audit in addition to attending her actual section, which felt rather flattering. I don't think my explanations are clear to everyone (and given that I've made mistakes in three out of the four sections I've taught so far, I don't think I give off the impression of being particularly competent), but I think my successful explanations do get through to whatever subset of the class that happens to think like me.

4. I thought having office hours on Friday 4-5 PM would mean fewer students would show up, but in fact, I ended up having three students come to my office hours today, only one of whom was actually enrolled in my sections. The other two said that it was the only office hour they could make. I also had two extra office hours this week and a request for another extra office hour next week. -_- Why me? My labmate, who is teaching the same course, had no one show up to her office hour; now I wish I timed mine like hers. Steve says I shouldn't be such a pushover, and my P.I. says that I should not let my students walk all over me, but if someone goes out of their way to request an extra office hour, I feel I ought to give one as long as it fits in my schedule. (I don't know...I'm coming to realize that the undergraduate culture here is subtly different. How so, I can't quite articulate yet.)

5. Four samples treated exactly the same, and yet one looks perfect, while the other three failed. Argh. Will have to repeat. I'm worried that I don't have enough oligo-dT beads to isolate mRNA again. Also, a qPCR experiment with inexplicable results...I think I need to repeat it too. I am so behind! I still haven't gotten around to setting up sequencing reactions or troubleshooting my (still unsuccessful) transformation. At this rate, I might not have a candidate gene by quals.

6. It was Steve's birthday on Wednesday, so I baked him a cake on Tuesday. I'd never baked a cake before. I used a vegan cake recipe that I got from our former lab manager. I substituted malt syrup for vanilla, used brown rice vinegar instead of regular vinegar, and mixed white sugar and brown sugar since I ran out of the former, but the result came out edible! Miraculous. Here's the recipe:

3/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Mix dry ingredients in bowl. Mix wet ingredients (except vinegar) in separate bowl. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well. Add vinegar, mix well, pour and bake immediately for 35 min at 350° F.

A great addition you can do is to either swirl in peanut butter into the cake just before baking or make a fake frosting w/ peanut butter, soy milk and sugar (just add various amounts until it tastes good).

(Courtesy of Laurie)

I did try to swirl in peanut butter but they settled like chunks into the cake batter. I also didn't bother making an actual "fake frosting" but just spread peanut butter on top of the cake. Luckily, Steve likes peanut butter.

7. Ordered the Most Comfortable Shoes Ever, which arrived today and are indeed Very Comfortable.

8. I've decided I will not be going to lab tomorrow but will analyze data from home. I also plan to use the time to finish reading Queen's Play. (That wrestling scene with the Cornishman! Dunnett amazes me with how well she writes action; she notes down every detail without losing suspense. Also, Lymond doesn't quite wring my heart as much as he did in A Game of Kings, but then again, I still have a third of the book left.)

9. No progress on blind_go. Too weary to write. Clearly, I was not meant to be a writer. >_>

Yours &c.

Comments

[tryogeru.livejournal.com]

I think it was an SGA fic, where if personal boundaries were countries, this character's would be Russia. Or something. Ok, maybe you had to be there.

Mmm. Cake. I really want to try one of these days, making cake (or anything really), with apple sauce substituting the butter. No, not because it's less calories, you can't really taste the difference, and it makes the cake really moist. I just like the idea of essentially MacGuyvering cake.

Wow. Loafers, really? Don't they ask for Nursing degrees or your AARP card when you buy one? XP
Ok, maybe I'm just jealous since I can't usually wear loafer-esque shoes because they usually press down too much on the tops of my feet. Or maybe I have something similar from EasySpirit. >_>

[troisroyaumes]

Applesauce in cake sounds pretty delicious to me! ^_^

They're flats, not loafers. :P But these are all made out of soft leather; I bet you'd find them comfortable as well. (No top pressure at all.)

[jaebi-lit.livejournal.com]

LYMOND IS ALWAYS HEARTWRINGING!!111!1!

Queen's Play is one that I have mixed feelings about - I really like some aspects, others break my heart (and I like those, too), and actually, nevermind, I like all of it. No mixed feelings.

-reduced to incoherence by Dunnett. Ironic, considering what an amazing writer she is!-

[troisroyaumes]

He is heartwringing, but I think I'm so caught up in trying to figure out the intrigue that I spend less time feeling for him than I did in the first book. Although he really does go through even more intense ordeals than before. ;_; Poor Lymond! Though I can tell things are building up into a climax, and I haven't reached the turning point yet.

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm sure you'll never be as bad as our BS 56 TF, so no worries! You'll get the hang of it :) My roommate is TFing MCB 52, which should be interesting (I wonder if Losick will show the protein synthesis video from the 70s again, haha).

When are your quals? And doesn't your PI expect that teaching will take up a lot of your time?

[troisroyaumes]

Oh geez, I would never be that incompetent. -_- I think the problem is that although this course is similar in level to BS50, it has very different emphases (more old-school genetics and very little on gene regulation, which was my strong point). Also, BS50 was still a freshman course, while this course is for juniors and seniors, so my students are more jaded and less enthusiastic. (Haha, like us at the same stage! They're so eager to just get the course over with and graduate.) We tried to make the quiz difficult in order to wake them up a bit, and I think we succeeded, but in the process, I got mixed up by my own questions. -_-

Quals are next semester! GAH! And she does expect that teaching will take a lot of time, but I suppose she also expects me to do my best to minimize that time. I.e. not giving extra office hours unless I have to. I think I need to start referring my students to other GSIs if they can't make my hours.

[uminohikari.livejournal.com]

Eyerolling a teacher is just rude D: D: D:

[troisroyaumes]

Eh, I don't entirely blame them. I mean, I'd be pretty bored too, if I were sitting in my own section. But I can't teach to the smart students especially when the majority of the class isn't at their level. I just wish they made a better effort at hiding their boredom. >_>

[love_archived]

Your PhD trials and tribulations sound incredibly scary to someone who did not enjoy the lab portions of her high school classes because she was never allowed to tinker with the equipment (we all weren't--the school didn't have the money to buy material, so the teacher did all the experiments and we had to write reports...)