Not the best day ever, but not the worst
Mar. 23rd, 2005 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jebbypalWas still very much in blah land upon waking up this morning. Started a bit better mostly because the nauseau and feeling like "I'd feel better if the migraine that wanted to happen would just start already" symptoms were gone. Guessing they were left over from the allergies because my nose was running a ton today.
But my gel actually poured and polymerized..yeah:) Sorry, but I poured three of the things yesterday and all were for crap because they had a non-visible leak or shrinkage till I took the comb out. Which now, pouring gels isn't hard. But this is the first time I'd poured a non-denaturing PAGE gel, and can I say, SDS in the gel speeds up polymerization (umm, hardening..like jello) a ton!! No one else in the lab had poured one either so i wasn't getting much help. But it worked today...I'll find out tomorrow how the antibody works w/ this type of setup, hopefully all joy (even though it doesn't matter anymore).
Ended the day though by being freaked out by an email from my department head (Mr. "Maybe you just aren't capable" guy) asking to meet again. I'd already emailed asking for a meeting w/ the former head (Mr. Nice and Wise) who had calmed me down after the last time I saw Mr. Not Capable....fortunately he'd replied at the same time, and had time to meet right then (6:30). So I head down to meet w/ Nice and Wise cause I'm flummoxed about where to look for labs after the last guy said he was worried about finances.
We had a LONG talk --- We finally parted ways at 8pm. Can I just say that I now appreciate fully what it is meant when I'm told that some professors REALLY CARE ABOUT STUDENTS. Cause he still had to go back to his office to finish reviewing an article for publication and is going out of town tomorrow. He called his wife to tell her he'd be late just to meet w/ little ol' me. Sorry, this is just such a new experience for me after the last 3 frigging years. Yes it's my fault for being cynical and cutting myself off from the grad group cause I was sick of them being all touchy feely.
Anyways....we talk and talk. During the course of the conversation, he shares a lot of stuff w/ me that he probably shouldn't have ---- like the executive committee meeting was today, I was a topic of conversation (Assuming I was the REASON for the meeting hopefully), and the majority of people in the room thought I should be given another chance and that that chance should take place in another frigging lab. *sigh* I can almost guess who the dissenting people were in the room honestly. None of them were from my thesis committee (or that is the impression I got). Funnily/Sadly, Mr. Nice and Wise also confessed that after I first came to school here, he wasn't sure if I was going to be able to cut it (he sat in on my practice prelim that we do a semester before our true qualifying exam), but he (and a lot of other professors) became convinced after seeing my Second Prelim (=qualifying exam that allows you to move to true phd candidacy). He lavished some praise on me that reminded me vaguely what it was like to give a presentation on something that was intelligent and that I cared about. Want to hear the funny thing though --- that presentation was one I never would have given if my rotation adviser had had his way. That was what our falling out was over ---- I thought I should present on what my project was. He thought I should present on what he worked on and already had a presentation made for because I was his first grad student and he wanted me to do well. Sadly, doing well at that time was what convinced me that I could manage to do a thesis alone. How wrong was I?
Anyway, beyond the confessions that I should not have heard from this man (though I love how loose-lipped he is now that he's not dept chair. I think he's enjoying making things difficult for the new chair because Mr. Not Capable used to be one of the louder voices of dissent about how things were run), we also talked about potential labs and what was I looking for and how I shouldn't be concerned about the finances of the lab. He even said that he knows that the dept chair can get the actual BGS program that our grad group is a member of to pay for me if necessary. Sadly, Mr. Nice and Wise thinks his lab is a tad too crowded for me --- he currently has 3 grad students he has to start paying for next year and isn't sure he has a project open for me that is at the right stage. But he did suggest places that have space and such, so next week I'll set up a ton of meetings.
All in all though, it counts as a good day. And I must say, I actually look forward to going some place that I actually enjoy reading and thinking about science again.
But my gel actually poured and polymerized..yeah:) Sorry, but I poured three of the things yesterday and all were for crap because they had a non-visible leak or shrinkage till I took the comb out. Which now, pouring gels isn't hard. But this is the first time I'd poured a non-denaturing PAGE gel, and can I say, SDS in the gel speeds up polymerization (umm, hardening..like jello) a ton!! No one else in the lab had poured one either so i wasn't getting much help. But it worked today...I'll find out tomorrow how the antibody works w/ this type of setup, hopefully all joy (even though it doesn't matter anymore).
Ended the day though by being freaked out by an email from my department head (Mr. "Maybe you just aren't capable" guy) asking to meet again. I'd already emailed asking for a meeting w/ the former head (Mr. Nice and Wise) who had calmed me down after the last time I saw Mr. Not Capable....fortunately he'd replied at the same time, and had time to meet right then (6:30). So I head down to meet w/ Nice and Wise cause I'm flummoxed about where to look for labs after the last guy said he was worried about finances.
We had a LONG talk --- We finally parted ways at 8pm. Can I just say that I now appreciate fully what it is meant when I'm told that some professors REALLY CARE ABOUT STUDENTS. Cause he still had to go back to his office to finish reviewing an article for publication and is going out of town tomorrow. He called his wife to tell her he'd be late just to meet w/ little ol' me. Sorry, this is just such a new experience for me after the last 3 frigging years. Yes it's my fault for being cynical and cutting myself off from the grad group cause I was sick of them being all touchy feely.
Anyways....we talk and talk. During the course of the conversation, he shares a lot of stuff w/ me that he probably shouldn't have ---- like the executive committee meeting was today, I was a topic of conversation (Assuming I was the REASON for the meeting hopefully), and the majority of people in the room thought I should be given another chance and that that chance should take place in another frigging lab. *sigh* I can almost guess who the dissenting people were in the room honestly. None of them were from my thesis committee (or that is the impression I got). Funnily/Sadly, Mr. Nice and Wise also confessed that after I first came to school here, he wasn't sure if I was going to be able to cut it (he sat in on my practice prelim that we do a semester before our true qualifying exam), but he (and a lot of other professors) became convinced after seeing my Second Prelim (=qualifying exam that allows you to move to true phd candidacy). He lavished some praise on me that reminded me vaguely what it was like to give a presentation on something that was intelligent and that I cared about. Want to hear the funny thing though --- that presentation was one I never would have given if my rotation adviser had had his way. That was what our falling out was over ---- I thought I should present on what my project was. He thought I should present on what he worked on and already had a presentation made for because I was his first grad student and he wanted me to do well. Sadly, doing well at that time was what convinced me that I could manage to do a thesis alone. How wrong was I?
Anyway, beyond the confessions that I should not have heard from this man (though I love how loose-lipped he is now that he's not dept chair. I think he's enjoying making things difficult for the new chair because Mr. Not Capable used to be one of the louder voices of dissent about how things were run), we also talked about potential labs and what was I looking for and how I shouldn't be concerned about the finances of the lab. He even said that he knows that the dept chair can get the actual BGS program that our grad group is a member of to pay for me if necessary. Sadly, Mr. Nice and Wise thinks his lab is a tad too crowded for me --- he currently has 3 grad students he has to start paying for next year and isn't sure he has a project open for me that is at the right stage. But he did suggest places that have space and such, so next week I'll set up a ton of meetings.
All in all though, it counts as a good day. And I must say, I actually look forward to going some place that I actually enjoy reading and thinking about science again.
