No More Behaving

It is absolutely critical to be able to separate Socratic questioning from "I think you're an idiot for not having arrived at this on your own".It is absolutely critical to be able to separate critique of your data from critique of your person.It is really hard to do this in the early years of grad school when every time you turn around you are being examined or tested or asked to validate your existence.It gets a lot easier to do this once you make the transition from grad school to somewhere that appreciates your skill and expertise.Being able to do this is a learned behavior. Just like no one is born knowing how to do a flawless patch-clamp assay, it's a bit much to expect people to instantly recognize the difference between benevolent critique to improve the science v. gotcha questioning to make them sweat. It's kinder to point this out a time or two and then let them practice letting it roll off their egos on their own.

Labels: Things

Dr. Isis has a funny list of things she does not want to find in the lab...or in a potential love interest's apartment. I am amused by this, so I have composed my own. Enjoy.Drops of mercury anywhere but the mercury disposal container. I can't tell you how often this happens, nor can I tell you why.Random non-biohazard shit in the biohazard bins. Biohazard cleanup is my lab duty, so when the bins are filling up with other crap it's more unnecessary work for me.Mouse carcasses anywhere but the carcass freezer. Gross. Just gross. Usually they're left on the dissection bench between dissection and clean-up (fair enough) but sometimes that period stretches out for the better part of a day. Gross.Over-shared stories about you and your significant other's sexual exploits. It's great that you have a satisfying sex life but that's between you and your partner. It really has nothing to do with me and I'd like to keep it that way. Let's try for some modicum of professional demeanor here folks.Random puddles of unidentified liquids anywhere. Especially the floor.Pants with holes in unfortunate places. Why? Keep your underwear to yourself please. And have you considered the safety hazard? I mean holes in the knees are one thing but the implications of dropping something caustic on your barely covered crotch don't bear thinking about.Agar plates growing FSM-knows-what left in the incubator for weeks. Do people really forget that they put plates in there?Cardboard freezer boxes covered in several centimeters of hairy multi-colored mold which renders the label on said box unreadable and the contents of said box likely contaminated. (Our fridges aren't very good at humidity control.)Razor blades or disposable scalpels in the sink (or anywhere but the sharps containers really).Capes. On anyone.

Labels: Lab, Things, Top Ten

There's been a lot of negativity on this blog lately. Most of it justified. But since I've been feeling rather homicidal lately and I don't think that's very healthy, this is an exercise in positive thinking. Here is a list of 10 things I like about my life right now.I have health insurance, and so does BH. If shit hits the fan with respect to our well-being I am not worried about choosing between treatment and paying the rent. I do not take this for granted.The house we live in. The landlady can be a real pain in the ass at times, but we have enough space for the both of us (plus pets) to be comfortable together and to have our own space at times. We have good neighbors, and a fenced yard for DangerDog, and the landlady's permission to do whatever we like with the garden (and I have!!).I have a job. It's a "job" that makes me crazy sometimes, but that's because I'm engaged in my work. Sometimes (like when I'm on the microscope at stupid o'clock) I wish I had a mindless 9-to-5, but I know that would be fatally boring for me in the long run. I like figuring stuff out, which is what I get to do every day. I like it better when it works, but you know, CareBears and tea parties and all that.I don't have to drive to work. It's painfully hot here so the walk/bike ride is not always pleasant in the summer, but paying for parking and sitting in traffic would be much more painful. I like the time I have to gear up for the lab or wind down on the way home.Good friends. Especially good friends who get why we sometimes have to bail on plans to salvage an experiment. Especially good friends who understand the ups and downs of research and academia. Especially good friends with an ice cream maker.Our critters. They are manic and irrepressible. They make us laugh on a daily basis. It's good to be responsible for caring for something outside of one's self. It helps to maintain perspective.My new pie plate. I got this one from Mississippi Mud Pottery on Etsy. It's beautiful and it has a hook on the back so you can hang it on your wall as art! Also, you can make pies in it. If you're very lucky and I'm very good, I will post pictures of a peach pie in the near future.In spite of recent setbacks, I am still going to graduate this fall. This is a Very Good Thing. Recent setbacks haven't really cast aspersions on this goal, I'm just reminding myself that things are still heading in that direction. Don't sweat the small stuff.I've got several projects on the go right now. Sometimes this feels overwhelming, but honestly, I do my best work when I've got several balls in the air. I've got a fantastic undergrad minion that I've trained up to be a second pair of hands, and he really has increased my efficiency so that's one project that keeps plugging on. Another is with a collaborator who is just a remarkably good person. He has been very understanding about my priorities with respect to this project and encouraging about my other projects with which he is not even involved. Cool guy. I really love working with him and I'm excited about where this project is headed.My Better Half. He puts up with my rages over experimental failures, and still seems to like me. He's been through the Ph.D. wringer himself, so he knows I won't be this nuts forever. He's an adventurous eater (and an excellent cook himself), so I get to try out new stuff in the kitchen (squid tonight dear?). Mostly, he makes me laugh and keeps me sane. I really like that.

Labels: Life, Things