Thirty eight....

The number of hours of sleep I had during the forty-eight hours that were Friday and Saturday. I got sick....really sick. It's been a while since I was that sick. I missed two days of work in a row! Needless to say, I have ALOT to catch up on. Some of those deadlines were missed, but what can you do? Stress due to aforementioned deadlines, coupled with the cold rainy weather this last week got my defenses down and probably made me sick in the first place.

it is a beautiful Sunday and I am at the lab. boo. And I am so excited for whats in store for me tomorrow.

Back to school

Classed started today. Whoop-dee-doo. I am not ready for the semester to start yet. I still feel like I have ALOT of research stuff to do...and I am not ready to share my time with teaching now too. We sent back the galley proofs for our JACS paper today, so if all goes well I would expect to see it online sometime next week. In the meantime, I am desperately trying to finish up this other project. There are still a few experiments to run....it would be nice to get a couple more examples with different types of alkynes (molecules with a triple bond) but they are not behaving very nicely. The paper could probably get in in somewhere decent with what we have, but I would like to see it stronger in its content. Also, I have been busy compiling a dossier on all the background since big M wants to start writing the paper tomorrow. I know once he starts writing the pace will pick up real quick and he will want to submit once he is finished writing. grrrr. such impatience sometimes....so I am already stressing about the upcoming pressure and trying to alleviate what I can now.
I really want to go for a run....I think am going to do that tonight when I get home. It will probably help "get it all out" and make me sleep because I will be tired.
I am TAing for Dr. Laude again this semester...for the freshman general chemistry class (about 500 students). They had the other three TAs last semester so he really only introduced me, as his all-star TA...won awards, etc. I got a nice "ooooo" from the class. haha! Even though I know teaching is going to take away from desperately needed research time, it also gives me desperately needed away from lab time (does that even make sense?) I like getting away from lab every once in a while, and teaching is a good opportunity to do so. I love it!

This is very silly, but FYI....it IS possible to get a cat's game in ConnectFour. Ryan got me this game as one of my Christmas presents, mostly because he likes to play it and didn't want to buy it for himself. Anyhow, he is pretty good and tricky, but I caught on quickly (you can't really blame me for my rustiness since it had been uhhh 15 years or so since I played). We TRIED to get cats games (one player focuses on offense, the other on defense only) and couldn't do it. usually one or the other was forced to win. And then when we were just playing and finally got it.... I'd say ten games later. haha! Here's the proof.

it's harder than you think! (V-red, R-black)

Accepted!

We found out today that our paper was accepted to JACS (journal of the american chemical society)! This is the paper which culminated from the [hellish] project that Ryan and I worked on, and a postdoc later joined. I am a bit surprised it got in, but I'll take it! Only minor revisions are necessary. I'll keep you posted, and once it goes online I can provide a link to it so those interested can check it out. Yay!


p.s. Though sick and still recovering....the boss returned from a "slam dunk" trip. whatever that means....

Ponder....

All I can do is laugh. However, I hope this leads to the start of a good week.....just found. Yes, it has been forwarded on to him (by another group member), and I just can't wait to hear the awkward jokes and comments that will arise from this.

Another snapshot....

into my life as a grad student. Try this 5-6 times a day.

It's FANTASTIC!!

a snapshot

in the life of a grad student.... (you can click on the pic to enlarge it).

*sigh* my life...

Its only Wednesday

I am exhausted! I don't really know why...I am pretty sure I am sleeping well at night. I did have a really late night on Sunday though...I was on a roll cleaning and doing house things that I couldn't stop! It's Wednesday...I hope I can make it through the week. grrrr...annoying things at school don't help either.

I started the cardigan last night. It looks good....so far. I'm currently working on the back panel, which is pretty big! I am not even a quarter of the way through. I think the hardest thing is getting the piece that you are working on started because its so small and you have to keep it tight. I hope I can get a good chunk of that piece done tonight. Its going to be kind of a late one in lab though since we finally have the molecule of the semester meeting tonight. (the whole group is divided into two teams, and each team has a team leader. Mike picks some nasty, huge, hard natural product and each team has to propose a synthesis of it, with relevant precedence for key steps. Hope that wasn't too alien-sounding.) The winning team (leader) gets a bottle of wine (nothing really fancy)...but a prize nonetheless. Anyways, we have had this thing scheduled for a really long time and the meetings kept getting pushed back and postponed...so I am glad we are having it because I don't like having late meetings in the summer (6-9pm) but I am also not glad because I am just so tired and by the time I get home and have dinner its gonna be late. such is life. I am enrolled in a spectroscopy class this summer that begins tomorrow and it starts 8:30am. OUCH

I can't wait to go home and lay on a beach and DO NOTHING. well...I will probably bring some knitting/crocheting so I can share with the girls. =)


I still haven't been able to go running this week! (yet somehow I am pretty sore...maybe from taking apart my bed and putting it on the rails all by myself?)

ok...chemistry to do.