Not so 9 to 5 :)

Week 2, internship.

I started at 7:30am and ended at 5:30pm... it's been a long day... but I did take a lunch break (yay!!) and talked to Ryan during that time, as he was heading to LAX... on his way home! Double yay!
He was so cute, he left me tons of text messages after that, while I was working. :) I can't wait to have him back.. I'm a bit selfish, and it's ok!!

Oh, and I have been witholding some big news from my blog readers (barely plural, but hey)... I have a lab home!! I finally heard back from my first choice!! I've talked to him about projects somewhat, and I have some ideas brewing... so I need to solidify them by July 9th when I meet with him again. Yay!!!

More on the internship...
I really like the person I'm working with, she's so positive! I was trying to get these cells to come off a plate (lab lingo, sorry) and they just wouldn't do it! So I tried again, and not so much... So I tried counting the cells I got out, and they were really low... This took like 2hs or so, of me freaking out and trying different things. Finally I found my mentor and she was like, oh, seems like these are tough cells (they were new to her too, so she didn't know what the conditions would be), lets add a higher concentration of trypsin... plus she was saying how great I was doing, and that it was a problem with the cells, not with me...

Later on I did get the cells to come off, but I think I must have sucked them all out and lost them... She was a little disheartened, and told me we'll just try again tomorrow together... So, I was a bit sad that it ended up being all screwed up, but I still felt good about myself at the end of the day... so I stayed another hour to prepare for tomorrow and write what I did today in my notebook...

Now I'm home and oh so exhausted...

Ryan comes home in like 4hs though! Yay!!!

Intern

Moi.... a real picture, as promised...

Intern Perks, Part 1

As you may know I am an intern for the summer... and well, it came with some perks (nothing too fancy, mind you).

1) I have my own computer, which is nice. It's set up with my name and everything.

2) I have my own phone and own extension (and have recorded a greeting on my voicemail, which is pretty much useless since I doubt anyone will call)

3) My name is on my cubicle (I don't have the nice perk of an office... like the other interns... I think they assigned things in alphabetical order... and my last name starts with Z... maybe I should switch the order of my last name from Z-C to C-Z... maybe!)

4) There is a nice coffee machine that makes a cup of coffee or tea from these nifty pouches (so it's not like day old coffee at 5pm)... :)

That's about it for now...

Ok, and these are not real pictures... I am slowly upping my blog from no pictures, to googled jpegs, and eventually real pics...

Working hard though... and I finally got decent sleep last night... crashed at 10pm, woke up at 6am.. I think I'm finally getting used to getting up crazy early...

intern, that's me

Hi!

So, I started yesterday as an intern for a biotech company-- a little break from grad school and a glimpse at career possibilities. It turns out that everyone dresses up (ie: no jeans), and I like it... So, I went to Target yesterday and got some cute shirts, like the one I wore today:

So far the internship is going great. I have a desk in a cubicle (others have actual offices, oh well), and my own computer and a phone with my own extension. Quite different than my Yale rotations...

The commute does tire me out. I have flashbacks to the kind of tired I uesd to be back in California when I got home... and tomorrow is an early day for me, I start at 7am, because there are long incubation times.

My mentor/pi is really awesome. She's really laid back and I feel comfortable around her.

...still no word on the lab front, but that will clarify itself soon enough, I hope.

Oh, and the other interns are pretty cool too!

Oh, and I'm trying to learn how to knit...I bought this book, which in retrospect may not be the best one for beginners, but I got some help from the yarn co. (theyarnco.com) for really learning step by step how to knit. Wish me luck!!