Oh...what's this blog about, anyway?

Whoops. Forgot an intro...just went right into some stupid rant. Sorry. Blog of passion.

This will be probably like most any other mudane blog. S'about my thoughts of goings-on in my life. Which pretty much consists of working in the lab so I can frickin' graduate. I'm in the 7th year of a MD/PhD program at Boston University, and to be frank, the graduate school portion is pretty much a crappy place to be. Things I like to do when I'm not in the lab - going to the gym, eating, sleeping, hanging out with friends (who are all dating/engaged/married - you're all no good to me, you realize? More on that later). Things I hope to do when I finally find that AWESOME amount of free time: learn to play all of the Chopin études, rock climb, redecorate the bedroom, remodel the bathroom, paint a self-portrait, build a house.

There. I think that's enough for an introduction. Later.

Worst Decision of My Life...well, almost.

My PI on vacation, Day 2.

Hmmph. So I'm trying to grow these mouse fetal liver cells to compare their promoter structure with that in RAW macrophages. These 'null' cells are wicked hard to grow up, I'm discovering. I received them on Thursday via FedEx, put them in fresh media, and they doubled overnight. I used them for a quickie experiment, then cut them back for the weekend. What happens Monday but I discover that over half of them are dead or dying. I combined the two remaining flasks and put the surviving cells in fresh media to grow overnight. Next morning - they're still dying. CRAP!!! I hate these cells.

These experiments better not be crucial to my finishing my project - I feel like quitting. This is so stupid - to be held hostage in lab by a bunch of freaking fickle cells. What is all this good for, anyway?

Are my ChIPs back up and running? Dunno. Check back later.

One good thing - looks like I can extract RNA again. Don't know what went wrong - just used mostly new solutions? Just one of those things.

Things aren't working too well right now. I'm feeling the pressure. My PI's feeling the pressure. OMG research sucks. Worst career choice in my life.

Mike