New People

Barb has hired two people as post-doctorates to work in her lab. The first one arrived a couple days ago, and she will be continuing the work that I started here on the IL-1ß project. Her name is Yue. There's no easy way to describe the pronunciation using our alphabet, but I'll give it my best shot: Start by saying 'you' but as soon as the 'y' even starts to pass your lips, suddenly switch over to saying 'way'. But instead of ending with 'ay', shorten up a little so the ending vowel is somewhere between 'eh' and 'ay.' Got it? Good.

For at least two days, Barb was pronouncing Yue as 'You'. Which, of course, is logical if you aren't familiar with Asian name pronunciations, and it's loads easier. Pronoucing 'Yue' correctly is even mildly difficult for me, and usually, I'm pretty good with Asian pronunciation, having grown up with it. (My parents laugh at me every time I try.) So listening to Barb finally realize that she'd been pronouncing it incorrectly, then practicing the correct sound for like 5 minutes on end is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Poor Barb.

Anyway, not only will I be trying to write my thesis in record time over the next two months, I'll also be training Yue in the lab protocols that are necessary for the IL-1ß project. Not sure how it will work out with scheduling, but somehow we'll work it out.